REPORT 
OF THE 
SURVEY OF THE SECOND GEOLOGICAL DISTRICT. 
CHAPTER 1. 
OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL RELATIONS OF THE NORTHERN DIVISION OF 
THE STATE OF NEV^-YORK. 
That portion of New-York which is north of the Mohawk Valley, may be considered one 
of the great natural divisions of the State. On the west and northwest, it is skirted by Lake 
Ontario and the St. Lawrence river; on the north, is the great slope which terminates in the 
levels of Lower Canada; on the east, is Lake Champlain; and south, the wide and impor¬ 
tant valley of the Mohawk. It includes ten counties, and embraces an area of thirteen thou¬ 
sand three hundred and sixty-one square miles. 
Of these ten counties, the seven following constitute the Second Geological District, viz. 
St. Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Warren, Hamilton and Jefferson. The three re¬ 
maining counties, viz. Herkimer, Lewis and Saratoga, though not embraced in the Second 
Geological Section, are so intimately related to the others, that I shall have frequent occasion 
to refer to them, as they severally embrace portions of the same formations. The greatest 
length of the Second Geological District is from Glen’s-Falls to the northwest corner of Frank¬ 
lin county, and is about one hundred and thirty-five miles. The greatest breadth, or the dis¬ 
tance across the district from east to west, is not far from one hundred and thirty miles. 
The northern division of the State, as defined above, constitutes an entire whole, or it is a 
territory which is unsusceptible of farther subdivision; or it may be considered as an insu¬ 
lated portion of the State, bordered by three great valleys, the valley of the Champlain on the 
east, that of the Mohawk on the south, and the St. Lawrence on the west, northwest and 
Geol. 2d Dist. 2 
