286 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
for door-steps, the corners of buildings, and for the caps and sills of windows and doors in 
brick buildings. Strata of red argillo-calcareous marl, dove-colored and reddish variegated, 
limestone, and a reddish calcareous conglomerate or pudding-stone, are associated as sub¬ 
ordinate strata. 
Red and Grey Conglomerate. 
This rock is found in almost every part of the sandstone region, and many quarries of it 
have been opened for the purpose of supplying fire-stone for the hearths of iron furnaces. 
This stone is shipped to various parts of the country for this purpose, and no stone is known 
superior to it for durability. 
Isaac Van Houten’s quarry is one and one-fourth of a mile north of the New city. This 
quarry is the first that was worked for obtaining furnace hearths, and was opened about fifty 
years ago. It has not been worked during ihe last thirty years, until 1838. Mr. Joseph Bird 
has reopened it, and pays Mr. Van Houten ten dollars rent for every set of furnace hearths 
he quarries.* The quarry is two and a half miles from the landing; and a set of stones for 
a furnace hearth delivered there, is worth one hundred dollars. One stratum only is quarried 
for this purpose, and that is three feet thick. Another stratum above might be used, but it is 
stated to be too tender. This, and most of the quarries of sandstone, were examined by Prof. 
Cassels. The stone is very porous, and filled with rounded quartz pebbles. It is tender when 
first quarried, but becomes harder by exposure to the weather. The furnace men prefer that 
the stones should “ season ” one year before they are put into the furnace. 
Another quarry, owned by Mr. Cornelius Depew, is about half a mile north of Van Houten’s. 
Here the stone is grey at the surface, but red two feet below, so that the blocks contain both 
colors. The stone is stronger, finer grained, and not so tender as Van Houten’s, but in other 
respects similar. One stratum only is worked at this quarry. The grandson of Mr. Depew 
works this quarry, and pays fifteen dollars rent per set of blocks for a hearth. The hearths 
in the Greenwood, Woodbury, and Coldspring furnaces, in 1838, were from this quarry. 
Blauvelt’s quarry, three miles northwest of the New city, was worked in 1838 by Isaac 
Springstein. It is opened near the summit of the hill. The face exposed is about twenty 
feet high. The uppermost layer is five feet thick. The stone is soft and friable, and is used 
for furnace hearths, glass works, and for jambs. The proprietor receives thirteen dollars and 
twenty cents per set. 
Another quarry has been opened three miles north of the New city, by Richard Coe. It 
is the coarse grey sandstone, and near the junction of the trap and sandstone. 
Another quarry, one-fourth of a mile west of Coe’s quarry, has been opened by Levi Smith. 
This stone is also the grey sandstone, from near its junction with the trap rock. A locality 
was observed on the shore two or two and a half miles below Haverstraw, where the con¬ 
glomerate looks like a good fire-stone. The stratum is four or five feet thick. 
* A common hearth requires fourteen blocks of stone, ten of which contain each about twenty cubic feet, and four each about 
len cubic feet; or in the whole, two hundred and forty cubic feet. 
