THIRD REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I906 I5 



of the belt are almost a desert waste and the winds to some extent 

 have shifted the materials and obscured the glacial topography by 

 the formation of dunes. 



Lake waters are indicated for the Mohawk valley up to the 

 altitude of 460 feet approximate. The deposits in this body of 

 standing water are conspicuous at Amsterdam, about Auriesville 

 and westward from Fonda. The shore lines will be traced and the 

 genetic relations made a subject for further inquiry. 



Lake waters also occupied the Sacandaga valley from Northville 

 southward over the great Vly which lies between Northampton 

 and Mayfield. This body of water was apparently a glacial lake 

 which was reduced to conditions approximating those of the present 

 time, by the melting of the ice from the lower Sacandaga valley. 

 Northville is at the head of an extensive delta whose deposits were 

 built into these waters. 



It is held with confidence in view of the season's studies, that the 

 preglacial course of the Sacandaga was southward into the Mo- 

 hawk near Fonda. In brief the reasons for this view are as follows. 

 It was the natural course in view of the rapid base leveling of the 

 sedimentary areas south of Northville, as compared with the re- 

 sistant Adirondack spurs on the east and west. The drift above 

 Gloversville and Johnstown is sufficiently heavy to form a barrier 

 to the present issue of the waters in that direction. The rock floor 

 of the Sacandaga is considerably lower at Northville than at 

 Conklingville, and at the latter point the Sacandaga is constricted 

 to a narrow gorge, within which the bed rock appears in the 

 stream, conditions strongly suggesting that this was an ancient col 

 from which short streams flowed toward the Sacandaga at North- 

 ampton and the Hudson at Hadley. 



A hasty examination of the conditions of the Hudson about 

 Hadley and Corinth leads to the belief that the Hudson suffered a 

 similar diversion from the valley about Greenfield, to the present 

 course toward Glens Falls. This hypothesis will be tested in the 

 coming season, when it is hoped to complete the mapping of the 

 four quadrangles, affording a basis for a report in detail. 



Industrial geology 



Mines and quarries. The second of the series of annual bul- 

 letins on the mineral industry of New York State was prepared by 

 the Assistant State Geologist and published in June of the current 

 year. The series was inaugurated for the purpose of placing before 



