Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-05-20

QUANTITIES dS 10 StIlDuSlN dIIeCI IIlt water
for drinking purposes From careful anal
ysis made Of river water in many widely
separated countries OF the globe, it is found
that the land loses about 100 tons annually
from every square mile of its surface.
Thus in the township Of Brattleboro with
its 80 square miles, 1000 tons Of solid rock
are dissolved By rain-water and removed
by the streams every year.
The streams do far more. however, than
simply to act as Transporting agents for the
mud and sand and the soluble substances.
As the particles Of cOmminuted rock are
whirled along by the current and strike
against the bed of the stream they slowly
but surely cut into its surface. In this
way the Colorado river has cut 5000 feet
and more, forming its great canon and add
ing 10 the rock materials borne seward by
its current. The Connecticut and its trib-
utaries are also cutting their way slowly
but surely lower and lower, and in a later
portion Of the paper / shall mention evil
dence on this point that is afforded by the
terraces on the river front.
The geOlOgist in estimating these results
deals not with years however, but with
periods; and the process Of removal by
streams or erosion, as it is termed, carried
on through long ages of geological time,
would ultimately bear all the land of the
globe beneath the level of the sea. The
billy country of New England today is but
the remnant of a once mountainous region
whose lofty SUBMITS have been carried
seward, and which we see i'm progress in
every stream that scores the surface. The
green hills of Vermont have been carved
| out by its many rivulets, brooks and rivers.
Our beautiful topography is the result Of
those forces which. insignificant in them
selves, have been active through long ages.
But who among us is sufficiently imagi-
native to picture to himself the time in the
history of this region when the streams did
not flow in their present valleys or Wan
tastiquet did not raise its crest to the rays
of the morning sun. Although we may
not live long enough into the future to de
tect a change, our descendants many ages
60 come may see the sun rise earlier over
the New Hampshire hills, or they may
reach Wilmington by some newly eXcavat-
ed valley rather than the long climb over
Hogback
Look for a moment at the section from
Wantastiquet to Haystack which | have
placed upon the wall. You will notice the
folded and broken character of the strata.
The streams have deeply cut into and
formed, as the layers were originally hori-
zontal.
You may perhaps say-"We have many
great mountain chains: there is a great
continental and island area projecting
above the sea. When is all this work to
be accomplishments | give a reply that is
paradoxical when answer perer. Coun-
teract'ng the forces of destruction are those
Of construction, lessons of which may be
drawn also from our own region.
a moment ago spoke Of the mud and
sand that was being carried out of the
mouth of every river and deposited upon
the sea bottom. The marine currents may
scatter these materials somewhat widely
along the coasts, but as compared with the
broad eXpanse of the oceans, they are de-
posted near the continents. In the process
of time the accumulation of mud, sand,
and shells of marine animals is elevated
now here, now there, to form new land.
The strata, and we will find them deposited
i'll horizontal layers, may be bodily elevated
above the water level as is seen all along
the tide water region of the South Atlantic
and Gulf states, or we may have those
once level strata thrown into great folds,
forming mountain chains such as the Green
mountains, the Appalachian mountains,
the Rocky mountains, and many others
exhibit today. If you will examine once
more the section | have placed before
you, you will see how, here in our own
region, the rocks that lie beneath our feet
have been thrown into folds though sub
sequently denuded by the streams as | have
already pointed out.
But you say there is wide difference
between the soft deposits of mud, sand,
and broken shells of the sea bed, and our
solid rocks; and 50 there is. That the
rocks may be crushed and ground by stream
action to form the mud and sand is easy 10
perceive; but that the solid rocks were
themselves once similar sediments on the
floor of some ancient sea that covered New
England is not at first sight so easy
of comprehension. Here in Vermont we
are dealing with some of the oldest rocks
on the surface of the globe; rocks, that dur
ing the long ages since they were sand and
mud and broken shells, have suffered many
changes. Yet the connection is not diff
cult to show. We can trace in other re-
gions every graduation from the sea-shore
deposits to the hardest rocks like our own.
Outside of the fact that stratifed rocks
could only have been laid down i'm water,
we find on the highest points of the Green
mountains as well as of the Appalachians
and the Rockies, remains of marine shells
imbedded in the solid rock Sometimes
these shells are so numerous that they
! form limestone which, in the process of
time, may be changed to marble as in the
western part of Vermont. The muddy
sediments which formed on the bed of the
ancient sea are today our states, and the
sand has been changed into granite and
| quartzite, the latter favorite building stone
| quarried in the mountain opposite. In
our immediate region the rocks have been
so changed by time that almost no trace of
| the shells of marine animals remains. |
have found them, however, in large num-
bers in limestone on a hill just to the
north of the village of Bernardston.
The occurrence of the remains of living
organisms of past geological ages in rocks
far inland, and even in the highest noun
tain ranges, early attracted attentions but
it was many centuries before a natural ex-
PLANTATION was found for them. Voltaire
thought they had fallen from the hats of
the crusaders as they crossed Europe to the
Holy Land, and another discussed the
probability of their having been abortive
attempts of the Creator in producing new
forms of life. During the greater part of
the present century, however, their pres
ence has been considered sufficiently indie
alive of their cOntemporaneOus origin with