History of Androscoggin County, Maine, Part 3

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew, ed
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Boston, W.A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1050

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On Professor Hitchcock's "Geological Map of Maine " the territory of Androseoggin county is practically all represented in the Montalban formation, with a little section of granite delineated on the northern border. Professor Hitchcock says:1 "Beneath the Huronian are large areas of gneiss, whose age has been warmly discussed by American geologists, and are now referred to three Laurentian divisions, lower, middle, upper. I have offered the theory that these oval patches of coarse porphyritic, granitie gneiss represent the very beginnings of the continent; that these islands projected slightly out of the original primal universal ocean, and were of eruptive origin, the first ejections of melted matter upon a newly formed erust. Over twenty of these islands have been recognized in New Hampshire, and many will be discovered in Maine as soon as her crystallines are carefully examined. These gneissie masses possess a concentric structure just like modern volcanie piles, but the superior elevation of the original cone may be lost through denudation and the subsequent accumulation of detritus upon their flanks. To the middle division are properly referred much of the gneiss area in the western part of the state, and the schists, south of the Huronian, between Portland and the Penobseot river." Enumerating seven other areas he goes on: "In these areas occur the following minerals: red and green tourmaline, lepidolite, cassiterite or tin ore, amblygonite, cancrinite, sodalite, beryl, mispickel, corundum, immense sheets of muscovite mica, and many others not so characteristic. I proposed the name ' White Mountain series,' in 1869, for all these ancient crystallines of the Atlantic district. Latterly it seems convenient

I Colby's Atlas of the State of Maine. Colby & Stuart. Houlton, Me.

GEOLOGY.

to restrict the use of this term, or its equivalent, Montalban, to the uppermost group of schists, whose best known development is in the Presidential range of the White Mountains. The group is characterized by a deficiency in the amount of feldspar, and often the mineral fibrolite or andalusite is disseminated through the rock."

Tourmalines and Associated Gems. - In 1820 the first of those rare gems- tourmalines-discovered in Maine (and which have made this portion of the state so noted) was found, a transparent green crystal, among the dull feldspar and quartz, on the surface of an unpretending hill in Paris, called Mount Mica, by two students, who in their first search found thirty or more splendid specimens of pink and green crystals. And more : all over the top of the rocks and down the hill-side lay riches untold of the associate minerals. The people of the town hastened to the spot, and immediately some very valuable specimens were obtained. No one knew up to that time what to call their prize, so the young men enclosed a few of their best crystals in a letter to . Professor Silliman, awaiting his reply with impatience. He hastened to tell them that they had made a most important discovery in finding a rare gem. And these were the first tourmalines of Mount Mica. This place, in its ages of silence, had been waiting, perfecting itself, that the hand of man should finally unlock its treasures and give them to the light of day. In 1825 Pro- fessor Shepard visited the place and found several very fine crystals ; and later Professor Webster opened a " pocket," which revealed a fine grass-green specimen, also a most remarkable red one. In 1865 the deposit was believed to be exhausted, though the work had been extremely superficial, the excava- tions being only fifteen feet square and six feet deep. Fresh encouragement came later, as investigations were made by true votaries of science, and new pockets were constantly opened, with the tourmalines lying loose in the decay- ing feldspar, or imbedded in the floor of the cavity. About this time Dr A. C. Hamlin, collecting the facts here outlined, made most important explora- tions, and added greatly to the knowledge of the capacity of the ledge. His excavations, made from time to time, yielded to him one of the most valuable collections in the world.

About three miles northwest of the court-house in Auburn is a hill of the same geologic formation as Mount Mica. It is called Hatch's Ledge from the owner and Mount Apatite from the amount of that mineral existing there. This ledge covers from eight to ten acres, and is close to the line of Minot. In 1862 a boy named Lane found a small piece of crystal that he thought to be green glass. After carrying it some time he put it on the window-sill in the sitting-room of his home. Here it was seen by Dr Luther Hill, who pronounced it a tourmaline, and on submitting it to experts in mineralogy his opinion was justified, and soon after this new locality of transparent tourmalines was made known to the world. Dr Hamlin, who had the ledge

