34 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



sive evidences either for or against glaciation were found at higher 

 elevations on these or other mountains. " In general, it is very diffi- 

 cult to find evidences of glaciation at elevations above 3000 feet, 

 partly because erratic boulders of rocks foreign to the region are 

 very rare except opposite the passes on the north and east borders 

 of the mountains. 



The striae at the higher elevations all indicate a general south- 

 westward movement of the ice across the region. The direction 

 of movement ranged, in different places, from south to S. 45° W. 

 About S. 20° W. is the dominant direction. At lower elevations, 

 the striae indicate much greater diversity of movement. 



During the retreat of the ice front across the mountains, the 

 series of events was complicated by the fact that the movements 

 of the marginal portion of the ice were strongly influenced by the 

 broader features of the topography, and, further, by the develop- 

 ment of local valley glaciers whose deposits are not everywhere 

 easily distinguished from those of the continental glacier. The 

 possibility that important readvances of the ice may have affected 

 the northern and eastern parts of the region must also be borne in 

 mind. 



Possible early drift. The earliest stages of the ice retreat across 

 the area under examination are recorded in the valley of the Little 

 Delaware, where the ice moved southwestward and westward 

 down the valley, and along the upper courses of Neversink and 

 Rondout creeks, where, also, the movement was southwestward 

 down the valleys. 



In each of these regions the glacial deposits seem to be notably 

 older than those observed elsewhere. Flood plains are wider; 

 extensive alluvial fans have developed ; the forms of the drift seem 

 more subdued; and drift terraces appear to be much more dis- 

 sected by streams than elsewhere. 



These features suggest the possibility that the ice of the latest 

 glacial advance did not reach these localities, sheltered, as they 

 are, in the lea of the higher Catskills. 



Ice movements in Esopus and Delaware watersheds. The 

 major valleys on the north side of the Slide mountain range — Big 

 Indian hollow and Woodland valley — appear to have been last 

 occupied by local glaciers moving northward. 



The valleys leading southward and southwestward from the cen- 

 tral escarpment of the Catskills, which extends northwestward 

 from Plattekill and Overlook mountains to and beyond Stamford, 



