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New York State Museum Bulletin
Entered as second-class matter November 27, rors, at the Post Office at Albany, New York,
~ under the act of August 24, 1912
Published monthly by The University of the State of New York
No. 193 © ALBANY, N. Y. JANUARY I, I917
The University of the State of New York
. New York State Museum
: - Joun M. CrarKe, DIRECTOR
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
By WILLIAM J. MILLERL__”
4+ ontan Ns if,
(a
m ASE
WV.
PAGE
Jie he ES eel aoe 7 | Human history and industries... 74
SVR HRANTO RIOTS iyot occicla. os sicic bcs ols'e 8 | Appendix: Some common Adiron-
Geography of the Adirondacks... 16 dark smimerals tx. (s'5ed dew pe ee 83
Physical history of the Adiron- Bipnopraghy isa crepewates tee 88
ed) eee Bit idee, 3. Sh ei SA ence oreae st: 93
ALBANY
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
, 1917
Moor-Jatr7-2000
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Regents of the University
With years when terms expire
(Revised to July r, 1917)
1926 Piiny T. Sexton LL.B. LL.D. Chancellor -— -— Palmyra
1927 ALBERT VANDER VEER M.D. M.A. Ph.D. LL.D. ‘ne
3 Vice Chancellor Albany
1922 CHESTER S. Lorp M.A. LL.D. - - - - -— Brooklyn
1918 WiLL1aAM NottTincHaM M.A. Ph.D. LL. D. - -— Syracuse
1921 Francis M. CARPENTER — - — — — '— — Mount Kisco
1923 Apram I. Erxus LL.B. D.C.L. - - - - —- New York
1924 ADELBERT Moot LL.D. — == = — = = Butialo
1925 CHARLES B. ALEXANDER M.A. LL.B. LL.D.
Litt.D. - - - - - -—- — — — —- — Tuxedo
1919 Joun MoorE - - - —- = — -— — — -— Elmira
1928 WALTER Guest Ketioce B.A. LL.D. — - —- Ogdensburg
1920 JAMES ByRNE B.A. LL.B LL.D. “- -— — — New York
1929 Herpert L. BripcmMan M.A. - — — - - Brooklyn
President of the University and Commissioner of Education
Joun H. Fintey M.A. LL.D. L.H.D.
Deputy Commissioner pet Education and Aneistant Commissioner for Elementary Education
Tuomas E. Finecan M.A. Pd.D. LL.D-
Assistant Commissioner and Director of Professional Education
Avucustus S. Downine M.A. L.H.D. LL.D.
Assistant Commissioner for Secondary Education
CHARLES F. WHEELOCK B.S. LL.D.
Director of State Library
James I. Wyer, Jr, M.LS.
Director of Science’ and State Museum
Joun M. Crarke Ph.D. D.Sc. LL.D.
Chiefs and Directors of Divisions
a enictcatiant Hiram C. Case
pepcoeural and Industrial Education, Layton S. Hawkins M.A.,
‘Acting Direct
Archives and History, JamEs SULLIVAN M.A. Ph.D., Director
Attendance, JAMES D. SULLIVAN
Educational Extension, WILLIAM R. WATSON B.S.
Examinations and Inspections, GEorcE M. Witey M.A., Director
Law, Frank B. Gitsert B.A., Counsel for the University
Library School, Frank K. Water M.A. M.L.S.
School Buildings and Grounds, Frank H. Woop M.A.
School Libraries, SHERMAN WILLIAMS Pd.D.
Statistics,
Visual Instruction, ALFRED W. ABRAMS Ph. B.
’
ee. a. eee ee
The University of the State of New York
Department of Science, January 23, 1917
Dr John H, Finley
President of the University
SIR:
I beg to communicate herewith, and to recommend for publica-
tion as a bulletin of the State Museum, the accompanying manu-
script entitled “The Adirondack Mountains.” This has been
prepared as a somewhat untechnical guide to the geology and
physiographic history of the Adirondack mountain region.
Very respectfully ;
Joun M. CLARKE
Director
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
Approved for publication this 25th day of January 1917
President of the University
New York State Museum Bulletin
Entered as second-class matter November 27, 1915, at the Post Office at Albany, N. Y., under
the act of August 24, 1912
Published monthly by The University of the State of New York
No. 193 ALBANY, N. Y. JANUARY I, 191 7
The University of the State of New York
New York State Museum
Joun M. CLARKE, Director
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
BY WILLIAM Jj. MILLER
Professor of Geology m Smith College
Member of the Staff of the New York State Museum
PREFACE
Among the thousands of people who visit the Adirondack moun-
tains each summer, many are real lovers of nature and would
welcome a brief scientific treatment of geographic and geologic
features of the region. Most Adirondack visitors, however, have
little conception of the origin and history of the mountains, though
they are often good observers who find numerous interesting but
frequently very puzzling things among the relief features and the
rocks of the region. During the last ten summers, while engaged
in the state geologic surveys of various portions of the Adiron-
dacks, hundreds of people have asked the writer if there were not
some popular scientific account of the natural features of the
region. This brief volume has been prepared as an answer to these
inquiries. To those who have found the charm of the Adirondacks
it is my earnest wish that this book may, in simple language,
explain how the more obvious and accessible physical features of
the mountains came to be as we see them today after profound
revolutionary changes through tens of millions of years of history.
If a fuller knowledge is desired of a portion or all of the Adiron-
dacks, the principal publications. thereon will be found listed in
the appendix.
Whoever writes upon the geology of this region is under abund-
ant obligation to his coworkers in the same field. The foundation
8 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
of our knowledge of this ancient region was laid by Dr Ebenezer
Emmons in 1836-42, when State Geologist in charge of the second
geological district. for fifty years after his day no systematic
effort was made to elucidate the intricate geological problems of
the region, but in 1891 a closer study was organized by the State
Geologist and the field was entered by Prof. James F. Kemp,
Prof. Charles H. Smyth, and Prof. Henry P. Cushing, with their
associates. All these geologists have maintained to the present
time their active interest in the mountain region, and to them, their
associates and successors we owe our present understanding of
Adirondack geology. The writer has been for ten years a worker
in this field under the auspices of the State Geological Survey.
INTRODUCTION
Some General Principles of Earth History
The observer who looks out over the Adirondack region sees a
great variety of physical features and, unless he has given some
study to the subject, is very likely to regard these as practically
unchangeable, and to think that they are now essentially as they
were in the beginning of the earth’s history. But the physical
features of the Adirondacks, as we behold them today, represent
merely a single phase of a very long continued history. As a
result of the work of many able students of earth science during
the past hundred years, it is now well established that our planet
has a clearly recorded history of many millions of years, and that,
during the lapse of those eons, revolutionary changes in geography
have occurred, and also that there has been a vast succession of
living beings which, from very early times, have gradually passed
from simple into more and more complex forms. The geographic
changes and the organisms of the past ages have left abundant
evidence of their character, and the study of the rock formations
has shown that within them we have a fairly complete record of
the earth’s history. While it is true that very much yet remains
to be learned about this old earth, it is a real source of wonder-
ment that man, through the exercise of his highest faculty, has
come to know so much concerning it.
Geology, meaning literally “ earth science,” deals with the history
of the earth and its inhabitants as revealed in the rocks. This
science 1s very broad in its scope and treats of the processes by
which the earth has been, and is now being, changed; the structure
of the earth; the stages through which it has passed; and the evo-
lution of the organisms which have lived upon it.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS ~)
Geography deals with the distribution of the earth’s physical
features, in their relation to one another, to the life of sea and
land and human life and culture. It is the present and outward
expression of geological effects. The terms geography and geology
are thus here used in the sense that the latter includes the former,
as the cause includes the effect.
“ The great lesson taught by the study of the outer crust is that
the earth-mother, like her children, has attained her present form
through ceaseless change, which marks the pulse of life and which
shall cease only when her internal forces slumber and the cloudy
air and surf-bound ocean no more are moving garments. The
flowing landscapes of geologic time may be likened to a kineto-
scopic panorama. The scenes transform from age to age, as from
act to act; seas and plains and mountains of different types follow
and replace each other through time, as the traveler sees them
succeed each other in space. At times the drama hastens and
unusual rapidity of geologic action has in fact marked those epochs
since man has been a spectator upon the earth. Science demon-
strates that mountains are transitory forms, but the eye of man
through all his lifetime sees no change, and his reason is appalled
at the conception of a duration so vast that the milleniums of
written history have not accomplished the shifting of even one of
the fleeting views which blend into the moving picture.” *
All the rocks of the earth’s crust may be divided into three great
classes: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.
Igneous rocks comprise all those which have ever been in a
molten condition, and of these we have the volcanic rocks (for
example, lavas), which have cooled at or near the surface; plutonic
rocks (for example, granites), which have cooled in great masses
at considerable depths below the surface; and the dike rocks which,
when molten, have been forced into fissures in the earth’s crust
and there cooled.
Sedimentary rocks comprise all those which have been deposited
under water, except some wind-blown deposits, and they are nearly
always arranged in layers (stratified). Such rocks are called
strata. They may be of mechanical origin such as clay or. mud
which hardens to shale; sand, which consolidates into sandstone ;
and gravel, which when cemented becomes conglomerate. They
may be of organic origin such as limestone, most of which is formed
by the accumulation of calcareous shells; flint and chert, which
1 Joseph Barrell. Central Connecticut in the Geologic Past, p. 1-2.
IO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
are accumulations of siliceous shells; or coal, which is formed by
the accumulation of partly decayed organic matter. Or, finally, they
may be formed by chemical precipitation, as beds of salt, gypsum,
bog iron ore, etc.
Metamorphic rocks include both sedimentary and igneous rocks
which have been notably changed from their original condition.
Thus, under conditions of moisture, heat and great pressure, sedi-
mentary rocks may become crystalline, as when shale is changed
to schist, sandstone to quartzite, or limestone to marble; or an
igneous rock may take on a streaked or crudely banded structure
due to more or less flattening and rearrangement of its component
minerals, and thus become a gneiss.
To the modern student of earth science the old notion of “terra
firma” is outworn. That idea of a solid, immovable earth could
never have emanated from the inhabitants of an earthquake coun-
try. Earthquakes are caused by sudden movements in the crust
of the earth, most commonly resulting from slipping of one part
past another along a fracture. Such fractures, known as “ faults,”
are very common in the southeastern half of the Adirondacks.
In the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, along a fracture line of
several hundred miles, one portion of the Coast Range mountains
suddenly slipped from two to twenty feet past the other. In Alaska
in 1899, a portion of the coast was bodily elevated forty-seven feet.
In Japan in 1891, for a distance of forty miles along a rift in the
earth’s crust, there was a sudden movement of from ten to forty
feet. These are merely striking instances of many of the sudden
earth movements of recent years. It is probably true that the
earth is shaking some place all the time.
Still other movements take place more slowly and quietly, but
they are very significant for our interpretation of the profound
geographic changes which have occurred during the millions of
years of earth history. Such movements are now known to be
taking place. Thus the northern portion of Sweden is rising sev-
eral feet a century, while the southern portion is sinking. A fine
illustration of notable sinking of the land is proved by the drowned
character of the lower Hudson valley, and by the fact that the old
Hudson channel has been definitely traced as a distinct trench in
the ocean bottom for one hundred miles eastward from Sandy
Hook. That this same region has been more recently partially
reelevated is indicated by the presence of very young stratified clay
beds and sands which are now raised from zero near New York
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS Tel
City to five or six hundred feet at the northern end of Lake Cham-
plain, the elevation gradually increasing northward. Actual surveys
show that, in the Great Lakes region, a differential movement of
the land is now in progress, the elevation being greater toward the
north. Recent changes of level in the Adirondack district will be
described toward the close of the next chapter.
Among other important processes which have long been active
in modifying the earth are those of weathering and erosion.
Weathering is brought about by the various atmospheric agencies
such as moisture, oxygen, carbonic acid gas, etc., together with
changes of temperature. The result is to cause all rock masses to
disintegrate or decay in the course of time. In this way most soils
are produced. In northern New York the original soils of this sort
have been very largely reworked and redeposited by the ice or by
streams of water in connection with the ice during the great Ice
Age. Were it not for the process of erosion, which includes both
the breaking up and removal of rock material, soils would be much
more widespread than they now are. Weathering prepares the
material which is carried away by the streams, and this material is
mostly deposited either along the flood-plains of the lower stream
courses, or on the bottoms of lakes or oceans into which the streams
flow. Every stream, at time of flood, is heavily charged with mud
or even coarser sediment which has been derived from the wear
of the land of its drainage basin. The very presence of the sedi-
ment in the streams proves that the land is being lowered, and
although, on first thought, it may be supposed that no really great
change could be accomplished by this means, nevertheless we must
remember that nature has practically infinite time at her disposal
so that slowly but surely vast physical changes are wrought and, per-
chance, a tremendous canyon like that of the Colorado river in
Arizona may be carved out by erosion. The general tendency is
for all land masses to wear down to or near sea level and, were
it not for renewed earth movements, all lands, even including the
mountains, would be thus worn down to what is known as a pene-
plain condition. Northern New York was worn down to the con-
dition of a more or less well-developed peneplain at least twice
during its long history. Accordingly, that familiar expression “ the
everlasting hills’ is decidedly incorrect.
Another important process is vulcanism, that is to say, igneous
activity in general. By this means materials are brought up from
within the earth to or near its surface. Thus an active volcano
12 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
ejects rock fragments, dust etc., or more quietly pours out molten
rock, while in many cases great masses of molten rock have been
forced upward into the earth’s crust without reaching the surface
and hence have cooled at greater or lesser depths below the surface.
Such deep-seated (plutonic) igneous rocks have become exposed to
view only by subsequent profound erosion of the region.
Still another process which has been very influential in the pro-
duction of certain important physical features of the Adirondacks
is glaciation. During the great Ice Age, comparatively recently,
a vast sheet of ice slowly moved across the whole region and then
gradually melted away. Its principal work was erosion and depo-
sition of rock materials, the latter having taken place chiefly
during the ice retreat. Most of the soil and rotten rock and some
fresh rock were scraped off by the mighty ice plow, and the
irregular deposition of the glacial débris brought into existence
many minor topographic features. The Adirondack lakes are prac-
tically all due to the glaciation.
Geologic time scale
SE aE ERA | PERIOD DOMINANT LIFE
“44° : a eos rata aa Age of man
3 to 5 million. ."| Cenozoic..... Mentianyaecmen ces Age of mammals :
Cretaceous...... Age of reptiles; first birds in the Jurassic;
5 to ro million..| Mesozoic..... JMERRASSIC. sga6 5505 first modern plants in Cretaceous
IGHASHIO. 25360056 Age of amphibians and cycad plants
Permian....-....| ) Great coal age, with large, simple non-
Pennsylvanian...!} flowering pl nts
|Mississippian....
T5 to 25 million.{ Paleozoic... .. |Devonian........ Age of fishes
hSiltmtamente eee
Ordovician...... Age of invertebrate animals
Caminita
Keweenawan.....
|Animikean.......
HR ORTTS eee | Proterozoic... } |Huronian........| » Simple forms of life; records imperfect
|Alzoman... i
| |Sudburian
Bee area UI A Archeozoic.... Peurentan oh iar Beginnings of life
In order to understand the physical history of the Adirondacks,
it is necessary to know that the history of the earth has been
divided into great eras and lesser periods and epochs, and that these
constitute what is called the geologic time scale. The epoch names
for eastern North America are omitted from the above table. So
far as they are recorded, the principal events in the history of the
Adirondacks will be taken up in the regular order of geologic time
in the following pages.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 13
Sources of Information
The purpose of this book is not ‘to give detailed discussions of
particular portions of the Adirondack mountains, but rather to
present, in simple, nontechnical language, a general outline of the
geography, rock formations, physical history, and human history of
the region. In fact much of the area has not yet been geologically
mapped or studied in detail. Most of the important and striking
physical features of the Adirondacks, however, are explained, and
many local details will find ready explanation by the application of
the principles set forth.
Fic. 1 A landscape and corresponding contour map. (After
United States Geological Survey).
The attention of those who may be sufficiently interested is called
to the various publications pertaining to Adirondack geography,
geology and human history. Most of the more important of these
are listed in the appendix. The New York State Museum Bulletins,
which contain topographic and geologic maps and explanatory texts
regarding certain specified areas, are of special importance. These
TA. NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
may be obtained at small cost on application to the Director of the
State Museum at Albany. The areas thus mapped in detail to date
are indicated on map figure 2.
There are excellent maps showing the topography (surface con-
figuration) of most of the Adirondack mountain district. These
topographic (or contour) maps, which are called sheets or quad-
rangles, are rectangular in shape and bounded by latitude and longi-
tude lines. Each map is about 17% inches high by 12 to 13 inches
wide, the latter varying with the latitude. The scale is 1 to 62,500
or nearly one mile to one inch, that is, a mile on the ground is
Fic. 2 Sketch map of northern New York showing the names and
locations of the various topographic maps (quadrangles) published by the
United States Geological Survey in cooperation with New York State to
January 1916. Geological maps of the following quadrangles have been
published by the New York State Museum: Little Falls, Broadalbin,
Saratoga, Schuylerville, Lake Pleasant, Remsen, Port Leyden, North
Creek, Paradox Lake, Port Henry, Elizabethtown, Long Lake, Blue
Mountain, Alexandria Bay, Grindstone, Clayton, and Theresa. Geologic
nape soon to be published are: Schroon Lake, Lake Placid and Mount
arcy.
Ke ee eS ae
“er
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 15
represented by an inch on the map. The most valuable feature of
these maps is the fact that the relief (topography) of the country
is so accurately represented, this feature being explained by the
accompanying figure and the description generally printed on the
back of each map. The relief is shown by contour lines in brown,
every point on a given contour being at the same altitude above
sea level. On the Adirondack maps the contour interval, that is,
vertical distance represented between any two contour lines, is 20
feet. Water features are shown in blue. Artificial features, such as
roads, trails, railroads, boundary lines, houses, villages etc., are
shown in black. Each quadrangle map is designated by the name
of some geographic feature. The maps are published by the United
States Geological Survey, and orders for them should be sent to
the director of that bureau at Washington, D.C. They are sold at
ten cents each when fewer than fifty are purchased, but in lots of
fifty or more of the same or different maps, the price is six cents
each. Orders should be accompanied by cash or a post office money
order. All except the northwestern border of the Adirondack
region has been covered by these topographic maps. Figure 2 is an
index to both the topographic and geologic maps thus far published.
Any person interested in the geographic setting of any portion of
the Adirondacks should procure the proper topographic sheets of
that region and thus be provided with the best map of the sort in
existence. It would be difficult to overestimate the value of these
maps to teachers and pupils of geography, and every school should
be provided with a supply of them.
16 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
GEOGRAPHY OF 1 #8 ADIRG@NDACKS
General Features
The Adirondack mountain region of northern New York is a
very distinct topographic province comprising nearly one-fourth of
the area of the State, or about 11,000 square miles. It is an
irregular, broad, oval-shaped region with longest axis running 120
miles north-northeast by south-southwest, and short axis 100 miles
east and west. The name “ Adirondack,’ meaning “ Tree-eater,”
was a term of contempt applied by the Indians of the south
(Iroquois) to the Indians who lived on the northern slope of the
mountain region and in the St Lawrence valley. Professor
Emmons, in his geological survey of northern NewYork about
1840, is said to have first applied the name “ Adirondack” to a
northeast-southwest mountain belt including the highest peaks of
the present Adirondack area. Later the term came to be applied
to the whole of the mountain region sometimes called the “ Great
North Woods ”’ or the “ Great Wilderness of Northern New York.”
The Adirondacks consist almost wholly of a mass of igneous and
metamorphosed sedimentary rocks of very great age, that is, pre-
Paleozoic. This very ancient rock mass is surrounded by practically
unaltered strata of early Paleozoic age.
The whole region is typically mountainous and rugged, with alti-
tudes ranging from 1000 to over 5000 feet, except around the
borders. Most of the Adirondacks are heavily wooded, often being
truly wilderness in character with very few roads, trails or settle-
ments except scattering camps or summer resorts. In southern
Hamilton county, for example, there is an area of 125 square miles
without a traveled road or permanent settlement, and with very few
trails. Again, most of the Santanoni quadrangle (over 200 square
miles) of the east-central Adirondacks has only a few miles of
traveled road and very few trails. The writer has had much
experience in both the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and in
the Adirondacks, and he can testify to the fact that it is decidedly
easier to keep one’s bearings in the higher, grander mountains of
the West. Reasons for this are that in the Adirondacks few moun-
tain peaks rise notably and characteristically above the general
mountain summits; the country is so densely and monotonously
wooded, usually with thick underbrush, that one might travel for
miles without finding a good outlook point; and most of the
stream courses are exceedingly irregular and difficult to follow
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N. Y. State Museum Bulletin 193
MAP
OF THE
ADIRONDACK MOUNTAIN REGION
SHOWING THE PRINCIPAL RAILROADS,
VILLAGES, STREAMS, LAKES AND
MOUNTAINS (WITH ALTITUDE)
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THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS WH
because of dense growth of brush or swamps. Most of the Adiron-
dack region is, in the real sense of the term, a well-watered, densely
wooded, wilderness. There are, however, hundreds of places
throughout the mountains where large tracts are clad with forests
zelatively free from underbrush, where the lover of the deep,
*Jéux., woods may roam to his heart’s content with comparative
case, and many mountain summits from which magnificent pano-
ramic views may be enjoyed.
There are many large areas which have been ravaged by forest
fires. A few years after such a fire a dense thicket of raspberry
and blackberry briars, popple, and other brush grows over the fallen,
charred tree trunks and loose rocks, rendering such an area exceed-
ingly difficult to traverse. There are also many portions of the
Adirondacks where lumbering operations have recently bee
carried on. Such districts, with treetops and other lumberman’s
refuse piled pell-mell, are also difficult to cross. Mountain ridge
summits from 3000 to 4000 feet above sea level often have thickets
of scrub evergreen trees so densely intergrown that it is the hardest
kind of work to make progress through them at the rate of one-
half to one mile an hour. It is therefore not at all surprising that
people are frequently lost in the woods. Persons not well acquainted
with the Adirondack type of country should be careful not to wander
away from well-defined trails or roads unless accompanied by a
competent guide or some other person who really understands the
region.
The excellent water of the Adirondacks deserves mention.
Nearly all the streams which come down the mountain sides are
clear, cold, pure and remarkably soft water. Springs and streams
of such water are abundant throughout the summer season. Prac-
tically the only hard water issues as springs out of the limestone
which underlies certain of the valleys.
Except for an occasional rattlesnake at the very southeastern
border of the Adirondacks, poisonous reptiles are unknown. Hence
one may follow the trails, travel through the woods, or climb the
mountains without the slightest dread of encountering a rattle-
snake, copperhead, or any other dangerous reptile. In fact it may
be affirmed that no Adirondack wild animal is really dangerous,
which is a matter of great importance when considering the Adiron-
dacks as a playground for the people. Bears are occasionally seen
and sometimes killed but, in common with that of many persons,
the writer’s experience is that the Adirondack black bear loses
little time in getting out of sight of a human being. Of course a
18 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
mother bear with cubs is likely to put up a fight if really molested
or cornered. Thousands of deer roam the “Great North Woods ”
and they are very frequently seen. During the open season in the
fall hundreds of hunters go to the woods and many deer are killed.
