478 
GEOLOl'Y OF THE FOURTH DISTICT. 
In the vicinity of Millport, and farther south, the sandstone layers attain a thickness of a 
foot or more, and are quarried for works on the canal and various other purposes ; and at 
Pine valley, the sandy layers of the rock are quarried in two places. Mr. Sexton, the owner 
of the last, informs me that the firmest layers of sandstone often pass into shale, so as to be 
unfit for any useful purpose. This appears to be unlike the thinning out of the layer ; but 
the proportion of argillaceous matter becomes so great that the mass crumbles on exposure. 
At Maybee’s quarry, a mile and a half east of Horseheads, the rocks are quarried for the 
sandstone which is used for flagging, step stones, etc. These layers are highly siliceous and 
compact; and sometimes contain a few fossils. They alternate with thick masses of shale ; 
often several layers of the former separated by thin seams of the latter; and again, a thick 
mass of shale containing no sandstone. A similar quarry has been opened by Mr. Tuilegar, 
four or five miles east of Elmira; here the layers are very uniform, from half an inch to two 
inches thick, and dividing by the vertical joints into slabs from six inches to two or three feet 
wide, and from four to six feet long. The sandstone contains a few specimens of Atrypa, but 
the greater proportion of fossils are found in the shales. Wisner’s quarry, near the village 
of Elmira, is in a lower position in the group, and the rocks are almost destitute of fossils. 
The rocks of this group, containing an abundance of fossils, occur on a small creek coming 
into the Chemung valley from the northwest, and also on the Singsing creek, passing through 
Bigflats. On the south side of the Chemung river, in Southport, the banks of the valley 
exhibit the rocks of this group with their peculiar fossils. 
Between Elmira and Chemung they are seen at numerous points, but nowhere in the county 
so well as at the Chemung upper narrows, about eleven miles below Elmira. Here the exca¬ 
vation for the road along the margin of the river has exposed more than one hundred feet of 
rocks, containing abundance of the characteristic fossils, and in their greatest beauty and per¬ 
fection. At a certain point in the mass exposed, we find a peculiar coralline fossil, confined 
to a thin stratum, and extending along the whole distance of the exposed rocks ; it has also 
been found at other localities. 
The mountain above the rocks exposed, at Chemung narrows, rises four hundred or five 
hundred feet, and is probably capped, as some of the hills in the neighborhood, by the con¬ 
glomerate, which is the limit of the Chemung group upward. Farther south, near Tioga 
point, rocks of the same group occur in the bank from one hundred to two hundred feet above 
the river, and some of the sandstone layers are three or four feet thick, and highly siliceous. 
I was informed, that on the top of the hill, the conglomerate is quarried for use on some of the 
public works below Tioga point. 
At the Chemung upper narrows, and at several other localities, there occurs in this group 
a stratum of concretionary sandstone of a peculiar character. In a few instances only are 
the concretions perfectly formed, but generally have one side imperfect, with a solid nucleus 
partially surrounded with concentric laminae, which easily separate from each other ; the con¬ 
cavity being often so great as to contain several gallons. 
In the valley of Cayuta creek, the group is well exposed in a ravine three miles north of 
Facloryville, where fine flagstones could easily be obtained. In the north part of Barton are 
