General History of Greene County
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GENERAL HISTORYOF GREENECOUNTY. CHAPTER I. ferred to, by the Schoharie K ill and its branches, while the country on the east of the latter range is drained GENERAL DESCRIPTION - GEOG RA PHY, TOPOGRAPHY- mainly by the Katskill and its branches. Clefts between SOIL-W A TERS-GEOLOGY. th e mountains, through which these streams find their way are called "cloves."* These in some cases amount REENE COUNTY li es on the west side of the to wide valleys, while in others they are narrow ravines, G Hudson River, centrally distant 130 miles from the steep sides of which sometimes rise nearly perpen New York, and from the State capital 35 miles. dicularly T ,500 feet or more above the streams flowing The boundary lines are very irregular; that on the north, th rough them. The must important of these are Kaater which is the old south boundary of Rensselaer Manor, be skill Clove, Bush Kill Clove, Stoney Clove, Mink Hollow ing th e greatest length of straight line (a distance of and Plattekill Hollow, all in the southern part of the about 30 mil es) to be found in its perimeter. It contains coun ty. The principal mountains lie at the nearest 686 square miles. The long est line that can be drawn point about seven miles from the river. In front of in the county-a diagonal from northeast to southwest them is a series of lesser mountains called the Little is about 43 miles, while the average length is 32 miles, Catskills, (also known as Hooge-bergen or High Hills), and the average width 20 miles. Its greatest width is which rise from 500 to 700 feet, and lie four or five miles about 25 miles, and it has a front on the river of the back from the river. Between these and the river there same length. The southern part is mountainous, com are several ridges betw een which stretch parallel fertile prising the celebrated Catskill Mountains, which reach a valleys . The most strongly marked and important of height of nearly 4,000 feet, and can be seen from a great these ridg es is the Kalkberg, which lies two or three distance. Other parts of the county are very hilly. miles from the river and rises in a precipitous wall from From the main range a spur of mountains exte nd s 100 to r 50 feet. through th e county in a northeasterly dire ction, its peaks The soil of the county is for the most part a heavy ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 feet high . This range slialy loam with local variations to sand and gravel. forms a natural boundary, dividing the county into two Along the valleys of the creeks there are numerous flats nearly equai parts and separating the towns of Windham, of heavy, fertile soi l. On the rough and elevated por Jewett and Hunter on the west from those of Durham, tions the soil is so stony as to render cu ltivation difficult Cairo and Catskill on the east. The eastern slope of if not imp ossible. This is particularly the case in the the se mountains, as well as of the mountains of the county towns of Le xington and Hun te r. Some years ago genera lly, is steep and wall-like, while the western side Horace Greeley was addressing the farmers of this falls away by a more gradual slope, and in spurs of coun ty and enlarging upon the possibiliti es of de small er mountains and hill s. The north sides of these velopment by th e aid of the sub-soil plow and other spurs are rocky and bare, whi le their south sides are things, when he was interru pted by a farmer from the covered with vast deposits of drift, indicating that a region ment ioned who asked what he would do on those great current of water once swept over them from the farms, where, by his description, he showed that Greeley's north. In the western part of the county a spur of methods were ridiculously impracticable; upon which mountains runs across, entirely hedgin g off the town of Gree ley simply raised his eyes and replied "raise sheep," . Halcott from the oth er towns . The valley on the west and went on with his address. The soil is well adapted of thi s spur is drained by the Bush Kill; th at lyin g be to raising hay and gra zing . tween these mountains and the central range, above re- * From the Dutch word kloof- cleft , gorge. 18 HISTORY OF GREENE COUN TY. Th e co unt y is well supplied with small str ea ms, whic h of th e hypo gene rocks, gra ni te, gne iss, mica slate and the find th eir way down from the rocks and mou nt ain s, and, lik e, th ere were formed by the depositing of sedime nt after windin g many mil es amon g th e irr eg ular barrie rs successive laye rs of material whic h became rock, To with whi ch nature ha s opposed th eir dir ect progress , th ese successive lay ers that had the ir period of formation reach the smoother waters of the Del aware or th e Hud before that of the rocks of this sec tion, geologists have son. The larg est of the se, the Katskill-properly Kats given name s co rresponding for the most part with the Kil-whi ch ri ses in a swamp in Schoharie county, calle d localities where the differ ent laye rs respecti vely appea r. by the Dutch E ckerso n Vly, and flows thro ugh th is These are, in order fr om the botto m, 1, Potsdam sand county, acro ss the towns of Durham, Ca iro and Catsk ill, stone; z, ca lcif ero us sandrock; 3, Black River and Tre n forms for short distances the dividing lin e betwe en Dur ton limestones; 4, Uti ca slate ; 5, Hudson River group ; ham and Greenville and betwe en Catskill and Athens, 6, grey sandstone and conglomerate; 7, Medina sand and empties into the Hudson after following its devious stone; 8, Clinton group; 9, Ni ag ara group; 10, Onon channel a distance of about 40 miles. It s pr inc ipal daga salt grou p ; 1 r, H elderberg lime stones, including gr its tributary on the north is Potick Creek, which rises in and sandsto nes; I 2, H amilton group , includ ing Marc ellus Albany county, and corning down across th e nort heast shale an d Tully limestone; 13, Portage group, including corner of Gr ee nvill e and the west end of Coxsack ie, Genesee slate; 14, Chemung group and old red sandstone , forms the dividing line betwe en Cairo on its west ba nk or Catskill group . Those in italics are fo und cropp ing and Athens on its east, joins th e Katskill about five mi les out in this county. above its mouth. About two miles from its mouth the The Hud son River shal es and sandstones occ upy a Katskill is joined by the Katerskil , its principal tribut ary belt on e to two mile s in width along the ri ver. This on the south, which rises in the lakes on South Mountain group was formed in th at long ago time designat ed by and flows throu gh a ser pentine channel down one of the geo logist s as the Lower Silur ian pe rio d , It contains b ut grand es t gorg es in all this mountain region. As it de very few if any fossil s. Follow ing this formation there scends it makes several falls and cascades of rare be auty appears to ha ve been a long period of suspension in the and grandeur. The most noteworthy of thes e are process of depositing material for rock making her e. Haines's Falls, where the water s of the West Branch of During th is time the process was goi ng on in other parts, the Katerskil da sh over a pr ecip ic e 150 feet hi gh, and but no ro cks tha t have been disco vered were formed he re the Katerskil Falls where the east or main bran ch of the until th e Upper Silurian period , whe n the ma terials of stream comes over two falls a few yards apa rt , the first the H eld erb erg group were deposited. Ju st above the being 175 fee t hi gh and th e second So feet. In spi red lim eston es of this group a very mono tonou s format ion of by its beauty William Cullen Bryant many years ago shales is found, from one to thre e hundr ed feet in thick wrote the poem which is so frequently quoted as not to ness. This is a formation of the D evo nian age, to whic h require repetition here. Thou gh the distance from its geologists ha ve given the nam e Cau da-galli, because of a source to its junction with th e Katskill is not over nine sea-weed impr in t of " cock-t ail" for m which appears on miles, thi s st ream pro bab ly flows 25 mil es to ga in it. some of the beds. The fos sils in this for mat ion are few, The Schoh ari e Kill ris es in the south ern part of the excep t th e ap parentl y vege table remains which give its town of Hunter and flows north westerly ac ross Jewett, name.