Red foxes are fairly common, while a silver fox is rarely seen.
Squirrels, rabbits and porcupines (hedgehogs) are common.
Partridges are very abundant in nearly all parts of the Adirondacks.
Hawks are common and American bald eagles rare. Many of the
lakes and streams afford good trout and bass fishing, especially
early in the season.
Much of the Adirondack area is now owned by the State of New
York, and gradually more of the land is being acquired. Camping
privileges are free to all on state land. All but the borders of the
“Great North Woods” lies within the boundaries of the so-called
“Adirondack Park,” it being the purpose of the State to gain
possession of more and more of the land within the confines of
the park. Too much can not be said in favor of this project to
control the great, wild, mountainous region as a recreation park and
watershed for the benefit of the people.
Surrounding Valleys
With a single slight exception on the southwestern border, the
Adirondacks are completely surrounded by prominent valleys whose
bottoms are nowhere more than a few hundred feet above sea level.
These are the St Lawrence, Champlain, Mohawk and Black River
valleys.
The St Lawrence valley, bounding the Adirondacks on the north,
is a great open depression of comparatively simple structure and
near sea level. Where the river leaves Lake Ontario the altitude is
only 247 feet, while points more than a few hundred feet above the
sea are comparatively rare. The Thousand Islands form a remark-
able feature of the valley where the wide, clear, slow-moving St
Lawrence river does not occupy any very distinct channel, but
rather flows across a broad, low, hilly region of very moderate
relief, thus allowing many of the rocky hills to stand out as islands.
The rocks of the valley are chiefly sandstones and limestones of
early Paleozoic age, though in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands
numerous patches of older (underlying) and much harder pre-
Paleozoic rocks are exposed as on many of the islands themselves.
The Paleozoic strata form .a comparatively thin mantle of nearly
horizontal layers over the pre-Paleozoic rocks.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 19
The Champlain valley bounds the Adirondacks on the east, being
a great depression which separates the Green mountains on the east
from the Adirondacks on the west. Much of the valley bottom
is filled by the waters of Lake Champlain, whose altitude is 1o1 feet.
Along the western shores of the lake the topography is characteris-
tically hilly, though seldom above 500 feet in elevation. The
transition to the higher and rugged Adirondacks is generally rapid.
Bounding the region on the south, the Mohawk valley clearly
separates the Adirondacks from the highlands of the Catskills and
the great southwestern plateau of New York. The comparatively
narrow inner valley through which the river flows is often erro-
neously called the Mohawk valley, but in reality the whole depres-
sion, from 10 to 30 miles wide and fully 1000 feet deep, between
the northern and southern highlands of the State should be called
_the Mohawk valley. The bottom of the valley is only 300 to 400
feet above sea level. At Little Falls the inner valley narrows to a
gorge several hundred feet deep where the river has cut its way
through an old divide. The principal rocks of the valley are
shales, sandstones and limestones of Cambrian and Ordovician ages,
with Ordovician shales predominating. The great depression owes
its existence largely to the presence of this belt of soft shales lying
between the hard ancient rocks of the Adirondacks on the north and
the relatively hard limestones immediately south of the valley. The
work of erosion has made rapid progress in this belt of weak rocks,
and at two places, Little Falls and Yosts (“The Noses”), the
river has cut through to the underlying pre-Paleozoic (Adiron-
dack) rock. In general, the strata of the valley tilt only slightly
southward and show little signs of folding (fig. 7), though from
Little Falls eastward there are various faults (fractures) in the
strata.
On the west, the Adirondack highland is bounded by the Black
River valley, which is about 60 miles long and has a maximum
depth of nearly 1500 feet. Immediately west of the valley the Tug
Hill plateau stands out as a distinct, isolated geographic province.
The top of the plateau, covering many square miles, is remarkably
flat, swampy and densely wooded with altitudes ranging from 1800
to 2100 feet. This Tug Hill plateau is merely an erosion remnant
of a great upraised plain which formerly covered the area of New
York State (see page 50). Near Boonville, at an altitude of about
1100 feet, occurs the division of drainage between the Black and
Mohawk rivers, this divide not only forming the highest connection
between the Tug Hill plateau and the Adirondacks, but also being
F4®) NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
the highest valley bottom immediately surrounding the Adirondacks.
Disregarding the loose, comparatively recent glacial deposits, the
eastern half of the Black River valley shows the very ancient
Adirondack (pre-Paleozoic) rocks only, while on the western side
there are early Paleozoic strata only piled up to a thickness of
1500 feet with slight westward tilt (see figure 12). These strata
are limestones, shales and sandstones.
Mountains
The mountains and valleys of the Adirondack region are the
present outward expression of an exceedingly long history. An
outline of this history will be presented in the next chapter, the
purpose now being to describe the principal topographic (relief)
features without much explanation of their origin.
Viewed in a broad way, the Adirondack mountains and valleys
are very irregularly arranged, this being due largely to the exceed-
ingly patchy distribution of the relatively harder and softer rocks,
as explained below, the harder rock masses having stood out most
against weathering and erosion to form the mountains. There are
no long, distinct, approximately parallel ridges (so-called “ ranges ’’)
such as characterize the Appalachians. In the southeastern half of
the Adirondacks there is a considerable tendency for many of the
mountain masses to be arranged as roughly parallel short ridges
with north-northeast by south-southwest trend. This structural
feature is due to the fact, as will be explained in the next chapter,
that this portion of the region has been highly fractured (faulted),
the principal fractures trending parallel to the north-northeast by
south-southwest ridges. There are, however, many exceptions to
this parallelism of mountain masses, while very few of the ridges
are as much as 10 miles long and many of them are not very
sharply defined as ridges because of notable variations in width
and altitude in individual cases. In spite of this moderate tendency
toward parallelism, the Adirondacks are, as the map (figure 4)
suggests, a jumbled mass of very irregularly shaped, relatively low
mountains. |
By far the greatest number of mountains rise from 1000 to 3000
feet above sea level; a considerable number reach altitudes of 3000
to 4000 feet; while very few are over 4000 feet, the highest of all
being Mt Marcy in the east-central portion (Essex county). This
east-central portion contains the group of loftiest mountains in the
Adirondacks, most of the highest ones showing altitudes in feet
ld oh ” ite tee
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JOHN M. CLARKE
STATE GEOLOGIST
ONWERSITY OF THE STATE oF NEW YORK
STATE MUSEUM
76°
=
GEND
ie Basen DESCRIPTION
hae The contours (curved brown lines)
600 represent level lines drawn on the
earth's surface. All Points through
- m3 which any given line passes are at the
same level and their hej h
oa Fe ‘ ght above
fan mean sea level is shown by the figures
on the line. f
=e Graded tints are used to bring out SES
1000’. 1200 the contours in groups, as shown by Prescott, A=
1400' - 1600’ the blocks in the legend. Ke ;
1800' - 2000! SLOOP 2
mia STATUTE MILES Brockville?” iP So
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FIGURE 4, BULLETIN 198
WS
CHAMPLAY,
NEW YORK
GENERALIZED TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF NORTHERN
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THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 21
as follows: Mt Marcy, 5344; Mt McIntyre, 5112; Mt Skylight,
4920; Mt Haystack, 4918; Mt Whiteface, 4872; Dix mountain,
4842; The Gothics, 4738; Mt Colden, 4713; Giant mountain, 4622;
Santanoni mountain, 4621; Nipple top, 4620; Mt Redfield, 4606;
Saddleback mountain, 4530; Armstrong mountain, 4455; Panther
peak, 4443; Table Top mountain, 4440; McComb mountain, 4425 ;
and Seward mountain, 4440. All these high peaks, except Seward
mountain, are in the northwestern half of Essex county and con-
fined to an area of five or six hundred square miles. These are
the loftiest mountains in eastern North America except the Blue
ridge of North Carolina and the White mountains of New Hamp-
shire. ‘ The individual mountains are diversified in shape. Mt
Marcy is a very low cone, and the last stages of its ascent are very
much like climbing a dome. Mt McIntyre has a gradual slope from
the northwest, but a precipitous escarpment on the southeast. The
Gothics are like a steep wedge standing on its base, and tapering
from all four sides of the base to the ridge. Whiteface is a long
sharp ridge, steep 1f not actually precipitous on each side, and
leading up to a peak at the southwestern end. Some buttresses
run out from the ridge and make beautiful cirques on its flanks.
Hurricane, when viewed from the east, resembles a sharp volcanic
cone; from the west it is flat. There are several, of which Dix is
the highest example, which, like Vesuvius, have a small conical
summit set upon a large mountainous base. Nipple top is a rather
favorite name in the local nomenclature of the inhabitants. ‘There
are several smaller mountains which have the outlines of a steep
haystack when viewed from certain directions, and their precipi-
tous sides and doming tops fix the eye at once. Yet they may each
be a ridge when seen from the opposite.”?
Next to the highest mountain district is the northern half of
Hamilton county where many points reach altitudes above 3500
feet, though none quite reach 4000 feet. Some of the highest of
these from north to south are: Fishing Brook mountain, 3550;
Dun Brook mountain, 3565; Blue mountain, 3759; Wakeley moun-
tain, 3617; Panther mountain, 3865; Snowy mountain, 3903; Little
Moose mountain, 3630; Lewey mountain, 3740; and Blue Ridge
mountain, 3865.
What has been termed the main axis of elevation, including the
highest points, through the Adirondacks runs south along the
Franklin-Clinton county boundary and to the vicinity of Mt Marcy;
1J. F. Kemp. Popular Science Monthly, March 1906, p. 197-99.
22 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
thence it swings abruptly westward into southern Franklin and
northwestern Hamilton counties ; and thence southward clear
through Hamilton county. Toward the north two deep, narrow
valleys have been cut across the main axis by the two chief branches
of the Saranac river. From there southward the two lowest
passes across the main axis of elevation are long relatively broad
valleys with maximum altitudes of about 1800 feet, one extending
east-west across the northern part of the Blue Mountain quadrangle,
and the other east-west through Raquette and Blue Mountain
lakes.
Valleys
It is almost impossible to think of the mountains apart from the
valleys. Like the mountains, the Adirondack valleys are also
exceedingly variable in size, shape and distribution. In general there
are three types of valleys, one of which is broad, open and usually -
of irregular shape; the second type is moderately wide, relatively
long and more regular in shape; while the third type is deep, nar-
row and often comparatively straight for some miles. Large scale
examples of the first type are the valleys: south to southeast of
Lake Placid; around Saranac lake; in the vicinity of Newcomb; ~
from Blue Mountain lake eastward to Rock lake; the region around
Indian Lake village; and in the vicinity of Lake Pleasant. These are
all some miles across. Large valleys of this sort owe their origin
almost entirely to the removal of irregular masses of relatively
weak rock by weathering and erosion. Many smaller open valleys
of irregular shape have also been produced in this manner. The
open, more regular valleys belonging to the second type are con-
fined chiefly to the southeastern half of the Adirondacks, most of
them having resulted from the settling of earth-blocks along or
between lines of fracture (faults). Excellent examples are the
valleys in part occupied by Piseco, Indian and Schroon lakes, and
also the remarkable valley at Wells (Hamilton county) which is a
wedge-shaped block of earth, several miles long, dropped at least
2000 feet between two earth fractures (see figure 9 and explana-
tion on a succeeding page). There are, to be sure, occasional
valleys of this second type which have been produced by ordinary
erosion instead of by faulting. The deep, narrow, relatively straight
valleys of the third type have resulted for most part in either of
two ways, namely, by ordinary erosion where certain streams have
been favorably situated as regards volume and velocity of water,
or by stream erosion along zones of hard or soft rocks which have
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THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 23
been notably weakened by having been badly broken or crushed
due to earth movements along fractures (faults). These fault-
zone, stream-cut valleys are of course wholly confined to the south-
eastern half of the Adirondacks, and they have been produced by
both small and large streams. A few examples are: the Wilmington
notch of the Lake Placid quadrangle; Cascade lakes, Ausable lakes
and Avalanche Lake valleys of the Mount Marcy quadrangle,
Indian pass of the Santanoni quadrangle ; two valleys between moun-
tains in the northern half of the Schroon Lake quadrangle; Squaw
Brook valley of the Indian Lake quadrangle; and the valley of the
Sacandaga river just south of Wells in the Lake Pleasant quad-
rangle. These fault-zone valleys are usually very narrow with high,
nearly precipitous, rock walls on either side. They mostly trend
north-northeast by south-southwest in harmony with the faults.
Deep, narrow valleys produced by stream erosion without faulting
are very common in the Adirondacks. In some cases such valleys
are locally gorgelike, due to the fact that the stream courses have
been changed since the great Ice Age and the channels have been
cut down so rapidly that widening at the top due to weathering has
not yet been very effective. Among many such recently formed
gorges are the Ausable chasm of Clinton county cut in sandstone;
the gorge of the Hudson river cut in hard rock near Stony Creek
station in Warren county; and the gorge of the West branch of the
Sacandaga river in the western part of the Lake Pleasant quad-
rangle. These gorges are seldom as straight as the deep, narrow
channels cut out along fault zones.
Streams
Viewed broadly, the Adirondack drainage passes outward in all
directions from the central portion of the region. The waters from
fully two-thirds of the whole mountain area ultimately reach the
St Lawrence valley, while the waters from the remaining one-third
of the region passes into the Hudson valley (see map figure 4).
Inspection of the drainage map shows that a prominent division of
drainage (watershed) crosses the Adirondack district irregularly in
a north-northeast by south-southwest direction, dividing the region
into two roughly equal parts. On one side nearly all the streams
flow northwestward to westward from this great divide, while on
the other side they flow eastward to southeastward from it. The
north, south and .southwest-flowing streams out of the Adirondacks
are relatively of minor importance. In part this drainage divide
24. NEW YORK STATH MUSEUM
nearly coincides with the main axis of elevation already described,
though at two places it lies notably farther to the west.
Fully one-third of the Adirondack area, comprising all the south-
eastern portion except that around Lake George, passes either
directly into the Hudson river or indirectly by the way of the
Mohawk river. The Hudson river, with its two large tributaries,
the Schroon and the Sacandaga, catches by far most of this water,
while East and West Canada creeks, tributaries of the Mohawk,
catch most of the remainder. The Hudson proper follows a remark- —
able course. With sources on the southwestern slope of Mount
Marcy, the river, after flowing south for about 15 miles, turns
abruptly westward for several miles where it takes the drainage — :
from the chain of lakes in the vicinity of Newcomb. Thence the
river turns sharply to the south-southwest for to miles along a
remarkably straight channel whose position has been determined
by a prominent zone of fracture in the earth. Then, after the
junction with Indian river, there is a very sharp swing to the east
for 8 miles; thence south for 4 miles; and thence in a general south-
eastward direction for 25 miles to near Warrensburg. From the
mouth of Indian river to near Warrensburg, the course is largely
determined by belts of weak rock (limestone) and earth fractures.
Instead of passing southeast into the Lake George depression
through one of the two low valleys near Warrensburg, both the
Hudson and Schroon rivers keep to the west and, after their junc-
tion, flow south to Corinth (Saratoga county) on the way passing ~
through a gorge a thousand feet deep, cut in hard rock near Stony
Creek station. From Corinth; instead of flowing south through a
broad, low valley, the Hudson turns abruptly through a deep gorge
in hard rock across a mountain ridge finally to emerge upon the
sandy plain near Glens Falls.
Though shorter, the course of the Sacandaga river is no less
remarkable. Beginning at the source of the West branch in the
southern part of the Lake Pleasant quadrangle, the water flows
southwest, west, north, northeast and east where, after making an
almost complete circuit of 28 miles, the river is less than 4 miles
from its starting point (see map figure 3). This peculiar course
is largely due to the arrangement of fracture zones of weakness in
the rocks. A few miles more to the east, the East and West
branches are confluent. Thence for 18 miles southeast to Northamp-
ton in the Broadalbin quadrangle, the direction cf the main river
is quite normal for this part of the Adirondacks. At Northampton
the river shows a remarkable tendency to double back on its course,
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 25
changing abruptly from a southeast to a northeast course. Instead
of following the broad, low valley southward from Northampton,
this northeast course of the river takes it across a ridge of hard
rock at Conklingville and into the Hudson at Luzerne. The com-
paratively straight course of the East Branch Sacandaga has, for
at least 12 or 15 miles, been determined along a fracture zone of
weakness. “The peculiar courses of both the Hudson and Sacan-
daga near the border of the Adirondacks will be explained in the
succeeding chapter.
West Canada creek formerly continued its southwest course into
the Mohawk valley, but was forced to turn sharply to the southeast
from Trenton Falls because of a blockade of glacial débris accumu-
lated there during the Ice Age.
About one-fourth of the Adirondacks, comprising the north-
eastern portion together with the vicinity of Lake George, drains
into. Lake Champlain. Before the great Ice Age, Lake George did
not exist but there was a division of drainage between the Hudson
and Champlain valleys where the “Narrows” are now located.
Most of the streams entering Lake Champlain are east-flowing and
relatively short and swift. Two notable exceptions are the Saranac
and Ausable rivers.
The main branch of the Saranac begins in the large chain of
Saranac lakes and pursues a northeast course straight across the
main axis of elevation of this part of the Adirondacks. The north
branch of the Saranac also cuts across the main axis of elevation.
Prominent earth fractures have probably been influential in deter-
mining these courses, though the region has not yet been carefully
studied.
Both the East and West branches of the Ausable river have courses
largely determined along fault or fracture zones of weakness, the
deep gorge of the West branch, known as the Wilmington notch,
being a notable example of such influence. The main river flows
through the famous Ausable chasm near its mouth, this feature
being explained toward the end of the next chapter.
About one-third of the Adirondacks drains directly into the St
Lawrence river by many large streams which pursue normal north-
westerly courses from the prominent division of drainage across the
region. Among the more important streams are the Chateaugay,
Salmon, St Regis, Raquette, Grasse, Oswegatchie and Indian rivers.
After emerging upon the lowlands of the St Lawrence valley, most
of these rivers exhibit a remarkable tendency to swing northeast-
ward and flow nearly parallel to the great: river for some miles
26 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
before entering it. These abnormal courses are doubtless due to
either ice erosion or accumulation of glacial débris during the Ice _
Age.
Greatest of all the northwestward-flowing streams is the Raquette
river. After a devious course of over 100 miles, including passage
through several large lakes, the river enters the St Lawrence at
the international boundary. The principal source of the Raquette
river is Blue Mountain lake in the heart of the Adirondacks. This
water flows westward about 8 miles by way of Eagle and Utowana
lakes and Marion river into the large irregular Raquette lake.
Thence the course changes abruptly northeastward through Forked
lake and over cascades into Long lake. After flowing nearly 14
miles through this long, narrow body of water, which is only a
comparatively recent enlargement of the stream, Raquette river
flows sluggishly northward for 5 miles through a wide swampy
valley to Raquette falls where the water descends 75 feet in a gorge
three-fourths of a mile long. From Raquette falls the general
course of the river is north and west, with sluggish current and —
many loops (oxbows), through a wide, swampy valley into Big
Tupper lake. From Tupper lake the river pursues a quite normal
course with considerable velocity into the St Lawrence valley.
The history of the upper Raquette river drainage basin is discussed
in the next chapter.
Oswegatchie river has its sources in and around Cranberry lake,
one of the largest bodies of water in the Adirondacks. The river
doubles back on its course in a most remarkable manner a few
miles west of Gouverneur.
Approximately one-sixth of the Adirondack drainage passes west-
ward into Black river and thence into Lake Ontario. This drainage
is, in most respects, quite normal. The largest stream is Moose
river with its several branches, the main or South branch rising in
the southern Adirondacks, the Middle branch draining the Fulton
chain of lakes, and the North branch draining Big Moose lake.
Next most important is Beaver river, which has its sources in and
around the Red Horse chain of lakes.
Lakes
Including all, from the smallest to the largest, there are probably
no less than 2000 lakes and ponds in the Adirondack region. A
few only of the more prominent ones are shown on map figure 3.
Considering the beautiful setting of the lakes among the wild,
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 27
densely forested mountains, this is perhaps the most picturesque
lake region of eastern North America. Along the shores of all the
larger lakes there are many summer homes and hotels ranging
from very moderate cottages and boarding houses to magnificent
homes and hotels. Most famous of all are Lake George and Lake
Placid. Practically none of the lakes were in existence before the
Ice Age.
As regards shape, there are several distinct types of Adirondack
lakes. One type, which may be called linear, is long, narrow and
straight. Such lakes occupy what were stream channels before the
Ice Age. Examples are Lake George, Schroon lake, Indian lake
and Long lake. Another type has an exceedingly irregular shore
line. Lakes of this sort occupy what were, before the Ice Age,
broad, relatively flat valleys or, more exactly, two or more adjacent
valleys. separated by only low divides, the waters backing up into
the side valleys and leaving rock islands and peninsulas. Good
examples of this tpye are Lower Saranac lake, Cranberry lake and
Raquette lake. A third type is comparatively round, many of the
ponds and smaller lakes especially belonging to this category. The
origin of the. various types of lakes will be discussed toward the
close of the next chapter.
Though the numerous lakes are scattered throughout the Adiron-
dacks, there are, nevertheless, certain more or less well-defined
lake belts or groups. Most conspicuous of all is the great lake
belt or district some 60 miles long and 10 to 20 miles wide extend-
ing northeast by southwest from Lake Placid and the St Regis
Lakes on the north to the Fulton chain of lakes on the south. This
lake belt lies almost wholly west of the main axis of elevation
through the Adirondacks. Not only are lakes and ponds notably
more abundant in this district than elsewhere, but also here are to
be found many of the larger and better known lakes as, for example,
Lake Placid, the St Regis lakes, the Saranac lakes, Big and Little
Tupper lakes, Long lake, Blue Mountain lake, Raquette lake, and
the Fulton chain of lakes. Most numerous of all are the lakes and
ponds in the Saranac-St Regis Lakes district, there being some-
thing like 150 within the 214 square miles of the St Regis quad-
rangle alone. By far most of the lakes of the great belt lie between
1500 and 2000 feet above sea level. Only a few of the most
prominent ones will be briefly described here, the problem of the
origin and destruction of the lakes being mainly reserved for dis-
cussion in the next chapter.
28 NEW YORE STATE MUSEUM
Lake Placid is by many regarded as the most beautiful sheet of
water in the Adirondacks. It is 4 miles long, 1 to 1%4 miles wide
and at an altitude of 1859 feet. Mountains from 1000 to 3000 feet
high rise from its shores on all sides except the south. Mt White-
face stands out majestically more than 3000 feet above the waters of
Lake Placid on its northeastern side. There are three rock islands,
two of them large and densely wooded, rising several hundred feet
out of the lake.
Upper and Lower Saranac lakes are 7% and 5 miles long, and
1571 and 1534 feet above sea level, respectively. They lie in a
much larger and more open valley than Lake Placid with surround-
ing mountains not nearly so high, the highest being from 1500 to
2000 feet above the lakes on the east and southeast. Lower Saranac
lake 1s full of rock islands.
Big Tupper lake, 7 miles long and about 1 mile wide, lies in a
narrow valley with hills only a few hundred feet high immediately
surrounding it. Its surface is 1542 feet above the sea. There
is a string of rock islands through the middle of the lake.
