THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



THE FARMER'S 3IONTHLY VISITOR. 



JOHN M. HILL, 



HilVs Brick Block, Concord, JV. H. 



GENEliArACENTS, 



B. rOOKi:, Kipne. X. H. 



TH. R. HAAIF'i'O.N, Washington City. D. C. 



JOHN MARSH. trusA/n^ion St. Bostoti. 



CHARI.r.S \V\RKF.S. Brinley Roto, Worcester, Mass. 



.\. H, STlLLWr.I.I.. .Vo. ]..Vinhetf^m,are,Prov.R.I. 



GF.ORGR \V. TOW'i.F.. frrl-month, N. H. 



L. W. HALL .';: ( ». S/.r^i-fidJ. Mass. 



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First Annual Report on the Geology of the 

 State of New Hampshire. 



By Charles T. Jackson, Slate Geologist. 

 (Confinved.) 



MESSRS. WIHT.NEY AND WlLLIAMS' REPORT ONTHE 

 SECTION FROM PORTSMOUTH TO CLAREMONT, 

 THROUGH CONCORD. 



The Geological charactei- of Portsmouth hav- 

 ing been before described, Newiiigton is the first 

 town on this seclion, proceeding westward, it 

 is undoubtedly underlaid with clay-slate, similar 

 to that which occurs at Portsmouth, which ap- 

 pears, in situ, at Piscataqua Bridge, where it runs 

 N. 80 i\eg, W., and dips to the North 89 de^. The 

 surface of this town is covered with diluvial de- 

 tritus, principally of sieuitic granite. Large 

 blocks of this rock occur, and it being a hand- 

 some building material, it is quarried for under- 

 pinning and other purposes. 



The centre of the town is aboTtt 150 feet above 

 tlie sea. 



The clay-slate occurs on both sides of the Bay 

 at the bridge, but proceeding westward it is soon 

 replaced by the sienilic granite, which underlies 

 the town of Durham. This rock, which is of a 

 dark color, and a beautiful building stone, has 

 been quarried to soine extent at Dtirham Point, 

 about three miles from the centre of the town. 

 Il there occui's in large tabular sheets, or jilat- 

 forms, from one inch to a foot in thicknes.=. This 

 lacility of cleavage renders it a valuable materi- 

 al for almost all building purposes, but it cannot 

 be obtained in blocks sufficiently thick for col- 

 umns. The Newmarket mills are built of the 

 stone from this quarry, and it is a valuable addi- 

 tion to the resources of the neighboring country; 

 but owing to the transhipment required by the 

 situation of the quarry, it is doiditful whether it 

 can compete, in a foreign market, with others on 

 the coast of Maine, more favorably situated for 

 close access of vessels of any draught of water. 



Good specimens of garnets, black tourmalines, 

 and other minerals common in the primitive 

 rocks, are said to have been found in this vicin- 

 ity. 



fe From Durham to Lee, the surface of the coun- 

 try presents evident marks of powerful diluvial 

 action. The granitic sand is heaped up in hills, 

 some of which are .of tolerably regular conical 

 shape, and are elevated from two to tliree hundred 

 feet above the general level of the surface. OiT the 

 summit of one of these elevations, about one aid 

 a hall' miles from Packer's Palls, occiusa nimier- 



ous group of erratic boulder.=i of sicnctic gra 

 somewhat remarkable for their isolated .sitnation 

 and great size. One of them, which has evident 

 ly been split in two by the action of the weath 

 er, since its deposition on its present resting 

 place, measures sixteen feet iu height. 



Mica slate first occurs, iu place, about one half 

 mile E. of Lee church; its direction is N. 60deg. 

 E., and dip nearly vertical. It is charged with 

 Iron Pyrites, and is on this account fast decom 

 posing, giving rise to a soil which is not very val 

 uable without suitable amendments. 



Three miles from Lee, a white and beautiful 

 granite shows itself in place, extending for 1 1-2 

 miles west. This alternates with irregular beds 

 of mica slate, whose general direction is N 

 60 deg. E., and dip froni'"40 deg. to 55 deg. to the 

 south, though in one case a limited bed, filled 

 with quartz veins, and evidently disturbed in po- 

 sition, dips to the north. 



Boulders of sienite granite, and masses of di- 

 luvial .sand conceal in a great measure, the un- 

 der-lying rocks between Durham and Notting- 

 ham. 



The centre of the town of Nottingham, or the 

 " Square," is pleasantly situated on a hill, about 

 450 feet above the sea level. The northern and 

 norlh-western part of the town is quite rocky, 

 but in general, the soil is well fitted for pasturage, 

 and in a good state of cultivation. Near the cen- 

 tre of the town, on the farm of Mr. Cilley, oc- 

 curs a large ledge of white granular quartz, 

 which would aftbrd an inexhaustible supply of 

 this valuable material for various pmposes of the 

 arts. Grey granular quartz rock, or " firestone" 

 mouly called, found in the S. E. part of the 

 town, has been mistaken for limestone, of which 

 ock no traces have been yet discovered in this 

 'icinity. The unequal decomposition, of nodules 

 of quartz in a dark colored gi-anite, in form near- 

 ly resembling foot-marks, has given rise to some 

 amusing speculations, on the part of the neigh- 

 boring inhabitants. 



