98 
GEOLOGY OF THE THIRD DISTRICT. 
The second deposit appears to be variable as to the color of its products. In some, red 
predominates; in others, the green, bluish and drab, and in some the red is wanting alto¬ 
gether. In this deposit, gypsum occurs in fibrous masses, either reddish or of a salmon 
color, which colors are peculiar to this deposit. The quantity of gypsum in this deposit 
appears to be small: all the quarries examined were in the third deposit. Recent excava¬ 
tions are the best for examining the products of this mass, in consequence of the ready alte¬ 
ration which some of the shales undergo by exposure to the air, from their friable or marly 
character. 
This deposit is not founded upon any observations out of the three gypseous counties, 
Madison, Onondaga and Cayuga; though doubtless it exists at least through Oneida, but of 
little consequence in a practical point of view. In digging a well in the Indian reservation 
to the south of Vernon village, the products thrown out were those of the middle deposit; 
among which was fibrous gypsum: this was on a farm tenanted by Mr. Schoolcraft. The 
well was eighty feet deep, and no water was obtained. In the other parts of the same neigh¬ 
borhood (Baschard’s Patent), gypsum of the same kind has been found on three farms be¬ 
longing to Mr. Jacobs. The latter information was given by Mr. Salmon Case of Vernon. 
In no part of the whole range to the east of this locality, has any gypsum been found, though 
in such prodigious quantity to the west. 
Near to Sodom lake, on the road from the foot of the lake to Manlius Centre, a well was 
excavated in this deposit at Eliakim Smith’s. The rock of the well, and the products thrown 
out, were greenish and grey indurated marl, with white and red fibrous gypsum. There was 
no difference between the products of this well and those of a digging for salt water in the 
Salt valley near Abingdon, Virginia. The same products too- were obtained in another well 
about fifty-five feet deep, on the road to Orville, about a mile east of Syracuse. Like pro¬ 
ducts are observable in descending to Orville from the latter village. In all these localities, 
the parts excavated were below the level of the range worked for plaster. 
The second and third deposits of the group have a common character, that of being 
exceedingly permeable to water. This fluid cannot be obtained on any of the hills composed 
of either mass, where the wells sink into them, unless sunk to the level of the water courses ; 
a fact which readily explains the absence of all brine springs above the level of the country. 
In one place only, I succeeded in finding fossils in the second deposit, consisting of cythe- 
rinse about half the size of those in the groups above, and those below the salt group. They 
occur in a thin layer of calciferous slate, which makes a large portion of the third 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 second deposit. 
Third or Gypseous Deposit. This is the most valuable deposit of the third district, and 
the most important, not only on account of its plaster beds, but because it is onty in this 
deposit that we have positive evidence that salt has existed in this group in a solid state, and 
therefore the only source from whence the brine springs of Onondaga, Cayuga and Madison 
could have been derived, from what is known of the rocks of the district. 
