48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



On the north edge of the sheet, 2 miles north of West Platts- 

 burg, is the termination of an extensive cobble delta tract, built 

 by glacial drainage along the high ground west of West Chazy 

 (plate 5). This carries a remarkably fine series of bars, as depicted 

 on the sheet, ranging from 684 down to 570 feet (plate 15). On 

 this sheet the relative vertical position of the Covey Hill P. O. 

 beaches is a smooth, sandy plain 2 miles northeast of West Platts- 

 burg, with no decided shore forms. It illustrates the fact stated 

 above, the absence of bars on sand plains. The Saranac sand delta 

 illustrates the lack of bars on sands. 



The Northern Salient. Covey Hill 



Plate s 



Physiography. The northern promontory of the Adirondack 

 highland is shown in plate 5, made up of the Mooers, Churubusco 

 and Chateaugay sheets, with a strip of the Canadian Chateaugay 

 sheet. This salient, wholly of Potsdam sandstone, terminates a 

 mile north of the international boundary in an oval knob, locally 

 known as Covey hill. The summit of the hill is given by the map 

 as 1 1 13 feet. It drops ofif steeply on the north, falling to 300 feet 

 in 2 miles. The depression south of the hill, and one-half of a 

 mile north of the boundary, has an altitude on the long swamp 

 col of lOCXD feet plus, by the map. The steep gorge on the east 

 of the divide has been known as the " gulf." In relation to the 

 glacial history this locality is perhaps the most critical in the State. 

 The first geologist to recognize the significance of the Covey pass 

 as related to the glacial waters was Dr G. K. Gilbert, who was the 

 pioneer in glacial work, especially in New York. 



The water parting, it will be noted, is on the west side of the 

 promontory, which throws the larger territory into eastward drain- 

 age, the Chazy river. The Chateaugay river gathers the waters 

 of the west slope. This is partial explanation of the larger volume 

 of ice-border drainage on the Mooers quadrangle. Along the 

 boundary a strip 2 miles wide drains into Canada. 



As the Labradorian ice front backed away on this salient, the 

 glacial outwash flowed freely away, east and west, making no 

 decided channels near the crest of the ridge. On the west all the 

 waters found their way into Lake Iroquois by the channels depicted 

 on the Chateaugay sheet. On the east slope the waters came to 

 rest in the sea-level Champlain estuary. 



Mooers quadrangle. The drainage and static water features are 



