46 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



times its course may have continued to the southwest, past Holland 

 Patent, along Nine Mile Creek valley to the Mohawk, near Oriskany . 

 The evidences are a broad open valley, adequate to the Ohio or 

 Susquehanna, at Holland Patent and Stittville, now occupied by 

 a minor stream; the more normal arrangement of drainage thus 

 postulated ; massive barriers of glacial debris north and east of 

 Holland Patent; superior altitude of West Canada creek bottom 

 below Trenton Falls as compared with Holland Patent ; a very level 

 stretch of some five miles of the West Canada creek about Poland, 

 and the constriction of the valley about Middle ville. The sup- 

 position is that morainic obstruction blocked the old channel and 

 sent the creek across a col not far from Middle ville." 



The course of the preglacial stream between Prospect and Hol- 

 land Patent is not certainly known but it Was probably a short 

 distance south of the fault-fold line judging by the heavy drift 

 deposits and lack of rock exposures there. Above Hinckley, West 

 Canada and Black creeks are in or close to their preglacial channels 

 which have been so thoroughly drift filled that the only rock ex- 

 posure is at Grant. The small rock channel at Grant probably 

 means that the stream has slightly diverged here. 



Black river above Enos is certainly in its old channel while at 

 Enos and for several miles down the stream appears to have aband- 

 oned its old course. The rock gor ;;e at Enos is certainly of recent 

 origin. The lower course of the stream upon the map seems to 

 follow the preglacial channel except possibly at Forestport where 

 there may have been a slight divergence. Where the railroad 

 crosses Big Woodhull creek the stream is out of its old course as 

 shown by the steep sided rock channel. Town Line (Cincinnati) 

 creek must occupy a postglacial channel between Remsen and 

 near its month, as is particularly well shown by several waterfalls 

 and the small gorge northeast of Trenton village. 



ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 

 Soils 



The best soils are found over the Paleozoic rock area, the richest 

 farming section covering the western portions of the towns of 

 Remsen and Trenton and the eastern portion of Steuben. Over 

 the section named the drift is generally shallow and the shale and 

 1 mestone soils make rich farming lands. 



The whole region of the kame-moraines and sand flats is character- 

 istically barren, the soil generally consisting of almost pure loose 

 sand which does not afford proper nourishment for plant life unless 



