44 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



stages when overflow from the banks has taken place. Considering, 

 however, the thickness of the deposits and the extent of their spread, 

 it is evident that in the main they were laid down under conditions of 

 floods to which the stream has not been subject in the recent epoch. 

 Accordingly, as a formation, they have been referred to the epoch of 

 flooded waters that marked the passing of the glacial period and are 

 designated on the map as of the deposits of that period. 



In the cases of the smaller streams, Coesa creek, Mourning kill 

 and the outlet stream of Loughberry lake, the surface soils border- 

 ing^ their banks and forming valley flats are designated as alluvium 

 of the recent epoch. 



Blown sands. On the Saratoga plain, especially in that portion 

 which lies northeast of Saratoga Springs, there are well-defined 

 dunes of sand. The hills, in the area just referred to, are of 

 elongate form and with generally parallel axes, in direction north- 

 east-southwest. It is inferred that their direction corresponds to 

 the prevailing strong winds. The materials of the hills are fine sands. 

 On the expanse of the plain west of Saratoga Springs a few sand 

 hills of evident wind origin occur. On the Milton plain, as far as 

 observed, there are no well-defined dunes. This is probably due 

 to the coarseness of the sands, rendering them too heavy to be 

 easily lifted by the winds. 



Peat and vegetable debris. There are numerous swamps in 

 which more or less peat occurs. The most interesting of these, 

 considered both with reference to the apparent quantity of the peat 

 and the accessibility of its locality, is that which lies 3 miles north 

 of Saratoga Springs on the southern slope of the Adirondack high- 

 lands. In areal extent it is at least 300 acres. As seen at its south- 

 ern margin the surface of the swamp is overgrown with sphagnum 

 moss, ferns and other low plants, together with some trees. Beneath 

 the surface layer of dry vegetable debris there is a layer of black 

 mud, 6 or 8 inches in thickness. A sample, when dried, had the 

 appearance of pure, fibrous peat. I am informed by Mr L. C. 

 Robinson, superintendent of the Hilton estate, that farther out from 

 the margin the swamp is soft and tremulous under foot and that 

 a pole can be thrust into the black mud to a depth of from 5 to 9 

 feet. One portion of the swamp bears the name of "the Devil's 

 pit " and it is said that cattle have been mired in it. He states that 

 few or no trees grow in the middle portions of the swamp. 



This swamp, or peat bog, appears to occupy a depression in the 

 Precambric rocks and at its western end there is a conspicuous 



