54 N. H. Darton—Shawangunk Mountain. 
A few were observed somewhat more to the westward in direc- 
tion, one-fourth inch in depth. 
‘In the vicinity of lake Mohonk, about the hotel and on the 
northwestern slope, south 10° west is the general direction ; on 
the southeastern side of the mountain and on the road to Alliger- 
ville, it is south 40° east; and at Sky Top, south 18° east. At 
lake Minnewaska the trend is south 10° west. There is but little 
foreign glacial drift on the summit of the range, so far as ob- 
served, but there is considerable in the adjoining valleys. 
The origin and history of the lakes are not entirely clear, but 
they appear to be due to glacial agencies. The principal feature 
has been a local deepening and widening of a preéxistent valley, 
aided, at least in the case of lake Mohonk, by the presence of 
shales at the point now occupied by the lake. They do not ap- 
pear to be due in great measure to damming by glacial or other 
débris or to dislocation. 
Owing to its prominence the mountain has been long exposed 
to erosion. Originally the grit was overlain by a great mass of 
limestones and shales and the rocks of the Catskills, but these 
were removed far down into the Rondout valley at an early 
period. During the glacial epoch there was great erosion and 
the removal of great masses of the grit, which is now found in 
drift far to the southward. To the glaciation, too, probably is 
due the abruptness of Paltz point and other features of that sort. 
The grit also originally extended far to the eastward, but, owing 
to long-continued undermining by the removal of the soft, under- 
lying shales, its front has receded to its present position. This 
recession is still actively in progress, and every year there fall 
great masses from the front of the mountain. One of the regions 
of weakness is Paltz point, for its base is exposed to erosion on 
several sides, and it will eventually disappear. Probably before 
it is gone the streams heading near its southern end will cut 
back through the shales at the head of lake Mohonk, and this 
beautiful body of water will be tapped. Of course this is all 
very remote, so far as human history goes, and artificial means 
will stay its progress in some measure, but it will all be accom- 
plished in the near future, geologically speaking. Lakes Minne- 
waska and Awosting lie so far back from the front of the moun- 
tain that they will survive lake Mohonk by a very long time, 
