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LibhAKY 
 
 Ot IHE 
 
 UNiVLKbliy Uf ILUNUIb 
 
 GEOLOGY OF ERIE CANAL 
 
 SALINA MARLYTES 
 
 ANI> RECENT IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 R)Y DR. M, A. YEEDER 
 
 OE LYONS, N. V. 
 
 Reprint from Lyom Republican 
 of Jan. m, 1899 
 
The Canal Scandal 
 
 The Rehuhlican prints this week, on 
 * another page, an able and elaborate arti- 
 cle entitled “Geology of Erie Canal” writ- 
 ten at the request of this paper, by Dr. M. 
 A. Veeder, whose repu ation as an expert, 
 especially in the field of medicine and geol 
 ogy, is world wide. Dr. Veeder in his 
 article points out with incisive logic the 
 fact that the so called canal scandal is 
 > largely based upon geological ignorance 
 and he indicates in unmistakable Ian 
 guage that in all probability a large part 
 of the money claimed to have been squan- 
 dered in improving the canal was honest- 
 ly and necessarily spent to remove obsta- 
 cles familiar only to the expert geologist. 
 It is quite likely that the Canal Investi- 
 gating Commission knew nothing of the 
 geological ditSculties encountered in im- 
 proving the canal, which are so brilliant- 
 ly set forth in Dr. Veeder’s article, and if 
 this should turn out to be the case then 
 |j the findings of that commission must be 
 ■ pronounced not only valueless but almost 
 t criminal in their reflections upon the State 
 Engineer and the Superintendent of Pub- 
 lic Works. 
 
 It is a well known fact that when the 
 ' West Shor(! railroad was being construct- 
 ed in the vicinity of Lyons that the con- 
 
 tractors encountered this same Saliua 
 Marly tes an l that their engineers classi- 
 fied it as ordinary material, believing it 
 to be such. It was so difficult to exca- 
 vate, however, that the contractors noti- 
 fied the railroad company that if it did 
 not re-classify it, and pay a proper price 
 for its excavation, they would give up 
 the contract The railroad company, 
 after an examination of the substance, 
 recognized the justice of the contractors’ 
 claim and re classified the material upon 
 its merits, thus allowing a much higher 
 price than was originally agreed upon. 
 
 We believe that Dr. Veeder has dis- 
 covered the rock upon which rests the 
 whole canal scandal, and that when this 
 rock of ignorance is removetl by the light 
 of a scientific investigation it will be 
 found that the people’s money has not 
 been so wantonly wasted as has been 
 claimed, and that Superintendent Ald- 
 ridge will then stand before the public in 
 a much better light. 
 
 Dr. Veeder’s article should be read by 
 every intelligent citizen who desires to 
 know the truth upon this subject, as it is 
 written from a purely scientific point of 
 view and it has as much reference to the 
 future as to the past. If the canal con- 
 tracts were to be let to morrow the ques 
 tions raised by him could not be avoided. 
 
 — Fro7ii The Lyons Republican, Jamtary 6, 1899. 
 
GEOLOGY OF ERIE CANAL 
 
 SALINA MARLYTES AND RECENT IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 HUNDRDEDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS 
 INVOLVED 
 
 BY M. A. VEEDER, M. D. 
 
 LYONS, N. Y. 
 
 The mode of formation of the basin of 
 the Great Lakes has an important bearing 
 upon proper understanding of the prob 
 lem of the Erie canal in all its details 
 The agencies concerned in determining 
 the topographical features involved, have 
 no counterpart elsewhere in the world, at 
 least not on any such scale of magnitude. 
 Their very exceptional character has 
 caused them to be misunderstood, and 
 consequently their discussion needs to be 
 very comprehensive. 
 
 Fortunately the successive steps by 
 which the North American continent was 
 built up, and its lakes and waterways ex- 
 cavated, are exhi bited most magnificently 
 in the geological formations in the vicini- 
 ty of these lakes. The surroundings of 
 this locality were such that the successive 
 layers of material deposited about the 
 growing continent were of conspicuous 
 character, and have been well preserved 
 with all their markings until the present 
 
 time. Thus within the borders of the 
 State of New York alone there is, as it 
 were, an epitome of geological history so 
 complete that it has become the standard 
 for comparison throughout the world. 
 
 The location of the Great Lakes, with 
 their associated drainage system and 
 waterways, is determined primarily by 
 the nature of underlying rock formations. 
 The continent grew about the Adirondack 
 region, as a nucleus, the strata in general 
 sloping gently away from that center, as 
 beaches slope from an island in tfie sea. 
 Subsequently the land surface thus ex- 
 posed was cut across by drainage chan- 
 nels, and finally was sculptured into its 
 present shape i<y processes of weathering 
 and erosion, the softer rock yielding first, 
 and thus determining the situation of de- 
 pressions and cbani-.els lo be occupied by 
 streams and lakes and as highways of 
 commerce. 
 
