6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 



As compared with the general Adirondack area, the North Creek 

 quadrangle presents a rather unique assemblage of topographic 

 forms. Long, prominent mountain ridges, usually with northeast- 

 southwest trend, which are so common in the eastern Adirondacks, 

 are practically absent from the quadrangle, and instead the domi- 

 nant topography form is the separate, rounded mountain mass or 

 dome which stands out conspicuously above the surrounding 

 country. Such domes, which are numerous and widespread 

 especially in the southern two-thirds of the region, are commonly 

 from 500 to 800 feet high. The highest and largest of these domes 

 is Crane mountain which rises 2000 feet above the immediately 

 surrounding country. Among the other more notable examples are 

 Hackensack,^ Moon, Potter, No. 9, Little, Huckleberry, Kelm, 

 Chase, Prospect, Mill, and Stockton mountains. These domes always 

 form striking features of the landscape. Ridges do occur but they 

 are seldom more than two or three miles long and do not assume 

 their usual importance in Adirondack topography. This peculiar 

 North Creek topography has largely been produced by a very irreg- 

 ular system of numerous faults in combination with a rather wide- 

 spread though " patchy " distribution of comparatively weak Gren- 

 ville strata. In the succeeding pages these matters are described in 

 detail. The maximum range in elevation is from about 640 feet, 

 where the Hudson river leaves the quadrangle, to 3254 feet at the 

 summit of Crane mountain. Many of the mountain tops show 

 altitudes ranging from 1200 to 2000 feet. 



The Hudson river, which is the largest stream in the south- 

 eastern Adirondacks, passes through the midst of the quadrangle 

 from the northwest to the southeast. The Schroon river, which is 

 one of the chief tributaries of the upper Hudson, cuts across the 

 northeastern portion of the area and thence along the western side 

 of the adjoining Bolton sheet to reenter the North Creek sheet 

 at the extreme southeastern corner near Warrensburg. It is worthy 

 of note that the Schroon river, in the northern portion of the area, 

 flows at a level 200 feet below that of the Hudson to which it is 

 tributary. All the drainage of the quadrangle passes into the 

 Hudson, though that of fully two-thirds of the region does so by 

 first entering the Schroon river. Within the map limits, scarcely a 

 stream of any consequence enters the Hudson from the east, while 

 several streams of considerable size, such as Patterson brook. Glen 

 brook, and Mill creek, enter it from the west. 



1 On the map the name of this mountain is misspelled. 



