Marcellus limestone quarry.
The Norton quarry, opened along the north bank of the river one-half mile east of Newton Hamilton, exhibits, this limestone 40′ thick, where it has been quarried to some extent from the bottom of the synclinal basin. It shows a hard gray crystalline and somewhat siliceous limestone, in flat beds from 2′ to 4′ thick, dipping perhaps 5° southeast and separated by only few inches of shale from the top layer of the Oriskany sandstone, which is exposed in the bottom of the quarry. This opening has been developed at different intervals for the past 25 years, both for lime purposes and for paving blocks for street use in Newton Hamilton.
The same gray Marcellus limestone has been burned at Dysart’s between the canal and the railroad further east; at Samuel Postlethwaite’s near Union mills, and at John Miller’s upper farm on the south side of the river, where a large amount of paving flags has been obtained.
Crossing to the north side of the township the map will show a closely folded Oriskany sandstone synclinal, south of Kansas valley holding within its fold a narrow strip of the Marcellus slates about 2 miles long extending into Oliver township west towards the head of Long Hollow, this synclinal rises rapidly so that the ridge ends in a spur of Lewistown limestone, about 1½ miles west of Atkinson’s mills. This limestone is exposed in a small quarry on J. R. Hannawalt’s place south of the Kansas road and near the Oliver township line dipping southeast 50°, but displaying a rather impure shaly rock. This seems to be the character of a large part of the limestone formation at this point, improving in quality somewhat towards Atkinson’s mills.
Between this syclinal and the one passing through Atkinson’s mills there is an anticlinal of No. VI limestone well exposed on Beaver Dam run with northwest dips of 40° to 50° and southeast dips of 85°, showing a good series of dark blue beds just above Mr. Rhodes’ house, This anticlinal belt of limestone is about 200 yards wide and is elevated eastward to receive a triangular-shaped area of the upper Salina lime shales before reaching Oliver township.
