Geological Survey of the State of New York. 103 



that rise in them, furnish an abundance of water power, and a 

 very tolerable means of internal communication, and form on the 

 levels, numerous transparent lakes, like those of New England, 

 and particularly of its mountainous parts. 



As yet civilization has not penetrated this extensive wilderness, 

 although it has drawn its cordon of settlements around it, and the 

 interior is still the resort of wild beasts, and its deep recesses are 

 now trodden by the adventurous huntsman in his chase after the 

 moose, deer and elk, and with his traps taking the bear, the wolf, 

 and until within a few years, the beaver. It is a region of unsuc- 

 cessful land speculation, a land where proverbially " there is no 

 law," where more than once the silent and unsuspecting Indian 

 trapper has fallen by the rifle of the crafty settler. It possesses 

 great variety of beautiful scenery, its soil under judicious hus- 

 bandry, is capable of sustaining an immense population, and were 

 it reclaimed by a hardy race of virtuous settlers, the time would 

 not be distant, when it would be densely peopled by inhabitants 

 possessing a character resembling that of New England as nearly 

 as does its geology, and a kingdom would be added to the already 

 powerful state of New York. Where so little strictly geological 

 labor can be performed, the efforts of the geologist of this district 

 to exhibit its capabilities of improvement are highly praiseworthy, 

 and from his description of Hamilton Co., and from the accounts 

 we have received of other parts from other sources, he is doing the 

 community a great service, by calling public attention to it. If 

 we may judge from the probable results, his labors here will rank 

 in importance below those of no one of his associates. 



The only remaining topic of the Report to which time will 

 permit a reference, is that of the brine springs, &c. of Ononda- 

 ga. Difficulties of such a nature attended their examination, that 

 great obscurity surrounded the subject until recently. The numer- 

 ous observations and theoretical discussions of Dr. Beck and of 

 Mr. Yanuxem, the geologist of the third district, have now placed 

 the subject in a clearer and more intelligible view. The rela- 

 tions of the rocks are thus described. Between the green shale 

 of Herkimer and " the millstone grit" of Oneida, are found, be- 

 tween Utica and Rome, a series of rocks, called " the shales and 

 green sandstone of Salmon river," and the red sandstone of Os- 

 wego, that cover a considerable portion of the north part of Onei- 

 da, the greater portion of Oswego, and the red sandstone covers 



