184 BRIGHAM—TOPOGRAPHY AND DEPOSITS OF MOHAWK VALLEY. 
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PRESENT ‘TOPOGRAPHY 
The Mohawk river, having its sources among the highlands of Lewis 
and Oneida counties, pursues a course of 130 miles to the Hudson. The 
direction is southerly 20 miles to Rome, then south of east to the dis- 
charge at Cohoes and Waterford. The altitudes, which do not depart. 
_ widely from the present floodplain of the river, are, as given by Macfar- 
lane for the New York Central railway, as follows: 
ROME es cn eo ee eet 44 See bloT beeelenine eet rears RO SS 5 305 
Oriskamycy isc 3. sehen tee 423) Palatine Bridger. ac- asus eee 304 
Wihatestowmine: skelssania teen e ee 415 {i Sprakers-£.u20) ci eee ae a caxil 
LONG or Rene anne oe reales tel nie riiranya ren UO Muan COSLCNneEa als minis Haig fae nes sioner > 0: 300 
Bra mktonitioy ii tencta acme aye ccsty pir ae oi AOD”) Mom ays as ee aoe ee Ne eee 299 
hon ae ee Ee ee ADO’ Mribes) Elles. acon ae se 305 
Herkimer........ Ry Siebert age ritie Bis) AVIAN sssoauooaets sane codec: 279 
Wattles Balll sere ener em ea a 37O=_ Cranes) Villace sn ose 270 
East Creek .....-.... Lo Per tee Soyb  JEIOMITMNAS oo on oc enuasec leciztoey eae 266 
Seva JOM oo 502s000s0000s00 SLOP Schenmectaldhyaersn see eee ects 246 
The river level at Aqueduct, 4 miles below Schenectady, is 205 feet, 
and at Cohoes, above the falls, 130 feet; below, 70 feet. The Nine Mile, 
West and East Canada, and Garoga creeks, are the more important tribu- 
taries from the north, while the Oriskany, Sauquoit, and Schoharie enter 
from the south. The immediate valley is narrow and steep-sided to Delta, 
six miles above Rome, where it enters the Iroquois basin. This basin 
contracts to-a river valley eastward from Rome, but continues broad and 
open toward Little Falls, with a concavity of bounding slopes which sug- 
gests powerful glacial erosion. At Little Falls the well known gorge con- 
tinues for about two miles, followed by a fairly open valley to Schenectady, 
except at the Noses and Hoffmans. Near Schenectady the valley widens 
as it enters the great Champlain-Hudson lowland, and the river zigzags 
by a shallow and immature channel to the Hudson. 
The importance of the valley as a topographic feature is not appreciated 
until one stands on some commanding point of view on the uplands. 
We then discover a great trench 1,500 feet deep and from 12 to 20 miles 
wide. Such points of view are Starr hill, in northern Oneida county— 
altitude, 1,793 feet—and Tassel hill, near the south border of the same 
altitude, 1,948 feet. Northeast of Utica, within 6 miles of the 
county 
