212 



EROSIONS. 



Old River Bed, Cavendish. 



During the drainage of the country, a pond would occupy the basin B, at Duttonsville, 

 extending up the river as far as Proctorsville, and perhaps even to Ludlow, and the water 

 would find an outlet at the lowest point. On the north side it was kept in by a gravel 

 terrace extending to the rocky hill C, and as stated above the old bed at A was raised by a 

 similar deposit. The result was that the rocky ridge at D was the lowest point, and 

 there the stream flowed over and commenced its erosion of the strata. That work has 

 gone on till a gorge has been worn back half or three quarters of a mile, and the work is 

 now progressing in the hard gneiss rock. According to my barometrical measurements 

 the river falls in this whole distance as many as 183 feet. 



The old river bed, after continuing about three miles towards Grassett's railroad sta- 

 tion, forsakes the railroad track, and finds its way to the present bed of Black River 

 some seven or eight miles below Duttonsville. But a similar bed continues as far 

 as the Gfassett station. No pot-holes indeed occur along this ravine, but we cannot 

 doubt that a stream once flowed through it and joined Williams River. Indeed its bot- 

 tom is only a few feet higher than that of the ravine just described, which branches from 

 it to the left. Yet, since the stream must have flowed through the lowest valley at the 

 latest period, we must regard the valley running to Grassett's as the bed of the river at an 

 earlier date. But this subject will be referred to more at length in a subsequent 

 paragraph. 



THE PEOCTOESVILLE GULF. 



The bed of the ancient river at Duttonsville is 675 feet above the top of Bellows Falls. 

 Passing from this place two miles up the Black River, we find a rather broad valley 

 almost level, as far as Proctorsville, another flourishing village. Running nearly south 

 from this village, we find a deep narrow ravine, cutting through the high mountain and 

 opening at its southern extremity into the valley of a tributary of Williams River. I 



