History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I, Part 1

Author: Jackson, James R. (James Robert), b. 1838; Furber, George C. (George Clarence), b. 1847; Stearns, Ezra S
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Cambridge, Mass. : Pub. for the town by the University Press
Number of Pages: 954


USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


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Gc 974.202 L73j v.1 1128568


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


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3 vos por 17.50


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00825 1164


HISTORY OF LITTLETON NEW HAMPSHIRE


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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015


https://archive.org/details/historyoflittlet01jack_0


LITTLETON VILLAGE. VIEW FROM KILBURN CRAGS.


HISTORY


OF


LITTLETON


NEW HAMPSHIRE


IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. I.


JAMES R. JACKSON HISTORIOGRAPHER 7


ANNALS


PUBLISHED FOR THE TOWN BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, MASS.


1905


Copyright, 1905, BY THE TOWN OF LITTLETON.


1128568


PREFACE.


D R. ADAMS MOORE, who had married into the family of Moses Little, of Newbury, Mass., a son of Col. Moses Little, the proprietor of Littleton, conceived a purpose of writ- ing a history of the town in 1855. He gathered material, inter- viewing aged people familiar with the early settlement, and . shortly before his death, in 1863, had put this material in shape for publication. Had he lived to partly execute his purpose, the town would have possessed an authentic history of great value. His manuscripts would have made a volume of about fifty pages of this work. Two of its chapters, those on Proprietary Meetings and Surveys, appear as he prepared them. The addition of much new material rendered it impossible to use the remainder in the form in which it was left.


In 1876, by vote of the town, Harry Bingham, John Farr, and James J. Barrett were made a committee to procure the Moore manuscripts and to consider and report upon the advisability of the preparation and publication of a town history. Nothing came of this for several years. In 1880 John M. Mitchell suggested to the writer that he undertake the work of collecting material and preparing a history of the town. The proposition was attractive, and was followed.


In 1883 Albert S. Batchellor brought the matter before the town at its March meeting, and a committee consisting of George Farr, Albert S. Batchellor, Charles F. Eastman, Edward Kilburn, and James R. Jackson, was chosen to take the matter in hand, and was given full powers. They came into possession of the Moore manu- scripts as a gift from the heirs, and entered upon the work of gathering material from all known sources of information for a history of the town from 1770 to the close of 1903.


The work was attended by many difficulties. Visits were made to the home town of the proprietors, in Essex County, Mass., to. the frontier homes of many of the first settlers, and to Canada, where some of them had gone in the first years of the nineteenth century. Court and county records were, of course, thoroughly


vi


Preface.


examined, and old residents were visited, and their information, personal and legendary, obtained.


It would fill pages were the names to be given of all to whom the committee is indebted, but those of a few cannot be omitted. Mrs. Martha (Nurs) Goodwin, who lived on Mann's Hill, was a native of the town, born in 1795. In early life she lived near the first meeting-house, and from her much of the information conceril- ing that building, its pastor and membership, was obtained. Solo- mon Whiting came to the town in 1802, when he was a lad of twelve years. He knew the early settlers at the west, and especially the members of the Rankin family. The committee has been under special obligations to Luther B. Town. He has furnished from the stores of an accurate memory material of great value in regard to the north end, once the Littleton of the maps. He has never given erroneous "notes " concerning events within the range of his personal knowledge. Though past fourscore and ten years, his health is still sound, and his memory as firm as the granite of the hill where he was born.


It is also under obligations to Mr. and Mrs. George F. Morris, of Lisbon, the Rev. M. V. B. Knox, Stella B. Farr, and Flora S. Bean, for assistance and for information incorporated in Professor Weed's chapter on the botany of the town.


The officers of the committee at its organization were George Farr, chairman, Charles F. Eastman, secretary and treasurer, and James R. Jackson, historiographer. Captain Farr died in 1895, and A. S. Batchellor was his successor as chairman. Mr. Eastman is still at his post, and that fact is a sufficient guaran- tee that its affairs have been prudently conducted.


