HAMILTON COUNTY. 
417 
\ 
range is northeast and southwest. The gneiss around Lake Janet contains many large beds 
of primary limestone, suitable for quicklime. 
In the whole of Hamilton county, though the primary masses present some variation in 
kind and in their characters, yet so unimportant are these diversities, that when it is stated 
that the rock is gneiss with transitions into hornblende, and occasional associations with pri¬ 
mary limestone, most of the important facts in relation thereto are enumerated. 
The sedimentary masses are equally unimportant. There is only a narrow range extend¬ 
ing partially up the valley of the Sacandaga. The calciferous sandrock and the trenton lime¬ 
stone were the only rocks of this class which fell under my observation. At Hope I found 
a few acres of trenton rock, loaded with its usual fossils ; and to the south a few miles, the 
calciferous, each in place. They form the extreme point of the Champlain gi'oup, which 
comes up from the Mohawk valley through Northampton and Mayfield. 
Peat. The vlies, or natural meadows of Hamilton county, contain a great abundance of 
peat. In those of Racket lake, this substance is found in larger bodies than elsewhere ; but 
in the lower grounds, it is rarely absent. The natural meadows, which are quite common, 
and produce spontaneously a grass of which cattle are fond, form an important resource in 
the settlement of the county, previous to the introduction and cultivation of the crops usually 
depended upon for the support of stock. 
Geol. 2d Dist. 
53 
