JEFFKKSON COUNTY. 

 90. 



''M->iM. :. 







369 



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Sketch shouijtg the Channelling of the Jlirdsnji- at Walirtawn. 



The locality of this extremely interesting phenomenon is immediately west of Watertown, 

 upon the banks of the Black river. The rock thus acted upon is the birdseye, a firm com- 

 pact mass, whose layers are as solid as possible ; and hence the cutting out of these deep 

 furrows has been accomplished solely in a solid mass, unassisted by a shaly or loose porous 

 structure. 



The course of these channellings or furrows is southwest and northeast ; they cross the 

 present channel of the river obliquely, and appear upon the north as well as the south side. 

 In the direction of these channellings, half a mile southwest, is the commencement of a deep 

 marsh, which must also liave been excavated by the operation of a similar cause. The 

 cflects, however, do not stop here : we may trace them to the lake shore, and see that the 

 whole depth of the trenton limestone has been cut through from Watertown for a distance of 

 ten miles. 



The channellings described above are overlaid by drift and soil, in a hard compacted mass, 

 forming at this place a high bank along the shores. By this bank alone, the river is directed 

 and preserved in its present course ; and should the bank be removed, I see no obstacle to 

 prevent the river from flowing direct to Sacket's-Harbor, or rather in the direction of Hender- 

 son, at the southern extremity of Hungry bay. From the Great bend, this direction is the one 

 pursued to a point four miles above Watertown ; there the strong rocky barriers of the tren- 

 ton limestone intervene, and turn the river across these ancient groovings, until it has jmssed 

 Brownville, where it falls into another still deeper and wider furrow, in which it flows to the lake. 



Geol. 2d Dist. 47 



