JEFFERSON COUNTY. 
413 
it is produced by water moving in small circular currents with great force, and thereby giving 
a rotatory motion to the stones which happen to come within the eddying current. If these 
remarks are founded in fact, the three phenomena may be connected with moving water as 
their common cause; but in the three different cases the circumstances are different, and in 
each case the effects are specific. 
OJ the debris of rocks in situ, and of the sandy regions of this county. 
The soil in the vicinity of Adams, and towards Loraine, is made up of particles or laminae 
which have been derived from the utica slate. The slate appears to extend deep, and is not 
simply a superficial covering, but enters into the composition of the soil to the depth of ten 
or fifteen feet. The same fact may be stated for the whole range of this rock, in the direction 
of its outcropping edge. 
There are two regions in which sand forms a thick covering over all other materials. The 
first is in Ellisburgh, upon and adjacent to the lake shore. Immense beds have accumulated 
at the mouth of Sandy creek. Another more important district, however, of this material, 
occupies the central part of the county. It lies upon the Black river, and in its vicinity. It 
extends from Leraysville to the Wilna road leading from Carthage to Antwerp, which is about 
ten miles. North and south, it extends eight or ten miles, or from the Great bend to Sterling- 
ville. This region is a level plain, a large proportion of which is covered with forest, mostly 
pine. It forms, along the river, high sandy banks upon the north side. Within the curvature 
of the river, the land is low and level, and is composed of clay. 
In the two last regions, the surface soil is evidently transported matter. The sand in the 
region of the Sandy creek was derived from the great gorges of Loraine. and Rodman, and 
resulted from the disintegration of the great mass of shales, which have been entirely removed 
from their thin beds. The sand of the Great bend is probably drift, which was transported 
from the north. 
The soil composed so largely of slate, has resulted from the destruction of the utica slate; 
it is in place. It is first formed by the exfoliation of the laminae while the masses are in their 
beds; and it is subsequently farther changed by a continuation of the process, until it is 
finally reduced to its original condition, that of clay. 
\ 
Recapitulation of some of the leading Facts in the Geology of Jefferson County. 
1. The primary rocks are similar to those of St. Law'rence, and occupy the northern and 
eastern part of the county. They arc arranged in low ridges, which have a general paral¬ 
lelism. 
2. The succession of the sedimentary rocks is from north to south, proceeding from the 
potsdam sandstone to the loraine shales in a series of terraces. 
3. The surface is marked by valleys traversing the county from northeast to soutluvest, a 
direction which corresponds to the natural joints of the rocks. 
