142 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



town, but from the general relations we think that gneisses make 

 up practically its entire area, unless there are some small lime- 

 stone outcrops or gabbros of which we have not learned. In the 

 drift a number of anorthosite boulders were observed, but none 

 of the rock in place. The prevailing gneiss is fairly massive, and 

 is often red from the large amount of red feldspar. The strike 

 is n 10 e magnetic, n 22 e true meridian, as observed near the 

 two Benson villages. Along the highway connecting these two* 

 the gneiss is a crushed and sheared augite syenite and is very 

 thinly laminated. It is dark green in color when fresh, but 

 weathers to a rusty brown. The glacial drift is widespread in the 

 valleys. 



Hope 



Topography. Hope is a small and sparsely settled township 

 in the southeastern corner of the county. Its surface is hilly,, 

 and, while there are no elevations of very great altitude, ridges 

 almost entirely make it up. There are two prominent valleys,, 

 which are occupied respectively by the waters of the Sacandaga 

 river on the west, with a southwesterly course, and East Stony 

 creek on the east, with a southeasterly course. Even these val- 

 leys are narrow, being shut in by steep hills, and afford but a 

 slight foothold for agriculture. Highways of considerable im- 

 portance traverse them, the one along the Sacandaga being 

 specially used by summer visitors passing from Northviile to» 

 Piseco lake, Lake Pleasant and other resorts. Lakes are notably 

 deficient; only one small one is found, and that is in the northern 

 central part of the town. 



Series 1. While the remoter and less accessible parts of the 

 town have received but slight attention, yet all the outcrops of 

 rock studied belonged to this series, and it is doubtful if any 

 except the glacial drift is met. If present, the other series would 

 be of small extent. The prevailing gneiss contains orthoclase or 

 microperthite as its chief feldspar, and hornblende as the pre- 

 vailing dark silicate. Specimen 176 from the Sacandaga valley,, 

 near the northern boundary of the town, exhibits in thin section, 

 orthoclase, microperthite, very little quartz, and a moderate 