Long lake, in the very heart of the Adirondacks, is the most
remarkable linear type of lake in the whole region. With a length
of 13% miles, it is almost perfectly straight and never more than
1 mile wide. Its altitude is 1630 feet and lies in a narrow valley
of moderate depth, a few mountains only reaching heights of 1000
to 1700 feet immediately around the lake. It contains a number
of islands.
Blue Mountain lake is only 21%4 miles long by 114 miles wide
but has a beautiful setting among the mountains near the center
of the Great North Woods. It lies 1789 feet above sea level with
Blue mountain towering 2000 feet above its waters on the eastern
side. The picturesqueness of this lake is greatly enhanced by the
scattering, wooded, rock islands. Immediately on the north and
south the mountains are only of moderate height.
Raquette lake has one of the most irregular shore lines of any
in the Adirondacks. It is 8 miles long and fully 1 mile wide at
several places. Its altitude is 1762 feet. This beautiful sheet of
water occupies portions of several old, low valleys. Only two
points reach heights of 500 to 700 feet around the sides of the
lake, but the picturesque islands and numerous bays and peninsulas
add much to the beauty of this large body of water.
The Fulton chain of lakes, eight in all, lie in a moderately deep
narrow valley on the southwestern slope of the Adirondacks.
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THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 29
Fourth lake is the largest, being 514 miles long, %4 to 1 mile wide
and 1707 feet above the sea.
Cranberry lake lies in the northwestern Adirondacks and to the
west of the great lake belt just described. This is one of the very
largest bodies of water in the whole mountain region, having a
length of g miles, greatest width of 3 miles and an exceedingly
irregular shore line. Like Raquette lake, this sheet of water
appears to occupy portions of several old valleys. The surface of
the lake is 1540 feet above the sea, and hills rise 500 to 1000 feet
around it. .
On the northeastern border of the Adirondacks, but in a sense
forming a northward continuation of the great lake belt, is a group
of three considerable lakes, namely, Lower and Upper Chateaugay
lakes and Chazy lake at altitudes of from 1300 to 1500 feet. The
immediately surrounding country is fairly rugged and mountainous.
Avalanche lake, though small and outside the great lake belt,
deserves special mention. It is really only a large pond, nearly
one-half of a mile long and very narrow, lying in one of the
deepest and perhaps most romantic notches in the whole Adiron-
dack region. It is situated 2863 feet above sea level at the western
base of Mt Colden (Essex county). Great rock walls rise from
the water’s edge on either side, almost perpendicularly to a height
of 1000 feet on the west and on the east very steeply to a height
of nearly 2000 feet or to the summit of Mt Colden. At one place
there is not even room for a mountain trail along the lake.
A minor lake belt lies immediately east of the main axis of
elevation in the south-central Adirondacks, the principal lakes
being Indian, Pleasant, Sacandaga and Piseco. Indian lake is very
distinctly of the linear type, though forked toward the south. It
has a length of 13 miles, greatest width of 1 mile and an altitude
of 1650 feet. It occupies a deep narrow valley with mountains on
the west side rising from 1000 to 2000 feet above its waters, and
on the east side from 500 to 1000 feet. It should be stated that
the present size of Indian lake is much greater than the natural
lake which formerly occupied this basin because of the state dam
at the north end.
Sacandaga lake and Lake Pleasant are close together at the
same altitude (1724 feet) and joined by a narrow channel three-
fourths of a mile long. They occupy portions of a broad, irregular
valley with mountains on all sides rising from a few hundred to a
thousand feet or more. Sacandaga lake is of irregular shape about
t)
30 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
2 miles across. Lake Pleasant is over 3 miles long and from one-
half to 1 mile wide.
Piseco lake is of the linear type with a length of 5 miles and an
average width of 1 mile. It lies 1661 feet above sea level. On its
eastern side there are low hills only, but a long mountain mass rises
abruptly from 600 to 1100 feet above its western shore.
Another group of lakes occupies the southeastern border of the
Adirondacks, the principal bodies of water being Lake George,
Schroon lake and Brant lake. These are all notably nearer sea
level than the usual Adirondack lakes.
Lake George is the most remarkable body of water in the entire
Adirondack region. It has a length of 32 miles and a width of from
I to 2% miles, so it is easily the largest of all the northern New
York lakes. The surface of the lake is only 323 feet above the level
of the sea, thus making it one of the very lowest bodies of water
in the whole Adirondack region. The valley, or rather combination
of two valleys (see page 64), occupied by Lake George is remark-
ably straight, deep and narrow. For most part mountains rise
abruptly from a few hundred to over 2000 feet above the shores of
the lake throughout its length. . Where the lake is narrowest, for
6 or 8 miles of its middle portion, the scenery is grandest. On the
eastern side the Black-Erebus mountain mass rises very steeply
2000 feet or more from the very shore of the lake, while on the
western side the Tongue-Fivemile mountain mass rises very abruptly
800 to 1600 feet. There are many islands, especially in the narrow
portion, thus greatly enhancing the scenic effect.
Schroon lake is the second largest in the southeastern Adiron-
dacks. It also is of the linear type, being 9 miles long and from
one-half to 114 miles wide. It lies only 807 feet above sea level.
There are no high mountains immediately around the lake, the
highest hills being on the eastern side where they rise only 400 to
600 feet.
Brant lake is a beautiful sheet of water nearly 5 miles long, one--
half to three-quarters of a mile wide and 801 feet above sea level.
It is almost completely surrounded by hills from 200 to 800 feet:
high.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 31
PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE ADIRONDACKS
‘ Prepaleozoic History
The most ancient (Grenville) rocks and history. The Adiron-
dack mountains are made up almost entirely of exceedingly old
rocks. Of these the most ancient known are called the Grenville
series, so named from a Canadian town in the St Lawrence valley.
Not only are the very earliest known records of the history of
northern New York written in these Grenville rocks, but also they
are to be classed with the very oldest recognized rock formations
of the earth. Only during the past 25 years has the real significance
of the Grenville and closely associated rocks in the Adirondacks
been discovered.
The Grenville consists of a great series of sediments — original
muds, sands and limes— which were deposited layer upon layer
under water. The widespread extent of the series, far beyond the
limits of the Adirondacks, and their great thickness make it certain
that the Grenville sediments were accumulated on the bottom of a
relatively shallow ocean very much as sediments are now piling up
on the marginal sea bottom. Thus, the most ancient known geo-
graphic condition of the Adirondack district was an expanse of sea
water covering the whole area.
It may occur to the reader to ask: How long ago did the Gren-
ville ocean exist? There are grave difficulties in the way of answer-
ing this question in terms of years since we have nothing like an
exact standard for such a measurement or comparison. Although
we must concede that not even approximate figures can be given,
nevertheless it can be demonstrated by several independent lines of
reasoning that the time must be measured by at least some tens of
millions of years, very conservative estimates ranging from 25 to
50 million years. In any case, the time is utterly inconceivable to
us, the important thing to bear in mind being that the great well-
known events of earth history which have transpired since the
existence of the Grenville ocean require a lapse of many millions of
years as shown by the enormous accumulations of sediment in many
parts of the earth and the repeated revolutionary changes in geo-
graphic and geologic conditions. The ideas here expressed will be
much better appreciated by the reader after following through the
story of the Adirondacks as set forth in the succeeding pages. By
so doing, it is hoped that the reader will not only learn the main
32 ‘ : NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
events in the history of the Adirondacks, but also gain an under-
standing of some of the fundamental methods and principles of
earth science (geology).
The exact placing of the very ancient Adirondack rocks in the
geologic time-table (see page 12) is a difficult matter, through the
Grenville series is, in the light of the strongest evidence, to be
classed with the Archeozoic or oldest known rock group. For the
younger Adirondack rocks (below discussed) which are so closely
PT RA aE)
GOEDUBRESDRS eae See
SERONESRSES05 eS. Tes
Fic. 5 Generalized geologic map of northern New York showing
the distribution of the principal rock systems. Unshaded portion;
Prepaleozoic rocks, chiefly Grenville strata, syenite, and granite;
dotted portion: Prepaleozoic rock, chiefly anorthosite; horizontal-
lined areas: Cambrian and Ordovician strata; cross-lined area:
Silurian strata; small black patches: isolated areas of Paleozoic strata.
associated with the Grenville, the evidence is not so clear. They
may be partly Archeozoic and partly Proterozoic or they may be
wholly Proterozoic. In any case we are certain that they are all
earlier than the Paleozoic because very early Paleozoic strata rest
upon them around most of the borders of the Adirondacks.
Plate 15
W. J. Miller, photo
Tilted and clearly stratified Grenville rock (various gneisses) on
Chimney mountain, Hamilton county
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 38
The Grenville strata, as we see them today, do not look like
ordinary sediments such as shales, sandstones and limestones. They
have been profoundly. changed from their original condition; that
is to say, they have undergone metamorphism. The Grenville rocks
now exposed to view were formerly buried at least some miles
below the earth’s surface, the overlying rocks having been removed
by erosion through millions of years of time. Far below the earth’s
surface, under conditions of relatively high temperature, pressure
and moisture, the materials of the Grenville strata completely
crystallized into various minerals. Rounded, water-worn grains of
the original sediments no longer exist, but instead angular grains
(crystals) make up the rocks. The original stratification surfaces
(that is, surfaces of separation of the layers of sediment) are almost
always still present. Many times this stratification is very clearly
evident where lighter and darker colored layers from a fraction of
an inch to several inches or feet wide sharply alternate. This well-
defined banded structure is one of the most useful criteria for
the recognition of the stratified character of the Grenville rocks.
The other Adirondack rocks are all igneous in origin; that is, they
were once molten, and are much more homogeneous throughout
large masses, or if they show variation they are never in sharply
defined layers.
Careful examination of Grenville specimens frequently shows
that the mineral grains are more or less flattened out parallel to the
stratification surfaces. Because of the parallelism of flattened
minerals and stratification, and because the Grenville series has
never been subjected to severe mountain-making pressure (see
below), we are forced to conclude that the mineral flattening took
place during the crystallization of the sediments far below the
earth’s surface under great weight of overlying material and when
the strata were still in practically horizontal position. Such mineral
flattening would of course have taken place at right angles to the
direction of pressure.
Having established the sedimentary origin of the Grenville series,
we are led to the interesting and important conclusion that these
oldest known rocks are not the most ancient which ever existed in
the Adirondack region. The Grenville sediments must have been
deposited, layer upon layer, upon a surface of still older rocks. A
knowledge of the character and composition of such pre-Grenville
rocks would be of very great interest, but thus far we have no
positive evidence that such rocks are visible in the Adirondacks,
although certain masses still of somewhat doubtful age and origin
34 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
may belong to that very ancient rock floor. Again, the fact that
Grenville sediments were being deposited under water carries with
it the corollary that there must have been land somewhere at no
great distance from the area of deposition because, then as now,
such sediments as muds and sands could have been derived only
from the erosion or wear of land and have been deposited in layers
under water adjacent to the land mass. Here too we are as yet
utterly in the dark regarding any knowledge of the location or
character of that very ancient land.
Perhaps the most interesting and characteristic of the Grenville
rocks is the crystalline limestone or marble. It is widely scattered
in small to large areas throughout the Adirondacks. Typically it
is a white, coarse-grained, granular rock made up almost entirely
of crystals of calcite When exposed to the weather it often
crumbles to a gravelly looking mass. Layers of dark or greenish
rocks often occur within the limestone, these representing what were _
originally layers of sea mud interstratified with the lime. Black,
shiny flakes of graphite (so-called “ black lead ’’) may nearly always
be found in the limestone, while quartz grains several millimeters
across are often abundant in certain portions of the limestone for-
mation. This limestone could not possibly have been of other than
sedimentary origin. :
In numerous places, and sometimes in sharp contact with the
limestone, are beds of almost pure quartz rock or so-called quartzite.
Such rock is a crystallized, metamorphosed sandstone and could
not possibly have been of igneous origin. This quartzite is
generally in thin layers of clear flintlike or glassy appearance and
with perfect stratification. Sometimes other minerals, especially
white mica (muscovite), are mixed with the quartz.
Most abundant of all the Grenville rocks, however, are very
extensive, thick deposits of usually dark to light gray rocks rich
in such minerals as quartz, feldspar, garnet, mica, pyroxene and
amphibole. Because of their distinct banded (stratified) structure
and close association (often interbanded ) with the limestone and
quartzite, they are also certainly ancient sediments, in this case
- original sea muds or less admixed with sand and lime. As a
result of heat, pressure and moisture, these sea muds have been
crystallized into what are now called schists or gneisses (see page
10). Certain of the quartzites, schists and gneisses also at times
contain scattering flakes of graphite (“black lead”), in some cases
1 See appendix for descriptions of common Adirondack minerals.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 35
there being a sufficient content of this mineral to warrant its mining,
as in Warren and Saratoga counties.
As will be explained shortly, the Grenville strata are associated
with younger rocks of pre-Paleozoic age, these later rocks all being
of igneous origin and having cut through the Grenville in hundreds
of places and in a most irregular manner, so that the ancient strata
are not now present as a single continuous mass of rock occupying
the whole Adirondack region. A detailed map of the whole mountain
area showing the distribution of the Grenville and later rocks would
present a decided “ patchwork.” effect. Portions only of the region
have been thus mapped in detail; the writer’s geologic maps of the
North Creek, Lake Pleasant and Blue Mountain quadrangles
recently published by the New York State Museum afford excellent
illustrations of the “patchy” distribution of the Grenville strata.
Figure 9 of this volume also suggests the same thing.
Since the strata of the Adirondacks are usually badly disturbed,
tilted and more or less bent or folded, and since neither top nor
bottom of the formation has ever been recognized as such, it is
impossible to give anything like an exact figure for the thickness
of the Grenville rocks. Continuous successions of strata have been
observed in enough places, however, to make it certain that the
strata were piled, one layer upon another, to a thickness of many
thousands of feet. Across a certain valley in Warren county the
writer has seen fully 20,000 feet of Grenville strata piled up and
only moderately tilted. This clearly implies that the Gren-
ville ocean existed for a vast length of time which must be
measured by no less than a few million years, because, in the light
of all our knowledge regarding the rate of deposition of sediments,
such a very long time was necessary for the accumulation of so
thick a mass of sedimentary rocks. It does not necessarily follow
that the Grenville ocean was thousands of feet deep when the
deposition began. In fact, the very character of the sediments
clearly indicates that the Grenville ocean was, for most part at
least, of shallow water, for such sediments as sands and muds have
rarely if ever been carried far out into an ocean of deep water.
The great ocean abysses of today are not receiving any appreciable
amount of land-derived sediments. Hence it is practically certain
that the very ancient Grenville sea bottom gradually sank as the
sediments accumulated. Similar phenomena are definitely known
to have occurred in many later basins of deposition.
There is no evidence whatever for the existence of land life of
any kind during this very early era of earth history. Regarding
36 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
life in the Grenville ocean, however, we are certain that organisms
of some kind must have existed as proved by the scattering flakes
of graphite through many of the strata, especially the limestone.
All that 1s now left of the organisms is the carbon, and this has
been crystallized into graphite so that no original structures what-
ever are retained. Even though we do not know whether these
organisms were plant or animal, the fact that life existed on our
planet so many millions of years ago is a fact of very great
importance. When we look at the shiny black scales of graphite in
a piece of Grenville rock, we can truthfully say that we are gazing
upon vestiges of the earliest known organisms which ever lived upon
the earth. Graphite thus disseminated through stratified rocks must
have been of organic origin. Anthracite coal, which is chemically
very similar to graphite, occurs in the late Paleozoic strata of
Pennsylvania and is there definitely known to have been derived
from plants through the process of carbonization. Graphitic anthra-
cite of like origin occurs in Rhode Island. The earth’s first organ-
isms must have been plants, because animals ultimately depend upon
plants for their existence. The oldest known clearly preserved
fossils are Algae or sea weeds from the Proterozoic. Hence it
seems likely that the graphite of the Grenville strata represents the
remains of plants, probably of the simple sea-weed type., This by
no means proves the absence of animals from the Grenville ocean,
because animals with soft parts only would have left no record,
while shells would have been destroyed by solution and crystalli-
zation under the conditions to which the strata were subjected.
Earliest igneous rocks and their history. After the accumu-
lation of the Grenville sediments, igneous activity took place on
grand scales, when great masses of molten rock were forced
(intruded) into the sediments from below. At least two distinct
times of very early, large scale igneous activity have been dis-
covered. The general effect was to break the Grenville up into
patches. The present distribution and mode of occurrence of these
igneous rocks show that the molten masses broke into the Grenville
strata in a very irregular manner. In most cases the Grenville
rocks were pushed aside by, or tilted or domed over, the upwelling
molten floods; in many cases the molten materials under great
pressure were intimately shot through the Grenville strata; often
large or small masses of strata were caught up or enveloped (as
inclusions) in the molten floods; in some cases there appears to have
been actual local melting or assimilation of Grenville rocks by the
molten instrusions; while in still other places large Grenville bodies
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS BVI
have apparently been left intact and undisturbed. These igneous
rocks are all of the plutonic type; that is, they were never forced up
to the earth’s surface but solidified at considerable depths below the
surface. We see them exposed today only because a tremendous
amount of overlying material has been removed by erosion. These
igneous rocks are generally easily distinguished from the old sedi-
ments of Grenville age because of their more general homogeneity
in large masses and their lack of sharply defined bands of varying
composition. The fact that the minerals have always crystallized
to form medium to coarse grained rocks shows that the rocks solidi-
fied under deep-seated conditions, since it is well known that surface
flows (lavas) are much finer grained and often with more or less
of the rock not crystallized at all. Slow cooling under great pressure
favors more complete crystallization and the growth of larger
crystals.
The first of the two well-known great intrusions of molten rock
in the Adirondacks is represented by the present large area (1200
square miles) of so-called anorthosite, mostly in Essex and Franklin
counties. The typical rock is very coarse grained, of bluish gray
color and consists principally of a feldspar (labradorite). This
feldspar is in crystals commonly from one-half of an inch to nearly
2 inches long with shiny cleavage faces when freshly broken, and
they often exhibit a pretty play of colors. Fine parallel lines, as
though ruled on with a delicate instrument, also very commonly
show on the cleavage faces. The typical anorthosite is usually
quite homogeneous in large bodies as, for instance, in the Sentinel
range a few miles east of Lake Placid, and in the mountains just
west of the same lake. An interesting and important variation of
the typical rock is known as the Whiteface type of anorthosite, so
named from Mt Whiteface, the summit of which is made up of this
rock. This is usually white or nearly so, the feldspar crystals
having been much broken (granulated) under pressure. Another
variation is a darker rock due to a considerable percentage of black
minerals, especially pyroxene, amphibole and iron ore. This darker
rock is often rather streaked in appearance, the minerals having
been drawn out into crude parallelism due, no doubt, to move-
ments or currents in the molten masses just before they congealed.
This variety of anorthosite is only locally developed, especially
around the borders of large bodies of the typical anorthosite. Many
of the highest mountains of the east-central Adirondacks, such as
Marcy, McIntyre and Whiteface, consist wholly or largely of anor-
thosite. The anorthosite intrusion differed from the later intrusions
38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
(below described) in two important respects, namely, that it was
practically confined to a single great area of 1200 square miles,
and that it broke through the Grenville only, no other country rock
having been present at the time of the intrusion. A few small
, masses of anorthosite are known to occur outside of the great area
| as, for example, in the central part of the Long Lake quadrangle;
iil northern part of the Blue Mountain quadrangle; northeastern part
li of the Lake Pleasant quadrangle; and near Rand Hill in Clinton
i county. For most part the molten anorthosite appears to have
Hy pushed aside or displaced the Grenville, though in many cases small
areas and fragments are seen enveloped by the intrusive, while in
| a few cases there appears to have been injection or possibly assimi-
| lation of the Grenville. That this anorthosite is younger than the
Grenville is demonstrated by the facts that tongues of the rock have
been observed cutting through the Grenville (see figure 6), and
i also that fragments of the old strata are frequently seen to have
| been torn off and completely enveloped in the molten anorthosite.
A.
x
Grenville [Fx RArorthesite eR es ranite{*,++|Gabbro o
RAN Tacs olor core
Fic. 6 Generalized section showing how the relative ages of the most
il common Adirondack rocks are determined. Where one rock mass cuts
through the other, the former is the younger. (By W. J. M.) .
| The next clearly recorded event after the intrusion of the anor-
| thosite was very widespread igneous activity when the rock known
| as the syenite-granite series, so common in the Adirondacks, was
forced upward in a molten condition into both the Grenville and
the anorthosite. There may have been more than one time of
i intrusion, as argued by certain workers for the St Lawrence valley,
but, for our purpose, it will suffice to regard all the syenite-granite
rocks to have been intruded at practically the same time, since the
sum total of effects is much the same as though there had been
only a single period of igneous activity. All portions of the
Adirondacks felt the force of the intrusion of these molten masses
which are now represented by numerous large and small areas very
irregularly scattered throughout the region. Almost all the higher
mountains outside of the anorthosite area consist of syenite or
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 39
granite, because these rocks have been much more resistant to
weathering and erosion than the ordinary Grenville strata which
latter, therefore, generally occupy the valleys.
The granite is a plutonic igneous rock which consists essentially
of quartz and feldspar (orthoclase), but which usually also con-
tains more or less black mica (biotite), amphibole, pyroxene and
magnetite. The syenite is similar, except that quartz is either
absent or much less prominent. Mostly, if not always, these two
rocks are merely variations of the great molten masses formed
during the cooling and crystallization of the rock. Accordingly it
is a very common thing to observe granite and syenite grading
back and forth into each other often within short distances, instead
of one cutting through the other as would be the case if one were
younger than the other. The typical syenite and granite are medium
grained, that is, they are made up of mineral crystals a few milli-
meters across. Locally the rock may be much coarser grained with .
feldspar and quartz crystals up to an inch or more long. At times
some of the feldspar crystals are decidedly larger than the rest
of the minerals, giving rise to rock types known as granite or syenite
porphyry. Syenite is nearly always richer in dark minerals — black
mica, amphibole, pyroxene and magnetite — than the granite. Some-
times these dark minerals make up as much as half of the rock.
When freshly broken the typical syenite has a greenish gray color,
while the weathered surfaces are light to dark brown due to the
fact that the iron of the dark minerals has oxidized (weathered
out) to produce the brown stain of iron rust. This weathered
portion is seldom more than a few inches thick. Sometimes in the
woods on mountain sides, the immediate surface of the syenite is
nearly white with a brown layer just below the surface. The
explanation is that water charged with decomposing organic matter
has dissolved off the iron rust. The freshly broken granite varies
from greenish gray to light gray to pinkish or even reddish, the
color depending largely upon the color of the feldspar. Dark
colors are rare in the granite because of the relative scarcity of
dark minerals in the rock.
