CATTARAUGUS COUNTY. 
489 
Cattaraugus creek. This is succeeded by the same shales and sandstones as before noticed 
in Allegany. There appears, however, a general diminution in thickness of all the masses 
to the westward; and many which in Allegany are of great thickness, appear here much 
diminished. 
Notwithstanding that the rocks are exposed at few places, still, from the great elevation of 
the country, and the thinness of drift or alluvium, they are found at moderate depths below 
the surface. 
This county is among those of the Fourth District distinguished for their deep and extended 
valleys, and their ranges of elevated hills. The proportion of uneven surface throughout, but 
particularly in the southern part, is somewhat greater than in either of the counties of the 
same range, directly east. 
The general direction of these valleys is the same as that of the large valleys farther east— 
from north to south. Toward their northern extremes, the beds of most of them expand gra¬ 
dually into plains of considerable width, limited by acclivities of gentle ascent on either side ; 
while some branch into smaller and more irregular valleys. They become, also, more and 
more shallow, to the north. But in their continuation southward, their depth constantly 
increases, the hills become more elevated, and the declivities more precipitous. The summit 
of some of the highest points of land cannot be less than eight hundred feet above the low 
grounds of the surrounding valleys. 
Along the northern border of the county, there is spread out a body of alluvium totally 
distinct in character from that prevailing in the southern portions; and the difference between 
the two is manifest, as well in the vegetation with which they are clothed, as in the materials 
of which they are composed. The ravines and gorges of the one have fewer evergreens, and 
of these the hemlock is the most abundant, while the valleys of the Allegany and its tributa r 
ries are distinguished for their forests of pine. 
No region of this State, and probably none of any other in the Union, was originally 
covered with an equal amount of valuable timber. Some of the trees have measured two 
hundred and thirty feet in height, and five of them have been known to furnish an hundred 
“lumberman’s” logs. Shingles and boards for the supply of the whole western world, from 
one extreme of the Union, Louisiana, quite half way to the other, have been manufactured 
in the shingle shanties and saw-mills upon the Allegany and its tributaries. 
The lands of the valleys, and indeed of the entire county, with the exception of here and 
there limited areas, are susceptible of cultivation. The only swamps worthy of notice are 
the Conewango and the large one northeast of Waverly. Clay underlies a considerable pro¬ 
portion of these, and, we were informed, the whole of the former. Deep ditchings would 
reclaim large portions, if not the whole of both, and will, without doubt, as the country 
around becomes more settled, be adopted. Hitherto, the lands having upon them groves of 
timber, and contiguous to mill-sites, have been more valued for the lumber they furnished, 
than for the crops they might have been made to produce. The occupation of the lumber¬ 
man, however, must soon be much less productive than at present, and ultimately give way 
[Geol. 4th Dist.] 62 