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

examined, says : "The tourmalines appeared on the brow of a ledge which projected from a gentle slope of a hill, and far below its summit. The surface of the rock and adjoining earth was strewn with numerous foliæ of mica containing crystals of transparent tourmalines, and large masses of pink lepidolite, amounting in all to quite a ton in weight. The abundance of lepidolite and mica gave hope of an extensive deposit of the coveted crystals ; the first specimens picked up, exhibiting rich emerald-green hues, gave promise of superior gems, the first one yielding a perfect gem of two carats." Thou- sands of dollars' worth of valuable gems have since been taken from the ledge ; white, pink, green, blue, and red tourmalines, and associate minerals in rich and rare variety. Nearly forty different varieties have been found here. Mica, in sheets from ten to twelve inches square ; aqua marines ; white, green, and smoky quartz; quartz crystals; beryl; apatite in varied colors, both crystallized and opaque ; arsenical iron ; iron garnets, a large one weighing sixteen pounds : cassiterite (almost the only ore of tin) ; albite ; cleavelandite; columbite ; amblygonite ; lepidolite ; montmorillonite ; uranite ; cookeite, etc.

The tourmalines found here are in utmost perfection of color and crystal- lization, and unsurpassed by any gems of the kind in the world. The gradations of color are a most important feature. On this point the mineral- ogist revels in ecstasy ; and well he may. Here a crystal red within, passing to green outside ; there an exquisite red shaded to white, then blending into green again ; or they may be simply red and green or white and green. They are marvelous in beauty.

The tourmaline in its physical character is in crystallization, rhombohedral, in prisms of three, six, nine, and twelve sides, terminating in a low three- sided pyramid. It occurs also massive, and coarse columnar, somewhat resinous when fractured, and by friction acquires positive electricity ; becom- ing electrically polar when heated. In hardness it is about 7.5, a little harder than quartz. It is brittle and, as in the case of the beryl, well-terminated crystals are most difficult to obtain. In constitution it is complicated, con- taining silica, alumina, magnesia, and a variety of other elements in small proportions. The presence of boron trioxide gives an interesting feature in the analysis of the mineral, while its electric and optical properties are. an increasing delight to the student. The sides of the prisms are often rounded or striated. This is due to oscillatory combination, which is a tendency in the forming crystal to make two different planes at the same time.

Pratt's Care .- In the north part of Turner, about two miles from North Turner Bridge, there is a remarkable cavern or succession of caverns (really cavities between immense blocks of granite piled upon each other). This was visited in 1838 by Dr Stevenson, of the State Geological Survey, who gave this description :

GEOLOGY.

The entrance is from the side of the mountain situated on the land of Mr E. Pratt, on the western side of the river. From some cause the huge blocks of granite which form the walls of these subterranean apartments have been so arranged as to form spacious halls and present a striking appearance of regularity. Provided with lamps by our guide, we entered the first cavern, which was about twenty feet long and from ten to twelve feet wide, with high overhanging walls; the rocks presented the appearance of having been thrown apart by some wonderful convulsion of nature, and the damp and chilling atmos- phere was similar to that found in the sepulchres of the dead. We continued our course by slow and cautious steps down a pathless descent till we had visited six subterrancan halls, situated onc above another, all corresponding in general appearance, but dimin- ishing in size as we descended; the last would not admit a person in an erect attitude, and we were obliged to crawl upon our hands and knees, taking great eare not to lose our lamp, for had we suffered that misfortune we might have been compelled to grope abont in darkness, without even a hope of happy deliverance from our uncomfortable situation.

Gneiss. - There is gneiss along the track of the railroad between Danville Junction and Greene ; perhaps this belt of rock is connected with the gneiss in the west part of Winthrop.

Mica Schist. - An immense deposit of mica schist is found in Androscoggin, Kennebec, and Waldo counties. Large patches of granite are frequently found in it, which were protruded subsequently to the deposition of the schist. From Danville to Belgrade the mica schist has been seen to occur. It appears also in Poland, Turner, Livermore, Leeds, and other towns. The roek is mica schist in Leeds and Livermore; at Livermore Falls it resembles talcose schist.

Saccharoid Azoic Limestone appears in Turner, Poland, Livermore, and Lewiston. In Turner there are two beds of limestone, one, grayish-white, granular, contains 73.6 per cent. of carbonate of lime; that on Oak Hill is greenish gray, granular, and contains 40 per cent. of carbonate of lime. In Poland there is limestone of a greenish-white color, granular, containing 43.6 per cent. of carbonate of lime. The purest limestone can afford but little more than 50 per cent. of lime. That in Turner gave 42.9 per cent.

Dunes. - There are numerous sandy hills in Wayne and Leeds far above all existing streams. It seems as if there must be some ancient beaches among them. In Leeds one of these sandy accumulations has been torn asunder by the wind, and the sand blown southeasterly, much to the detriment of the adjacent cultivated fields. A potato patch was covered up in this way to the depth of thirty feet. These hills of moving sands are called dunes or downs.