Except for the gradations above referred to, the syenite and
granite are fairly homogeneous in large bodies, there being no
sharply defined layers as in the Grenville strata. One feature is,
however, important to consider, namely, the wavy or streaked
appearance presented by so many of the rock ledges of syenite and
granite. A close inspection reveals the fact that most of the
minerals have been flattened or drawn out into a sort of crude
40 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
parallelism. This structure is accentuated by the dark-colored
minerals. A rock with such a structure is said to be a gneiss (pro-
nounced “ nice”). Many ledges of Adirondack syenite or granite
exhibit this structure perfectly, but in other cases it is very faint or
absent. This phenomenon has generally been ascribed to the flat-
tening and flowage of the minerals under great pressure in the
earth’s crust after the cooling of the rocks. But very recently the
writer has presented much evidence in support of the view that the
phenomenon really represents a sort of “ flow-structure ” produced
by currents under moderate pressure during the crystallization and
when the rocks were at least partially molten. The rapid changes
in direction and the sweeping curves exhibited by the gneissic struc-
ture strongly support the “ flow-structure ” idea.
Rocks presenting the characteristics of the syenite and granite are
typical plutonic, igneous masses which certainly never reached the
surface by intrusion. They were very slowly intruded and slowly
cooled under great pressure thousands of feet below the earth’s
surface. It should be reiterated that rocks of this sort now appear
at the surface simply because of vast removal by erosion of the
overlying materials.
That these syenite-granite rocks are younger than the anorthosite
has been demonstrated by finding tongues of the former cutting or
breaking through the latter (see figure 6) as well shown, for
example, a few miles east of Tupper Lake village, and on the
eastern face of Whiteface mountain.
First known uplift of the Adirondacks. We are now ready to
discuss the earliest known uplift of the whole Adirondack region
above sea level, or, in other words, the birth of the first known
Adirondack mountains. As we have learned, the very character
and structure of the rocks now exposed to view in the region show
conclusively that they were at one time deeply buried, the inference
being perfectly plain that those materials have been removed by
erosion. Profound erosion of any land mass means that the land
must have been well above sea level, and thus we come to the
important conclusion that the great mass of rocks, including Gren-
ville strata, anorthosite and the syenite-granite series, were upraised
well above sea level. Just when the uplift occurred can not be
positively stated, but there is much evidence favoring the idea that
it was concomitant with the great igneous intrusions, especially of
the syenite-granite. It is reasonable to believe that the same great
force which caused the welling up of so much liquid rock might
easily have caused a decided uplift of the whole region. The
Plate 16
Tl. P. Cushing, photo
Upper view: a typical outcrop of Adirondack syenite in Lewis county
W. J. Miller, photo
Lower view: dikes of diabase (dark rock) in syenite near Northville, Fulton
county
hth
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS AI
Grenville strata are now very frequently not in horizontal position
as when they were deposited under the sea. On the other hand,
there is no known evidence that the Adirondack Grenville strata
were ever severely folded or compressed as has been the case in
many mountain ranges, as the Appalachians, for example. Many
broad belts of Grenville are known to be only very moderately
folded to almost horizontal; numerous masses, large and small, are
merely tilted or domed; while very locally the strata sometimes are
contorted or sharply folded. The structural relations are, therefore,
best explained as having been the result of slow, irregular, upwelling
of the more or less plastic molten masses, probably under a moder-
ate compressive force or lateral thrust in the crust of the earth,
whereby the strata, previously disturbed little or none at all, were
simply broken up or tilted or domed. In many places the evidence
is perfectly clear that the tilting of the Grenville strata was
directly due to the up-push of the intrusive rocks. Locally, where
masses of Grenville were caught between two bodies of upwelling
molten rock, the strata were sometimes twisted or sharply folded,
this having been especially true of the relatively very plastic lime-
stones. It appears to have been literally true that the Grenville
strata were irregularly floated on a vast body of molten rock, the
latter in many places either having arched up or broken through the
strata. In other words, the Grenville strata, as well as the great
intrusives, were not subjected to real mountain-making pressure in
the crust of the earth whereby the rocks were thrown into a series
of great folds, as has happened in many mountain regions of the
world.
We can not even state the approximate height of those very
ancient Adirondacks. A!so we are utterly in the dark as to the
character of the topography and the direction of the drainage lines.
The fact that thousands of feet of material have been removed by
erosion, thus exposing the present rocks to view, does not neces-
sarily imply that the mountains at any time had a very great height
because it is possible that, while elevation slowly progressed,
material was steadily removed by erosion. All our knowledge of
later and better known mountains, however, leaves little doubt but
that those ancient Adirondacks were notably higher than those of
today.
Later Prepaleozoic history. The profound erosion of the very
ancient Adirondacks extended through some millions of years of
the later Prepaleozoic and even into very early Paleozoic time, but
—— ee ee ee ee ee ee ee See ee ee ee ee eee
eee eee
——
iM
42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
the whole problem of this erosion and its significance is discussed
a few pages beyond.
At some time after the vast bodies of syenite-granite were
thoroughly consolidated, but certainly before the Paleozoic era,
there were several relatively minor intrusions of molten rock. These
times of intrusion are very distinctly separable and the rocks are of
quite different appearance. First of these was the so-called gabbro.
This rock varies considerably though it is always dark gray to
black and usually medium to coarse grained; that is, the mineral
constituents range from one or two millimeters to fully an inch
in length. Typically the rock contains feldspar (plagioclase),
pyroxene, hornblende, black mica (biotite) and magnetite with
various other minerals in small amounts. Sometimes the gabbro is
difficult to distinguish from certain of the dark border phases of the
anorthosite already described, though usually the long, lath-shaped
feldspar crystals irregularly inclosing the pyroxene or hornblende
characterize the gabbro. Also the mode of occurrence of the gabbro
is different from that of the older intrusives. Instead of breaking
up, raising up or tilting the country rock, the molten gabbro appears
to have penetrated the earth’s crust through practically vertical,
cylindrical or pipelike openings seldom more than one or two miles
in diameter. As seen in the field, the gabbro is a typical plutonic rock
with sharp, practically vertical contacts against the older (country)
rocks. Sometimes the gabbro exhibits a streaked appearance
(gneissoid structure) due to a crudely parallel arrangement of
minerals resulting from movements or currents in the still partially
molten masses under pressure. These bodies of gabbro are scattered
throughout the Adirondack mountains and are well exhibited on
most of the published geologic maps (see appendix), fully sixty
occurring within the North Creek quadrangle alone.
Another interesting igneous rock, and still later than the gabbro, is
the so-called pegmatite which is really a sort of very coarse-
grained whitish granite. It consists almost wholly of quartz and
feldspar in crystals from one-half to several inches across. Usually
it contains more or less white mica (muscovite). This rock occurs
in the form of dikes, that is, it fills fissures from an inch or two
wide and a few yards or rods long to 50 or 75 feet wide and many
rods long. Such pegmatite dikes may be seen cutting through all
the previously described rocks with very sharp contacts, and hence
they are clearly younger. Pegmatite dikes are very common
throughout the Adirondacks and they are easily recognized.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 43
The very latest Prepaleozoic rock in the whole Adirondack
region is another sort of dike rock known as diabase. It is really
almost the same as basaltic lava, being fine grained, bluish black
where freshly broken and containing chiefly plagioclase feldspar,
pyroxene and iron ore (magnetite). It differs from the gabbro in
being finer grained and always occurring in sharply defined, narrow,
dike or fissure form. These dikes commonly vary from a few
inches or feet wide and a few rods long to many feet wide and
several miles long. Such dikes are of rather common occurrence
throughout the Adirondacks and are very easily recognizable by
their black, sharply defined outlines. The fact that they are so
fine grained, often even glassy at the borders, shows that they
cooled much more quickly and nearer the surface of the earth
than any of the other igneous rocks. It seems quite clear, there-
fore, that the diabase now at the surface was forced into fissures
after most of the Prepaleozoic erosion of the region had been
accomplished. On the other hand, the intrusions must have taken
place before the oldest Paleozoic strata around the Adirondacks
were formed because such strata have been observed to rest upon
the diabase. In the light of these facts it is safe to say that these
latest dike rocks are millions of years younger than the oldest
igneous rocks of the Adirondacks.
Paleozoic History
Cambrian period. After the first known Adirondack uplift, the
whole region was subjected to profound erosion which began long
before the opening of the Paleozoic era. The first period of the
Paleozoic era is known as the Cambrian. Since later Cambrian
strata rest upon the Prepaleozoic rocks around most of the borders
of the Adirondacks, and the earlier Cambrian strata are absent,
with no reason to think that they ever were deposited there, we
conclude that the time of profound erosion extended into the early
Paleozoic or, more strictly, into the later Cambrian. The reader
may inquire, Where are the sediments which were derived from the
wearing down of the ancient Adirondacks during this vast length
of time? Regarding the deposition of the Prepaleozoic sediments
we have no certain knowledge. They may have washed westward
or southwestward into waters which may possibly have existed
there; they may have been carried northward or northwestward
into Canada to build up later Prepaleozoic strata there; or they
may have been transported eastward toward or into the Atlantic
44 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
basin. Regarding the disposal of the early Paleozoic sediments,
however, our knowledge is much more certain. Both early and
late Cambrian strata are abundantly represented in western New
England and to some extent along the central-eastern border of
New York, while only late Cambrian strata rest upon the pre-
Paleozoic rocks around the borders of the Adirondacks. Also, the
late Cambrian strata of northern New York are nearly a thousand
feet thick on the northeastern side of the Adirondacks (in Clinton
county) and they become thinner southward and westward through
the Champlain, Mohawk and St Lawrence valleys, being entirely
absent from the southwestern border of the Adirondacks (in the
Black River valley). These facts show that the earlier Cambrian
sea did not reach into northern New York, but that the later Cam-
brian sea did extend most, or all, of the way around the Adiron-
dack region, the encroaching waters having come from the north-
east as proved by the older and much thicker Cambrian deposits
there.
The first deposit to form in this late Cambrian sea is known as the
Potsdam sandstone which is well represented in the St Lawrence,
Champlain and lower Mohawk valleys. These regions were sub-
merged under the Potsdam sea. Not only is the Potsdam sand-
stone absent from the southwestern border of the Adirondacks, but
there is no evidence that it ever was deposited there, hence it appears
that that region was dry land during the Potsdam time. In the
southeastern Adirondacks the Potsdam sea certainly extended in
as far as Wells (in southern Hamilton county) and North River
(northwestern Warren county) because small outlying masses of
typical Potsdam sandstone occur at those places. These outlying
masses were formerly connected with the larger areas but they
have become completely isolated by extensive erosion since they
were deposited. There is no evidence whatever that the Potsdam
sea covered the interior of the Adirondack region. In short, we
may say that the ocean of Potsdam time covered all the borders
of the Adirondack area except on the southwest and extended well
over the southeastern portion.
What do we know about the character of the topography of the
land over which that ancient Potsdam sea spread? As a result of
the profound erosion, thousands of feet in thickness of material were
removed and the whole region must have been well worn down.
Was the region worn down to the condition of a peneplain, that is
to say, to an area of very low relief near sea level? -Recent detailed
studies on all sides of the Adirondacks furnish a very satisfactory
photo
Ingen,
Van
ilbert
G
tinctly stratified
S)
inton county showing di
the Ausable chasm of Cl
in
View
A
Potsdam (upper Cambrian) sandstone
45
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
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Jake] UY} {e}eI]S URIOTAOPIO=—O + k}e1}s URlIquie) sAOge }xXoU Joey uly] ! 4901 otozoayedeiq@—q “AIO aN utoYj10U
Ul SUOT}eUIIO yIOL uey10dut d10Ul JY} JO SUOTJeJoI pue oTfot Be1I9udS JU} 9} eI14Ssn T O} SUOTJIIS JI PUIUIPISEL Jb ani
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40 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
answer to this question. In many places the Potsdam has been seen
in contact with the underlying Prepaleozic rock whose surface
clearly proves that the whole region had reached a peneplain con- ~
dition. Along the northeastern side of the Adirondacks this pene-
plain was considerably rougher than along the northwestern, south-
western and southern portions. This is explained by the fact that
the northeastern area became submerged first and consequently
was not subjected to wear so long as the latter named areas.
In the southern Adirondack area occasional low knobs of more re-
sistant rock protruded above the otherwise featureless plain.
The Potsdam sandstone formation is very easily recognizable.
It is almost wholly made up of clearly visible, rounded grains of
quartz and always well stratified or separated into relatively thin
layers. Ripple marks everywhere abound in the sandstone, thus
indicating the shallow-water (or near-shore) origin of the deposit.
Most of the rock is light gray to cream colored, though in some
places pinkish to reddish layers are common. The strata are almost
invariably in nearly horizontal position because they have not been
notably disturbed since their accumulation in the sea. All the rock
in the walls of the famous Ausable chasm (Clinton county) is
typical Potsdam sandstone.
Marine conditions continued with the deposition of alternating
layers of sandstone and limestone 50 to 200 feet thick upon the
Potsdam sandstone. This is called the Theresa formation. After
still greater subsidence, an important, formation known as the
Little Falls limestone (or dolomitic limestone was deposited layer
upon layer in the comparatively clear waters of this, the latest Cam-
brian sea. This formation, which is fine grained, dense, light gray
in color and well stratified in fairly thick beds, shows its greatest
thickness of 500 feet in the gorge at Little Falls in the Mohawk
valley. The Little Falls sea swept all around the Adirondacks
except what is now the southwestern border from Oneida county
to near the Thousand Islands. Occurrence of the formation in the
outlying masses at Wells (Hamilton county) and Schroon Lake
(Essex county) proves that the Little Falls sea extended well over
the eastern and southeastern Adirondack region. The Adirondack
island in this latest Cambrian sea was doubtless somewhat smaller
than during Potsdam time, though it was still large. Map figure 8
graphically illustrates the approximate relations of land and water
during Little Falls time. . ;
Ordovician period. The Cambrian period closed with the emer-
gence of all northern New York above sea level, but very early in
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 47
the Ordovician period a submergence of the same region set in,
reaching a maximum in the middle of the period. Such emergence
and submergence are proved by the fact that the early Ordovician
strata rest upon a distinctly eroded surface of the Little Falls
(Cambrian) limestone. The duration of the emergence, geo-
logically speaking, was not very long. Even at the time of maxi-
Wah Ban P22
SEE Teco Sese sees
SS — AEE EEE Seer
=
—— ?
beafey Se
HEMT Ss
Fic. 8 Sketch map of the Adirondack region showing the general relations
of land and water during the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. Horizontal
lines: land area during late Cambrian time; cross lines: area of land during
the middle of the Ordovician. (W. J. M.)
mum extent of the sea in the mid-Ordovician (figure 8) the
evidence is decidedly against complete submergence of the Adiron-
dack region. Occurrence of typical mid-Ordovician (Trenton)
limestone and shale in the outlying mass at Wells (Hamilton
county) indicates the presence of the Ordovician sea over that
FRANK La
(Ee en PP RG
as es
48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
portion of the Adirondacks. But, after making every possible allow-
ance for the former extension of Ordovician strata (since removed
by erosion) into the Adirondack region, we are forced to conclude
that the central Adirondack area never became submerged under
the Ordovician sea. Furthermore, in northern New York there are
known to have been various oscillations of level bringing the dis-
tricts around the persistent central Adirondack dry land now above,
and now below, sea level on one side or another. Omitting such
details, however, we may say that, except for the Adirondack
island, northern New York was mostly below sea level during the
Ordovician period.
Surrounding the Adirondacks, the principal Ordovician for-
mations include the Beekmantown, Chazy, Black River and Trenton
limestones overlain by the Trenton (Canajoharie), Utica, Frank-
fort and Schenectady shales and sandstones. It should be made
clear, however, that these formations are not all present in unbroken
uccession all the way around the Adirondacks, because the oscilla-
tions of level above mentioned occasioned certain interruptions in
the deposition of the strata. These rocks are all typical marine
deposits, well stratified, in nearly horizontal position and rich in
organic remains. They are the old sea limes, muds and sands which
have merely been hardened.. The fact that the earlier formations
are all limestones indicates relatively clearer ocean waters for that
time because the nearest lands were small and low, but in the later
Ordovician, muds and sands were washed in from higher, reele-
vated, adjacent lands.
In the strata of Cambrian age in northern New York, animal or
plant remains (fossils) are comparatively rare, while the Ordo-
vician rocks throughout fairly teem with fossils. If any formation
deserves special mention, it is the Trenton limestone which is
exceedingly rich in fossils. The type locality, at Trenton Falls in
Oneida county, is justly famous as a collecting place for Ordovician
fossils. As already stated, Trenton strata occur in the valley at
Wells (Hamilton county) fully 15 miles within the southeastern
Adirondacks and these rocks contain numerous fossils. Among
plants, none above very simple seaweeds are known to have existed.
Among animals, hundreds of species have been described as occur-
ring within the Ordovician strata of northern New York. These
species represent all the more important classes of animals below
the vertebrates. Especially prominent are corals, graptolites,
echinoderms (so-called star fishes), brachiopods, gastropods and
nh
W. J. Miller, photo
An exposure of Lower Trenton (Ordovician) limestone near Wells,
Hamilton county. This rock contains many fossils.
Plate 19
Some common fossils which occur in the Ordovician strata around
the borders of the Adirondacks. Creatures like these lived in the sea
which spread over much of the Adirondack area during mid-Ordo-
vician time. 1, Graptolite; 2, Cup coral; 3, Honey-comb coral
4, 5, 6, Brachiopods; 7, Pelecypod; 8, Gastropod; 9, Cephalopod
(Orthoceras) ; 10, Cephalopod (Trocholites); 11, 12, trilobites (re-
stored forms).
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS AQ
trilobites. All the organisms mentioned lived in the sea water, and
if land forms existed we know nothing of them. It must be borne
in mind that not a single species of that time lives today, so complete
has been the evolutionary change since Ordovician time. Certain
remarkable classes of animals, like the graptolites and trilobites,
which often fairly swarmed in the Ordovician sea, have been wholly
extinct for millions of years.
At or toward the close of the Ordovician period, a great com-
pressive force was brought to bear upon a thick mass of sediments
which reached from north of New England to Virginia, the strata
having been highly folded, tilted and elevated far above sea level
into a magnificent mountain range known as the Taconic moun-
tains. Accompanying this notable physical revolution, the Adiron-
dack region appears also to have been raised well above the sea
though without any folding of the strata. The facts that no post-
Ordovician strata occur in or close to the Adirondacks and that
there is a distinct break in the sedimentary record between the Ordo-
vician and succeeding Silurian in central New York, strongly sup-
port the idea of Adirondack uplift at that time. At about the close
of the Ordovician or the opening of the Silurian period, therefore,
all northern New York was dry land with the great Taconic range
standing out prominently just to the east.
Later Paleozoic history. Early in the Silurian period, sea water
encroached upon central New York and kept that area submerged
during most of the period. How much, if any, of the Adirondack
region was covered by the Silurian sea? The total absence of any
rocks later than the Ordovician shales around the Adirondacks and
just across the St Lawrence valley strongly suggests that those
areas continued as dry land not only during the Silurian but ever
since, except for a very brief local submergence after the Ice Age.
For the southern Adirondacks the case is somewhat different. Ex-
tensive outcrops of Silurian strata just south of the Mohawk river
make it certain that these rocks formerly reached farther north-
ward, having since been removed by erosion. But how far north-
ward they extended is a very difficult matter to decide since not a
scrap of Silurian strata now occurs north of the Mohawk river.
All we can say is that the Silurian sea probably overspread the
southern border of the Adirondacks, the sediments there deposited
having since been removed by erosion. Abruptly truncated (by
erosion) and only slightly tilted Silurian strata on the south side of
the Mohawk valley render this view practically certain. In a simi-
lar manner the succeeding Devonian sea may have spread over a
50 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
portion of the southern Adirondacks, though proofs are wholly
lacking. There is no reason whatever to think that any of northern
New York was submerged during the last two periods of the
Paleozoic era.
The Paleozoic era was brought to a close by one of the most
profound physical disturbances in the history of North America.
It has been called the Appalachian revolution because at this time
the Appalachian mountain range was borne out of the sea by fold-
ing and upheaval of the strata. The effect of this revolution upon
northern New York is of fundamental importance because the
whole region was then raised well above sea level, though without
folding of the strata but with moderate tilting toward the south,
and true marine conditions never again prevailed over any part of
the area.
Mesozoic History
The vast plain of erosion. During all the Mesozoic era most of
the eastern portion of the United States was above water and
undergoing erosion, so that, by the close of this very long period
of wear, the region was reduced to the condition of a more or less
monotonous plain near sea level (peneplain). This vast plain
extended over the areas of the Appalachian mountains, Piedmont
plateau, New York State, the Berkshire hills and the Green moun-
tains. Its most perfect development was in the northern Appa-—
lachians. Farther northward, over New York and western New
England, its development was less perfect so that certain masses of
harder rock stood out more or less prominently above the gereral
level of the plain. In the central and eastern Adirondacks many
low mountains of resistant rock rose above the peneplain surface.
Hence this second definitely known peneplain of northern New
York was not so perfectly developed as that of very early Paleozoic:
time already described. In a similar manner an occasional low
mountain stood out in western New England, and it is probable
that the hard sandstones of the Catskills also rose notably above the
peneplain.
In the eastern United States the Mesozoic era was closed, or the
Cenozoic era opened, by an important physical disturbance which
produced an upwarp of the peneplain for from two to three thous-
and feet following the trend of the Appalachians thence through
northern New York. This upward movement was unaccompanied
by folding of the rocks, the effect having been to produce a very
broad, low arch sloping gently eastward and westward. We are
now prepared to make the important statement that the major
ee
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 51
topographic (relief) features of northern New York, including the
Adirondacks, as we see them today have been largely produced by
the erosion or dissection of this upraised peneplain. This being
so, are there any remnants of that upraised surface still visible?
Where best developed, in the northern Appalachians, the upraised
plain has trenches or valleys cut in the belts of weak rock to below
the surface of the plain, while the ridge summits at concordant
altitudes practically represent portions of the old peneplain surface.
In New York State the concordant altitudes are not so we!l shown
both because the peneplain was there not so well developed and
because the attitude of the rock masses was largely unfavorable to
the production of long, distinct ridges. Remnants of the peneplain
are, however, unmistakably present in New York as, for example,
on a very large scale over the southwestern plateau district covering
thousands of square miles where the highest points mostly reach
altitudes of about 2000 feet. The summit of the Tug Hill plateau,
just west of the Black River valley also lies at about 2000 feet and is
clearly a remnant of the upraised peneplain which formerly con-
nected with the southwestern plateau. As one looks out over the
western slope of the Adirondacks from the summit of the Tug
Hill plateau, he is impressed by the remarkably even sky line there
shown at an altitude of a little over 2000 feet. The central and
east-central Adirondacks are exceptional because considerable
masses there stood out above the general level of the old peneplain.
It is important to note that, as a result of the long time of erosion
before and during the Mesozoic era, the Paleozoic strata, which
had been deposited well over the borders of the Adirondacks, were
considerably removed.
Since the actual work of erosion or dissection of the upraised
peneplain in northern New York took place during the next or
Cenozoic era, further discussion of this subject is reserved till the
consideration of that era.
The great fractures (faults) of the southeastern Adirondacks.
Examination of the detailed topographic maps of the eastern and
southeastern half of the Adirondacks shows that there are many
ridges and valleys, streams and lakes, which trend in a north-north-
east by south-southwest direction. What is the explanation of these
features? This region has been extensively fractured or faulted.
