Geology and Topography of Western New York. 91 



of elevation. As few points could then have been permanently 

 raised above the ocean, east of the Rocky Mountams, the action 

 of the surge was unbroken; and it is highly probable, that for a 

 considerable time, the two processes of elevation and disintegra- 

 tion, made equal progress. When, however, the primitive nu- 

 cleus was laid bare, and Mount Marcy had attained an elevation 

 above the level of the ocean, and bid defiance to its waves and 

 the thunders of its storms, then, and not till then, New York ob- 

 tained her first "foothold on terra firma." This "war of the 

 elements," however, must have been of long continuance before 

 any portion of the sedimentary rocks were rescued from the do- 

 minion of the ocean. Mount Marcy has an elevation of 5467 

 feet ;* while Roundtop, of the Catskill, composed of sedimen- 

 tary rocks, is but 3804 feet ;f and from the best data in my pos- 

 session,! the highest peaks of the dividing ridge which separates 

 the streams flowing south from those which take a northern 

 course to the St. Lawrence, do not probably exceed 2000 feet 

 above tide water. The elevation of this part of the continent, 

 ^therefore, must have been exceedingly gradual, to give time for 

 the degradation and removal of such an immense amount of mat- 

 ter ; and it would seem probable, that it was not till the shoals 

 had become so extensive as to obstruct the further action of the 

 waves and arrest the removal of the. detrital matter, that this 

 ridge attained a permanent elevation above tide water. 



Whether it prove true or not, that these rocks have been re- 

 moved to so great an extent as the foregoing train of reaj5oning 

 presupposes, is of little consequence to the main question under 

 consideration. The broadest ground has been assumed, in order 

 to show that the causes assigned for the topographical phenom- 

 ena of this part of the state, are abundantly sufficient, not only 

 to account for what we actually witness, but also for any extent 

 of change which facts may hereafter demonstrate. 



Supposing even, that no very great extent of strata have been 

 removed, that these ancient deposits thinned out rapidly on the 

 north, and that the surface has only received such modifications 

 as are every where apparent, from the remaining strata; is there 



* Prof. Emmons, New York Geological Report, 1838, p. 244. 

 t Prof. Emmons, New York Geological Report, 1837, p. 100. 

 X See Am. Journal of Science, Vol. xxxni. p. 122. 



