10 
GEOLOGY OF THE .SECOND DISTRICT. 
north. Towards the valleys the adjacent country slopes, presenting, in this respect, a general 
coincidence with the dip of the rocky strata. 
Topographically considered, the second section presents one great range of highlands, 
which stretch diagonally across the country, from Little-Falls on the Mohawk to Trembleau 
Point on Lake Champlain. 
Geologically considered, it is one great uplift, with gradual but unequal slopes on all sides, 
which, if we leave out of view minor irregularities, may be compared to an egg with its 
major axis to the north. 
It will be perceived from this brief topographical sketch that there cannot be, strictly, an 
anticlinal axis or ridge; for though the main range of highlands extends across the country 
from Little-Falls to Trembleau Point, still the country does not really slope from a continuous 
ridge, but rather towards all the valleys which surround, almost entirely, this division of the 
State : there is a culminating point, instead of an anticlinal axis, in the region of the greatest 
elevation from which the several slopes proceed. 
In consequence of this arrangement, there is a general water shed draining the country in 
the direction of all the points of the compass. That such is the formation and structure of 
the country under consideration, may be inferred by an inspection of the maps of this region, 
on which the rivers will be seen to take their origin in the vicinity of this culminating.point, 
or greatest elevation, and to flow, some to the east, southeast and south ; others, to the west, 
northwest and north. I have already said that the slopes are unequal; thus, proceeding from 
Port Henry, on Lake Champlain, to the west, the summit level is gained in the vicinity of 
Mount Marcy in about thirty-five miles. From this level to the St. Lawrence river, it is 
not far from seventy-five miles. From the Mohawk Valley it is about eighty to Racket 
lake, and from thence north to the levels of Lower Canada it is about seventy. 
The view, as now presented, exhibits the topography in its simplest aspect. It is not, how¬ 
ever, complete or perfect, as it does not preseirt it in the light it would appear to a specta¬ 
tor placed upon one of the most commanding eminences. Thus situated, the whole country 
appears studded with a multitude of peaks, which, on the first inspection, are irregular and 
without order ; but by carrying the eye over a wide territory, an orderly disposition may be 
made of the mountain masses. 
The masses here referred to may be arranged into the following chains or ranges, each of 
which pursues a course from the southwest to northeast. In the description of those ranges, 
it is convenient to commence with those situated to the east, and proceed in order as they 
occur to the west. ^ 
The most easterly range within the State rises to the north of Saratoga, and pursues a 
northeasterly course through the southeast part of Warren and northwest corner of Washing¬ 
ton counties, passing between Lake George and Lake Champlain ;’ it terminates to the south 
of Ticonderoga. The most remarkable and prominent part of this range is that portion of it 
situated between the lakes already referred to, where it is in high, broken, precipitous cliffs. 
It is known as the Palmertown Mountain Range, or Black Mountains. It is sometimes called 
the Tongue Mountain Range. 
