The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1875-08-11
IAlfBERTvILLE M, WEDNESDAY AUGUST H. 1875

Brook to the west of tho Pennington r. R..
crossing the Pennington r. r. on the proper
~ owned By David Bells. crossing the Ne
shanic at the r. r. bridge at Copper Hill
crossing the road that leads from Pennington
to Ringoes, on the summit, In front of E. T.
Dunu's, crossing the new road leading from
the above named road to Reaville, crossing ia
the east Of Josiah Holcombess buildings. cross
ing the old York road near A. r.. Williamson's
gate, crossing the road leading from Ringocs
to Unionyille, to the west Of ]. B. Dalrymple's
house, to the eminence in ]. G. Dnrham's
woods thence the course is little west Of
south to Dilts' Peak, whore it is lost in the
Sourland Range.
Along this line tho greatest amount Of
powders is found on the property Of James
s. Rockafellow, and that owned by A. T. VIII
Hanson. Upon the uncleared land owned by
]. s. Rockafelow, they range from the size Of
alarge pebble to masses having diameter Of
two feet. At this place they arc so numerous
as to BIO troublesome, being on account Of
their shape of little worth for building stone.
Upon the property of A. T. Williamson we
may find masses having a diameter of about
ST. At this place, not only their SIZE, but
their shape is more favorable SO much 50 that
on this gentleman's farm, several rods of sub
stantial stone fence have been made out of this
material.
| The structure Of these fragments very much
resembles those described as angular pieces of
Basalt found upon the ridge near VIM. Brew
er's Those nearest the northern end of the
line are remarkable for smallness and the
tendency to the rhomboidal form. The crest
of Cemetery Hill, to the west of Fleming
ton, is covered with these small fragments
scarcely one of which would show diameter
of six inches. They are very hard, and very
tough, and from this circumstance, they are
well adapted to the use Of macadamizing
roads, and the like.
The wisdom of the villagers Of Pennington
directed them to make us of these loose, al
ready worked, and most exquisitely adapted
surface fragments, in macadamizing the main
street of their village, which is by no means
the least Of their works of improvement, and
one for which they deserve much praise.
The larger masses found in the central por-
ton of the line, and towards the southern ex-
tremity, more nearly resemble those Of the
Sourland Range, ALI exhibiting the concOa-
trio exfoliation, and the tendency to spon-
taneous fission. But the structure of those
found toward the north of the line, very much
resembles those occurring upon the ridge en-
circling Sandbrook. TREY. all show less of the
tendency to coucentric exfoliation, and we'll
marked tendency to spontaneous fission.
The soil made by their Wondering is Of
excellent quality, and very much resembles
what we have described as the product of the
dsintegration of the Basaltic powders Of the
Sourland Range.
| But how slnll we account for this line of
Basaltic powders, stretching directly across
from side to side Of this our beautiful red
shae valley? Indeed, along this whole line
we find but one exposure of BasaIti6 Trap, in
beds or layers, and this at the N. limit. All
the rest we find are in loose Fragments and
the appearance is that they have been detach-
ed-haye been isolated bowlders--for an IN
definite length Of time. Many of them seem
to be the remnant of what once was a larger
| fragment, which by concentric exfoliation had
grown less and less until now there is nothing
left but the core.
Have they been transported hither from
the neighboriug hills?
| In the cut made by the Pennington r.. r.,
upon the property Of D. s. Bells, may be
seen, on the east side of the r. R., the red
shale at first in its natural appearance, as we
go from Copper Hill towards Pennington. -
But presently the redshale begins to change
its color-growing darker-and at the same
time becoming harder and harder, until at
last, for a few feet 1t ASSUMES a yellowish hue
and becomes almost as hard as the altered
shale of the Sourland Range and then II
ceases entirely. From this point toward
Flemingtoff for distance of 200 yards the
eastern bank consists Of yellowish loamy
substance, quite peculiar. Then suddenly we
meet the altered shale again, which as we con-
tinue our observations IN tho direction of
Pennington, becomes lighter and softer, I'M
til at length it is the natural shale.
At present, the mouldering Of the exposed
rock, and the sliding down of the surface
earth las almost concealed this structure, but
4 when the cut was freshly made the exhibition
was bold and distinct. If we go up In the
field and examine closely we find that this Pc
culiar material above described, forms mar
row belt Of soil, which at this place is about
60 1T. wide, which can be traced toward the
southeast from this point, to the Sourland
Mountain, lying all along mostly at the west
ern edge of the above described line of bowl
ders. To the west of this belt OF yellow
earth, hardly Basaltic bowlder of any con
siderable size can be found, and up to 1t the
redshale soil comes abruptly. Again from
this cut toward the N. w., a similar belt q
like yellow earth can be traced as far as the
mines--all the way along marked out Tho
more distinctly, by the line of Basatic fias
ments. should not omit to say that the best
season of the year to see the peculiar appear
ance of this yellowish soil, is the Spring
From July until March, one would hardly no
tice the difference SO readily. Furthermore
q it is not SO readily distinguished at some plac
es as at others For instance, it was at first
not an easy matter to trace this line by thu
soil, from the mines south-westward, through
the lands owned by o. b. Davis !; and TIN
same might be said of several other places
The cause Of this oblteration seems to depend
upon the narrowness of the belt, in some