JEFFERSON COUNTY. 
369 
Sketch showing the Channelling of the Birdseye at Watertown. 
The locality of this extremely interesting phenomenon is immediately west of Watertown, 
upon the banks of the Black river. The rock thus acted upon is the birdseye, a firm com¬ 
pact mass, whose layers are as solid as possible; and hence the cutting out of these deep 
furrows has been accomplished solely in a solid mass, unassisted by a shaly or loose porous 
structure. 
The course of these channellings or furrows is southwest and northeast; they cross the 
present channel of the river obliquely, and appear upon the north as well as the south side. 
In the direction of these channellings, half a mile southwest, is the commencement of a deep 
marsh, which must also have been excavated by the operation of a similar cause. The 
effects, however, do not stop here: we may trace them to the lake shore, and see that the 
whole depth of the trenton limestone has been cut through from Watertown for a distance of 
ten miles. 
The channellings described above are overlaid by drift and soil, in a hard compacted mass, 
forming at this place a high bank along the shores. By this bank alone, the river is directed 
and preserved in its present course; and should the bank be removed, I see no obstacle to 
prevent the river from flowing direct to Sacket’s-Harbor, or rather in the direction of Hender¬ 
son, at the southern extremity of Hungry bay. From the Great bend, this direction is the one 
pursued to a point four miles above Watertown; there the strong rocky barriers of the tren¬ 
ton limestone intervene, and turn the river across these ancient groovings, until it has passed 
Brownville, where it falls into another still deeper and wider furrow, in which it flows to the lake. 
Geol. 2d Dist. 47 
