796 [Assembly 



lake, in a state of aach i>r€'Servation that the species may be 

 readily defined, and which induces the belief of their being a com- 

 paratively recent deposit. The tenacious blue clay, surmounted by 

 the yellowish clay peculiar to marine formations, may be traced 

 widely disseminated in the county. Numerous deposits are disclos- 

 ed along the sides of hills and mountains, of large gravel, rounded 

 by attrition and decay, and presenting every assimilation in appear- 

 ance to the line of a beach that has been washed by the surges. 

 The sand drifts are uniformly or nearly so, exposed in long and 

 narrow expanses, occupying the tracts of valley^ or ravines. The 

 recent formation, is perfectly illustrated near the village of Plea- 

 sant Valley, where a slide exposes the stratification of the earth 

 to a depth of some twenty feet. The lower stratum revealed is the 

 yellow clay, succeeded by a coarse and rough gravel; this is sur- 

 mounted by a smaller gravel, clear and abraded; the latter is 

 covered by a stratum of sand, light and washed, and beneath the 

 entire mass projects logs and roots. The lovely valley that bor- 

 ders the Schroon river, and spreads over an area of several milea 

 between Paradox and Schroon lake's, presents equally decisive evi- 

 dences of a recent ibrmation. This plain is fertile, and now gen- 

 erally under high cultivation. In sinking pits for wells and other 

 purposes, logs nearly entire and prostrate trees are constantly found 

 from 12 feet to 17 feet below the surface.* I have before referred 

 to the appearance of ripple marks near tlie base of the " walled 

 banks of the An Sable." 



In Elizabethtowh, on the browof an eminence, many feet jibove 

 the valley, a perforation in the solid rock, smootli and rounded, may 

 be seen, not unlike in size and general form to a common caldron 

 kettle. I examined tvvO others on the premises of Col. Caikinj, and 

 similarly situated upon the crest of a precipice. I also inspected an- 

 other formation of this kind on the lands of Messis. Treadway,ia 

 Schroon. The half circle of this remains entire; the residue has 

 been apparently destroyed by fragments of rocks, fallen from the 

 cliffs above. The entire circle was probably twenty feet in diame- 

 ter. This also stands upon the verge of a higli and abrupt preci- 

 pice of probably two hundred feet in depth. The appearance, the 

 form, tiie position, the smooth and worn surface of these extra- 