There have been many changes in the committee. Edward Kilburn passed away, and was succeeded by his brother, Benjamin W. Kilburn, who for a time was in active charge of matters re- lating to illustrations. Mr. Batchellor subsequently took charge of this, as well as the matters in regard to information. In respect to these he gave much time for a quarter of a century, and there are but few persons who will ever know the full extent of his tireless and unrewarded labors in the prosecution of this work. Beside the continuous service in charge of these subjects, he is the author of several chapters in the narrative. Thanks are also due Harry M. Morse for valuable suggestions and proofreading.


Ray T. Gile has been in charge of surveys and maps, and is to be credited with the making of maps as complete and accurate as any similar work contains.


The Rev. Joseph Robins became a member of the committee


vii


Preface.


while residing in Littleton as presiding elder in his church, and has been a constant aid in the preparation of the ecclesiastical history.


Chauncey H. Greene, George C. Furber, and Daniel C. Remich have for a long time acted as members of the committee as proxies.


We have elsewhere spoken of the work performed by George C. Furber in the compilation of the genealogy, and of Chauncey H. Greene in gathering material and constructing the historical tables.


That part of the work not credited under chapter heads or in foot-notes to others (forty-six chapters) has been written by me, and all has passed under my editorial supervision. It embraces many subjects and doubtless has many faults, but such as it is it is the best contribution I could make to the history of Littleton from its settlement in 1770 to the close of 1903.


JAMES R. JACKSON.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


PAGE


I. TOPOGRAPHY


1


II. THE GEOLOGY OF LITTLETON.


By C. H. Hitchcock,


Ph.D., LL.D.


5


III. BOTANY. By Clarence Moores Weed, D.Sc. 32


IV. VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF LITTLETON


56


V. VERTEBRATES CONTINUED : THE BIRDS OF LITTLETON.


By Ned Dearborn, B.S.


64


VI. CLIMATE AND WEATHER.


By Robert De Courcey


Ward, A.M. 105


VII. INDIANS


137


VIII. CHARTERS. - CHISWICK


144


IX. APTHORP AND ITS PROPRIETORS


156


X. PROPRIETARY MEETINGS


163


XI. THE SETTLEMENT .


166


XII. THE PIONEERS .


173


XIII. THE ORGANIZATION OF LITTLETON


186


XIV. THE CLOSING YEARS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY


194


XV. THE FIRST DECADE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY


215


XVI. CHURCH AND STATE. 1810-1820 232


250


XVII. ANNALS.


1810-1820


XVIII. ANNALS. 1820-1840


265


XIX. POLITICAL ANNALS. · 1820-1840 .


291


XX. ANNALS. 1840-1860 310


XXI. THE RAILROAD


339


XXII. ANTI-SLAVERY.


1840-1860


362


XXIII. POLITICAL ANNALS.


1840-1860


387


X


Table of Contents.


PAGE


XXIV. WAR ANNALS. 1860-1870 427


XXV. ANNALS. 1860-1870 480


XXVI ANNALS. 1870-1903 508


APPENDIX . . . 597


STATISTICAL HISTORY. By Chauncey H. Greene 607


INDEX


729


INDEX TO TABLES 747


MAP INDEX I.


749


MAP INDEX II.


763


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


LITTLETON VILLAGE. VIEW FROM KILBURN CRAGS . . Frontispiece PARTRIDGE LAKE Facing page 2


GEOLOGICAL SECTION FROM SLATE QUARRY TO THE AMMONOOSUC RIVER (text cut)


BINGHAM CASWELL


178


JOSEPH EMERSON DOW


252


GEN. DAVID RANKIN 66


296


MRS. ELISHA HINDS .


66


324


THE GRANITE HOUSE


66


326


THAYER'S HOTEL AND ITS PROPRIETORS 336


348


FIRST LOCOMOTIVE AND FIRST RAILROAD DEPOT 66


350


HORACE E. CHAMBERLAIN


66


356


RAILROAD STATION 1898


360


GROUP OF PORTRAITS


380


A STATION ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD


386


SIMEON B. JOHNSON .


66


388


RICHARD W. PEABODY


390


MARQUIS L. GOOLD


396


FAC-SIMILE OF THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE AMMO- NOOSUC REPORTER


404


GROUP OF EDITORS


408


WILLIAM BURNS


66 414


HENRY A. BELLOWS .


