18N6. 



351 



soil in this region will be understood when it is remembered, that, as I 

 have already stated, the drift here is almost entirely local, and that these 

 carboniferous rocks have but little or no lime in them.* 



I am decidedly of the opinion, however, that the soil of the Lackawanna 

 valley is not so poor as it is generally believed to be. Very little effort 

 has been made to reclaim and improve the land in this end of the valley. 

 This is doubtless due in some part to the fact that the mining companies, 

 which own the land, object to paying damages to owners or renters of the 

 surface when abandoned workings cave in. They therefore prefer to allow 

 the surface to lie idle. 



Moreover the great mining and manufacturing interests of this region 

 have tended to draw the population away from less remunerative agricul- 

 ture. The greater part of the uplands now under cultivation — that in the 

 vicinity and to the south-west of Wilkes-Barre — was cleared and tilled 

 before the importance of anthracite coal was known. There is no essen- 

 tial difference between the upland soil above Scranton and that below 

 "Wilkes Barre, and yet, comparatively, there is very little under cultivation 

 in the valley north-east of Scranton. 



Local Changes — Black Creek. 

 Closely connected with the subject of glaciation are certain local phe- 

 nomena and changes that have taken place, either during or immediately 

 following the glacial epoch, that should be spoken of in this connection. 

 The interesting changes in the bed of the Susquehanna river between Pitts- 

 ton and Kingston are described by Mr. Ashburner. Doubtless similar ones 

 have taken place elsewhere, both in the Susquehanna and in other streams 

 in this region. I would put on record here the evidences that have come 

 under my observation of certain changes in the lower part of Black creek. 

 From the head of the West End breaker the conglomerate ledge to the 

 east and south-east forms a steep precipice, cut through at one point, 

 about 1500' from the breaker by Black creek, and making here a fall some 

 twenty-five feet in height. Below the falls the walls of conglomerate 

 spread apart, forming a V-shaped gorge with the fall at its apex. This 

 gorge is filled with large, angular fragments of conglomerate, the fallen 

 remains of the original conglomerate ledge. The water of Black creek, after 

 falling over the ledge, ordinarily runs, partly underneath and partly over 

 these fragments, for about one hundred and fifty feet, when it enters a pot- 

 hole in the red shale. This pot-hole is about fifteen feet in diameter. Further 

 down, two hundred feet below the fall, is another pot-hole from fifteen to 

 twenty feet in diameter, likewise in the red shale. As these holes are both 

 full of debris, it was not possible to ascertain their depth. Judging from 

 the position and size of the pot-holes, and from the appearance of the 

 material with which they are filled, they could not have been made by the 



* To this same fact Scranton owes the excellence of the water supplied to the 

 city. The streams from which this clear, soft water is brought, rise in and flow 

 for their whole length over the Catsiill and Pocono formations, both of which 

 and especially the latter, are poor in lime. 



