LEWIS COUNTY. 
269 
At Lowville, the ore exists in the joints of the rock ; and the fact of its existence in the 
body of the limestone at Martinsburgh, is a further proof of the truth of the view of the origin 
of veins, set forth in the first report of the survey of the fourth district, namely, a connection 
between the rock and the vein, one being the source of the materials, and the other the re¬ 
cipient or place of reception or deposit. The facts at these deposits show clearly that the 
whole of the materials were originally deposited together ; then followed that degree of soli¬ 
dity necessary to produce cracks or fissures, caused by contraction either from cooling or 
drying, or fracture from disturbance ; the contraction being the more probable cause, without 
doubt, of the jointed structure of rocks, from their almost universality. After this action as 
in septaria, a movement of the crystalline particles to the fissures took place, in virtue of the 
great surface of the joints presenting a mass of attraction to the moving particles, which is 
necessary in crystallization as is well known. The cause of the preference of the metallic 
particles for the east and west joints, is yet obscure. It is connected in all probability with 
the motion of the earth upon its axis ; and were the connection, which undoubtedly exists, 
between electrical and centrifugal forces established, the cause would be known; for the 
metallic particles, in that case, would be moved by that power which had for them the greatest 
attraction. 
The Utica slate, as in all its other localities, rests upon the Trenton limestone, rising by a 
gentle slope comparatively, and forming the base of the high grounds which extend along the 
whole of the west side of the limestone range. It is from one to three miles broad, presenting 
the same characters, mineral and fossil, as in the other counties. It appears in all the creeks, 
showing generally high walls or banks, the result of the destroying action of concentrated 
waters. It curves rapidly to the north beyond Copenhagen, near to which, up Deer river, it 
appears. The slate, to the south of Martinsburgh, ranges for some miles parallel with the 
stage road to Rome, keeping within a quarter of a mile to the west of the road as far as the 
fork to Constableville, where it diverges more to the west from that road. Its range through 
the county is in a northwest direction, like those of the lower rocks. 
The Frankfort slate, and its thin layers of sandstone, follow the Utica slate, no line of 
demarkation being evident. At the south end of the county, it is about four miles west of 
Black river; passes by Constableville, advancing or receding from the river, as the hill of 
Utica slate, which commences upon the Trenton limestone, rises or falls; farther removed 
from the river where low, nearer where high. The sandstone shale of Pulaski follows it, 
being only distinguished by its fossils; the two masses forming a belt of from seven to ten 
miles wide, and broader at the extremities than in the centre. It is the mass upon which the 
waters divide east and west. The population diminishes going west from the range, the soil 
diminishing in fertility as it recedes from the limestone border. This outline of the elevated 
part is level. 
The Grey sandstone covers the residue of the county, being the southwest portion. The 
whole of it is yet but little inhabited, being covered with forest, and presenting an inclined 
surface to the west: all the inequalities of its surface are produced by the drainage of its 
present and former flow of waters. 
