Geology^ ^c. of the Connecticut. 19 



the Connecticut. A little to the northeast and especially 

 one or two miles northwest of the village of Greenfield, the 

 old red sandstone rocks are smoothed and fluted in a great 

 many instances ; indicating a former exposure to currents 

 of water. These various circumstances render it very 

 probable that the country was once covered by a lake. 



As the passage of the Connecticut through the moun- 

 tains below Middletown was gradually worn deeper and 

 deeper, this lake would be lowered also — and in process of 

 time, the lofty greenstone ridge, extending from near New- 

 Haven to Amherst, would present another barrier, and at 

 length the original lake would be divided into two ; the one 

 extending from Northfield, on the west side of this ridge, 

 nearly to New-Haven, and the other, on the east side, from 

 Soiith-Hadley to Middletown. There is every appearance 

 that the Connecticut has worn down a passage through this 

 ridge between Holyoke and Tom. 



As this process of draining continued from century to cen- 

 tury, these lakes constantly contracted their limits, until at 

 length the greater part of the extensive vallies they occu- 

 pied were laid bare. In the western lake however, were 

 three basins, at Farmington, Westfield and Deerfield, a few 

 miles in extent, which would remain filled with water until 

 the three rivers of the same name, which supplied them, 

 had worn away passages through the greenstone ridge above 

 mentioned. That they have done this, will be doubted by 

 no one who will examine their course through this mountain. 



Thus after the lapse of years would these lakes all be 

 drained, leaving a rich valley for cultivation. And whoev- 

 er will examine the alluvium of Farmingtoo, Westfield and 

 Deerfield, will be led to suppose that the period when the 

 work was finished could not have been many centuries be- 

 fore the settlement of this country. 



Sunderland Cave. 



This is about three miles northeast of the village in the 

 rocks of the coal formation. It forms nearly a quarter of a 

 circle, is about ten rods through, opens on the north and 

 west, is from two to twenty feet wide, and from ten to sixty 

 or seventy deep. A few rods to the south is a fissure ten 

 feet wide, nearly parallel to the cave, and sixty or seventy 



