8 



Mr, Barnes^ Section of the Canaan Mountain^ <^-c. 



1 1 



( 



AiiT. IL — ^^ Geological Section of the Canaan Mountain^ 

 with ohservatioiis on the soil and productions of the neigh- 



' houring region; by D. H, Barnes, M. A. member of 

 the JS^etc-York Lyceum. 



Read before the Lyceum, January 14, 1822. 



Canaan Mountain is situated three miles south-west 

 from the Lebanon springs, in the county of Columbia, and 

 state of New-York. It is an insulated ridge of about four 

 miles in length, from north to south, bounded on the north 

 and east by the valley of Lebanon; on the south by a tri- 

 angular lake, of about two miles in exteiit, called Whiting's 

 Pond; on the west by a tract of low meadow land, on a 

 part of which is a deep quagmire, with a pond of 

 water in its centre, called Adgate's Pond. 

 to this swamp, on the south-west, is another, contain- 

 ing about tw^enty acres of surface, in the centre of which 



Conti 



guous 



^ 



IS a prairie^ which according to tradition, was formerly 

 covered by a beaver pond. From Adgate's pond a stream 

 flows north, and another south. These meet in the Kin- 

 derhook river, a branch of the Hudson. 



The height of the mountain from its immediate base,'' 

 does not exceed one third of a mile. The line of our sec- 

 tion crosses the highest point, known in the vicinity by the 

 name of the high knoh^ about fifty rods north of the line 

 which divides the townships of Canaan and New-Lebanon. 

 Commencing on the western side, in the low grounds before 

 mentioned, the first remarkable object that strikes the ob- 

 server is an extensive bed of p€at[a.)f It abounds in the 

 adjacent swamps, so much that the quantity has been judged 

 sufficient to supply the town with fuel for a thousand years* 

 Specimens of this, and of the other minerals mentioned in 

 this description, are on your table ; and I have the pleas- 

 ure of presenting them to the Lyceum. This pea/ is not at 

 present used as fuel, on account of the abundant supply of 

 wood which the yet uncultivated mountain affords. An at^ 

 tempt was made in the years 1803 and 1804 to bring the ar- 



* The base itself is high land. 



tThese letters refer to the subjoined catalogue of minerab presented at 

 f h e reading of this paper. 



