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GEOLOGY OF THE FOURTH DISTRICT. 
CHAPTER X. 
Mineral and Gas Springs rising from the Rocks of the New- York System in the 
Fourth District. 
The general phenomena of springs have been noticed under each rock or group, where 
there existed any circumstances to modify their production, or otherwise affect their fre¬ 
quency or copiousness. The origin of all the springs of pure water, or that of ordinary 
purity, is simple and readily understood ; in other instances, there seems more obscurity 
attendant upon them. 
In this district the only mineral springs of interest are the salines, the sulphur springs, the 
inflammable gas springs, and the springs of Canoga, yielding nitrogen. 
1. Nitrogen Springs. 
The only springs in the district which are known to yield nitrogen, are at Canoga in Seneca 
county. One only is very copious, and, therefore, the only one usually noticed. It is situ¬ 
ated at the base of a gentle slope, and near the southern termination of the Corniferous 
limestone. The basin is not over six feet in diameter, but the water rises, in less quantity, 
over a space of twenty feet. The sand and gravel are kept in continual agitation, rising in 
little cones, and again falling away and appearing at another point. The water, in its ascent, 
is accompanied by nitrogen gas, which rises to the surface in large quantities. The force of 
the water and the escape of the gas give the spring the appearance of a boiling vat. The 
water is perfectly limpid, and leaves no sediment of any kind; it first spreads over a bottom 
of gravel and boulders, from which the finer parts have been removed for several rods, and 
then flows quietly through a narrow channel towards the lake. The outlet of this spring is 
joined by a similar smaller one, which flows in from the northeast. There are also several 
points in a swamp near this, where the same gas issues. 
These springs have all the characters, except temperature, of the thermal springs along the 
eastern border of the State, the gas from which is known to be chiefly nitrogen. The springs 
of Canoga, with several in Franklin county, N. Y., are the only ones I have seen yielding 
nitrogen, which were not above the ordinary temperature of the place. The temperature 
of these springs is about 40°, Fahrenheit’s scale. 
