History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 44

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 44
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 44

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The atmosphere of these sections of this valley is subject to great extremes. During severely cold weatherthe thermometers at Lambertville and French- town show a temperature several degrees lower than that upon the neighboring hills. During extremely hot weather this is reversed, and the temperature at these two places is notably higher than it is on the uplands adjacent. This may be learned by examin- ing the following figures, which show the temperature at Lambertville, at Ringos, and at Cherry ville during the cold morning of Jan. 29, 1873, At Lambertville

166

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

the mercury stood at sixteen degrees below zero; at Ringos it was ten degrees below; while at Cherry- ville it was only two degrees below.

RAINFALL.

The amount of pluvial water is not constant in Hunterdon. From year to year it varies within nar- row limits. To exhibit the status of rainfall as ac- curately as possible, I will subjoin a table compiled from the records kept at the Academy of Science and Art at Ringos since the 1st of January, 1876:

PLUVIAL WATER.

Depth in Inches.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880,

January.

1,16

3,09

4.34

1.65

2.37

February

4.57

1.79

2.48

1.79

3,60

March

8.19

5.73

2.61

3.87

6.29

April

2.19

2.90

1.52

4.92

2.00

May

2.75

.95

3.98

2.12

.69

June.

1.77

4.85

3 89

6.42

2.42

July

4.99

6.03

3.94

5.11

8.93

August

1,36

6.37

4.54

10.43

3.49

September.

6.22

2.99

6.52

2,53

2.31

October ..

.94

8.46

4.50

.24

2.45

November

5.44

6.61

3.46

1,89

2.45

December

2.53

1.04

6.00

6.68

3.43

42.11

50.81

47.78

47.65

40.43

GEOLOGY OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

The rocks of Hunterdon County belong either to the Archæan Age, to the Potsdam Epoch of the primor- dial period of the Silurian Age, to the calciferous epoch of the Canadian period of the Silurian Age, to the triassic period of the Reptilian Age, to the glacial period of the Quaternary Age, or to the mod- ern era of the recent period of the Quaternary Age.

ARCHEAN AGE.

In Hunterdon County the area occupied by rocks of the Archæan Age extends from the Delaware River, a little south of the confluence of the Musconetcong River with the Delaware, northeastward to the county line. The northern border of this area is in the Mus- conetcong Valley. At the Delaware the area is not more than two miles wide; at Spruce Run it is about four miles wide; east of this stream the southern boundary extends southeast to Round Valley, making the area between this valley on the south and the Musconetcong on the north not less than eight miles wide. From this point eastward to the county line it gradually widens.

Within the limits above cited there is an area of limestone, a part of the German Valley limestone formation. Along the northwestern border, except- ing a short span, is the limestone of the Musconetcong Valley. Upon the southern side is the Triassic arca, the Little York area of limestone, and the Clinton area of limestone.

To this formation belong the Musconetcong Moun- tain, Schooley's Mountain, and the Fox Hills. These elevations form a part of that group of hills and mountains that is usually called the Highlands. The term Archæan, signifying "the beginning," as relates to the time when the mountains were made, is more

expressive, and is the appellation by which we shall call the group or system.

The rocks existing in this area are all stratified. They are nowhere horizontal; on the contrary, they are very much inclined. Nor is the inclination regular. At some places they are almost horizontal; at others they are almost vertical. In short, we may say that the dip ranges from 0° to 90°. Of the Archæan rocks, the strike in general is northeast and southwest; the dip, southeast.

