420 POSITION. 



find a succession of strata to the height of about 1900 feet, with a nearly horizontal 

 position ; though upon the whole, dipping a few degrees to the west. This is capped by 

 a few hundred feet of Talcoid schist, which at its easterly edge, has a small, westerly dip, 

 but on the western slope of the mountain, the dip is easterly, as it is in the underlying 

 limestone, and this is the general dip of the rocks all the way to the New York line. If 

 we pass along the south end of Eolus, we shall find the limestone dipping westerly for a 

 time, and reversed in its dip towards the west side. The marble shows itself, also, across 

 the north end of Danby Mountain, which is a northern continuation of Eolus. Along 

 the top of these mountains, a gentle synclinal axis shows itself, both in the schist and the 

 limestone, as may be seen by the arrows on Plate VIII, Fig. 2, which represents the 

 position of these rocks from Eolus to Rutland. Still further west it will be seen that an 

 anticlinal extends from Danby Mountain to Rutland, though in all that region the pre- 

 vailing dip is easterly. But in the whole region occupied by the Eolian limestone there 

 is great irregularity of dip, as our table of strikes and dips will show. On this point we 

 shall make further remarks in the sequel. 



To the north of Eolus the limestone descends on the line of strike, and shows itself 

 entirely beneath the talcoid schist nowhere north, we believe, of Danby mountain, across 

 whose north end we have traced it. But southwesterly from Eolus we find it on Equinox 

 Mountain in Manchester, as high perhaps as on Eolus. We have not, however, explored 

 the west side of that mountain, and cannot say whether it crops out there. But proceeding 

 southerly to Arlington, and passing westerly down the Battenkill, between high mountains 

 of talcoid schist we find limestone with a very small dip, generally east, but sometimes 

 west, underlying the strata most of the way for several miles, and at the east base of the 

 mountains it yields abundance of white marble. Passing south to Bennington we find 

 that the limestone shows itself at a high line on Mount Anthony, with a small westerly 

 dip with a cap of talcoid schist. This same schist also passes under it, as it does all 

 along this range of limestone from Rutland to Bennington ; and if we go southerly to 

 Saddle Mountain, in Adams, Massachusetts, we find the same relative position of the two 

 rocks, although the limestone there appears in less force than in some of the Vermont 

 mountains. 



Here, then, we find a deposit of crystalline limestone, extending over fifty miles on its 

 line of strike, and with a maximum thickness of '1900 feet, underlaid and overlaid by 

 talcoid schists of very great thickness. Moreover, the greater part of the beds affect a 

 horizontal position, a fact perfectly anomalous in the crystalline limestones of J\ r ew 

 England. 



The first question of importance is, how came these rocks into their present position ? 

 Were the present precipitous and lofty ridges thrust up by some internal force, or 

 were the valleys between them once filled by similar rock, which has been since removed 

 by erosion ? The latter supposition is made probable, nay is almost demonstrated, by the 

 facts detailed by us, when treating of erosion, respecting the cave on Eolus, and the old 

 river bed, high on the side of the mountain in Pittsford, as well as by other facts detailed 

 under that subject. It may be that these rocks not only once filled the valleys, but 

 extended over the Green Mountains, as we have proved other rocks to have done, that 

 have now nearly disappeared. In that case the limestone and schists were probably 



