8 Mr. Barnes^ Section of the Canaan Mountain, fyc. 



Art. II. — A Geological Section of the Canaan Mountain, 

 with observations on the soil and productions of the neigh- 

 bouring region; by D. H. Barnes, M. A. member of 

 the Neic-York Lyceum. 



Read before the Lyceum, January 14, 1822. 



Canaan Mountain is situated three miles south-west 

 from the Lebanon springs, in the county of Columbia, and 

 state of New- York. It is an insulated ridge of about four 

 miles in length, from north to south, bounded on the north 

 and east by the valley of Lebanon; on the south by a tri- 

 angular lake, of about two miles in extent, called Whiting's 

 Pond ; on the west by a tract of low meadow land, on a 

 part of which is a deep quagmire, with a pond of 

 water in its centre, called Adgate's Pond. Contiguous 

 to this swamp, on the south-west, is another, contain- 

 ing about twenty acres of surface, in the centre of which 

 is a prairie, which according to tradition, was formerly 

 covered by a beaver pond. From Adgate's pond a stream 

 flows north, and another south. These meet in the Kin- 

 derhook river, a branch of the Hudson. 



The height of the mountain from its immediate base,* 

 does not exceed one third of a mile. The line of our sec- 

 tion crosses the highest point, known in the vicinity by the 

 name of the high knob, about fifty rods north of the line 

 which divides the townships of Canaan and New-Lebanon. 

 Commencing on the western side, in the low grounds before 

 mentioned, the first remarkable object that strikes the ob- 

 server is an extensive bed of peat{d)\ It abounds in the 

 adjacent swamps, so much that the quantity has been judged 

 sufficient to supply the town with fuel for a thousand years. 

 Specimens of this, and of the other minerals mentioned in 

 this description, are on your table ; and I have the pleas- 

 ure of presenting them to the Lyceum. This peat is not at 

 present used as fuel, on account of the abundant supply of 

 wood which the yet uncultivated mountain affords. An at- 

 tempt was made in the years 1803 and 1804 to bring the ar- 



* The base itself is high land. 



tThese letters refer to the subjoined catalogue of minerals presented at 

 the reading of this paper. 