Composition of the rocks .- The strata of the Archæan area in Hunterdon County consist of gneiss and mag- uetic iron ore. A very lucid description of these rocks is given by Prof. Cook, in the "Geology of New Jer- sey, 1868," from which the following extracts are taken :

"The term gneiss, in accordance with the usage of the country, is ap- plied to any crystalline ond stratified rock which is composed of feldspar and quartz, with small quantities of mica, hornblende, magnetite, or other simple mineral. Syenite and syenitic gneiss are the names frequently and properly applied to this kind of rock. The gneiss of ths Highlands (Archæan monotains) is characterized by the almost entire absence of mica. Feldspar makes up from two-thirds to three-fourths of the rock, and the rest is mainly quartz. Hornblende is usually found in it io euf- ficient quantity to affect the color, and sometimes it makes up the largest portion of the rocky mass; this, however, is not common. The quartz is generally in grains, which are flattened in the direction of the stratifica- tion, and which in size range from an eighth to a half ioch in the plane of the stratum, and from one-sixteenth to an eighth of an inch in thick- nese. In some coarse-grained specimens the grains of quartz are larger, and not so much flattened. The feldspar varies in color and eass of de- composition, and these peculiarities give the prominent characters of the rocks throughout the whole region. In some specimens the feldspar is so hard and nochangeable that it can easily be mistaken for quartz; in others it isopaque, harsh to the touch, and crumbling; and in others still it is entirely decomposed, and only a mass of soft earth, with the quartz grains and the stratification, remains. The color of the feldepar varies from the bluish and translucent to flesh-colored, white, and opaqus, and specimens of a greenish tinge are sometimes seen.

"No better idea of the varieties to be found in this rock can be given than by a description of the species met with in passing across the for- mation from one side to the other. The following specimens collected on these sections will illustrate the point mentioned :

" Delaware River Section .- In the ledges exposed in the southwest end of the Musconetcong Mountain the rock is generally a light-colored mixture of feldspar and quartz, with a little hornhlende. A few bede of coarsely crystalline gneiss or gueissoid granite occur in the series. Of ten specimens selected as representatives of the mountain, five are very fine-grained, compact, grayish in color, and consist of feldspar, quartz, and horablende. Three specimens have the same mineral composition and shade of color as. the preceding, but are more coarsely granular. The remaining two specimens are made up of quartz and ilesh-colored feld- epar in quite large masses. These, like tho first-described rocka, are compact and hard. Nearer Riegelsville a low cut along the railroad ex- poses a greenish-gray gneiss, consisting of feldspar and quartz intimately mixed.

" Section along the Central and Warren Railroads .- Three epecimene from railroad cut west of Lebanon : (1) One feldspar and borublende in equal proportions, with scarcely any quartz; (2) One (prevailing type) feldspar, with small percentage of quartz and very little hornblende; (3) One horublendic, fine-grained, with considerable plumbago. These are all friable, and known commonly as ' rotten rock.'

" Central Ruilroud Cut enst of High Bridge : four specimens,-One a gran- itoid mass of coarsely crystalline feldspar and quartz, with scales of gra- phite: this is firm and solid; one hornblende and feldspar in small grains, crumbling; one (type specimen) feldspar and quartz, hard and tough ; one feldspar, quartz, and hornblende, coarsely crystalline, and compact, with scales of graphite through it.

" In railroad cut next west of lligh Bridge the common variety of ruck is a mixture of quartz, feldupur, and hornblende in emall grains, disintegrated. From the ent about ono mile northwest of High Bridge

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

167

two specimens : one light colored und fine-grained, feldspar and horn- blende, the former In excess ; one dark-colored and fine-grained feldspar and hornblonde, but with the latter in excess. Both specimens In scams, firm and solld. Another specimen contained magnetite. In the cut neur Clarksville une specimen, consisting of a greenish fellspar, with quartz in very small grains, almost amorphous ; rock tough and of the common variety.

" North of the railroad, at Banghart's Copper Mine, the rock is dark- colored and very fine-grained, and contains copper pyrites scattered in sinall strings through It. At the cut cast of Hampton Junction two varieties wero obtained,-one a coarsely crystalline muss of feldspar and hornblende, light-colored and slightly decayed : the feldspar is chalky ; one feldspar, hornblende, and a little quartz, also coarse-grained; in this the feldspar is flesh-colored. From the Wurren Railroad out west of the Junction ono specimen (common variety), feldspar and quartz, the fur- mer chalky in appearance, fine-grained, and crumbling. In the cut near Changewater one specimen, a greenish, tough rock, consisting of feldspar anıl quartz. Cut cast of Washington shows n rotten gneiss composed of feldspar and quartz,-conrse.

