USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 3
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Granting the correctness of this deduction, the order of the . rocks from below up should be after the Swift Water series : (1) limestone ; (2) a sandstone; (3) coarse conglomerate ; (4) blu- ish and black slates. Localities displaying this order are, for the east side, the farm occupied formerly by J. K. Corey ; and for the west side, the descent from the summit of Blueberry Mountain where it is traversed by a carriage road in a southwest direction. Annexed is Fig. 42 of the State Report, showing the order and position of the several members between the slate quarry and the Ammonoosuc River.
SANDSTONE. - The part readily recognized as a sandstone either shows distinct grains or has been somewhat vitrified. At the Corey farm it assumes the more glassy form about a quarter of a mile west of the site of the buildings. This condition may, perhaps, be explained by the proximity of considerable protogene farther west. The sedimentary character is well shown on top VOL. I .- 2
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18
History of Littleton.
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11
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10
9
8
SECTION FROM SLATE QUARRY TO THE AMMONOOSUO RIVER.
5
10
2
1
1. Slate quarry. 2. Conglomerate. 3. Greenish schist. 4-6. Dark slates. 5. Light-colored sandstones. 7. Conglomerate. 8. Limestone. 9. J. K. Corey's house. 10. Swift water schists. 11. Green schists at the Ammonoosuc River.
of the peak south from Mr. Fitch's house and north of Kilburn's Crag. Passing from this summit easterly to Parker Brook at the road-crossing, the same rock appears ; also upon the east side of the valley west of the cemetery. There may be a fault be- tween these exposures, as one side seems to have been thrown out of continuity with the other. Next this rock appears as a buhr- stone, less than a mile on the road north from the cemetery. It may be traced thence to the top of the hill near Burnham's or Clark's limestone beds ; also down the hill near the old limekilns near Mr. Clark's. As a somewhat similar rock crops out on the north side of Mann's Hill, near the Dalton line, it may be that this band is continuous to that point over the high mountain. On the west side of Blueberry Mountain this sandrock has been noticed near Mr. Fitch's on the road up Kilburn's Crag, and in the valley of Mullikin's Brook, near the south town line.
LIMESTONE. - The most important of these members is the limestone, because it is fossiliferous. It accompanies the sand- stone from the Corey farm to Clark's quarry, and has yielded fossils in several localities, as at the Corey farm, an old quarry near Parker Brook, near Jackson place, and at Clark's quarries, where the first discoveries were made. The same rock is traceable from the Waterford road over Fitch Hill, near the slate quarry, and so on to the very town line to the west of E. Swett's house in the low grounds. The following fossils have been recognized in it, chiefly from Fitch Hill : Favosites basaltica, F. Niagarensis, Zaphrentis, Astrocerium venustum, Halysites catenulatus, Pentamerus Nysius, a Lingula, crinoidal fragments, a gasteropod, Dalmania limulurus, and fragments of a Lichas.
In starting from Mr. Fitch's house the first rock seen is the protogene, which may be fol.
GEOLOGICAL MAP
- OF LITTLETON N.H.
Drifts concealing ledges
Nº1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
12
EXPLANATION
Glacial Drift concealing ledges
14
Sandstone
Mid Upper Silurian limestone
R. 2
Blueberry mountain argillite, including conglomerate
R.4
Coos and Swift Water schists
R. 5
R. 6
Lyman schists)
R. 7
Hydro-mica schist group
Lisbon group
R.8
R.9
R.10
R.II
R.12
Granite, including porphyritic granite, Bethlehem protogene; protogene diorite and hornblendite of Hydro-mica schist group
+ Connecticut
Glacia
River
13
R.I
R.3
19
The Geology of Littleton.
lowed a quarter of a mile to close contact with the limestone. This may be fifty feet in thickness, carrying corals and the Pentamerus. This is followed by a slate forty feet thick, in which the Dalmania occurs. It is replaced by as great a thick- ness of a friable, coarse sandstone, slightly reminding one of the Oriskany sandstone of New York, the quartz pebbles being of the size of kernels of Indian corn. Continuing up the hill into the edge of the woodland, the rock is what Hawes called novaculite,1- a somewhat bluish, compact, siliceous rock. It ap- pears to be simply the Niagara slate, altered by contact with an igneous diorite, which continues for several rods, nearly to the top of the hill, where are other exposures of sandstone weathering white. Some parts of this rock suggest the presence of a meta- morphic change, consisting of the enlargement of grains of feld- spar by a crystalline growth since their original deposition. All the stratified rocks named may, for the present, be classed with the Niagara. They dip mostly in a southeasterly direction at a very high angle.
