Peach Black slate lies in three distinct veins, the first having such a line grain that it can hardly be detected, the next having a coarser grain, and the third vein remains undeveloped. The slate has an overburden of shale sitting on top of the working slate bed that is 40 to 60 feet thick. This overburden constitutes the only waste derived today from that quarry’s open-pit operations as the slate refuse is crushed for road aggregate. Although many roof replacement slates from this area are made from single beds, others show ribbons indicating they were cleaved through a succession of beds, giving the slate an attractive striated appearance, but not affecting durability in this type of slate. Some thin beds only a few inches thick contain fossils of crinoids, brachiopods and trilobites considered to be of Ordovician age (500 million years old). Other fossils including clams have been found. The deepest quarry in the district was reported to be over 350 feet deep and depths of over 200 feet are not uncommon.
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