GEOLOGY OF THE MERRIMACK DISTRICT. 523 



with porphyritic ledges. At the mills the descent is considerable. Be- 

 tween Kezar and Gile ponds there is an extensive meadow, and also 

 below Sutton Mills. About South Sutton are steep conical hills, steepest 

 on their south sides, as seen from the north-east. At the head of Long 

 pond is a mass of compact flinty rock, dipping 80° N. 25° E., girt by the 

 porphyritic rock on both sides. On Stevens brook this rock begins at 

 the town line, and for two miles the ledges are nearly continuous. Sand 

 obscures the ledges in the northern half of the town, on the road to Wil- 

 mot Flat from Stevens brook. It was surprising to us to find such a 

 level road between Warner and Potter Place, through the Stevens Brook 

 valley, in this mountainous region. 



Another route, affording excellent views of this formation, is from 

 Waterloo station in Warner along the railroad to Newbury summit. At 

 Waterloo, north of the village, there are many ledges. Next they abound 

 on the hill by Capt. S. Watson's. The dips may be north-westerly in 

 them. Other outcrops are at a flag station midway between Waterloo 

 and Melvin's Mills, and also at the mills. On a ridge south is a bed of 

 the hard schistose rock usual in this group, standing vertically, with the 

 strike N. 20° E. Other ledges crop out at Bradford mills, and quite 

 abundantly along the railroad beyond, through Newbury. The dips on 

 this route were not recorded. At the summit cut, near the south end of 

 Sunapee lake, the rocks are finely shown. A dark micaceous porphyritic 

 gneiss predominates, dipping 50° S. 65° E., and containing very irregular 

 veins of coarse granite. Sketches of the veins show the mass composed 

 of a coarse variety, full of beautiful minute garnets, and on both sides, 

 adjacent to the walls, narrow bands of a finer grained granite. Next the 

 vein the schists for a few inches' distance are often altered. Just north 

 of the station the dark rock lacks the crystals of feldspar, retaining the 

 same position. The formation is supposed to extend along the west 

 shore of the lake to the north-west Hmit of the town, and also to make 

 up the mass of Sunapee mountain farther south. 



We have the data for a more satisfactory section from Washington to 

 Contoocookville, across the very widest part of this porphyritic range, 

 and shown in Fig. 85. The strata dip easterly along the western border 

 of the rock. In Washington we have first a synclinal, an anticlinal, then 

 a synclinal again at East Washington. The high hills in the south-west 



