38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



that the formation overlapped into the district from the east.^ This 

 proves to be true, in a way, but in a way somewhat more complex 

 than w^as supposed, owing to the unexpected appearance of the 

 Tribes Hill formation, which we believe to be of oldest Beekman- 

 town age. We do not yet know whether the Tribes Hill formation 

 gets into the Champlain valley at all or not. It is certainly absent 

 at Saratoga, and is apparently absent at Ticonderoga. On the 

 other hand, the lower divisions of the Champlain Beekmantown, 

 division B, division C and the lower portion of division D, are 

 certainly absent at Ogdensburg, as w^e had predicted. 



Nomenclature. The type region for the New York Beekman- 

 town is the Champlain valley, and the work of subdividing and 

 naming the Beekmantown formations of the State should be done 

 in that valley. The work of Brainard and Seely, recognizing five 

 divisions of the formation, which they lettered from "A" to " E," 

 was done a quarter of a century ago, and we do not known whether 

 those subdivisions fulfil modern requirements or not; the faunal 

 zones have not been thoroughly worked out, and the formations 

 have not been named. It was therefore our purpose in this report 

 simply to call the Ogdensburg exhibition of the formation by the 

 group name " Beekmantown," and to leave the application of a 

 name to the future, when it was hoped that a Champlain valley 

 name would be available and applicable. This laudable purpose 

 was defeated by the unexpected presence of the Tribes Hill forma- 

 tion, a Beekmantown formation which had already received a name. 

 In other words, there are two Beekmantown formations here at 

 Ogdensburg, requiring separate mapping and separate designation. 

 Since both are Beekmantown it would be incongruous to apply that 

 name to but one of them. We therefore are proposing the name 

 " Ogdensburg formation " for the upper and more important of 

 the two formations ; though we do it most unwillingly, with a 

 premonition that the name will arise to plague us, when the 

 Champlain valley work is done. 



Description. By far the best and most complete section of the 

 Ogdensburg formation is that shown along the river west of 

 Ogdensburg, more particularly along the river road, and reaching to 

 within 4 miles of Morristown, where its base is exposed. The 

 most westerly section, shown just north of the roadway, 4 miles 

 northeast of Morristown, is as follows : 



1 N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 145, p. 78. footnote. 