" V'un Neat Gap Tunnel .- Greenish-gray, hard rock, feldspar, quartz, nad horublende. Some of the rock pinkish tinge.

" The chemical composition of the rocks of this formation is a subject of mich interest. Hithorto thu country in which they are found hos bren considered poor and little capable of improvement. But gradually the former has been encroaching upon them, and turning these unprom- ising hills into fruitful fleks. It is ubsur ved that the rocks are in many places subject to rapid decay, and that in such localities the svil is sus- ceptible of high cultivation. It becomes, then, a matter of inquiry as to the cause of this decny, and also whether it can be controlled or has- tuned by art. It is much too long an inquiry for a survey of this kind, and the remark is thrown out In the way ot suggestion, hoping that it may find response in the minds of those who are in circumstances to carry out the Investigation.

" In the gnoiss-rock the chief mineral constituents are quartz, feldspar, und borublundv. Of these, feldspar and hornblende arv the only ones capable of decomposition, and the former is by far the most abundant of the two. Feldspar Is of several varieties, of which three may be noticed here,-those containing potash, those containing soda, and those con- tuining soda and lime.

" It has been lung known that the soda and the soda-and-lime feldspars were much more easily decomposed than the potash feldspars, that the netion of carbonie achl, and perhaps other atmospheric agencies, would enuse the feldspars containing sudn nud lime to decay aud fall to pieces, while they would exert but a very slight Influence on that containing potash. Some trials have been made to verify theso observations.

" A Buft und crumbling feldspar from n ent in the Contrul Rallrond above Iligh Bridge was found to have the following composition :

Silica ..

Alumina and a little oxido of iron. 57.1

26.4

10,3

Sodu .... 1.8

Potash.

-1

Water ..

3.6

100.2

" Magnetits, or Magnetic Iren Ors .- This occurs sometimes in beds, form. Ing parts of a stratum, sometimes in mumses or of limited extent, some- timos In grains disseminated through the layers of gneiss ruck. Prof. ('ook says the ore ls knowa to minerulogists nuder the name of mag- netite and magnetic iron ore, und to chomista ns magnetic, or black uxido of fron. It consists of 72.4 por cont. of iron, 27.6 por rent. of oxygen, when pure. It is black In muss, and also in powder, and it gives a black stienk whon serutched; it has a metallic lustre, and is attracted by the magnet, though not always Heelf magnetic. Its specific gravity varies from 4,98 to 5,20, Its crystalline form is a regular ortohedron, but as usually fonudl it is in irregular grains or In compart masses, It in nhout na hurd un foldspar, ranging in the mineralogist's scalo from 5 5 to G.a. It most resembles hornblende, but can at once bu distinguished by being attracted by the magnet.

" As an oro it Is always found mixed with more or less rock, the rock being sometimes in grains aml at other times in largo masses or in strati- fied streaks. The rock is the usual one of the Awvic region; gneiss, syenite, horublende, feldspar, limestone, ete,, and gruius of phosphate uf lime are common in some of the ores. Iron pyrites are fouml in minute quantity in many of the ores, and in some places so much is found ns to render the ore untit for the present modes of working. In some of the ores in Himestony graphite is found.

" The oro is found in beds er layers which uro conformable to the guvins in which they lie. They are also found mixed in with the rock in all proportions, from 1 to 100 per cent .; and where it is found pure it is nut uncommon to find it gradually becoming impure by the mixture of more and more rock until the ore is all gone. It is not separated from the rock by well-defined marks of division, as is the case with the metallic ures Is in true veins, neither is there a peculiar gangue-rock, such as in true veitis; but the rock Is the common one of the formation."

The magnetite of the Archæan formation is mined at several sites. The following locations are given by Prof. Cook :

" Bethlehem Mine, in Buthlehem township, Hunterdon Co., three-quar- ters of n mile southeast of Valley Station, on the Central Railroad. This mine was not in operation when visited, and there is no information as to its extent.