A belt of mineral appears to run through the rocks in nearly a straight line from Woodstock, through Oxford, Minot, Greene, Wales, Litchfield, Pittston, Camden, Sedgwick, Bluehill, Sullivan, and Northport. At different times specimens, taken from various places along this belt, have been analyzed, showing quite a percentage of silver. About twelve years ago quite an excitement was caused by developments in the vicinity of Oak Hill in Wales.

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

Thomas Barr's farm, at Ray's Corners, had rock in 1878 bearing $25 of pure silver to the ton. Plumbago had earlier been mined near there, and sulphuret of silver was said to exist in the same mine and in its vicinity.

CHAPTER III.

THE ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER.

Williamson's Description - Physical and Geological Features -Drainage District - Altitudes - Principal Tributaries in this County - Water-Powers.

I N " Williamson's History of Maine " is a quaint description of the Andros- coggin which our readers will enjoy. "The Androscoggin river, formerly Aumougheawgen, rises in the northwest section of the state, only about an hundred miles from the Chops, in direct course, though it actually runs, in its flexuous meanders, more than one hundred and sixty miles. The rise of its eastern and principal branch is in the vicinity of Sunday Mountain, about ten miles cast of the dividing line between Maine and New Hampshire, and on the south margin of the highlands, which form the boundary between this state and Canada. This source of the Androseoggin has for its immediate neighbours a headpond of Dead river, which empties into the Kennebec, and the southernmost spring of a stream, which runs northerly and contributes its waters to the Chaudière. This branch of the Androscoggin runs about twenty- five miles south and discharges its waters into Lake Mooseetoemaguntick, a most singular body of water connected with Umbagog lake by a strait; and it empties all its waters into the latter, which lies on both sides of the western boundary line of Maine. On the western side of it, in New Hampshire, issues the Androscoggin, forty miles south of the upper end of the line which divides that state from Maine. Three miles westward of the ontlet the main river receives the Magalloway, which is twelve rods in width at its mouth. This river's head is about as far north as that of the Androscoggin, runs a southerly course in Maine, more than thirty miles, and is distant from three to five miles from the line, which it crosses one hundred and twenty miles north of the Piscataqua mouth.

"The Androscoggin, shortly after it receives the waters of Magalloway river, and another river from the northwest, runs southerly in New Hampshire twenty-five miles, almost parallel with the line, and five or six miles from it ;

THE ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER.

and then turning, erosses it, and runs the remainder of its course in Maine. In re-entering the state it runs through the town of Gilead, and forms a fine intervale on both sides, overlooked by rugged lands on the north, and is fed in that town by Wild river. The main river runs fourteen miles in the next town, Bethel, forming an elbow in its western quarter, and flowing northerly in a gentle glide towards Newry, then eastwardly, over a smooth bottom of rounded pebbles, embosoming in the town a number of fertile and delightful islands of various extent, the largest of which contains one hundred acres. The alluvion skirting the banks of the Androscoggin, from ten to one hundred rods in width, is highly productive and beautiful land, rising in many places by regular banks, one above another, and forming two or more bottoms. Of these the highest is about twenty-five feet perpendicular above low water, and they are all evidently formed by the efflux of the river, changing its bed and banks so that people feel safe in building on these more elevated bottoms, some of which were not covered in the time of the great freshet, October 22, 1785, when the water rose twenty-five feet. Along northward of the river, three or four miles distant from it, and nearly parallel with its banks in many places, are the 'nucleus of the mountains' which, rising in ridges, stretch along from the west line of the state toward the falls, just above the northernmost bend of the river in the east line of Rumford, and shelter, in some measure, these extensive intervales from the northwest winds.

" After the river receives several small streams, and a considerable one through the mountains from East Andover, it rushes down the Great falls at Rumford, fifty feet perpendicular and three hundred feet within a mile. From these falls the river runs in a southerly direction through Dixfield into Jay, where it forms various windings; leaving the town in a southern course it passes through Livermore, between Turner on the west, and Leeds and Greene on the east, and descends Lewiston falls, sixty miles below the Great falls. In Turner it receives Twenty-Mile river, which rises principally in Sumner and Hartford, and runs through Buckfield and Turner, forming almost every accommodation for mills and machinery.

