74 Fossil Footmarks of Turner's Falls. 



alluvial plains of Massachusetts and Connecticut, it is here in the 

 distance of a few miles, precipitated over three successive cata- 

 racts with intermediate rapids. The scenery of Turner's Falls 

 is unsurpassed in New England for picturesque beauty. From 

 an eminence below the falls, the eye commands a fine view of 

 the cataract and surrounding hills. The river emerges into view 

 a short distance above the rocky barrier, where its surface is still 

 as a mountain lake, but below this boundary, having fallen over 

 it with a power that makes the earth tremble, it rushes over the 

 rocks in an opposite direction, and is immediately lost in the 

 chasms of the hills. The narrow compass of the horizon and an 

 air of solitude that pervades the region, is in full contrast with 

 the expanded valley and quiet loveliness that reigns undisturbed 

 above and below the falls, which have been appropriately called 

 the miniature of Niagara. 



To the geologist it is a centre of peculiar attractions. He can 

 here witness the junction of trap and sandstone under most favor- 

 able circumstances, the contact being perceptible for the space of 

 a mile. The eastern limit of the sandstone basin is bounded by 

 regions of granite, and the western by hills of mica slate, while 

 in the northern neighborhood beds of limestone and primitive 

 slates occur. Thus in an area of a few miles, no less than six 

 distinct rock formations occur. An examination of the cataract 

 seems to leave no doubt that its rocky structure was heaved up 

 by the mechanical agency of the igneous rock which is in close 

 proximity and parallel with it. The direction of the fall is irreg- 

 ular, but at intervals there are several eminences, which are 

 crowned w^th diminutive trees. When the river passes the falls, 

 it strikes directly against the trap or greenstone dyke, which 

 gives a new direction to its current. 



But the intent of this paper is to notice some peculiarities of 

 the sandstone beds thus uplifted from their original positions, in- 

 asmuch as the exploration of their strata reveals the existence of 

 birds at a period of time coeval with the deposition of this an- 

 cient rock. The readers of this Journal are already aware that 

 their existence during this remote geological epoch is now fully 

 established, and it is to carry on the illustrations, and accumulate 

 the facts that bear upon this very interesting subject, that it is 

 still presented. And it is perhaps doubtful if any locality of fos- 

 sil footmarks furnishes such pure examples, as that of Turner's 



