190 
GEOLOGY OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
east of that valley, and they are distributed to the south, southwest, west and northwest, 
around that Primary nucleus.* * * § 
Prof. Emmons has shown that boulders of that primary region which comprehends most of 
the country between the St. Lawrence and Mohawk, the Black river and Lake Champlain, 
have on the northern and northeastern sides a northern and northeastern distribution.t 
Prof. Hall has shown that many of the materials of the drift deposits, which are also col¬ 
lected in great quantities in the north and south valleys of the western part of New-York, are 
similar to the rocks in a northward direction.J These valleys all communicate with the Lakes 
Erie and Ontario on the north, and with the tributaries of the Susquehannah and Allegany 
on the south.^ 
Boulders of Ohio and the Western States. 
In Ohio, great numbers of boulders of granitic rocks are scattered over the face of the 
country; and it may be said with truth, it is believed, that three-fifths of the whole State are 
covered by a mantle of drift, containing great numbers of primary boulders. I have seen 
white primary limestone boulders containing tremolite, in Greene county ;li and opalescent 
feldspar boulders like that of Essex county (N. Y.), in Franklin county (Ohio),Il at S-ullivant’s 
quarries, where the limestone is stripped of its diluvial covering before quarrying. Nearly 
all the State, west of the coal formation,! abounds with boulders of primitive rocks, inter¬ 
mixed with those of trap, and the rocks of the adjacent country. The primitive and trappean 
rocks do not exist in place above the surface of the earth, nearer than some distance north of 
the Great lakes. These “ lost rocks,” as they are called, in consequence of there being none 
of the same kind in the region, except in loose masses on the surface, and in the gravel and 
hardpan beds, are sometimes scattered very sparsely over the surface, and sometimes great 
numbers are collected in groups, generally upon the edge of a terrace or a swell of ground. 
The boulders of Ohio have long attracted attention. Dr. Drake, in his Picture of Cincin¬ 
nati, has described them as scattered over the whole country high and low, where no causes 
now in action could place them. One boulder he describes lying in Eaton, Preble county, 
composed of quartz and mica, and the part lying above ground contained three hundred cubic 
feet. “ The subjacent strata are siliceous limestone.”** Mr. Lapham, Judge Tappan and 
* Final Report on the Geology of the Tliird District of New-York, p. 222. 
f- Prof. Emmons. Geological Report of New-York. 
t Labradorite was rather abundant; and if there be not a similar range in Canada, these must have been derived from the 
northeast part of New-York. Dr. Bigsby has described this rock in place on Lake Huron. 
§ Prof. Hall. Geological Report of New-York for 1840, pp. 33G, 337 to 344. 
II Such rocks are described in place by Dr. Bigsby, in the country on the east side and to the east of Lake Huron. (Vide 
American Journal of Science, Vol. 8, pp. 66, 70.) 
f The valleys of the Muskingum and of the Beaver, through the valley of the Sandy and Beaver canal, contain boulders and 
drift deposits; but the remainder of the coal formation is entirely free of them, and must have been an island or cluster of 
islands at the epoch of the drift deposits. 
** Drake’s Picture of Cincinnati, p. 70. 
