THE HISTORY OF THE GROUND. I/ 



all the mountains were brought low. The sea brought 

 its sledge-hammer waves to smash and destroy the 

 rocks. Frightful storms and cyclones tore away the 

 crests of the hills. Glaciers ploughed gigantic furrows 

 through the hills, and icebergs scratched the very face 

 of the hard rocks. No man was there to see. Per- 

 haps no living "creature, perhaps not even the lowest 

 form of plant, was yet alive. We guess at these things, 

 because they are still going on to-day. We see the 

 record of past ages in the rocks under our feet. These 

 things that tend to alter and change the rocks, the 

 frost, rain; the air, storms, ice, and floods, were the first 

 soil-makers. 



v. WE ATHERING. Schunemunk Mountain forms 

 the western side of the valley that opens through the 

 rear of the Highlands back of West Point on the Hud- 

 son. The valley forms the gateway through the moun- 

 tains from Newburgh to the valley of the Ramapo, and 

 offers a road for the old Albany Turnpike, and the 

 present Short Cut Railroad connecting Newburgh with 

 the New York, Lake Erie, and Western. From Hough- 

 ton Farm the whole eastern face of the mountain, 

 extending north-east and south-west for several miles, 

 can be plainly seen. At intervals through the trees can 

 be seen frowning cliffs of dark rock deeply stained by 

 the weather. About half a mile south of the station, 

 one of these cliffs is quite near the railroad, and can 

 be easily examined. This cliff admirably illustrates 

 weathering, as the work is going on very rapidly. 



On climbing over the fence by the railroad, and en- 