The Patuccoway mountains lying on the line 

 between Nottingham and Deerfield, consist of 

 three distinct elevations, rising somewhat abrui)t- 

 ly from near Roimd Pond, known as the Upper, 

 flliddle aud Lower Mountains. They are based 

 on mica slate, which is fast decomposing into soil, 

 from the action of the iron pyrites which it con- 

 tains, and they consist principally of sienite gran- 

 te, on which are piled fragments of the same 

 ock and mica slate, in the utmost confusion. 

 Near the summit of the Lower raountain the si- 

 ite assumes the form of huge scales, from 12 

 to 18 inches in thickness. 



On the Lower mountain there occurs a dyke 

 of greenstone trap which crosses its sunmiit, 

 and divides it into two nearly equal parts. This 

 lyke is singularly columnar, and on the face of 

 I bare ledge, inclined about 45 deg. it assuines 

 he form of steps fifteen to sixteen iu number, 

 ;aeh about nine inches in height ; they are known 

 to the inhabitants as (he " Stairs." It varies from 

 six to twelve inches in width, and was traced for 

 a quarter of a mile till concealed by the soil. 

 Like most of these naiTOw dykes, the columns 

 ere from side to side, of the wall-rock, very ev- 

 idently a crystalline structure, induced by cooling 

 from the sides rather than from the surface. 



The lieight of each of these mountains above 

 the tea level, is as follows: 



Lower Mt. 780 feet. 



Upper Mt. 892 feet. 



Middle Mt. 827 feet. 



A ledge of coarse grained and well njarked 

 graphic granite occurs near the centre of the 

 town of Nottingham, from under which a small 

 quantity of decomposed talcose rock has been 

 obtained. This deposit is apparently not of suf- 

 ficient extent to be of any practical value. 



It is said that a bed of bog-ii-on ore occurs a- 

 hout three miles north-west of the centre of the 

 town, which was worked to some extent during 



the revolutionary war, but the iron not bein" of 

 good quality, or the supply failing, it was aban- 

 doned. Being disappointed in our guide, we 

 were unable to explore it at this time. 



Saddleback Mt. which crosses this sectional 

 line, lying in the towns of Deerfield and Not- 

 tingham, is elevated about 1032 feet above the 

 sea level. It consists of mica slate, the strata of 

 which run nearly east and west, and dip to the 

 north 40 deg. 



This rock contains garnets of fine clove-browii 

 coloi-, but of small size ; also, well crystallized 

 black tourmaline. 



In some cases, the tourmaline in boulders oc- 

 curring on the side of the Mt., forms a well mark- 

 ed sehorlaceous granite. A single well crystal- 

 lized ruby, of fine color, but of small size, was 

 ibund at this ])lace. More careful examination 

 will perhaps furnish interesting specimens for 

 the mineralogist. 



Proceeding from this mountain westward, the 

 rocks are mainly coarse grained felsparthic gran- 

 ite, alternating with mica slate, which dips near 

 Iv vertically, and is stratified in a direction nearly 

 N. aud S 



The McKoy Mts. based on mica slate, are from 

 four to five hundred feet in height, wooded and 

 pastured to their summits. 



Soou after leaving Epsom, the diluvial granitic 

 sand, which fills the valley of the Merrimack, va- 

 rying ill depth from ten to one hundred feet, ef- 

 fectually conceals all the rocks in place from 

 sight. This, throughout its whole extent, is cov- 

 ered with, low pine trees, with a wealt under 

 gi-owth. 



At the Free Bridge at Concord, the diluvial 

 sand is ^levated about 70 feet above the river al- 

 luvion, which is there quite narrow. The de- 

 scent from the plain above, is by means of a nat- 

 ural defile, of suitable width for a road, evidently 

 worn out by the action of water. It would seem 

 that this might have been one of the channels 

 through which the extended plain above was 

 drained, after the deposition of this immense pile 

 of diluvium. Similar defiles occur of great in- 

 terest on the sandy plains on AVestfield River, 

 Massachusetts. 



Concord is built upon the sandy diluviutn of 

 the Merrimack, through which a fine grained 

 white granite occasionally shows itself, forming 

 low ridges of hills. In the West Parish, an ex- 

 tensive quarry has been for some time worked. 

 Large quantities of stone bave been furnished 

 for the use of the vicinity, and lor the Boston 

 market. Of this the State House Is built, and it 

 is the best specimen of the rock which could be 

 shown. 



The diluvial sand extends as f* as Warner, 

 with a gentle rise as we proceed westward. 

 Beds of mica slate appear above 'm surface. 

 They are often highly pyritiferous, atfk by their 

 deco'mposition, are adding constantly ttWhe mass 

 of sand in the valley. They run I^. 45 deg. W. 

 and dip to the north from 50 deg to 65 deg. 



Large boulders of porphyritic granite are very 

 numerous over the surface, from the West Par- 

 ish of Concord, to the centre of Warner, %vhere 

 we find the rock itself in place. It is a peculiar 

 rock, having large crystals of felspar uniformly 

 disturbed through its mass ; they are often glassy, 

 s to furnish beagtiful and striking specimens. 

 This bed of granite extends across the State in 

 a general N. E. and S. W. direction ; it is from 

 8 to 10 miles in width, though often interrupted 

 with veins of gmnite of various texture, often 

 very coarse graiaed, and containing occasional 

 beds of mica slate. Boulders of this rock, which 

 are easily recogsiEed from their peculiar porphy- 

 ritic structure, are exceedingly numerous to the 

 south, but we haVanever found them beyond the 

 northern limit oPthe rock in place. The frag- 

 ments, which at first art of great size and little 

 worn by action of the weather, gradually dimin- 

 ishing in size, have been transported at Ifiast 10 



