REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I916 I5I 



to grow it must have been at least a few inches within the border of 

 the bank. Those of its roots which were directed lakeward may be 

 made to tell approximately how far. At present the old stump has 

 no support and is held in place only by a rather long and strong 

 landward root. There is direct evidence here of a quantitative kind. 

 Figures 3 and 4 will serve to indicate many others of a similar 

 nature. In figure 5 is a view of the contact walls of these two rock 

 formations as they existed in 1897. ^^ ^^^^ o^ ^my Trenton frag- 

 ment here shown is the same as those seen in figure 3. In figure 5 

 a strong arched root is present in the upper left corner but no roots 

 pass over the faces of the Trenton beds. In figure 3, however, a 

 recent fall of Trenton fragments has revealed (at b) roots which, 

 in their search for water and dissolved mineral matter had found 

 a hidden fissure and occupied it. The wall which once protected 

 them on the outside is gone. So too is the arched root of figure 5. 

 If one will now examine the south or Chazy wall in figure 3 he will 

 find some evidence of loss from portions that were in place when the 

 photograph for plate 5 was taken, but all of the old smooth face is 

 not lost. If one could recognize some feature of the south wall 

 common to the two figures he would have additional testimony as to 

 the rate of change. 



To a student of the peculiar conditions which gave rise to Cliff 

 Haven physiography another question will arise. Why is it that only 

 bedrock of Trenton age is to be found for three and a half miles 

 northerly, or along the shore from Cliff Haven to Plattsburg, 

 while on going nearly three and a half miles southerly, or from the 

 smooth, hard wall of the Haven bay recess to Valcour bay, only 

 bedrock of Chazy age is to be found? The answer to this ques- 

 tion will involve some geological knowledge of the utmost practical 

 value — a knowledge that would have saved many residents of 

 Clinton, Essex, and Warren counties from the loss of their savings 

 through boring for oil where the geologic conditions are such that 

 it could not possibly exist. 



In the first place, the great Adirondack mass (Adirondackia) 

 consists only of old crystalline rocks or those which have been 

 subjected to tremendous pressure and great heat. Around this 

 old land or at least on the north, east and south sides there 

 existed the waters of an ancient sea and all along this sea margin 

 wide sheets of sand were deposited which in places attained ^reat 

 thickness. Over 400 feet of these beds are exposed in Ausable 

 chasm. The Morrisonville " oil well " penetrated rock of the same 

 character to a depth of over 750 feet but did not reach the basal 



