RANGE OF PRIMITIVE LIMESTONE. 
61 
3. Another very handsome variety occurs in Warrensburgh, on the school lot, and a part of 
vv^hich is ow^ned by Mr. Prosser, who furnished the fine polished slab in the State Museum. 
The ground is a grey limestone, with large spots of green serpentine ; which, being diffused 
through the mass, gives it rather a mottled or clouded appearance. This is not always the 
character of the serpentine : in many places the particles of serpentine may be separated from 
the mass, like grains of coccolite. 
Range and Extent of Primitive Limestone. 
It is my object, in the next place, to indicate generally the range and extent of this rock ; 
though I am obliged to remark, that I labor under the same difficulties in defining the boun¬ 
daries of this mass, as in the case of granite: the same difficulties are to be encountered, 
since the same obscurities exist. This rock occurs so frequently in limited patches or beds, 
or is concealed by other rocks and soil, that it is impossible to trace out the relations which 
may exist. In carrying out my plan, I shall proceed, however, on the supposition that the 
primitive limestone pursues a somewhat direct course or range, and that the beds which lie in 
given directions from each other are connected beds, though there may be breaks and inter¬ 
ruptions by the intervention of other rocks, or concealment from overlying masses of soil and 
diluvial products. Even though this view may not prove literally correct, still it will assist in 
description, and give an order to my remarks ; and then the localities may, if chosen, be con¬ 
sidered as insulated beds, and no error need be committed by following the plan proposed. 
I shall commence the description of the range and extent of this rock at Rossie, St. Lawr 
rence county. The first beds worthy of notice, lie in the vicinity of Grass lake. They 
occur in low parallel ridges in gneiss or granite, and pursue a northerly course. 
We may probably regard these beds as forming a part of a belt of limestone which comes 
up from Jefferson county, and which lies along the eastern margin of the Potsdam sandstone, 
or that part of the rock which runs along between Hammond and Rossie. This sandstone, 
on the east of the main settlement of Hammond, is not broken up, so as to disclose the beds 
of limestone beneath it; but to the east of Rossie, on Grass lake, the sandstone is broken 
up, and appears in parallel ridges with low grounds intervening, in which it is not uncommon 
to find ranges of limestone accompanied with granite or gneiss. 
If the mass of limestone at Grass lake is a continuation of the rock from Jefferson county, 
we may assume Theresa falls as its western limit, and consider it as pursuing a northerly 
course. In following down Indian river, it appears as a very pure coarse limestone in a suc¬ 
cession of bluffs, sometimes on one, and then upon the other side of the river. It is every 
where accompanied by primitive rocks, which bear at one place the characters of gneiss, and 
at another those of granite. At Muscolunge lake, we find that remarkable mixture of granite 
and limestone, forming together a mass very subject to disintegration. Following the range 
of country adjacent to Indian river, numerous beds crop out by the side of the primitive rocks, 
passing on to the north on both sides of the river, as well as at Grass lake. Tracing this 
range still farther north, it appears first about half a mile north of the village of Rossie, and 
