warren county. 
185 
Trap also occurs at the base of the first range of hills west of Glen’s-Falls, towards Co¬ 
rinth or Luzerne. The principal rock is gneiss, but granite also appears here in irregular 
veins pursuing a north course. The dykes pursue a direction nearly opposite, cutting through 
the granitic veins as in the annexed diagram. 
56 . 
a a Veins of granite, cut off and displaced on one side by the dyke. 
We have here an illustration of the mode by which veins of iron, beds of coal, etc. are 
sometimes divided by an igneous rock, and moved to one side, to the right or left, or have 
suffered a displacement or fault, according as the veins are inclined or horizontal. The dyke 
at this place runs N. 70° W. 
Peat. 
This substance has been found in Warrensburgh, Schroon, Chester, Johnsburgh and Queens- 
bury, and probably all parts of the county contain it: the largest beds are in Warrensburgh 
and Queensbury. The value which is to be attached to peat bogs arises from its employment 
in agriculture, in consequence of its ready conversion into manure. Its mode of employment 
will suggest itself to any person after a moment’s reflection. 
The peat is found in places once occupied by lakes, which have been filled up by the 
growth of water plants, trunks, leaves and roots of trees ; but particularly by the growth of 
the Sphagnum, a species of moss common to all wet and cool places. The depth of one of 
the beds of peat in Warrensburgh exceeds sixty feet, and must have been forming for seven 
or eight hundred years. At present, there is little probability that this substance will be 
used for fuel; and still the high price of wood in most cities of the northern States seems to 
point to this substance as a material which might be introduced, to procure a great saving in 
the expenditure for fuel. 
The muck swamps, as they are often called, are, in fact, peat beds imperfectly formed. 
All low wet places may be examined for peat or muck, by thrusting down a pole. The value 
of such localities is often immensely great, and a farmer should examine all the places upon 
his land, which are favorable to its production. 
Geol. 2t> Dist. 
24 
