225 



gate ridges through its tloor. In nearly all the oases examined in detail 

 it was found that they were made up of the same rock as compose the 

 uplands, sheeted over with a thin soil, and not of the same sort of inco- 

 herent mass of silts, clay, etc., constituting the valley floor. 



The slopes vary between twenty and forty degrees and usually main- 

 tain a sharp angle with the valley floor as did the valley sides. They vary 

 in size and shape from conical hills with almost circular bases one or two 

 hundred feet in diameter, to ridges a half mile long, one to four hundred 

 yards in width. Their tops fall a little short of the general level of the 

 upland. They invariably lie either with their longer axis parallel to the 

 trend of the valley or with their outer ends pointing diagonally across and 

 down stream. In the latter case the trend of their slopes bears some linear 

 arrangement and relation to the valley slope adjacent to it. 



These elevations or "islands." when isolated, stand out well towards 

 the middle of the valley; when, however, they happen to approach the 

 valley slope, they are usually attached to the valley slope. Their nearness 

 or remoteness to the valley slope determines the comparative elevation 

 of the connecting part or extension of the valley slope to the outstanding 

 bit of relief, or "island." 



Terraces or Benches. Rimming the valley slopes are to be found a 

 number of benches of A'ariable widths, with surfaces sometimes as flat 

 as a floor or with an exceedingly gentle decline valley-ward, with 

 outer edges lobate in shape and descending with a marked angle to the 

 level of the valley floor. These occur at various points within the limits 

 of Monroe County, invariably situated on the north and east side of the 

 valley, and varying in elevation from twenty feet in the lower part of the 

 stream to seventy or more feet in the upper part of the valley near the east 

 line of Monroe Comity. In all the cases examined they were found to be 

 composed of mixtui-es of clay and sand undoubtedly derived from the 

 disintegrated rock formations constituting the surface of the uplands. 

 No glacial debris of any sort was found either on the surface or in any 

 of the sections or cuts in the benches noted within the limits of Monroe 

 County. 



