256 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
have caused irregular broken steps or terraces from the back to the top of the cliff, called the 
“ broken grounds,” about a quarter of a mile long, and twenty to twenty-five rods wide. The 
bank is about sixty feet above the tide level. White clay also occurs on Mr. Rodgers’ farm. 
Clay balls are also found near Mr. Rodgers’, on the beach. They are reddish, and doubtless 
come from the bed of reddish clay. 
On the east side of Stonybrook harbor, clay occurs near Mr. Wickham’s mills ; also about 
one mile south of Stonybrook harbor, on Mr. Mills’ farm. Mr. M. dug a well here one 
hundred and eighty feet deep. A stratum of clay, five feet thick, was passed through near 
the surface; the remainder of the depth was through sand and gravel, until they reached the 
solid rock at one hundred and eighty feet below the surface. 
Near Crane point, ferruginous sandstone, conglomerate, and nodules of iron ore were found 
on the beach, that had fallen from the cliffs ; but as the sand had slidden down, the strata of 
which the cliff is composed could not be seen. These masses of sandstone, conglomerate 
and iron ore, were like those of Lloyd’s neck, and the formation is doubtless the same. The 
cliffs from Stonybrook harbor to Crane point are twenty to seventy feet high, but their stra¬ 
tification could not be seen. Judging from the materials of the sand-banks, and the rolled 
lumps of clay on the beach, the strata are probably the same as on Lloyd’s neck, and West 
and East necks. 
At Old Field light-house, a well of twenty feet passed through a few feet of superficial 
sand and gravel, and the remainder through the variegated clay. White clay also occurs near 
this place. 
Near Setauket is a yellow ochreous sand, that has been used for making yellow ochre. 
Ten bushels of the sand yielded two and a half of ochre. 
On Van Brunt’s neck, Brookhaven township, nodules of iron ore were found on the beach. 
They are like those of Lloyd’s neck ; and the geological formation of the cliffs, and the neck, 
is supposed to be similar. The sliding sands from the cliffs sixty to ninety feet high, con¬ 
cealed the stratification. 
On the shore of Mount Misery neck, fossil wood converted into iron ore, and loose rolled 
lumps of clay, were found at the base of the sand cliffs, and were like those of Lloyd’s neck. 
Clay has been dug on the west side of Mount Misery, for bricks. 
The sandy gritty clay was found near the shore at Rocky point, between Miller’s place and 
Swezey’s landing. It also occurs at Swezey’s landing, and between that place and Wading 
river. 
The whole shore from Eaton’s neck to Oysterpond point, except where marshes or beaches 
intervene, is skirted by the sands of the Long-island division, containing beds of clay, capped 
in many places by the drift and quaternary deposits ; but most of it, at the time examined, 
had its stratification more or less concealed by the crumbling and sliding down of the sands, 
except between Wading river and Oysterpond point, which I examined soon after the storm 
of the eleventh and twelfth of October, 1836. 
The dark colored gritty clay, containing sand, gravel and pebbles, was observed about a 
mile and a half northeast of Soulhold on the shore. Its strata are very undulating. In the 
