2 GEOLOGY OF OLD HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, MASS. 



of its borders, occasions a much greater degree of complexity in its post- 

 Glacial deposits, the great series of Glacial lakes on itf} eastern side being 

 just within the limits of the State, and the division of the valley into two 

 portions by the sandstone and trap ranges from Mount Tom southward 

 being wholly confined within the same limits. So that the area has given 

 me a section of sufficient length for my purpose in those rocks which are of 

 great extent mei'idionally, and a goodly number of problems of which all 

 the factors are within its limits. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



While many a quaint and appreciative remark may be gathered from 

 the records of the explorers and early settlers of the Connecticut Valley 

 concerning the great natural beauty of the new country, I have after much 

 search found nothing which had reference to its geological structure. 

 Considering the little that was then known, even among the learned, con- 

 cerning geology, we do not wonder at this. It is more a matter of regret 

 that they so generally failed to retain the Indian names of the prominent 

 landmarks, or to replace them by significant or euphonious substitutes. 

 Except the name of the Connecticut* itself, I know of few Indian names 

 retained from the beginning in their proper application, and but few descrip- 

 tive and appropriate names which have come down to us from the fathers. 

 Among these are "The Notch" and "The Low Place" in the Holyoke 

 range, and "Sugar Loaf," named, I doubt not, by the Hadley farmers who 

 rowed over to mow the Hatfield meadow, whence its conical shape is most 

 striking and suggestive. 



It is true that in late times the names Agawam and Chicopee have 

 been applied to towns, Mittineague and Willimansett to villages, while in 

 a few cases the Indian names of brooks seem to date far back, as Chicopee, 

 Quinebaug, Quabaug, and Scantic rivers, Pecowsick and Watchaug brooks, 

 and Massasoit Pond. President Hitchcock attempted to baptize several of 

 our peaks with Indian names; i. e., Nonatuck, Norwottuck, transferred from 

 the Northampton Meadows to the peak overlooking them, and Metawampe, 

 from the name of an Indian who deeded the region to the whites. With 



' Quiu iii tuk^long tidal river: Coll. Conn. Hist. Soc, Vol. II, p. 8. Quon eh ti cut:=the long 

 liver: Trumbull Hist. Conn., Vol. 1, p. 32. 



