318 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRIGT. 
perhaps some similar localities, where some derangement in the position of the strata has 
been effected on or near the lines of disturbance, is very slight; being, in the valley of the 
Delaware, to the northwest and west; in the Mamakating valley, to the west-northwest; on 
the Helderberg mountains, to west and southwest; and on the south side of the Mohawk 
valley, to the southwest and south. 
The rocks of the Erie division occupy, in the aggregate, a thickness of several hundred, 
probably two thousand feet. They extend far to the west and southwest, and form the sur¬ 
face rocks over at least one-third part of the States of Ohio and Kentucky, lying between the 
Cliff limestone and the Coal formation.* 
Joints traverse the rocks of the Erie division, and the vertical seams are more smooth and 
regular in these rocks than in any other parts of the geological series examined. The direc¬ 
tions of the two main systems are N.N.E. to S.S.W., and E.S.E. to W.N.W. 
The only rock of the Erie division that is worked extensively for economical purposes, is 
a stratum of flagging stones. It has various local names, as the Saugerties, Kingston, Cox- 
sackie and North-river flag-stone. This stone forms a stratum which is generally about two 
feet in thickness, and can be split out in slabs of from ten to one hundred square feet, and 
from one to six inches thick. The rock is traversed by joints that divide the slabs about 
perpendicular to their layers, and smooth as if cut by a saw. There are two, sometimes 
three sets of these joints which divide the rock into regular blocks, and facilitate the labors 
of the quarrymen. Similar joints traverse the whole rock series under examination. These 
joints are remarkable for their smoothness, and are nearly uniform in their directions. 
The stratum of flag-stone is from seven hundred to one thousand feet above the Helderberg 
limestone series. It is quarried in Sullivan county, for the supply of that and Orange coun¬ 
ties ; but the principal quarries are in Ulster, Greene and Albany counties. It has been 
estimated that fifty loads per day pass through Kingston to the landing for five months in the 
)’-ear, for shipment to New-York and other places, which would give about 900,000 feet 
as the amount shipped from Kingston. Saugerties, Coxsackie, Bristol and New-Baltimore, 
send in the aggregate about 2,500,000 feet more. The aggregate amount of flagging stone 
quarried in Sullivan, Ulster, Greene and Albany counties, may be supposed to be about 
3,500,000 feet per annum. 
The principal quarries near Kingston are owned by Judge Hasbrouck, who leases them 
to quarrymen for five dollars per thousand feet; and as each square yard will give, on an 
average, from fifty to seventy feet, each acre may be conceived to yield three hundred thou¬ 
sand feet, and thus give the proprietor a clear income of fifteen hundred dollars per acre, 
from land which was purchased a few years since for one dollar per acre. 
This rock ranges from the Delaware river, through Sullivan and Ulster counties, nearly 
parallel to the Delaware and Hudson canal, to within four or five miles of Kingston; thence 
* The Catskill division, or Old Red-sandstone, is either wanting, or so slightly developed in those States as not to have been 
recognized. The rocks of the Erie division are extensively developed in several of the Western States. 
