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



Lawrence to the Ocean. What that force was, that could 

 operate with such tremendous energy as to rive "the ever- 

 lasting hills," through a space of three hundred miles, may 

 be left to the Plutonians and Neptunians to determine. That 

 it operated from beneath is probable, and that after it had 

 opened for itself a vent, and escaped through the rift, caused 

 by its action, the rock-strata, of the Western part, fell into 

 the cavity which had previously contained the imprisoned 

 agent. This supposed disruption will account for the course of 

 the River Hudson and its passage through the highlands : and 

 also for the position of Lake Champlain, which probably at 

 some more remotely distant period, was the outlet of the 

 great inland sea that once covered the country above the 

 highlands. That the lowest part of the fallen or subsided 

 tract, should be at some little disfance, from the line of its 

 disruption might naturally be expected, for the western 

 part, in falling, would impinge against the eastern, and be 

 in some degree supported by it, causing the strata to bend 

 and form a hollow on the upper surface. That little distance, 

 on the grand scale of operations which we are considering is 

 from twenty to thirty miles, and the hollow is occupied by 

 Lake Champlain, and the River Hudson. If, as we have 

 supposed, some mighty force operating from below raised 

 up this tract, and while the part eastward of the rift remain- 

 ed firm, produced a disruption, it would be natural to expeci 

 that some other traces of its operation, should be found on 

 the other side of the tract. Such traces, in fact are found 

 and they are so distinctly marked, as to produce a powerful 

 confirmation of our supposition. In the counties of Warren, 

 Washington, Montgomery, and Saratoga, westwardly of the 

 general course of Champlain and the Hudson, exactly 

 where we should desire we find the western limit of this tract 

 " butted and bounded" 6y the primitive through a distance 

 of more than one hundred miles. On this subject I refer 

 you to the respectable authority of Prof. Eaton, and to Dr. 

 J. H. Steel's excellent treatise on the mineral waters of Sar- 

 atoga, to which he has prefixed a geological Map with ob- 

 servations on the geology of the surrounding country. Steel 

 says, pp. 11, and 26, " The eastern side of the Palmertown 

 range (primitive) commences abruptly and in many places 

 presents an almost perpendicular front, that rises several 

 hundred feet above the level of the plain that skirts its base. 