The whole of the slope of Fitch Hill towards the village has been traversed, and one may see there samples of all the rocks named above, with fossils in the limestones. Fossils occur, also, on the east side of Parker Brook, and at the old Clark quarries upon Farr Hill. A careful search will undoubtedly add to the list of localities, and to the number of fossils represented as well.
COARSE CONGLOMERATE. - On both sides of Blueberry Mountain, at several localities, there is a conglomerate whose pebbles are ordinarily about the size of hens' eggs. Just above the slate quarry is one of these exposures, which is thus described in the printed report : 2 " The paste is the slate of the quarry. One pebble
1 " This rock is light-gray in color, massive, and so fine in its texture, and so homogeneous, that no ingredient can be microscopically detected. It looks like a gray felsite, and like felsite it fuses before the blow-pipe. A study of a thin section shows that it is an excessively fine-grained mixture of much quartz and little ortho- clase, among which the little fibrous and scaly crystals of mica that characterize the argillitic mica schists are thickly scattered ; but these scales are much smaller, and do not constitute an ingredient of any importance. Grains of calcite are also seen. The constituent niinerals bear a recrystallized character, and none of them appear fragmental. The rock has, therefore, all the characters of argillitic mica schist ; and the massive condition is due to the excessive amount and fineness of the quartz, and the small amount of the micaceous constituent. Its fusibility, which first caused it to be called felsite, is in part due to the calcite, which forms a flux for the silica, and in part to the orthoclase, for it is well known that a mixture of quartz and or- thoclase will fuse as easily as orthoclase alone. . .. This is the novaculite, or oil stone, that is so highly prized for sharpening tools." (Hawes, Geology of New Hampshire, Vol. III., p. 222.)
2 Geology of New Hampshire, Vol. II., p. 333.
20
History of Littleton.
is a foot long. Siliceous fragments of a dark color predominate, which seem to have been derived from the Lisbon group, as also have been a few greenish chloritic bits. Others, and possibly the greater portion, show resemblances to the compact feldspar of the porphyry group. There are small bits of slate like that occurring near" the east base of the mountain near the Ammonoosuc River. A similar rock is found on the east side of the range, as shown in the figure ; also on the west side of the mountain near the Lyman town line. Outside of the town limits the same rock is well devel- oped, as at North Lisbon, and perhaps in the northeast part of Lyman. The question has arisen whether this belt may not be the same with the Auriferous conglomerate of Lyman and Bath ; but its answer cannot be obtained by studies within the limits of Littleton. It is certainly an important member of the Blue- berry Mountain series, but one likely to be very variable in coarseness.
SLATES OR ARGILLITES. - The most important range is the gen- eral mass of Blueberry Mountain, which has a synclinal structure. One variety is almost black; the more common has the color known as slaty ; and a third is noted for carrying large crystals of calcite, very often removed at the surface, so that the rock is conspicuous by the presence of numerous rhombohedral holes. Other parts of the slate carry conspicuous crystals of pyrites.
On the east side of Parker Brook the slate begins to increase in amount, with a northeasterly strike, and either vertical or leaning slightly to the southeast. The beginning of changes is seen in an infusion of silica, which has hardened the slate, and given rise to veins of quartz, and the lining of cavities with handsome crystals of quartz, more or less geodic. The quartz increases in amount in going easterly till the buhrstone is reached, - which is really a similar rock, - an infusion of sandstone with silica. One needs only to recall the geysers of the Yellowstone sending up water charged with silica to understand how that a similar hot alkaline water once penetrated these slates and sandstones in Littleton, and thus produced the quartz crystals and the altered rocks. Farther north, a section across the slates displays a recognizable synclinal structure. Upon Farr Hill fossils resembling Chondrites have been noted. These are allied to fucoidal seaweeds. Smaller slate areas are noted upon Morse Hill, in one of which, at least, slate was quarried twenty-five or thirty years since by Mr. Richard Smith. This rock seems to thin out near the town line, but to reappear in greater force in Dalton Mountain. It is a question whether the corneous rocks, so abundant in the northeast sec-
21
The Geology of Littleton.
tion of the town, are not really argillites altered by heat, like the novaculite of Fitch Hill.
