American Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1855-1860, 1859-08-18

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"Buffalo Platform" can be seen by COM
parison. Very Respectfully, inl az'1
Your obedient servant, t-
3eh IS. lo r. P. RANNEY.
The Frozen Well In VermOnt--Profes
l,.Hgagq HItchcOck's Report.
Professor Hitchcock. of Amherst, read
paper before the Scientific Association,
on the 4th instant upon the frozen well at
Brandon, Vermont. He said it was a part
OF his report upon the geology of the State,
but be had received permission from the
Governor TO present it at this meeting.-
The we'll had been examined by him ,elI
and his assistants, A. D. Hager and G. H.
/ Hitchcock. We copy the following ex-
tracts from Professor Hitchoock's paper:
1.-THE we'll is situated about one mile
southwest OF Brandon village, from an
eighth to quarter of a mile east of the
, creek. The surface is not raised very much
above the river. and is composed Of sand
end grave, with one Of the varieties OF the
lower silurian limestone, showing itself oc-
} casioually in vosses and low ridges break
ing through the grou d ,'and doubtless un-
derlying the whoe superficial deposite at
no great depth. 1t is just such region of
sand and gravel as may be seen in many
places along the western side of the Green
Mountains. and indeed all over New Eng
land. 1t is what is called modified drift,
and lies above genuine drift, having been
the result Of aqueous agency, subsequently
: to the drift period,
''The well was dug in November, 1858.
For about ten feet il passed through soil
and gravel. then about four feet Of clay
: Below this lay deposit from twelve to
: fifteen feet thick Of frozen gravel,with quite
( large boulders intermix=d. Continuing
the excavation two feet farther in the same
material, water was reached. The whole
depth is not far from thirty y-five fact. The
frozen part passed through appeared like
Z The same material frozen at the surface in
winter.
,"Immsdiately, west Of the we'll rises a
hill of gravel and sand which may be thir,
Q ty feet above the WELL and is at its south
! lend some fifty to seventy feet high. This
ridge is an eighth of mile long and runs
i. northeast and southwest Near its north
. ern end it is crossed by road which has
g been excavated to depth Of six two feet
y AT the top Of the ridge the bed Of clay and
d the layers Of sand and gravel are nearly
d horizontal, but lower down they dip easter
! ly fifteen or twenty degrees. At the foo
= of the hill they take a horizontal position
g The pebbles in the strata were about three
of inches in diameter, and remarkably free
IS from sand and gravel.
a. "The dip of those beds of gravel, sane
and clay makes it almost certain that thi
y ridge OF drift was formed BY current from
: the northeast. ''
Y, ''The well was stoned up late in the au
III tumn, and during the winter ice formed
: Upon the Water id one night two inche
= thick. 1t continued to feeze .tillApril, sine,
O. which time no ice has formed on the sur
I'd face, but when visited on June 25th, tn
of stones OF the well, for some four or iv
q. feet above the water, were mostly loade
with ice, aud the temperture Of the wate
"a was only one degree above freezing. Jul
al 4th, there were ice in the well. The waite
Id at that time was twenty-five inches deer
&C. About one hundred rods distant is anothe
I'M well, the temperature Of which, on the 25:
= Of June, was fifty-one. Another wei
~ twelve feet deep, sixty rods distant, had
ne temperature of forty five.
IRE In stating the curious theories in regar
xe to this interesting matter, Professor Hitch
,ss cock said
-, "Upon the whole, though It is possibl
~ that the Brandon deposite is remnant q
" a glacial period, he looked with more fave
es- upon the supuosition that it was the resu
he Of operations now going on, produced b
!. currents Of air through the porous deposit,
y" An interesting discussion followed
more to elucidate facts than to refute th
ISL. theories presented.
I. Professor Dawson, Of Montreal, state
''' that he had met with similar phenomena
lp' Nova Scotia, and accepted the views pre-
to sented BY Professor Hitchcock.
asl Mr.. Hagar cf Prootorsville, Vermont
nm said that from the first he considered IL q
~ owing to present causes. He had visite
~ some abandoned iron mines 10 Essex, an
" had found ice in summer at the depth {
one hundred and twenty-five feet.