156 GEAVEL BEDS. 



"The Valley through which the Barton river now flows, in which 'Dry Pond' (Long 

 Pond) is situated, and which is occupied by the head waters of the Lamoille above Hard- 

 wick, continues through Walden and Cabot to Joe's and Molly's Ponds, and I suppose 

 may be traced from thence to ' Onion River Pond,' and 'Wells River Pond,' and perhaps 

 farther. The valley through which the Missisco flows, before entering Canada is readily 

 traced from Troy to Waterbury." 



We should extend this valley farther, viz.: up Mad River through Moretown, Waits- 

 field and Warren, to the sources of the west branch of White River in Granville, thence 

 down this stream through Hancock, Stockbridge, and perhaps farther, so as to connect 

 with the valley of Deerfield River. We doubt not that these and other interesting valleys 

 would be brought out by a regular Topographical Survey of the State. 



It is in these great valleys that we find numerous deposits referable to Old Sea Bottoms, a few of which 

 we will specify. 



All the geologists who have had charge of this survey, have remarked the extent of the deposits along 

 the Missisco valley in Jay and Troy. Prof. Adams says of them, " We rode eight miles [from Lowell] to 

 SouthTroy to breakfast. Most of the way was along an immense pleistocene fluviatile deposit, resembling 

 those of Black and Barton Eivers ; that is, with the remains left by subsequent denuding agency seldom 

 existing in the form of regular terraces, as in most of our valleys, but cut into irregular elevations and 

 depressions." Dr. Hitchcock in 1857 remarked, when traveling over this same region, " that it was an old 

 sea bottom." The same deposits are found between South Troy and Lake Memphremagog, a distance of 

 seven miles. The structure of this deposit, we learn from Mr. Hall, is similar to that of a terrace at West- 

 minster, ascertained from a well upon the farm of Esquire Sumner, in 

 i 1 South Troy, at first a thick bed of gravel, then three feet of blue clay, and 



5oi/, Ln := 1 6 iitrhfx. * ' 



Gravel. 



Clay. 



Sand. 



S/eet. 



18 inches. 



at the lowest depth, quicksand. 



Dr. Hitchcock noticed the materials near Hazen's Notch to be growing 

 coarser and coarser in traveling from north to south, thus indicating a cur- 

 rent towards the north. 



Mr. Hall has given a section of the materials upon one of these great val- 

 leys in Bethel. It is in the north part of the town on the gulf road, and is 

 represented in Fig. 68. The first layer is clayey soil, the second five feet of 

 coarse gravel, the third is eighteen inches of clay, and sand extends to an 



Section in Alluvium at Bethel. Unknown de ptll. 



We regard most of the northeast part of the State in Essex and Orleans 



counties, as an old sea bottom. Its water-worn character is decisive, and, so far as we have seen, it is more 

 like a deep water than a shore deposit. This is many miles square. 



CHAMPLAIN CLAYS. 



The great valley west of the Green Mountains has more extensive sea bottoms within 

 it, than any of the depressions east of the same range. Its deposits have two or three 

 characters distinguishing them from those in the others : 1st, they are mostly composed 

 of clay ; 2d, they contain numerous remains of marine shells, etc.; 3d, the strata containing 

 shells have not as yet, in the Champlain valley, been found higher than 400 feet above the 

 present sea level. Their former character, as marine deposits, is doubted by no Geologist, 

 while the marine character of the other deposits described has been frequently questioned. 



Similar marine deposits have been traced up the valley of the St. Lawrence River from 

 the ocean, as far as Lake Erie : and at Montreal, shells have been found to the height 

 of 540 feet above the ocean. They are also found along the sea coast from the mouth 



