so NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



formation, outcrops of which, and of the Sherburne and Hamil- 

 ton formations, are common on this hill. 



The physical geography of the Schoharie valley has been well 

 described by Prof. Arnold Guyot (1880) in the following words : 



The main Schoharie creek originates at the foot of the Scho- 

 harie peaks, near the head of the Plaaterkill clove, from which 

 it is hardly separated by a slight swell in the swampy valley 

 bottom. It follows closely the foot of the central chain and 

 receives just below Tannersville its first affluent, also coming 

 from swampy meadows near Haines's falls, at the head of the 

 Kaaterskill clove; these two head streams embracing the chain 

 of the High Peak. The creek, keeping the direction of the cen- 

 tral chain to the west-northwest, flows through Hunter village, 

 1609 feet, to Lexington, 1320 feet, where it turns with the chain 

 to the northwest, to the mouth of the Beaverkill creek, beyond 

 Prattsville, 1164 feet. 



Here it leaves the central chain, and, running almost due 

 north to the confluent of the Manorkill, it enters the mass of the 

 northwestern plateaus, cutting from Gilboa 1033 feet, to Middle- 

 burg 640 feet, a deep and narrow valley, the bottom of which 

 is from 1000 to 1300 feet below the general level of the country 

 it traverses, while the occasional flat bottoms in it at Blenheim, 

 Breakabeen, Fultonham and Middleburg, rarely attain more 

 than half a mile in width. Its course from Blenheim through 

 Middleburg, Schoharie and Central Bridge, where it received the 

 Cobleskill creek, is alternately to north-northeast and north. 

 From this place, instead of following the broad valley through 

 which runs the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad [Delaware & 

 Hudson R. B.], it leaves it and cutting its way at right angles 

 through the high hills which border the Mohawk it finally enters 

 that river near Fort Hunter, after a course of over 76 miles. 



All the main tributaries of the Schoharie creek in the moun- 

 tain region, the Eastkill, the Bataviakill, the Manorkill, come 

 from the northeast border chain and flow almost due west to 

 the central chain, on the opposite side, where they enter the main 

 creek; the Eastkill, three miles above Lexington, the Bataviakill 

 just above Prattsville, the Manorkill at Gilboa. Like most 

 valleys of erosion they offer, in their upper and middle course, 

 a succession of flat and open basins from which they fall through 

 narrows, in rapids and cascades, into the valley of the main 

 creek. The left affluents from the central chain, the Westkill, 

 Little Westkill, and the Beaverkill, are all inconsiderable in 

 length and volume. In the region of the plateaus another West- 



