CHAUTAUQUE COUNTY. 
493 
All the important quarries in this county were enumerated in the Annual Report of 1840, 
and, therefore, need not be repeated in this place. They afford but little variety ; and, from 
whaf is known of the same group of rocks here and elsewhere, no other economical or valua 
ble products are to be expected from these rocks than the ordinary quarry stones. 
CHAUTAUQUE COUNTY. 
The general face of the country in this county resembles that of all the southern counties 
in the district. It differs in some degree, however, in its soil, which is of a loamy character 
in a greater proportion than many others. The hills, although of the same nature, are less 
elevated, either from the general elevation having originally been less, or that the abrading 
action has been more effective. The latter may perhaps be the cause, as the proportion of 
hard materials is less, than farther east, and there is also evidence that the rocks all grow 
thinner on going westward, and in Ohio the highest rocks of Chautauque county are but a 
few hundred feet above Lake Erie. 
It has been ascertained from surveys, that the highest parts of this county do not attain so 
great an elevation, by two hundred feet, as some parts of Cattaraugus and Allegany. The 
broad valley of the Conewango on the east side bounds the county by a depression of five 
hundred to eight hundred feet lower than the high hills ; while on the north, the deep gorge 
of the Cattaraugus creek is even lower than that of Conewango. On the northwest side we 
descend, in the distance of five to eight miles, from an elevation of about two thousand feet 
above tide water, to Lake Erie, (which is five hundred and sixty feet above the sea,) nearly all 
the descent being in the first three or four miles. This is a remarkable feature in Chautau¬ 
que county, and one which can only be accounted for by supposing the abrasion and removal 
of the materials once filling this space. 
Another remarkable feature in Chautauque county, is the existence of the lake of the same 
name, the northern extremity of which is only eight miles distant from Lake Erie, and yet 
empties its waters by the Conewango, Allegany, Ohio and Mississippi into the Atlantic. This 
lake is sixteen miles long and twelve hundred and ninety-one feet above tide water, and seven 
hundred and twenty-six feet above Lake Erie. It is a beautiful sheet of water, bounded on 
its eastern side by gravelly sloping banks, and on the west by more level and in some places 
marshy shores. The channels of the streams flowing into the Allegany are all more than 
twelve hundred feet above tide; the valleys and hills range at all points between this height 
and two thousand feet. 
To superficial observation there are few rocks to be seen in Chautauque county, but exami¬ 
nations made along the deep ravines prove the existence of all the great masses further east, 
and from the destruction of which the soil of the county is mostly produced. 
Along the lake shore, from near Cattaraugus creek to the State line, we find the banks are 
