88 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



at Racquette falls. Beyond, the valley is flat and marshy all the 

 way to Piercefield, and the river runs in a terrific series of me- 

 anders. Ait the mouth of Stony creek it turns a sharp right angle- 

 to the west and flows in that direction to Tupper lake, receiving 

 from the south the outflow from Follensby pond, Big Simonds 

 pond and Tupper lake, all of these waters are held up by the 

 level of the Racquette. From Long lake to Tupper lake is a dis- 

 tance of 20 miles by the valley, far more following the curves of 

 the river, yet the total fall in that distance is but 70 feet, of which 

 a large share is at Racquette falls. Beyond Tupper lake, or 

 rather Piercefield, the river is swift and rapids are frequent. 



The valley from Long lake to Stony creek is so exactly in line* 

 with the valley in which Upper Saranac lake lies that it seems 

 almost certainly to represent a single line of preglacial drainage. 

 Yet Indian carry between the two drainage systems, is over a. 

 rock ridge which seems to bar the way. Though there is prob- 

 ably a buried channel between the two, it must be constricted, 

 when compared with the width of the valley on each side. 



The St Regis and Ausable rivers furnish equally good illustra- 

 tions, though the Ausable differs from the rest in having its main 

 source in the narrow, high level passes of the Marcy group, in 

 small lakes which lie at altitudes from 400 to 600 feet above the- 

 lakes in which the others take their rise. Even Lake Placid, the 

 only considerable lake on the Ausable drainage system, has a 

 level 300 feet above the Saranac lakes. Furthermore it is not 

 in the main line of the drainage, its outlet being merely tributary 

 to the west branch of the Ausable. 



The smaller rivers previously referred to, the Great Chazy, 

 Chateaugay, Salmon and Deer, which drain the wedge-shaped 

 tract of country between the diverging courses of the other and 

 larger streams, differ from them in having their sources near the 

 outskirts of the hills, so that the greater part of their course lies 

 through the plain. Their present channels are determined by the 

 slopes of that plain, so that on either side of the divide they flow 

 in nearly parallel courses, their tributaries are few and small, and 

 the interspaces are largely undrained. But their main fea- 