416


COL. FRANCIS L. TOWN, U. S. A. 428


GEN. GEORGE W. GILE 432


GROUP OF OFFICERS IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 66 434


PHILIP WILKINS


66 446


18


FIRST MEETING-HOUSE AND TOWN BUILDING " 236


66


302


GROUP OF PORTRAITS


EBENEZER EASTMAN .


xii


List of Illustrations.


GROUP OF OFFICERS IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . Facing page 456


GROUP OF COMMANDERS, G. A. R. .


460


CHAUNCEY H. GREENE 478.


ROYAL D. ROUNSEVEL 490


BENJAMIN WEST BONNEY 496


MAIN STREET BEFORE 1870


498


GROUP OF PORTRAITS


502


MAIN STREET, LOOKING WEST, 1898


508


THE DELLS 512


VIEW IN TOWN PARK


514


INTAKE OF THE WATER COMPANY ON MT. GARFIELD


520


BENJAMIN H. CORNING 522


VIEW OF PARTRIDGE LAKE 524 66


CHARLES A. SINCLAIR


526


JOHN G. SINCLAIR


528


CHARLES W. RAND


532


SYLVESTER MARSH


534


JOHN FARR .


536


CAPT. GEORGE FARR


66


540


MAJ. EVARTS W. FARR .


546


JAMES E. HENRY


554


HARRY BINGHAM


556


GEORGE A. BINGHAM


564


EDGAR ALDRICH .


566


EDWARD F. BINGHAM


568


EDMUND CARLETON 570


EDMUND CARLETON, JR., M. D.


" 570


CHARLES F. EASTMAN 572


DANIEL C. REMICH . 576


HENRY F. GREEN


578


A. S. BATCHELLOR


582


WILLIAM H. MITCHELL 586


CC


588


JAMES W. REMICK


588


WILL P. BUCKLEY


590


GROUP OF LATER LAWYERS


592


EAST, 1897 .


510


GEORGE H. BINGHAM


List of Illustrations.


xiii


RICHARD TAFT . Facing page 594


PHINEAS R. GOOLD


596


GROUP OF SOLDIERS IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN 66 596


SKETCH OF A TRILOBITE


600


TRILOBITE FOSSILS FOUND ON FITCH HILL


602


LIST OF MAPS


VIEW FROM PALMER, OR PARKER, MOUNTAIN . Facing page 4


GEOLOGICAL MAP OF LITTLETON .


18


REDUCTION FROM AN OLD MAP PUBLISHED ABOUT 1779


144


DETAIL FROM HOLLAND'S MAP OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (1784) .


66


148


THE SO-CALLED WESTGATE PLAN OF LITTLETON


"


154


COLMAN'S MAP OF CHISWICK (1769)


156


SNOW'S PLAN OF LITTLETON (1795)


186


MAP OF CHISWICK, APTHORP, LITTLETON, AND DALTON


66


188


PLAN OF THE ROAD LAID OUT BY THE COMMITTEE (1793) .


66


192


HISTORICAL MAP OF VILLAGE (1860)


480


HISTORICAL MAP OF TOWN (1895) .


772


HISTORICAL MAP OF VILLAGE (1895)


772


.


·


ERRATA.


On page 6, third line from bottom, for " Barton " read " Burton." " 145, tenth line from bottom, for " Rygate " read " Ryegate."


" " 167, twenty-fourth line, for " Johnson " read " Johnston."


' " 237, eleventh line from bottom, for " Haskins " read " Hos- kins."


" 252, note 1, for " Leonard " read " Learned."


" 263, third paragraph, eleventh line, for "Larned " read " Learned."


" " 289, second paragraph, fourth and eighth lines, for " Burkley " read " Berkley."


" " 314, first line, also in footnote, for "yellow pine " read " white pine."


" " 459, tenth line, for " Fulvord " read " Fulford."


" " 519, note 1, ninth line, for " Dow " read " Dame ; " in the thirteenth line, for "Glover " read " Graves."


HISTORY OF LITTLETON.


-


‘I.


TOPOGRAPHY.


L ITTLETON, New Hampshire, is the most northerly town in Grafton County. It is situated in north latitude 44º 19', west longitude 71° 48'.1 It is bounded on the north by the Ver- mont towns of Concord and Waterford, and by Dalton ; east by Dalton and Bethlehem; south by Lisbon, Lyman, and Monroe ; and west by the Vermont towns above mentioned.