" l'un Sickle's Mine, in I'nion township, Hunterdon Co., just back of Bethlehem Methodist church. It is an old mine, abandoned for nearly n hundred years, and reopened in 1864. When visited, the old mine, forty feet deep, hul been cleared out and sunk twenty feet deeper. The ore was ton or eloven feet thick, and had been worked along northeast and southwest fifteen er twenty feet. No smooth walle hud then been found. The ore contains some rock, which resembles chlerite and is rather lean. The ere is black, with a bright and reddish lustro. Another vein northwest of the first haut been opened, and some ore in a breadth of seven feet hud been taken out, but it was very lenn. There was n good deal of uttraction in the fields northeast of the mine, and oro can probably be found in some other places than those now opeaed.

" Asbury Mine, in Bethlehem township, Hunterdon Co,, one and a half miles southeast of Asbury, und on the side of Musconetcong Mountain. It was not in operation when visited. The compass showed attraction at tho mine ; It did not indicate any extension of the vein either northeast or southwest.

" Bunghart's Mine, in Lebanon township, Hunterdon Co., one mile northeast of Gardnersville, on Abrahum Banghart's lund. There are three openings where the rock is found to contain a considerable amount uf iron pyrites and some copper pyrites. The explorations have been made hoping to find ore in quantity, but so far without success. There is no regular or continuons attraction about the openings.

" High Bridge Mmes, in Clinton and Lebanon townships, Hunterden Co., on the northwest side of the North Branch of the Raritan, and a quarter of u mile north of the Central Railroad at High Bridge. This mine is said to have been opened one hundred and fifty years ago, and during almost the whole of that period it supplied ore for the use of the Solitude forge, and, before the Revolution, for Union furnace. It has yielded n large quantity of excellent ore. The only difficulty experi- enced in getting out any amount of the ore has been that there was on the hanging-wall n thick layer of pyritous ore which was not thought fit to work in a forge, and yet it had to be taken ont, thus increasing the cost of extracting the pure ure which was un the foot-wall. A few years since there was a pile of many hundred tons of this pyritous ore which had been lying for years. It had become very red and rusty, and so much of the pyrites had decomposed and formed copperas and been dis- solved out by the rain that the ore was found to be uf excellent quality for the forge. The modern processes of working ores allow the whole of there to be used now, and the mine is being actively worked by the Thon Iron Company. Tho workings, altogether, extend along on the vein for uenr three-quarters of a mifle, and in some places has been sunk on to a depth of two hundred fout. The vein is irregular lu thick ness, widening ont to righteon fert in breadth, and then punching in to two nud a half fret. The dip of the vein is towards the southeast sixty-five degrees. There is fault of twenty feet in the vein towards its northeast ond. An adit was driven in from the alde bill upon the strike uf this vin, which has done much to relieve it of water. The openings recently note towards the southwest end of the sein are on the property of Mr. C'reger.

" Analysis of Ores from High Bridge Miacs.

1. 2. 91.9

Mngurtic iron ore

751

sitira and inejuble matter. 1.5.1

sulphur .....

trace

Metallic iron, per cent. 66 6

" ] is from the oldl mine, now ow ned by the Thomas Tron Company ; 2 Is the best ore from the Lehigh Valley Iron Company's mine."

168

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

In the railroad cut at Glen Gardner is disclosed a dike of trap in the gneiss-rock.

Age .- Relatively, it is not difficult to determine the age of the Archæan rocks. They are the oldest, the primal, rocks. These were the rocks first formed when the exterior of the earth began to be solid : hence the name. That they are older than those con- tiguous thereto is proven by the circumstance that at Amsterdam, in this county, the limestone is known to overlie it, while at the same place, but a few feet away, the limestone is overlaid by the Red Sandstone. At Franklin furnace the gneiss-rock is superimposed with strata of Potsdam Sandstone. Upon these lay- ers of sandstone rest trata of magnesian limestone.

