86 
LAKE FILLING IN THE ADIRONDACK REGION. 
By 0. H. Smyth, Ju., Clinton, N. Y. 
Of the phenomena attendant upon the circuhxtion of meteoric 
waters, none is more familiar to geologists than the obliteration 
of lakes by the deposition of sediment and the cutting down of 
outlets. AVhile both actions go on simultaneously-, in anj- specific 
case the one or the other maj' be the dominant factor. But, in 
either event, the destruction of the lake is the final result; and 
thus it is that lakes are taken as indicating an incomplete drainage 
system, and, to a certain extent, a new topography. 
Such a perfect example of lake filling is furnished by the lakes 
and natural meadows of the Adirondack region, that these seem to 
merit more attention than they have hitherto received. In their 
economic aspect the natural meadows, or vlies, have been consid- 
ered by Emmons,* but as an instance of lake filling they seem to 
have been neglected. 
It is' not the mere presence of these vlies that makes the 
region most interesting in this connection, but the fact that there 
is a complete gradation from lakes having almost their original 
extent and outlines, to those which have been entirely filled, 
forming vlies. 
This series is well exhibited in the region about the head 
waters of the West Canada creek, the largest southward flowing 
stream on the west side of the Adirondacks. The two main 
branches of the creek have their origin in the lakes of Hamilton 
county; and. flowing in a southwesterly course, some six or eight 
miles apart, unite at Nobleslwro. Herkimer county, forming a 
considerable stream which empties into the Mohawk, at Herki- 
mer. These two branches of the creek are separated by an eleva- 
tion of land, from seven to twelve hundred feet above the bot- 
toms of the adjacent valleys and between two and three thousand 
feet above sea level, t This elevated area is made up of irregular 
ridges of gray and red gneiss, having a general north(>ast trend 
corresponding with the strike of the rocks. Small lakes, ranging 
from a few rods to three or four miles in greatest diameter, 
occupy many of the depressions between these ridges. 
* Geol. of N. Y., II. p. 4J7. 
t All elevations givei) in (his paper are derived t'roin a limited 
number of aneroid ineasuremeiits i)ased ii])on a railroad level lliirty 
miles away, and must, therc^fore, be considered as only ap])roximate. 
