Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-08-10
Tho Frozen won in Vermont.

Professor Hitchcock, of'Amherst, read paper
before the Scientific Association. on the 4th in
slant, upon the frozen well at Brandon. Vermont
lie said it was a part of his report upon the se1
logy of the state. but he hal received permission
from, the Governor to present il ut this meeting
The well had been examined by himself and his
assistants, A. ID. lIagar aud G. II. lltrhcock.--
We copy the following extracts from Professor
IItchcock's paper
1.-The well j. situated ab ,ut ono nile southwest
of Brandon village, from eighth to quarter 81
a mile east nf the creek The surface is not raised
very much nlove The river, and il composed oi
sand and gravel, with one ofthe varieties of the
lower siluran limestone, showing itself occasion-
ally in yosses End low ridges breaking through
the ground and doubtless underlying the whole
superficial deposte Mt no great depth. 1t is just
such region Of sand and gravel as may be seen
in many places along the western side oitbe Green
Mountains, and indeed all over New England
1t is what is called modified drift. AMI lies above
genuine drift. having been the result Of aqueous
agency, subsequently to the drift period.
1.-The well was dug in November 1913. For
about ten feet il passed through soil and gravel.
then about four feet Of clay. Below this lay de-
posite from twelve 10 fifeep feet thick Of frozen
gravel. with quite large boulders intcrmixed. =
Continuing the excavation two feet farther in the
same mneria wat,r was reached the whole
depth is not far from thirty-fiyc feet The frozen
part passed through appeared precisely like the
same material frozen at the surface in winter.
Immediately west of the well rises a hill Of
gravel and sand which may he thirty feet above
the well aud IL M its south end some fifty 10 sev-
cniy feet high. This ridge is an eighth of mile
long and runs northeast and southwest. Near
its northern end, it is crossed hy "onl which
Inns been excavated To depth Of sixts-two fcrt.-
Al the top of the ridge the bed of clay and the
layers OF sand and srayei nre nearly horizontal,
position. The pebbles in the strata were abou;
three inches in diameter, and remarkably free
from sand and gravel.
The dip Of those beds of gravel, sand and clay,
makes it almost certain this ridge Of drift was
formed by II current from the northeast
1.-The well was stoned up late in the autumn,
and during the winter ice formed upon the water
in one night two inches thick 1t continued to
freeze till April, siuce which time no leo has form
cd ON the surface, but when visited juno 9th
the stones OF the well, for s,me 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 4th there was Ice in the
well. The water Mt that time was twenty two
inches deep. About hundred rods distant is
another we'll the temperature of which. on the
18th Of June was fiity.one Another we'll twelve
feet deep, sixty rods distant, had temperature Of
firty-tiyc."
In stating the various theories in regard to this
interesting matter, Professor Hitchcock said
upon tho whole, though it is possible that the
Brandon depositr il n remnant of n gacial peri
cd. he looked with more f,vorup the suppus-
ton that it was the result of Operations now going
on, produced by currents Of air through the po-
rus depostc.
An interesting discussion followed more to
encidatc facts than to refue the theories prescn-
ted.
Professor Dawson, of Montreal stated tina, he
had met with similar phenomena in Nova Scotia,
md accepted the views presented by Professor
Hitchcock.
Mr.. llagar, Of Proctorsville. Vermont, said that
from the first he considered it us owing to pre-
seat causes. lie had visited me nban onel iron
mines in Essex and had found ice in summer at
the depth of lbs feet.