CATSKILL DIVISION. 
313 
Several lines of fault were seen, it is supposed, but they were not traced out. The red 
and grey grits and shales were observed in several places along the Lumberland turnpike ; 
and as the same beds show themselves repeatedly, while they dip slightly, and more fre¬ 
quently than is due to the irregularities of surface, faults or bendings of the strata must 
occur. The strata appear successively on the surface, as is indicated in fig. 3, plate 29 ; 
and faults as there represented, are the probable cause of the successive appearance of the 
same strata. 
The same order of superposition of the red and grey grits was observed at the head of 
Halfway brook, and near Toronto lake, and again near Black lake. The coarse thick-bedded 
grey grit overlies the red grits and shales also between White lake and Monticello. 
If coal should be found in workable quantities in New-York, it will undoubtedly be in the 
high mountain region in the north part of Sullivan, the east part of Delaware, west and north¬ 
west parts of Ulster, and the central and south parts of Greene counties, above the upper 
mass of red rocks from one hundred to five hundred feet. 
Topographical and Agricultural Characters. 
All the country containing the Catskill division of rocks is mountainous, but it lies in heavy 
swells of land, rarely precipitous except where streams have cut deep gorges and ravines, and 
on the eastern and southern flanks of the mountains where they bound the Hudson and Mama- 
kating valleys. Nearly all the more elevated swells of land are capable of tillage to their 
summits. The mountains on each side of the Schoharie kill are from fifteen hundred to two 
thousand feet above the valley, and within a few miles rise still higher into broad noble swells 
of land, susceptible of cultivation to their summits. The soil is porous enough not to wash, 
and springs of limpid pure cold water abound. The surface is stony and gravelly, but is well 
adapted to grass, oats, potatoes and barley. Wheat succeeds well for a few years after the 
land is cleared, as long as the roots of trees and bushes remain to keep the soil light; but after 
that time, the soil heaves by the frost, and the wheat is winter-killed. The country is admi¬ 
rably adapted for grazing, both for cattle and sheep, and the fine sweet grass and cold springs 
offer as great facilities for making excellent butter as the world affords. A large proportion 
of the butter sold under the name of Goshen hutter, which is celebrated for its superior qua¬ 
lities, is made in the mountain region of Delaware, Sullivan, Ulster and Greene counties. 
Ripple Marks. 
These were seen on a layer of brown sandstone, on the road from Catskill to the Mountain 
House, one mile above the toll-gate. If the direction of the current producing ripple marks 
be perpendicular to the general direction of the marks, the current forming these must have 
flowed from N. 30° E. to S. 30° W. 
Geol. 1st Dist. 
40 
