Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-08-21
Footprints on the Sands of Time


AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE Fosstt FOOT
PRINTS FOUND IN THE VICINITY OF TURNER'S
FALLS, MASS.
lGreenheld correspondent Of thoN. v Evening Postl
There is probably no other part OF the
world which has recorded in itH rocks 30
wonderful a story of the past an that OF the
red sandstone Of the Connecticut River val
ley. With the exception Of central range
of trap rock, the entire valley is underlaid
with dark red sandstone, lying in stratihed
beds and extending from the highlands bor-
dering il on the east 10 those on the west-a
space varying In width from twenty miles on
the Connecticut line to six or eight miles near
the middle of Massachusetts and gradually
narrowing TO about one mile on the Vermont
border. This vast bed, which extends about
100 miles to Long Island Sound, occupies
what was once the bottom of great estuary
or arm of the sea, which extended inland in
the Mesozoic era and perhaps earlier. The
sand and gravel, washed by the elements
from the gnessic and schisiose rocks of the
neighboring hills, gradually filed mp the val
ley and in the course of ages hardened into
rock
While this process was going on, the estu-
ary, into which tho tides flowed, was the
home of immense numbers Of animals of
many different kinds, mostly Of species now
extinct. When tho tide was out and the
muddy bottom WAS LETT bare along its shores,
great troops Of quadrupeds and bipeds fire.
quented the flats, where they probably found
vegetable food suitable to their wants, or
perhaps Toasted on each other in the soul
narrowing manner depicted in some of our
early schoolbooks.- Among them we're great
ornithic reptiles representing a higher type
Of reptilian organization than any now exist
L.. - lf,,lr hat ha
bird and the reptile-which stood ten or
twelve feet high and weighed from GOO to 500
pounds, whose feet measured Is inches long,
and whose stride was from 30 to 60 inches I;
apteTons, low-organized animals, in many re-
spects not unlike the giant dinornis or moa
OF New ZEALAND. A dozen smaller species
some no larger than turkey, fed in tiocks
along the shore, mingled with batrachians
~ large IA an elephant, and gigantic croco-
diles and lizards-or animals approaching
them in form. The labyrinthodon of Eu-
rope, frog as large AZ an OK, wea, says Dr.
Hitchcock, pygmy compared with the great
Otozoum OF New England, whose hind feet
measured 20 inches long by l3 to II wide,
and whose fore fett-not more than third
AZ large-wero probably used only when the
head was brought to the ground. Beside
these spoTted host of smaller bipeds and
quadrupeds, three-tood, fOur-toed, and FIVE
toed some with bird like feet and some with
webbed feet, some long-legged and some
short legged, some with tails and some with
out, some gramiuivOrous some carnivorous,
forming such procession ~ mortal man
never looked upon.
Eons have fled since then. the tropical eli
mate which clothed this ancient New Eng.
land valley with giant ferns and conifers has
passed away, and with il have gone the won
derful organizations which once crowded the
banks OF its quiet waters yet they have as
truly left the story of their lives behind them
A. il some special antodiuvian reporter had
watched their gambols from the neighboring
heights, depicting their forms and recording
their daily acts for our benefit. Wherever
they stepped along the mud bottoms, left
bare by the Teceding tide, the plastic sand or
clay took and retained the exact impression
OF their feet the mud dried rapidly under
the tropical sun, and on tho inflowing Of the
tide the tracks were filled with fine sand,
which made permanent the impression. The
ebbing of the waters left another coating Of
soft mud, which was in turn tracked by the
animals and covered in the same wa; ; and
so II went on, year after year, and age after
age, one layer being deposited upon another
till the strata had accumulated TO a great
thickness. 1t is probable that there WAS a
until the strata were piled up hundreds and
thousands Of feet in thickness Under i'm
mense pressure and certain chemical condi.
tions these layers Of sand hardened into
stone, which was in time elevated above the
waters. When the sand again saw the light
in the form Of sandstone, the layers were no
longer horizontal, or nearly so, "A they un-
doubtedly we're when the otozoum walked
their muddy surfaces but, tipped or tilted
by the immense internal force which threw
them up, they lay at an inclination to the no
rizon of 30 to 5O2, with a dip generally
toward the east. This is the condition in
which they exist To- day, and geologists com
pute that the strata must be from 3 900 Ia
IL 900 feet thick.
In numerous places throughout the Con
necticut valley, where quAries have been
opened in the sandstone, the fossil tracks Ol
these ancient animals have been found i'm
pressed in the stone in "a perfect a condition
| NJ il they had been formed but yesterday
by far the most numerous and the best pre-
| served specimens have been discovered
ut Turner'S Falls, which, being near the head
Of the ancient estuary, seems to- have been
favorite resort of the fauna of the time. Tn,
| Field farm. near there, now controlled under
a lease by Mr.. Il. NJ Stoughton, where tn,
most satisfactory specimens have been oh
tained has been frequently visited by scien
tifo men interested in technology among
others by Professors Hitchcock, Silliman
| Dana, Agassiz, and in 1876 by Huxley, who
examined the quarry in company With Pro
fessor Marsh of Yale college. Mr.. o. IL
LebOurvean, the superintendent of the exca
vations, told me, during late visit there
| that Professor Huxley, after examining tn,
| footprints, rapidly sketched for him on ON
| of the slabs with piece of chalk the out
| lines OF the animals which made them.
The principal quarry is on a bluff, at {
/ considerable elevation above the river, on tn
bank of a small inlet called the Lily pond
The strata, which can be traced in the neigh
borhood to depth of about 4 900 feet, ris
in nearly perpendicular ledge directly iron
the water. The dip is apparently about %
but it il said to be considerably greater i
several places, and in Ole place near the riy
er the strata are said to lap over on the top
seeming to indicate that the upheaval ma
have been sudden and not gradual, as is gen
orally believed. In some parts the stone
loose conglomeTate made up of gravel an
sand in others a fine, close grained sand
stone, which readily splits into thin layer
like slate or shale. 1t ia in the latter that tn
tracks are found.
The quarry has been opened nearly on IN
top of the bluff, and AZ the edges of the strf
la lie upward trench has been cut across
in north and south line, exposing the fac
of the layers on the west side to depth q
ten or twelve feet The stone is cut into rec
tangular slabs with the ehisel and then spl
off by wedges, the slabs being generally on
to two inches thick. When part oontainin
footprints is found, il il carefully removed I
one Of the buildings above and fastened in
rough frame 10 prevent breakage. A larg
| number of the slabs are now on exhibition