ST, LAWRENCE COUNTY. 
335 
ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY. 
St. Lawrence presents a complicated structure in its primary system ; but in its sedimen¬ 
tary rocks, it is, like all the northern counties, extremely simple. In its topography or physi¬ 
cal geography, there is a great uniformity ; that is, we do not find any parts of it rising to 
great heights. All the higher lands attain but a moderate elevation, and a large proportion of 
the surface is but a few hundred feet above the level of the river St. Lawrence. 
To give some brief details of its surface, 1 remark, that the two tiers of townships border¬ 
ing the river are level. The rivers, when they have reached this part of the county, are 
sluggish, or have but a moderate current; and if they have falls, they amount to only a few 
feet. This space extends twenty miles east of the river, and a few miles farther in the northern 
part of the county. 
The two next tiers of townships may be called hilly. The streams flow with greater 
rapidity. The remainder of the county, which lies to the southeast, embracing a district 
wholly unsettled, may be termed mountainous, though by no means extremely so. All the 
elevations are merely moderate, and fall far short of those in the western part of Essex. 
Through this region, the rivers flow not only with rapidity, but we find upon them many 
heavy falls; still, even here, some of them have long distances of still water and batteau 
navigation. 
I do not propose to enter into farther details of topography. It is sufficient to state the 
general features, when there are no essential deviations from the ordinary levels of a country. 
We may regard the whole slope as facing the northwest; the southeast portion as being com¬ 
paratively rapid ; the middle portion as moderate ; and the northwestern, or the two tiers of 
townships upon the river, as being quite moderate, or with only a sufficient descent to give a 
drainage to the country. 
A feature of St. Lawrence, more striking in its character, arises from the number of large 
rivers which have their origin not far from the eastern border of the county. Rising in the 
wilds of Franklin and Hamilton, and partly in the adjacent part of St. Lawrence, they all flow 
first but a little north of west; but when they have reached the central part of the county, 
their course is nearly northwest, and after continuing a few miles in this direction, finally get 
around into a course parallel with the St. Lawrence river itself, in which course they traverse 
a large part of the county before they empty themselves into this mighty flood of waters. 
This disposition appears to have been produced by the change in the character of the rocks ; 
the great change in the direction of the waters takes place near the junction of the primary 
with the transition rocks, and probably was occasioned partly by the denudations which have 
been effected in former times. We find, too, that the lakes near the St. Lawrence lie with their 
longer axis parallel with the course of this river, and their beds seem to have been channelled 
out by streams or currents of water which have flowed over this country in ancient times. 
