^66 
[AsSEMBLf 
mass, which forms the high grounds and lofty elevations occurring be- 
tween the valley of the Mohawk and the St. Lawrence. 
The general direction of the uplifts, that is the gTeatest length of the 
masses or rocks which compose them, is north and south, as is evidenc- 
ed in the Noses and Little-Falls, the two most remarkable. The up- 
lifts vary as to length, breadth and height. Some of them traverse the 
whole extent, whilst others are partial, occupying but limited areas. 
Whilst some exhibit the whole series of rocks which form the surface of 
Montgomery and Herkimer north of the river; others are composed only 
of the upper rocks. In no instance is the order of the arrangement of 
the uplifted rocks at all changed so gradual was the rise, and from facts 
to be mentioned in the final report, the uplifts must have taken place 
under water. 
With few exceptions, the whole of the upliftings have been pro- 
duced by an action from east to west, in accordance with the general 
character of the great uplifts of the globe, namely, the eastern sides ris- 
ing murally, Whilst the western sides slope off, becoming more or less 
horizontal. Thus in the valley of the Mohawk, the uplifts have inva- 
riably been thrust or protruded through the black shale, their eastern 
ends rising like a wall, whilst their western ends gradually slope off, 
and are lost in the same black shale, which, when the whole series is 
complete, forms the upper part of the uplifts, and lies by the side of the 
gneiss to the east, curving from a horizontal surface upwards to that rock. 
These uplifts, which other facts conclusively prove, have been thrust 
through the black shale subsequent to the formation of an original valley, 
whose bottom was scooped from that rock, the rock extending from 
near Rome to the Hudson river. 
It is to the uplifts that the apparent confusion which exists in the ge- 
ology of the counties of Montgomery, Herkimer, and part of Oneida, is 
owing. But for these uplifts the primary rock and the black shale 
would form the surface rocks of the northern parts of the two first nam- 
ed counties. 
Amongst the phenomena which these uplifts have given rise to, is the 
small lead mine on East-Canada creek, noticed by Mr. Conrad in his 
report of last year; also the production of a small quantity of ochery 
iron ore in others, at their mural ends, as at Little-Falls. 
These uplifts of the Mohawk, from their limited extent, from no de- 
rangement accompanying them^ other than what is most obviously in- 
