1892.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 19 



A REVIEW OF WOEK HITHERTO DONE ON THE 

 GEOLOGY OF THE ADIRONDACKS. 

 J. F. Kemp. 

 A.bstract. 



The paper was illustrated witli| specimens of rocks and min- 

 erals and with a series of lantern slides. 



After a brief topographical description of the region, of its 

 historical importance and economic resources, the subject 

 proper was taken up. Reference was made to the small amount 

 of geological work that had been done ujoon it. Peter Kalm, 

 who visited Crown Point in 1749, has left a few notes, and an 

 occasional traveler in the later years of the last century has 

 done the same. The iron enterprises in the early years of the 

 present century brought the geological structure into promin- 

 ence. Mr. A. E. Jessup contributed to the Journal of the 

 Philadelphia Acad, of Sci. , Mar. 19, 1822, a few pages on the 

 " Geology of the Northeast Part of N. Y. " which were published 

 in Vol. II. p. 185 . He speaks of the secondary and primary rocks 

 of Lake Champlain and of the primitive trap at Willsborough, 

 which was visited by Dr. Wm. Meade in 1810. 



The next paper of importance is that of W. C. Redfield, * 

 who was one of a party interested in the magnetite mines at 

 Lake Henderson. He describes their trip to the sources of the 

 Hudson, and mentions labradorite rock, trap dikes and the 

 great (so-called) dike at Avalanche Lake. In 1836 the bill was 

 passed establishing the New York Survey, and in the spring of 

 1837 the geological parties took the field. Ebenezer Emmons 

 received the second district, which included the mountains. 

 For the first year James Hall was his assistant. Emmons' first 

 annual report (1837) describes his reconnoissance of the east 

 and west portions of the Adirondacks, and then the three 

 sections that he made from east to west. One was at the lat- 

 itude of Lake George, one at Cedar Point (Port Henry), and 

 one on the north side. Up to Emmons' visit Whiteface was 

 thought to be the highest peak. It was called 2,600 ft., 

 being supposed to be 1,200 lower than Round Top in the Cat- 

 skills. Emmons made it 4,885, and was the first to discover 

 that there were higher peaks to the south, affording thus a sig- 

 nificant commentary on the little that was known of the region. 

 His second annual report (1838) is chiefly filled with details of 

 St. Lawrence and Essex counties. The latter is stated to contain 



* W. C. Redfleld. Some account of two visits to the mountains of Essex. Co.'' 

 N. Y. 1836-37. Amer. Jour, Sci. I., xxxiii, 301. 



