3. CENTRE township. p. 199 



Dorran's gap is a mile west of the Juniata Furnace gap. 

 Through this a little stream of the same name flows to meet 

 the Little Buffalo. This is the prettiest and most pictur- 

 esque of all the passes in the township. The road runs 

 alongside of the brook,and is shaded with the hemlock spruce 

 and white pine. Ferns abound in the damp shady ground. 

 Among these the Narrow Sword fern, P oly stlchum acros- 

 tichoides, the Margined Shield fern, Lastrea (asplenia m) 

 marginalise and the Common Polypody, Polypodium vul- 

 gare, are the most abundant, but the prize of beauty must 

 be awarded to the elegant and delicate Ebony Spleenwort, 

 Asplenium ebeneum, which grows here in unusual rank 

 ness and abundance. The good drainage afforded by the 

 broken Hamilton sandstone and the shade and coolness 

 produced by the overhanging timber combine to render this 

 gap a natural fernery. 



Hentzel's Narrows is the third gap through the Buffalo 

 range, about two miles further west. Owing to the geologi- 

 cal structure of the ground this pass is also a long one, ex- 

 tending through the Oriskany sandstone and overlying 

 Marcellus and Lower Hamilton shale, the Hamilton sand- 

 stone and part of the upper shale. Some parts of this gap 

 are also very beautiful, but as a whole it falls short of that 

 last mentioned. A stream flows through it, coming from 

 the limestone land, though Limestone ridge can scarcely be 

 said to exist at this point. It has been cut down and car 

 ried away to so great an extent that the road passes through 

 it almost on a level. Broken pieces of the Hamilton sand 

 stone cover the slopes to such a depth at some points that 

 !!'-hs cannot grow, the depth of stone being too great to 

 allow their roots to reach the earth. 



Further westward three other roads cross the Buffalo hills, 

 but only one of them passes through a gap, and this gap, 

 owing to the inferior hardness and gentler dip of the sand- 

 stone, presents less striking features and needs less detailed 

 description than those already mentioned. 



A considerable branch of the Little Buffalo passes down 

 the gap just noted, and is the highest of its tributaries 

 which Hows off the limestone ground. There is a fact con- 



