592 



Report of the Stale Geologist. 



or two localities. To what depth they fill the valley is uncertain, for the 

 Schroon river has not excavated them to bed rock. Lakes or estuaries must 

 have existed after or during the wane of the ice-sheet in order to have made 

 possible the abundant deltas. 



Schroon. 



Topography. Schroon is a township lying along the southern limit of the 

 high peaks and partaking both of their topography and of that of the more 

 open country further south. It contains the northern half of Schroon 

 lake and all of Paradox lake, the largest two in Essex county. The 

 town is cut into two nearly equal portions along a north and south line 

 by Schroon river and lake. The valley of Paradox lake, running east and 

 west, cuts off the northern third of the eastern half. It is a region of 

 moderate elevations formed by the outlying anorthosite spins of the great 

 Moose mountain ridge of Crown Point and North Hudson. The highest 

 summits reach 1,700 feet. Paradox lake lies in an irregular east and west 

 valley, with its surface 820 feet A. T. To the south is a wilderness of 

 moderate hills with one very prominent peak, Pharaoh, 2,557 feet, that is the 

 chief land mark of all this region. Lakes and swampy valleys lie in among 

 the hills. Passing along the southern line the same topography continues to 

 Schroon lake, which is 807 feet A. T. The altitudes therefore of Paradox 

 and Schroon lakes differ but slightly, and in high water it is reported that 

 Schroon lake rises so much faster than Paradox that the drainage is temporarily 

 reversed — whence the name " Paradox." It is quite evident that they were 

 one continuous body of water in recent times and that the Schroon river has 

 built up an extensive sandy delta that has cut them apart. Its course over 

 sands and gravels for ten miles or more to the north has furnished it with 

 abundant sediment in the immediate geologic past. West of Schroon lake, 

 the southern line cuts Green hill, which reaches the respectable altitude of 

 2,227 feet. Passing along the zig-zag boundary to the north and west, deep 

 valleys and fairly high hills prevail. Near the northwest corner, Hayes 

 mountain just west of Bailey pond is 2,822 feet. The northern boundary 

 ciosses a series of high ridges with a marked north and south trend and 

 with narrow valleys or notches between. Washburn ridge culminates at 

 2,938 feet, Texas ridge at 3,212 feet, and Hoffman mountain, the nucleus of 

 them all, at .''),715 feet, the highest in the township. This region extends as an 

 unbroken wilderness until the valley of the Schroon is again met. The 

 central pari of the town is fairly open and quite generally settled. Beech hill 



