32 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



llic closing phase of glaciation in Nezv York has been particularly 

 studied by Professor Fairchild somewhat in conclusion of his many 

 years of work on the postglacial waters and deposits of this State. 

 Professor Fairchild has submitted a summary of his observations on 

 this subject which is incorporated herewith: 



Recent surveys by the Canadian government have given us reliable 

 altitudes along the international boundary in the towns of Havelock 

 and Franklin including the Covey hill district of northern New 

 York. This locality is critical for the study of the Pleistocene phe- 

 nomena associated with the close of glaciation in New York, and 

 for determination of the ancient water planes and their deformation 

 in the St Lawrence and Champlain valleys. 



The summit of Covey hill is 1120 feet above ocean, which is 90 

 feet higher than the figure used by Doctor Gilbert and by Professor 

 Woodworth in his description of the Mooers quadrangle (N. Y. 

 State Museum Bulletins 83, 84). Taking advantage of the precise 

 altitudes now available on the Canadian side of the boundary the 

 glacial drainage features and the marine shore line have been 

 mapped in the area connecting the Champlain and St Lawrence 

 valleys, revealing an interesting history that is given here in brief 

 outline. 



The glacial Lake Iroquois found its second outlet at the Covey 

 gulf, the channel being at somewhat over 1000 feet altitude. The 

 level of the lake and river is estimated at 1025 feet altitude, which 

 is 565 feet higher than the lake level of the previous outlet at Rome. 



The highest bars of the marine beach are at least 525 feet above 

 sea, and they retain this height around the north slope of Covey hill 

 and westward until they reenter New York, at Boyd's lines, five 

 miles north of Chateaugay village. This shore has been traced in 

 practical continuity as far as Potsdam, where its altitude has fallen 

 to 480 feet. The correlation of this shore line with the beaches in 

 Jefferson county is now positive. 



The deformation of the Iroquois plane furnishes evidence of the 

 marine origin of the Covey hill beaches. The Covey gulf channel at 

 the time it carried Iroquois outflow must have been as low at least 

 as the Rome outlet, or 565 feet lower than it is now (1025-460). 

 The depression of Covey hill by 565 feet would carry the top of the 

 Covey beaches (now 525 feet altitude) 40 feet below sea level. 

 This excess of submergence will be explained later. 



The slow lifting of the land out of the sea produced a remarkable 

 series of close-set bars. On the east and west road near the north 

 edge of the Mooers quadrangle forty-two bars are counted in a 

 distance of one and one-fourth miles and through a vertical fall of 

 only 165 feet, or from 525-530 down to 365 feet. Similar series of 

 crowded cobble bars are noted on all the roads in Canada which 

 traverse the beach ; at Covey Hill P. O., Stockwell, Maritana, 

 Franklin Center, Rockburn and Brooklet. Some stretches of the 

 marine shore in New York are as heavy and impressive as the 



