13. RYE TOWNSHIP. F 2 . 303 



13. Bye township. 



This township occupies the southeastern corner of the 

 county. It is long and narrow, consisting for the most part 

 of two valleys with their containing ridges. The crest of 

 Cove mountain forms its boundary on the north and that 

 of the Blue mountain, an extension of the Kittatinny 

 range, on the south. The Susquehanna river washes its 

 eastern margin, and a nearly north-south line from the great 

 bend of Cove mountain limits it on the west. The narrow 

 Polecat valley extends along its whole length from east to 

 west between the Blue mountain and a range lying to the 

 north of it called Little mountain. A broad open vale oc- 

 cupies the middle of the township between this range and 

 the Cove mountain. Its length and breadth are 11 and 3 

 miles respectively, making its area about 33 square miles. 



Only one of these three vales is wide enough to afford 

 sufficient gathering ground to maintain a stream of any im- 

 portance. Fishing creek drains the middle of the township, 

 receiving its waters from the slopes to north and south, and 

 delivering them into the Susquehanna below Marysville. 

 The western end of the township is drained by a small 

 stream which falls into Sherman's creek in Carroll township. 



The geological structure of Rye township requires a few 

 words of comment. In one respect it is unique in the 

 county. Several groups of rocks elsewhere continuous here 

 fail and disappear. There is a great gap in the geological 

 history which must be filled up from other places. The 

 record is here very imperfect. Long ages passed by and 

 left no imprint of their passage. It is even probable that 

 they destroyed some of the records that had previously been 

 deposited. 



The red sandstone and shale of the Onondaga group were 

 laid down over the whole surface of Perry county, and over 



