QUATERNARY DEPOSITS. 
213 
West of Fort-Plain, on the same side, the deposit again commences, extending at intervals 
to near St. Johnsville ferry. On the north side, it reappears on the west of that village, and 
with the exception of the interruption at East-Canada creek, continues to the uplift of Little- 
Falls. This deposit shows its threefold nature : blue clay, with alternations of sand; then 
sand ; and finally, rolled stones, with loam chiefly. 
Near the uplift of Little-Falls, on the south side, and at some distance from the river, there 
is an enormous accumulation of rolled stones, appearing as if they had been poured in torrents 
over from the west to the east side of the uplift. 
On the north side, and to the west of Little-Falls, the alluvial is of considerable height, the 
range being but little broken to West-Canada creek. The part next to the village is very 
different from the usual deposits. Near to the river, it appears to rest upon the primary 
rock ; the lower part is a mass of black sand, quite coarse, with very small pebbles, the latter 
showing an arrangement in parallel layers. On the top is a confused mass of stones of all 
sizes, in which the black limestone of the Utica slate, and fragments of the slate, are in great 
abundance. To the rear of this deposit, the relative position not observed, is a mass of pure 
yellow sand. This kind of sand is in greater abundance on the south side of the river, in the 
angle of the uplift, and at the south and east of the quarry. It has heen heaped up into high 
hills, rising or appearing to rise from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet above the 
river. The ancient river bank is not evident on that side of the Mohawk for about two miles 
west of the quarry; it then extends along the river for about five miles, rising about sixty or 
eighty feet above it; its surface generally level, and in some places thickly covered with the 
usual river stones, and showing identity with the bank to the east of the Noses. On both 
sides of the river the banks are readily traced westward, and gradually appear to sink in the 
level plain near Rome. Blue clay, which appears to form the base, is seen in many points. 
A deposit of blue clay was noticed on the west side of Middleville, about sixty or more feet 
above the creek; another on the road from Brocket’s bridge to Little-Falls, not far from the 
saw mill. 
On Black river, between the High falls and Boonville, there is an immense deposit of 
brownish clay, which had been partially excavated for the locks of the canal; it is in layers 
from two to three feet thick, disposed horizontally, and covered with sand of a yellow color. 
At the feeder of the Black river canal, there is an extensive deposit of clay as to length, 
brownish and yellowish, the greater part in thin layers, perfectly flat or horizontal. The clay 
is seen from point to point along the feeder, forming its bottom and sides ; no part noticed to 
rise above the banks of the feeder; the clay covered in places with yellow sand, the same in 
kind to the southwest of Little-Falls ; the surface much furrowed, and slightly covered with 
soil. 
On section eight, about three miles from Boonville, the clay beds are of high interest, 
showing great local disturbances in parts of their layers, which throw light upon the causes 
of ancient appearances of the kind. The layers show a series of contortions of different 
kinds, for which no other cause can reasonably be assigned but different degrees of lateral 
pressure. These clay beds are exactly represented in the three following wood-cuts. They 