The area of the town is 34,300 acres. Its greatest length, fol- lowing the course of the Connecticut River, is 15.3 miles ; its greatest breadth, from the great bend of that river near Dalton to Bethlehem line, is 62 miles. The general course of the line separating the town from Monroe, Lyman, and Lisbon is S. 51º 30' E., and commencing on the Connecticut River the distance to the northeast corner of Lisbon is 3330 rods ; thence along the west line of Bethlehem the course is irregular, the first is N. 60° 56' E., 420 rods, to the Streeter place ; thence N. 60° 9' E., 307 rods, to the Bethlehem road near the George W. Hall place ; thence N. 62º 45' E., 701 rods, to the Whitefield road ; thence N. 64° 45' E., 637 rods, to the south line of Dalton ; thence N. 20° 50' W., by the south line of Dalton, 1922 rods, to the Connecticut River ; thence down the Connecticut River to the place of beginning. The start- ing point at Monroe and the end of Dalton line, as given, are on the south bank of the river, and the area does not include the bed of the Connecticut to low-water mark on the Vermont shore.


The surface of the town is mountainous, broken by numerous streams. Perhaps the best idea of its general topography is to be obtained by considering it in its relations to the village. The Am- monoosuc River enters the town from Bethlehem near the White-


1 Location of Oak Hill house.


VOL. I .- 1


2


History of Littleton.


field road, and flows in a westerly direction for about three miles to a point beyond the village. Turning, it runs southwesterly about the same distance, and enters Lisbon. Within the bend thus formed rises Mount Eustis, 1200 feet above the level of the sea. West of the river, in its southwesterly course, rising abruptly from the Ammonoosuc meadows, are Kilburn Crags, 1500 feet in height, Parker Mountain, and Blueberry Mountain, which is 1800 feet high. From these summits, westerly and northerly, there is a gradual but broken slope to the Connecticut River. From the village, north of the Ammonoosuc, hills and mountains lift their summits higher and higher as Dalton is ap- proached. The first considerable elevation is Pine Hill ; beyond it rises the long 'outlines of Palmer Mountain,1 1900 feet above the sea, flanked on either side by Farr and Mann's hills. The summit of Mann's Hill is north of Palmer, and beyond it rises the lofty dome of Black Mountain, the highest elevation in the town, 2000 feet above the sea; and then, with its northern slope extending into Dalton, comes Mount Misery, 1800 feet in height. Between Palmer Mountain and the Connecticut River lies Wheeler Hill, and to the north, on the same slope, is Palmer Hill, rising to the same height.


RIVERS, STREAMS, AND PONDS.


The Connecticut River washes the northern line of the town from Dalton to Monroe, a distance of 15.3 miles. The current is swift, and the bed of the river filled with boulders. This part of the river is known as the Fifteen Mile Falls. In the distance traversed by it Littleton has a fall of 235 feet.


The Ammonoosuc River rises in the Lake of the Clouds on Mount Washington, and flows in a westerly direction to a short distance west of Littleton Village, then turns, and, running south- westerly through Lisbon and Bath, enters the Connecticut on the boundary line between Bath and Haverhill. It is a rapid and tur- bulent river from its source to its confluence with the Connecticut. Its length within the town is 6-79 miles, and its fall in that dis- tance 187-5 7'0 feet.


The principal streams entering the Connecticut within the limits of Littleton, beginning the enumeration near the Dalton line, are the Hopkinson or Carpenter, Cow, Buck or Dodge, Rankin, and


1 This name was originally given in honor of Joseph Palmer, many years a deputy sheriff, who lived near the brook of the same name on Pleasant Street. It has recently been called Parker Mountain, for its present owner.


PARTRIDGE LAKE.


3


Topography.


Ainsworth brooks. Those entering the Ammonoosuc, from the north, are the Alder, Parker, Farr, and McIntire ; those from the south, the Baker, Curtis, and Applebee brooks. There are numer- ous minor streams that have remained unchristened. All these brooks, both large and small, "in the good old days " furnished excellent fishing ; and from them the early settlers drew an abundant supply of trout, which were then a staple article of daily food.


The only natural body of water in the town of sufficient im- portance to be styled a pond is Partridge Pond, near Lyman line, within lots 77, 78, 89, and 90 of Charlton's survey. It covers 100 acres, is about one mile in length, and a little more than a quarter of a mile in width ; its outlet is in Lyman.


