ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY. 
363 
Stockholm. This town is upon higher ground than Massena or Norfolk. The surface rock 
is principally the potsdam sandstone. It is belter adapted to agriculture than the preceding 
town. Peat exists, as in the neighboring towns, in the low grounds ; but it is unnecessary 
to dwell upon the localities, or attempt to estimate the quantity. 
Brasher. This town is traversed by three parallel ridges of sand and gravel, which run 
southeast and northwest, and the intervening spaces are level sandy plains. Tertiary clays 
underlie the sand beds, in which we find the Tellina groenlandica. The beds of bog ore have 
already been described. Beds of peat are numerous and extensive. 
Lawrence. The country in and about Lawrence is sandy. The rock is sandstone, but 
generally concealed beneath heavy beds of sand. 
Hopkinton. Potsdam sandstone appears at the village. It is white, and dips southeast. 
This town, however, limits the sedimentary rocks in this direction. About one mile east of 
the village, a reddish granite crops out, and becomes the predominant rock. 
TERTIARY OF ST. LAWRENCE. 
The undisturbed beds of tertiary probably extend from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lake 
Ontario ; not, how'ever, in a continuous mass, but at intervals beds more or less perfect exist. 
At Ogdensburgh, the clays forming the banks of the river belong to this formation. Still 
farther northeast, as in Brasher, they occur with fossils. The sands which cover so much 
space in the northeast townships, and in Franklin, belong to this mass, at least in part. With¬ 
out doubt, a portion of these sands originally belonged to the tertiary formation ; but now, in 
consequence of having been swept from the original position in which they were deposited, 
they belong to the drift, or form a part of the boulder system. 
The tertiary of the St. Lawrence cannot be fully described without farther examination. 
The fact that its banks are formed of this peculiar clay, is well known; but its depth, its 
extent and boundaries, cannot at present be clearly defined. The fossils of the clay at Og¬ 
densburgh are in a decomposing state, and might be, and undoubtedly have been overlooked; 
but let any one examine these banks carefully, and he will not fail to find the Saxicava rugosa 
and Tellina groenlandica. Clay occurs many miles also from the river, but whether it is to 
be placed in the tertiary, I am not able to determine. We know that clay is a common 
substance beneath sand ; but because it is clay, it is no evidence in itself that it belongs to 
the tertiary beds. I am aware that many geologists rank most beds of this substance with 
the tertiary. But this mode of procedure does not appear to be warranted ; and unless we 
can trace them continuously, or find some lithological characters (in the absence of fossils) 
which are constant, I do not understand on what ground they are placed in this class. 
In regard to this formation in the norlhen part of New-York, we have evidence of its having 
been once continuous around the whole of its border. Thus, commencing at Whitehall, and 
passing round the entire northern border of the State to Ogdensburgh, this deposit was once 