In fact, the major relief features are largely dependent upon this
faulted structure. A few words of explanation regarding faults are
here in order. ‘Whenever a fracture has developed in the earth’s
crust and one portion of the earth has slipped by or been pushed
52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
over the other along the fracture, we have what is called a fault.
In short, a fault is a fracture in the earth along which there has been
slipping. If one portion of the earth simply drops down with
respect to the other we have a normal fault, and if one por-
tion has been pushed over the other we have a reversed or thrust
fault. Actual movements along a fault surface are sudden, the
amount of slipping generally varying from a fraction of an inch
to 20 or even 50 feet at a time, though the sum total of all shpping
(called “displacement”’) along large faults, during a long time,
often amounts to hundreds or even thousands of feet. Each sudden,
notable slipping produces an earthquake. Definitely traced faults
vary in length (that is, across country) up to a hundred miles or
more. Along such fractures the rocks are often more or less broken
or crushed thus affording relatively easy work for stream erosion,
so that streams often follow such fault zones of weakness. The
eastern and southeastern Adirondacks have been literally chopped
to pieces by numerous faults, all of the ordinary normal fault type
with fracture surfaces in practically vertical position. No single
fault has been proved to extend across the whole region, but rather
there is a prominent series of many roughly parallel fractures few
of which have been definitely traced as much as 20 miles and none
more than 30 or 40 miles. The greatest number are only a few
miles long. The total amount of displacement along these fracture
lines in the very ancient Adirondack rocks can not be determined,
but frequently it is at least 500 to 2000 feet. This series of faults
cuts through the early Paleozoic strata along the shores of Lake
Champlain and in the Mohawk valley, and in these regions, due to
marked differences in the character of the strata, it has been possible
to determine the amounts of displacement with considerable
accuracy.
In addition to this great series of north-northeast by south-south-
west faults, there are many others, mostly minor ones, which trend
in various directions, though chiefly approximately at right angles
to the major series. Accordingly, the eastern and southeastern
Adirondack region is really a mosaic of earth blocks and ridges.
Since their origin most of these blocks and ridges have of course
been appreciably modified by erosion. Sometimes there is no
positive evidence of any notable displacement, though the rocks in
the fault zone are badly broken. The geologic map of the Lake
Pleasant quadrangle affords an excellent illustration of numerous
faults and their evident influence upon the topography in the very
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
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Fic. 9 Geologic and topographic map of the vicinity of Wells show-
ing the relations of various rock formations and several conspicuous
faults. Contour interval: 1oo feet. Positions of faults represented by
heavy black lines. Gy=Grenville strata; Sy=syenite; Gr=granite; Gsg=
Grenville-syenite-granite mixed rocks; black areas—gabbro or diabase ;
P=Potsdam sandstone; T=-Theresa formation; L—Little Falls lime-
stone; O=Lower Trenton limestone; Oc=Canajoharie (Trenton) shale;
Pu=—Paleozoic strata. Geology by W. J. Miller.
54 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
midst of that part of the Adirondacks here considered. The small
outlying mass of Paleozoic strata at Wells, so far separated from
the main body of similar strata, lies within a valley of the Lake
Pleasant quadrangle. This valley and its immediate surroundings
exhibit perhaps a greater variety of important geologic phenomena
than any other small area within the whole Adirondack region (see
map figure 9). A fault whose total length in over 30 miles passes
along the western side of the valley where the mountain wall of
pre-Paleozoic rock (see figure 9) rises 1000 to 1500 feet, while the
Sea level
— Canajoharie Black River-Trenton [7-4 Little Falls
[o=sto moog
shale limesfones dolomife
Potsdam- Theresa xx Xx 5 X] Granitic
——| sandstone é-dolomite [x x] Syenite syenite
oa, Precambric HORIZONTAL SCALE VERTICAL SCALE
yi} rock 0 MiLE 1 ° MILE 's
Fic. 10 Detailed structure section across the valley at Wells, Hamilton
county. This represents a vertical slice through the earth’s crust at this
locality. The dolomite, sandstone, limestone and shale are Paleozoic strata.
Heavy vertical lines show positions of faults. (By W. J. M.)
eastern or valley side of the fault represents a portion of the
earth’s crust which has moved downward at least 2000 feet (figure
10). The Paleozoic strata in the valley were formerly at a level
corresponding nearly to the present mountain tops just to the west
of the fault. Having dropped down so near sea level, these strata,
now about 500 feet thick, have been protected against complete
removal by erosion to the present time. Another, though smaller,
fault bounds the valley on the east, so that the valley really repre-
sents a block of earth which has dropped down between two faults.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 55
Of course the topographic outlines have been notably modified by
weathering and erosion. This valley at Wells has been referred to
somewhat in detail because it so clearly illustrates the principles of
Adirondack faulting.
When were the faults developed? That at least some fracturing
occurred in Prepaleozoic time has been established, but, so far as
known, such faults have relatively little influence upon the existing
relief features. Also it is probable that fault movements took place
_ during the Paleozoic era, but if so the old fault cliffs or ridges must
have been practically obliterated by erosion during the Mesozoic
era concluding with the development of the great plain of erosion
already described. If so, how do we account for the present Adiron-
dack ridges and valleys which owe their existence chiefly to fault-
ing? Accompanying the uplift of the peneplain there was either
much faulting for the first time, or renewed faulting along old lines
of fracture, or, as a result of unequal erosion due to differences in
rock character on opposite sides of old faults, new cliffs or scraps
began to be produced. That much of the faulting actually dates
from the uplift of the peneplain, or possibly even later, is proved
by the existence of certain steep cliffs in perfectly homogeneous
rock-masses and by the distinct tilt of many of the fault blocks, both
of which features have been scarcely modified by erosion since
their development.
Cenozoic History not Including the Ice Age
Development of existing major relief features. The uplift of
the great peneplain was an event of prime importance for northern
New York because it literally furnishes us with the beginning of the
history of most of the principal existing relief features of the region.
Hence we reassert with emphasis that the chief topographic features
of the State have come into existence since the uplift of the pene-
plain because ‘they have been produced by the dissection of that
upraised surface. This dissection was largely the work of erosion,
though, as already explained, faulting produced notable topographic
effects in the eastern and southeastern Adirondacks. Also it should
be borne in mind that the central to east-central Adirondack area
stood out with many masses above the general peneplain level.
Since the uplift, however, this area has been deeply trenched and
made very rugged as we see it today. All the great valleys around
the Adirondacks —the St Lawrence, Champlain, Mohawk and
Black river —have been carved out of the upraised peneplain,
50 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
though faulting has no doubt been a notable factor in the produc-
tion of the Champlain valley. The numerous lakes, gorges and
waterfalls of the Adirondacks have all come into existence during
Cenozoic time, most of them since relatively late Cenozoic time.
During the Cenozoic era, still more of the Paleozoic strata which
rested upon the Prepaleozoic rocks and extended over the present’
borders of the Adirondacks were stripped off by erosion until the
present condition has been reached. This removal of Paleozoic
strata around the Adirondacks is still going on, thus gradually
enlarging the area of the very ancient Prepaleozoic rocks. The
little masses of Paleozoic strata well within the Adirondack borders
such as those at Wells, Schroon Lake, North River, etc., are merely
erosion remnants of the mantle of Paleozoic sediments which
formerly spread over all the southeastern Adirondack area.
Of much greater influence than the faulting in the production of
the present-day Adirondack relief features has been the difference
in character of the rock masses. Thus the relatively weaker Gren-
ville strata (especially limestone) have almost invariably been worn
down to form the valleys, while the harder and more resistant
anorthosite, granite and syenite have stood out better against the
weathering and erosion to form the mountains. It will be recalled
that the Grenville strata and the igneous rocks are very irregular or
“patchy” in their distribution. For this reason the valleys and
mountains have been carved out in a most irregular manner through-
out the Adirondack region except where the faulting has had a
notable influence. In many instances in the faulted region, streams
have cut relatively straight channels for greater or lesser distances
along the broken-rock fault zones. But by no means all the relief
has developed either as a result of differences of rock character or
faulting, because even in large masses of very homogeneous hard
rocks many streams have developed channels of varying size and
shape in a most irregular manner.
The evolution of drainage: Almost nothing is definitely known
about the positions of drainage lines in northern New York before
the Cenozoic era began. Since the uplift of the peneplain in the
late Mesozoic or early Cenozoic, however, the drainage history of
the Adirondacks is fairly known. As already pointed out, the
present Adirondack streams show a very marked tendency to
radiate from the central portion of the district. The Adirondack
region is now a broad, relatively low, domelike mass fully a hundred
miles across with altitudes commonly ranging from 1000 to several
thousand feet, the central to east-central portion being the highest.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 57
This domelike character of the Adirondacks has apparently been a
very persistent feature for many millions of years, or at least since
the beginning of the Paleozoic era, and this in spite of profound
erosion. It will be recalled that the interior of the region was a
large, low island in the midst of the early Paleozoic seas. Uplift of
northern New York toward the close of the Paleozoic era, and con-
sequent removal by erosion or much of the bordering Paleozoic strata,
no doubt renewed the prominence of the Adirondack dome. Next,
during the long time of the Mesozoic era, the region was worn down
to a fairly good peneplain except from the central to the east-
central portion. Then came the late Mesozoic or early Cenozoic
uplift of this peneplain, apparently with greatest elevation corres-
ponding roughly to the present north-northeast by south-southwest
main axis (see above) which extends across the Adirondack region.
Naturally the streams which began to operate upon this newly
upraised domelike surface flowed outward from the highest or
central to eastcentral Adirondack district. During the long Ceno-
zoic time, the weak Paleozoic strata were still further removed from
the sides of the ancient dome of the Adirondack (Prepaleozoic)
rock, thus accentuating it as a topographic feature and permitting
the streams to adjust themselves to a more and more perfect radia-
tion in all directions from the higher central portion. Certain im-
portant drainage changes have been brought about by the recent Ice
Age and these will be described below, but they do not seriously
affect the conclusions just reached regarding the drainage.
Immediately after the uplift of the peneplain, some of the
easterly headwaters of the Susquehanna river came out of the
southwestern Adirondack district. Among the evidences are the
following: The Mohawk valley had not then come into existence
the slope of the upraised peneplain surface was there southward;
and the numerous sources of the Susquehanna which now rise at
the very brink of the Mohawk valley on the south side strongly
suggest that these streams once started some miles farther north-
ward. Asa result of the development of the Mohawk valley, these
upper waters of the Susquehanna in the southern Adirondacks have
been captured and diverted into the Mohawk river.
The Great Ice Age
Ice extent and direction of movement. The Quaternary is the
last period of earth history and it still continues for it has led up to
the present-day conditions. This period was ushered in by the
spreading of vast ice sheets over much of northern North America
58 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
and Europe. This event takes rank as one of the most interesting
and remarkable occurrences of geological time.
Some of the proofs for the former presence of the great ice sheet
are the following: (1) polished and scratched rock surfaces which
are precisely like those produced by existing glaciers, and which
could not possibly have resulted from any other agency; (2) glacial
boulders called “ erratics” which are often somewhat rounded and
scratched, and which have often been transported many miles from
their parent ledges ; and (3) glacial deposits, including true moraines
(see below) and the widespread heterogeneous glacial débris, both
stratihed and unstratified, which is clearly ice transportated material
usually resting by sharp contact upon the bedrock.
An area of nearly 4,000,000 square miles of North America
was covered by ice at the time of maximum glaciation and also
there were three main centers of ice accumulation and dispersal,
namely, the Labradorean, Kewatin and Cordilleran. It was the
Labradorean ice sheet which spread southward to cover all of the
Adirondacks. The directions of flow of the ice have been determined
by noting the directions of the glacial scratches (so-called “ striae”).
When the Labradorean ice sheet spread out southward as far as
northern New York, the Adirondack mountains stood out as a
considerable obstacle in the path of the moving ice. Hence the
tendency was for the ice to divide into two currents or portions, one
of which passed southwestward up the low, broad St Lawrence
valley, and the other due southward through the deep, narrow Cham-
plain valley. As the ice kept crowding from the rear, part of the
St Lawrence ice lobe pushed into the Ontario basin, while another
portion pushed its way up the deep Black River valley and finally
into the Mohawk valley in central New York. At the same time the
Champlain ice lobe found its way into the Hudson valley and sent
a branch lobe westward up the Mohawk valley. The two Mohawk
lobes, the one from the west and the other from the east, met in
the Mohawk valley not far from Little Falls. As the ice sheet con-
tinued to push southward, all the lowlands of northern New York
were filled, and finally the whole Adirondack region was buried
under the ice. The highest, or central to east-central, Adirondacks
were the last to become submerged under the ice. The general
direction of movement at this time of greatest ice extent was south-
ward to southwestward with perhaps some undercurrents determined
by the larger topographic features.
The accompanying maps (figure 11) depict three important
stages in the retreat of the ice sheet from northern New York. It
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
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Fic. 11 Maps showing three stages in the recession of the
great ice sheet from New York State. Upper figure: the
Adirondack mountains completely buried under the ice; middle
figure: the Adirondacks largely freed from the ice; lower fig-
ure: the Adirondacks wholly freed from the ice. Note the
position of the large lake in the Black River valley; standing
water in the Hudson valley and in the Lake George depression;
and the outlet of the Great Lakes through the Mohawk valley.
(After H. L. Fairchild, from Tarr and Martin’s “College
Physiography,’ by permission of The Macmillan Company).
59
60 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
will be seen that the central Adirondacks, the last to be buried, were
the first to be freed from the ice, the much thicker ice in the sur-
rounding valleys requiring a longer time for melting. Taken in
reverse order, these maps in a general way show three stages in
the advance of the ice over New York State.
Ice erosion. Glacial ice, like flowing water, has very little erosive
effect upon rocks unless it is properly supplied with tools. When
flowing ice is shod with hard rock fragments, the power to erode is
often pronounced because the work of abrasion is mostly accom-
plished by. the rock fragments rather than by the ice itself. A little
search will reveal polished and scratched rock surfaces in the
Adirondacks, and the freshness and hardness of the surface rock
proves that the ice eroded off all the preglacial soil and rotten
rock and often more or less of the fresh rock. During the very long
preglacial time, rock decomposition must have progressed so far
that rotten rock, including soils, had accumulated to considerable
depths as is the case in the southern states today. Such soils are
called “residual”? because they are derived by the decomposition
of the very rocks upon which they rest. But now one rarely ever
sees rotten rock or residual soil in its original position in the
Adirondacks because such materials were nearly all scoured off by
the passage of the great ice plow, mixed up with other soils and
ground up rock materials and deposited elsewhere. Such are called
transported soils.
Ice shod with hard rock fragments, and flowing through deep,
comparatively narrow valleys of relatively soft rock, is particularly
powerful as an erosive agent; because the tools are supplied, the
work to be done is easy, and the increased depth of ice where
crowded into such a valley causes greater pressure on the bottom
and sides of the valley. Many of the valleys of northern New York
were thus favorably situated for ice erosion, as, for example, the
Champlain, St Lawrence and Black River valleys as well as many
of the north-south valleys of the Adirondacks.
Most of the Adirondack mountain peaks, especially the more
isolated ones, were thoroughly scraped off and rounded down to the
very fresh rock, while the favorably situated valleys were vigor-
ously glaciated by the removal of all the rotten rock and at least
some of the fresh rock, especially when this latter was comparatively
soft, Grenville limestone. Such phenomena are particularly well
exhibited in Warren county where the landscape is characterized by
numerous glaciated rock domes which rise conspicuously above the
valleys of weak Grenville. In some cases where the ice moved
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS : 61
directly across deep valleys, like that between Lake George village
and Warrensburg, the rotten rock to a considerable depth may still
be seen in its original place.
In conclusion we may say that, while many comparatively sma!l
local features were produced by ice erosion, the major topography
of the Adirondacks was essentially unchanged by ice erosion.
Local mountain glaciers. Certain mountainside valleys have
been notably modified by small so-called Alpine or valley glaciers
which existed either just prior to or just after the great Ice Age
in northern New York. On first thought it seems reasonable to
assume that such valley glaciers were lingering remnants of the
vast sheet of ice. But the absence of anything like distinct moraines
produced by such glaciers strongly argues for their existence just
before the Ice Age, such morainic deposits having been obliterated
by the passage of the great ice sheet. Excellent examples of valleys
once occupied and modified by local glaciers are the deep, nearly
U-shaped trenches down the eastern and northern sides of White-
face mountain and down the northern end of the Sentinel range,
all within the Lake Placid quadrangle.
Glacial deposits. The vast amount of débris transported by the
great ice sheet was carried either on its surface, or frozen within it
or pushed along under it. It was exceedingly heterogeneous material
ranging from the finest clay, through sand and gravel, to boulders of
many tons weight. The deposition of these materials as we now see
them took place during both the advance and the retreat of the ice,
but chiefly during the retreat. Most of the deposits made during
the ice advance were obliterated by ice erosion, but those formed
during the ice retreat have been left intact except for the small
amount of postglacial erosion.
Whenever, during the great general retreat, the ice front remained
stationary for some time because the forward motion of the ice was
just counterbalanced by the melting, all the ice reaching the margin
-dropped its load of débris to build up a terminal moraine. This is
usually a distinct ridge of low hills consisting of very heterogeneous,
‘mostly unstratified, débris. Such moraines are not commonly well
developed in the Adirondacks.
A very extensive glacial deposit, called the ground moraine, 1s
-simply the heterogeneous, typically unstratified débris from the
bottom of the ice which was deposited mostly during the melting
and retreat of the ice. When it is mostly very fine material with
1 Prof. D. W. Johnson has recently noted a moraine in one of the val-
~Jeys of Mt. Whiteface and he argues that it was produced by a local glacier
-which existed after the retreat of the great ice sheet.
a
62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
pebbles or boulders scattered through its mass, it is known as boulder
clay or till. The pebbles or boulders of the till are commonly faceted
and striated as a result of having been rubbed against underlying
rock formations. Such ground moraine deposits are exceeding!ty
widespread throughout the Adirondacks.
An interesting type of glacial deposit is the drumlin which is, in
reality, only a low, rounded hill of ground moraine material or till.
These are practically unknown in the Adirondacks, though some
excellent examples occur on the southern border in the vicinity cf
Gloversville (Fulton county).
Glacial boulders, or so-called erratics, have already been referred
to. They are simply blocks of rocks or boulders from the top of the
ice or within it which have been left strewn over the country as a
result of the melting of the ice. They vary in size from snia'l
pebbles to those of many tons weight and are naturally most com
monly derived from the harder rock formations. Erratics are very
numerous throughout the Adirondacks. They are most numerous.
on the lower lands, though by no means rare on the mountains.
Sometimes they have been left stranded in remarkably balanced
positions. The writer has frequently noted boulders and pebbles of
Potsdam (Cambrian) sandstone, derived from the St Lawrence
valley, at altitudes. of from 3000 to 4000 feet in the central and east-
centra! Adirondacks. Boulders of anorthosite from Essex county
are not rare at the southern border of the Adirondacks.
Another type of glacial deposit in the low hill or hillock form is.
the kame which, in contrast with the drumlin, always consists of
stratified (water-laid) material.- Kames are seldom as much as 200.
feet high, and typically they have nearly circular bases though fre-
quently they are very irregular in shape. At times they exist as.
isolated hills or in small groups, but often they are associated with
the unstratified morainic deposits. They were formed by débris--
laden streams emerging from the margin of the ice, the water some-.
times having risen like great fountains because of pressure. Such
deposits are now in process of formation in Alaska. Kames are
very common in the Adirondacks.
The esker also consists of stratified glacial material, but it is in
the form of a low, winding ridge formed near the ice margin either
by subglacial streams or in cracks in the ice. Eskers may occasion-.
allv be seen in the Adirondacks, an exceptionally fine one having a
highway at its summit in Thirty-four marsh just east of Blue Moun-.
tain lake. Another fine one, about a mile long, lies just west of-
-Schroon Lake village.
‘O91 JY} AQ JJ] SEM
ji duis uado pyds Useq sey jJapynoq ay} (,,JUIOL,, pa[]vo-Os) IANjJoORsy [VANJvU B GUOTR J9}eM JO GUIZIIIJ PUL SULIOYIeAM
Oo} ond ‘“Ysiy jooy Sz pur ‘apim yoo} Zz ‘suo, Jooy CE AyToyeu IxXO1dde 918 SUOISUDUIp sj] ‘QSPo] JUo1Rd Sjt WOT, Jsvo] 4e
SO[IU OUIOS PaltIvVd Udeq SPY JI pu ‘ayTsoyJsJOUR SI YOO aYT, “AJUNOD Nossy “APN YIo'] Av9u sapynod [erovyps Jeois vy
oyoyd “WOTTON
ideo BIE IS
ae
es ys
OW Sd
we
Plate 2r.
H, P. Cushing, Photo.
Bluff produced in kame sand ridge at Moody, Tupper Lake shore. Cross-
bedding shows midway at the top.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 63
Like glacial erosion, the deposition of glacial materials has not
changed the major topographic features of northern New York.
The general tendency of ice deposits has been partially to fill depres-
sions and thus to diminish the ruggedness of the relief.
Origin of the lakes. The numerous Adirondack lakes constitute
one of the most striking differences between the geography of the
present and that of preglacial time. Before the Ice Age practically
none of the lakes was in existence, the bodies of water having been
produced either directly or indirectly by glacial action. Among the
methods of lake basin formation were building dams of glacial débris
across oid river channels or valleys; ice erosion; and the production
of depressions by irregular accumulation of glacial débris or by the
melting of large blocks of ice which were more or less submerged
under glacial! débris.
Most of the lakes were formed by dams of glacial material thrown
across valleys. It is quite the rule to find the outlets of these lakes
flowing through loose materials of this sort. By ice erosion, many
of the favorably situated valleys were somewhat modified, but there
are few, if any, lake basins produced wholly by that process. There
are many examples of ponds and small lakes which occupy depres-
sions below the general leve! of certain sand flats, the sands having
been deposited in glacial lakes during the retreat of the ice, and the
depressions resulted from the subsequent melting of blocks of ice
which were surrounded by the sand deposits. Numerous examples
of such ponds occur within the St Regis quadrangle and on the great
sand plain along the eastern side of the Black River valiey.
Sometimes small lakes or ponds are situated well up on high
mountains. Examples are on Crane mountain (North Creek quad-
rangle) at 2620 feet; Morgan pond on Wilmington mountain (Lake
Placid quadrangle) at 3020 feet; on the mountain 114 miles due
north of Indian pass (Santanoni quadrangle) at 3550 feet; and the
Wall Face ponds 1 mile northwest of the same Indian pass at 3040
feet. Perhaps highest of all is Lake Tear, sometimes called Lake
Tear of the Clouds, at 4300 feet close to the divide between Mt
Marcy and Mt Skylight. This is one of the sources of the Hudson
river.
Many of the Adirondack lakes were formerly larger, as proved
by delta deposits above the present lake levels. Two examples which
have recently come under the writer’s observation are Schroon lake
and Piseco lake. The water of Schroon lake was once fully 70 feet
higher when it extended some 8 or 10 miles farther up the Schroon
valley with an arm reaching over the area of the present Paradox
64 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
lake, and also some 6 or 8 miles southward covering all the lowland
around Chestertown and an arm extending over the area of the
present Brant lake. Piseco lake was at one time 20 feet higher,
when it reached several miles farther northward. Both of these
lakes lie in valleys which are largely due to faulting as explained
above. The waters of both are now held up by dams of loose
glacial débris across the south ends.
