2 Nolki: of Snake Hill and SarcUoga Lake, <^^c. 



..,^^<ii ^j.^^^ It was on the elevated land, which separates the valley ot' 

 the Hudson from that of the lake, at a place called Be- 

 mus' heights about three miles distant, in a south-east 

 direction, where the ever memorable battles of the 19th of 

 September, and the 7th of October, 1777, which termin- 

 ated so gloriously for the cause of freedom, were fought, 

 and it is the continuation of this ridge, twelve miles south- 

 erly, which forms the falls of the Mohawk commonly called 

 the Cahoos falls. 



The country around the lake is transition and is inclu- 

 ded in the extensive tract of transition formation which ex- 

 tends along the course of the Hudson, from Baker's falls 

 on the north, to the highlands, below Newburgh, on the 

 south. The borders of the lake are composed principally 

 of argillaceous slate, which extends back to the more ele- 

 vated ridges; where, in many places, it is overlaid by gray- 

 wacke or gray-wacke slate, and in some places evidently 

 alternates with them. 



On the eastern shore of the Lake, three miles from its 

 southern termination, there is a singular and interes- 

 ting stratification of these rocks, at a place called Snake 

 Hill, This hill projects into the lake for some distance, 

 and rises abruptly more than two hundred feet above the 

 level of the water, presenting a naked and almost perpen- 

 (licular front, which looks to the west and south-west, 

 where the dilFerent strata are as regular and well defined 

 as though they were painted on a wall. They rise from 

 the water in reg-jjar succession along the southern part of 

 this front and pursue an elevation of from 13 to 13° to 

 the north-west, in straiglit and parallel lines, until they 

 arrive towards the northern termination of this promon- 

 tory ; here they make an abrupt curve and pass up the 

 mountain in an oblique direction, to its summit, nroducino" 

 a declination exactly in an opposite direction. The curve 

 made by the strata, taking an opposite course, is the seg- 

 ment of a circle, the diameter of which would not exceed 

 20 or 30 inches. The strata are of different dimensions, 

 varying from half an inch to two feet in thickness t^nd consist 

 of alternate layers of argillaceous slate and gray wacke or 

 gray-wacke slate. The gray-wacke contains impressions of 

 shells in great abundance, they consist principally of bv- 

 valves. and both the formations effervesce with acids. 



