52 



twenty-one feet deep and fifteen feet in diameter. Here- 

 water was found about eighteen feet below the surface. The 

 earth was compact clay and gravel with stones of all sizes. 

 The whole was thoroughly mixed and and solidified ; no part 

 of the earth or stones being in a stratified state', yet there 

 were small rounded stones that appeared to belong to strati- 

 fied rocks. Among the mass were also pebbles of white 

 quartz and of sandstone. In the course of the excavation 

 there appeared what seemed once to have been a crack, or 

 rent in the earth, once open and afterwards filled with gravel 

 and sand. It was about six inches wide ; and though very 

 firmly filled, could be traced nearly to the bottom of the well. 



The large hills are all composed of similar materials, and 

 all reckoned good land for cultivation. No ripple-marks 

 occur in any of those described, save at Round Hill. This 

 is chiefly loam and gravel, resting on sandy loam, and was 

 evidently thrown up by the action of currents of water, as 

 indeed most of the small ridges may have been, ripple-marks 

 being found in them as well. 



The plains and meadows will repay a moment's notice. 

 A large plain begins at the river near the Treadwell Farm, 

 and extends northerly to Prichard's Pond. It has a gradual 

 ascent at an angle of about one degree. It seems to continue 

 northerly as far as the Merrimac, and to reach westerly from 

 Towne's Hill to the hills in Andover, making due allowance 

 for all the minor elevations as seen from some of the high hills. 



The plains are apparently all composed ol one class of 

 materials. Soil, answering well for cultivation, forms the 

 first layer of from two to twelve inches ; .coarse and fine 

 gravel succeeds, with sand and small pebbles in layers, till 

 at eight or twelve, sometimes twenty feet deep, according to- 

 location, quicksand and water are met with. This is true 

 of most of the plain land, though near the brooks and mead- 

 ows clay appears after passing the upper layers of earth. 

 At many points, brick yards were worked at the time of the 

 early settlers, but none of them at present. One of these 

 was near the place once occupied by Jacob Averill. 



The meadows here yield a large a large amount of peat of 

 every grade and texture. In some of them, charred stumps, 

 and charcoal Irom small sticks are found three feet or more 



