272 
GEOLOGY OF THE THIRD DISTRICT. 
gypseous hills rise at the south upon the red shale, with their surface more or less rounded, 
and extend to the foot of the Limestone or Helderberg range. The edge of the range shows 
an elevation of over one hundred feet above the gypseous rocks. The surface rises to the 
south by every additional rock, the whole of the rocks of the county going from Lake Oneida 
south, and showing the order of their superposition ; the lowest being at the lake, the highest 
at the south of the county, and the intermediate ones occupying the intervening space. 
Between the ridge and the lake, the Clinton group, the Niagara group and the Onondaga 
salt group occur, the first being the lowest mass of the county. It borders the lake, with the 
exception probably of a small part to the west of Joscelin’s corners, where the second group 
by a prolonged line would appear. It shows the red fossiliferous iron ore, the most important 
product of the group, in two places, and in quantity; the ore being found on Donnelly’s farm 
at the east end of Lenox, and at Joscelin’s corners, of which sufficient detail was given under 
the head of the group. There are indications of the same ore at Munger’s post-office on the 
lake shore, and also at Robert Bushnell’s. At this latter place, there is the hard sandstone of 
the group, in part calcareous and encrinal, and suitable for building purposes. 
To the south, the Lockport group extends east and west, and disappears at its south side 
under the Cowasolon swamp. It is composed of blackish colored limestone, usually with 
a highly crystalline grain resembling fine sand, and bluish colored shaly slate. It appears 
generally as a low ridge between the lake and the swamp, often covered with gravel. The 
limestone shows itself at the surface on the farms of Joseph Clark and Enos Hubard in Sul¬ 
livan, and Capt. Hood and Mr. Adams in Lenox, etc. No fossils were noticed in it. It makes 
a strong lime, but is of a dark color, owing to iron and manganese. It is the highest rock as 
to level of all that section, and appears to have escaped destruction by its hardness. 
Between the gypseous hills and the lake, there appear to be a series of low ridges, sandy, 
gravelly and loamy, whose course is somewhat east and west, or parallel with the lake. Be¬ 
tween those ridges, the soil is more or less clayey, usually yellowish, and forming a con¬ 
siderable portion of the swampy surface of that section of the county. The clay, from its 
color, appears to have been derived from the shale of the Clinton group. 
Cowasolon swamp forms a part of the same space : it occupies an area of about ten thou¬ 
sand acres, nearly the whole of which, it appears, can be drained. Before any drainage was 
commenced, it was covered with muck or peat, under which lake marl appears in all places 
examined. An attempt was made to drain the swamp, by cutting a ditch to the lake. The 
ditch was fourteen feet deep, and carried off a large portion of the water, and uncovered the 
marl to great extent, which was very pure and white, strongly contrasting with the muck. 
Though no particular examination was made, it was evident from the velocity of the water at 
the drain, that it could be deepened. 
Were a good system of drainage established, a large body of land could be brought under 
cultivation, which now lies worse than useless, along the low level, extending from Rome to 
the fourth district. To the acquisition of good land would be added that of a plentiful supply 
of lake marl, which, if properly hardened by drying, could be prepared for chalk, whiting 
and paris white, and for lime and agricultural purposes ; to say nothing of the muck, of which 
