CLINTON COUNTY. 
289 
CLINTON COUNTY. 
Mountain EANGEs ; Valleys; Drainage. 
The general features of Clinton county contrast strongly with those of Essex. By refe¬ 
rence to the map, it will be seen that the Ausable river, though it rises in the midst of the 
Adirondack mountains, yet the large branches find a passage to the north of the main range, 
where they receive the drainage from this slope, and finally terminate several miles northward 
of Trembleau point. This is the last range which reaches the lake shore, and hence all that' 
portion of the Second district north of the Ausable is comparatively level. Rising from the 
valley of this river, from Keeseville on the Plattsburgh road, the only mountains viewed from 
the sandy plain, lie far to the west and northwest: they are the ranges situated upon the 
western bounds of the county, between Clinton and Franklin. The distance of the highest 
from the lake is not far from twenty miles; and as they range parallel to the county line, 
and not far to the east of it, it happens, that almost the entire county is unbroken by mountain 
ridges. The rise is gradual, for example, from Plattsburgh to Saranac, near the base of the 
mountainous tract; and hence the whole county has a gentle slope to the east, and perhaps 
slightly to the north of east. 
Between the termination of the great Clinton range on the southwest border of the county, 
in the direction of the Ausable, and the range of mountains already spoken of as extending 
on the western border between Clinton and Franklin, we find a wide field, which must in 
early times have been an extensive bay, sheltered on the southwest and west by the ranges of 
high land just described; and it must have been a bay of great depth, as in it we find a perfect 
development of the Champlain group, which as a whole is more perfect than has yet been 
observed in any of the New-York districts. Looking upon this field in this light, that is, 
regarding it as an ancient bay, (and I can find no ground for objection,) we can not but be 
astonished that the main features of this region should be preserved in a form, or in an out¬ 
line which it had at the period when those rocks were deposited. While other parts of the 
earth’s surface have been changed, the ancient barriers broken up or thrown down, here we 
find they have remained in profile much the same; raised up, it is true, but the uplifting has 
been so gradual, that the contour or shape of the ancient headlands are preserved. 
While the truth of the above remarks will not be questioned, so far at least as claiming for 
the county freedom from mountain ranges as they exist in Essex, still I have no doubt a por¬ 
tion of it may be denominated hilly. The south and southwest is especially so; that part 
containing the iron mines, most of which are upon the highest of the hills in the vicinity. 
The first eminence which I shall notice is Rand’s hill. It is principally in the west part of 
Beekman, and is a long ridge, with moderate slopes to the east and north, and terminates in 
Chazy, It rises in Saranac. On the west side, there is a descent to the Chazy lake. 
Geol. 2d Dist. 
37 
