VALLEYS. 
15 
formation of this valley may be stated thus : 1st, The primary rocks, which constituted the 
floor of an ancient ocean of an unknown extent. Upon these were deposited the sandstones, 
limestones and shales of the Champlain group; thus far the series of rocks appear to be 
whole and perfect, or without breaks ; but after the completion of this group, the ocean 
retired, and they became the surface rocks. Subsequent to this, an elevating force deranged 
the horizontality of the masses, fracturing them extensively in the line of the present valley, 
and raising them above the waters of the ocean. This line of elevation and of fracture runs 
close upon the western shore, and merely breaks olf the western edges of the transition. In 
the third place, we find a current or flood of waters to have swept through this valley, and to have 
* removed to a great distance the 4oose materials of the surface, and by their means to have worn 
down and polished the surface of the rocks which were exposed. 4th, We find this valley 
again occupied by an ocean, in which deposites were again accumidating, principally alumi¬ 
nous or of clay, but mixed with calcareous matter in the middle portion and siliceous in the 
upper. This state of things did not exist long, for the marine relics are few, and the forma¬ 
tion deposited limited and thin, probably not exceeding one hundred feet. In its turn this forma¬ 
tion was elevated, and became exposed to currents of water bearing along rocks and stones, 
being in some places entirely swept away; in others, only the sandy portion or the upper 
part; in others it remains entire, especially where it was protected by jutting rocks ; thus the 
stiff blue clay of the inferior portion, the yellow and brownish of the middle, and the sand 
of the upper, all remain undisturbed. It is in the two last that we find the modern shells prin¬ 
cipally near their junction. The last sweeping of this deluge of waters formed the present 
boulder system ; and we find the latter al\vays above the former, or post-tertiary. Such 
have been the vicissitudes of this beautiful valley : twice have the waters of the ocean reposed 
upon its bosom, and twice has it been swept, as it were, with the besom of destruction. For 
a long period after the deposition of the Champlain group, it remained above the watery ele¬ 
ment, or during the whole period required for the deposition of the New-York transition system, 
the old red, the carboniferous, the secondary and the great tertiary ; after which, for a short 
period, it was once more under the sway of Neptune, and the monsters of the deep once more 
took possession, and the iceberg floated upon its waters. But this state was to be. transient, 
for it was already fitted for the abode of man ; the waste was to be reclaimed ; the time 
had already come for man to assume the power, and erect his temples in the vale. How long 
the present floor of this valley has existed, cannot be told with any exactness approaching to a 
demonstration, but it is manifest that it is comparatively recent ; for the materials being soft, 
would ere this have been entirely removed, and the beds destroyed, had they existed during the 
epochs of the eocene tertiary, especially in those places where they are exposed to abrasion 
by rains and floods. Even deep furrows are worn annually in the sands and clays, and they 
are perceptibly diminishing in extent. 
Lawrence Valley. —^New-York may be said to be situated centrally in this gi-eat valley, 
and to be placed in that position which commands the commerce and trade of the better poi'- 
tion of this immense region. The Second Geological District, however, embraces only a 
