FRANKLIN COUNTY. 
333 
masses of the New-York system do to the northwest, we have every reason to believe that 
the succession continues, and that it is carried up at least as high upon the Canada side as 
the loraine shales. 
In confirmation of this view, I may with propriety state, that at Bytown, the shales of 
Loraine or Hudson river form the surface rock. What the succession is in the intermediate 
country west of the St. Lawrence, I have been unable to determine. 
In addition to the above, I offer merely the conjecture that the loraine shales are the highest 
rocks in this direction ; that beyond them, the series runs down to the lower limestones, and 
finally to the potsdam sandstone. This last rock probably spreads out far to the west and 
northwest, being one of the most extensive of our sedimentary masses. 
Drift and Surface Materials. 
The northern slope of Franklin is covered with a thick mantle of sand, gravel and boulders 
intermixed. The boulders are composed of sandstone and granite or gneiss. The former 
are angular and slightly rounded, but the latter have their angles entirely obliterated, having 
been subjected for a longer time to the action of the elements. The sand is often disposed 
into ridges, but without regularity, either in their direction, or in their position with respect 
to each other. In Dickinson, for example, the south part is rough and uneven, and is covered 
in part with sand-hills, which are filled with boulders. Towards the north, the country slopes 
rapidly, and soon reaches the level of the St. Lawrence, where the sand is spread evenly, 
forming level and uninterrupted plains. Constable, Westville, Bombay, Moira, are all quite 
level, and present extended sand-plains. Malone, Chateaugay, Dickinson and Brandon, lie 
upon the descending side ; and the loose materials are raised more or less in ridges, hills and 
banks. 
In Covington, boulders of trenton limestone are quite numerous; the fences are made fre¬ 
quently of these travelled rocks ; and it is a matter of some interest to ascertain where they 
came from. Among them are the two varieties of the trenton rock, the grey crystalline, and 
the black and nearly compact mass; each of them, when broken, exhale a strong bituminous 
odor. Having become well acquainted with these loose masses, I found, on a visit to Montreal, 
that the beds of trenton were identical with the boulders in Franklin, and particularly with 
those which I had previously seen at Hogansburgh; and I have little doubt but that these 
beds formed the parent rock, for all the boulders of limestone in this place have been brought 
either from Montreal or its neighborhood. The boulders of potsdam sandstone probably 
originated in the beds of this rock immediately below, as they have been extensively broken 
up, and left with their corners sharp; while those which have travelled far, have become 
smooth and rounded. The source of the granite cannot be determined with much certainty, 
only we know that it must have had its origin far to the north. 
