Hall S.R. 1870 - Geology and Mineralogy of Orleans County

8/3/2019 Hall S.R. 1870 - Geology and Mineralogy of Orleans County

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tr^:n^sa.ctioi^sOF THE

ORLEANS COUNTY SOCIETYOF

NATURAL SCIENCES

e:ditok.s:J. M. CURRIER, M. D., Newport, Vt.GEO. A. HINMAN, M. D., West Charleston, Vt.

VOL. I. OCTOBER, 1870. JNO. I.

PUBLISHED QUAKTERLT

BY J. M. CURRIER, M. D .NEWPORT, ORLEANS CO., VERMONT.TERMS, $2.50 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. SINGLE NUMBERS 75 CENTS.


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PRINTED AT THE FKANKLIN PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT,NEWPORT, VT.


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Vol. I. JANUARY, 1871 No. II.


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GEOLOGY AND MliNERALOGYOF

ORLEANS COUXTY.

By Rev. S. R. HALL, LL. D., of Bkownington, Vt.,HONORARY ME5IBER OF THE ORLEANS COUNTY SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES.

This portion of Vermont contains a great variety ofrocks which, though not of so great value commercial!}^as those found in some other sections, are of equal sci-entific interest. Few, if any, of the rocks of OrleansCounty have failed of being metamorphosed. They aredoubtless rocks of the Devonian and Silurian periods.Most of them are non-fossiliferous in their present state,but there is no reason to question, that fossils did once


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72 GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.exist in some of them, perhaps most of them. Dr.Hitchcock says [Geol. Eeport, Vol. I, p. 33] : "We thinkwe have Vermont granite and mica schist resting on fossil-iferous limestone." In another place he says: ''Jnstover the line of Vermont, near Jennings' Hotel upon thewest bank of Memphremagog Lake, fossiliferons limestoneis better developed than in A'ermont, where also the onlyshells we have seen have been fonnd. The same belt oflimestone runs into Vermont and may be seen in Newport,Coventry, Irasburgh, Albany, Crafts])ury and Wolcott."The latter town is in Lamoille County; the others in Or-leans. The upper Heiderberg limestone has clay slate onboth sides of it, and coarse conglomerate near it." Therocks dip Avest, and this body of limestone is seen toplunge under the great range of talcose schist. Suchstrata, both in Canada and New England, usually dip east.On this account the position of the Memphremagog lime-stone is extremely interesting, for upon its age dependsthe age of the talcose schist."The rocks in the western border of the county is GreenIMountain gneiss, mica schist, talcose and chlorite schists,reaching easterly till they meet the range of limestonebefore described. There is in some parts of the. Missis-(pioi Valley a narrow belt of clay schist and ranges of ser-pentine and steatite. The serpentine is largely develo})edon both sides of the Missisquoi Kiver, in Westfieidand Lowell, constituting quite a high hill, and seems to liein a trough of steatite, the latter being generally found onboth sides. A range or bed ofgranite which has been sub-jected to metamorphic influence, lying just Ave^t of theramre of conjj^lomerate rock, extends along the border ofthe talcose schist, also a stratum ofuovaculite reaching to thenorth-western part of Irasl)urgh. The range orbed of gi*an-ite is very hard and seems as if it might have been nearlyfused. It differs from any other granite found in thecounty if not in the state. The conglomerate seems tocontain water worn pebbles and angular fragments ofdifl'erent rocks ; and sometimes, as at Irasburgh, boulders


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GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 73of considerable size appeur in clay schist. The conglom-erate is seen by the side of the old road leading from theCoventry and Troy road toward Newport, some half amile easterly, where both water worn and angular frag-ments are mixed together. The cut 269, vol. I. of Vt.Geological Report, page 449, exhibits the strata for somedistance on both sides of the conglomerate. Some of theserpentine in the Missisquoi Valley, as at South Troy andWestfield, seems not, in some instances, to have been per-fectly formed. At other places it is as perfect and beauti-ful as any beds found elsewhere in the state. Most of thesteatite contains fragments of quartz, which injure its valueso that it has not l)een quarried for useful purposes, atleast, to any considerable extent.The rocks in the central and eastern part of the count}'are upper Helderberg limestone, hornblende schist,sienite, granite and gneiss. In larg^ sections, the firstthree are singularly interstratified, with frequent veins ofcjuartz. In many places the strata change every few inch-es from lime to clay schist and hornblende. The lime-stone is predominant, and is often io filled with iron pyri-tes, that it is very rapidly losing its cohesiveness, and isconverted into soil. This is equally true of some of theclay schists. Both the clay and hornblende schists containseveral portions of lime and aid in forming new soil, asboth in places rapidly disintegrate. It is doubtless this fact,as Dr. Hitchcock informs, that gives the soil of the coun-ty its excellent "agricultural capabilities. Those parts ofthe state, " the most fertile, are just the places, where limeis most abundant and decomposable." This is a treasurewhich Providence has hidden in the earth and provided forits elimination at the right time, and quantity, and it is offar more value, in my estimation, than all the other subter-ranean Avealth of the state, yet I had no suspicion of itsexistence, till at a late stage of the survey, excepting on thewest side- of the Green Mountains." The reason for thelast remark was, that he did not visit this county, till thelatter part of the time he was in the field, w^hen the writer


