106 
[Assembly 
We have dwelt long on this subject because it is important; we 
hope, therefore, our remarks will not be considered out of place or 
inapplicable to the objects of this report, or uninteresting to the 
community in general. We shall now proceed to the second head 
and speak of the rocks and the geological structure of the district. 
In the first place, we shall give a brief account of the order of suc- 
cession which the rocks observe on three transverse sections; these 
sections are supposed to pass over all the formations of the district. 
The southern section commences near the foot of Lake George, 
and passes through Warren, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis and Jef- 
ferson counties, and terminates at Sackett's Harbor. The middle 
commences at Cedar Point, and passes through Essex, Franklin, St. 
Lawrence and a part of Jefferson, and terminates at Alexandria 
Bay. The north begins at or near Champlain and proceeds south- 
westerly through Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence, to Ogdens- 
burgh. 
In the first or southern section, the rocks succeed each other 
in the following order: — On Lake George there is a narrow belt 
of transition limestone, more or less sandy in composition. The 
quartzose variety is perfectly developed at Whitehall. This rock 
extends only to the foot of the high lands, where it is immediately 
succeeded by primitive strata. The primitive formation continues 
without interruption until we fall upon the branches of the Black 
river, between Lowville and Denmark in the county of Lewis; 
here the surface rock is again transition limestone, which continues 
to Sackett's Harbor. The middle section commences on the same 
limestone at Cedar Point on Lake Champlain. 
Primitive rocks immediately succeed as in the first section. Pro- 
ceeding west towards Moriah, we found the primitive formation in 
some instances, a compound of augite and hornblende, but gene- 
rally it was a variety of compact grey augite. Still further west, 
in the vicinity of Newcomb and the upper branches of the Hud- 
son, it becomes a sienite, in which the proportion of feldspar is 
very large, and frequently the whole rock is of the latter substance. 
To this, succeeds gneiss, primitive limestone and hornblende, in al- 
ternating layers, until we arrive at Theresa, on the Indian river. 
The surface rock here is, the quartzose variety of the transition 
limestone; it is thin and much broken by the rock beneath. The 
sandstone, as this variety is usually called, continues till within 3 
miles of Alexandria bay; granite then succeeds, and continues to 
