r28 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



the eastern Adirondacks, tliougli not conspicuous in the west, are 

 corroborative features. 



Most of the Adirondack rivers have their head waters in this 

 lake belt, the Saranac, Kaquette, St Regis, Moose and Beaver 

 and some of the branches of the Hudson for example; and the 

 divides between them are of the most insignificant character. 

 Hence the great travel by boat through this section of the 

 woods, the various carries (portages) being short and not diffi- 

 cult for the most part. 



Sands in the northern portion of the lake belt 



Throughout the northern part of thi(S belt, from Upper 

 Saranac to Loon lake and bevond, great quantities of sand 

 are spread out. From Floodwood to Mountain View the road- 

 bed of the New York Central and Hudson River railroad is 

 on sand for the entire distance, a few fills and rock cuts 

 alone excepted. The breadth of the sand belt is also con- 

 siderable, and the rock ridges stand buried to their knees in 

 it. In general the depth does not eeem very great, though 

 precise data are lacking. The host of ponds about the north end 

 of Upper Saranac lake, including Lake Clear, Upper St Regis, and 

 the north end of Upper Saranac lake also have their shores in 

 large part or entirely of sand, and occupy hollows in the sand 

 plain. The summits of morainic ridges sometimes protrude 

 through the sand, and sometimes it is built up into an eskarlike 

 ridge. All fine material is thoroughly w-ashed out of it, and in 

 the main it is very even grained, though holding occasional peb- 

 bles. Within a few^ feet of the summit there is often a coarse 

 gravel streak from 1 to 3 feet in thickness, and occasionally the 

 sand is capped by a coarse gravel. Cross bedding abounds. The 

 ordinary sand is of a yellowish brown color, but the iron has 

 often been leached out of the upper foot or two by the reducing 

 action of the organic matter from the decaying plant roots_, turn- 

 ing the color from yellow brown to white. Below, the iron has 

 rapidly oxidized again and been deposited as a cement between 

 the sand grains, forming a firm and quite impervious hard pan 

 layer. 



