RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



cereals. In the earlier days the county was noted for 

 its fine quality of cheese and butter, as it is now for its 

 milk, and much of these higher lands are dotted over 

 with rich dairy farms. 



Another class of soils is that found in the river val- 

 leys, known as the alluvial soils and the terrace gravel. 

 In general these soil areas are limited in extent owing 

 to the narrowness of the valleys. The lower portion of 

 the valleys represents soils of a sandy loam type, gen- 

 erally free from boulders. These are known as alluvial 

 soils and are composed of gritty particles of rock which 

 settled out of comparatively still water, while the finer, 

 silty material was carried to the seas. Along the bor- 

 ders of the valleys are found terraces of gravel and 

 coarse sand which were formed by the rapidly moving 

 waters. 



Following the great glacial epoch, our rivers were 

 many times their present size, probably filling what now 

 represents the river valleys. In some cases these river 

 valleys were dammed by rock barriers, causing great 

 lakes which later were drained out by the wearing away 

 of the barriers. One of these ancient lakes seems to 

 have covered the upper Housatonic valley, extending 

 from a natural barrier at Falls Village to the northern 

 part of Sheffield, Massachusetts, with a great arm ex- 

 tending up the Blackberry River valley nearly to West 

 Norfolk. Another, with little doubt, covered the 



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