Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-10-10

! portions-a valuable possession, provided
it's owner shall be able TO hold 1t harm
less against such changes as are con
stantIy occurring in the currents Of tn'
river.
ARE POWERFUL AGENTS.
The freshets in the James are powerful
agents in the making or unmakine
OF islands, but still more powerful wher
they bear so constantly on The river
rocky bed. There is reason to believe
that some time prior TO or during the
Quartenary period more powerful
agent than water had been instrumental
in cutting down the granite which forms
the bedrock of the James. From OBJ
servations which l have carefully made
along the line of the great falls and
several miles above them, ] am OF the
opinion that local glaciation has done a.
much, II not more, 10 deepen the bedrock
of the river than any other that may be
mentioned. The evidences of this local
glaciation may be observed well written
in legible characters on such stones as
are susceptible of impressions, and may
also be verified by the existence of
groups of granite boulders which / have
discovered on the south side, as far up
as Powhatan county. | have taken in
my notebook a sketch-some fifteen
years ago-of a remarkable group OF
granite boulders resting on a farm once
owned by my dear departed friend, VIII
liam III. Wesson-some of them as big
as stranded ships-and all quietly nesting
on ground that is a half mile or so dis
tant from the present bed of the James
and at a height, too. above IL OF $50 feet
more or less. This beautiful group of
rocks, covered, in some instances, by
oaks OF centuries growth, could not
have been transported to its present an
chorage by any other conceivable agent
than ice.
Glacier and freshet. then, are the two
powerful agents which have reduced the
old rivvr from its high and broad levels
to its present confinement to alluvial
bottoms and rocky hills.
FACTS ABOUT THE ROCK-BED.
Another factor in the count of change
and disruption of the granite bed of the
old and of the new river-setting aside
frosts and the natural abrasion occa-
stoned by the moving gravels-is the
homely pot-hole. The bedrock, as now
seen, is literally peppered all over with
these active little agents. Some OF them
are as small in their dimensions as an
inch or two Of diameter, and others so
large as to be capable Of holding hun
dreds Of gallons Of water. There is
reason 10 believe that pot-holes may be
uncovered at heights above the flow of
the present river. L discovered a few
years ago a group Of them near Rich
les old mill which had not been touched
by the waters Of the great freshets OF
1870 and 1871.
l have ascertained from careful fnspec-
ton Of certain artificial pot-holes that
the wear and tear goes on so slowly
hardly a half inch in a century-as 10 in
cline me TO believe that the largest Of
the natural ones may be many thousand
years old. Before concluding this hastv
article, l may interest the savant by re-
ating In brief a remarkable discovery
| made a few years ago, In a dump OF
sxcayated earth. which came from the
foundation OF tobacco factory overlook
ng the falls. This factory was burlt
IN a high shelf of ground, which had
been strewn inside and outside with
hundreds of stranded boulders. The fails /
II this point never rise in the greatest |
reshets above nine feet OF ordinary flow.
rhe boulder / am to describe was broken |
ialf In two, the other half. unfortunately |
lad been buried in the dump. 1t showed !
/ clear-cut half OF pot-hole. of the |
apacity OF, say. forty or fifty gallons OF /
water. The level OF the excavation ex- |
eeded ia height the level OF the highest
forty or more feet The /
or pot-hole. had been, undoubt-
dly, sculptured by natural agents, and |
hose agents were Enthusiastically water |
nd gravel 1t would be idle to calculate