52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



St Lawrence river. The eastern side of the Lake Placid valley is 

 chiefly formed by the fine massif of Sentinel mountain, whose 

 northw^estern spur is cleft from Mt Whiteface by the Wilmington 

 Notch, and whose southern is similarly separated from Pitchoff 

 mountain by the narrow^ pass through which runs the old but 

 now abandoned road to the Keene valley. Pitchoff is in turn 

 split off from Cascade and Porter mountains by the Cascadeville 

 Notch, likewise a precipitous pass. It may be farther remarked 

 that if one goes out to the south one must take the trail through 

 Avalanch pass, another narrow cleft in the mountains, or else the 

 still more famous Indian pass, which lies on the west side of Mt 

 Mclntyre, and which is in many respects the most impressive of 

 all the Adirondack passes. 



To the west the country is more open, and in driving to 

 Saranac, a broader valley with much lower hills surrounding 

 it is met. The present lack of topographic maps of this section 

 has prevented its accurate study as yet, although its character 

 can readily be seen by a drive or a walk. 



The drainage of the Lake Placid valley passes out through the 

 west branch of the Ausable river and enters Lake Champlain 

 through the famous Ausable chasm, just north of Port Kent. The 

 valley lies therefore in the St Lawrence drainage basin, but is near 

 its southern limit. The headwaters of the Hudson are in 

 Avalanch pass a few miles to the south. 



In its smaller features the valley south of Lake Placid is to a 

 great degree a plain of sand and gravel, now quite deeply dij^- 

 sected by the various streams which cut across it. Flat-topped 

 hillocks, the stumps of the former general level remain and. 

 enable one to fill out its former conditions. Occasional moraines 

 of sand and boulders, such as the one on which the Lake Placid 

 hotels are built, diversify the surface, but the general aspect is 

 that of a plain, whose relief is due to erosion. 



The altitude of the lake above tide is 1864 feet. The West 

 Branch at the High Fall is 1300 feet and at Wilmington village 

 1000, so that the rapid fall of the river explains the great amount 

 of erosion that has been accomplished. The altitudes of the 