" At Lewiston, the cataract is called the Upper falls of Pejepscot. Here the water tumbles over massy rocks, and rushes through narrow passes, about one hundred feet perpendicular, from the surface to the bed below. These falls are not abrupt as over a mill-dam, but descend on an inclined plane, broken with ledges. Here are mills and one is supplied with water through a channel sunk in solid rock. The river below the falls is fifty to sixty rods wide, and seldom so shoal as to be fordable by a man and horse, even in summer.

" As you stand on an elevation, one mile below these falls, you see the rapid river, called the Little Androscoggin, flow in from the westward, shooting its current across the bed of the main Androscoggin, forming a channel on the eastern shore, and adding a fourth to the main river. It rises in Woodstock

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

and Norway, and receives waters from Moose and Gleason ponds in Paris, as it passes between the swells of that town, and also those of Thompson on the southerly side, turning many mills, especially in Minot and some in Poland, which two towns it separates. It has generally high banks, though lined with intervales or strong land.

"On the east side of the great Androscoggin is the Thirty-Mile or Dead river, the natural and only outlet of great Androscoggin pond, three and one- half miles long, and three broad, between Leeds and Wayne. Dead river, from the outlet in Leeds to Androscoggin river, is six miles in length, eight or ten rods in width and deep, and its bed is so level and exactly horizontal that the rise of the great river eighteen inches will invert the current of Dead river its whole length. In great freshets much water is forced into the pond, which becomes a reservoir, greatly soaking, however, and hurting the lands on its borders."

Dr Ezekiel Holmes treats of the physical and geological features of the Androscoggin in this manner: The Androscoggin river takes its rise not far from the Canada line and the headlands that divide the waters of the Chaudière, Kennebec tributaries, and the Androscoggin. It passes south- westerly, expanding in its course into the lakes Moosilamaguntic, Argwason, Molechunkamunk, Wallakenabagog, and Umbagog. From this last lake it passes out on its northwest quarter, at first westerly and then southerly, in a sluggish, quiet manner until it comes to Errol in New Hampshire. Here it meets with obstructions and forms a fall which has been taken up for mill sites. It continues to flow in a southerly direction until it reaches Shelburne, when it sweeps round the base of the mountains easterly to the easterly line of Livermore, when it again curves southeasterly, which general course it holds until it unites with the Kennebec river at Merrymeeting bay.

The Androscoggin, from the time it meets with its first obstruction at Errol, has a difficult and troubled pathway and has more rapids, falls, and cataracts than any other river of its size in Maine. It has along its banks at certain sections of its course some splendid intervals as well as swells of upland of the first quality. Evidences are abundant to prove that it was once, in the space at least from Shelburne to East Livermore, what a part of it is now at Umbagog and above, a connected chain of lakes, separated at certain places by obstructions which formed natural dams and held its waters at higher level, until they gave way and furnished them a more free passage, as they are now found. It was while in this lake state that the splendid intervals were formed.

REASONS FOR THIS BELIEF :- First. These interval or bottom lands are alluvial deposits. The material of which they are composed was deposited. while the water was in a quiescent state, and therefore formed the bottom of lakes and ponds. Second. These interval or bottom lands are not continuous,

THE ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER.

but located in sections of more or less magnitude and at different distances from each other, and these separations are formed by the highlands coming down nearer to the river than they do in the region of the intervals. In passing up the river from Livermore Falls to Shelburne, N. H., where the highlands close in toward the river, you will erelong come to a tract of interval land. This is also the case in going from Livermore Falls to Jay. After passing through the highlands which come more or less near to the banks on the Livermore and Jay side, you reach the splendid intervals of Jay point. The cause of their formation at this locality was, in the first place, a valley or larger opening between the mountains, giving space for a lake, and in the next place, the obstruction, for a long time, of the river by the high- lands below, thereby forming a lake at the place referred to. Here, when the current was at rest, the fine particles of earthy matter gathered, and, suspended in the water in their course, were deposited at the bottom, and by their accumulations formed what are now beautiful farms. On a reverse principle it is accounted for, there being comparatively less amount of alluvial and more diluvial land or drift in that portion of the river below Livermore Falls than above. The Androscoggin, at Jay, had worked itself to the southerly side of the mountain chain through which it had passed from the upper part of Gilead in an easterly direction, and thereby nearly out of them. Finding less obstruction here at the sontherly margin of the hills than farther east, it was turned almost square about in a southerly direction, and spread itself over a large extent, depositing, while in motion, as it passed along, the sands and heavier gravels, and probably, while the ice prevailed, heavy bowlders, thus forming sand bars and islands, etc., which now constitute the swells and ridges and irregular curves that form the surface of that part of the country. The channel of this river is so full of obstructions that but a small part of it can be said to be navigable.

