THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 1 49 



or more of boulder clay of a yellowish brown color which seems to 

 possess all the characteristics of the blue till below. This clay be- 

 comes gradually laminated, and is covered by a coarse red sand ; 

 on this clay the surface water after filtering down rests, not being 

 able to penetrate these clays. When reaching this sand bed you 

 strike water in more or less quantities. At Ray and at Hess streets, 

 where there is a slight dip in the blue till, the water came as from 

 springs ; above this sand is coarse gravel, and filled with boulders of 

 various sizes, the larger ones being Niagara limestone and freestone, 

 and here and there pieces from the chert. These large boulders are 

 not worn into rounded boulders, but are worn down on all their an- 

 gles. The remaining drift is Laurentian and various other lime- 

 stones, these are all rounded boulders, and these sandy and gravel 

 beds continue until near Bay street, where we cross the old lake 

 beach, where the water-washed pebbles are all cemented together 

 by the infiltration of the lime held in solution collected from the 

 overlaying clays, which becomes redeposited and recrystallized, 

 forming a solid concrete, All these beds had to be blasted to be 

 removed. You will observe that two-thirds of these pebbles and 

 boulders are from the Hudson river formation, with a few Trenton 

 and Laurentian pebbles. 



Now, at the west end of the cutting where it dips to its level at 

 what is called Beasley's Hollow, the ground is cut up into various 

 valleys all running into the Dundas marsh. You will observe that 

 the sand and concrete beds cross all these hills at a water level, 

 showing most distinctly that they have been washed out since the 

 formation of the old lake beach. Just west of the sewer pipe works 

 you will see a conical hill, where two of these streams met, causing 

 the water to swerve around, leaving this small conical hill ; they are 

 now cutting it down to obtain the sand. It is a strange sight to 

 view these hills from the west end of Main street where all these 

 various outwashings are well displayed. 



I could extend this paper by suppositions as to the probable 

 time of these glacial drifts, and the denuding and laying down of 

 these various beds of drift. But this subject has been so ably 

 described by Professor G. J. Hinde, F. G. S , and others, that it 

 would be presumptuous for me to say more than to note what I have 

 most carefully observed during the progress of the cutting. I have 