Lake George is justly famous because, from the standpoint of
length and depth in proportion to width, no other lake in the State
occupies such a remarkable valley. This depression has been pro-
duced by a combination of faulting and erosion. There was a pre-
Glacial divide at the present location of the “ Narrows.” This
divide may have been considerably lowered by ice erosion when the
deep, narrow body of ice plowed its way through the valley. The
waters are now held up by glacial deposits at each end.
Lake Placid occupies the bottom of an irregular preglacial valley.
The lake has been formed by heavy glacial deposits across the valley
on the south. The very low neck of land separating it from Mirror
lake is also glacial material.
The Saranac lakes, Big Tupper lake and Cranberry lake are large
bodies of water of very irregular shape in shallow basins resulting
from ,the accumulation of glacial débris across broad, preglacial
valleys.
Raquette lake, with its exceedingly irregular shore line, lies in
the bottom of a broad, shallow preglacial valley or rather portions
of several adjacent valleys. Heavy glacial deposits on the south
act as a dam. :
Both Long lake and Indian lake, two fine examples of the linear
type of lake, lie in the bottoms of very straight valleys which have
been carved out by erosion along fault zones of weak rock. Much
of the present extent of Indian lake is due to an artificial dam across
the northern end.
The Fulton chain of lakes are the result of irregular damming of
prominent preglacial stream valleys by glacial débris.
Blue Mountain lake, Lake Pleasant and Sacandaga lake all lie in
the bottoms of valleys which appear to have been carved out of
relatively weak Grenville strata, the waters being held up by glacial
débris dams. A low, narrow neck of glacial material serves to
separate Lake Pleasant and Sacandaga lake.
Extinct lakes. Hundreds of extinct glacial lakes are known to
be scattered throughout the Adirondacks. Some of these existed
only during the time of the ice retreat where the ice acted as dams
across valleys, while others existed for a greater or lesser time after
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 65
the Ice Age. The locations of many such extinct lakes are easily
recognized by the more or less well-preserved, typical, flat-topped
delta deposits of stratified sands, gravels and clays. Such flat-topped
deposits, always free from boulders and at concordant altitudes in
the valleys, mark the former lake levels. The sites of many other
extinct lakes are now marked by flat meadow lands or swanipy areas,
the lakes having been filled by sediments or plant accumulations or
by both. Swamps and meadowlands of this sort are exceedingly
common throughout the Adirondacks, and constitute one of the
characteristic features of the region.
Perhaps the finest example of a large, wholly extinct glacial lake in
the State has been called Black lake which occupied a good portion
of the bottom of the Black River valley in the western side of the
Adirondacks. The water was held up by a wall of ice during the
retreat of the great ice sheet (see figure 11). The former presence
of this lake, which covered many square miles, is conclusively
proved by the extensive development of delta sand plains on the
eastern side of the valley, the delta materials (chiefly sand and
gravel) having been brought into the lake by streams loaded with
débris from the newly ice-freed Adirondacks. These delta deposits
became more or less merged and they now. form an extensive sand
plain over 30 miles long, several miles wide and fully 200 feet
thick on the steep western side (figure 12).
Pstesace| Glacial lake de/ta deposit FL] 7renfon § simestone
Oswego sandstone Femelia-Lowville /inestore
Lorraine shale & sandsfone =| Feleozorc strata (concealed)
F2=] Utica shele [ZN] Pecambrie rocks
Fic. 12 East-west section across the Black River valley, 2/2 miles north
of Lyons Falls, showing the terraced character of the Paleozoic strata and
their relations to the Adirondack rocks. On the east side, the position of
the glacial lake delta deposit is shown. Length of section 12% miles. Vertical
scale greatly exaggerated. (By W. J. M.)
Another fine example of a large extinct lake has been called
Glacial Lake Sacandaga. It covered many square miles of the
bottom of the broad valley in which Johnstown, Gloversville and
66 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
Northville are located. During the general ice retreat, but when the
Mohawk valley lobe of ice was still present, morainic deposits
accumulated along the ice margin across the mouth of the valley
thus ponding the waters over the valley bottom and causing the
Sacandaga river to find an outlet over the low divide at Conkling-
ville. Perfect delta sand plains may now be seen at approximately
780 feet above sea level. This lake persisted for a good while after
the disappearance of the ice because of the effective morainic dam,
and even today in the spring of the year a wide swamp becomes
flooded. The lake was drained by cutting down the outlet at Conk-
lingville. Construction of the proposed Sacandaga reservoir, by
means of a dam at Conklingville, would almost exactly restore this
former glacial lake.
Great terraces and sand flats show the former existence of a large
body of water in the valley around Corinth (Saratoga county), and
another in the vicinity of Warrensburg (Warren county).
The former extensive lake, called Glacial Lake Pottersville, of
which Schroon, Brant and Paradox lakes are remnants, has already
been described. Numerous excellent delta sand flats mark the old
lake level. Construction of the Schroon lake reservoir, as proposed
by the State, would almost exactly restore this great lake.
A well-defined glacial lake filled the bottom of the valley at Wells
(Hamilton county).
In the northeastern Adirondacks there were, according to Mr fete
L. Alling, several extensive high-water lakes, the principal ones
having been in the Saranac lakes valley with water levels ranging
from 1600 to 1450 feet (present altitudes) ; in the broad valley south
and southeast of Lake Placid with water levels from 1875 to 1800
feet ; and in the broad valley around Wilmington with waters at from
1150 to 1100 feet.
The above-described extinct lakes are only some of the more
important ones which have been studied in the Adirondack region.
Drainage changes due to glaciation. Drainage changes due to
the Ice Age are common in the Adirondacks, though many of these
have not yet been worked out in detail. Some of the more promi-
nent changes which have been studied will be briefly described. As
a result of long preglacial erosion, it is certain that deep, narrow
gorges and waterfalls must have been very rare if present at all.
Like lakes, such features are ephemeral because, under our con-
ditions of climate, gorges soon (geologically) widen at the top, and
waterfalls disappear by retreat or by wearing away the hard rock
aver which they fall.
SS a er ae
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
Es
———
iy) Re YS
Glacial Lake Pottersville.
(0) 2 5
Scale of Miles.
_ Fic. 13 Sketch map to show the extent of Glacial Lake Pottersville
in Warren and Essex counties during the waning of the ice sheet from
the Adirondack region. (By W. f. M.)
68 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
In the southeastern Adirondacks, it is no exaggeration to say that
the larger drainage features have been revolutionized as a result of
glaciation. The accompanying sketch map (figure 14) gives a fair
idea of the changes, but the interested reader should also refer to the
topographic maps of the region. At the southeastern border of the
Adirondacks, two prominent valleys extend southward for some
miles, one from Northville toward Gloversville, and the other from
Corinth toward Saratoga Springs. Each valley is underlain with
Paleozoic strata and each is bounded on east and west by highlands
of hard prepaleozoic rocks. It is certain that these valleys contained
normal preglacial rivers which flowed southward out of the moun-
tains. Now, however, the Sacandaga river enters the north end of the
first-named valley only to make a very sharp turn back on its course
to flow across the mountains and into the Hudson river at Luzerne.
A preglacial divide was located at Conklingville as shown by the
gorge there; the perfectly graded condition of the valley bottom
westward from that place; and the increasing width of the valley
westward. This remarkable deflection of the river was caused by
the building of a broad morainic blockade across the valley through
Gloversville and Broadalbin as already explained. For a long time
a lake occupied the valley bottom just north of the blockade dam.
The Hudson river now flows through a gorge fully a thousand feet
deep just north of Stony Creek station, and thence to the north end
of the prominent Paleozoic rock valley at Corinth where it turns
abruptly to the northeast to flow across the Luzerne mountain ridge.
The preglacial Hudson certainly did not flow through the Stony
Creek gorge, but rather, where the gorge now is, there was an import-
ant divide. The Hudson and Schroon rivers both make anomalous
turns to the southwest and join to flow through a highland region of
hard rocks instead of continuing southeastward through one of the
low passages in the vicinity of Warrensburg and into the Lake
George basin as shown on the map. The now extinct Luzerne river
started on the Stony Creek divide, flowed southward past Corinth
and thence through the broad, low Paleozoic rock valley to the west
of Saratoga Springs. The cause of the passage of the Hudson over
the Stony Creek divide was due chiefly to the fact that during the ice
retreat the glacial lobe in the Lake George basin forced the river to
take a more westerly course where the channel was cut down deep
enough so that the river kept that course even after the melting of
the ice. The deflection of the river over the Luzerne mountain
divide was caused by heavy glacial accumulation in the valley at
Corinth.
= 4
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 69
Schuyle ile
A 1 © . y
: Bicadaloin § a Sarataga ane) Os g
ca : a
; oe P, G
v ra
°
of ejea Y
= 19
SCALE © PREGLACIAL STREAMS —— — —
MILES
Fic. 14 Sketch of the southeastern Adirondack region, show-
ing tre relation of the preglacia! drainage to that of the present.
Preglaeial courses shown only where essentially different from
present streams. (By W. J. M.)
70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
Other conspicuous drainage changes have taken place in the
heart of the Adirondacks. Before the Ice Age the basins
now occupied by Blue Mountain and Eagle lakes quite cer-
tainly drained eastward into the Hudson river by way of Rock river
instead of westward as at present through Raquette lake and thence
northward into the St Lawrence. Evidence in support of this view
is twofold, namely, the rock barrier at the western end of Utowana
lake and the loose glacial débris dam at the eastern end of Blue
Mountain lake. Loose material only separates Utowana and Eagle
lakes. Thirty-four marsh and Rock river come to within a half
mile of Blue Mountain lake and they are about 20 feet lower than
the lake surface, the intervening space being occupied by loose sands
and gravels. It would be a simple matter, by shoveling out a trench
not over 20 feet deep, to cause Blue Mountain and Eagle lakes to
drain eastward. Years ago such an attempt was made but stopped ~
by law. Thus the movement of water here must have been eastward
in preglacial time. : |
That the preglacial drainage through the Utowana lake basin
passed westward into the basin now occupied by Raquette lake is
certain, there being only loose material across the western end of
Utowana lake. From the Raquette lake basin the preglacial drain-
age was almost certainly southwestward by way of the valleys now
occupied by the Fulton chain of lakes. A maximum thickness of
less than 100 feet of glacial deposits just north of Eighth lake is
all that is necessary to account for the blockade of the southwesterly
preglacial channel with resultant ponding of the waters to ferm
Raquette lake. Further evidence for the southwestward course lies
in the fact that between Forked lake and Long lake, Raquette river
descends more than 100 feet in about 3 miles, mostly by a series of
cascades over rock ledges which extend across the narrow channel.
Apparently a preglacial divide was situated not far below what
is now the outlet of Forked lake, the drift deposits southwest of
Raquette lake being sufficient to cause the ponded waters of Raquette ©
and Forked lakes to overflow this divide.
The depression now occupied by Long lake was certainly a pre-
glacial stream channel, and there is also strong evidence that the
drainage from this channel passed eastward into the Hudson river
rather than northward by way of Raquette river and into the St
Lawrence as at present. At Raquette falls, on the river a few miles
below the outlet of Long lake, there was a divide with a north-
flowing and a south-flowing stream from it. Thus, in preglacial
time two streams drained into the depression now occupied by Long
Plate 22
Photograph loaned by J. D. Washer
High Falls of the West Branch Ausable river near Wilmington Notch,
Essex county. Height of falls, 50 feet. The river here follows a post-
glacial course along a fault zone of weakness in the rock.
Plate 23
~
~ a ee i
Courtesy of A, Alletag, New York City
The Flume —a gorge through which flows the West Branch of Ausable
river 2 miles southwest of Wilmington, Essex county. This gorge has been
formed since the Ice Age.
a NE
Se eC ~
el ai ee
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS fr
lake, one north-flowing from the divide near the outlet of Forked
lake, and the other. south-flowing from the divide at Raquette
falls. These streams met to flow eastward into the Hudson river, as
Professor Cushing has suggested, either through the Sixmile-Fishing
Brook valley in the northeastern part of the Blue Mountain quad-
rangle, or through the Catlin Lake-Round Pond valley in the
southeastern part of the Long Lake quadrangle. In the writer’s
opinion the best evidence favors the latter channel. Years ago an
attempt was actually made to cut a trench through this divide in
order to drain Long lake into the Hudson river.
The famous Ausable chasm in Clinton county is a fine illustration
of a narrow gorge cut 200 feet deep into Potsdam sandstone by
the Ausable river since the Ice Age. The river was deflected from
its preglacial channel by a heavy blockade of glacial débris and
forced to erode this new channel.
In the Lake Placid quadrangle there is a remarkable gorge known
as the Wilmington notch through which flows the West branch of
the Ausable river. The south wall of the gorge rises precipitously
600 to 800 feet, while the north wall is more than 1500 feet high
and very steep. In preglacial time there was a low divide instead
of the notch, with a south-flowing and a north-flowing stream from
it. The big glacial lake (see above) which occupied the valley south
and southeast of Lake Placid had its waters (known as upper
Lake Newman during an earlier stage) held up by the northward
retreating ice sheet whose front still filled the Wilmington notch.
Further retreat of the ice permitted a lower stage of Lake Newman
to connect through the notch with waters in the Wilmington and
Keene valleys. During this stage the connecting water flowed
southwestward through the notch and into a great lake in the
Saranac Lakes valley. With still further retreat of the ice, Lake
Newman disappeared ; the standing water in the Wilmington valley
(Wilmington lake) discharged eastward; and the drainage of that
portion of the basin of Lake Newman south and southeast of Lake
Placid, where much sediment had accumulated, was northeastward
as a stream flowing through the Wilmington notch. Thus was
inaugurated the flow, through the notch, of the present stream
which, aided by the broken up character of the rocks due to fault-
ing and excessive jointing, has cut a considerable gorge since the
Ice Age.
Duration of the Ice Age and time since. Estimates of the dura-
tion of the Glacial epoch by the most able students of the subject
vary from 500,000 to 1,500,000 years. Such estimates are based
72 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
upon amount of erosion and weathering of the earlier glacial
deposits in the Mississippi valley, times necessary for the various
advances and retreats of the various ice sheets, etc. Thus, from the
standpoint of geological history, the Ice Age was of short duration,
but, from the standpoint of human history, it was very long.
Estimates of the length of time since the close of the Ice Age
are perhaps more satisfactory, though it must be remembered that
the close of the Ice Age was not the same for all places. The ice
retreated northward very slowly and when, for example, southern
New York was free from ice, northern New York was still in the
Ice Age. The best estimates for northern New York are based
upon the rate of recession of Niagara Falls. The falls came into
existence by the plunge of the newly formed river over the lme-
stone cliff at Lewiston, 7 miles below the present falls, immediately
after the melting of the ice sheet from that locality. Careful study
of all the data has led a number of students of the subject to give
estimates of from 8000 to 50,000 years since the ice left the Niagara
region, an average being about 25,000 years. Approximately, then,
the ice disappeared from the Adirondacks about 20,000 to 30,000
years ago. When we consider the slight amount of weathering
and erosion of the latest glacial materials, we are also forced to
conclude that the time since the close of the Ice Age in northern
New York is to be measured only by some thousands of years. The
kames, lake deltas, eskers and moraines have generally been very
little affected by erosion since their formation.
Most recent subsidence and elevation. At about the beginning
of the Glacial epoch the region of New York State. especially along
the eastern side, was much higher than it is today, positive proof
for this being afforded by the submerged Hudson river channel
which must have been cut when the land was higher. Toward the
close of the Ice Age and shortly after the land had subsided to a
level even lower than that of today. It was during this time of
subsidence that the lower Hudson and St Lawrence channels were
submerged and the sea coast was transferred to more nearly its
present position. But the land was enough lower than now to
allow a narrow arm of the sea (estuary) to extend through the
Hudson and Champlain valleys to join a broad arm of the sea which
reached up the St Lawrence valley and probably even into the
Ontario basin (see figure 15). Beaches, sometimes containing
marine shells and bones of walruses and whales, have been found at
altitudes of about 400 feet near the southern end of Lake Champlain
and 500 feet or more at its northern end. The present altitudes of
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 73
these tide-water beach deposits show how much lower the land was
during the time of greatest submergence, and that the subsidence
was most toward the north.
The most recent movement of the earth’s crust over the area of
northern New York was the very recent gradual elevation which
expelled the tide waters and left the land at its present altitude.
The increasing altitudes of the beaches northward prove that the
greatest upward movement was on the north. This recent elevation
is also clearly registered by the delta sand plains which were formed
in the larger glacial lakes of northern New York as, for example,
Black lake and Lake Pottersville already described. The delta
deposits of these extinct lakes gradually increase in altitude several
feet a mile northward.
=
a
a
no
a
>)
FT WAYNE
Fic. 15 The time of the Nipissing Great Lakes and Champlain submer-
gence. The shaded area on the east was covered by sea water.
(After F. B. Taylor)
Wes NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
HUMAN HISTORY AND INDUSTRIES
The Indians
Before the coming of the white man, northern New York was
occupied’ solely by Indians. There is no evidence, however, that
the Adirondack wilderness ever had many permanent Indian settle-
ments. Doubtless there were a few more or less well-defined trails
through the wilderness, but the great Indian traffic ways between
East and West, and North and South, were the low valleys sur-
rounding the Adirondacks.
The Indians which occupied northern, central and much of west-
ern New York were known to the French as the “ Iroquois,” to the
English as the “ Five Nations,” and they were called by themselves
“Ho-de-no-sau-nee’’ meaning the “ People of the Long House.”
The Five Nations constituted an Indian league or confederacy which
- became very powerful. Comprising the nations of the league were
the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, with
rather definite property lines separating them. The Mohawks
claimed much of the Mohawk valley and all the Adirondack region
except a little of the western side which latter came within the ter-
ritory of the Oneidas. A Canadian tribe of Algonquin descent,
however, also claimed the northern portion of the Great Wilder-
ness which slopes off toward the St Lawrence river. This
Canadian tribe was derisively known to the Iroquois as the “Adiron-
dacks ” meaning “Tree-eaters.” The disputed territory was very
bloody battleground according to old Indian traditions.
As Sylvester has said: “Among all the Indians of the New World,
there were none so politic and intelligent, none so fierce and brave,
none with so many germs of heroic virtues mingled with their
savage vices, as the true Iroquois — the people of the Five Nations.
They were a terror to all the surrounding tribes, whether of their
own or of Algonquin speech. In 1650 they overran the country of
the Hurons; in 1651 they destroyed the Neutral Nation (on the
west) ; in 1654 they exterminated the Eries (on the west) ; in 1672
they conquered the Andastes (on the south) and reduced them to
the most abject submission. They followed the warpath, and their
war cry was heard westward to the Mississippi, and southward to
the great gulf. The New England nations, as well as the river tribes
along the Hudson, whose warriors trembled at the name of Mohawk,
all paid them tribute. The poor Montagnais on the far-off Saguenay
would start from their midnight sleep, and run terror-stricken from
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 75
their wigwams into the forest when dreaming of the dreadful
Iroquois. They were truly the conquerors of the New World, and
were justly styled ‘the Romans of the West.’ ” +
In 1715 the Tuscaroras of the Carolinas joined the Iroquois who
then were known as the “ Six Nations.”
The Adirondack wilderness was one of the greatest of the Indian
hunting grounds and called by the Iroquois “ Couch-sach-ra-ge. ’
On Pownal’s map of the northern British colonies in 1776, the fol-
lowing explanation is written across that portion representing the
Great Northern Wilderness: “ This Vast Tract of Land, which is
the Antient Couchsachrage, one of the Four Beaver Hunting
Countries of the Six Nations, is not yet Surveyed.” The northern
portion of the wilderness was much resorted to by hunting bands of
the Adirondack tribes. Old maps show two Indian villages there,
probably mostly occupied only during the summer season. One of
these was in the vicinity of North Elba just south of Lake Placid,
and the other near the Indian carry between Upper Saranac lake and
the Raquette river. Traces of this latter village may yet be seen.
Early White Settlers
John Brown’s tract. In 1794, James Greenleaf of New York
purchased a tract of land containing 210,000 acres on the western
slope of the Adirondacks extending from northwestern Hamilton
county across northern Herkimer county and into Lewis county.
Greenleaf soon mortgaged the property, and in 1798 John Brown
[not the John Brown of Harper’s Ferry fame] bought the whole
tract for $33,000 at a mortgage sale. In 1799 Brown went to his
possessions, made some improvements and established the family
of one of his agents on the property. But in 1803 Brown died and
the tract was deserted.
About 1812 Herreshoff, who married John Brown’s daughter,
began a settlement on the tract. “He cleared over two thousand
acres, built thirty or forty new buildings, drove in cattle and a
flock of three hundred merino sheep. He built a forge and worked
a mine of iron ore. He spent his own fortune there and all the
money that he could borrow from his friends. But the rugged
old wilderness would not be subdued. When he entered the forest
he made this declaration to a friend: ‘I will settle the tract or settle
myself.’ He settled himself” (N. B. Sylvester). In 1819, utterly
1N. B. Sylvester. Northern New York and the Adirondack Wilderness, 1872,
p: 17-18;
76 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
discouraged, he killed himself, and the settlement was deserted.
Nathaniel Foster and’ his family lived in the Herreshoff settlement
from 1832 for a few years. In 1837 Otis Arnold moved in and
raised a large family there.
Number Four, on Beaver lake through which Beaver river flows, .
is situated in the western part of John Brown’s tract, and it is one
of the oldest permanent settlements in the Great Wilderness. The
first fishing party visited the locality in 1818, and in 1820 Ephraim
Craft made a clearing there as first settler. Through efforts of Gov-
ernor Francis in 1822, ten families settled at Number Four. Many
improvements were made, and by 1832 there were seventy-five
settlers. But climate, soil and distant markets were against them,
so that by 1853 only three families remained.
About 1820, Daniel Smith settled at Stillwater, 12 miles up the
river from Number Four. In 1830 he moved still farther up the
river to settle at a lake now known as Lake Lila (formerly Smith’s
lake). He lived a wild hermit’s life there for fifteen years.
Lake Bonaparte. Early in the nineteenth century, Count de
Chaumont owned several hundred thousand acres in northern New
York. In 1815, Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Naples and of
Spain and brother of the famous Napoleon, purchased of the Count
de Chaumont over 150,000 acres on the western side of the Adiron-
dacks. After his flight to America, Joseph Bonaparte lived in
splendor near Bordentown, N. J. In 1828 he built a hunting lodge
on Lake Bonaparte within his forest possessions. For several
summers he made trips to his property. According to Sylvester:
“He went in great state, accompanied by a large retinue of friends
and attendants. . . . When on his way, he cut a road through
the forest and often went in to his lake in his coach drawn by six
horses, with great pomp and ceremony. . . . Upon these excur-
sions he was often accompanied by the friends of his better days,
who, like himself, were then in exile. Sometimes in going and
returning, he would stop by the wayside to dine under the shade
of the primeval pines, and his sumptuous repasts were served on
golden dishes with regal splendor.” In 1835 he sold his wilderness
property.
