10 TACONIC PHYSIOGRAPHY. 
Mettawee folio, have been included in the map. It is also proposed 
as far as the facts clearly warrant, to apply to the elucidation o 
these features modern theories as to the formation of base-levels an< 
the origin of river courses, but this will be done briefly. While thi 
paper has to do with the principal causes of the Taconic landscape 
glacial deposits are not within its scope, In order to make the pape 
of more general interest, the needless use of technical terms has bee] 
avoided and brevity has been aimed at. 
LITERATURE. 
Except in Tarr's general physiography, the region has not ye 
been treated in the way here purposed; but scattered through th 
many papers on its geology are careful descriptions of its surfac 
features, traced with some precision to their causes, and in severa 
geographical papers its outlines are given or theories are advancec 
to account for them. In order both to show the character of thesj 
various contributions and to enable the reader to survey the presen 
state of knowledge of the physiography of this region, all this mate 
rial will be epitomized in chronological order. Its perusal, if maJ 
in connection with the map (PL I), can hardly fail to be of interest 
This resume may well be prefaced with Samuel Williams's delinea 
tion of the mountains of Vermont, written over a century ago: 6 
Through the whole tract of country which lies between the west side o: II 
Connecticut River and the east side of Hudson River and Lake Champlain then 
is one continued range of mountains. These mountains begin in the Province o 
Canada. From thence they extend through the States of Vermont, Massachu" 
setts, and Connecticut, and terminate within a few miles of the sea coast' 
Their general direction is from NNE. to SSW., and their extent is through a 
tract of country not less than 4()() miles in length. They are one continuous 
range or collection of mountains, appearing as if they were piled one upoid 
another. They are generally from 10 to 15 miles in width, are much intersected 
with valleys, abound with springs and streams of water, and are everywhere 
covered with woods. From the perpetual verdure which they exhibit, they an 
called the Green Mountains, and with great propriety their name has beei 
assigned to the State. 
In Chapter III he described erosion by rivers, the formation of pot 
holes and of ponds, of river terraces and intervales. He suggested Si 
basis for estimating the age of river terraces and observed that fossi. 
shells and buried tree branches indicated that the surface of Lake 
Champlain was formerly 40 to 50 feet higher and several miles wider 
than it had been since its discovery by Samuel Champlain in 1608. 
a Tarr, Ralph S., Physical geography of New York State : Bull. Am. Geog. Soc, vol. 28 
1890, pp. 104, 105, 118 ; vol. 29, 1897, pp. 26-31 ; vol. 30, 1898, pp. 401-406. Reprintec 
as a volume, New York, 1902, pp. 52-57. 
b Williams, Samuel, The Natural and Civil History of Vermont; Chapter II, Moun 
tains; Chapter III, Rivers and Lakes; published according to act of Congress; Walpole 
N. H„ 1794. 