 Especially important in the case of the 
 
C.KOLOOY OF ERIE CANAL 
 
 3 
 
 Great Lakes thus formed, is the evidence 
 of ice actio'i on an enormous .scale in their 
 vicinity. There mtist have been a time 
 when the clima e of this part of the earth 
 was cold»u' than at present. The imme- 
 diate effect of such increase of cold would 
 be to block the outlets of these lakes with 
 heavy ice at certain seasons, and perhaps 
 continuously for years in succession, caus- 
 ing the water to overspread the land ad- 
 jacent. The soil thus reduced to the eon- 
 diiiou of plastic mud would be in a condi- 
 tion to be readily torn up, and ridged, and 
 furrowed by ice tields driven upon it by 
 wind and curient, and the rise of the 
 waters. If an obstructi> n of this sort at 
 the outlet of one of the upper lakes, as 
 tor example that of Lake Superior, should 
 give way suddenly, thousands of square 
 miles of ice fields, borne along in a huge 
 flood, would be precipitated at once into 
 the basins of the lower lakes with tremen- 
 dous effect. The hydraulic pressures and 
 eneigy of movement developed under such 
 conditions, would be fully adequate to 
 Hci-ount for the ice and water markings at 
 different levels in the lake region, that 
 have heretofore been ascribed to ordinary 
 glacial action, or to changes of level of 
 the geological strata themselves, instead 
 of that of the waters. These effects of ice 
 accumulation in the waters of the lakes 
 would be intensified and extended by the 
 coincident increase of snowfall on the 
 lai d adjacent that would ensue. In the 
 very nature of the case this sort of com- 
 bined ice and water action must have oc 
 curred in this region as nowhere else in 
 the wmrld. The basin of these lakes be- 
 ing of immense size, and their outlets 
 narrow, and their waters fresh and easily 
 
 frozen, and their latitude such that in 
 crease of cold might readily occur, the 
 conditions are perfect for such action, and 
 as a matter of fact evidences of it appear 
 everywdiere in the area in question, and 
 in the valleys that would become accessi- 
 ble through ice accumulation and rise of 
 the waters. 
 
 From the point of view that has been 
 indicated the peculiarities of the drainage 
 system, and waterways of New York 
 State, become clearly explicable. South- 
 ward from Lake Ontario there is a suc- 
 cession of terraces of rock rising step by 
 step, as low cliffs or ledges, extending 
 east and west across the State. The loose 
 debris on the surface exhibits forms of 
 arrangement that would result from the 
 thrust of floating i e tields finding their 
 way through valleys, or piopelled against 
 shore lines by prevailing winds. But the 
 underlying resistant rock remaining in 
 firm ledges is channelled along the lines 
 where the material was softer, or in a 
 direction parallel to Lake Ontario, which 
 was excavated in like manner. Thus the 
 outlets of Jayugaand Seneca Lakes, wuich 
 originally ran northward, now run east 
 ward because of the removal of a stratum 
 of softer materijd by ice action in the 
 manner described. Thus, likewise, the 
 Erie canal was made possible, the channel 
 which it occupies being a topographical 
 feature so conspicuous that it was noted 
 by the Indians, the five nations living in 
 its vicinity being known as the Iroquois, 
 which signifies the “House of the Long 
 Hall,” referring to this natural avenue 
 between the seaboard and lake region. 
 
 From the head waters of the Mohawk 
 eastward the location of the channel oc- 
 
4 
 
 GEOLOGY OP ERIE CANaL 
 
 ciipied by the canal depends vt-ry largely 
 upon the physical peculiarities of the 
 slates of the Utica and Hudson river 
 groups. These consist of mateiial that 
 disintegrates into particles so small as 
 to be reidily suspended in water, giv- 
 ing it a very persistent milky appearance. 
 The erosion of rocks of this formation is 
 very rapid in water though not in air, 
 they being reduced to an impalpable pow- 
 der and thus floated away and deposited 
 elsewhere in the form of fine clays such 
 as are so abundant in the Mohawk and 
 Hudson valleys. It was the presence of 
 an abundance of material of this variety, 
 of different geological epochs, togetlier 
 with a large flow of water, that brought 
 about the excavation of Lakes Erie and 
 Ontario. With a smaller flow of water, 
 and consequently on a smaller scale, 8eh 
 eca and Cayuga Lakes were eroded in like 
 manner in material of this same species. 
 As it exists in the Mohawk and Hudson 
 valleys this material does not present any 
 serious difliculties of classification from 
 an engineering point of view. 
 
