TRENTON LIMESTONE. 
49 
deposits at these latter localities, during which time the rock of the quarry to the southeast of 
Amsterdam, of that at Tripes hill, and at Sage & Reed’s quarry on the south side of the 
river, and the upper layers of the lower cliff on Black river, were formed, uniting the two 
by intermediate characters. From the intermediate mass between the birdseye and the 
Trenton limestone being invariably associated geographically with the birdseye along the 
whole course of Black river through Lewis county, etc., it was described with that rock; 
exhibiting more of the mineral character of the latter rock, the fossils being those of the 
Trenton limestone. 
The Trenton limestone is confined entirely to the counties of Montgomery, Herkimer, 
Oneida and Lewis. Along the Mohawk, it is a rock of uplift; and with the exception of the 
Noses, it is not found further south of the river than about a mile. The last place where it 
appears in the Mohawk valley, is on the south side of the river, about three miles west of Little- 
Falls. The limestone is not found to the west of Lansing’s kill; it makes its appearance at 
the mouth of Wells’ brook, and continues up the Mohawk to the kill, and thence to Boonville, 
the kill being its extreme western boundary in Oneida county. It forms the second terrace 
of the west side of Black river, ranging parallel with the river ; its surface from two to four 
miles wide, curving from the river in entering Jefferson county. The greatest extent of 
exposed surface of this rock is in Lewis county; the next extent of exposed mass is in 
Oneida, being the continuation of the surface in Lewis, from whence it extends into Herki¬ 
mer, covering the greater part of the town of Russia, and a considerable portion of Norway. 
It forms, in these two last counties, the dividing line between the Primary and the New-York 
systems, ranging by the side of the primary ; the junction usually concealed by sand and 
other alluvial products, these latter having been abundantly deposited, and heaped upon the 
surface of the limestone. 
The greatest thickness of the Trenton limestone is in Lewis county, toward the northern 
end, where it cannot be less than three hundred feet. It diminishes in thickness going east 
and south, rarely exceeding thirty feet in any part of the Mohawk valley: it is not so thick 
at the east as at the west end. The dark-colored mass in thin layers, separated by slate or 
shale, is the kind which is met with in the Mohawk valley, and throughout Montgomery 
county. In Lewis county, the upper layers are thicker, but often much intermixed with 
shale, the limestone often in accretions, giving a rough character to the rock, and detracting 
greatly from its value for all economical purposes, excepting for soil when decomposed. 
The grey variety of limestone does not appear upon the Mohawk, nor in Montgomery 
county, but it is abundant in the neighborhood of Holland Patent, the waters of Beaver 
meadow, Trenton falls, Cincinnati creek, and the road thence to Boonville. In many parts 
of Lewis county, the limestone shows a crystalline grain, and the color of portions of it is 
inclined to be grey. Where so much of the rock is exposed as in that county, and of such 
great thickness, there must be localities yielding as good a quality of stone as in Oneida 
county. The upper layers at Rathbone’s, near Newport on West Canada creek, are of a grey 
color, but rather of a fine-grained structure. The grey limestone, from often being in thick 
Geol. 3d Dist. 7 
