228 Connecticut River*Valley. 
1. Sandstone.—The bed of the river is composed of dark red 
clay and sandstone rock. Layers of the same rock, dipping com- 
monly ten or twelve degrees towards the northeast or east, form the 
immediate bank of the river, rising abruptly from ten to thirty feet 
above the surface of low water, and of unknown depth, probably 
extending to the primitive strata below. This is part of the extensive 
and central formation before described, consisting only of materials 
in a state of minute division, and containing no pebbles or even gravel. 
The dip to the east indicates that the sandstone strata rise gradually, 
from the west bank of the river, and the surface of the ground pre- 
sents a corresponding slope towards the east. Retiring from the river 
various distances, from a quarter to half a mile, the slope of the sur- 
face commonly changes to the west, and after a gradual declination 
in that direction, and to a considerable distance, the surface again 
rises with a dip towards the east. ‘Two and even more ranges of 
similar hills and valleys extend, in places, several miles from the river. 
In general the superincumbent earth conceals the position of the rocky 
strata, but where streams break through, it is seen that the western 
slope is not formed by a change in the dip of the rocky strata, but 
these are broken off and disappear in successive steps, as if the whole 
had been originally consolidated in continuous layers, and subse- 
quently cracked, the strata on one side of the fracture being elevated, 
whilst the other was depressed. 
2. Clay and fragments.—Next over the red rock lies a bed of 
red clay and sand, ranging from three or four to twenty feet in thick- 
ness. Here, as generally in the red rock below, the predominating 
material is clay. But the resemblance of the superincumbent clay, 
in fineness, color, and all apparent qualities, except cement and 
stratification, to the rock beneath, compels belief that it was collec- 
ted suspended and deposited in the same lake, and from the same 
sources as the materials of the rock. In several places thick upper 
strata of No. 1, are found broken, elevated, and imbedded in the un- 
stratified red clay of No. 2, in entire disorder. In like manner numer- 
ous fragments and pebbles of granite and other primitive rocks, and 
of water-worn greenstone, are mingled and often deeply imbedded 
in the same red clay. The explanation seems to be, that after 
the purely fine red clay and sand had been deposited above the 
rocky strata, powerful and unwonted currents swept over the face 
of the valley, bearing with them vast quantities of fragments and 
pebbles, from the distant hills and higher water courses. ‘The 