 From the head waters of the Mohawk 
 westward for a hundred miles, or more, 
 the case is different. The location of this 
 portion of the canal is determined by the 
 red and blue shales of the Saliua Period, 
 a formation having peculiarities probably 
 not encountered in engineering work on 
 any such scale in the whole world. The 
 material looks like red and blue clay of 
 modern origin, but is nothing of the sort. 
 It belongs to a very ancient period of 
 geological history, and was compacted 
 through long ages under superimposed 
 strata that have since been swept away 
 by ice and lake action, leaving the por- 
 
 tions traversed by the canal nearly bare. 
 The undisturbed layers thus compressed 
 are much harder tlian any clay, although 
 broken fragments lying loose on the sur- 
 face disintegrate readily. Unlike clay, it 
 contains much lime, and hence is techni- 
 cally known as marlyte. The presence 
 of this lime gives it much firmer consist 
 ency when compacted in ledges, and on 
 the other hand causes it to slack and dis- 
 integrate more readily in detached frag- 
 ments. 'Phe peculiar nature of this for- 
 mation is still further shown by the fact 
 that it is every where associated with the 
 presence of salt, the chief brine wells and 
 salt deposits in the United States, having 
 commercial value, being located in it. 
 Cert dll layers of these sliales also are the 
 chief source of gypsum and land plaster. 
 Large and beautifully transparent crystals 
 of selenite, a very pure form of gypsum, 
 were found in a cutting made by the 
 West Shore railroad in these red and blue 
 marly tes about three miles west of the 
 village of Lyoin. From this it is appar- 
 ent that the chemical nature of these 
 shales is very unusual, sulphur, lime, 
 silicate of alumina and common salt enter- 
 ing into their composition m varying de- 
 grees. It would appear that volcanic 
 action must have been concerned to 
 some extent in bringing about such a 
 mixture containing su'phur Indeed, 
 near Syracuse, where this ♦ormation 
 reaches its largest and most typical de- 
 velopment, the Green Lakes at Manlius 
 and Jamesville appear to be the reniuauts 
 of true craters, like the Green lakes of 
 Madagascar, which are plainly associated 
 with evidences of volcanic action. Other 
 ndications of igneous action have been 
 
GEOLOGY OP ERTE CANAL 
 
 5 
 
 found in the rock at DeWitt, east of Syra 
 case, recently. The ou'iiow of natural 
 gas in the region immediately southeast 
 of Lake Ontario appears to be associated 
 with these deep seated activities of a vol 
 cauic nature. From all this it is evident 
 that the canal traversing these formations 
 meets with a set of conditions of very ex- 
 ceptional character, and that are of great 
 importance from an engineering point of 
 view. 
 
 The Salina marlytes and shales, the line 
 of whose outcrop the canal follows, very 
 nearly from Rome to Rochester, are flanked 
 on the north and south by ledges of very 
 solid and durable limestone, known as the 
 Niagara, and Comiferous, respectively. 
 The weathering and erosion of this softer 
 material interposed between these lines of 
 very hard roca, has changed the entire 
 drainage system of this part of Western 
 New York, thus putting the canal in the 
 precise position it occupies. The streams 
 instead of flowing directly north into 
 Lake Ontario, as the outlets of Seneca 
 and Cayuga Lakes once did at Sodus Bay, 
 now turn eastward, and make a long de- 
 tour before reaching the lake at Oswego. 
 This trough-like depression excavated in 
 rock determines the direction of drainage, 
 although it contains much superficial de 
 bris which has been erected into curious 
 parallel hills that are thickly set over 
 many hundreds of square miles, especially 
 in Wayne and Cayuga counties This 
 material, of which these hills are com- 
 posed, is derived almost exclusively from 
 the Salina shales and marlytes, to whose 
 outcrop they are very strictly confined. 
 These hills look like mud, contaiidng 
 many scratched and polished stones and 
 
 boulders, compacted into a very tough 
 and refractory hardpan, by ice and lake 
 action of the type that has been indicated. 
 It is troublesome material to excavate, 
 but not so bad as the undisturbed marlyte 
 ledges from which it is derived. 
 
