It is clearly a case of erosion, but not by the present
river, which has no fall, for tide water extends 100 miles up the
river beyond the Highlands. This therefore was probably a work mainly
performed in some past period when the continent was at a higher
level. Most likely it is a valley of great antiquity.
"Opposite Fishkill is Newburgh, which is in the great valley of Lower
Silurian or Cambrian limestone and slate. North of that, on the west
side of the river, the formations occur in their usual order, their
outcrops running northeast and southwest. On the _N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R._,
on the east side, the same valley crosses, and the slates from
Fishkill to Rhinebeck are about the same place in the series;
but being destitute of fossils and very much faulted, tilted and
disturbed, their precise geology is uncertain. See the exposures in
the cuts at Poughkeepsie. The high ground to the east is commonly
called the Quebec group.
* * *
Amid thy forest solitudes one climbs
O'er crags, that proudly tower above the deep,
Along the verge of the cliff, and he can hear
The low dash of the wave with startled ear.
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