22 JOURNAL^ OI" THE 



beg-un my work on this paper. This syncline we may 

 call the Round Knob syncline since Round Knob is in the 

 syncline and near its head. It beg-an in the west of Mc- 

 Dowell and ran a little north of east throug-h Burke and 

 Iredell counties, and it is probable that it continued 

 throug-h Davidson, Randolph and Chatham and joined 

 the Deep River syncline in the latter county although 

 we have no definite evidence that it did. In Map (I) we 

 can see the drainage of this syncline as well as the cap- 

 tures which its waters made on those of the Dan River 

 Syncline. I was at first disposed to think that John's 

 River had captured the branch of Yadkin called Yadkin 

 and that later it had been retaken by the Yadkin, but 

 upon examination I find that those branches near the head 

 of the Yadkin come down from a high plateau and enter 

 the Yadkin at right angles and I am convinced that the 

 branch called Yadkin is merely conforming to the family 

 trait and has never been captured by John's River. If 

 we look at the branches now called John's River and Buf- 

 falo Creek we find they have the Yadkin family traits 

 and they show they have been captured by John's River. 

 As the Yadkin cut into and captured the Dan so the 

 Round Knob Syncline has been cut into by the Yadkin and 

 probably by the Catawba and its waters have not g"one 

 through the Deep River as they probably did at first. 

 Third Creek is probably nearest the old channel that 

 traversed Round Knob Syncline. The Catawba that cut 

 into the Round Knob Syncline ran a little east of the 

 King's Mountain Syncline orig-inally and it was its trib- 

 utaries that cut through the eastern side of this syncline 

 and led its waters out. The River that originally occu- 

 pied the syncline was most probably what we call West 

 Fork of Catawba River. This jomed the Catawba where 

 it passes to South Carolina. We see from the origfinal 

 diagram that the tributaries of the Catawba are about to 

 cut through the eastern border of the King-'s Mountain 

 syncline and lead its waters to the Catawba, and as time 