 These ledges superficially give but little 
 indication of their true character, and 
 might very readily be mistaken for clay 
 banks, or banks of the hardpan just men- 
 tioned. When rounded off by the wash 
 of rains they may even look like piles of 
 ordinaiy earth. On opening up their in 
 terior, however, it is found that there is 
 no tendency to crumble, or scale off, nor 
 are there any seams, or joints of cleavage, 
 the entire mass being cohesive, like dried 
 putty, but of much firmer consistency. 
 Blasting, or wedging, makes but little 
 impression, there being no seams to open 
 up, and the disintegration by the jarring 
 of the explosion, or wedging, extends but 
 two or three inches as a rule. Even the 
 narrowest form of plough is very ineffec- 
 tive in tearing up this sort of material. 
 
 There are many indications that the ex- 
 ceptional character of this part of the 
 Salina formation is not duly appreciated. 
 For example the Garbage Disposal Works 
 for the city of Rochester were placed upon 
 it at Macedon, creating a nuisance, largely 
 because of its imperviousness, compelling 
 their abandonment at a loss of many thou- 
 sands of dollais. There is a similar pro- 
 position in regard to the location of a 
 sewage farm at Lyons that will surely 
 result in failure, unless the nature and 
 location of this material is taken into the 
 account. 
 
 Especially in connection with the re- 
 cent nine million canal improvement in 
 
(5 
 
 GEOI.GGY OF ERIE CANAL 
 
 the anoiimlous character of this material 
 broiiglit out most clearly. There was re- 
 classilication and re-rating during the 
 progress of the v.^ork to the extent of 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars, the 
 natural consequence being much newspa- 
 pc;r discussion, and legislative inquiry. 
 Experts, apparently on very cursory ex- 
 amination, and without a full understand- 
 ing of the points involved, have differed 
 greatly in their estimates as to the nature 
 of the materiiil, and the expense of exca- 
 vation. The railroad companies have had 
 this same difficulty in classifying and 
 rating the prices for excavation of this 
 material, contractors threatening to aban 
 don their contracts when they became 
 aware of its true nature. 
 
 In vi( w of these disagreements, and of 
 the popular misapprehensions arising, 
 and because it is a question that con- 
 cerns the future of the canal, as well as 
 its past history, the writer, some weeks 
 since, addressed the following letter to 
 State Engineer Adams; 
 
 “In the discussions in regard to the 
 canal question there is a point that ought 
 to have been made more clear to the pop- 
 ular understanding, and that it is certain 
 would have saved a gieat deal of difficulty 
 all around. It is in reference to the rela 
 tiou which the canal holds to the outcrop 
 of the shales of the Salina Period, techni- 
 cally known as maiiytes This is a very 
 ancient formation having peculiarities 
 possessed by no other, except it be small 
 portions of the strata of the Clinton. Su- 
 perficially the red and blue shales of this 
 period look like rather soft cla>, and in 
 broken fragments readily disintegrate in 
 air or water, but they are unt clay, and 
 
 for the most part consist of material that 
 is as difficult or more difficult of excava- 
 li'in than hard rock. Containing lime 
 mixed with silicate of alumina, and other 
 ingredients, their composition is such that 
 they cannot be blasted successfully, nor 
 can they be torn up by any ordinary 
 plough. In the text booics on Geology 
 they are classified as rock, and should 
 have been classified as rock iu the specifi- 
 cations for the contracts. But they look 
 so very different f.om any ordinary spe- 
 cies of rock that there might very well be 
 room for honest differences of opinion, and 
 putting them in, as was done at the t)utset, 
 as earth was taking the safe side so far as 
 protecting the interests of the State was 
 concerned. As the matter stands it seems 
 as though the peculiarities of these shales 
 ought to be made better known, not only 
 as explaining the difficulties that have 
 arisen but likewise those that are likely 
 to arise hereafter.” 
 
 Mr. Adams, reply was as follows: 
 
 "I have read your letter of Dec. 9th with 
 very great satisfaction. Professor Clarke, 
 acting State Geologist, sustains your posi- 
 tion in conversation with me. The ideas 
 you express are in exact accordance with 
 what we observed during the prosecution 
 of the canal work The appearance of 
 the material before being excavated, and 
 its consistency, or condition, upon expos- 
 ure, in many instances were markedly 
 different, so that an inspection a few 
 months, or a year after the examination 
 had taken place, did not reveal the origi- 
 nal condition by any means. 
 
 “I am glad that you perceived that our 
 Engineers, acting under direction, took the 
 safe side in reporting for estimate the ma- 
 
r,FA)L()GY OP KIITK CANAL 
 
 terial excavated as earth, which was the 
 lowest priced material, until their superi- 
 ors' could properly classify it. We acted 
 thus as we believed at that time, and as 
 we believe this minute, for the best inter 
 est of the State.” 
 