TRAP DIKES. - In Volume III. of the State Report a beginning is made in the study of rocks with the microscope, using the latest methods. Of the rocks thus described, the eruptive diabases and diorites are quite interesting. These are known as trap, being fine-grained eruptive masses that have filled fissures in the earth. Several of these dikes exist in Littleton, as at Mullikin's saw-mill, and upon Mann's Hill, and in boulders whose source is not always known. The diabase is a mixture of the mineral labradorite, augite, and titanic or magnetic iron. When the iron abounds, the color is dark-gray or black ; if the feldspar predominates, it will be light-gray, greenish when chlorite is plenty, and a bluish-black when stained by manganese. The minerals are crystalline, and too small to be determined without a compound microscope. In order that they may be thus examined, it is necessary to grind down slices of the rock till it is transparent, or thin enough to allow the eye to discern newspaper print through it. A further study of the minerals present proves that these diabases have been subjected to great changes, sometimes called metasomatic or metamorphic, because the minerals of the original fused mass have been changed chemically. Thus the augite may become hornblende and chlorite. Epidote and calcite may have been derived from the labradorite. Mica and needles of apatite are sometimes present as accessories. These changes were apparently effected under the conditions not now existing, - perhaps when heated vapors, chiefly steam, permeated the ledges so as to allow molecular interchanges. The rock is now apparently fresh, - at least it shows no exterior signs of decay ; but the presence of the altered minerals - calcite, epidote, and hornblende - is absolute proof of a change analogous to decomposition.
The dikes mentioned above are supposed to be diabase. Boul- ders of two varieties of it are common. One is of Anorthic diabase, whose source has been recognized in Concord, Vt., just across the river. It is porphyritic ; that is, has many large crystals scattered through a finer mass of the same or analogous material. The large crystals are anorthite, a lime-feldspar, a substance more infusable than the ordinary constituents of diabase, and hence supposed to have been the first mineral to crystallize from the fused magma. Because of subsequent alteration this anorthite has become saussurite, - a translucent waxy substance, seen under high magnifying power to be a mere aggregate of fine needles. Calcite is also present.
22
History of Littleton.
A very few boulders of diabase have been found on Farr Hill in which there are crystals of muscovite an inch in length. It has not been studied, and its source has not yet been ascertained.
A handsome diorite is found in boulders about South Littleton and North Lisbon. This is a crystalline granular mixture of a triclinic feldspar, hornblende, and an oxide of iron, either mag- netite or ilmenite. The hornblende is in porphyritic crystals, and is directly associated with augite, so as to prove the derivation of the former from the latter. The hornblende is entirely fresh, while the augite is decayed if not dissolved away, and its sub- stance replaced by decomposition products, such as chlorite, epi- dote, and calcite. There is considerable feldspar present, though considerably decomposed. The rock is quite handsome, and one of the best of the traps found anywhere in the State to illustrate the origin of the hornblende.
There are other diorites and hornblende rocks, or amphibolites, still more common in Littleton, that have been considered in con- nection with the hydro-mica schists. Dr. Hawes has described some of them in his report, and seems inclined to regard them as of metamorphic rather than of a purely igneous origin. In exam- ining sections of the unquestioned eruptive diorites the hornblende shows sharp, definite plane surfaces, or if irregular it possesses well-defined outlines. It is deeply colored, black, is strongly dichroic, and does not give brilliant polarization colors. Opposed to this, the hornblende of the metamorphic diorites is found in diffuse and loose forms, fringed masses, aggregates of needles and minute disseminated crystals, less deeply colored ; is light green in thin sections and not so dichroic, and gives brilliant polariza- tion colors. The first is the basaltic and the second the common variety of hornblende. These differences were thought by Dr. Hawes to be due to a thorough igneous fusion in the first, and to a gentle moist heat in the second case, the one being of igneous and the second of metamorphic origin.
Two analyses of the Littleton hornblende are worth examina- tion. The precise locality of the first is not given ; that of the second is from Fitch Hill. The first is that variety of hornblende called pargasite, and which oft-repeated analyses have shown to be the common hornblende of green diorites in all localities. It is not a mixture of hornblende and pyroxene, as some have supposed.
23
The Geology of Littleton.
