CATSKILL GROUP. 
W7 
village of Madison. This is a short and interesting route, but not so favorable for collecting- 
fossils. The second route, that of the Schoharie creek, begins at Schoharie Court-house, 
and follows it up to Gilboa, Prattsville, Lexington, Hunter, and then to the Catskill 
Mountain House. The whole New-York sj^stem is traversed by this route, and it leads up 
a beautiful valley, on the sides of which the strata are finely exposed in receding terraces or 
steep escarpments. Beautiful cascades and splendid scenery gratify the sight at every turn ; 
while to the geologist the succession and stratigrapliical arrangement is so clear and satis¬ 
factory, that all doubts are dispelled. The advantages of this route are decisive, in con¬ 
sequence of tiie fine field at Schoharie, where the succession is over a complete division of 
the Helderberg rocks : the Erie division is full and complete also, and may be observed first 
in the rounded hills about Schoharie village, dipping in the direction of the route up the 
creek ; and the succeeding members slowly follow each other, till, finally, at Gilboa, the 
Catskill rocks are found at the base of the high ranges which have hedged in the creek 
for twenty-five miles. The route will be completed by descending on the eastern side by 
the steep road of the Mountain House, which leads over the belts of the disturbed rocks 
that have been already noticed. 
Thickness of the Catskill division of the New-York rocks. The strata rise horizontally, 
or nearly so, from Gilboa to Conesville. The latter place is the highest travelled point be¬ 
tween the former place and Catskill. It is twelve hundred feet above Gilboa, or two 
thousand feet above tide. The mountains rise over one thousand feet above Conesville. 
The rocks belonging to the Catskill division are between eighteen hundred and two thou¬ 
sand feet thick. 
Illustrative views. The clefts through the mountain ridges furnish an exceedingly rich 
scenery. We have selected the Platerskill clove for this purpose, although it is in no 
respect superior to several landscapes of the same region (PI. xix. and Fig. 7). The 
panoramic view is taken from the ridge east of Catskill, on the opposite side of the river. 
The general appearance of stratification is intended to be exhibited. It was more particu¬ 
larly designed to illustrate the denudation of the mountain, and the deep cuts which were 
made in the drift era : it is an accurate representation of the north face or slope. The 
first view, the Platerskill clove, looks down upon the valley of the Hudson, over the fine 
flourishing village of Saugerties. The river appears in clear weather like a silver band 
winding through a high plane, beyond which the taconic hills seem to rise in even slopes, 
till far in the horizon the whole country becomes dim and lost in air. The view from 
the Catskill Mountain House is stilL more extensive, as it is not shut in on either side by 
towering peaks. It is here the world becomes a world ; it is here man becomes a man, 
and physical nature speaks a lesson full of rich and precious truths. 
The sectional illustrations of the relations of the rocks described in the foregoing pages, 
may be found on PI. xxi., sections 3 and 5. 
