Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-01-09
Fossils of the Sandstone.


and gone to bed.
Fossils of the Sandstone.
The ouarries, situated but few
rods from the river, at Portland,
Conn, are three in number, each
covering a space of over twenty acres
and all excavated to depth of from
fifty to one hundred and fifty feet
below the level of the adjacent
ground, and in some places fifty feet
b low the surface of the river. These
quarries were opened as early as
1868, and have been worked con-
tinually since, in a rapid increasing
ratio. This stone is the same OF
which the earlier stone-front build
ings of Brooklyn, including many
churches. were built, and which Is
still used here to large extent.
The most interesting features,
however, of these sandstone quar-
ries. are the evidences of ancient
life are found engraved upon the
surface of the slabs as they are split
apart by the wedges of the quarry
men. These relics consist of foot
prints in the solid rock, of bird, beast
and reptile, as plain and unmistal<-
able as are those of the muskrat
upon the soft mud of the river bank
few rods away. To understand
how these impressions came to their
present puoftion, it 10 necessary 90
recall the circumstances under which
they were undoubtedly produced.
Geologists agree that some time In
the remote past, long before the
Connecticut river came into exist
ence, the spot where the quarries
now lie was a part of long and
comparatively narrow arm of the an
cient ocean, not following the line
of the present Connecticut valley,
but stretching away toward New
Haven on the south.
Its waters were probably mostly
shallow and brackish. The streams
flowing into this ford from the north
brought large quantities of the de-
tritus of the old formations, contain
inc much iron, sand, mica and clay,
and deposited them on the fiat and
nearly level bottom. The waters
teemed with aquatic life, of which
remains are often found. The an
imals of the locality then, as now,
congregated upon the banks, bars
and sand-pits in pursuit of their
prev. They were not, however,
such animals as we are familiar with
at the present day, as their foot
prints very plainly show. Over thirty
species of birds, four specimens OF
lizards, three of tortoises and SIX
of batrachins (these were mostly
mammoth frogs) have been identi-
fed bv those who have made the sub
iect a study. OF bird tracks, one
of the brontozoum measures twenty
inches in length and must have been
made bv bird at least four times
as large as the ostrich. Another'
of the otozoum, is twenty inches
lono. thirteen inches broad, and un-
like the bird tracks has four toes IN
front. The distance between steps
is three feet, and the tracks are
eoi-distant. showing that the animal
was biped. Its exact place IN the
animal kingdom is not known, hui
if is believed to have been allied tc
the batrachians.
Some of the tracks were made by
gigantic frogs, at least three feet II
hight. They were as large as ois
calf and must have had voices tina
command respect. Besides thes'
fossil footprints, the rocks aboun'
in mud tracks, ripple marks, worn
trails and impressions of rain drops
A single slab, which has, however
now been removed from the quar-
ries. contained the track of tor
toise. the trail of worm, endln'
abruptly in the path of footprint
nv a bird. the track of another tor
toise. and over all the mark of rain
drops evidently driven from tn
n ,rtheast. This slab was lea
, from Natures manuscript, contain
inc a plain account of everyday llf
T in AGES almost inconceivably remote
, vet more undoubtedly veracious tha
. MANY a printed page of later history
/ During the disposition of these sand
stone beds, a continual sinking Q
| the surface was going on, much tn
f same as the level of Long Island
sinking at the present time, thoug
. possibly more rapidly. Additions
deposits were thrown down upon tn
tracks until they finally became dc
; pressed to the position in which W
now find them. Brooklyn E0gte.