1
2
Silica
49.03
45.46
Alumina
13 72
16.57
Iron sesquioxide .
.36
Iron protoxide
9.87
9.40
Manganese protoxide
.40
.20
Lime .
11.22
8.01
Magnesia
11.96
10.34
Potash
1.20
Soda .
2.40
2.55
Titanic acid
1.20
Water
.90
3.93
Carbonic acid
1.02
99.47
100.34
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.
The following substances have been or can be quarried or mined for economic purposes in the town of Littleton : Copper, roofing- slate, novaculite, diorite for macadamizing roads, limestone, clay for bricks, granite and massive rocks for rough stone-work.
COPPER. - Twenty-five or thirty years ago considerable interest was manifested in the exploitation of ores of copper both in Lit- tleton and the adjoining towns. The rock yielding this metal is the hydro-mica schist group, particularly the lower division, hydro- mica, chlorite, and argillitic schists. Gardner's Mountain, to the south, carried veins which were worked for several years, and it was the continuation of this range into Littleton that furnished the same metal. The ore is chalcopyrite, the common yellow cop- per sulphuret, consisting of copper, 34.6; sulphur, 34.6; iron, 30.5=100. Through decomposition the green carbonate and black oxide of copper are occasionally seen. The associated ores are argentiferous galena, zinc blende, and pyrrhotite. Some of these sulphurets are sparingly auriferous.
The veins usually consist of belts of intermingled pyritiferous, cupriferous, and siliceous layers, each one of no great extent, but the whole practically a vein several feet wide. It has been a question whether these belts are simply cupriferous schists, or whether there may be a nucleal fissure vein in the midst of the mass. The more excavations have been made the better is the evidence afforded of the accumulation of the ores along fissures.
Many people speak of a vein as continuous for miles in a uni- form direction. I have thought the continuity is to be seen in the presence of a series of lenticular patches, not continuous on abso-
24
History of Littleton.
lutely the same plane, but overlapping in closely contiguous sheets. Hence what seems to be the same vein in adjacent lots is rather a series of flattened bunches arranged en échelon.
Upon the land of J. A. Albee, in the southwest part of the town, is a cupreous vein that has been worked more or less. The principal outcrops are on the northern extension of Gardner's Mountain, several hundred feet above the Connecticut and well situated for drainage. There seem to be three distinct metal- liferons belts, separated by greenish sandstones, and indicated superficially by yellowish-brown ferruginous stains. If these are penetrated quite deeply below the surface, copper ore invariably shows itself. A shaft had been sunk to the depth of seventy-eight feet in one of these belts, and a pile of ore containing by estimate one hundred tons was visible that had been mined. It was a mixture of slate and quartz with bright-yellow chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite, the latter mineral being the more abundant near the surface. It was said that the copper-bearing vein varied in width in the shaft from six inches to eight feet, and that the ore near the surface carried one and seven-eighths per cent of copper, and twenty-eight per cent at the depth of sixty feet. A company pro- posed to work this property in 1877 under the name of Gardner Mountain Copper Company.
Four thousand feet east of this property, upon a ridge, and sep- arated by a valley from 250 to 300 feet deep, is another vein, upon the land of Mr. Little, to which the name of Gregory Mining Company had been given in 1877. The chalcopyrite obtained here is quite pure, and makes brilliant specimens. The cupreous schists are quite extensive. The width had not been determined when the shafts were being sunk, as the object had been to sink as deep as possible without reference to bounds. Large piles of ore were scattered about the premises, and one lot of twelve tons of seven per cent ore had been sold. Work was carried on here for several months.
A mile or two east of the Gregory is situated the Quint, or White Mountain, mine. No copper property in this region had been so thoroughly exploited as this in 1869; several buildings having been erected for shaft-house, whim, dressing-sheds, etc., and the main shaft had been sunk one hundred feet. Work was not being prosecuted at the time of my visit, nor has it been sub- sequently, to my knowledge. The vein must be from six to eight feet wide, consisting of white quartz with chalcopyrite, pyrite, ankerite, and chlorite disseminated through it. Very beautiful hand specimens can be obtained.
25
The Geology of Littleton.
The copper industry has not proved a success in Littleton, at least the proprietors have ceased to work their properties. A part of the difficulty arises from the fact that the greater deposits of an easier ore to work in Michigan and Montana have lowered the price of the product so that it is not profitable to reduce the re- fractory sulphuret compounds of the East.
