450 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
rel ought to be estimated. Most of this limestone is grey, but some is black and variegated, 
and might make a pretty marble. 
Farther south and west, where this limestone approaches the plutonic rocks, it is metamor- 
phic, as at the two following localities: 
1. The “ marble quarry,” as it is called, is on the banks of the Minishecongo creek, about 
two and a half miles west of Grassy point. The most extravagant reports were circulated in 
relation to this quarry soon after its discovery. The rock is composed of serpentine, chlorite^ 
diallage, hornblende, limestone and other substances ; and is such a mixture of materials of 
different degrees of hardness, that it could never be polished with advantage, even if it could 
be easily quarried. 
2. A limestone quarry has been opened about three-fourths of a mile west of Capt. De 
Camp’s, in Haverstraw, on land belonging to John Brooks. Much of the stone is white, gra¬ 
nular, crystalline limestone, with thin tortuous black veins of the same material; and if good 
blocks of this character could be obtained, it would make a beautiful marble. Specimens are 
deposited in the State Collection. This stone is said to make a fine lime, and one or two kilns 
of it have been burnt. 
Granitic, sienitic, and hornblendic rocks are near to these localities ; and the proximity of 
these plutonic rocks is probably the cause of the altered characters of the limestone, and the 
intermixture of various mineral substances with it, 
Metamorphic limestones of Putnam county. 
In tracing these limestones in Dutchess county, we left them in Pawlings. The same 
granular dolomitic limestone extends south into Patterson, where it is well exposed to view 
from the north line of Patterson to three or four miles south of the village. It is associated 
with mica slate and a fissile micaceous gneiss rock. The limestone in the valley of Patterson 
contains tremolite in some places. About two and a half miles south of Patterson, the limestone 
is quarried for lime, and forms a superior article. Sixty cords of wood are consumed in burn¬ 
ing a kiln of two thousand bushels. The price of this lime is fifty cents per bushel. Much 
of this stone seems well adapted for a building stone. The rock is granular, strongly cohe¬ 
rent, and in color varies from bluish to white. The rock is not fitted for a marble, as the 
tremolite would make it difficult to saw. 
Another quarry has been opened within a mile of the village of Patterson.. 
About a mile west of Patterson, a ridge of gneiss highly impregnated' with pyrites, lies 
between strata of limestone. The strata through this region dip to the eastward nearly ver¬ 
tically. 
Limestone of the same general characters occurs in Southeast, in the valley of the Croton 
river. It may be seen along the road about a mile above Owensville, and one mile and a half 
west of Peach pond.* 
I may be permitted here to mention a circumstance that should have been mentioned on page 41 of this volume. The 
