ELIZABETHTOWN AND PORT HENRY QUADRANGLES J 



GEOLOGY OF THE ELIZABETHTOWN AND PORT 

 HENRY QUADRANGLES 



Chapter i 

 INTRODUCTION 



In colonial times and until a period well into the past century, 

 the natural waterways of North America were almost the sole 

 means of communication. First in importance among them was 

 the great depression occupied by Lake Champlain, Lake George and 

 the valley of the Hudson. It furnished a comparatively easy route 

 between the St Lawrence and the Atlantic. It lay, moreover, in 

 the debated territory between two rival colonial powers, France on 

 the north, and England on the south. The Champlain valley was a 

 fertile district of a character to be easily subdued by the husband- 

 man and its situation made inevitable the result that it should be 

 a scene of conflict and that hostile forces should sweep back and 

 forth along its course. From the first expedition of Champlain 

 in 1609 through the subsequent ones of Abercrombie 1758, and of 

 Burgoyne in 1777 with the returning wave of the Continental army 

 which followed the latter, to the naval battle in 1814, this character 

 was asserted. Throughout all the long stretch of time thus out- 

 lined, the great stragetic position on Lake Champlain was Crown 

 Point, within the area discussed in the present bulletin, so that 

 the region presents not only subjects of much scientific interest but 

 it is additionally attractive because it was the scene of the critical 

 events in colonial history. It is the purpose of this bulletin to de- 

 scribe and discuss the local geolog}^ and kindred subject's; yet no 

 one can study this region without having constantly in the back- 

 ground of his mind these vital facts of its early settlement and 

 ultimate control. To the strictly scientific portion they furnish a 

 natural introduction. 



In i\fay 1609 Samuel de Champlain entered and traversed the 

 lake .which now most appropriately bears his name. Its existence 

 and character thus first became known to white men, and in the 

 decades that followed, this knowledge spread among the Dutch and 

 English settlers at the south. By 1690 the commanding situation 

 of Crown Point was recognized in Albany and the name Crown 

 Point was by this time current there. In 1731 the French first took 

 definite possession of Chimney Point on the Vermont side and im- 

 mediately thereafter of Crown Point itself. A palisade or stockade 



