CATSKILL GROUP. 197 



Tillage ii Madison. This is a short and interesting route, but not so favorable for collecting 

 fossils. The second route, 1li.1t of the Schoharie creek, 1 egins al Schoharie Court-house, 

 I follows it up to Gilboa, Prattsville, Lexington, Hunter, and then to the Catskill 

 Mountain House. The whole New-York system is traversed by this route, and it leads up 

 a beautiful valle] . on the sides of which the strata are finely exposed in receding terraces or 

 steep escarpments. Beautiful cascades and splendid scenery gratify the sight at every turn ; 

 while to the geologist the succession and stratigraphical arrangement is so clear and satis- 

 factory, that all douhts are dispelled. The advantages of this route are decisive, in con- 

 sequence of the line field al Schoharie, where the succession is over a complete division of 

 the Helderberg rocks : the Erie division is full and complete also, and may he observed first 

 in the rounded hills about Schoharie village, dipping in the direction of the route up the 

 creek ; and the succeeding members slowly follow each other, till, finally, at Gilboa, the 

 Catskill rocks are found at the base of the high ranges which have hedged in the creek 

 for twenty-five miles. The route will he completed by descending on the eastern side by 

 the steep road of the Mountain House, which leads over the belts of the disturbed rocks 

 that have been already noticed. 



Thickness of the Catskill division of the JVew-York rocks. The strata rise horizontally, 

 or nearly so, from Gilboa to Conesville. The latter place is the highest travelled point, be- 

 tween the former place and Catskill. It is tw r elve hundred feet above Gilboa, or two 

 thousand feet above tide. The mountains rise over one thousand feet above Conesville. 

 The rocks belonging to the Catskill division are between eighteen hundred and two thou- 

 sand feet thick. 



Illustrative views. The clefts through the mountain ridges furnish an exceedingly rich 

 scenery. We have selected the Platerskill clove for this purpose, although it is in no 

 respect superior to several landscapes of the same region (PI. xix. and Fig. 7). The 

 panoramic view is taken from the ridge east of Catskill, on the opposite side of the river. 

 The general appearance of stratification is intended to be exhibited. It was more particu- 

 larly designed to illustrate the denudation of the mountain, and the deep cuts which were 

 made in the drift era : it is an accurate representation of the north face or slope. The 

 first view, the Platerskill clove, looks dow'n upon the valley of the Hudson, over the fine 

 flourishing village of Saugerties. The river appears in clear weather like a silver band 

 winding through a high plane, beyond which the taconic hills seem to rise in even slopes, 

 till far in the horizon the whole country becomes dim and lost in air. The view- from 

 the Catskill Mountain House is still more extensive, as it is not shut in on either side by 

 towering peaks. It is here the world becomes a w r orld ; it is here man becomes a man, 

 and physical nature speaks a lesson full of rich and precious truths. 



The sectional illustrations of the relations of the rocks described in the foregoing pages, 

 may lie found on PI. xxi., sections 3 and 5. 



