SUEGEONS' REPORTS— NEW YORK EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT. 265 



This county contains five hundred and forty-four S(]uare miles; it is divided into ten touTis, and its 

 poindat.ion in 18C0 was twenty-four thousand one hundred and sixty-two. 



Hamilton County was formed from Montgomery in 181G, bu( ils independent organization has 

 never been fully completed. It occupies the central i)ortion of the j;reat wilderness-region of the 

 northeast part of the State. It is centrally distant eighty miles tioni Albany. Its surface is rocky, 

 mountainous and hilly upland, and is still mostly covered with the original forests. The highlands 

 are divided into several ranges, mostly distinct, but in some places sending out sj)urs, which inter, 

 loclc each other, all extending northeast and southwest. The Schioou range; the I5oquet; the 

 Adirondack, containing the highest i)eak in the State; and the An Sable range, all traverse this 

 county. Within the valleys between tliese mountains are several chains of lakes, many of them 

 connected by (ionsiderable streams, and all aflbiding a large amount of boat-navigation. The lakes 

 are generally long and narrow; are bordered l>y steep banks and high mountain peaks. Their 

 waters are clear and cold, and form tlie most interesting feature of the land.scape. Although tiow- 

 ing in different directions, separated by high mountains, and covering an area of sixty miles, they 

 are nearly all of the same elevation; about fifteen liundred feet above tidewater. The streams 

 formiiig the outlet of the lakes are mostly small. The whole region being a mountainous plateau, 

 higher tluin the surrounding country, the streams that rise here How in all directions, and lorni 

 tributaries to the Saint Lawrence, Lake Champlain, and the Hudson, Mohawk, and Black Kivers. 

 This wtiole region is primitive, the rocks being gneiss. CJalciferous sandstone and limestone aie 

 found upon Sacondaga liiver. Peat is found in great abundance in the marsh, or natural meadow, 

 which extends along the valleys. Iron-ore and graphite are both found. The soil is light sandy 

 loam, and, except in the valleys, is not capable of profitable cultivation. The mountain-sides aie 

 covered with a thin growth of trees, but, when cleared, seem incapable of supporting vegetation. 

 The country is mostly cover»id with its primeval forests of hemlock and spruce. The inhabitants 

 subsist chiefly by hunting and fishing. We expected to find large, stout, hardy men from this 

 county; but of the tw'elve men who were drafted from here, two were exempted for heraiia, two lor 

 varicose veins and ulcers, two for loss of all the teeth in the upper jaw, one for epile[)sy, one for 

 general i)hysical disability, one for manifest mental imbecility, one was an alien, and only two were 

 held to service. This county contains one thousand seven hundred and forty-five square miles ; 

 it is divided into nine towns, and its population in IStiO was three thousand and twenty-four. 



Montgomery County lies ou both sides of the Mohawk Kiver, and is centrally distant thirty- 

 nine miles from Albany. The general system of high lands which connect the Alleghany Mountains 

 and the Adirondack extend through this county. The Mohawk cuts thiough the upland, and forms 

 a valley from one to two miles wide and from two hundred to ttv^e hundred feet below the summits 

 of the hills. The branches of this river extend for miles into the liighlands at nearly right angles 

 to the river. The hills bordering on the river rise gradually, and liom their suuimits si)read out an 

 undulating upland, inclining toward the river. The princii)al streams are nearly the same as in 

 Fulton County. The highest point in the county is seven hundred feet above tide-water, and the 

 lowest is the body of the iMohawk, two hundred and sixty feet above tidewater. Gneiss is the only 

 primitive rock in this county. Heavy masses of sandstone are Ibund along the river. The soil 

 along the river consists of alluvial dei)osits and a deep, rich, vegetal>le mold, and upon the upland 

 it is a highly productive sandy loam, finely a(lai)ted to pasturage, &c. Immense (juautities of 

 broom-corn are raised upon the Mohawk flats. The leading manufactures are woolen goods, car- 

 pets, and i)aper. Quarrying is extensively carried ou. This county contains four hundred and 

 thirty-six square miles; it is divided into ten towns, and its population in ISGt) was thirty thou-sand 

 eight hundred and sixty six, 



There are no diseases peculiar to this district. Occasionally, we have epidemics of intermittent 

 fever; but they are years apart, and in the iuterval a few scattering cases are met with. Last year 

 we had an epidemic of dysentery, coming on during the dry and hot weather; and some few cases 

 of epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis (.■ potted fever) have occurred during the last year. About 

 the usual proportion of the more common diseases occur here. 



The disability for which I have rejected the gieatest number per hundred is hernia; and I 

 suppose this can be accounted for, if the number is larger thau usual, by the fact that the majority 



