WARREN COUNTY. 
171 
the plains of Warrensburgh. In the northeastern corner, a fourth range completely breaks 
up the surface, and throws it into numerous peaks and sharp ridges; it rises north of Johns¬ 
town, and runs northeast, and terminates at Willsborough falls on Lake Champlain. These 
four ranges are more or less connected intimately by lateral spurs, which, on a superficial 
view, become one connected mass of mountain ridges and peaks. The French mountain is an 
unimportant ridge five or six miles long, lying along the southern extremity of Lake George. 
A feature common to the whole mountainous region of Warren and the Second district, is, 
that though as a whole, a range is formed, yet there are no long ridges which are continuous, 
but they are all broken up into short abrupt hills, with heights varying from five to fifteen 
hundred feet; in addition to which, we have the first class of mountains rising to four and five 
thousand feet. 
Notwithstanding the great amount of broken and mountainous land in Warren county, there 
is still remaining much productive soil. Except in the highest parts of the mountains, one 
side or slope forms excellent pasturage for sheep and young cattle, and the plains and intervals 
a warm rich soil for any of the productions which are cultivated in the State, as corn, oats, 
wheat, rye, etc. 
Lakes, water courses, valleys, drainage, etc. 
There are three beautiful sheets of water, situated partly within the limits of this county: 
Lake George, thirty-six miles long; Schroon, nine ; and Brant, six. The first is interesting 
in its location; it is at the extreme of the valley of Champlain, which opens into the wide 
and extensive valley of the St. Lawrence; it is one of the most southern points to which this 
last named valley reaches, and forms a part of the drainage which flows north to the gulf of 
the St. Lawrence, being within about two hundred miles of the mouth of the Hudson river: 
but it extends about fifty miles south of the sources of the Hudson. The first range of moun¬ 
tains west of Lake Champlain forms the barrier for this distance, which separates the waters 
of this lake and Lake George from those of the Hudson river. 
The principal drainage of the county is to the south, through the two branches of the 
North river ; the Schroon branch, and the Hudson river proper. The former flows through 
Schroon lake, has a south direction through the whole county, to near the corner of Caldwell 
and Warrensburgh, where it turns west, and in the course of a few miles unites itself with 
the main branch of the Hudson river, near the southwest corner of Warrensburgh. These 
two rivers receive the smaller streams, forming themselves the main channels by which the 
county is drained. The declination of this surface of the county is south. It is situated in 
part upon an inconsiderable anticlinal axis. 
The valley of Lake George extends four or five miles south of Caldwell, in the direction of 
Corinth; and to pass the dividing ridge between the waters of the lake and the Hudson, 
requires but a slight elevation. By this valley, that of the St. Lawrence opens into the 
Hudson, which soon becomes a broad open sandy country in the county of Saratoga. These 
broad sandy plains appear to have received the loose materials from the north, through the 
same courses and valleys in which the Hudson and its tributaries flow. 
