STEUBEN COUNTY. 
481 
posed to be unfailing evidences of coal beneath. The work is at present abandoned, until 
some new excitement, or reported exhibition of burning gas, shall induce others to engage in 
the enterprise. In the shale thrown from this digging I found Cypricardia, Avicula, and several 
other fossils. On the east side of the valley, opposite Hammondsport, a similar ravine exposes 
the same strata as those just described. 
One mile northwest of Bath there is a stratum of very tough argillo-calcareous rock, three 
feet thick ; the mass is filled with fragments of crinoidal columns, presenting surfaces like the 
finest birdseye maple. This furnishes some of the finest building and foundation stone, and 
should it be of such a quality as to receive a fine polish, it will be a valuable acquisition to 
the mineral wealth of the county. A large species of Strophomena and Deltliyris occur in the 
lower part of the mass. 
The rocks of the Chemung group continue along the valley of the Conhocton to Painted- 
Post, and as far up the Tioga as the south line of the State ; the tops of the high hills excepted, 
which are capped by the conglomerate in a few places. 
The valley of the Canisteo is bounded on both sides by almost unbroken ranges of rocks 
of the same group. The same rocks are seen along the valley of Five-mile creek, which 
appears to have been formerly a continuation of the Canandaigua lake valley, and the com¬ 
munication between that valley and the Conhocton. 
The soil of Steuben, though not as favorable for the production of grain as the northern 
counties, is one of the best sections for grazing. From the valleys, the high country seems 
broken and uneven ; but this is confined to the immediate edges of the hills, for after ascending 
to the table land, we find a beautiful undulating surface, which, when farther cultivated and 
cleared of forests, will prove one of the best grass-growing regions in the State. These 
remarks apply also to Chemung county ; and in all the elevated portions of both, the water 
is pure and soft. 
The facilities for communication in this county are very great; and when the New-York 
and Erie railroad shall be completed, the lateral valleys will afford thoroughfares from all 
parts of the county. Uneven as its surface is represented, the valleys of the Conhocton, 
Canisteo, Tioga, Five-mile creek, and numerous others, furnish means of establishing smooth 
and permanent roads from almost every part of the county. 
The high banks on either side of the valley of the Tioga expose the outcropping edges of the 
strata, and numerous small quarries are opened for the extraction of the thin layers of sand¬ 
stone everywhere interstratified with the shale. The hills are capped by thin layers of sand¬ 
stone, with less shale than below, reddish or brownish in color, and highly micaceous. These 
upper portions, so far as observed, are less distinctly characterized by fossils. 
The rocks, at the south line of the State and near the river level, consist of hard, thick 
strata of grey sandstone, a part containing abundance of Strophomena and Deltliyris , and 
succeeded by a thick concretionary mass. The grey sandstone forms a fine material for 
building, and more durable than any other in this part of the country. Farther west, and a 
[Geol. 4th Dist.] 61 
