REPORT OP THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 81 



found, and this must have been formed in comparatively pure 

 water. 



At present the Clyde river flows through the swamp parallel 

 to the Erie canal into the Seneca river. The greater part of 

 its sediment is deposited near its banks, forming a dike, which 

 retains the water that flows over the swamp at high water. 

 The Seneca river flows into the lake at its foot, after passing 

 through about a mile or two of the swamp, and with scarcely a 

 turn becomes the outlet of the lake and receives the waters of 

 the Clyde river about 5 miles north of the lake. The amount of 

 sediment carried by these rivers is comparatively small, as they 

 receive the greater part of their waters from Canandaigua, 

 Keuka and Seneca lakes. 



Near the borders of the swamp are dense forests of maple, 

 elm, etc., but in the main body of the swamp no shpulb larger 

 than an elderberry bush is to be seen, while the mass of the 

 vegetation consists of cat-tails, sweet flags and m&rsh grasses, 

 which are a source of no little revenue to the people in the 

 ueighborhood, who cut the cat-tails and flags for use in tight 

 •cooperage and rush bottom chairs and sell the marsh grass for 

 packing material. 



The entire absence of mosses in those portions of the swamp 

 visited by the author is a matter of surprise and is a distinct 

 characteristic of this swamp. It may be, however, that some of 

 the woods near the margin have a growth of moss. 



Near the margin of the swamp and close to the banks of the 

 creeks and rivers flowing through it, the top soil is merely a 

 black muck with a great deal of silt intermixed, but near the 

 ■site of the Duryea Portland Cement Works, which were 

 destroyed by fire some years ago, peat of apparently good quality 

 is found. The depth of the deposit is about 6 feet, and immedi- 

 ately beneath it is a bed of marl about 14 feet thick, which is 

 underlain by clay. 



This peat is nearly black and very fibrous, being composed 

 almost entirely of cat-tails and grasses. With the exception 



