218 
GEOLOGY OF THE THIRD DISTRICT. 
2. The second deposit consists of rolled stones and blackish sand, arranged in parallels in 
conformity to the outline of the first deposit. The stones are red and grey sandstone, dark- 
colored limestone like that of the Lockport group north, and of primary rock; they are all 
rounded, but not worn flat like those of the shores of the great lakes, being more like those 
of rivers, round but not discoidal. The surface of this deposit, like the first one, is also 
uneven, showing disturbance before the upper or third deposit was made. 
3. This differs also from the other two, as much as they differ from each other. It con¬ 
sists chiefly of red earth, as if derived from the destruction of the red shale. It contains also 
some of the stones of the second mass. Whole height of the three deposits about thirty-five 
feet. 
These three deposits are recognized in some of the borings at Syracuse. The upper one, 
which from its red earth is peculiar and easy to recognize, holds the same position in nume¬ 
rous places. The boring made by Major Byington on the hill at Salina, passed through it. 
The same red kind occurs in the valley south of Munsville. It is an extensive deposit north 
of Springport on Cayuga lake, and contains some lenticular crystals of gypsum to be again 
noticed in the report. It forms the upper deposit also on the west side of the outlet of Owasco 
lake, resting there upon a yellow sand, under which is a coarse grey sand. These deposits 
appear also at the village of Auburn, forming a ridge of thirty or forty feet high, which appa¬ 
rently gradually sinks in its progress south. 
The same upper alluvial was met with in the hill-side south of South-Onondaga village, 
and on the road from Marcellus to Clintonville ; between Peterboro’ and West-Hamilton, and 
in other places. 
The deposition of this mass upon the higher rocks is important; for if not raised from a 
lower to a higher level, it could only have been carried south at that ancient period when the 
rocks were greatly extended north, which must be the true explanation of this, as well as of 
other extensive deposits, which now hold in the third district a higher level than the present 
outcrop of the rock from whence they originated. 
There is another class of deposits, well defined as to position but irregular as to composition, 
which are worthy of note. They occur in the north and south valleys which are on the 
south of the Mohawk river and the Great level; or in other words, the Helderberg range forms 
generally the dividing line between their north and south waters. These waters anciently 
flowed in one same direction, through valleys still more ancient than themselves ; but they now 
separate, and flow over double inclined planes in opposite directions. 
The whole of these deposits have a common character. They are in short hills, quite high 
for their base, and are usually in considerable numbers. None were opened, and no opportu¬ 
nity offered to ascertain if any defined arrangement of their materials existed or had been made 
when deposited. They consist of gravel, of stones also of greater size, sand and earth. 
The first deposit is on Sauquoit creek near the furnace, the hills many and high; the 
next on the Oriskany, between the falls and Waterville; another is in the valley of Oneida 
creek, south of the point where it turns west, being the depression east of the village of 
