674 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 47. 



An extensive area northwest of Half-way 

 Brook is occupied by sand plains and kames. 

 For about a mile the sand plain bordering 

 tlie channel presents a pretty sharp front 

 towards the channel and slopes gradually 

 away towards the mountains. On riding 

 over this from north to south, while the 

 slope is so gradual that one does not per- 

 ceive it directlj^, it is made evident by the 

 skyline which is formed by the tops of the 

 mountains far to the south, giving one the 

 sensation of being in a vast sandy plain 

 surrounded by abutting mountains on all 

 sides. I am indebted to Mrs. C. B. Hewitt 

 for having my attention directed to this 

 peculiar feature. 



Nearer the head of Lake George and south 

 Of French Mountain the gravel deposits 

 pass into those of a very broken character, 

 with innumerable kames and kettle holes, 

 one of the largest of which is occupied by 

 Glen Lake, while an extensive series of 

 eskers fill the depi'ession west of French 

 Mountain up to the head of Lake George. 



Another remarkable channel extends 

 from Fort Edward to Whitehall. This is 

 followed by the Champlain Canal, whose 

 summit level is 142 feet above tide. This 

 valley is about a mile in width between 

 Fort Edward and Fort Ann, a distance of 

 about twelve miles, and is occupied most of 

 the way by swamps. Between these places 

 the canal occupies a dead level. On the 

 west side, towards Sandy Hill and Glens 

 Falls, this is bordered by a sharp margin of 

 sand and gravel deposits at a level of about 

 300 feet. The eastern side of the Fort Ed- 

 ward-Fort Ann valley is bounded by low 

 slate hills flanked up to about 200 feet above 

 tide, or fifty feet above the valley, with de- 

 posits of Champlain clay. At Dunham's 

 Basin, two miles above Fort Edward, how- 

 ever, the channel divides, one branch going 

 east of a low slate hill and entering the 

 Hudson a few miles below Fort Edward. 

 The sand deposits west of the valley, to- 



wards the angle of the river at Sandy Hill, 

 are level-topped, extending about three- 

 quarters of a mile east of the river, and oc- 

 cupying, at corresponding level, the inner 

 angle inclosed by the river in the northeast 

 coi'uer of Saratoga county. 



These sand and gravel deposits continue 

 at an elevation of about 300 feet through 

 Saratoga county along a belt following an 

 irregular course west of the Hudson. The 

 course pursued by the belt is through Mo- 

 reau township, and the northwestern cor- 

 ner of Northumberland, thence diagonally 

 through the center of Wilton to Saratoga 

 Springs and Saratoga Lake. In Wilton 

 township a line of eskers appears for sev- 

 eral miles parallel with the Delaware and 

 Hudson E. E. upon the northwest side. 

 The elevation at Saratoga Springs is 322 

 feet. In the center of AVilton township it 

 is slightly higher. Saratoga Lake is bor- 

 dered upon the northwest side by two dis- 

 tinct terraces of sand and gravel of about 

 fifty feet rise each. The lower terrace on 

 the western side is, however, traversed 

 north and south by two lines of swampy 

 land and slack di-ainage. On the east of 

 Saratoga Lake slate hills come down to the 

 border. 



Nearer the Hudson Eiver, on the west 

 side, through the towns of Northumber- 

 land, Saratoga and Stillwater, there is a 

 continuous extension of Champlain clay, 

 about 150 feet above the river. 



Eight miles west of Glens Falls the Hud- 

 son follows a tortuous and narrow channel 

 between the Luzerne Mountains and the 

 Palmerstown range, which includes Mt. 

 McGregor. There would seem to be no 

 chance for a buried channel through this 

 range, but the descent of the river from 

 Palmer's Falls, just west of Luzerne Moun- 

 tains, is upwards of 200 feet to Glens Falls, 

 twelve miles distant, and from Glens Falls 

 to Fort Edward, a further distance of about 

 five miles, the fall is 150 feet more. 



