138 COPPER COIN. 



We add an interesting account of a relic of civilization, discovered in this modified 

 drift in Burlington, in a letter from A. D. Hager to the Burlington Times : 



Burlington, Aug. 17, 1859. 

 D. W. C. CLARKE, ESQ. : 



Dear General, The Burlington Aqueduct Co., in excavating for a well in Wil- 

 liam Street in this place, at the depth of nine feet, and 235 feet above Lake Champlain, 

 encountered a bed of carbonaceous matter, closely resembling Lignite or Brown Coal, 

 about four feet thick, from which there arose a strong odor, closely resembling that from 

 a coal pit. 



In opening a ditch north of the well, to conduct water to the reservoir on Pearl street, 

 the same lignite bed was reached, and found to extend north 72 feet, varying in thickness 

 from two to five feet, and gradually dipping to the northwest, till it disappeared beneath 

 the ditch. About 18 inches above the north end of this bed there was found another bed 

 of lignite, 45 feet in length, and evidently occupying what was a basin-shaped depression 

 in the surface at the time of its deposit. This upper bed varied from two to fourteen 

 inches in thickness the greatest thickness being near the center of the bed. In both of 

 these beds, which rest upon quicksand, there were found fragments of limbs, roots and 

 bark of exogenous trees, in a remarkable state of preservation, and also "fruit" or seeds. 

 It is a remarkable fact that many of the bits of wood found in this deposit show the 

 unmistakable marks of the beaver, or some other rodent, at the ends where they are cut 

 off. Several varieties of seeds were found, among which are those resembling seeds of the 

 grape, tomato, cabbage, &c., &c. 



Mr. John D. Pickering, a gentleman whose veracity is unquestionable, being requested 

 by a lady to procure for her some of the " seeds" found in the Lignite, took a solid lump 

 which the workmen had just dug out, and thrown up to him, and with his knife com- 

 menced picking it in pieces for the seeds, when he struck the point of his knife upon a 

 hard substance resembling the green carbonate of copper. The substance he carefully 

 dug out, and, upon removing the external coating, found it to be a piece of copper about 

 the size of a cent, and about as thick as a five cent piece. 



It was very much corroded, but perfect enough on one side to disclose very plainly near 

 the center the figure " 6," and beneath it near the edge was engraved '1709.' 



The lignite from which this was obtained was taken from near the center of the upper 

 bed, and was 7i feet below the surface. Above this lignite bed there are continuous and 

 very regular strata of sand and gravel, evidently deposited by water. There is not the 

 least evidence that the strata have ever been disturbed ; and from Horace Loomis, Esq., 

 a gentleman who has lived in Burlington since 1790, and from Phineas Lyman, Esq., 

 who has resided here since 1795, both of whom reside near, and are familiar with the land, 

 I am assured that no excavations have been made at that place, nor has gravel ever been 

 placed there by human agency. But the outline of the surface is the same, or very similar, 

 to what it was when covered with a heavy growth of timber, which was not more than 

 seventy-five or eighty years ago. 



In several other instances fossil wood has been found in making excavations in Burling- 

 ton, notices of which are given in the Appendix to "Thompson's Vermont," pp. 

 55 and 56. 