CHARACTER OF THE SOIL.


There are extensive meadows on the Connecticut at North Lit- tleton, and on the Ammonoosuc. The soil of the former is gen- erally light, the upper part being of little value ; the lower portion is stronger, and affords valuable tillage. The meadows on the Ammonoosuc are very fertile and productive. The soil of the uplands, along the slopes of the hills and mountains, is generally strong and productive, and where it has been under a proper sys- tem of cultivation has retained its fertility to the present time.


SCENERY.


From the mountains the prospect is one of exceeding grandeur and beauty. In the ascent of any of those referred to, and of many of the hills, the constantly changing panorama delights the eye, and fills the soul with ever-increasing admiration of the vary- ing and lavish beauties of the scene. To the east and south the imperial summits of the White and Franconia mountains mingle with the sky, their rugged sides clothed with verdure, or seamed with lines which ages of corrosion have wrought in their rocky fastnesses. The play of light and shade is constant, and serves to hold the unwearied gaze. The Ammonoosuc, as it leaves its source among the clouds and trickles down the mountain, is a sheen of silver thread, enlarged as it flows by the accession of a hundred mountain rivulets ; its course of faultless beauty is traced without a break past farm and hamlet, through forest, pasture, and meadow, over natural and artificial barriers ; sweeping by the busy village at the base of the mountain its trace is first lost amid the


4


History of Littleton.


hills of Lisbon. To the west, the rolling hills of Vermont tumble over each other like the billows of the sea, until they break against the imperishable buttresses of the Green Mountains. To the north, the mountains stretch their seemingly interminable length until their forms are lost in the mists of Maine and Canada.


There are many views of larger sweep, but none where the detailed loveliness of the landscape is brought out with such clear- ness and charm as from the rounded summits of Littleton.


Lafayette


ŠTAI


; Lineala


Cannan


Xinthan


Play Range


Sleeping C'est Clay! Washington


Clinta


Witte Kt. Natch


Male


:


The Hasite


Owls Mand


Jefferson Hin


Randolph ICH.


Jefferson


Pleasant


Reclaman : Street!


Apassix


Garfield


thety


VIEW FROM PALNER OR PARKER MOUNTAIN LITTLETON N.H.


5


The Geology of Littleton.


II. THE GEOLOGY OF LITTLETON.


BY C. H. HITCHCOCK, PH.D., LL.D.


S UNDRY facts relating to the geology of Littleton have ap- peared in C. T. Jackson's State Report, 1844; in the Geol- ogy of the State of Vermont, 1861; in the Annual and Final Reports of the State Survey, 1868-1878 ; a Paper upon the Hel- derberg of New Hampshire, etc., in the " American Journal of Science," 1874; an Atlas of the State of New Hampshire, by Comstock and Kline, 1877; Geological Sections across New Hampshire and Vermont, in the State Agricultural Report for 1884; and lastly, a notice of the Discovery of Trilobites, by T. Nelson Dale, in a Canadian publication.


The present sketch is based upon the facts contained in these publications, supplemented by several visits made subsequently for the purpose of gaining more precise information. New facts have been discovered at each visit, and the rapid progress of the science necessitates a rearrangement of the conclusions not an- ticipated. It is to be regretted that our knowledge is still so incomplete.


The township is traversed by two rivers, - the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc. The first constitutes the boundary on the north- west side, more than thirteen miles long. The principal portion of the " Fifteen Miles Falls " is situated within the limits of Little- ton. The head is in Dalton, to the north, 830 feet above the sea, and the foot in Monroe, near the mouth of the Passumpsic, 460 feet above the sea, the total fall being 370 feet. Of this amount, 300 feet lie within the town limits. With such a great descent, the river is narrow and the shores rocky, with an absence of the intervales so abundant in both the upper and lower sections of the river. These features result from the geological conformation. A range of mountains has been cut across by the river. It is the Gardner Mountain range, 2000 feet high, coming northerly through Bath, Lyman, and Monroe, and falling rapidly to the water level in West Littleton, to rise again in Waterford, Vt. The second


6


History of Littleton.


