ELIZABETHTOWX AND PORT IIEXRY OUAURAXGLES I9 



the valley of the Boquet the lake was created whose abandoned 

 bottom now yields the meadows of Pleasant valley. This lake 

 bottom was described by Heinrich Ries in 1893.^ The ponding 

 back of the waters w^as discussed four years later by F. B. Taylor. - 

 Down stream and in the northeastern tdgt of the Elizabethtown 

 sheet, there is a morainai barrier which is now cut through. Its top 

 is on the 500 foot contour while the stream flo\vs at 400 feet. This 

 is not quite high enough for the Elizabethtown bottom at 540-60, 

 but it would account for some of the phenomena in the south- 

 western portion of the Ausable sheet, where lake bottoms are 

 beautifully developed. The Elizabethtown lake bottom has gone to 

 the extent of arable meadows but the one which lies along the outlet 

 of Lincoln pond and which doubtless marks its former extent, is 

 still in the condition of swamp. It is a not uncommon experience 

 to note other little abandoned lake or pond bottoms, too small to 

 be brought out very strongly by the contours, but furnishing a 

 stretch of meadow land or of a small farm. Within the area 

 of the sjieec almost all of the stages from lake or pond to meadow, 

 which have been graphicalh' ('escribed b}- C. H. Sm}i;h, jr,^ can 

 be identified and the significance of these ^iiinor features is su 

 plain as to easily attract and impress even tlie casual observer 

 during drives for pleasure. 



Deltas. In no other form of evidence is the efi:'ect of the post- 

 glacial poncing so clearly indicated as the deltas, and that too im- 

 mediately beneath a portion of Elizabethtown itself. The flat or 

 terrace shown on the map at the 6ao contour and lying in the 

 southwestern portion of the village is a particularly fine example 

 and is almost a dead level. It has furnished the site for the AA'ind- 

 sor and Antlers hotels and for the county buildings. Undoubtedly 

 it was built up by the Branch and its upper portion has probably 

 wasted away but little in the time since its construction. It stands 

 quite ^;o feet above the lake bottom of Pleasant valley and the 

 600 foot contour is not cut by the Boquet until we go 3 miles or 

 m.ore to the south at the New Russia cascade. In August 1893 

 thrre Wc;s a very sudden and heavy storm in this section of the 

 mounains which proc'uced such flood's that bridges were carried 

 off and the banks were undermined throughout this and neighbor- 



1 Ries, Heinrich. A Pleistocene Lake Bed at Elizabethtown. X. Y. 

 X. Y. Acacl. Sci. Trans. 1893. 13:197. 



2 Lake Adirordack. Am. Geol. 1897. 19:392. 



• 3 Smyth, C. H. jr. Lake Filling in the Adirondack Region. Am. Geol. 

 1893. 11:85. 



