472 
GEOLOGY OF THE FOURTH DISTRICT. 
In the town of Newstead, a mass of partially decomposed clay and sand lies between the 
water-lime and Onondaga limestone ; it is about six inches or a foot thick, highly stained with 
iron, and exhibiting a partially conglomerated appearance. Jn this are several peculiar coral¬ 
line fossils. It occupies the place of the Oriskany sandstone, and is its only representative. 
The demand for lime in the city of Buffalo, renders the existence of this limestone range 
of the greatest importance to the inhabitants. There are burned annually, in this county, 
from 27,000 to 30,000 bushels of lime, and this amount is greatly increased in times of com¬ 
mercial prosperity. 
The kilns at which this lime is made, are nearly all situated between Clarence-hollow on the 
east, and three miles west of Williamsville. Along this distance there is a thick mass of lime¬ 
stone free from hornstone, consisting principally of grey crystalline rock, filled with crinoidal 
joints and other coralline remains. 
The great accumulations of drift upon the southern slope of the terrace prevents, for the 
most part, the examination of the shales above the limestone. It is only in a few places along 
the Eleven-mile creek and the Cayuga creek that they can be seen; and these exposures are 
very partial, and would lead to little information concerning the rocks, did we not know their 
character at places farther east. 
Following the latter stream below Alden, we trace its course in a deep alluvium, till near the 
line between Alden and Lancaster, where it crosses the limestone which is exposed by the 
creek for a considerable extent. The shales are slightly seen in several places on the Cayuga 
creek, but the banks almost continuously are of alluvium, from ten to twenty feet in depth. 
The junction of the Little Buffalo with the Cayuga creek exhibits the calcareous mass, which 
separates the upper Marcellus from the shale above. The lower Marcellus shale is seen at 
only one place on the Cayuga creek, and here only in the bed of the stream. 
On the Seneca creek, and the Cazenovia creek, on the Indian reservation, these shales oc¬ 
cur ; and here we find them much better developed than elsewhere in the county, except on 
the lake shore. Near the Indian council-house on the Cazenovia creek, appears the lime¬ 
stone separating the upper and lower Marcellus shales. It abounds in a trochus-shaped 
fossil, and in fragments of Orthocene. This is the only place, so far as T know, where this 
mass is visible in Erie county. The lake shore, for eight miles above Buffalo, exhibits no 
rocks ; the whole country is low and nearly level, constituting what was formerly designated 
“ the swamp.” 
At Comstock’s tavern, the shale appears for the first time on the lake shore. Beyond this, 
the shale becomes more fossiliferous, containing Delthyris, Atrypa, Strophomena, Calymene, 
etc. These increase in numbers as we ascend, and finally in many places the rock is com¬ 
pletely loaded with them, particularly at Eighteen-mile creek. 
The Encrinal limestone, below the Moscow shale, is here a very distinct stratum; and being 
undermined by the action of the waves, it falls down in large slabs, which furnish a very good 
building and foundation stone. 
The under side of this limestone is covered with a coating of iron pyrites, which has been 
wrought to some extent, on the supposition that it was silver. 
