MODIFIED DRIFT ALONG CONNECTICUT RIVER. 49 



The railroad in Cornish and to within one mile of West Claremont, or 

 for a distance of four miles, is built on one continuous terrace, from one 

 sixth to one third of a mile wide, and sloping in this width some twenty- 

 feet towards the river. The west side of this terrace has a height of from 

 360 to 350 feet. A terrace of corresponding height extends nearly the 

 whole distance opposite to this on the Vermont side. A narrow belt of 

 interval is found much of the way between these terraces and the river, 

 but for the last mile, at the north corners of Claremont and Weathersfield, 

 they are separated only by the channel. These are plainly the remains 

 of a former flood-plain, intermediate between those of the Champlain 

 period and of the present time. 



Several hills of ledge and till, entirely surrounded by modified drift, 

 occur in this part of the valley. One of these, in Windsor, turns Mill 

 brook north into Ascutney pond. Another occurs in Weathersfield, 

 about one mile south of Ascutneyville. The largest of them is Barber's 

 mountain in Claremont, which occupies an area more than two miles long 

 by one mile wide, and reaches an altitude of 950 feet above the sea. This 

 has smooth slopes of till on the north and east, but presents abrupt ledges 

 on the west and south. It stands directly in the line of the river's course, 

 so that as it is approached it seems at first to form a barrier across the 

 valley. The Connecticut has always flowed by its present detour on the 

 west side of this mountain. At its north end a remnant of the original 

 high flood-plain is preserved, being 440 feet above the sea; and in Ver- 

 mont this upper terrace is well shown for half a mile farther south. It is 

 then wanting on the west side of the mountain and for more than a mile 

 in Vermont, but reappears at its south end on both sides of the river, 

 being continuous on the west side to the north line of Springfield. 

 Scarcely any alluvium remains at the west foot of the mountain. A very 

 narrow strip, however, extends for a mile along the river's edge, notable 

 for its slope of twenty feet in this distance from 325 to 305 feet above 

 the sea. The opposite terrace in Weathersfield, about 340 feet in height, 

 extends more than two miles, with a nearly uniform width of one sixth of 

 a mile, west of which rises a high steep hill. 



The high alluvium on the east side of Barber's mountain is the product 

 of Sugar river, and while it was being deposited the Connecticut flowed 

 in its present course. This is shown by the height and configuration of 

 VOL. III. 7 



