REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 67 



many of the swamps. There are many reasons for this. In the 

 first place most of these deposits were shallow, and many of them 

 have been drained, so that the only trace of the former swamp is 

 a deposit of black soil that may not be a foot in thickness. As 

 an example of this, the marsh south of Stissing pond, Dutchess 

 CO., which was reported to be underlain by about 2 yards of peat 

 and to cover an area of 500 acres, is at the present day a fertile 

 valley with a black soil about a foot thick in most places. In one 

 place a deposit of peat about 11 feet thick still exists; and it is 

 possible that Mather may have found just such a pit as was found 

 by the author, and that it misled him into thinking that the 

 entire flat was covered to the same depth. 



The Deuel swamp is another example of just such thinning out 

 of a peat deposit. This swamp, which was reported by Professor 

 Cassell to be about 150 acres in extent and underlain by about 

 G feet of peat, is at present underlain by aibout 18 inches of black 

 soil. I have no doubt that 60 years ago the deposit was 6 feet 

 deep, but cattle have been pastured here, and their trampling has 

 prevented' the growth of the deposit and has caused the more rapid 

 decomposition of the vegetable matter. 



It would be difficult to find a spot in the entire State that is 

 more than 10 miles from a swamp; and, though not all swamps 

 furnish peat, yet it is within the limits of probability that peat 

 will be found in at least half of them. The most extensive group 

 of swamps is found in the Finger lake region and the lowlands 

 near the St Lawrence river, though the largest swamp of all, the 

 Drowned Lands of the Wallkill, is in the mountainous part of 

 Orange county, which borders on New Jersey. Many peat de- 

 posits are found in the Adirondacks, and, as exploration is carried 

 farther, the recorded number will be much greater. The depth of 

 the Adirondack swamps is likely to be greater than that of most 

 of the swamps in the central and western portions of the State, 

 though the few visited by the author are not very deep. 



I shall not attempt to give a list of the fresh-water swamps in 

 the present work on account of the great number and the lack 