The Drainage District of the Androscoggin occupies the country lying between the sea on the southeast and the northerly outposts of the White Mountains. Its southern part is separated from the Saco basin by the hydrographic area of the Presumpscot and Royal, but is conterminous with it in the northern part. Its greatest length is 110 miles, from the ocean to its remotest sources; greatest breadth is 70 miles, from Randolph, N. H., to Fayette. The area in Maine is about 2,750 square miles ; in New Hampshire about 850 square miles; of this nearly the whole is located above the lowest mill privilege and contributes to the water-power of the main river. Its elevation is considerably greater than that of any other hydrographic district in the state. We give the height above tide-water of some points situated upon the river or railroads: Danville Junction, 180 ft; Auburn (station), 210 ft; Lewiston, 212 ft; Leeds, 260 ft; Mechanic Falls (station), 270 ft; Oxford (station), 310 ft; East Livermore (station), 360 ft; South Paris

HISTORY OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY.

(station), 370 ft; Locke's Mills (station), 710 ft; head of Rumford, about 600 ft; Bethel (station), 640 ft; Androscoggin river at Bethel, 620 ft; White's Corner, 659 ft; month Pleasant river, about 632 ft; Gilead, 700 ft; State Line (Grand Trunk Railway crossing), 690 ft; Gorham, N. H. (station), 802 ft; head of Berlin Falls, N. H., 2,000 ft; northeast head of Magalloway river, 2,640 ft; northwest head of Magalloway river, 2,917 ft. The high general elevation of this district, combined with its irregularity of surface, secures a large amount of power upon the streams in proportion to its extent and its volume of annual discharge. The yearly precipitation of moisture upon this basin, including the Maine and New Hampshire portions, is estimated as nearly 338,000,000,000 cubic feet; these figures are based upon an assumed average downfall of 42 inches.

The principal tributaries on the right side are the Little Androscoggin received at Auburn; basin, 30 miles in length ; 15 miles in breadth ; area, 280 square miles; length of stream, 40 miles; estimated discharge, 10,120,- 000,000 cubic feet; Twenty-Mile river at Turner; basin length, 19 miles ; breadth, 13 miles ; area, 150 square miles; length of stream, 25 miles; discharge, 5,850,000,000 cubic feet. On the left side are Sabattus, at Lisbon ; length of basin, 16 miles; breadth, 7 miles; area, 75 miles; discharge, 2,925,000,000 cubic feet; Dead river, at Leeds; length of basin, 22 miles; breadth, 5 miles; area, 85 square miles; length of stream, 28 miles; discharge, 33,000,000,000 cubic feet; Webb's river, at Dixfield; length of basin, 17 miles; breadth, 11 miles; area, 135 square miles; length of stream, 23 miles; discharge, 5,265,000,000 cubic feet; Swift river, at Mexico; basin, 22 miles in length; 8 miles in breadth; area, 133 square miles; length of stream, 24 miles ; dis- charge, 5,187,000,000 cubic feet ; and Ellis river, at Rumford; basin length, 18 miles; breadth, 13 miles; area, 150 square miles; length of stream, 25 miles ; discharge 5,850,000,000 cubic feet. Its most valuable water-power sec- tion, from Rumford Falls to the tide, is 75 miles long; but in reality it is a water-power river in its whole length from the lakes to Brunswick, 150 miles. The estimated discharge from the basin for the year amounts to 135,000,000,000 cubic feet. Of this nearly the whole is tributary to the working power of the river. The natural inconstancy of the river is already overcome to a great extent, and can be to a far higher degree by the use of its great reservoirs for storage purposes, and this at little expense. The range from lowest to highest water, at Lewiston, is eight feet; Lisbon, seven feet; Livermore, eight feet. From the origin of the Androscoggin to the tide at Brunswick is 150 miles, with a fall of 1,256 feet. The mean slope is 8.33 feet to the mile, corre- sponding to an angular depression of 5'.5 circular measurement per mile. The principal reservoirs of the Androscoggin and its tributaries number 83 principal lakes and ponds, with 156.25 square miles of surface, but the aggregate of lake surface in the Androscoggin basin is 213 square miles, or one square mile

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History of Androscoggin County, Maine, Part 3

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew, ed Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Boston, W.A. Fergusson & co. Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew, ed
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Boston, W.A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1050