QUATERNARY DIVISION. 
127 
bottomed on a stratum of clay. The tract between Albany and Schenectady, has a stiff and 
thick layer of clay beneath. The same remark applies to the space lying for some miles 
beyond the Mohawk river towards the Ballston springs, and to the great collections of similar 
earthy matter lying westward along the flat country between the upper falls ” (Little falls 
now) “and Fort Stanwix” (now Utica).* 
(&). Topographical and agricultural characters. 
The general topographical character of this formation is that of slightly undulating or nearly 
level plains, like those near Albany, Saratoga, and the south part of Long island in Queens 
and Kings counties. Near the large streams, as the Hudson and Mohawk, they are frequently 
intersected by deep ravines down to the subjacent rock. 
In some places, this formation rises by a steep bank or terrace directly from the Hudson, 
as around Newburgh bay above the Highlands; at the brick-yards near Breakneck moun¬ 
tain, at the foot of Bull hill, and at the foot of Butter hill in the Highlands ; at the foot of the 
Dunderberg mountain, and between Peekskill and Verplanck’s point in Peekskill bay; at 
Grassy point, Haverstraw, Teller’s, point, and along the shore between Teller’s and Ver¬ 
planck’s points around Haverstraw bay ; at Tarrytown, Nyack, and at various places around 
Tappan bay; at Athens, Coxsackie, the shore below Catskill, and many other places. 
More frequently this formation lies at a higher level along the banks of the Hudson, with 
the subjacent rocks exposed to the height of fifty to one hundred feet, or covered only by the 
soil resulting from their decomposition, or by the drift deposit; while at a little distance from 
the river, a steep terrace of the quaternary rises and extends back nearly level, or rises by 
another terrace which extends back until it meets the higher grounds of a different formation, 
occupying the valleys and reenterings as water does along a coast. 
The agricultural character varies much, according to the predominance of the sandy or 
clayey materials of this formation. Where the sand predominates, and has some depth over 
the subjacent clay, the soil is generally clothed with a stunted forest of small pines or shrub 
oaks ; or where there is no forest, the sand is drifted by the winds, and accumulates in ridges 
of hillocks, wherever fences, bushes, forests, or other objects obstruct the wind. This may 
be seen on the sand-plains of Saratoga and Albany counties, and in the sand-plains and hills 
of the central part of Suffolk county, t 
The sand-plains make good lands when properly manured and tilled, but many thousand 
acres are almost drifting sands like the deserts and sand-dunes on the sea-coast; and many 
thousand acres more would be in the same condition, if its surface was not sheltered from the 
* Medical Repository, Vol. 3, p. 436, 
t Many other localities might be mentioned, but a few only will be adduced, as on the southwest part of Staten island ; on 
some of the sand-hills near Brooklyn, L. I., where the whole contour and form of the hills are changing. (Finch. Silliman’s 
Journal, Vol. 7, p. 42.) Jacob’s hill northwest of Mattituck on Long island, was once higher than Cooper’s hill, which lies on 
the east; but the sand has drifted off so much that it is now lower. 
