HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



701 



or at the rate of f 19.82 per million gallons filtered and delivered 

 into covered reservoir at New York, 310 feet above sea level. 



The Wallkill river was also reported upon by Mr Freeman. 

 In his report he states that these Drowned Lands appear to 

 be the only adequate reservoir site on the Wallkill — that they 

 were once the bottom of an ancient lake and are described by 

 Dr Heinrich Kies, in his Report on the Geology of Orange 

 County, as follows: 



These swamps occur not only in the limestone region, but 

 also in many parts of the slate area and form perhaps the most 

 important agricultural feature of the county. The rich black soil 

 of the swampy tracts is enormously productive, and some of it is 

 worth $300 an acre. The soil is generally planted with onions, 

 and 700 bushels per acre is not an uncommon yield. Potatoes or 

 corn are generally planted in alternative years to relieve the soil. 

 There are about 10,000 acres of swamp land in Orange county. 

 The largest of these areas is the Drowned Lands in Warwick, 

 Greenville, Minnisink, Wawayanda and Goshen townships, and 

 covers 17,000 acres. Until about sixty years ago the area was cov- 

 ered by several feet of water held in by a dam of glacial drift 

 at the north end. A canal cut through this dam has redeemed 

 the land. From the drowned lands there arise islands of lime- 

 stone or drift, which are named Pine, Great, Pellets, Gardner's, 

 Merritts, Cranberry, Black Walnut, Fox and Seward's islands. 

 * * * Black soil underlies the surface to a depth of from five 

 to Mty feet, and this, according to Mather, is in turn underlaid 

 by marl. The Wallkill river follows a winding course along the 

 western side of this area, ami submerges it entirely during the 

 spring floods. 1 



Mr Freeman states that the population of the catchment area 

 is almost exclusively a farming one, with about thirty villages, 

 ranging in population from 100 to 300, by the census of 1900. 

 together with many more centers of population with less than 

 100. The cities and towns which had more than 500 inhabi- 

 tants in 1900, are as follows: 



Name of town Population 



Middletown 14 522 



Goshen 2,806 



Warwick 1,735 



Florida 600 



Report on Geology of Orange County, 1895, by Dr. Heinrich Ries, Asst. 

 Geologist. 



