110 



BELLOWS FALLS. 



As an illustration of the manner in which terraces occur, a sketch of the terraces of the above section, as 

 they appear about a mile south of where it crosses Connecticut Kiver, on the road to Walpole, is given on 

 Plate IV, Fig. 1. It was originally sketched by Mrs. Edward Hitchcock, and then lithographed for the 

 Illustrations of Surface Geology, from whence it was taken for this plate. The view from this spot of the 

 gorge with its terraces, and of some of the principal buildings in Bellows Falls, is excellent. It is a good 

 sample of the very artificial appearance of many localities along the rivers of Vermont. Were they not so 

 extensive, one would be tempted to ascribe them to the agency of man. The sketch was taken from the 

 second terrace on the east side of the river. 



The two irregularities marked A, on the first terrace on the west side of this section, are the two glacis ter- 

 races which have already been noticed in an enlarged section in Fig. 46, and the section may be found on 

 the enlarged map of Bellows Falls, in Plate IV, Fig. 2. 



TEREACES IN THE SEVENTH BASIN. 



The mountains at Bellows Falls crowd closer upon the river than at any other place south of this spot ; 

 except perhaps Mt. Holyoke and Mt. Tom, in Massachusetts. On the west side, as at Brattleboro, the mountains 

 recede farther, and have an escarpment less steep ; yet the rocks show themselves almost everywhere in the 

 gorge, and form a ridge which produces the falls. All the circumstances here are favorable to the formation 

 of terraces. The section on Figs. 46 and 54 is only a mile and a half south of the village of Bellows Falls, 

 and the highest terraces extend through the village into the seventh basin. 



A separate map is given of the terraces at Bellows Falls, which may be found on Plate IV, Fig. 2. It 



presents a case of rivers uniting in a larger stream upon opposite sides. The Brattleboro case is where two 



streams enter the channel quite near each other, both upon the same side of the larger river. Many other 



modifications may occur when the tributary and principal stream have different relations to each other. 



Fig. 55 represents a section crossing Connecticut River directly through the village of Bellows Falls, and 



a few rods above the principal cataract. The heights 

 are given from the foot of the falls. The depression 

 on the left was evidently once occupied by the river, 

 when at a higher level. 



As we go north, the terraces increase in number on 

 both sides of the river, until at the mouth of Williams 

 Eiver there are five and a beach upon the west, and 

 four upon the east side of the Connecticut. The 

 beach, which is much worn, is at the village of Bocking- 

 ham, on the tongue of land between Connecticut and 



Section across Conn. River at Bellows Falls, (above 

 the old barrier.) 



Williams' Eiver ; and beyond this point it is mostly worn away, and its place is supplied by a sloping hill of 

 gravel and sand. 



Upon the east side of the Connecticut, in Charlestown, N. H., the terraces increase in width until oppo- 

 site the mouth of Black Eiver, from which point they diminish in interest and frequency. At North 

 Charlestown, and from the mouth of Black Eiver northwards on the Vermont side, there are no terraces. 

 The river flows through a narrow valley, whose sides slope evenly to the water's edge, most of the way from 

 Black Eiver to Weathersfield Bow. Perhaps the rounded contour of the mica schist hills may be 

 covered with soil ; but we were unable to examine the surface, except from the east side of the river at 

 considerable distance. 



This dearth of terraces is due to the fact that the river formerly ran through Claremont and a part 

 of Charlestown, in another channel, during the period when the terraces were principally formed. Hence 

 we find terraces skirting the valley of the former bed, while since the river has occupied its present channel 

 its agenoy has been employed in wearing out a passage for itself through the solid rocks. . 



