56 Geolorjy of Hudson County, New Jersey. 



tainly have anything but a beneficial influence on the health of 

 the community. 



On the Avestern side of the hill, and reaching sometimes nearly 

 to the top of the slope, the soil is usually more sandy ; but this 

 is often a deceptive appearance, as the sand is a superficial cov- 

 ering concealing the reddish glacial drift soil but a few inches 

 below. Most of this region, however, has a natural drainage, 

 which secures for it a greater salubrity than the irregular plain 

 on the top of the hill enjoys. 



Soils of Stratified Drift. — The material left by the melting 

 glaciers, when brought within the action of tides and currents, 

 Avas assorted and more or less stratified, so as to form irregular 

 and rapidly alternating accumulations of clay, sand, gravel, 

 boulders, etc. Soils of this kind occur at many localities west- 

 Avard of Bergen Hill, near the junction of tbe upland with the 

 salt marshes and NcAvark Bay. These deposits have been ex- 

 cavated to obtain sand and gravel in the level areas in the 

 neighborhood of New Durham, Avest of Weehawken, and at 

 several points near West End, and may be recognized, although 

 usually coA^ered Avith sand-dunes, at a few localities farther south 

 along Newark Bay. 



East of Bergen Hill, the best example of modified drift ex- 

 posed in Hudson County is to be seen in the knoll north of 

 CommunipaAv, near the southern end of Mill C!reek. This hill 

 has been cut aAvay on the eastern side, to obtain building-sand 

 and gravel, and exhibits a fine section of a "kame," as these 

 knolls of modified drift are called. The varying strata of clay, 

 sand, gravel and boulders, here exposed, are very irregular and 

 frequently shoAv the oblique lamination knoAvn as "current bed- 

 ding ;" the strata are frequently Avedge-shaped or truncated, 

 having been eroded by the currents that deposited the next suc- 

 ceeding layer. These irregular beds vary from a fraction of an 

 inch up to three or four feet in thickness, and Avere evidently de- 

 posited in strong and frequently changing currents. This hill is 

 plainly the remnant of a great deposit of drift Avhich at one 

 time probably filled the valley or canon of the Hudson. 



Portions of Harsimus, Pavonia and Hoboken are also under- 

 laid by modified drift, but in this region the contour of the land 



