144 
[Assembly 
Son has its delta. The alluvions of the Hudson, belonging to Columbia 
and Dutchess counties only, will be discussed in this report. They are 
numerous and highly important, both in a scientific and economical point 
of view. They are sensibly increasing in height and area in many lo- 
calities, and will, at some future time, make valuable and productive 
lands. Many of them are now employed for hay and pasturage, and 
others are rapidly becoming adapted for such uses. 
The materials of the Hudson river alluvions in Columbia and Dutch- 
ess counties, are almost entirely composed of ooze and fine silt, mixed 
with the remains of organic matter. These alluvions are formed where- 
ever eddies occur, caused by a change of the general direction of the 
current, by islands, bars, shoals, or even small obstacles, like sunken logs, 
trees and rocks. The current sweeping by these obstacles circles around 
in an eddy, and the materials in suspension settle to the bottom. Small 
obstacles, as logs or rocks, are known to have thus served as the nuclei 
of islands. Such deposits, when covered by a depth of a few feet of 
water, support a great growth of aquatic plants, which entangle much 
of the sedimentary matter of the water, and by their own decay serve 
to increase the accumulating deposit. The shoal, on reaching the sur- 
face, supports a heavier growth of vegetable matter, which serves to in- 
crease the deposit in a sensible degree. One who has not examined the 
dense mass of vegetation on some of these alluvions, can scarcely ap- 
preciate the effects of this cause. 
Local Details. 
There are two islands of alluvial ooze opposite the upper part of 
Stuyvesant's. The larger one is nearly three miles long. An alluvial 
flat a mile and a half long, and on which a light-house is erected, ex- 
tends from Kinderhook New-Steamboat Landing to above the lower end 
of the large island just mentioned. It may be considered the delta of 
the creek, at the mouth of which it is located. 
A marsh of fluviatile alluvion extends from Great Nutten, or Neuten, 
Hook to Stockport Landing. Great and Little Nutten Hooks were 
once islands, which are now connected with the main land by the marsh. 
This marsh may be considered as the delta of the small creek which has 
its mouth between Great and Little Nutten Hooks, and which has, also, 
received large accessions from the detrital matter brought into the Hud- 
son by Kinderkook creek and swept up by the tide. The mouth of 
Kinderhook creek is so located ^ that a delta of any magnitude cannot 
be formed there. The tidal currents sweep past it, and always press 
upon the shore of the Hudson both above and below. 