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74 GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.called his attention to the rapid decomposition of limestoneand clay schists of Caledonia and Orleans connties.

Within the calcareous and mica slate region, (so namedby Prof. Adams,) there is an upheaval, or range of gran-ite, of a very peculiar character. It is first seen on theeast side of Lake ]Memphremagog in Stanstcad, P. Q. andfrom thence may be traced through Derby, Salem, Brown-ington, Irasburgh, Albany and Craftsbury, and probal)lyextends to Xorthlield in Washington County. In thisransre are some curious forms differiliu: from most of theirranite in the state. There is the tabular or jointed vari-ety of granite of great beauty. All granite is jointed moreor less, but the divisional phmes are usually quite irregu-lar, yet, in the variety under consideration, those planesare essentially parallel. The result is, that the mass is di-vided into tables often of large dimensions, but sometimesthere are three sets of joints, and the blocks have a rhom-boidal form. When the tables are thick, there is onlyone set of seams, and long columns can easily be got out."A magnificent development of these, may be seen at thesouth-west corner of Irasburgh where colunms eighty feetlong and three or four feet thick might easily be procured." The tabular variety of granite is very common in the de-posits of this rock, south of Lake jMemphremagog in Cov-entry" and Brovvnington. The quantity in Irasburg wouldsuffice to build a city, but has as yet, never been quarried.At some future period it will be regarded of immense val-ue. It is within a mile of Black Kiver.

Another variety of granite is called by Dr. Hitchcock,"concretionary." The basis of this remarkal)le variety, israther fine grained, Avhite and highly feldspathic. Tli(>.mica however, is usually dark, and when it exists in largequantity it gives rocks the aspect of syenite, but there isno hornblende present. Scattered through this base, oc-cur numerous spherical or elongated and somewhat flat-tened nodules of black mica from half an inch to two inchesin diameter, and when elongated, the larger axis is some-times seen as much as four or five inches long. They are


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GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 75

usually flattened more or less, and have a shrivelled ap-pearance like dried fruit. They sometimes become sothin as to consist of only a few plates of mica." A goodrepresentation of this is given in the Geol. Rep., Vol. II,p. 563. It is no wonder that the early settlers called thesenodules "petrified butternuts."When the writer first examined this curious variety, fiftyyears ago he gave it the name "nodular granite," and stillprefers that name, notwithstanding Dr. Hitchcock has giventhe name "concretionary granite." He has sent specimensof it to Europe and various other places, and has receivedfrom various geologists acknowledgement accompanied bythe remark, "your nodular granite is a great curiosity.We have never seen any thing like it." A German geolo-gist, in his reply, said, "I have heard of something like it,in the north-eastern part of Germany." In the westernpart of Stanstead, is a small development of nodular gran-ite, a few nodules are seen in Browningtou in a ledgethere, but it is seen in Craftsbury in a most magnificentdevelopment, and again in the western part of Northfield,where it is lost under the talcose schists.The most beautiful forms of this singular rock, have been

removed from the top of the mass in Craftsbury, by theDrift or some other agency, and moved southerly for along distance. The specimens from which the cut in theGeol. Rep., p. 232, was made, the writer procured from alarge boulder iu the south-eastern part of Waterford.Another boulder nearly as beautiful lies in a stone wall inLyndon, and another between Hazen Wood and East Hard-wick Village. A boulder weighing fifty tons or more, ofthe same variety has been split for imderpinning, at Rye-gate. Another, larger, is still lying by the side of theroad a mile, perhaps south of Judge Bells's in Walden.Talcose granite (Protogine) is found in this range at Crafts-bury, which would, no doubt, make a valuable lining forfurnaces. " It occurs in several other places.The granite in other parts of the county was, doubtless,formed at different times and is not of the same age.


