166 



excellent peat or turf. It is rather extensively dug, and employed 

 in the neighbourhood as fuel. According to the statement given, 

 a cord of it properly prepared is as productive of heat as a cord 

 of good oak wood. The mode of preparing it is, to cut it into 

 regular quadrangular masses about tvi'o feet in length, with a 

 base four or five inches square. These pieces are carefully dried 

 and sold by the cord like w^ood. 



Back water on the Passaic, caused hy the trap dike at the Little 

 Falls. — The Passaic and Pompton rivers, for many miles above 

 the Little Falls, are sluggish and half stagnant streams bordered 

 in most places by extensive meadows and marshes, which are 

 subject to frequent inundations, deemed prejudicial to the health 

 of the neighbouring country. This want of current is manifestly 

 produced by the bold dike of trap rock which intercepts the 

 stream at the Little Falls, forming a sort of natural dam, that 

 backs the water for a great distance along the level country 

 above. The mere removal of this dam of rock from the bed of 

 the river, to a depth of twenty or thirty feet, and over a width 

 sufficient to prevent inundation in times of high water, would be 

 a measure extremely beneficial to a large district bordering on 

 the two streams. A great extent of level meadow land along 

 the Passaic, at present too wet to be productive, would be 

 rendered dry and arable, and might become, when under the 

 plough, some of the best grain land of the State. Such a step 

 would, moreover, ameliorate the quality of the water in the wells 

 of the district, materially benefit the roads, and, a consideration 

 far above all others, it would improve the health of the inhabitants. 

 The expense would be in the removal of the obstruction, and in 

 the compensation to the owners of the water-power which would 

 be destroyed, but its entire amount would fall far short of the 

 great gain to the community, which many conceive would result 

 from the undertaking. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THE MIDDLE 

 SECONDARY ROCKS WERE DEPOSITED. 



In the general description of the middle secondary system of 

 strata presented in the beginning of this chapter, the notion was 

 advanced, that these materials were deposited by an extensive 



