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Prehabitation The geologic history of the Corning Area stretches far back into the depths of time to a juncture many hundreds of millions of years ago. The barren land of this ancient time had to wait most of these millions of years and experience vast changes before the first man would set foot upon it. During the area's earliest years a shifting of the land lowered its level so that it was submerged under a vast continental sea for 325 million years. Countless tons of eroded particles washed from higher land to the east and settled to the bottom of this sea forming the sedimentary bedrock that underlies our area today. About 220 million years ago subterranean forces wracked and shifted the land during what is now known as the Appalachian Revolution. In this process the land was lifted above sea level where it has remained ever since. Subsequent uplifts of the land raised it to a plateau and then the forces of erosion vied with those of uplift to create a new land, an eroded plateau. Almost one million years ago great sheets of ice began to creep southward from more northern areas. From that time until eleven thousand years ago at least four advances and retreats of continental glaciers gouged and scoured the surface of the land. The changes these glaciers wrought transformed the area into a moderate relief region with southwestward drainage. During the latter stages of the "Ice Age" great mammals began to appear in this region. Among them were the elephant-like Woolly Mammoths and later Mastodons. These great creatures roamed the local area and remains have been found throughout man's history in the Chemung Valley. Man first came to North American in pursuit of these great mammals. He probably first entered the area the is New York State about 7000 B.C.  
Prehabitation | Native Americans | Settlement | Canals | Railroads | Industry | The Flood | Post Flood
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