The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-08-01

shrinks, so the crust Of the earth forms
into ridges and mountains as its in
terror contracts.
The kittatinny mountain like the
other mountains of the state, was
pushed up by later pressure. due TO
this contraction; the strata were origi-
nally laid horizontally at the bottom
OF great inland ocean which extend
ed from here to the Rocky Mountains,
and in which, as proved by their fossil
remains, there swarmed myriads OF
living creatures all long since extinct
The sands of that ocean were in the
course of time hardened into sand stone
and long afterwards pushed UP slowly
and gradually into the form Of great
wave. a portion of which is now called
the Kitatinny mountain. As this great
wave was being formed, 1t chanced that
there the massive strata gave way un-
der the pressure and instead of bending
into huge arches, cracked transvereely,
forming what geologists call faults.
These cracks or faults were lines OF
weakness and when the rains and
winds and frosts began their work of
removal, known as erosion, these cracks
were naturally worn down more rapid
ly than the unbroken rock on either
side. and a gap began to be formed
While these great forces of erosion,
slowly but surely were eating down
the great mountain wave, so that
now only one side of 1t mains at
the same time the gap was just as
slowly being deepened; streams began
to run across IL and finally the Della
ware itself found it's way through the
natural chasm and It's water contln-
ued enlarging it to this day.
The origin of the Delaware Water
Gap is a small crack, made when the
mountain was being upraised, which
crack has been gradually enlarged by
atmosphere agencies till it became a
gap.
There was no catastrophe, no con-
vulsion, no flood bursting its way
through. All was done slowly through
the work of countless ages; ever since
the period when the coal beds were
laid down, millions Of years ago, the
gap has been gradually being deep
ened.
The proofs Of the foregoing state
ments are many. Careful obserVa-
tions In the gap itself will show the
presence OF the crack or fault referred
TO. on the Pennsylvania side, the
rocks are Inclined to be horizon at a
less angle than they are on the New
Jersey side. At the same time the
whole mountain on the New Jersey
side is shown 100 feet farther North
than on the Pennsylvania side, and
its crest rises lO5 feet higher; there
is evidently a fault, whereby the strata
on the northeast side are thrown farth-
er up and farther back than those on
the southeast. The fault ran across
! the mountain in a southeast direction.
That fault had not only cut through
the Kittatinny mountain but also cx-
| tended for some miles in a northwest
direction is clearly shown by the struc-
ture of the gap in Godfreys ridge at
Experiment Mills; on the southwest
side of Broadhead's creek at this place
the strata (Oriskany sandstone) arc
nearly horizontal, while just opposit e
| the same strata are perpendicular. and
the axis of the hill is at the same dis
placed farther north It is the same
| fault which runs through the Della =
ware Water Gap, but is even more
clearly marked.
At number of other gaps in the
Sldlt tHtlt 10 tN lhtllCt VI d ldulN, al
though it is nowhere more clear than
| at the Water Gap; all theories that
gaps are due to glacial action, ocean
| action, floods or earthquakes, though
often urged, are without foundation in
| fact.
1t may be repeated that the primary
| cause is a crack which crack has been
| widened and deepened by the same
| slow causes that have removed all the
| coal beds from this region. Some 10,
600 feet Of strata, including the coal
| beds once lay on top of this region,
and have all been gradually erodcd
| and washed into the sea by the wear
of the elements through the lapse of
| the ages of this there is the strongest
| proof. The power of erosion is so en-
ormous that until one has grasped il
| by it's observation in the field, ii is
beyond belief; gap is a small matter
| for it to form, compared with the
mountains it has removed, and the
valleys it has transformed into noun
tains. The prophecy of the great
Isaiah that "every valley shall be ex-
| alted and every mountain shall be
i E,,lt