BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 21, pp. 747-752 December 31, 1910 



EICHMOND AND GEEAT BAEEINGTOIS' BOWLDEE TEAINS^ 



BY F. B. TAYLOR 



{Presented extemporaneously before the Society December 28, 1910) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Previous investigators 747 



Location and characteristics of Richmond train 747 



Location and characteristics of the Great Harrington train 749 



Probable history of bowlders of the Great Barrington train 751 



Previous Investigators 



The Eichmond bowlder train has been a subject of study and discus- 

 sion among geologists since before the middle of the last century. It was 

 discovered and first traced across the country by Dr. S. Eeid, formerly of 

 Eichmond, Massachusetts, and, according to Benton, was first described 

 by him in 1842. Eeid had several papers on this subject, and it was dis- 

 cussed by Edward Hitchcock and by H. D. and W. B. Eogers in 1845, 

 by E. Desor in 1848, and by Sir Charles Lyell in 1855. These early 

 writings were at a time when the glacial theory of Louis Agassiz was 

 new and not yet generally accepted. The different ways in which these 

 authors explain the origin of the bowlder trains is interesting now chiefly 

 from a historical point of view. 



Location and Characteristics of Eichmond Train 



The Eichmond train extends from Fryes Hill, otherwise known as "The 

 Knob," which stands on the line between the towns of New Lebanon and 

 New Canaan, in the northeastern part of Columbia County, New York. 

 A small area on the top of the knob is composed of chloritic or amphib- 

 olite schist. The exposure of this rock is about half a mile long and a 

 quarter of a mile wide and forms the lightest knob of the Canaan and 

 Lebanon range. 



1 Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society October 3, 1910. 

 Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geological Survey. 



(747) 



