The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-20
GREEN POND MOUNTAIN.
The Grandeur of 1t in Winter
To Get There From
Jersey City.

Green Pond mountain, with its rough and
lofty perpendicular wall half hidden by foil
age in midsummer, forms an inspiring pic
ture, but no man can fully appreciate the
grandeur of it until he sees it in winter,
stripped of every vestige of its green veil ex-
cept the sombre hemlocks which cling des-
perately to their roothold in the assures, and
make one wonder whence they obtain their
nourishment. There is no other rock forma-
ton in New Jersey like the Green Pond
mountain, and except where it struggles up
into Orange County in New York, it is not
to be found in this country. Consequently
the rock has received a specific name. 1t IS
called Green Pond mountain c~onglomerate,
and it is a puzzle to the biologists. They
realize that it is a sedimentary rock formed
OF silicious sand n quartz peoples;
Country people call it s'puddin' stone" and
they find loose boulders of it scattered over
their fields throughout the eastern slope OF
the red sandstone district. 1t is evident that
this great conglomerate ridge has been
greatly disturbed at some remote period by
the upheaval of the ardhaean rocks beneath,
but nobody knows Just how thick the super
imposed conglomerate Is. 1t is believed TO
be at least 600 feet thick, but the greatest
exposure of upright broken surface is slightly
less tha 400 feet. The first appearance Of
the ridge is near Flanders, where there is an
isolated mountain. Another appears near
Succasunna plains, and it is lost again for q
mile or two to reappear above kenv1i and
run in an unbroken low ridge nearly to
Rockaway river. Then it begins again just
below Berkshire, but does not show any
rugged or prominent feature until Piceatinny
Powder depot. where a lofty peak rises abb
ruptly at the foot of old Middle Forge pond,
now known as Piceatinny lake. This sharp
peak rivals any in the Rocky mountains IN
rugged grandeur, and seems almost out OF
place in New Jersey.
ArPRoAcHABLE FROM Fl WEST.
Green Pond mountain from the west is APP
proachable, generally, by a stiff slope, while
the east face is almost everywhere, perpen-
dicular, or nearly SO. At the foot Of the
wall there is a huge sloping Pile of broken
rock thrown from the cliff in each succeeding
winter for ages past, by the action of frost in
the c~revices. The eonglomorate is broken
in every direction by 1isslres formed in the
process of upheayal. The top OF the almost
level ledge shows the securing of the glaciers,
but, if the east wall was ever thus abraded,
the worn rocks have long since fallen, and
are now buried in the. accumulated talus at
the bottom of the cliff.
Every visitor to Green Pond has seen and
admired the lichen covered wall which shuts
III ILLS I1USG atGIdcblNt ldhS Al 4NC6 cVtSSJ,
and many have deplored the vandalism
which prompts some persons to write their
initials in huge and scrawling characters
upon the weathered gray surfaces of the
rocks by scratching away the purple
black lichens. The surface of the lake Is
1,04S feet above mean tide, and the cliffs
rise above 200 feet on the average. The top
Of the mountain is almost level, there being
no more than 80 feet deviation from a
straight line In the length of the lake, which
is two and one-half miles. Trees have found
roothold all over the crumbling face of the
cliff, except where it is smooth and perpen-
dicular or actually overhangs, but they can
not grow thickly enough to obscure the
great wall.
The winter visitor has the occasional ex-
citement of witnessing a thrilling scene on
this abrupt mountain side. While he is skat-
ing about or watching the tip-ups set over
holes in the ice to catch the pickerel for
which this lake is famous, he may hear an
ominous rumble almost like thunder, and,
turning quickly, observe a mass of rock
weighing many tons separate from the face
of the cliff and come crashing down, cut
ting down huge trees on its way
and breaking into a hundred fragments
upon the talus. Some of the lighter pieces
lighter, but weighing perhaps half a ton
NAV find their way down the ragged slope of
debris and crash through the ice, creating a
racket like a discharge of artillery all over
the pond. The su1nmer visitor sees nothing
of this, but if he visits the pond year after
year, he is likely to note where heavy rock
falls have occurred during the previous win
ter.
WINTER VISITORS.
Few persons visit Green Pond in winter
except to fish, and few summer visitors see
Green Pond Mountain at Its grandest point,
because they approach it from the north,
coming in over the road from New Found
land. This is an attractive road and affords
a fine Opportunity to study the mountain to
the north of the pond, but for scenic beauty
it does not compare with the route which
leads up to the lower end of the pond from
Lake Denmark. In fact, there is nothing in
New Jersey to compare with this road for
wild scenery aud imposing rock structure.
Some years ago r.. b. Merritt built a hotel
which has since been burned down. He
located it at the foot OF Lake Dem
mark, and the, then new Nor
rs county railroad established a
station at the pond. Then Mr.. Merritt set
about improving an old wood road leading
from Lake Denmark to the foot of Green
pond. He spent a great deal Of money and
infinite labor in making TINS road Mt Tor
carriages, and all he got for it was the satis-
faction of being a public benefactor to a
slight extent. What he did was well done,
and the road is in good condition yet. It is
a little more than three miles long, with
many and devious turns, several stiff hills
and some places which present a consider
able element Of danger for city horses, but
there is no road in the State which will SO
well repay the nature loving pedestrian for
venturing upon it. It begins at a point
below the old dam at Denmark, trends to
the westward across the bridge, and then
follows the course of Green Pond brook
rather closely. There is not a single house
upon the road between Denmark and
Green Pond, but there is one spot where a
hotel could be located with advantage. 1t
is where the road suddenly turns and
brings the traveller into view of the loftiest
and most impressive part of the Green Pond
mountain structure. Here the cliff towers
up 400 feet above the torrent which pours
down the rock-strewn valley, making hun
dreds of turbulent cascades and occasional
black pools, in which the trout still lurk. 1t
is a milo or more from the foot Of Green
Pond, and it forms one of the coolest and
most attractive glens in the State at an
elevation Of nearly 1000 feet above the sea.
NJ - tZE-+~l~.-NN-