Orange County is richer in alluviums than any other in the State, as they cover about 40,000 acres. The "Drowned Lands," as they were formerly called, include about forty square miles, and are partly in New Jersey, but mostly in New York, extending in Orange from Cheeunk Outlet in Goshen through Wawayanda and Minisink to the New Jersey line, and covering about 17,000 acres. They contain a number of fertile islands, and thousands of acres of the waste lands have been recovered by means of an artificial outlet, which, at first a mere ditch, has been deepened and widened by the flowing water until the principal flow is through it. These recovered lands are rich and productive. They are belted by the Wallkill and three creeks, and the Wallkill's course through them is long because so crooked. The Gray Court meadows extend from near Craigville in Blooming Grove into the northern part of Chester, and embrace about 500 acres, which are nearly all under cultivation and very productive. They are drained by Cromeline Creek. The Black Meadows, in Chester and Warwick, are about 1,000 acres in extent, and Black Meadow Creek flows through them. Long Swamp, in Warwick, also contains about 1,000 acres, and is drained into New Jersey. Great Pine Swamp extends northward from Howells on the Erie railroad seven miles in the town of Wallkill, and embraces many oases and cultivated farms. There are several other scattered areas of swamp lands. In the marl and peat beds in several localities many bones of the extinct mastodon have been found, including two complete skeletons. One of the latter was taken from a bed near Coldenham in 1845, and weighed 1,995 pounds, and the other from a bed in the town of Mt. Hope, and weighed 1,700 pounds. The topography of the county has been changed somewhat by its railroads, of which there are 250 miles, not including double trackage or trolley roads. The following places in towns extending across the county have each direct railroad communication north, east, south and west: Port Jervis, Middletown, Campbell Hall, Goshen, Chester and Newburgh. The wagon roads are numerous, generally good, and are charming arteries for carriages and automobiles.