368 GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 



JEFFERSON COUNTY. 

 Rivers, Valleys, and Surface. 



Few districts are so deeply marked, or so strongly grooved by diluvial action, as Jefferson 

 county. It is true the grooved furrows come from the territory north ; and though it is not 

 strictly agreeable to fact to speak of them with reference alone to Jefferson, yet it is here that 

 these furrowings become more deeply cut, so that none but the most careless observer can 

 overlook them. 



The two principal rivers of this county pursue each of them a devious and winding course, 

 especially the Indian river, which, soon after entering this territory from the east, turns to the 

 north, and continues in that direction about twelve miles, when it turns directly to the south- 

 west for fifteen miles ; it then makes another sharp turn to the north, which direction it holds for 

 twenty miles, and then passes out of the district which is under our immediate consideration. 

 The course of the Black river is more direct across the county ; yet it makes a bold curve to the 

 north, called the Great bend, and performing a circuit of thirty miles, it regains its west 

 course, and falls into Hungry bay on Lake Ontario. Glancing at the smaller rivers, or rather 

 creeks, as laid down upon the map, we see that their course is southwest, or parallel with the 

 St. Lawrence river, and also with the extension of the bays of Lake Ontario. 



For the courses of the rivers and creeks, and the direction of the large bays of the lake, 

 some general cause must be ascribed, which operated in a period antecedent to the flowing 

 of the present waters, and which may be considered as having shaped and carved the surface 

 so deeply as to control, in a majority of cases, the present direction of the rivers and creeks 

 of the whole county. To produce this result, I have to refer, in this as in several other 

 instances, to two causes combined; namely, first, fracture of the surface; and secondly, 

 these fractures were followed by water moving in strong currents, and at times bearing along 

 the loose surface rocks, by which the fractures were both deepened and widened. Now all 

 the valleys of the county, north of the Black river, give direction to small creeks, which are 

 generally sluggish ; and on either side these creeks are bounded by fractured rocks, perhaps 

 not entirely continuous, but mainly so. Corresponding to the direction, both of the valleys 

 and fractures, are the scorings upon the rocks ; which, in many instances, not only appear 

 scored and scratched, but worn deeply, or channelled out to the depth of five or six feet ; not 

 simply one channel, but a dozen or more lying in close proximity, and in parallel directions. 

 In illustration of this particular, I have introduced the following cut, showing the present 

 surface in and upon which this deep channelling has been executed : 



