MINEEAL RESOURCES OE THE STATE OF NEW YORK 199 



Probably the largest areas of peat in northern New York are on 

 the northwestern side of the Adirondacks, where the slope of the 

 land is much mor-e gradual than elsewhere and the drainage has 

 been obstructed by glacial accumulations. Nearly all the streams 

 that flow out of the Adirondacks on that side are colored by organic 

 matter derived from swamps on their headwaters. The Black, 

 Oswegatchie, Indian and Grass rivers all drain extensive swamp 

 lands, but very little is known as to the character and quantity 

 of peat found in them. A dredge for recovering the peat on the 

 bottom of Black lake, which is an expanded part of Oswegatchie 

 river, was built a few years since at Heuvelton, near Ogdensburg, 

 but was never placed in operation. The engineers in charge of the 

 enterprise reported that a large supply of peat occurs on the borders 

 of the lake. 



In central and western New York occur some of the largest 

 marshes in the whole State. Just west of Rome and northwest of 

 that city on the line of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg 

 Railroad there are several thousand acres of bog lands which 

 recently have been partially drained and put imder cultivation. 

 The new barge canal was instrumental in effecting the improvement 

 of this tract, as it supplied an outlet for the water several feet below 

 the old channel of the Erie. The peat and muck beds range up to 

 40 feet thick. A section given by Ries shows: Swamp muck, 3 to 

 5 feet; peat, 3 to 6 feet; moss peat, 8 to 12 inches ; shell marl, 2 to 

 4 inches; mud, i to 2 feet; gravel, i to 3 feet; hard pan, 18 to 20 

 feet. A factory for converting the peat into commercial fuel was 

 erected near Rome some 3^ears ago, but was not long in operation. 



The Cowaselon and Cicero swamps he just south of Oneida lake 

 and extend for nearly 25 miles in an east-west direction with an 

 extreme width of 2 miles. Cowaselon swamp is the eastern part, 

 north and northwest of Canastota, and has been mostly drained by 

 the Douglas ditch, providing excellent land for onion-growing. 

 From 3^ to 6 feet of peat are shown in the sections by Parsons 

 between Oniontown and Ognon. 



Montezuma marshes comprise a tract north of Ca3niga lake, some 

 8 miles long and 2 or 3 miles wide. There is a bed of peat over 

 much of the area, mth a thick deposit of marl below. The marshes 

 are intersected by the Seneca and Clyde rivers which periodically 

 flood the lands and deposit more or less silt, so that the peat is not 

 of first quahty. 



Oak Orchard swamp is an extensive area of partly forest covered 

 land in Genesee and Orleans counties. It includes a large proportion 