 The following letter, upon the subject 
 of the Salina marlytes, lu s also beeu re 
 ceived by the writer from the Resident 
 E igitieer of tlie Western Division, C. R. 
 Neher of Rochester- , 
 
 “At the requi st of the State Engineer, 
 I ta<e pleasure in giving you such facts 
 relative to the shales met with in the 
 canal improvement, as came within the 
 scope of my observation, treating them 
 strictly from the standpoint of their rela 
 tively higher cost to excavate than earth. 
 
 “The records on file in this office, of the 
 canal enlargement for the years 1857 and 
 18')8, indicate that the Engineers recog 
 nized the shale as being more difficult to 
 excavate than ordinary earth, and classi- 
 fied it under the head of rock of two dif- 
 ferent grades. 
 
 ‘1st — ‘Quarried Rock,’ ‘material which, 
 in the opinion of the Itesident Engineer, 
 can be excavated without blasting.’ 2d — 
 ‘Soiid Rock.’ ‘material which, in the opin- 
 ion of the Resident Engineer, cannot be 
 excavated without blasting.’ 
 
 “By comparing the locations where 
 these classifications prevailed, it is shown 
 that it incluvicd these shales, as localities 
 are included in the estimates where no 
 true ledge rock existed, and there was 
 large quantities of shale. The relative 
 prices paid for shale classified as ‘Rock’ 
 was on an average as follows; ‘Quarried 
 Rock’ double the price paid for ‘Earth 
 Excavation,’ and . for ‘Solid Rock’ from 
 
 three to four times the pi ice paid for earth 
 excavation. I am of the opinion that 
 these relative prices truly represent the 
 comparative erst of excavating. 
 
 “The specificati >ns for the ‘Nine IVlil- 
 lion Improvement’ made no specific pro- 
 vision for classifying shales, only as in- 
 cluded under the general head of ‘Rock,’ 
 as ‘All solid or ledge rock and hard pan 
 which, in the o[)inion of the Resident 
 Engineer, cannot be plowed.’ This neces- 
 sarily excluded large amounts of the shales 
 from a Rock classification, the partially 
 disintegrated shales being classed as 
 ‘Earth,’ although costing relatively more 
 than true earth. From a large collection 
 of data in my possession I obtain the fol- 
 lowing average yardage excavated per 
 day per man; 
 
 “Shales that cannot be ploughed 3 74 
 cubic yards. True ledge rock, as Medina 
 sandstone, 3 53 cubic yards This yard- 
 age per day per man does not include all 
 the expense of excavating, as there was 
 added to the expense for laborers the cost 
 of explosives, and McMyler derricks cost- 
 ing to operate $24.50 per day for a gang 
 of 40 men, these averages being used to 
 demonstrate simply that thi cost of ex- 
 cavating shales is relatively the same, as 
 for rock, as the comparisons were always 
 made witli the same gangs of men and the 
 same plant operating separately in shale 
 and rock. 
 
 “In general, better results were obtain- 
 ed by explosive in ledge rock than in 
 shales, the ledge rock opening along the 
 dividing line of the strata and leaving a 
 level bottom, while the shales blew out in 
 pockets, leaving ridges above grade be- 
 tween the shots which had to be worked 
 
H 
 
 GKOLOGY OP ERIE CANAL 
 
 (Iowa witli picks, a tcdioin and expensive 
 process. The distance holes had to be 
 drilled below grade to give best results, 
 and was about the same in rock as shale 
 and averaged one foot. 
 
 “The rapidity of the disintegration of 
 these shales when exposed was a notable 
 characteristic, being very noticeable in 24 
 hours, and in some cases, where it was 
 taken out in large blocks and deposited in 
 spoil banks became a pasty mass in a 
 couple of months. 
 
 “It is evident that thire is a lack of 
 knowledge as to the true nature of these 
 shales, as evidenced by adverse criticism 
 of the classification under the Nine Million 
 Improvement, even Eugiueers having 
 testified before the Canal Investigating 
 Commission that in their opinion, based 
 
 on viewing spoil banks, that the material 
 classified as ‘Rock’ was improperly classi- 
 fied. 
 
 “I take pleasure in furnishing you this 
 data, if it will tend to give tardy justice 
 to those Engineers who, as servants of the 
 State, gave their best efforts to deal fairly 
 and honestly with the State and Contrac- 
 tor, and in so doing have been held up as 
 violating the trust imposed upon them.” 
 
 So far as the present writer is concerned 
 the sole purpose of this discussion, and of 
 adducing the above correspondence, is to 
 bring to p.ipular notice the difficulties and 
 importance of the subject, so that what- 
 ever may be done hereafter may be with 
 a better knowh-dge of the material facts 
 in the case. 
 
 Lyons, N. Y., Jan. 6th, 1899. 
 
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