Site filled with wealth of York County geological info
Jeri Jones, the go-to person on all things geological in York County, has answered the question posed in a previous York Town Square post about that water-filled quarry along Route 462.
York Valley and Lime Stone Company worked the quarry. Jeri’s best estimate was that digging continued until the 1940s.
But here’s another thing.
Jeri’s Web site is filled with great information on York County, including great maps and photos.
Here are some excerpts: …
— On mining the PBS (Peach Bottom Slate) formation near Delta in southeastern York County: “Approximately 34 quarries once operated within the PBS on ‘Slate Ridge.’ At the 1850 World Expo in London, England, the PBS was voted the ‘best building slate in the world.’ Uses for the slate included grave markers, shingles, sidewalks, windowsills, fence posts and stove plates. The slate has been used in many federal and state buildings as well as the Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, North Carolina.” …
— On dinosaurs and York/Adams: “Compared to the other counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, York and Adams counties have the highest combined number of dinosaur finds… . LeCron’s Copper Mine – New Oxford Formation – Galtonia gibbidens: First described by Edward Cope in 1878, teeth and bones of this dinosaur were not only the earliest reports of dinosaurs in Pennsylvania, but remains today, the only site in the Gettysburg Basin where skeletal remains have been found. Similar specimens were identified in 1898 by Wanner from the same site. The materials were found in the bottom of a vertical shaft where low-grade copper ore was being removed.”
— Of interesting rock formations: “Chickies Rock in Lancaster County is one of the most famous anticlines exposed in the northeastern United States. Now a part of Chickies Rock County Park, the stratigraphy and structure of the exposure has been studied by thousands of students. It is also here that the trace fossil, Scolithus, was discovered by a Mr. Halderman who sent a sample to Charles Darwin for identification.”
Jeri Jones’ site is, indeed, something to, well, dig into.
