234 
DESCRIPTIVE MINERALOGY. 
Schoharie County. Calcareous tufa is found in considerable abundance in various parts 
of this county. It occurs on the sides of the mountains, exhibiting a number of imitative 
forms. Also near the springs in the town of Sharon, where there is a mass averaging two 
hundred yards in length, fifty in breadth, and ten in depth, which has all been precipitated 
from these waters. Helices, leaves of trees, and moss, are constantly incrusted with this 
calcareous deposit, and almost all kinds of imitative forms can be procured* 
Another locality of this variety of carbonate of lime occurs about one mile and a quarter 
west of Schoharie, on the road to Cobleskill. It is loose, and can be shovelled up. It may 
be called a tufaceous marl, and may be used for agricultural purposes.! 
Four miles northwest of Schoharie court-house, on Cobles kill, is a deposit of loose and 
friable tufa or agaric mineral of some extent (see page 87). 
There are other localities in this county, but they are not supposed to be of such extent as 
those already noticed. It may be remarked, that the caverns with which this county abounds, 
and which have already been briefly described (page 228), afford specimens of almost every 
variety of carbonate of lime. It is not necessary, however, again to recapitulate these loca¬ 
lities. 
Steuben County. There is a bed of tufa, which is not, however, supposed to be of much 
extent, in a hill northeast of Danville, on the land of Mr. Brewer. It has been used in the 
manufacture of lime. Large quantities are obtained for that use, at another locality in the 
same town. On the Canisteo, a mile and a half from Bennetsville, a spring, rising at a level 
of sixty or seventy feet above the river, deposits calcareous matter, and there are several other 
springs of a similar kind in the vicinity. 
Two miles east of Arkport, tufa is burned for lime, from which that part of the county is 
supplied. So also at Pogue’s Hole on the Canaseraga, at Troupsburgh and at other places, 
tufa and marl are used for the same purpose4 
Tompkins County. Near the village of Ithaca, there are deposits of calcareous tufa 
investing moss and other vegetable forms. The specimens are quite similar to some of those 
from Genesee and Niagara falls. 
Ulster County. There is a locality of calcareous tufa at the foot of a ledge of limestone 
on Stony creek, on the land of Mr. David Schoonmaker, in the town of Rochester. And 
about fourteen miles southwest from Esopus, there is a cavern in which are found stalactites, 
stalagmites, etc. 
Washington County. Calcareous tufa is deposited from the waters of springs near White¬ 
hall, and the variety satin spar has been found at Argyle. 
Mather. New-York Geological Reports, 1840. 
■f Ibid. 
X Hall. Ibid. 1840. 
