CLINTON GROUP. 
81 
to the west, between the creek and Lathrop’s public house, the sandstone, highly colored with 
iron, is seen in one or two places along the road, and the red laminated sandstone also. 
The creek which flows to the east of Mr. Shawl’s house, a branch of the Squak, shows near 
the road the drab shale and calciferous layers or slate of the Onondaga salt group, and before 
reaching the falls, a number of the products of the Clinton group, both in place and loose in 
the bottom of the creek. 
Near the falls, is the red sandstone having a laminated structure ; below which is sandstone 
and conglomerate, slightly colored red; then two feet of green shale, beneath which is conglo¬ 
merate resting upon the Frankfort slate. The iron ore was not seen in place, but the fragments 
found in the creek showed that it existed there. 
The brook which passes by Wicks’ store in the town of Stark, exposes more of the members 
of the group, and the order of arrangement is better observed there than in the creeks to the 
east. The conglomerate is there not over two feet thick ; it is followed by shale ; then white 
sandstone with pebbles, etc. which appears immediately under the bridge. Higher up is red 
laminated sandstone ; then layers of green sandstone with shale, upon which is a greyish white 
sandstone with some shale and fucoids. This sandstone is the grey band of Prof. Eaton, and 
is the terminal mass of the Clinton group. The grey band first appears at Crill’s, about a 
mile to the east of Wicks’ store, but the mass is not so thick as at the brook. It is of impor¬ 
tance, being the only rock to the east which contains gypsum in profitable quantity. The 
discovery of this mineral was owing to an extensive excavation having been made in that part 
of the group, at Mr. Crill’s, from a belief that silver ore there existed. About twenty to thirty 
tons of gypsum were obtained, and of the same good quality with that of Nova-Scotia. Besides 
the white sandstone and the gypsum which were thrown out in making the exploration, there 
was greenish sandstone, dark olive shale resembling some of the dark unaltered gypseous shale, 
and some blue fibrous sulphate of strontian in plates, and the same probably, but in crystals, 
lining cavities in the sandstone, the latter also enveloping the gypsum : some of it so soft as 
to crumble readily into sand. For more detail, see Report for 1838. 
The red laminated sandstone appears in a field to the northeast of Crill’s, at a lower level, 
on the farm of Jacob Wright. The diagonal divisions are very straight, and two or more inches 
thick. When first seen, it has the appearance of a highly inclined rock, the lines of lamination 
being so much more prominent than those of the layers. Its color is a blood red ; and like the 
same sandstone of other localities, it is coarse grained, and the oxide of iron appears to have 
coated the grains of sand. The surface of the regular layers is slightly coated with green 
shale, by which the two sets of divisions in this rock are readily distinguished. 
At Tisdale or Crugar’s mill in the town of Warren, there is a favorable locality for the 
observation of the grey band, the same being fifty or more feet thick. The water of the mill 
passes over it. A portion of the upper layer contains some smooth vertical fucoids placed 
near to each other, giving to the rock a columnar appearance. The ravine below, known by 
the names of Fox hollow and Plattkill, is much encumbered with fallen materials and soil, so 
that the succession is not readily observed. Some yards below the grey band, is red sand¬ 
stone with a sparkling grain, and another in thin layers with fucoids upon the surface, of the 
Geol. 3d Dist. 11 
