The Parallel Drift-EilU of M'estern Xew York. ^oo 



like those about the Montezuma marsJi, but, as will be shown 

 Liter, laid down at an earlier period. 



Just east of the northern termination of the marsh, at Mos- 

 quito Point, is the brim of this great cup-shaped valley. Here 

 occurs a bar^ through which the State has caused a channel to 

 be cut, in order to drain the marshes. The excayation was 

 made in drift material. That the bar was formerly much more 

 extensive than in our days, is very evident. The finer materials 

 Avere washed away, but the boulders resisted the erosive action 

 of the moderate current, and formed an effectual dam. 



A few miles further down the river, an artificial channel was 

 cut to avoid another bar ; the excavation was made in the Sa- 

 lina shciles. Altogether, vast sums of money were expended, 

 with the effect of improving the marshes, though without re- 

 claimi]]g them. Xor does it seem jDossible that this could be 

 accomplished without cutting a channel northward directly 

 toward Ontario. 



We will now consider the materials which enter into the com- 

 position of the drift deposits of this region. 



First, as to the surface. This is strewn more or less thickly 

 with rounded boulders of all sizes, up to three and even four 

 feet in diameter — the smaller ones, in some localities, being so 

 ver)^ abundant as seriously to interfere with cultivation of 

 the land, while the larger ones are comparatively few, and 

 widely scattered. In general, the boulders are most abundant 

 along the line of the out-cropping Niagara ; and here there are 

 many angular blocks of limestone, also ; while further south 

 they progressively diminish in numbers, and well down upon 

 the Salina the surface is comparatively free from stones. These 

 boulders, so far as I have observed, are of Niagara, Clinton, 

 Medina, Hudson River, and the crystalline rocks — the latter 

 including nearly all the larger ones. All the fossiliferous boul- 

 ders are I'cadily recognized by their lithological character, or by 

 their fossils, which may be found in abundance in any stone 

 wall, or other collection of stones in the region. I have found 

 surface bouldei's apparently of Calciferous and Trenton, but the 

 fossils of the former were too imperfect for satisfactory determi- 

 nation, and the latter may have come from limestone layers of 

 the Hudson River grou]). 



