The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-09-21
HISTORY OF POTOMAC RIVER.
Area Once Great Inland Sea, and Tops
of Mountain Ridges Were Oceans
Bottom.


! The great Potomac gorge was not
always, as it is to-day, one of the most
beautiful and picturesque of river val
leys. The United States geological sur
vey has recently published geologic
folio describing about 400 square mics,
including a portion of the Potomac val
ley-the areas known as the Pawpaw and
Hancock quadranglcs. in Pennsylvania,
Maryland and West Virginia. This folio
tNo. l79l, which was written by George
w. Stose, contains most interesting
account of the gradual cutting down by
the river of this deep gorge during thou
sands OF years.
The area Is located in a part of the Po-
tomac valley where the river winds in
great curves through deep gorge with
densely wooded slopes. As the railroad
traveller swings aroung these sharp bends
which almost meet before they reverse
and realizes that it takes three times as
long to ride between two points as it
would to go in a straight line, he may
wonder how the river acquired such
course
In view from the tops of the ridges,
it can be seen that many of the hill
tops are fiat and of about the same alt.
tude. and that if the valleys were filled
up they would form a nearly level plain.
This feature is also exeelently shown
by the Typographical map which forms a
part of the folio. Mr.. Stose says that
many thousand years ago the Potomac
flowed toward the sea upon this plain,
which at that time was much lower in
altitude-in fact, so near the level of
the sea that the stream was very slug
gish and wandered about in its valley.
as is the custom of streams with low
grade, such as the Mississippi Later,
when the interior OF the continent was
somewhat elevated, the streams became
"reiuvenated" and cut down their chan
nels, first into the soft detritus which
had accumulated in the fiat valley and
eventually into the hard rocks beneath
As the continent rose still higher, they
cut deeper into the rocks. and, as a re-
suit, the Potomac is now deeply in
trenched in the winding gorges. One
stream in the area, however, is making
a change by cutting off a meander and
taking a short cut through a hill. pro-
dueng beautiful cataract. This
stream is shown in the Photographic
illustrations OF the folio, as are also the
remnants of the elevated plain on the
hilltops, once the valley of the Poto-
mac.
Rocks Folded and Crushed Under Great
Pressure.
Other marvellous features which the
traveller may observe from the car win
dow in passing through this area are
4 L. faII n.
that has been truncated by the river
and is visible from the train and canal
is of such interest to biologists that it
has attracted visitors from all parts of
the world and is illustrated in most
text books on geology. Other folds. not
visible from the train but readily Access
sble to those interested, have the fern
of great saw teeth rising about the crest
of HILL All these folds are well H.
Iustrated in the folio. These rock folds
are the record of the great mountain
making forces which crushed and folded |
the rocks as they were raised out of !
the sea. Many of the rocks are full of |
well preserved fossil shells. Some that |
have long, banded, fluted wings are called |
by the natives How did |
they get into the rocks and what do
they mean?
Shells From An Ancient Sea.
These fossils were shells of living crea-
lures that inhabited the sands and muds |
If sea that covered this region long
ages ago. All the rock now at the sur
lace of this area are hardened sediments
hat were deposited on the shore and
IN the bottom of the sea. and the shells
If the animals that lived in these waters
we're buried in these sediments and were
hardened with them. Now we find them
beautifully preserved in stone.
The beauties and wonders of nature
ire >abundantly displayed in this re-
ZION and no one should go on a camp
ng fishing, or touring trip to it with
nut copy of this folio in his possession,
he better to understand what he sees
\ copy of the Pawpaw Hancock folio
nay be obtained from the Director of
he United States Geological Survey at
for 25 cents, or in more
ompact form, called the field edition.
With folded topographic and geologic
mans i'm nocket for m ppnts