128 POULTNEY EIVEE. 



Dorset village is 1023 feet above the ocean, and is on the summit level of streams emptying into Hudson 

 Kiver and Lake Champlain. The level space is extensive, and the accumulations upon it may have been 

 brought down partly from Dorset Mountain, and partly collected by the action of former oceanic waves. 

 Pawlet Kiver rises on Dorset Mountain, and has formed terraces for two miles east of Dorset, two or three 

 in number on each side, which are rather small ; although the mountains shoot up above them 2000 feet. 

 As will be shown in the chapter on erosions, a mass of rock 2000 feet thick has been removed from this 

 valley, since the upheaval of the mountain. Part of this eroded detritus has been used to form the terra- 

 ces on Pawlet River, which are remarkably perfect from Dorset to near its mouth at Whitehall, N. Y. 

 Near the west line of Dorset the meadow expands, and is shaped like an equilateral spherical triangle, as 

 its outline appears when protracted on a plane surface. It is surrounded with distinct terraces, four on the 

 northeast side, and three on the other sides. As the valley contracts at East Rupert, and a few ledges 

 show themselves, the terraces on this river in Dorset probably constitute a separate basin. We were una- 

 ble to examine this river elsewhere, except at its mouth, and can say but little respecting its surface geology. 

 The Principal of the survey saw the terraces in the town of Pawlet on this river, and says that at the village 

 of Algiers, where Flower Creek joins Pawlet River, the view of the terraces is unusually instructive, and 

 would afford an excellent sketch to illustrate Vermont scenery. Concerning the alluvial deposits on Paw- 

 let River in New York, Prof. Mather in his Report says, that there is an extensive patch of quaternary 

 deposits south and southeast of Whitehall, between Pawlet River and Wood Creek. 



TEKRACES ON POULTNEY RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 



On Poultney River also there are very fine terraces, which have not been examined except at one or two 

 points. For four miles north of its junction with Lake Champlain at Whitehall, there are two small 

 terraces on the Vermont side in West Haven, and scarcely any deposits on the east side in Whitehall. 

 The terraces are composed of two kinds of clay ; the lowest part, which at rather high water was found 

 only three or four feet above the water level, is blue ; the remainder is reddish, extending perhaps 

 twenty feet in height above the river, in a terrace form. Near the mouth of Hubbardton River, the clay 

 corresponds more with the general character of the Champlain clays. 



At the north part of Fair Haven there is a terrace composed of loam and blue clay, 100 feet high on the 

 east side of the river, and small low terraces of clay on the opposite side. It is at a place to be described, 

 where the river changed its course in 1783. 



Prof. Mather also speaks of the quaternary on Poultney River : " It extends," he says, " from Hamp- 

 ton, N. Y., and West Poultney, Vt., on the Poultney River, southwest to Granville, where it spreads into 

 broad plains ; " and that these plains " are at the junction of the valleys of Poultney and Pawlet Rivers 

 with the eastern channel of the Champlain and Hudson valleys." 



At the village of West Poultney the meadow is very large, being more than a mile in width. Terrace 

 No. 4 bounds the meadow upon the south side, and Nos. 3 and 4 upon the north side. Further north, No. 2 

 is inserted between No. 3 and the river. Upon Lewis Brook, m the north part of the town, Nos. 3 and 4 

 are developed more prominently than any other number. There is manifestly a former bed of Lewis Brook 

 to West Poultney along the route of the Rutland and Washington Railroad, and probably of Castleton 

 River to Poultney. The railroad passes over thick beds of sand and pure gravel over the whole distance. 



The rest of Poultney River has not been examined. We know from general sources that the meadows 

 upon it are very extensive and fertile. We will add a few words respecting some of its tributaries. On 

 Codman's Creek, in West Haven, there are two terraces throughout its whole extent, the highest being 

 generally on a level with the top of the Champlain clays. 



Hubbardton River has three terraces upon its banks, pretty regularly through West Haven to Benson 

 village. As the river rises in a rocky region, it has transported sand and gravel to form its terraces. But 

 some of them are formed of clay. 



There is a distinct basin of terraces on Castleton River, embracing the villages of Castleton and Castle- 

 ton Corners. At these villages the second terrace is remarkably broad. It is composed at the tipper part 

 of sand, and upon this site the villages are built. Occasionally a third terrace is seen upon Castleton 



