22 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Chainplain valley stood a fresh-water lake held in on the north 

 by the ice front. 



With the retreat of the ice from the northern slope of Covey 

 hill, the waters heretofore pouring along that front on the west 

 of the hill and forced over the col into " the Gulf," began to 

 escape around the northern slope, thus leaving " the Gulf 99 and 

 its waterfall without an apparent cause for existence. The pool 

 at the base of the fall remains as a lakelet fed by springs, an 

 " abandoned Niagara." 



" The Gulf " at Covey hill. Mention must be made in this ac- 

 count of the most interesting feature connected with these spill- 

 ways in the remarkable ravine known as " the Gulf," which 

 lies just beyond the northwest corner of the Mooers quad- 

 rangle and partly across the international boundary. Its import- 

 ance depends on the light it throws on some of the problems which 

 arise from the occurrence of shore lines and spillways within the 

 limits of the Mooers quadrangle. The general topographic fea- 

 tures of the vicinity of " the Gulf" are shown on the accompany- 

 ing sketch map [pi. 11]. 



" The Gulf " is quite as remarkable as the chasm of the 

 Ausable. It appears to have been visited by Ebenezer Emmons, 

 the geologist in charge of the second district, and is briefly de- 

 scribed by him in his report on Clinton county in 1812 as being 

 " 300 feet deep and about 16 rods wide." He mentions the 

 statement that the small lake at the bottom is 150 feet 

 deep, the accuracy of which may still be doubted. "At the 

 present time," he states, " no causes are in operation sufficiently 

 powerful to remove the broken masses from a gorge of this de- 

 scription. . . At this place there is merely a small rill discharging 

 itself from a small lake of dead water, insufficient in itself to 

 accomplish any perceptible change. To account for the present 

 condition of this rock, we have therefore to go back to a period, 

 when some current swept through this gorge with great force and 

 power; for by no other means could the materials, which once 

 filled the space between the present walls of the gulf, be re- 

 moved." 1 



1 Emmons, Ebenezer. Geo]. N. Y. 2d Dist. 1842. p.30&-10. See also by- 

 same author, Agric. N. Y. 1846. 1 : 133-34. 



