II 
2^?^ [Assembly 
Near to Sodom lake, on the rise of a hill about 50 feet above the ca- 
nal, and on the road from the foot of the lake to Manlius Centre, Elia- 
kira Smith had commenced a large well for water in this mass. The 
rock passed through gray and greenish marl, with white and red fibrous 
gypsum. All the products thrown out were like those which I saw in 
the digging for salt water in the salt valley near Abingdon, Virginia. 
The same products, too, were obtained in another well about 55 feet 
deep, on the road to Orville, about a mile east of Syracuse, and are 
observable likewise in the road descending to Orville from the latter vil- 
lage. 
The second and third deposits of the saliferous group of Onondaga 
have a common character, that of being exceeding permeable to water. 
This fluid cannot be obtained on any of the hills composed of either 
mass where the well sinks into them, unless sunk to the level of the 
water courses; a fact which readily explains the absence of all brine 
springs above the \vater level of the country. 
Though I dilligently sought for fossils, knowing, from twenty years' 
experience, that their importance was paramount in Geology, yet it was 
only in one spot that I succeeded in discovering some. They were a 
Cytherina, about half the size of those found in the upper and lower 
groups. They occur in a thin layer of " calciferous slate" of Professor 
Eaton, those thin drab-coloured layers which make up so large a portion 
of the third deposit, and the upper part of the second deposit. The 
locality is near the top of a hill going by the south side of the canal 
from Jordan to Peru. In descending the hill towards the lower part, 
repeated alternations of red and green shales occur, characteristic of the 
union of the first and second deposits. 
Thirdy or Gypseous Deposit. 
This is the most valuable mineral deposit of the Third District, and 
the most important, not only on account of its " plaster beds," but be- 
cause it is only in this deposit that we have positive evidence that salt 
has existed in this group in a solid state; and that it is the only known 
source from whence the brine springs of Onondaga and Cayuga could 
have been derived. 
Besides those primary products, gypsum and salt, there are others 
but of little comparative importance, excepting to those to whom a 
knowledge of proximate geological causes is a predominant feeling. 
These products are the " vermicular rock" of Prof. Eaton and other 
