The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-17
ORIGIN OF WATERFALLS
Ancient Stone Dams Now Buried
Beneath Alluvial Deposits.
Views of biologists Upon River Oh
servatiOns During the Glacial Pc
riOd-They Caused Additions to the
Beauty of the Land Surrounding
Them-West Virginia Discoveries.

!
cient stone dams constructed across river
beds and valleys in Wyoming, Mcdowell.
| Boone, and Raleigh counties, West Vir-
| ginia, have resulted in some interesting
| 5peculations regarding the origin of these
stupendous works. Many of the theories,
| selves, scarcely bear the light Of scientific
scrutiny. The most popular explanation of
. the great dams seems to ascribe their con-
struction to an ancient race of man which
! fourished and decayed many centuries be-
fore the advent of the mound builders,
who in turn gave way to the North Ameri-
can Indians. The wonderful resemblance
of the dams to the artificial creations Of
man renders this theory extremely plaus-
| ible, So much so that soma OF the main ar
guments upon which it is based may be
instanced. as in the following account of
these wonderful works:
These dams in their original condition
extended entirely across the valley (of
Coal River. Raleigh county, from one bill
to the other, and, in many cases, were
over 100 feet in height and 200 feet in
width at their base. They are now. in
most cases, covered up almost to their top
by alluvial denominations, and the streams
have worn passages through them in many
places almost to their foundations, which
is not to be wondered at when we con-
slider their great age.
These dams are composed OF very odd
looking, wedge-shaped stones. the largest
~ hi nt, DE-
The stones in any one dam are OF the
same size, but OF different sizes in differ
ent dams, in some being twice as large
as in others. The reason for this no one
has ever been able to conjecture.
On account of the peculiar shape OF
these stones they, Of course, do not fit
together as they would have done had they
been square. The crevices, however, have
all been nicely filled with composition
which seems to have been made OF coarse
sand and small fragments Of crushed
stone. BY carefully beating this COM
position into the open crevices 1t appar
emily answered the purpose of these an
cient architects as well as the best cement
would have done.
THE theory here exploited that the con-
struction of these dams is due to human
agency is" says Prof. Thomas Wilson, of
the Smithsonian Institution, utterly un-
tenable." Such dams are found more or
less abundantly In all river beds through
out the country, extending in chain over
that region covering almost the entire por-
tion east OF the Rocky Mountains, which
was once submerged, and formed an i'm
mense lake or inland sea. AS, in the
course of ages. this great body of water
subsidized, and dug for itself, by erosion.
river beds. the currents running through
these latter naturally contained. besides a
great amount of fluid force, enormous de-
posits of rocks and powders which were
carried along by the streams. This was at
the glacial period when enormous quanti-
tiles of ice was also. as it melted, trans
ported along the rivers. These vast accu-
mutations of stone and ice occasionally
made stoppages in the course Of the riv-
ers. which. when of sufficient magnitude.
DETECTED the course cf the latter first de-
posting. by means of back water immense
deposits over the country side Thus, the |
different levels OF streams. at such places. |
may be distinctly traced by examining the |
strata of the banks as the river gradually |
eroded or cut out for ITSELF its new course. |
But the origin of the dam. and its mode |
of construction, will now be readily ac- |
counted for
THE force of the glacial current swept
the stones and powders into their places
and filled up the crevices with sand and
SIDdil par Win 6itittl lottt anu
nearly as great precision as could have
been done by the art Of the mason. The
back-waters of the slowly settling stream
covered the dam with alluvial deposits, and
this hid 1t in many cases from the eye Of
man until very recently"
Prof. G. Frederick Wright. Of the Geo.
logical Survey, says:
"No single cause has done more to di-
versify the surface of this country, to add
to the attractivness Of the scenery, and to
furnish the key by which the conditions of
the Ice Age can be reproduced to the
minds eye. than glacial dams To them
we owe the present existence of nearly all
the waterfalls in North American. as well
as nearly all the lakes, while the shore
lines and other marks of temporary bod
les of water produced by ice barriers are
Of the most instructive character. In the
region OF Morgantown. W. Va. on the main
terrace deposits end at about
275 feet above low water. or 1,065 feet
above tide; while at Paramount. twenty
six miles above, there is a vast amount OF
this terrace material thrown down about
the junction OF the Valley and West Fork
Rivers. and the upper limit of the same is
a little over 200 feet above low water,
which is here $50 feet above tide.
"At Clarksburg. where the river untes
with Elk Creek, there is wide stretch of
terrace deposits, and the upper limit is
there about 1850 feet above, or only 100