Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-12
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From Hours at Home for September.
The Fossil Remains Of Vermont
BIZ J. ". PdlLPs.

Five spots exist in Vermont, which have be-
come remarkable for their fossil remains. At
three Of these spots tusks of three different
elephants have been found at another point
the entire skeleton o. hale has been exum-
ed ard at another still, trees and rare fruit
have been br .ught to light, which seem to be
.ong to some extinct species, OF a remote pc
riod of time, ard perhaps of some distant OIL
mate.
Ii IS not ovr intention to give scientific ac-
count of these fossils, but simply to narrate
facts, together with some specuatons and CON
lectures based upon them. But before pro-
ceedlpg do this, and in order to gain a clearer
view of the matter, re may point out the geo
graphical relation ia which Vermont stands to
the rest of the globe.
The State of Vermont lies in region of the
North American continent which forms a kind
of peninsula. of which New England comprises
about half. Tnis penn n sula is connected
with the main land on the west by an isthmus
uot more than ten miles IL width, between
the head waters of Lake George and the Hud-
son river. From he mouth of the ST. Law
renee TO the mouth of the Hudson the distance
IS 900 miles, aud the tide eobs and flows over
$50 miles OF this dists nce-ascending the ST.
Lawrence nearly TO the mouth of the Sorel, the
outlet of Lake Champlan, and as far as Albany
on the Hudson, leaving only 250 miles out OF
the entire circuit of the peninsula of some two
ter. The height of ChampIain above the level
If the sea is ninety feet. and the greatest eeva-
ton Of the land between the waters of the lake
and the Hudson is nearly fifty feet. Such is
the general outline of that portion of the globe
of which Vermont forms part.
The particular point in this region a, which
the skeleton OF the whale was found is in the
town of Charlotte, fifty miles from the north
boundary OF the State, about midway of
na Of he lak ypIl. and kaI,
from it's eastern shore, and sixty feet above its
present level, or $50 feet above the sea. 1t
dscovered in 1S49 by a party of Iaborers at
work upon the Rutland and Burlington railway.
l. .ay eight feet below the surface in an earth,
conslstir &, first, of four feet of sand, then two
and one naIf feet Uf sand and clay mixed, and
finally in bed OF pure clay. its head pointing
TO the northwest, and its tail to the south
east, if it had been blown on the ancient
shore of the lake by westerly winds. The
tire length of the animal was fourteen feet, aud
the skeleton is preserved IN The cabinet OF the
Capitol at Montpelier.
10 connection with this part of our subject it
may be stated that portion of q similar skele-
ton was dug up in the vicinity of Montreal in
IS41. IL lay IN bed of the same clay that
OF Charlotte, at the depth of fifteen feet below
the surface. and one hundred feet above the
level of the St. lawrence. The bones Of whales
globe. They occur in great numbers scattered
over the surface of the States of Alabama aud
Mississippi, where they are disposed Of by be-
ing burned or built into fences. These whales
might have been destroyed either by volcanic
concusslon or by deleterious gases liberated
during the period of volcanic action, as fish Of
ten are, a. least seem to be, nowadays, in
the Gulf Of Mexico. or, what is perhaps more
probable, they might have been left foundering
by the sudden Retiring of the sea
At the time when the whale became strand
ed on the ancient shore of Lake Champain, a
considerable portion of the peninsula of which
We have spoken was overfown by the waters OF,
the ocean Between the chain of the Green
Mountains and The country westward from there
IN the valley now occupied BY the beds ofLake
Chsmplsin and the Hudson river, there was a
vide arm of the sea, or strait. What is now
ihe highest point OF land between the Lake and
The Hudson. was then ten feet below the sur
lace of the water in the strait. As to what
vas the condition of the peninsula-or rather
lsland-at that early period, with respect to
animal and vegetable life, what trees covered
IFS mountains, what animals stirred and lived
among them, We can only form a vague con-
Jecture. The Green Mountains, doubtless,
rose then as 'hey do now, and lifted their green
ueaos a5oye the accomplishing sea, forming
art OF a lone island In the midst Of the waters.
bears, aud deer, and wolves might possibly
nave existed there then but can we conceive
That the elephant roamed there, and found up
on The narrow domain of the sea-girt island an
ample subsistence where now the hills are 80
coid and ungenial 20 his race?
With respect to these localities in Vermont
70 which the remains of elephants have been
discovered. they are, beginning in the north
1.st, In the town of Richmond, second, in
Mount Holly, and third. in Brattteboro. The
h's' point, in Richmond, is fifteen miles north.
easteIy from Charlotte, not far from the Win
1oskl river, on the western slopes of the Green
Mountains and near the line OF the Vermont
central railway. This railway runs up the