ROOFING SLATE. - This rock has been quarried in the town, and a few remarks in the State Report are fully applicable to them now: "In Littleton there are two openings in the north part of the town, upon the adjacent farms of Richard Smith and Mr. Bachelder. The band of rock suitable for working is nearly an eighth of a mile wide, and the principal opening has been exca- vated to the depth of twenty to twenty-five feet. Bachelder's quarry is the farthest from the road, and has had the most work done upon it. The strata are vertical, and as the outcrops are on a hill, the facilities for drainage are good, and working surfaces call be obtained one hundred feet in depth. The rock seemed to be free from pyrites, was soft, but does not cleave so thin as the slate from Maine. About two miles westerly from Littleton village is a large excavation on the west side of Blueberry Mountain range, high up, and well situated for mining. The opening is about two hundred feet long and fifty deep, presenting a face of these dimen- sions. There is a cross-cut into this opening, through which the slates are transported over a tramway. Several houses have been erected for the accommodation of the workmen, and a large amount of rock has been already removed. The samples of slate stored for shipment appear to be of excellent quality. The color is a bright dark-blue, and the stone soft and apparently durable. The face corresponds with the slope of the hill, so that the posi- tion is a favorable one for mining, the slate standing about per- pendicular. About 1865 an attempt was made to form a company to work the quarry, but for some reason it failed. Many of the layers are filled with cubical crystals of pyrites, and it is likely that the abundance of this mineral discouraged the proprietors, preventing the carrying on of a large business." 1
MISCELLANEOUS. - Of the other materials mentioned, no effort has ever been made to utilize the novaculite, or oil stone, nor the diorite for macadamizing roads. Of late, in conformity with the desire to improve our highways, efforts have been made to search for the best material for " road metal," as it is popularly termed. The best rock known for this purpose is the " trap," and an ex- cellent and extensive mass of it is what has been described as
1 Geology of New Hampshire, Part V., pp. 81, 82.
26
History of Littleton.
the diorite of Blueberry Mountain. When the time comes for the use of pulverized diorite for the highways, Littleton will be found to possess an abundant supply of a first-class material.
Limestone has been used for the manufacture of quicklime in Parker Brook valley and on Farr Hill. The material is still acces- sible at these localities and at others, sufficiently valuable for local purposes. Clay has been burned for bricks in Parker Brook, and may be found elsewhere in the town, though not abundant. Rock suitable for rough stone-work is plenty. A dwelling-house in West Littleton has been constructed of material - granite - split out from the adjacent boulders.
THE ICE AGE.
This sketch would not be complete without a reference to the phenomena illustrative of the former presence of an enormous mass of ice over all this section of country of glacial character. I have said, and still affirm, that every mountain and every valley of New Hampshire, when carefully examined, will afford evi- dences of the presence of this ice. For a full presentation of the subject I will refer to Part IV. of the " Geology of New Hamp- shire ; " being content now to mention only a few features readily seen close at hand.
Two classes of phenomena must be considered when we study the work accomplished by the ice : first, the smoothing down of the ledges ; and, second, the accumulation of the rubbish knocked off, carried, and finally dropped. On next page is a meagre list of the observations upon the directions taken by the striæ in con- nection with the smoothing in different parts of the town. The courses have been corrected for the variation of the needle, and the names are mostly those printed upon the old county map.
Two conclusions seem to arise from this presentation. First, the course S. 17º W. is the most common, and occupies most of the space west of the Blueberry range; second, the most easterly direction is displayed near the beginning of the ascent to Kilburn's Crag and in the Parker Brook valley, in S. 25° and 20° E. The normal direction of the movement, over the tops of the White and other mountains in northern New England, is to the southeast, which may be taken to correspond with the most eastern course in Littleton. Furthermore, it is believed from data elsewhere ob- tained that this southeastern course represents the time when the ice was greatest in amount in what may be called the culmination of the glacial period. Presumably the whole of Littleton was oc-
27
The Geology of Littleton.
cupied by ice moving southeasterly at that time. If so, we should expect to find occasionally striæ pointing in that direction, while most of them had been obliterated by the later movement about S. 20° W. Such a remnant is the case cited above, of S. 20° E. It is in the midst of striæe pointing in another direction.
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