No. 200.J 
fertile; it affords abundance of pine timber, and possesses great advan- 
tages of water power; the soil is almost destitute of calcareous matter, 
which, with other circumstances, precludes the cultivation of grain; 
but on this account it is more desirable for pasture land. The Genesee 
and Alleghany rivers, together with Cayuga, Seneca and Erie lakes, 
furnish outlets for the transportation of the lumber from this part of the 
district. 
Although it was distinctly stated in the reports of last year, that coal 
would not probably be found within the limits of the State of New- 
York, I found many persons who still believed in its existence among 
the bituminous shales of the middle and southern range of counties. In 
some places openings had been made where thin seams or detached par- 
ticles of bituminous coal were found. Notwithstanding the numerous 
and decided failures in those undertakings, the belief still prevails that 
coal exists somewhere in the neighborhood of these shales, and that if 
enterprise could be rightly directed the object would be attained. 
To those unacquainted with the true character of the coal formation and 
the relative position of these rocks, there are, indeed, some appearances 
that would indicate the presence of coal. Bituminous matter, or pe- 
troleum, is present in all, except the lowest rocks of the district,* and 
when we come to the shales above the mountain limestone, thin seams 
and disseminated particles of highly bituminous coal are of frequent oc- 
currence. The escape of inflammable gas, and the odor of bitumen which 
accompanies most of the rocks, are considered as evidences of coal at 
no great depth below the surface, and under this erroneous impression 
the diggings or borings for coal have been undertaken. Although there 
is no necessary connection between coal and petroleum, yet the pre- 
sence of this substance and the escape of inflammable gas from so 
many points in the different rocks is truly remarkable, when we consi- 
der that these rocks are so far below the slates and sandstones of the 
coal formation. It would appear that the causes which produced the 
bituminous character of the coal of Western Pennsylvania, were in 
operation at the time the lower rocks were deposited. 
Whatever cause we please to assign for the production of this bitu- 
minous matter, we shall readily perceive that it is not essentially de- 
pendant upon coal, and that its presence in that mineral is rather acci- 
* The red marl and sandstone I have not found to be bituminous, though inflammable gas 
(carburetted hydrogen,) issues from the rocks of this formation in many places along the Eirie 
canal, between Middleport and Gasport, Niagara coanty. 
f Assem. No. 200.J 
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