istics, quarries were opened on the land of T. Clarke, Esq., in the town of Sullivan. A large kiln was constructed, charged and burned, and the delivery was commenced, but soon arrested, for, upon trial, all parties were surprised at the absence of the usual characteristics of quick lime: no violent effervescence: no evolvement of heat as usual, upon the application of water to caustic lime; in short, it would not "slack." This failure of the contractors to produce quick lime, and the attendant circumstances, brought the subject to the notice of the engineers, Mr. Canvas White and Judge Wright. Mr. White had visited England with the intent to procure information in regard to the great public works of that nation to which end he had enquired into the nature of the various cements and limes: upon an examination of the stone from the Madison quarry, and experiments made with it in the presence of himself and Judge Wright, it was decided to be water lime, or cement, not inferior to the famed cements of Europe. Mr. White obtained a patent for making the cement: but his rights were evaded for many years; builders, in their ignorance, permitted prejudice to warp their judgments, and though used on the canal structures, it made its way to public favor very slowly. Great exertions were made to invalidate Mr. White's patent, which was, eventually (in 1825) compromised by the legislalative action of this State paying to him $10,000 for his right, and then throwing it open to the people.

The first successful production of water lime was in the year 1818-19, under the guidance of Mr. John B. Yates, yielding from four to five dollars per barrel, in a pulverized state. The water lime, prepared at Mr. Mathersons' quarries and kilns, is taken from a strata about three feet thick which when broken across, appears ribboned. North of Perryville, on the farm of Mr. F. Hand, is an extensive quarry and kiln for water lime; and another under the charge of Mr. Benjamin Cady, south of Canaseraga. In connexion with the limestone rock, near Perryville, a mass of hard blue or dark shale extends eastward, a distance of about five miles, forming a strata twenty-five feet in thickness, and interposed between the lime rock layers. This formation seems to have escaped

the State geologists, probably from its limited extent. No fossils are discoverable, and the cleavage and joints are similar to those of the Loraine shales. The limestone rock is rarely exposed to view except in ravines, because the deep and extensive beds of drift materials cover this region.

The rock next in the series is the Hamilton group, which covers nearly the southern half of the county. It is a dark blue slate or shale of great thickness, and is generally overlaid by a mass of fossiliferous blue slate, which is easily broken, and crunibles rapidly when exposed to the weather. This strata is known as Marcellus shale. It has been stated that the face of the country along the dividing ridge of hills, is not a continuous chain, but interrupted by valleys or channels in very irregular order, some of them having very abrupt sides. It would seem that when this region was submerged, and the current setting southward, the action of the waters swept away the softer shales, making the deepest channels in that portion of the rock which by fissures or seams was most easily displaced, and thus, when the waters subsided, the hill range presented a serrated appearance. This result is manifest, as springing from the water current; for on examination, the broken edges of the rock strata on opposing sides of hills in the same line, correspond in every character, as if once a continu

ous mass.

The dark color of the Hamilton group, arising from the large combination of vegetable matter, together with the natural effects of its decomposition producing a bitumen, has too often induced the unwary to dream of coal beds. An abortive attempt was made on the farm of Mr. Sage, in Cazenovia, to reach a coal deposit, by sinking a shaft to the depth of one hundred feet. Several equally fruitless attempts have been made at other points in the county; but intelligence is rapidly dispersing these idle dreams, giving to industrious labor more legitimate pursuits and desirable recompense.

A lime stone deposit is found next to the Hamilton group; it is the Tully limestone. It forms a line nearly across the State, though rarely apparent in this county. In the towns of De Ruyter, Georgetown, Nelson, and Lebanon, it may be seen in the ravines. At the hill, east of De Ruyter village, a layer of this limestone may be traced as lying upon the Hamilton rock, exhibiting the strata on every side of the hill, and above it is distinctly traceable the Portage rock. The same features are observable in the hill lying southwest of Woodstock; and in another hill in Nelson, where the lime strata is in position, near the summit. The exposure of this rock gives the inclination or dip as twenty-nine feet in the distance of one mile. This limestone does not produce a good caustic lime, yet is advantageously used as building stone.

The Portage group of rock follows the Tully limestone; the lower member is a dark shale; esteeming the Genesee slate as belonging to this group, it forms the upper strata, producing an excellent flagging stone, and tolerable building stone. Its character can be readily examined in Burdick's quarries, south of De Ruyter village. It crops out on the hill tops in De Ruyter, Georgetown, and Nelson. This completes the rock series upon which the soil of Madison county reposes.

The great masses of drift sand and gravel which cover the Hel- · derberg series, have been mentioned. Indeed they are so extensive that the junction of this series with the Hamilton rock, is not discoverable: yet the disruption of the lime bed must, at some period before the gravel deposit, have been extensive, for every town south of this series exhibits fragments of this rock, in pebbles or boulders: on the land, lot No. 38, in Lebanon, large blocks of lime stone are observable, some of which are equal to a ton in weight, and upon examination they exhibit the same fossils as appear in the Onondaga series, from which they are derived. So extensive is the deposit of limestone boulders in Lebanon, that kilns have been supplied with stone by collecting them from adjacent fields. The deposit of grey sand-stone and granite, show that much of the drift was brought from distances far north of this county. The

depth of gravel deposits in Cazenovia, near Mr. Ten Eyck's factory, is about 75 feet above the waters of the creek.

The most extensive and deepest deposits of drift, are found in the eastern part of the town of Madison, being near the village, one hundred feet deep. The difficulty of sinking effective wells in this region, is a serious one. Mr. Barton dug to a depth of one hundred feet, before finding water. In the town of Hamilton, the deposit has not been fathomed, but as the drift partakes of more clay, forming basins, water is more readily obtained.

In the town of Hamilton, the gravel drift extends over a surface two miles in width, from the northeast to the southwest corner of the town. Many similar deposits are observable in all the southern half of the county. The deposit on the northern half of the county, is a gravel composed of limestone fragments, mixed with a red clay and sand, derived from the Onondaga salt group. In this respect there is a general uniformity in the northern towns, yet a variation necessarily exists by reason of gravity depositing the heavier portions of gravel, and diminishing in size until the beds become more sandy and clayey.

Drift marks are observable in different parts of the county, indicating the direction of the currents depositing the soils. At the quarries of Mr. Sidney Roberts, in Cazenovia, about half a mile. north of the village, the marks bear south, 16 degrees east; at R. S. Ransom's, in Fenner, S. 42 degrees E; at lot 32, in Madison, S. 15 degrees W; lot in the northeast corner of Hamilton, S. 15 degrees W; on the turnpike in Brookfield, one mile west of Clarksville, S. 62 degrees 30 minutes W.

Fac simile of drift marks on Hamilton rock, near R. S. Ransom's barn, Fenner.

When the waters which covered this region began to subside, the main channels for discharge were probably the valleys through which the principal rivers now traverse; large covered, extensive surfaces forming lakes, some of which, resting in basins of great depth, remain to this day; others, wearing away the drift at their lowest deposit, allowed the waters to drain off by degrees, and until the rock formation being reached, a series of ages will be needed to lower the waters from the level known to us at this day; supposing that no convulsion occurs, to break down the present barriers.

By the subsidence of the waters, beds of sand and clay are exposed, of great thickness along the shores of the lakes; in the clay are masses of shells of the same species as now live in the waters of the lakes; so likewise in valleys and points where wells have been excavated, similar remains are found.