15 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



sides have gentle slopes and show e\4dence of much more pro- 

 tracted wasting away. The best example in the Elizabethtown 

 quadraiigle is the \ alley of the ** Branch" wliich enters the Boquet 

 at die Village itself. Alth3Jgh L:e Branch is the smaller stream, 

 its valley, except perhaps at the headwaters,' is more open and larger 

 than tiiat of the Boquet itself. From obser\'ations on a wide area 

 the writer has tlierefore been impressed with the probability that 



he eldest drainage lines were east and west, and north and south. 

 Thiy often ccrrespond with belis of Precambric limeftones wh^Cii 

 lumish comparatively soft and easily eroded rocks, and the result- 

 :. g topcgrapfcy has a different aspect and character from the pre- 

 Jpitous northeast and nortliwest valleys. Tlie Elizabethtown quad- 

 : angle dees net famish however the best evidence and therefore 

 the subject is not further pursued at this point. The citations below 



\ill place the reader in toucli with the fuller literature so far as 

 it exists.^ Xevertheless, in the southern central portions of the 



nadrargle tl:ere are two escarpments which run nearly due east 

 nd west. Cne, the Broughton ledge, a most impressive precipice, 

 illjstrated in plate 6, and the other less steep, rise on the north 

 fide of Crowfeet pond in a series of steps. 



Aside from the small feeders or tributaries wliic : ' ive hii: . 

 srradients and cascades, tl:e larger streams are usually ; r . f.r 

 a mouEtaincus region by low gradients and slack wa: they 



'rep with relative suddenness to Lai: 7 



ii a distance cf Ji niile from Split .._ .v :^... : :- . . 



E:zF bet' t:wn the Ecqiie: river meanders for 7 nii!es . p:n 



neadoiAS. Its descent is chiefiy concentrated at Xew Russia, where 

 there is a drop of 40 or 50 feet within less than half a mile, an:l 

 partly over leiges. Both at Split Rock falU aul at the c^s ades a: 

 Xew Russia tlie river presents the relationship not uncommon in the 

 Adirondacks, of a waterfall succeeded by an open and level valley, 

 containing a sandy lake bottom or meadow land which the stream 

 : ext traverses. The Schroon is also a v^erv- sluggish stream with 

 a relatively low gradient. Other smaller streams, such as the 



ntlet cf Lincoln pond and Ashcraft brook are decidedly swampy. 

 These rtlatiomhips are undcuh edly due to the postglacial pond- 

 ing back cf tlie waters either by the retreating ice sheet on the 

 : orth or by moraines which for the time furnished a barrier. In 



1 Kemp. T. F. Physiographx- •: : it Adir.: nf acks. Pc'prlar Science 

 Mcntbly. Ma-ch ico5. p. 199; Ogi.vie, I. H. Geolcg\- cf the Paradox 

 Lake Crardrrngle, X Y State Mus. Bal. 96. 



