N0.276.J 
143 
It rises almost to the top of the Shawangunk mountain, the whole 
breadth of the county at that part. 
The stratification of the argillite is finely exposed at the quarries of 
Mr. Bulmer, half a mile from the village of Sugar Loaf. The bent and 
contorted appearance is seen to advantage in the bank of the road) two 
miles north of Goshen. The contents of this extensive rock are not 
very numerous or interesting. In a few places it embraces beds of quartz. 
Those in the town of Warwick, are the largest I have seen. Some of 
them may be seen on a cross-road from Bellvale to Thompson's pond. 
In dip, and direction, they coincide with the argillite, in which they are 
embraced. Some of them are ten and twenty feet thick. The length 
could not be ascertained on account of the soil. The quartz of the beds 
is granular, columnar and crystallized. Crystals are not fine. Seams of 
argillite and chlorite run through the quartz, and the cavities in the 
quartz are often lined with a black powdry substance, which is suppo- 
sed to be manganese in the state of black oxide. Veins of quartz also 
frequently traverse the argillite. These veins are irregular in their di- 
rection, and do not preserve any uniformity in their breadth. The 
quartz with which they are filled, is precisely similar to that found in 
the beds just described. Sulphuret of iron, in narrow veins and nests is 
occasionally seen in this rock. Sulphuret of lead and sulphuret of sil- 
ver are said to have been found in the argillite of this county; but I 
have seen none, and presume their supposed discovery has been owing 
to mistake. 
Small veins of fibrous carbonate of lime, having the form and ap- 
pearance of satin spar, have occasionally been found. Where I have 
seen them, they are generally in the vicinity of the veins of quartz. A 
kind of carbonaceous matter coats the seams of the argillite, in a few 
localities. Tolerable specimens can be obtained at the quarry at the 
village of Sugar Loaf. In very many places in the county, this rock is 
loaded with carbon, so much so as to deceive the inexperienced eye 
into the belief that it is coal; hence the very common belief among us 
that coal in abundance will yet be found in the county. Mining for 
coal, in a small way, has been undertaken in several places, and the 
rock has been penetrated, by boring for this purpose, more than 200 
feet. These undertakings have all resulted in loss, and in a few cases, 
to a ruinous extent. They tend, however, to reveal the true character 
of the rock, and to show us how small a probability exists of discover- 
ing extensive beds of coal in this formation. 