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76 GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY.Some of it is highly fcldspathic, and in other phices mica-ceous. The Adamsite, so named by Prof. Shepherd, wasby Dr. Hitchcock, at first, thought to be gigantolite. Itappears like lilack granite in places, but is a new mineral.The granite, on each side of Willoughby Lake, differsmaterially. On the east side it is filled Avith veins orseams of great 1)eauty, and which often cut each other."In the veins, in one boulder, we can trace six periods andincluding the granite have itself, seven periods of formation,or, as most would say, of injection". (See Geol. Kep. Vol,II, p. 571. Quite a cabinet may be easily collected ofdillerent varieties of the granite of the county, and no twosimilar. "It is, doubtless a metamoi-phic rock." It is,perha[)s, not to be wondered at, that Dr. Hitchcock says,"the rocks of Vermont are the most difficult, with whichI have ever attempted to grapi)le."Besides the stratified rocks and granite, there are sev-eral triq) dykes of considerable interest, which differfrom others found in the state. This is found in Brown-ington, half a mile north of the Congregational Churchnear Dea. Buxton's. It may l)e called calcareous, feld-spalhic trap. In parts of it, there are im})erfectly formedpentagonal folds or concretions. An immense dyke isfound in Albany, near the Lowell road, on land of Mr.Hayden. Several are found in Craftsbury, one of these isnear the house of Mr. Person, half a mile south of theConnnon. This is very interesting. It may be traced a greatdistance. Several others are on land formerly occupiedby Mr. Wm. Scott.

Talcose and chlorite schists, serpentine aud soapstone,Avith a narrow range of clay-schist and novaculite, consti-tute most of the rocks in the western parts of the county ;silicious limestone, clay and hornblende schists, the cen-tral portion ; and granite, syenite and gneiss, the easternpart.Gold is found in several towns, in the talcose slate reg-

ion, but only in limited quantities. Gold hunting willnever be profitable. Silver has been found only in con-


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GEOLOGY AND MINEBALOGY. 77nectioii with galena, and in minute portions. Copper, invery small quantities, has been found in one or two places.But from the fact, that it is found in strata in Canada,which extend into the county, and also in Wolcott, southwest of it, we may perhaps expect to find it here, whenmore thorough examination has been made. Lead occursonly in Newport, and there in small quantities only. Thetitaniferous iron ore of Troy, and the chromic iron ore ofJay, Troy and Westfield, are the only ones of iron, of val-ue. Troy ore bed is of great value, but so difficult tosmelt, that it is not now worked. The furnace built manyyears ago, has become the property of a non-resident, whois not disposed to manufacture iron, nor to sell the proper-ty to others at the present worth. While the ore is reallyof the most valuable kind, it is hardly probable, the coun-ty will derive much benefit from it.The chrome ore ofJay has changed owners several times,but has never been wrought to any considerable extent.The quality of the ore is good."^ No examination has beenmade to acertain the quantity. The ore lies in the serpen-tine rock, and may exist in either large or small quantity.The larger vein of this one, on ]Mr. Miller's farm inWestfield has not l)een opened to any extent. Its valueis at present unknown. The variety usually occurs inwedge shaped masses, and not in continuous veins. Itsvalue can be estimated only by extensive mining.Emerald nickel has been discovered at South Tro}', but

of its amount or value the writer is ignorant. Nickel hasbeen discovered at Westmore. Its amount or value isequally unknown.No minerals of sfreat value have been discovered. Aheadof emery, existing at Westmore is now being used withTurkish emery in the manufacture of emery wheels, atWest Charleston. Of the extensive beds of asbestosfound in Lowell, large quantities have been shipped, it issaid, for the manufacture of incombustible paper. It isnow believed that it will prove of great value. Much ofthe serpentine of that, and other towns is veiy beautiful, and


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78 CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS.will doubtless, at some future time be highly valued. Noother miuerals or metals of commercial im])orlaiicc, havebeen discovered, except the uovaculite. The ledge of thisiStone, at Newport, formerly worked for hones, gavegreat satisfoction. It, no doubt, is valuable. Anotherledge in Irasburg is, doubtless, of equal if not of gi-eatervalue, luit has never been worked.

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CATALOGUEOF

CUnTTOGAMOUS OK FLOA^ EKLESS PLANTSOF VERMONT.

By CHAS. C. FKOST, Erattleboro, Vt.

The enumeration of these plants, is not intended to be a completeCatalogue of Vermont Ciyptogamia, but merely of such as I have ob-served in my visits to various parts of the state during the last fifteenyears. I am not aware that anything of this kind has yet been pub-lished in the State ; and I submit this, therefore, as the beginning of amore complete Catalogue which 1 am in hopes may be extended byother l)otanists. It is a work which I think would amply repay themfor their labors, since there are probably few States that present, inproportion to their areas, a greater number of richer varieties of thisseries of plants. I possess well authenticated specimens of all men-tioned, except a few which were destroyed in a late catasti-ophe.

Hall S.R. 1870 - Geology and Mineralogy of Orleans County

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