30 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of it, the kame hills. From the bend on to Spiers falls the slopes 

 consist of till but with frequent exposures of jutting masses of rock. 

 At one place on the right slope, at an estimated elevation of 800 

 feet, or 480 feet above the level of the river, there is a conspicuous 

 mass of bare rock with steeply inclined surface facing the river. At 

 Spiers falls the upper two-thirds of the valley wall, on the right bank 

 of the river, consists of bare or nearly bare rock (thinly wooded) 

 facing the river at an angle approximating 45 degrees. Below this 

 rocky steep the materials of the slope are largely till and the surface 

 much less inclined, except that at the water's edge and rising steeply 

 for about 20 feet, rocks are exposed. The opposite slope of the 

 river, on its left bank, at Spiers falls, consists largely of till, except 

 at the water's edge where rocks are exposed, as on the right bank. 

 About a mile below Spiers falls and on either side of the river there 

 are distinct boulder-strewn terraces. These terraces are at an ele- 

 vation, as roughly measured, of 25 feet above the level of the river 

 and extend back, at their widest places, at least 500 feet, to the 

 foot of the valley slopes. 



In regard to the materials which compose the bed of the river, 

 no observations could be made in that portion of the river above 

 Spiers falls because of the dam which makes deep water as far as 

 beyond the mouth of the creek below Palmer. At Spiers falls the 

 river runs over rock ; but a short distance below the rapids the bed 

 of the river is on till, as indicated by the boulders lying in the chan- 

 nel and as shown in the locality of the boulder terraces where the 

 stream has cut through till to a depth of 25 feet. 



The fact that the river occupies a deep valley cut in till is scarcely 

 compatible with the view that the valley is wholly postglacial in 

 origin. It is to be inferred, rather, that the valley was existent prior 

 to the last advance of the ice sheet, that it was partly filled in with 

 the ground moraine of the ice sheet and that the present river has 

 cut its channel in the till since the last retreat of the ice. 



We may now consider briefly the several interpretations that 

 might be proposed to account for the facts pertaining to the Hudson 

 valley from Corinth eastward (named by Wood worth the Adiron- 

 dack-Hudson) and to the region lying south of Corinth. 



1 The Adirondack-Hudson valley is a preglacial valley and was 

 occupied then, as now, by a river flowing southward from the Lu- 

 zerne region. As against this view we have the fact of the topo- 

 graphic and lithologic unity of the broad rock valley (or basin) 

 south of Corinth with the general valley of the Hudson north of 



