48 



APPENDIX TO THOMPSON'S VERMONT. 



GOLD FORMATION. 



DISCOVERY OF GOLD. 



and composition; and it has been proposed 

 to denominate the rocks, which constitute 

 this great axis of the Green Mountains, 

 Green .Mountain Gneis. 



The rocks embraced in our Talcose Slate 

 Division, in the southern part of the state, 

 are much less chai-acteristic, than in the 

 northern, and the ditferent varieties of rock 

 are much more broken and jumbled. No 

 true granite or gneis have been observed in 

 this formation, in the northern half, but 

 both these rocks show themselves in the 

 southern half, in various places. With 

 the exception of a few small patches at the 

 south, and three or four thin beds of sac- 

 charoid limestone, at the north, thei-e are 

 no rocks which contain any sensible amount 

 of lime, in the whole territory embraced in 

 what we have called the talcose division, 

 and which constitutes about one-third of 

 the whole surface of the state. Quartz is 

 the great mineral element of this formation, 

 for, besides forming the principal part of 

 the various slates, shales, k,c., it is almost 

 evei'y where infused and spread through 

 them in great abundance, in the form of 

 seams and veins. The color of tliese seams 

 .and veins is usually yellowish, white, or 

 hyaline. 



Gold Formation. — It has been kuoAvn 

 for a great number of years, that we have, 

 in Vermont, a formation agreeing, in almost 

 all respects, with the gold formation in the 

 southern states, and in many other parts of 

 the world; and it is a well known fact, that 

 native gold was found here more than 

 twenty-tive years ago. The statement, 

 which we published in a note on page 127, 

 Part in., respecting a lump of gold picked 

 up in Newfane, and weighing 8^ ounces, 

 was extensively circulated in the newspa- 

 pers soon after it was found. Our state- 

 ment was derived from Gen. Martin Field, 

 who had the lump in his possession. It 

 was a fact well known to us, when our 

 History and Gazetteer were published, that 

 gold had been found in small quantities in 

 the township of Somerset, by washing the 

 alluvial gravel ; but believing then, as we 

 do now, that the success of Vermonters, in 

 digging for gold, will be best secured by 

 observing the Quaker's directions, never to 

 dig for it more than jiloiigh deep, we took 

 no pains to give prominence to these focts. 



What we here call the Gold Formation 

 constitutes a jjart of what we have been 

 describing under the name of the Talcose 

 Division. It forms a narrow and irregular 

 belt, extending along near the eastern 

 margin of the great division, aliove men- 

 tioned, and reaching through the entire 

 length of the state. Beginning at the line 

 of Massachusetts, in Whitingham, it ex- 

 tends northward, through the western part . 



of Windham county, through Ludlow, 

 Bridgewater and Rochester, in Windsor 

 county ; through Roxbury, Moretown and 

 Waterburj', in Washington county, and 

 thence through Morristown, Eden, Lowell 

 and Troy, to the north line of the state. 

 The rocks, which mark the line of this for- 

 mation, are talcose slate, steatite and ser- 

 pentine, accompanied by magnetic, specu- 

 lar, chromic and titaniferous iron, also 

 sulphuret and hydrous peroxide of iron. 

 At some .places, beautiful specimens of rock 

 crystal occur, many of which are tr.aversed 

 in vainous directions by hnir-like crystals 

 of rutile, rendering them exceedingly in- 

 teresting to mineralogists. The tine speci- 

 mens of this kind which have been found in 

 the drift in the valley of the Connecticut, 

 probably had their origin in this formation. 

 Although, long since, aware of the fact that 

 the formation, in which gold was found in 

 Windham county, extended through the 

 whole length of the state, we had no knowl- 

 edge that gold existed in Vermont to the 

 northward of that county, previous to the 

 fall of 1852, when gold was discovered iu 

 Bridgewater, Windsor county, by a Mr. 

 Kennedy, and the discovei'y made known 

 to the public by Prof. 0. P. Hubbard, of 

 Dartmouth College. The gold is found 

 there in seams of quartz, and .also, in allu- 

 vial gravel. Suflicient time and opportunity 

 for examination have not yet been had, 

 since the discovery was made, to determine 

 its value. Some specimens of the gold, 

 which we have seen in the quartz, though 

 small, were exceedingly tine and beautiful. 



In the neighborhood of the gold in Bridge- 

 water, very fine specimens of galena, or 

 sulphuret of lead, are also found, but we 

 are not informed with regard to its extent: 

 but as Bridgewater is our native town, we 

 hope ere long to have occular view of the 

 revelations, which are being made there. 



Although the formation, (in which gold is 

 found) may be traced through the entire 

 length of the state, it is not to be expected 

 that gold will be found through its whole 

 extent ; nor is it, at pi-esent, at all certain 

 that the placers, where gold has already 

 been found, will yield gold enough to pay 

 for working. This same gold formation, 

 which passes througli Vermont, has been 

 traced from the north line of the state at 

 Ti"oy, nearly 200 miles into Canada. It 

 passes along a little to the westward of 

 Memphremagog lake to Orford, near Sher- 

 bi-ooke, and thence takes a more north- 

 easterly course to the neighborhood of Que- 

 bec. Gold was found, in this formation, 

 a3ong the river Chaudiei'e, as early as 

 1834, and the discovei'y was announced in 

 Silliman's .Journal in April, 183.5. Fi-om 

 that time gold was collected there, in small 



