210 



CAPE COD GEOLOGY 



Bluffs. Undoubtedly the island has been greatly reduced in size since the sea 

 reached its present attitude to the land, a few thousand years ago. 



The casual visitor to Block Island is at once impressed by the almost com- 

 plete absence of trees. Here and there groups of trees planted about houses appear 

 to enjoy protection from the buildings rather than to shield them from the 

 wind. These trees were planted in an attempt to restore a condition that existed 

 long ago. When the island was discovered it was evidently clothed with a 

 forest that afforded timber and wood to its first settlers. Its deforestation was 

 a consequence of over-population. The early records mention the forest and 

 give certain details concerning it, and the remains of trees found in swamps 

 prove its former existence. 



In his "history of Block Island," Livermore, 1 to whom we are indebted 

 for much information concerning it, tells of a tradition of the forest, that had 

 been retained in the memory of the inhabitants as late as 1877, and his research 

 in documents concerning the inhabitants disclosed several instructive particu- 

 lars concerning the vanished forest. Thus, the inventory of Robert Guthrige's 

 estate in 1692 mentions ' 'forty-two acres in the west woods at 20 shillings per 

 acre." According to Livermore, local regulations made in the first quarter of 

 the eighteenth century indicated a growing scarcity of trees available for use 

 as timber and fuel. By the year 1750, however, the use of small glacial erratics 

 for the construction of stone fences and of peat taken from local beds for fuel 

 relieved the anxiety of the inhabitants concerning their vanishing forests. From 

 this time onward, at least, wood for constructing houses and boats was brought 

 from the neighboring mainland. 



Thus the destruction of the native forest led to the removal of the glacial 

 boulders from the field and to their incorporation in the remarkable network 

 of stone fences that now divides the farms. (See Plate 31, fig. 1.) A writer 

 has estimated that there are about 300 miles of such stone fences, an estimate 

 which affords some idea of the number or quantity of glacial boulders that were 

 once scattered over the surface. The forest appears to have been destroyed 

 mainly by the quest for fuel. Peat, locally called "tug," was not used until 

 1721, but its use became general about 1750 and it remained the chief fuel used 

 on the island for fully a century. 



The history of the forest is paralleled by that of the aborigines. From a 

 native population of about 1,000 in 1662, the date of the English settlement 



1 Livermore, S. T., History of Block Island, Hartford, Conn., 1877. I am indebted to this book for 

 several notes on the history and condition of the island in past times, as well as for references to changes 

 which are not apparent to the casual explorer of the island. — J. B. W. 



