1854.] 5 



mirror the tall mountain cliffs, and the magnificently variegated scenery of the 

 autumnal landscape. The deep gorges and dark precipitous ravines which cut 

 transversely the lofty hills which rise like mountains on each side, and the broad 

 alluvial plains which bound its shores, lined for miles with beautiful towns and 

 villas, where the sound of cheerfulness and the hum of industry are everywhere 

 heard, render the scenery exceeding interesting and picturesque. 



From the mouth of this river to the town of New Brighton, a distance of 

 about three miles, the alluvium is composed principally of pebbles, resembling 

 those already described. Here it is about one hundred and fifty feet in depth, 

 at the highest point, and about three quarters of a mile wide. From this point 

 to a distance of from ten to fifteen miles above, this deposite is strewed over 

 with immense masses of transported angular rocks, derived from the neighboring 

 hills. These rocks are of all sizes, and, in places, very numerous, strewed 

 about in every direction, and piled upon each other in the most irregular manner. 

 There are several enormous piles of these quartzose rocks, or coal grit, about 

 eight or ten miles from Rochester, lying upon the brow of a hill, which over- 

 looks the river, and more than two hundred feet above its present bed. Some of 

 these masses will weigh thousands of tons. 



There is one w r hich is probably in situ, which will measure twenty feet in 

 height, and over one hundred feet in circumference, much shattered below, where 

 it is grooved, rounded, and smoothed by the long continued action of running 

 water. This rock presents a singular aspect to the observer who attempts to 

 account for its present form, and its relative position with the river below. It 

 is surrounded by huge but smaller masses of the same character, all exhibiting 

 the same wearing and polishing action of running water, and piled upon each 

 other in the wildest confusion. 



I descended with Dr. Barker, of Beaver, who kindly accompanied me, this 

 precipitous hill, along a narrow and winding path to the river below. All the 

 way we passed over and around similar piles of rocks, and for miles above this 

 point found a similar condition of things to exist. Most of these rocks are dis- 

 tinctly traceable to their parent hills, still higher up the stream. 



The enormous size of some of these transported rocks, and the unequivocal 

 evidence of the wearing action of running water upon them, indicate that they 

 were carried by a long continued, turbulent and impetuous stream, which had 

 been, previous to this exhibition of its maddening fury, in a comparatively quiet 

 and placid condition, during which time the subjacent alluvial sediment, before 

 described, was deposited. It may be proper to mention here, that in connection 

 with these angular masses of quartzose grit, I found, not unfrequently, syenitic, 

 granitic, porphyritic, greenstone boulders, &c, &c, which were exceedingly 

 hard, rounded and polished, similar to the more common quartzose pebbles. The 

 largest which I saw connected with the angular rocks w T ould not weigh more 

 than a few hundred pounds. But about three hundred feet above the head of 

 little Beaver creek, a tributary of the Ohio river, and about twelve miles 

 from the locality I am now describing, there are boulders of granite and other 

 primary rocks lying upon the summit of a hill, which will measure thirty 

 feet in circumference. 



Indeed the hills, which here contain the enormous cannel coal vein of from 

 fourteen to eighteen feet in thickness, are strewed over with boulders of primary 

 rocks, and the diluvial scratches and groovings are visible in places. These 

 hills are, in some places, 300 feet high. 



At different points along Beaver river, and at heights of more than a hundred 

 feet above its present bed, I observed convincing indications of the grooving, 

 smoothing and polishing action of running water, on the solid sandstones of the 

 adjacent hills. These workings were unquestionably produced by the river 

 when it flowed over this alluvial plain. 



The same kind of markings I observed in the hills which skirt the shores of 

 the Ohio. About fifteen miles below Pittsburgh, at a place called the Narrows, 

 I observed, at the height of more than a hundred feet above the river, the solid 

 sandstones polished and grooved, as if channelled by the moulding instrument of 

 a joiner, and even pot holes are worn into their sides. 



