Our County and It's People

Chapter 11

Physical Features of Oneida County

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The oldest land on this continent was a V shaped ridge which appeared about the vast waters then covering all of North America. This ridge stretched from a point north of Lake Ontario, northeast to Labrador, and northwest to the Atlantic Ocean, and belongs to what is known in geology as the Azoic Age, or the Archaic Rock. It was up heaved at a time previous to the existence of life on the earth and is now found overlaid in places by a series of layers of sedimentary rocks in which are found fossil remains of the lowest forms of animal life. This series of sedimen-

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tary rocks, up to a certain point, constitute what is known in geology as Silurian Age, and in it is embraced the territory beginning at the north shore of Lake Ontario and extending to a point in the southern part of Oneida county where the series closes with what is known as the Oriskany Sandstone. The Silurian rocks were formed mainly by the decomposition and gradual disintegration of the older rock mentioned, and the washing down of the material thus produced into the sea. In the course of the passing ages sufficient of this material was thus deposited and slowly hardened into stone, to form the lowest and oldest layer of the series, which was succeeded by another, and so on to the uppermost. A later upheaval tilted these vast layers of rock and lifted their northern edges above the waters, giving the layers a dip towards the south, at the same time driving the waters southward and forming a new shore. In other words, these tilted rock layers lie upon each other like the singles on a roof. As these layers of sedimentary rock came into being and their edges appeared above the waters to the northward, the shore of the great ocean moved southward, each succeeding layer forming a step in the progression, until the first appearance of the Niagara limestone is reached at Oneida Lake. About this time a great upheaval occurred to the eastward and southward, in the region of what is now Maryland and West Virginia, which cut off from the main body of water several great inland seas, one of which covered the territory which now constitutes that part of this State lying south of a line drawn from Oneida Lake to Niagara Falls. The waters of this sea thus cut off from the main ocean and having no larger rivers flowing in to increase their volume, slowly evaporated under the heat of the sun, depositing the minerals which they contained, and thus forming, with the clay and impure lime stones of the muddy bottom, the rocks of the Salina Period. It is believed by good authorities that after the close of the Salina Period the rocks of that series probably remained for a long time at the surface of Central and Southern New York. During this time the older granite rocks toward the north were being disintegrated and ground up; and when the great convulsion occurred which ushered in the Devonian Age (next above the Silurian), this sandy material was washed down into the bottom of the new formed sea, and re-hardened into the layer now know as the Oriskany Sandstone.

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When the Devonian sea became calm, the layers of the Onondaga Limestone were deposited at its bottom by the carbonic acid gas of the heavy atmosphere uniting with the lime held in solution by the water. This sea finally became shallower and was subsequently filled up by the Hamilton shales.

In the territory now embraced in Oneida county there is an outcrop of nearly every formation from the lower (the Archaen) to the Carboniferous. Thus, beginning with the primary rocks of the Adirondacks region, there occur as we go south, the great lime stone system known as the Trenton formations, containing wonderful fossil remains; then the Utica slate; the Lorraine Shales, or Hudson River Group; the Oneida Conglomerate; the Medina Sandstone; the Clinton Group; the Niagara Shale and Limestone; the Oriskany Sandstone; and the Hamilton and Chemung shales and sandstones. Of these several formations, the Trenton Limestone, the Utica shale, the Oneida Conglomerate, the Clinton Group, and the Oriskany Sandstone received their names from their remarkable development in Oneida county.

It is probable that the Adirondacks were uplifted before the formation of the sedimentary rocks began, and that they are part of the earliest uplift on the globe. The outcropping formations of the State of New York represent the Achaean, the Silurian, the Devonian and partly the Carboniferous Ages. In the Achaean no animal life is known to have existed, and there is no positive evidence that vegetation had yet appeared on the earth. In the Silurian the Invertebrates appeared, and plants of the Algae; in the Devonian, various fishes are represented and some new forms of vegetation; in the Carboniferous, amphibious animals made their appearance, and other plant life, among which were those that contributed largely to the formation of the coal beds. The thickness of the sedimentary rocks in this State, above the Caravan, is about 13,000 feet, and it rapidly and greatly increase as we proceed southward.

