474 
GEOLOGY OF THE FOURTH DISTRICT. 
and Mr. Jones ; they are here characterized by a fucoid vertical to the strata. Half a mile 
east of Griffin’s mill, the same mass is quarried by the road side. 
On lot 22, six miles west of Springville, on Mr. Pack’s farm, two quarries have been opened 
in this rock. There are also two other quarries about one mile north of Springville. The 
stones from all these are usually thin, though affording good material for ordinary building 
purposes. 
This group commences at the ascent south of the Indian reservation. The thicker sandy 
portions occupy the brow of the hills or most elevated situations, while the whole slopes off to 
the north in proportion as the hard layers diminish. Thin flag-stones and building stones are 
obtained from the upper part of this group everywhere in the county south of the Indian 
reservation. 
The soil between the top of the limestone terrace and the Indian reservation on the south, 
is for the most part a gravelly loam, though in many places it possesses different characters ; 
towards the Niagara river, in the lower grounds around Buffalo, the soil is clayey. For some 
distance east of Buffalo, and particularly near the creek, it is a clayey loam, being adhesive 
when wet, but readily crumbling when dry. 
Along the Cayuga creek, in many places, there are deep accumulations of gravel. When¬ 
ever the shale approaches the surface, it produces a clayey soil; but this is a small proportion 
of the whole, which is mainly of materials from farther north, as limestone, sandstone and 
argillaceous matter from the salt group north of the terrace. On the north side of the creek, 
in the towns of Alden and Lancaster, a deep gravel deposit extends for several miles. In 
its eastern termination it is more loamy, and the soil south of the creek possesses the same 
character, or becomes clayej'. For the most part, the soil along the outcrop of the black shale, 
and for a little distance north, is clayey; but this is often concealed by the gravel deposit. 
The present stream runs in a narrow channel with a gravelly bottom ; from four to ten feet 
above, a level bottom land spreads out on both sides for a quarter to one mile. This 
bottom is composed of fine loam, and evidently has resulted from quiet waters, both from its 
.nature and its evenness. The sides of these flats are terminated by banks from fifteen to 
thirty feet high, sometimes rising gently, at other times abruptly. These banks, which appear 
to be the limit of the former stream, or estuary through which a stream flowed, are of mixed 
materials, coarse and fine gravel, sand and loam. The general character of the soil of these 
high banks is gravelly, and its extent on either side of the creek is variable. Sometimes, 
beyond this there is a second ascent or terrace, particularly where we come into the region 
of the rocks above the Genesee slate, and the sides of this are also covered with gravel to a 
certain height. 
Round gravel, however, occurs but sparingly at an elevation much more than two hundred or 
three hundred feet above Lake Erie. The soil above this elevation is of a different character, 
being what is often and very expressively termed “ flat gravel .” By this is meant, that 
fragments of rock contained in the soil are flat and angular, having never been subjected to 
wearing action sufficient to smooth them. 
