Exploring Visits to the Sources of the Hudson. 303 
been assigned for this by writers on vegetable physiology. The 
direction, in these cases, coincides with the direction of rotation in 
our great storms, as well as with that of the tornado which visited 
New Brunswick in 1835 and other whirlwinds of like character, 
the traces of which have been carefully examined. 
We resumed our journey on the morning of the 15th, and at 9 
A. M. reached the Boreas branch of the Hudson, eight miles from 
Johnson’s. Soon after 11 A. M., we arrived at the Main Northern 
Branch of the Hudson, a little below its junction with the outlet of 
Lake Sanford. Another quarter of an hour brought us to the landing 
at the outlet of the lake, nine miles from the Boreas. Taking leave 
of the “road,” we here entered a difficult path which leads up the 
western side of the lake, and a further progress of six miles brought - 
us to the Iron Works and settlement at McIntyre, where a hospita- 
ble reception awaited us. : 
Settlement at McIntyre.—Mineral Character of the Country. 
At this settlement, and in its immediate vicinity, are found beds 
of iron ore of great, if not unexampied extent, and of the best 
quality. ‘These deposits have been noticed in the first report of the 
state geologists, and have since received from Professor Emmons a 
more extended examination. Lake Sanford is a beautiful sheet of 
water, of elongated and irregular form, and about five miles in ex- 
tent. ‘The Iron Works are situated on the north fork of the Hud- 
son, a little below the point where it issues from Lake Henderson, 
and over a mile above its entrance into Lake Sanford. The fall of 
the stream between the two lakes is about one hundred feet. This 
settlement is situated in the upper plain of the Hudson, and at 
the foot of the principal mountain nucleus, which rises between its 
sources and those of the Au Sable. 
A remarkable feature of this mountain district, is the uniformity 
of the mineral character of its rocks, which consist chiefly of the 
dark colored and sometimes opalescent feldspar, known as labrado- 
rite, or Labrador feldspar. ‘Towards the exterior limits of the for- 
mation, this material is accompanied with considerable portions of 
green augite or pyroxene, but in the more central portions of the 
formation, this feldspar often constitutes almost the only ingredient 
of the rocks. It seems not a little repugnant to our notions of the 
primary rocks, to find a region of this extent which is apparently 
destitute of mica, quartz, and hornblende, and also, of any traces of 
