Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1859-08-13

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The well is situated about one mile southwest
of Brandon village, from an eighth to quart,f
OF milo east Ol the creek. The surface is not
raised very much above the river, and il com
posed of sand and gravel, with one neofthcvarictics
OF the lower siluiian limestone, showing itself
occasionally in vosscs and low ridges breaking
through the ground, and doubtless underly-
ing the whole superficial deposite at no great
depth. 1t is Just such region of sand and
gravel as may be scen IN many places along the
weslern side Of the Green Mountains, and in
decd all over New England. 1t what is called
modified drift, and lies above genuinc drift,
having been the result of aqueous agency, sub
sequent to the drift period.
The well was Ding in November. 1858. For
about ten feet il passed through soil and gravel,
then about four feet Of clay. Below this lay
deposit Irom12 to 10 feet thick OF frozen gravel,
with quite large boulders ntcrmiyed Contiuu-
ing the excavation two feet farther in the same
material, water was reached. The whole depth
is net far from 3j feet. The frozen part passed
through appeared precisely like the same mate
rails frozen at the surface in winter.
Immediately west of the well rises a hill Of
gravel and sand Which may be 80 feet above the
well, and at It's south end some 80 TO 20 feet
high. This ridge is an eighth of mile long,
and runs northeast and southwest Near its
northern end II is crossed by road which has
been cXcayated to a depth of G2 feet. At the
top Of the ridge the bed of clay and the LAYERS
of sand and gravel are nearly horizontal, but
lower down they dip easterly fifteen or twenty
degrees. At the foot of the hill they take a
horizontal position. The pebbles in the strata
were about three inches in diameter and re-
markably free from sand and gravel.
The dip of those beds of gravel, sand and
clay, make 1t almost certain that this ridge Of
drift was formed by current from the north
erst.
The well was stoned up late in the autumn,
and during the winter ice formed upon the water
in one night two nchas thick. 1t continued to
freeze till April, since which time no ice has
formed on the surface, but when visited June
2jth, the stones of the well for some four or five
feet above the water were mostly loaded with ice.
and the temperature of the water was only one
degree above freezing. July l4th there was ice
in the well. The water at that time was %
inches deep. About 100 rods distant is another
well, the temperature of which, on the 25th of
june was 81. Another well 12 feet deep, 60
rods distant, had temperature of 10.
In this connection, Prof Hitchcock entered at
length upon similar phenomena which had been
observed in other places:--of well in Ware,
Mass, dug last year through gravel and sand.
IT iroze last year, though not to the extent Of
that at brandon. There were other instances Of
frozen wells on record-one in the 36th volume,
first series of the American journal of Science.
This well is in Owego, n. Y.
In this, at Owe5o, the flame Of candle was
detected, indicating current of ~ passing
through the gravel strata. The well was on
the table land of the Susquehanna, about 80 feet
above the river. There was also an account of
an ice mountain IN Virginia, which was satisiac
torlly Apained as being natural refrigerator
the coid OF the winter being retained through
summer on account of variety OF causes. Sir
KodencA Murchlson has mentioned similar
mountain IN Siberia.
frof II. SAID that before giving probaple the
DRY OF the phenomena at Brandon, he would pre-
sent n few preliminary propositions.
lst lie regarded the cases at Ware and Owe
go as essentially like that at Brandon, and to be
eAPiii%ea rr' II, IN the same manner;
nection with rravclly and sandy soil hence
we should make the character of such soils an
element in our inves,iJat;ons
3. As the nrayelly lepositi is in sucb soil III.
idea is ureeluded that the conOelotion ;s The ro-
suit of chemical rc. ogents.
4. The temperature in tbc wells 10 STRONGLY
affected hv the temperatureof the mir ot the snr-
face. In winter the cold is much moro intensa
than in summer.
The subject presented two leolin,, nouries.
1st When and by what opencv was fbe cnncolo.
ton produced so deem beneath the surface od
Bv what means Is the FROST nresor,..d f,,, o,,o,
nal and internal heat? In reply there were two
suggestions to be made: 1st. These frozen demos.
its may have been produced during the rlaciol
period that ACCOMPANIED the formation of tbs
DRIFT.
This suggestion was dwelt upon at lenotb. and
it was contended that a frozen denosit Of anV
past period might be indc6nitel,. nraseryed ~
periments had been made which showed that
even a thin layer of clay was powerful resis-
tant to hex The cl,v ON the surface at nran-
don would exclude the external beat. while thn
gravellv strata, free from sand. would net os n
tunnel to carry the ascending internal heat to
the surface, and it would nor. therefore. reach
the frozen deposit. The ARRANGEMENT at Dran.
don was in many resnects similar to thc most