100 J. D. Dana on the origin of some of the 



the rivers of Connecticut formerly were mostly under foi-ests, and it 

 is probable that this was true of those of the Quinnipiac. But stumps 

 could not commence their growth at such a depth, and hence the posi- 

 tion of the stumps and logs may seem to show that the level of the 

 Quinnipiac meadows when these trees were flourishing, was a few feet 

 at least above the present, and that consequently a slow sinking has 

 taken place. The evidence appears to be sustained by the fact that 

 the muck or peat in the meadows has great depth, for the lowest layer 

 must have been near the present level of the meadows, when the 

 plants of which it is made were growing. But the surface of a mea- 

 dow may slowly subside, as growth goes on above, owing to the 

 weight of the increasing accumulation of material ; and large trees 

 are known to sink in soft swampy soil as they attain large dimensions. 

 The evidence therefore as to the fact of even the small elevation which 

 is here suggested, is quite doubtful. 



2. Results of the Elevation. 



As a consequence of the rise, the rivers had at once a steeper slope 

 than before to the sea ; and hence, having new force for erosion and 

 transportation, they set about deepening their beds, and the level 

 also of the lower flats — making these lower flats mainly by encroach- 

 ments on the terrace plain. They thus worked toward a restoration 

 of the old slope at a lower level, or toward a slope still more gradual ; 

 and in the process, they made for themselves deej) cuts through the 

 drift formation and left the upper surface of the formation as a high 

 upper plain or terrace. Until this change, the stratified drift forma- 

 tion was in no sense the terrace formation. 



Along Mill River, between Mt. Carmel and the sea, the cut made 

 was 35 to 55 feet or more in depth, as is indicated by the present 

 height of the old flood grounds, that is, the terrace plain. The height 

 of the terrace above the river's surftice is — 



A mile north of Whitneyville, (by calc.) 



At Augurville, 2^ miles north of Whitneyville 



^ m. S. of Ives' Station, 4 m. N. of Whitneyville 



At Ives' Station, A^ m. N. of Wh. - - - - 



I m. S. of Mt. Carmel, 5i m. N. of Wh. 



The height of the surface of the river above tide level, as derived 

 mostly from the height of the dams,* with an allowance of 6 inches 



* I am indebted for information on this point to Mr. Charles Holt. The height of 

 the successive falls of water, north of the 35-foot fall at Whitneyville, are (1) at Au- 

 gurville, 8 feet; \ mile above, "Webbing Company's dam, 8^ feet; \ m. above, Beers's 

 Grist Mill, 8 feet; near Ives' Station, James Ives' dam, 10 feet; at the Mt. Carmel gap, 