The celebrated Potsdam sandstone lies directly upon the primary formation and contains a few forms of animal life; as we come upward these increase both in species and in individuals, until the Trenton Group is reached, which is largely composed of animal remains, particularly in its upper strata. The picturesque

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gorge of West Canada Creek at Trenton Falls is cut for three miles through the Trenton limestone to a depth of from 60 to 100 feet, offering the naturalist a most prolific source of rare and beautiful specimens of extinct life. Black River, in the northeastern part of the county, runs very nearly on the line dividing the primitive from the secondary formation; on the east is the granite rock and on the west the Trenton lime stones. The outcrop of the Trenton rocks covers an area in Oneida county of 100 or 150 square miles. Extensive quarries have been and are worked. The thickness of the Trenton limestone in Oneida county is about 300 feet, while in the Appalachian Mountains it reaches 2,000 feet. In geology the Trenton Period includes the Black River and Trenton Lime stones, the Utica Shales and Slates, and the Hudson River and Cincinnati groups of Lime stones and Shales. The Utica Shale overlies the Trenton and Black River formations and extends in a narrow band along the Mohawk valley, reaching a thickness of 15 to 35 feet at Glens Falls, 250 feet in Montgomery county, and about 300 feet in Oneida county. It outcrops in Boonville, Steuben, Western, Floyd, Trenton, Rome, Marcy and Deerfield. It has no value for building purposes.

Succeeding this is the Hudson River group, known as the Hudson River, Pulaski, and the Lorraine Shales, which is similar in character to the Utica shale and like that abounds in fossils. It is found in the towns of Boonville, Ava, Western, Lee, Annsville, Whitestown, and Utica, and extends down the Mohawk valley on its southern side to the Hudson.

This closes the Lower Silurian Age, and is succeeded by the Upper Silurian, as shown in the diagram, which includes the Niagara, Salina, Lower Helderberg, and the Oriskany formations. The Niagara group includes the Medina, the Clinton, and Niagara subdivisions, while the Median includes the Oneida Conglomerate and the Medina Sandstone. The Oneida Conglomerate is pebbly sandstone or grit and extends through the towns of Florence, Camden, Annsville and in a narrow strip into Herkimer county, where it disappears. Its thickness is from 20 to 120 feet. In Ulster county it reaches 500 feet in thickness and the celebrated Esopus millstones are manufactured from it. The upper formation of the Medina epoch is the well known valuable Madina sandstone, which from great thickness in the

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in the western part of the State, gradually becomes thinner to the eastward and disappears in the central parts of Oneida county. It is found in Camden, Vienna and Rome.

Above the Medina stone appears the Clinton Sandstone, which extends from Schoharie county westward through Herkimer and Oneida counties and on westward across this State through Canada and Michigan. In Oneida county it has a width of six to ten miles, and Oneida Lake like wholly within the formation; its thickness in this county is from 100 to 200 feet, and it has been quarried to some extent for building purposes for which it is superior. Iron ore is found in this formation.

Overlapping the Clinton is the Niagara formation, which extends from Herkimer county through Oneida is a narrow belt, outcropping in the towns of Paris, Kirkland, and Vernon. While very thin in this region, it increases in thickness to the westward, being about 88 feet at Niagara Falls. The Niagara rock abounds in fossils.

Next above the Niagara is the Salina Period, or Onondaga Salt Group, which affords the brine of the salt supply. From a thickness of 700 to 1,000 feet in Onondaga county, the rock grows thinner to the eastward, and is only a few feet thick at the Hudson. The formation is almost destitute of fossils. The Lower Helderberg, which is next above, extends across this State. It is known also as the Waterline Group, being a bluish, impure limestone of thin layers. It abounds in fossils. The Upper Helderberg extends as far west as Ontario county, but is very thin, although it reaches a thickness of 400 feet in eastern New York. In Oneida county it passes through the towns of Paris, Marshall, Augusta and Vernon.

