lO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



small. Time was not allowed for the cutting of cliffs and building 

 of bars except in the most favorable localities. At lower stands of 

 the water the detritus was accumulated by the rinsing down of the 

 upper slopes. 



The boundaries of the summit level as indicated in the map will 

 be a guide for more careful and detailed study, which will certainly 

 reveal many ver\' interesting features. 



HUDSOX-CHA^IPLAIX DIVIDE 



The divide between the Hudson and Champlain valleys is of 

 significance in this study since it has been regarded as the outlet 

 of glacial Champlain waters, and hence interpreted as a river channel. 



The divide is indefinite and complex. The separation of drainage 

 is at Dimham basin, 3 miles northeast of Fort Edward, with altitude 

 of about 150 feet, but this place is only part of a level, silted stretch 

 some 12 miles long, between Fort Edward and Fort Ann. It was 

 described in 1894 by S. P. Baldwin as follows: 



The lowest divide is that crossed by the canal from Whitehall to Fort Edward 

 at 150 feet, at the same height as the ends of the canal. Fort Edward and White- 

 hall. A continuous sand plain extends from one place to the other, and is so 

 nearly level that while the divide is reaUy at Fort Ann, 1 1 miles from Fort Edward, 

 yet the canal flows toward "^liitehall, except the last 3 miles near Fort Edward. 

 . . . The two vaUeys narrow rapidly to Fort Ann, where is seen a typical divide 

 between streams, entirely of rock, shov.ing little evidence of glacial or postglacial 

 erosion, and not at aU resembhng a river channel. It is not probable that any 

 large stream ever flowed across this di\dde for more than a ver}' short time. 

 (i, page 178) 



In 1895 G. F. Wright described the valley: 



Another remarkable channel extends from Fort Edward to TVTiitehall. This 

 is followed by the Champlain canal, whose simimit level is 142 feet above tide. 

 This vaUey is about a mile in width between Fort Edward and Fort Ann, a 

 distance of about 12 miles, and is occupied most of the way by swamps. Between 

 these places the canal occupies a dead level. On the west side, toward Sandy 

 HiU and Glens FaUs, this is. bordered by a sharp margin of sand and gravel 

 deposits at a level of about 300 feet. The eastern side of the Fort Edward-Fort 

 Aim valley is bounded by low slate hills flanked up to about 200 feet above tide, 

 or 50 feet above the valley, with deposits of Champlain clay. At Dimham's 

 basin, 2 miles above Fort Edward, however, the channel di\-ides, one branch 

 going east of a low slate hiU and entering the Hudson a few miles below Fort 

 Edward. (2, page 674) 



These two quotations and a glance at the topographic map should 

 satisfy the reader that this vaUey was not the path of any post- 

 glacial river. It has none of the typical features of a river channel, 

 and no correlating delta. The sand plains at Hudson FaUs were 

 built into the valley by the Hudson flow and show constructional 