valley lies parallel to the first, and may owe its inception to the presence of softer rocks, which have been excavated along their trend, while in the first instance the cutting has been effected directly across the strata. These facts may suggest at some period the drainage of the northern Connecticut through the Ammonoosuc valley.1


Between these two valleys the land is mountainous the whole length of the township. A gap near the village separates the mass into two sections. That to the south is the Blueberry Mountain ; that to the north occupies the width nearly of the whole township, and the names upon the old county map are for the western line, - Wheeler Hill, Palmer Hill, Morse Hill, and Mount Misery. This map gives only Mann's Hill upon the east- ern side, to which should be added Palmer Hill. Mr. Gile's map combines Mann's Hill and Morse Hill into Black Mountains, with a course somewhat north of west, and attaining the altitude of 2000 feet above tide water. The other mountains named reach, in many cases, the altitude of 1900 feet. The mountains in the northern section constituted a broad plateau originally, from which the drainage now flows in every direction.


Upon the older geological maps the rocks were represented as granitic and archean. Fortunately, well-defined fossils have since been discovered, which convey exact information of the age of the associated strata. The history of the discovery is interesting. The writer had been examining the limestones near the sites of the old kilns on Parker Brook and Burnham Hill, and detected the presence of crinoidal stems and coralline bunches. Aware of the importance of the discovery, he at once telegraphed this mes- sage to the Dartmouth Scientific Association, Hanover : " No longer call New Hampshire Azoic. Silurian Fossils discovered to-day, Sept. 28, 1870." The fossils found in 1870 were submit- ted to E. Billings, Paleontologist of the Canada Geological Survey. He found among them Favosites basaltica, Zaphrentes, and cri- noidal fragments, but nothing enabling him to localize the horizon more definitely than by the general term of Helderberg, Devono- Silurian. The Devonian part of the Helderberg was known to Mr. Billings at Memphremagog Lake, fifty-five miles distant ; and that knowledge evidently biassed his opinion at that time.


The next important discovery came three years later. In an- swer to inquiries about the existence of limestone, Mr. A. R. Bar- ton had told us of the existence of that rock upon the farm of Mr. E. Fitch ; and a party of us, including J. H. Huntington and A. S.


1 See Geology of Vermont, Vol. I., p. 116.


7


The Geology of Littleton.


Bachellor, set out for its exploration, September 22, 1873. Mr. Huntington had the honor of first recognizing the outlines of a shell, and soon we all had more specimens of well-defined brachio- pods and corals than we could carry away.


These additional fossils did not cause Mr. Billings to be more precise in the recognition of the horizon. Later, we found large masses of Halysites, or chain coral. On submitting these, with the others, to Prof. R. P. Whitfield, of New York, it was perceived that the horizon was distinctly that of the Niagara limestone, as determined by the presence of the chain coral and the brachiopod, which proved to be the Pentamerus Nysius, and both species are specifically characteristic of the Niagara. Later, Mr. T. Nelson Dale visited the locality, and discovered the trilobite known as the Dalmania limilurus, also a Niagara species. Hence the existence of a Niagara horizon is well established. As will appear later, other horizons may be represented as well; that there is still op- portunity for the discovery of Helderberg species. In my State reports I have used the name " Helderberg," but in later publica- tions have changed to "Niagara," because there is certainty in respect to the existence of the earlier terrane on Fitch Hill. The term " Helderberg " may be useful when speaking of the related rocks.


The rocks of Littleton may be classed as, first, granitic ; second, schistose ; third, the fossiliferous Niagara and associated slates and sandstones. It will be convenient to describe them in this order, without reference to their exact succession.


The granitic rocks occupy three areas, and have been described in the State report as the Porphyritic gneiss or granite, Protogene or Bethlehem gneiss or granite, and ordinary gneiss, believed to be the Atlantic or Winnipiseogee series. Such were the terms used in 1877. Since then the study of crystalline rocks has made great progress, and it will be best to modify the earlier opinions with reference to structure and origin.


It was necessary for the New Hampshire Geological Survey to enter upon the study of crystalline rocks, making use of the new methods in the employment of the compound microscope and polarized light. The services of the late Dr. G. W. Hawes were called into requisition, and the report he prepared for the State upon Lithology and Mineralogy opened the way for the study of related crystalline rocks by others. The conclusions of Dr. Hawes have been fortified and supplemented by the later workers.




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