The uppermost rock of the Silurian Age is the Oriskany Sandstone, which extends from Central New York, in the Oriskany neighborhood, southwestward along the Appalachians and spreads out in the Mississippi valley; it thins out towards the Hudson River. Dana says that "in New York it consists either of pure siliceous sands, or of argillaceous sands. In the former case it is usually yellowish or bluish, and sometimes crumbles into sand suitable for making glass. The argillaceous sandstone is of a dark brown or reddish color, and was evidently a sandy or pebbly mud." During the formation of this rock sea weeds were not

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uncommon, and traces of terrestrial animals have been found. The number of fossils discovered in the Silurian reaches far into the thousands, among which are many varieties of the Trilobites.

The Devonian Age, or the Age of Fishes, is next above the Silurian, and includes the Corniferous, the Hamiltonian, the Chemung, and the Catskill Periods in the order named. The first two divisions of the Corniferous Period thicken towards the Hudson River and one of them, the Schoharie Grit, may possibly reach Oneida county. The upper divisions, the Onondaga and the Corniferous Lime stones exist in this county, the first outcropping in Sangerfield, and the last named near Waterville. The Corniferous abounds in fossil plants and animals, and the remains of vertebrates, in the form of fishes, appear first in America in these rocks.

Above the Corniferous Period comes the Hamilton, which includes the Marcellus, Hamilton, and Genesee Shales. The Marcelus is a soft argillaceous rock; the Hamilton (so named for the town of Hamilton, Madison county) consists of shales and flags, with some thin limestone, and is extensively used in Utica and many other places for walks and other purposes. The Genesee shale is a blackish, bituminous shale rock overlying the Hamilton.

Next above comes the Chemung Period, which includes the Portage and the Chemung groups. The former consists of shales and laminated sandstones and does not appear in the eastern part of the State. The Chemung covers a large part of southern New York, but neither that nor the Catskill is developed in Oneida county.

The Carboniferous Age, next above the Devonian, and its several formations, are not found in this State, except in the lower portions (the sub carboniferous), and therefore need not be further described in these pages.

The topography of Oneida county presents a variety and beauty of landscape that has attracted the attention not only of the early ambitious agriculturist in quest of a favorable location to establish his home, but also of the artist and the poet seeking subjects for the canvas and the song. The fame of the valley of the Mohawk has traveled far and the swelling hills that border it possess equal natural beauty of another order. From northwestwardly to the southeastwardly extends the

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broad valley of the beautiful river, the lowest pass through the Appalachian mountain system, and one of the most fertile sections of this State. Northward and southward from the valley rises a broken and hilly region, in the southern part lying in ridges extending north and south and divided by steams and ravines; northward of the valley of the surface rises abruptly to a height of 800 to 1,200 feet and spreads out in a nearly level plateau, except as broken by the ravines of the streams. The height of this part of the county culminates in "Penn Mount", in the town of Steuben, which rises 1, 727 feet above the sea, the height of the Mohawk above tidewater at Albany being 427 feet. The highest point south of the Mohawk is locally known as "Tassell Hill", from a Dutchman named Van Tassel who lived near it; it is near the joining four corners of the towns of Marshall, Sangerfield, Bridgewater, and Paris, and is approximately 1,800 feet above the Mohawk at Rome. The northeastern part of the county extends into the borders of the great northern wilderness. Oneida county is well drained, the Mohawk rising upon the north border of the county, flows southerly to Rome and thence southeast to the eastern boundary of the county and Black River flows across the northeast corner. The western and southwestern parts are drained by Wood Creek (flowing into Oneida Lake), probably about 57,000 acres. In the northeastern part are several small lakes and ponds which are further described in the town histories.

The soil of the northeastern part of the county is derived from the disintegration of the primitive rocks before described and is light and sandy. In the central part it is a sandy and gravelly loam and alluvium of great fertility. The highlands south of the Mohawk have a soil composed of clay and sandy and gravelly loam, well adapted to pasturage. Minerals of value are confined to the lenticular clay iron ore of the Clinton Group, bog iron ore in the swamps near Oneida Lake and possibly magnetic ore in the northeastern part. Waterlime and gypsum have been quarried to a limited extent, and marl and peat have been found in some places.

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Nearly all of the territory of the county was formerly covered with a heavy forest of valuable timber which was of considerable value to the pioneers.

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