68 HOLLICK 



The first thing which attracted my attention was a number of 

 logs and branches in the upper part of the silt, beginning at a 

 depth of about 5 feet from the surface. There was nothing in 

 connection with these to indicate that they were anything more 

 than the remains of a comparatively recent forest growth. 

 Below this, however, at a depth of about 8 feet, were a number 

 of layers, aggregating about 2 feet in thickness, containing a 

 large number of small cones and twigs. There are no coniferous 

 trees now growing in the vicinity and no record of any in recent 

 years so that these were manifestly the remains of a forest growth 

 which antedated the one now growing there and a subsequent 

 careful examination and comparison of the cones showed 

 them to belong to the white spruce (Picea Canadensis (Mill) 

 B.S.P.) — a tree of northern range, which does not now extend 

 farther south than northern New England and the Adirondacks 

 — and this fact naturally led to the conclusion that at least the 

 lower portion of the deposit was of Quaternary age. 



On inquiry of the superintendent of the cemetery, Mr. N. J. 

 Ostrander, information was subsequently obtained to the effect 

 that " some bones " had been dug out by one of the workmen, 

 at a depth of about 23 feet, and these were very kindly turned 

 over to me. They proved to be the broken pieces of a masto- 

 don's molar and the Quaternary age of the deposit was estab- 

 lished beyond question and inasmuch as it was in a morainal 

 basin it must all have been post-morainal in age. 



The indications are that a pond was formed in the depression 

 immediately after the recession of the ice sheet and that this 

 pond was a receptacle for silt, dust and decayed vegetation ever 

 since ; the accumulations finally filling it up and converting it 

 into a swamp, with a little pool of casual water remaining in 

 the middle. 



Incidentally it may also be worth recording, that a consider- 

 able amount of charcoal and charred wood was found in connec- 

 tion with the cones, near the northeastern side, which fact might 

 indicate the presence of man at the time this portion of the 

 deposit was laid down. 