North Elba and John Brown of Ossawattamie. The vicinity of
the present village of North Elba, a few miles south of Lake
Placid, has an interesting history. For many years, until the close
of colonial days, Adirondack Indian hunting parties made summer
homes in that broad valley between the mountains.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS Tih
Very early in the nineteenth century a number of white families
settled in this valley, in the far-off dense wilderness. They called
the valley the “ Plains of Abraham.”
In 1810, McIntyre and several friends from Albany built the
North Elba Iron Works which was operated rather unsuccessfully
for sixteen years.
But the early settlers had no legal right to their lands, and in
1840 a land speculator forced them out of their homes. Very shortly
afterward, Gerrit Smith bought a large tract of land, including
North Elba and the Plains of Abraham. His purpose was to settle
the lands with free colored people, offering each family forty acres
for encouragement. In 1849 Smith made a present of 350 acres
to John Brown of Ossawattamie. This land lay on the opposite
(western) side of the Ausable river from North Elba. Enthusiastic
with the idea of a negro colony, John Brown moved his family into
the wilderness. With the help of colored people, he made many
improvements in the mountain hamlet. He purposed to make it a
home for the persecuted black people, but his colonization scheme
was a failure. Though wild in spirit, John Brown was very
religious, and had visions of great armies which were to march out
to free the slaves. When the Kansas slavery troubles started, he
and his sons soon got into the thickest of the fight. So, for nearly
ten years or until his execution in 1859, he spent comparatively little
_ time at his Adirondack home. In 1859 he made his famous attempt
to free the slaves by force of arms. Failing in his attempt to
capture the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, he was cap-
tured and sentenced to death. Sylvester quotes a writer in “Old
and New ” for September 1870, as follows: “ The house is unpainted -
and plain, though equal to the ordinary farmhouses of the region.
It stands well up the hills, separated from the wilderness by a few
cleared fields, commanding a majestic view of the mountain world.
A few rods in front, a huge boulder, surrounded by a plain board
fence, is the fit monument of the fierce old apostle of liberty. At
its foot is the grave. The headstone was brought from an old
graveyard in New England, where it stood over the grave of his
father, Captain John Brown, who died in New York in 1776. The
whole stone is covered with the family inscriptions. . . . Above
the little grassy inclosure towers the mighty rock, almost as high
as the house, and on its summit is cut in massive granite characters
the inscription ‘ John Brown, 1859.’ Standing on top of this monu-
mental rock, for the first time I felt that I comprehended the char-
78 NEW YORE STATE MUSEUM
acter of the man whose name it commemorates. I could well under-
stand how such a man, formed in the mold of the old Scotch Cove-
nanters and English Puritans, brooding over the horrors of slavery,
foreseeing the impending struggle for liberty, maddened by the
murder of his son and friends in Kansas, with the mighty northern
hills looking down upon him, the rush of strong rivers, and the
songs of resounding tempests, and the mystery of the illimitable
wilderness all about him, should easily come to think himself inspired
to descend like a mountain torrent, and sweep the black curse from
out the land. I reverently raised my hat, and sung, “ John Brown’s
body lies a-mouldering in the grave; his soul goes marching on.’ ”
The John Brown farm is now owned and kept up by the State of
New York.
Mines and Quarries.
Adirondack village and Iron Works. One of the most interest-
ing and dramatic chapters in the history of the Adirondacks is that
dealing with Adirondack village and the Iron Works. S. R. Stod-
dard in “ The Adirondack” says: “The history of the Adirondack
(village) is brief and sad. Messrs. Henderson, McMartin and McIn-
tyre, who, in 1826, owned and operated iron works at North Elba,
were shown a piece of ore of remarkable purity by an Indian, which,
he said, came from a place where ‘water run over dam, me find
plenty all same.” The services of the Indian were secured at once,
at the rate of two shillings and what tobacco he could use per day,
to conduct them to the place spoken of, where they found, as he had
said, where the water literally poured over an iron dam. A tract
of land embracing the principal. ore beds in that vicinity was
promptly secured, forges built, and the road cut from the lower
works to Lake Champlain. But the expense of transportation to
market swallowed up all the profits and the enterprise proved a
financial fatlure. The work, however, was persevered in until the
death of Mr Henderson, who was killed in 1845 by the accidental _
discharge of his pistol.” Three years after his death the iron works
were abandoned. .
Another blast furnace was installed in 1853 but operated only
till 1856. A few years ago, after an idleness of nearly sixty years,
some thousands of tons of ore were taken out and shipped, via
North Creek to the Port Henry blast furnaces in Essex county.
Whether mining of the ore is now being carried on, the writer does
not know. It is magnetic iron ore and the deposits are extensive.
1R. S. Stoddard. The Adirondacks, 1893, p. 176-77.
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 79
Other iron mines. Aside from the locality just described, there
are many places where magnetic iron ores have been more or less
mined during the last one hundred years, but only the more import-
ant ones are considered.
The greatest iron mines in New York State are in the vicinity of
Port Henry, Essex county. Of these the oldest is what is now
called the Cheever mine (north of Port Henry) which was first
worked late in the eighteenth century. But still greater ore deposits,
known as early as 1835-40, are at Mineville, 6 miles northwest of
Port Henry, where two companies own property. All the mines
mentioned are now in operation, their total production to date being
no less than 25,000,000 tons. The ores are crushed and then con-
centrated by a magnetic separation process. They are very pure and
of high grade. Approximately 1,000,000 tons a year are now taken
out.
In the vicinity of Hammondville, Essex county, are other con-
siderable iron ore mines, the first of which was worked in 1824.
These mines were most active from 1873 to 1890, ceasing to operate
in 1893. About 2,000,000 tons of ore have been taken out.
In southern Clinton county (near Ausable Forks) there are several
magnetic iron ore deposits, especially the Arnold Hill and Palmer
Hill mines, the former having been intermittently worked from 1806
to 1906, and the latter between 1825 and 1890. Altogether about
2,000,000 tons of ore have been removed.
The Lyon Mountain magnetic iron ore mines are situated near
Dannemora in Clinton county. Mining began there in 1871, and
still continues very actively. The ores are extensive and of high
grade. Approximately 4,000,000 tons of ore have been mined.
Though early known, systematic operations did not begin at the
Benson Mines in southern St Lawrence county till 1889. Work has
been rather intermittent since then. Several hundred thousand tons
of ore have been removed.
Graphite mines. As already stated, flakes of graphite (so-called
“black lead”) are of common occurence in certain strata of Gren-
ville age. At several localities much graphite has been mined.
By far the most important mine is that owned and now operated
by the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company at the village of Graphite
in Warren county. A hard quartzite rock, distinctly stratified in
relatively thin layers, contains the graphite. This rock is mined by
underground methods, crushed, and the flakes of graphite separated
by mechanical means. This is one of the most important graphite
J} es eee ee eeV3an~
8o NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
mines in America, and has been in operation many years. It pro-
duces two to three million pounds a year.
Several smaller mines have been operated from time to time in
Essex, Warren and Saratoga counties.
Garnet mines. Since 1882, garnet for abrasive purposes has been
mined in northwestern Warren county. It is the common red garnet
used to manufacture garnet paper and cloth instead of ordinary
quartz sandpaper. The oldest working is the Rogers mine on Gore
mountain where the numerous garnets are from an inch to a foot
or more in diameter, embedded in a gray rock. The work is all
done by hand.
The North River Garnet Company has a large mine in operation
on Thirteenth lake. There the garnets are smaller but the produc-
tion larger. The rock containing them is crushed, and the crushed
garnet is removed by machinery.
The total output of the garnet mines is several thousand tons a
year.
Stone quarries. Building stones of excellent quality are exceed-
ingly abundant in the Adirondacks. Whole mountains are commonly
made up of such materials, especially granite, syenite and anortho-
site. Because of lack of transportation facilities and distance from
markets, these stones have been quarried at very few localities
except for local use. Some of the principal stone quarries are as
follows: granite, syenite and anorthosite near Ausable Forks; anor-
thosite near Keeseville ; and granite near Dannemora. Considerable
shipments are made from these places.
Green marble (so-called verde antique) of Grenville age was for-
merly quarried near Thurman, Warren county, and in the vicinity
of Port Henry, Essex county.
Forests and Lumbering
Much of the Adirondack region is heavily wooded, though very
little of the virgin forest now remains. “ By far the greater part
of the forest is of deciduous growth, about 20 per cent only of the
trees being conifers. Of the deciduous trees, the most common
species are the maple, birch and beech, with their varieties. Next in
the order of quantity, come the poplar, ash, cherry, ironwood, bass-
wood, willow, elm, red oak, butternut, sycamore and chestnut. The
smaller species of trees or shrubs are represented by the mountain
ash, alder, mountain maple, elder, striped, dogwood, shadbush,
sumach and ‘ witch-hopple.’ The chestnut is very rare throughout
the Adirondack plateau; although growing close to the foot of the
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THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 81
hills, it disappears on the higher altitudes of the Great Forest.
For the same reason the oaks are rare and stunted. Among the
conifers are found the spruce, hemlock, balsam, tamarack and white
cedar. Some white pine of original growth remains, but this noble
tree, which once grew thickly throughout the whole region, is now
limited to a few small patches of inferior quality.’””
The principal commercial soft woods are spruce, balsam, pine and
tamarack (larch), and the principal hard woods are birch, beech,
maple and cherry.
When a tract of land has been “lumbered over” this does not
necessarily mean that all trees of considerable size have been
removed. In by far most cases, the method is to “ lumber ” a district
for certain kinds of trees. Thus, a tract of land may be “ lumbered
over” for certain soft woods, later for certain hard woods, and
again for other soft woods or even for a second growth of soft
woods. If, for example, the spruce has been cut, a new growth of
marketable size is looked for in about fifteen or twenty years.
Twenty years after going over a tract of land for spruce, the casual
observer would scarcely know that the tract had been “ lumbered.”
Much of the Adirondack region is now owned by the State and,
according to the present law, lumbering operations are not allowed
on state lands. The time should soon come when certain mature
trees can be removed from the state forests, thus allowing the
benefit of the use of such trees without injury to the forests them-
selves.
In the Adirondacks, the usual method of lumbering is to cut the
logs into lengths of 13% feet and drag them into great piles in the
woods. When the snow is deep enough, the logs are usually moved
from the woods in big loads on runners. Some are taken to local
sawmills, but most of them are dumped into certain streams. In
some cases the logs are sent down the mountain sides to the streams
through chutes or flumes. During the spring, when the ice has gone
out and the water is high, the logs are “ driven ” downstream, often
for many miles, to saw, pulp and paper mills. Each company has
its own mark stamped into the end of each of its logs to serve as
a means of identification. Logs are thus “driven” down nearly
all the principal Adirondack streams. The “log-drivers” often
become very expert, and their profession is one of the most charac-
teristic of the woods and is well paid. Large reservoirs are com-
monly constructed for the purpose of rushing a big volume of water
1New York Forest Commission, 1891, p. 103.
82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
down stream in a short time to facilitate the transit of the logs.
Sometimes thousands of logs form great “ jams” against obstacles
in the streams, and much labor is required to break up such “ jams.”’
Forest fires have wrought havoc in the Adirondacks. Hundreds
of square miles have been burned over, often leaving nothing of
value. In such cases, a second growth of any use requires many
years. In certain severe fires, forested mountains have been so
thoroughly denuded that even the sod has been consumed, leaving
nothing but mountains of barren rocks. One of the most severe fires —
of this kind in recent years devasted many square miles in the
vicinity of Long Lake West on the Adirondack Division of the New
York Central Railroad in 1908. Shortly after this great fire, the
State adopted a system of fire watchmen on various prominent peaks
throughout the Adirondacks. During the season when fires are
likely, these watchmen, supplied with maps, field glasses and tele-
phone, scan the forests in all directions. Immediately upon the dis-
covery of a fire, the nearest fire warden, notified by telephone, goes
out, with assistants if necessary, to fight the fire. Since this plan
has been adopted, disastrous fires have been very notably reduced.
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APPENDIX
SOME COMMON ADIRONDACK MINERALS
A mineral is a homogeneous, natural substance with a definite
chemical composition, and usually in solid form. Nearly a thousand
well-defined species are known.
A crystal is a mineral with a regular external form bounded by
plane faces and possessing a definite internal structure. Crystals
commonly develop from ordinary solutions or during the cooling of
molten masses of rock.
Mineral cleavage is the tendency of certain minerals to break
along more or less smooth, plane surfaces in one or more direc-
tions.
Amphibole. Crystals usually in short stout prisms, the prismatic
faces meeting at 124 degrees. Two good cleavages at 124 degrees.
Color commonly brown to black, but sometimes white or green.
Some varieties can just be scratched by a knife, others can not.
Hornblende, the most common variety, is a silicate of lime, magneisa,
iron, aluminum etc., and is dark colored. Tremolite is a silicate
of lime and magnesia, and is white.
Hornblende is very abundant in the Adirondack region, being a
prominent constituent of the syenite-granite series; some dark
phases of the anorthosite; gabbro; and many of the Grenville
gneisses. Well-formed crystals are not common. Tremolite is
much rarer, but occurs locally in certain Grenville strata, especially
those associated with limestone.
Apatite. Crystals are hexagonal prisms capped by six-sided
pyramids. Just hard enough to scratch glass. No good cleavage.
Color, greenish, bluish green or brown. Composition, a phosphate
of lime.
Well-formed microscopic crystals are common in the Adirondack
igneous rocks and in certain of the Grenville gneisses. Locally,
crystals from a fraction of an inch to several inches long are
developed in the Grenville limestone.
Asbestos. See sepentine.
Augite. See pyroxene.
Biotite. See mica.
83
84 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
Calcite. Commonly called “ calc-spar.” Crystals show many
variations, though all have a threefold development such as three-
sided prisms, pyramids or rhombohedrons. Very perfect cleavage
in three directions yielding fragments with faces which meet at 105°
and 75°. Color, white when pure. Relatively soft, can be scratched
with a copper coin. Composition, carbonate of lime.
Calcite is the chief constituent of the Grenville limestone, generally
making 75 to 95 per cent of the mass and is therefore very abund-
ant in the Adirondacks.
Chalcopyrite. Commonly called “copper pyrites.” Rarely in
crystals. No cleavage. Color, deep brass-yellow. Relatively soft,
can be scratched by a copper coin. Composition, sulphide of copper
and iron.
Fairly widespread as a very minor constituent of the anortho-
site and often clearly visible to the naked eye.
Coccolite. See pyroxene.
Feldspar. There are several important varieties of feldspar with
certain features in common as follows: two well-defined cleavages
at or near 90°; scratched by quartz or flint but not by a knife;
crystals in prismatic forms usually making angles of 120° ; compo-
sition, silicate of aluminum with potash, soda or lime. Color, white,
pink, or greenish gray. Orthoclase is a white to pinkish potash feld-
spar with two cleavages at exactly 90°. Microcline is much like
orthoclase except for cleavages at 89° 30’ and crossed striations
when viewed as a thin slice under the microscope. <Albite is a white
soda feldspar with cleavages at 86° 24’. Oligoclase is a greenish
white soda-lime feldspar with cleavages at 86° 32’. Labradorite is
a greenish gray to dark gray lime-soda feldspar with cleavages at
86° 4’, and it sometimes exhibits a play of colors on one cleavage
face. Anorthite is a white lime feldspar with cleavages at 85° 50’.
Plagioclase includes albite, oligoclase, labradorite and anorthite, and
these nearly always exhibit well-defined striations on one of the
cleavage faces.
Orthoclase is a very prominent constituent of the syenite-granite
series and pegmatite, but is rare in the other igneous rocks. It is
common in many of the Grenville gneisses. Albite and anorthite
seem to be uncommon in the Adirondacks. Microcline and oligo-
clase in smaller amounts generally accompany orthoclase. Labra-
dorite is the chief constituent of the anorthosite, gabbro and dia-
base. It also occurs in some of the Grenville gneisses.
Garnet. [Exists in several varieties differing in color and com-
position. Most common in the Adirondacks is almandite garnet
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 85
which often occurs as good, very symmetrical crystals with twelve
or twenty-four faces or a combination of the two. Hardness,
greater than that of quartz or flint; color, red to reddish brown;
very brittle ; and only imperfect cleavage. Almandite is a silicate of
aluminum and iron.
Garnet occurs as an accessory mineral in many Adirondack for-
mations. In some phases of the anorthosite, syenite-granite and
gabbro, it is often clearly visible to the naked eye. Some of the
Grenville gneisses are rich in garnets, individual crystalline masses
frequently attaining diameters from an inch to a foot or more in
certain hornblende gneisses as, for example, at the garnet mines near
North Creek and at Thirteenth lake in Warren county.
Graphite. Often called “black lead.” Seldom appears as good
crysta!s, but nearly always as thin, shiny-black, flexible flakes with
one almost perfect cleavage. It is opaque, easily scratched by the
finger nail, and leaves a black mark on paper. Composition, pure
carbon. .
Certain of the Grenville gneisses, schists and quartzites, and most
of the limestone contain graphite in clearly visible flakes in amounts
up to 10 or 12 per cent. Rarely, small veins of graphite have been
found. Graphite-rich schists are mined on a large scale for the
_ mineral at the village of Graphite in northeastern Warren county.
Smaller mines have been operated in other parts of Warren county
and in Saratoga county. Small masses of graphite have occasionally
been noted in pegmatite. Good six-sided tabular crystals may
sometimes be seen in the limestone.
Hornblende. See amphibole.
Hypersthene. See pyroxene.
Ilmenite. Commonly called “ Titanic iron ore.” It is an oxide
of iron and titanium. Seldom in well-defined three or six-sided
thick tabular crystals. In many respects much like magnetite (see
below), but it is only slightly magnetic and gives the chemical test
for titanium.
Ilmenite occurs in small amounts as scattering grains in most of
the Adirondack igneous rocks, but at Lake Sanford, Essex county,
there are tremendous deposits of this mineral.
Limonite. This is a hydrous oxide of iron commonly called “ bog
iron ore.’ Many of the Adirondack rocks, when weathered, show
brown or yellowish brown colors due to the presence of limonite
which has formed during the decomposition of iron-bearing min-
erals. Thus the typical, fresh, greenish gray syenite often has a
brown outer zone.
86 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
Magnetite. This mineral, commonly called “ magnetic iron ore,”
is one of the oxides of iron. Often found in good crystals, either
regular octahedra or dodecahedra forms, but more often as irregular
grains. It is black, with a metallic luster; about as hard as steel;
and strongly attracted by the magnet. Generally closely resembles
ilmenite (see above).
Magnetite is widespread throughout the Adirondacks, being found
as scattering grains in the anorthosite, syenite-granite, gabbro and
diabase, as well as in some of the Grenville gneisses. Locally, the
magnetite makes up extensive ore bodies, as at Mineville, Essex
county, and at Lyon Mountain, Clinton county.
Mica. This is a family name including several important mem-
bers, all of which possess a very perfect cleavage in one direction
whereby the mineral peels off in exceedingly thin layers. Mica
most often appears as thin flakes scattered through rocks, but some-
times in good six-sided tabular to prismatic crystals. All micas are
silicates of aluminum, and all are relatively soft, being easily
scratched by a copper coin.
Muscovite is a potash mica, transparent in thin sheets. It occurs
in relatively large masses in some of the pegmatite, and in small,
shiny flakes in certain Grenville gneisses and quartzites.
Biotite is an iron-magnesia mica, dark colored but translucent in
thin sheets. As small flakes it often occurs in many types of the
Adirondack rocks and in certain of the Grenville gneisses.
Phlogopite 1s a magnesia mica, brown and translucent in thin
layers. It occurs only in certain Grenville gneisses, schists, quart-
zites and limestones. 5
Microcline. See feldspar.
Muscovite. See mica.
Orthoclase. See feldspar.
Phlogopite. See mica.
Pyrite. Usually known as “iron pyrites”’ or “fools gold.” It
often shows good crystal forms as cubes, octahedrons, pyritohedrons,
or combinations of these. It is a sulphide of iron; scratched by
quartz but not by a knife; of pale brass-yellow color with a metallic
lustre; very brittle; and has practically no cleavage.
Pyrite occurs, in small amounts, as irregular grains or specks in
anorthosite, gabbro, diabase, and certain of the Grenville gneisses
and schists.
Pyroxene. This is a family name including, in the Adirondacks,
augite, (a silicate of magnesia, lime, aluminum and iron) ; hyper-
sthene (a silicate of magnesia and iron); and coccolite (a silicate
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 87
of lime and iron). All these have two fairly well-defined cleavages
meeting at nearly 90°.. Augite and hypersthene are dark green to
black and usually in good crystalline forms difficult to distinguish
(without the microscope) from hornblende except by differences in
cleavage directions. Augite is common in the anorthosite, syenite-
granite, gabbro and diabase. Hypersthene is rare except in the
gabbro, anorthosite and diabase. Coccolite (or hedenbergite) is a
grayish green pyroxene abundant in certain Grenville gneisses.
Pyrrhotite. Commonly called “magnetic pyrites.” It is a sul-
phide of iron somewhat like pyrite, but is softer than a knife, has
a bronze color, and it attracted by the magnet.
It exists as small scattering grains in certain Grenville limestones
and gneisses, and in the anorthosite.
Quartz. This very common mineral is an oxide of silicon which
often crystallizes in characteristic hexagonal prisms capped by s1x-
sided pyramids. It is notably harder than steel; clear and glassy
looking when pure; very brittle; and without cleavage.
It is very abundant as distinctly visible grains in all the granites
and most of the syenites and pegmatites of the Adirondacks. It also
largely constitutes the Grenville quartzites and is prominent in
many of the lighter colored Grenville gneisses and limestones.
Serpentine. A dull green to yellowish green mineral usually in
irregular massive form. Never crystallized. It is a hydrous
silicate of magnesia with a greasy luster and is easily scratched by
a knife. A fibrous variety is known as serpentine asbestos which
is rarely found in small veins in Grenville limestone as near Thur-
man P. O. in Warren county.
Serpentine at times occurs in considerable quantity in the Gren-
ville limestone, causing the rock to have a grayish green or mottled
green and white appearance. Such rock is variously called “ ser-
pentine marble,” “ ophicalcite,’ or “ verde antique,” the serpentine
having resulted from the chemical alteration of pyroxene in the
limestone. Such serpentine marble has been quarried at several
localities in Warren and Essex counties.
Tourmaline. The chemical composition of this mineral is very
complex, it being a silicate of baron and various metals. It often
appears in good prismatic crystals which are usually triangular or
with faces in multiples of three. It is transparent to opaque;
harder than quartz or flint; without good cleavage; and, in the
Adirondacks, is nearly always either black or brown.
Black tourmaline crystals, from a fraction of an inch to several
inches long, are fairly common in the coarse grained pegmatite
39 66
88 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
dikes. Brown tourmaline in small crystals may sometimes be seen
in the Grenville limestone.
Tremolite. See amphibole.
Zircon. This is a silicate of zirconium harder than quartz or
flint; of brown color; without good cleavage; and usually crystal-
lized as four-sided prisms capped by four-sided pyramids.
Crystals up to one-half of an inch long are rarely seen in the
pegmatite. Microscopic crystals are nearly always present in small
amounts in the anorthosite, syenite-granite and gabbro.
