NIAGARA COUNTY. 
443 
The pebbles along the lake shore are red sandstone, and greenish blue siliceous limestone, 
both containing fossils, the latter rock more abundantly. The fossils in these pebbles are 
Corallines , Orthoccrai , bivalve and univalve shells. Both the character of the stone, and 
the fossils, differ from any in the Fourth District. The mineralogical character of the pebbles 
along the lake shore farther east, is very similar, but they contain no fossils. The pebbles 
in the lake ridge, in Niagara county, exhibit the same fossils, and are precisely similar to 
those on the lake shore, all being from the Hudson river group. 
Abraded materials from the banks are transported by the water, and form bars and shoals 
at the mouths of smaller streams. The only river is the Niagara, and the immense body ot 
water brought down its channel entirely prevents any obstruction from depositions at its mouth, 
though there is doubtless a vast deposit in the bed of the lake where the current becomes 
neutralized. 
Boulders. 
Boulders of granite, and other rocks, are scattered over the northern part of the county, 
in some places the surface being literally covered with them, while in the southern part they 
are almost entirely absent. In this respect Niagara county differs from Monroe, where in the 
southern part boulders are very abundant and of large size. They are more abundant in the 
eastern part of this county than towards the Niagara river. These boulders appear to follow 
certain courses, and to extend in great profusion over certain districts ; this distribution appears 
to have been governed by some law, and we may yet arrive at data which will enable us to 
describe the drift, and its varying characters, with as much precision as we now do a stratum, 
or a series of strata in an older formation. 
Soil. 
The soil between the mountain and the lake ridges contains a large proportion of clay, 
although extremely fertile. The lake ridge and the soil, for a limited distance, on either side, 
is sandy or gravelly. North of the Ridge road, the soil for a short distance is clayey, except 
along the streams, where it is sandy. From the ridge to the lake shore, the prevailing 
soil is sandy loam, of a yellowish color, inclining to brown where the sandstone approaches 
the surface, as it does in many places. It contains carbonate of lime, which often cements 
the gravel below the surface. All kinds of crops flourish on this soil; and wheat, in Niagara, 
is considered better than in the counties adjoining. 
The indurated marl, or marly sandstone, does not admit the passage of water; and when 
it approaches the surface, unless on a declivity, the water is too long retained. The soil in 
these cases becomes wet and cold, and in rainy seasons the crops are sometimes injured. 
In some places in the northern part of this county there are alternations of a clayey with 
a sandy soil, often several miles in extent; and generally, in this part of the county, the soil 
seems divided into nearly equal proportions, in one of which sand predominates, and in the 
other clay. The sandy portions are a little elevated above the loam or clay soil, as if trans- 
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