There are, of course, many other minerals which are very rare or
only locally developed in the Adirondack region, but the above list
includes about all that are commonly met. Anyone further inter-
ested in the recognition of Adirondack minerals should consult some
good book on mineralogy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Most of the more important papers and books which deal with,
or contain material on, the Adirondack region, are listed below.
There is no attempt at completeness.
New York State Museum Bulletins
14 Kemp, J. F. Geology of Moriah and Westport Townships,
Essex County. 1895. 38 p.
21 Kemp, J. F. Geology of the Lake Placid Region. 1898. 24 p.
70 Whitlock, H.P. New York Mineral Localities. 1903. 110 p.
77 Cushing, H. P. Geology of the Vicinity of Little Falls. 1905.
98 p.
84 Woodworth, J. B. Ancient Water Levels of the Champlain
and Hudson Valleys. 1905. 206 p.
85 Rafter,G.W. Hydrology of New York State. 1905. 902 p.
95 Cushing, H.P. Geology of the Northern Adirondack Region.
1905. 188 p.
96 Ogilvie, I. H. Geology of the Paradox Lake Quadrangle.
1905. 54 P.
115 Cushing, H. P. Geology of the Long Lake Quadrangle.
1907. 88 p.
119 Newland, D. H. & Kemp, J. F. Geology of the Adirondack
Magnetic Iron Ores. 1908. 184 p.
126 Miller, W. J. Geology of the Remsen Quadrangle Including
Trenton Falls and Vicinity. 1909. 54 p.
135 Miller, W. J. Geology of the Port Leyden Quadrangle. 1910.
62 p.
Papen
138
145
153
160
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 89
Kemp, J. F. & Ruedemann, R. Geology of the Elizabeth-
town and Port Henry Quadrangles. Ig10. 176 p.
Cushing, H. P.; Fairchild, H. L.; Ruedemann, R., & Smyth,
C. H. Geology of the Thousand Islands Region. 1gro.
194 Pp.
Miller, W. J. Geology of the Broadalbin Quadrangle. 1Igrt.
66 p.
Stoller, J. H. Glacial Geology of the Schenectady Quad-
imucle. TOLL. 44 p.
Fairchild, H. L. Glacial Waters in the Black and Mohawk
Valleys. I912. 48 p.
Miller, W. J. The Geological History of New York State.
TOs 120" p.
Cushing, H. P. & Ruedemann, R. Geology of Saratoga
Springs and Vicinity. 1914. 178 p.
Miller, W. J. Geology of the North Creek Quadrangle.
IQI4. QOp.
Newland, D.H. The Quarry Materials of New York. 1916.
22: p:
Miller, W. J. The Geology of the Lake Pleasant Quad-
manele. 116 75 p.
Stoller, J. H. Glacial Geology of the Saratoga Quadrangle.
19LO:, 50 p:
Martin, J. C. The Precambrian Rocks of the Canton Quad-
fanele. 1O1O.. It2 p.
Miller, W. J. Geology of the Blue Mountain Quadrangle.
1917. 68 p.
Miller, W. J. Geology of the Lake Placid Quadrangle. Jn
preparation.
Miller, W. J. Geology of the Schroon Lake Quadrangle. Jn
preparation.
Kemp, J. F. Geology of the Mount Marcy Quadrangle. In
preparation.
Natural History Survey of New York: Division 4 (Geology).
Emmons, E. Second Geological District. 1842
This interesting old report covers most of the Adirondack counties.
Vanuxem, L. Third Geological District. 1842
Covers the counties bordering the Adirondacks on the south.
go NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM —
Miscellaneous Geological and Geographical Papers.
Baldwin, S. P. Pleistocene History of the Champlain Valley.
Amer. Geologist, 13:170-84. 1894
Bastin, E. S. Origin of Certain Adirondack Graphite Deposits.
Econ. Geology, 5:134-57- IgI10
—— Economic Geology of the Feldspar Deposits of the United
States. U. S. Geol. Survey Bul? 420. 1910) Reverencesare
the Adirondacks.
Brigham, A. P. Glacial Geology of the Broadalbin, Gloversville,
Amsterdam and Fonda Quadrangles. N. Y. State Mus. Bul.
I2I, p. 21-31. 1908
—— Trellised Drainage in the Adirondacks. Amer. Geol., 21 :219-
22. PIGOS
Cushing, H. P. Report on the Geology of Clinton County, N. Y.
State Geol. Rep't 13, p. 473-89. 1894
—— Report on the Geology of Clinton County. N. Y. State
Geol. Rep’t 15, p. 499-573. 1895
—— Report on the Geology of Franklin County. N. Y. State
Geol. Rep’t 18, p. 73-128. 1899
—— Geology of Rand Hill and Vicinity, Clinton County. N. Y.
State Geol. Rep’t 19, p. 37-82. 1901
—— Geologic Work in Franklin and St Lawrence Counties. N. Y.
State Geol. Rep't 20, p. 23-95. 1902
—— Asymmetric Differentiation in a Bathylith of Adirondack
Syenite. -Geols Soc. Amer, Bulbmie.p 477-025. 10e7
— Lower Portion of the Paleozoic Section in Northwestern
New York. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bul. 19, p. 155-76. 1908
— Age and Relations of the Little Falls Dolomite of the
Mohawk Valley. N. Y. State Mus. Bul: 140, p. 97-140. 1910
_—— Nomenclature of the Lower Paleozoic Rocks of New York.
Am, oun Sci, 4uhisen. oi hase Kosa
—— Age of the Igneous Rocks of the Adirondack Region. Am.
Jour. Sci., 4th ser. 39:288-94. 1915
Darton, N. H. Report on the Geology of Albany County. N. Y.
State Geol. Rep’t 13, p. 229-61. 1894
—— Description of the Faulted Region of Herkimer, Fulton,
Montgomery and Saratoga Counties. N. Y. State Geol. Rept
14, p. 31-53. 1805
Finlay G. I. Preliminary Report of Field Work in the Town of
Minerva, Essex County. N. Y. State Mus. Rep't 54, p. 96—102.
1902
THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS OI
Granberry, J. H. Magnetite Deposits and Mining at Mineville,
N. Y. Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 81. 1906. Several articles
between pages 890 and 1179
Kemp, J. F. Report on the Geo:‘ogy of Essex County. N. Y.
State Geol. Rept 13, p. 431-72. 1894; and N. Y. State Geol.
Rep't 15, p. 575-014. 1897
—— Physiography of the Eastern Adirondack Region in the
Cambrian and Ordovician Periods. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bul. 8,
p. 408-12. 1897
—— & Newland, D. H. Report on the Geology of Washington,
Warren and Parts of Essex and Hamilton Counties. N. Y.
State Geol. Rep’t 17, p. 499-553. 1899
— Newland, D. H. & Hill, B. F. Report on the Geology of
Hamilton, Warren, and Washington Counties. N. Y. State
Geol. Rep't 18, p. 137-62. 1899
— & Hill, B. F. Report on the Precambrian Formations in
Parts of Warren, Saratoga, Fulton and Montgomery Counties.
N. Y. State Geol. Rep’t 19, p. r17-35. 1901
—— Physiography of Lake George. N. Y. Acad. of Sci. Annals,
I4:14I-42. 1901
— Graphite in the Eastern Adirondacks, U. S. Geol. Survey
Bul. 225, p. 512-14. 1904
— Physiography of the Adirondacks. Popular Sci. Monthly,
68: 195-210. March 1906
— New Point in the Geology of the Adirondacks. Geol. Soc.
Aimer, Bil, 25° 47: - 194
Miller, W. J. Highly Folded Between Non-Folded Strata at Tren-
tonbalissN] Y: Jour. Geol., 16: 428: 33. 1908
—— Pleistocene Geology of the Southwestern Slope of the
Adirondacks. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bul., 20:635:37. 1908
—— Ice Movement and Erosion Along the Southwestern Adiron-
dacks. Amer. Jour. Sci., 27: 289-98. 1909
— Trough Faulting in the Southern Adirondacks. Science,
n. s., July 1910, p. 95-gO
Preglacial Course of the Upper Hudson River. Geol. Soc.
manner. Bul. 22: 177-86. 1911
—— Contact Action of Gabbro on Granite in Warren County,
New York. Science, n. s. October 1912, p. 490-92
—— Exfoliation Domes in Warren County, New York. N. Y.
State Mus. Bul. 149, p. 187-94. I911
—— The Garnet Deposits of Warren County, New York. Econ.
Geol., 7: 493-501. August 1912
Q2 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
—— Variations of Certain Adirondack Basic Intrusives. Jour.
Geol., 21: 160-80. 1913
—— Early Paleozoic Physiography of the Southern Adirondacks.
N. Y. State Mus. Bul. 164, p. 80-94. 1912
— Magmatic Differentiation and Assimilation in the Adiron-
dacks Region. Geol. Soc. Amer. Bul., 25 :243-64. 1914
—— Notes on the Intraformational Contorted Strata at Trenton
Falls, N. Y. N.Y. State Mus. Bull 177, ps 1354251 anor
—— The Great Rift on Chimney Mountain (Hamilton County).
N. Y. State Mus. Bul. 177, p. 143-46. 1914
—— Origin of Foliation in the Precambrian Rocks of Northern
New York. Jour. Geol., 24:587-619. 1916
Newland, D. H. & Hansell, N. V. Magnetite Mines at Lyon
“Mountain, New York. Eng. and Min. Jour., 82: 863-65,
g16-18. 1906
Ogilvie, I. H. Glacial Phenomena in the Adirondacks. Jour.
Geol., 10: 397-412. 1902
Smyth, C. H. General and Economic Geology of Four Town-
ships in St Lawrence and Jefferson Counties. N. Y. State
Geol. Rep’t 13, p. 4g1-515.. 1894
Report on the Crystalline Rocks of St Lawrence County.
N. Y. State Geol. Rept 15; p. 477-07. 1807
—— Report on Crystalline Rocks of the Western Adirondack
Region. .N- Y. State Geol Rept 17, p) 460-0725 1690
— Geology of the Crystalline Rocks in the Vicinity of the St
Lawrence River. N. Y. State Geol. Rep’t 19, p. r83-104. Igo1
Nongeological Works
New York Forest Commission. Annual Report 1891. p. 106-94.
Illus.
Stoddard, R.S. The Adirondacks, an Illustrated Guide-book. 1893
Sylvester, N. B. Northern New York and the Adirondack Wilder-
ness. 1877
;
.
IN? DE XS
Adirondack, origin of name, 16
Adirondack village, 78
Albite, 84
Algae, 36
Alling, H. L., cited, 66
Almandite, 84
Amphibole, 34, 37, 39, 83
Animals of Adirondacks, 17
Anorthite, 84
Anorthosite, 37, 38, 40, 42, 56, 62, 80
Apatite, 83
Appalachian revolution, 50
Armstrong mountain, 21
Asbestos, 87
Augite, 86
Ausable chasm, 23, 25, 46, 71
Ausable Forks, 79, 80
Ausable lakes, 23
Ausable river, 25, 71
Avalanche lake, 29
Avalanche Lake valley, 23
Barrell, Joseph, cited, 9
Basaltic lava, 43
Beaver lake, 76
Beaver river, 26, 76
Beekmantown limestone, 48
Benson mines, 79
- Bibliography, 88-92
Big Moose lake, 26
Big Tupper lake, 26, 27, 28, 64
Biotite, 39, 42, 86
Black-Erebus mountain, 30
Black lake, 65, 73
Black lead, 34
Black river, 19, 26
Black River limestone, 48
Black River valley, 19, 44, 51, 55, 60,
63, 65
Blue mountain, 21
Blue Mountain lake, 22, 26, 27, 28,
62)64;.70:
Blue Mountain quadrangle, 22, 35, 38,
71
Blue Ridge mountain, 21
Bog ircn ore, 10
Bonaparte, Joseph, 76
Boonville, 19
Boulder clay, 61
Boulders, 62
Brachiopods, 48
Brant lake, 30, 64, 66
Broadalbin, 68
Broadalbin quadrangle, 24
Brown, John, tract, 75
Brown, John, of Ossawattamie, 76
Calcite, 34, 84
Cambrian period, 43-46, 48
Canajoharie shales and limestones,
48
Cascade lakes, 2
Catlin Lake-Round Pond valley, 71
Cenozoic era, 50, 51, 55-57
Chalcopyrite, 84
Champlain valley, 10,
58, 60, 72
Chateaugay lakes, 2
Chateaugay river, 2
Chazy lake, 20
Chazy limestone, 48
Chert, 9
Chestertown, 63
Clay, 61
Clinton county, 23, 38, 44, 46, 71, 79
Coal, 10
Coccolite, 86
Colden, Mt, 21, 29
Conglomerate, 9
Conklingville, 25, 66, 68
Corals, 48
Cordilleran ice sheet, 58
Corinth, 24, 66, 68
Craft, Ephraim, first settler, 76
Cranberry lake, 26, 27, 29, 64
Crane mountain, 63
Crystalline limestone, 34
Cushing, Henry P., cited, 8, 71
44, 55, 56,
bo
oat
94 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
Dannemora, 79, 80
Devonian sea, 49
Diabase, 43
Dike rocks, 9
Dix mountain, 21
Delomitic limestone, 46
Drainage, 23; evolution of, 56;
changes due to glaciation, 66
Drumlin, 62
Dun Brook mountain, 21
Eagle lake, 26, 70
Earthquakes, I0
East Branch Sacandaga, 25
East Canada creek, 2:
Echinoderms, 48
Eighth lake, 70
Emmons, Dr Ebenezer, cited, 8, 16
Erosion, II
Erratics, 62
Eskers, 62, 72
Essex county, 20, 21, 20,
78, 79
Gyn CG OZ,
Faults, 10; of the southeastern Adi-
rondacks, 51
_ Feldspar, 34, 37, 39, 425-43, 84
Fishing Brook mountain, 21
Flint, 9
Forests, 80-82
Forked lake, 26, 70, 71
Fossils, 48
Fourth lake, 29
Fractures, see Faults
Frankfort shale, 48
Franklin county, 22, 37
Fulten chain, 26, 27, 28, 64
Fulton county, 62
Gabbro, 42
Garnet, 34, 84
Garnet mines, 80
Gastropods, 48
Geography, defined, 9
Geography of the Adirondacks, 16-
30
Geologic time scale, 12
Geology, defined, 8
Giant mountain, 21
Glacial period, 57-73
’ Glaciation, 12
Glaciers, local mountain, 61
Glens Falls, 24
Gloversville, 62, 65, 68
Gneiss, 10, 34, 40
Gore mountain, 80
Gothics, The, 21
Gouverneur, 26
Granite, 39, 40, 42, 56, 80
Graphite, 34, 36, 85
Graphite mines, 79
Graphite, village of, 79
Graptolites, 48, 49
Grasse river, 25
Gravel, 9
Green marble, 80
Grenville gneisses. 83, 85
Grenville limestone, 60
Grenville ocean, 31, 35
Grenville rocks, 31-36, 40, 56, 64
Ground moraine, 61
Gypsum, 10
Hamilton county, 16, 21, 22, 44, 46,
47, 48, 66, 75
Hammondville, 79
Haystack, Mt, 21
Herkimer county, 75
Hornblende, 42, 83
Hudson’ fiver, 23, 68;) 70, gies
course, 24
Hudson valley, 23, 25, 72
“Human history, 74-78
Hurricane, 21
Hypersthene, 86
Ice age, 57-73; duration, 7
Ice erosion, 60
Igneous rocks, 9, 10, 33, 36-40, 42, 43,
56, 83
Ilmenite, 85
Indian lake, 22, 27, 20, 64
Indian Lake quadrangle, 23
Indian Lake village, 22
Indian pass, 23, 63
Indian river, 24, 25.
Indians, 74
Industries, 74
Iron mines, 79
Iron ore, 37, 43, 78
Iron works, 78
Iroquois Indians, 74
INDEX TO THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 95
Johnson, D. M., cited, 61
Johnstown, 65 :
Joseph Dixon Crucible Company, 79
Kames, 62, 72
Keene valley, .71
Keeseville, 80
Kemp, James F., cited, 8, 21
Kewatin ice sheet, 58
Labradorean ice sheet, 58
Labradorite, 37, 84
Lake Bonaparte, 76
Lake Champlain, 19, 25, 52, 78
Lake deltas, 72
Lake George, 25, 27, 30, 64, 68
Lake George village, 61
Lake Lila, 76
Lake Newman, 71
Lake Ontario, 26
ake Placid, 22, 27; 28, 37, 64, -66,
71, 76
Lake Placid quadrangle, 23, 61, 63,
7A
Lake Pleasant, 22; 20, 30, 64
Lake Pleasant quadrangle, 23. 24, 35,
38, 52, 54
Lake Pottersville, 73
Lake Pottersville, glacial, 66;
67
Lake Sacandaga, glacial, 65
Lake Tear, 63
Lakes, 26-30; extinct, 64; origin of,
63
Lewey mountain, 21
Lewis county, 75
Lime, 34
Limestone, 9, 10, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24,
33, 36, 46, 56; crystalline, 34
Limonite, 85
Little Falls, 19, 46, 58
Little Falls limestone, 46, 47
Little Falls sea, 46
Little Moose mountain, 21
Long lake, 26, 27, 28, 64, 70, 71
Long Lake quadrangle, 38, 71
Long Lake West, 82
Lower Saranac lake, 27
Lumbering, 80-82
map,
Luzerne, 25, 68
Luzerne Mountain ridge, 68
Luzerne river, 68
Lyon Mountain magnetic iron ore
mines, 79
McComb mountain, 21
McIntyre, Mt, 21, 37
Magnetite, 39, 43, 86
Map of Adirondack region, 47
Map of Northern New York, 14;
geologic, 32
Map of southern Adirondack region,
69
Marble, 10, 34
Marcy, Mt, 20, 21; 24, 37, 63
Marcy, Mt, quadrangle, 23
Marion river, 26
Mesozoic history, 50-55
Metamorphic rocks, 9, 10
Metamorphism, 33
Mica, 34, 86; black, 39, 42; white,
34, 42
Microcline, 84
Minerals, 83-88
Mines, 78-80
Mineville, 79
Mirror lake, 64
Mohawk river, I9, 24, 49
Mohawk valley, 19, 25, 44, 46, 52, 55,
57, 58, 66
Moose river, 26
Moraines, 61, 72
Morgan pond, 63
Mount Marcy quadrangle, 23
Mountains, 20-22
Muscovite, 34, 42, 86
Narrows, 25, 64
Newcomb, 22, 24
Niagara Falls, 72
Nipissing Great Lakes, map, 73
Nipple top, 21
North Creek, 78
North Creek quadrangle, 35, 42, 63
North Elba, 76, 78
North Elba Iron Works, 77
North River, 44, 56
North River Garnet Company, 80
Northampton, 24, 25
96 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM
Northville, 66, 68
Number Four, 76
Oligoclase, 84
Oneida county, 46, 48
Ordovician period, 46-49
Orthoclase, 39, 84
Oswegatchie river, 25; course, 26
Paleozoic history, 43-50
Paleozoic strata, 51, 52
Panther mountain, 21
Paradox lake, 63, 66
Pegmatite, 42
Peneplain, II, 44, 50
Phlogopite, 86
Physical history of the Adirondacks,
31-73
Piseco lake, 22, 29, 30, 63, 64
Plagioclase, 42, 43, 84
“Plains of Abraham,” 77
Plutonic rocks, 9, 37, 39, 40, 42
Porphyry, 39
Port Henry, 78, 79, 80
Potsdam sandstone, 44, 46, 62, 71
Potsdam sea, 44
Pownal, Thomas, cited, 75
Prepaleozoic history, 31-43
Pyrite, 86
Pyroxene, 34, 37, 30, 42, 43, 86
Pyrrhotite, 87
Quarries, 78-80
Quartz, 34, 30, 42, 46, 87
Quartzite, 10, 34
Quaternary period, 57
Rand Hill, 38
Raquette falls, 26, 70, 71
Raquette lake, 22, 26, 27, 28, 64, 70
Raquette river, 25, 70; course, 26
Red Horse chain of lakes, 26
Redfield, Mt, 21
Rivers, 23-26
Rock lake, 22
Rock river, 70
Rogers mine, 80
Sacandaga lake, 20, 64
Sacandaga river, 23, 24,
course, 24; valley of, 23
66, 68;
Saddleback mountain, 21
St Lawrence channels, 72
St Lawrence river, 25, 26, 70
St Lawrence valley, 18, 23, 25, 26, 31,
44, 49, 55, 58, 60, 62
St Regis lakes, 27
St Regis quadrangle, 27, 63
St Regis river, 25
Salmon river, 25
Salt, ro
Sand, 34
Sandstone, 9, 10, 18, 19, 20, 23, 33,
34, 46
Santanoni mountain, 21
Santanoni quadrangle, 16, 23, 63
Saranac lakes, 22, 27, 28, 64
Saranac lakes valley, 66, 71
Saranac river, 22, 25; course, 25
Saratoga county, 35, 66
Saratoga Springs, 68
Schenectady shales and limestones, 48
Schists, 10, 34
Schroon lake, 22, 27, 30, 46, 56, 63, 66
Schroon Lake quadrangle, 23
Schroon Lake village, 62°
-Schroon river, 24, 68
Sea weeds, 36
Sedimentary rocks, 9, 10
Sentinel range, 37, 61
Serpentine, 87
Settlers, 75-78
Seward mountain, 21
Shale, 9, 10, 19, 20, 33, 47
Silurian period, 49
Silurian sea, 49
Sixmile-Fishing Brook Valley. 71
Skylight, Mt, 21, 63
Smith, Gerrit, 77
Smith’s lake, 76
Smyth, Charles H., cited, 8
Snowy mountain, 21
Squaw Brook valley, 23
Starfishes, 48
Stillwater, 76
Stoddard, S. R., cited, 78
Stone quarries, 80
Stony Creek gorge, 68
Stony Creek station, 23, 24, 68
Strata, 9
Streams, 23-26
Susquehanna river, 57_
INDEX TO THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 97
Syenite, 39, 40, 56, 80
Syenite-granite series, 38, 40, 42
Sylvester, N. B., cited, 74, 76, 77
Table top mountain, 21
Taconic range, 49
Terminal moraine, 61
Theresa formation, 46
Thirteenth lake, 80
Thirty-four marsh, 62, 70
Thousand Islands, 18
Thurman, 80
Till, 61
Time scale, geologic, 12
Titanic iron ore, 85
Tongue-Fivemile mountain, 30
Tourmaline, 87
Tremolite, 83
Trenton Falls, 25, 48
Trenton limestone, 47, 48
Trilobites, 49
Tug Hill plateau, 19, 51
Tupper Lake village, 40
Tupper lakes, 26, 27, 28, 64
Uplifts, 40
Utica shale, 48
Utowana lake, 26, 70
Valleys, 22; surrounding, 18-20
Volcanic rocks, 9
Vulcanism, If
Wakeley mountain, 21
Wall Face ponds, 63
Warren county, 23, 35, 44, 60, 66, 79
Warrensburg, 24, 61, 66, 68
Weathering, II
Wells, 22, 23, 44, 46, 47, 48, 54, 56,
66; map of vicinity of, 53
West Canada creek, 24; course, 25
Whiteface, Mt, 21, 28, 37, 40, 61
Wilmington, 66
Wilmington mountain, 63
Wilmington notch, 23, 25, 71
Yosts, 19
Zircon, 88
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