SILURIAN AGE.

The Potsdam Epoch .- The rocks formed during this epoch, as found in Hunterdon County, are in small areas contiguous to those of the Archæan Age. They are stratified, but usually they are so covered with soil or drift material that they cannot be very extensively examined. They are quartzose, very hard, and in color light gray. "The Geology of New Jersey, 1868," contains the following :

"South of Lebanon, and west of Round Valley, or Pickle's Mountain, is a small area occupied by sandstone. Its southern limit is at Leigh's limestone-quarry. On this side, as also on the west, limestone adjoins it. A ravine separates it from the gneiss on the north. The road to Lebanon forms the eastern limit. The ontcrop is of a triangular form, the southern angle being at the limestone-quarry. No rock was seen in place except at this quarry, where its strata are in a vertical position. Elsewhere this area is covered with a great deal of quartz-rock in sharp, angular fragments. Abont two miles northwest of this point, and about one mile northeast of Clinton, near N. S. Race's and W. II. Yawger's, are two separate outcrops of grayish-white quartzites. One ia east of the road and northeast of Race's, forming a low ridge bordering the gneiss-rock. The rock is in place. Northwest of Yawger's, and close to the road, is another ledge of the same rock. Higher up the hill is the gneiss, while to the west and south is the Clinton limestone-tract. These are both narrow bands between the gneiss and magnesian limestone, and hence of this geological age.

" East of Amsterdam, and between that place and Spring Mills, is the high hill known as Gravel Hill. This is supposed to belong to the Pots- dam Sandstone. It is a broad hill or ridge, rising quite gently to a peaked annimit, whose altitude is nearly equal to that of the Musconetcong Mountain, north of it. Southward it slopes away to the Delaware. On the north it is partially connected with the mountain by an elevated neck, which is the water-shed between Spring Mills and Amsterdam Valleys. The surface of the hill consists almost wholly of sharp, angn- lar masses of red and white quartz. Along the road north of the hill the surface is very white, and mostly of quartzose materials, Only one ledge was found, and that on the southeast slope. Tho hill, being covered by forest, presents few opportunities for examining the rock in place. It is properly a quartzite conglomerate, very hard and of a mottled aspect, due to a mixture of whito and reddish quartz.

" About one mile from Gravel Hill, and south of the road to Johnson's Ferry, is a ridge very similarly sitoated to Gravel Hill. Most of it is red shale, but some beds on the north resemble the Potsdam rocks. The above-described localities are all that are at present known of this rock or formation on the southeast of the Iligblands. Tho formation is so thin and the drift covering so thick that we could not expect to find it at many points, even if it were an unbroken band along this border of the Azvic (Archaan) rocks."

The age of this sandstone is proved by its position.

At Franklin furnace it can be seen lying uncon- formably upon the gneiss (Archaan rock), with the magnesian limestone (of the Calciferous Epoch) di- rectly over it.

Calciferous Epoch .- The rocks belonging to this epoch are magnesian limestones. They are stratified and much folded. The beds range in thickness from two inches to two feet. Some layers are tolerably pure dolomite; others contain so much earthy sub- stance that the stones quarried from them will not slack when burned. When free from impurities the rock is fine-grained and even, having a lustre some- what vitreous. In color it varies " from a drab through a pale to a deep blue and almost black. It is so soft that it can be easily scratched with a knife, and effer- vesces when sulphuric or other strong acid is dropped on it."

Upon analysis, a pure specimen yields 54 per cent. of calcic carbonate and 46 per cent. of magnesic car- bonate.

Between the Musconetcong River and the gneiss of the Musconetcong Mountain, from the Delaware to Hughsville, the Musconetcong Valley is composed of this kind of limestone. South of the Musconetcong, about two hundred feet from the gneiss, the rock crops out. At this place the dip is 60° S. 20° E.

Again, between the Musconetcong River and the gneiss of the Musconetcong and Schooley's Moun- tains, from a mile below Bloomsbury northeastward to the county line, the valley is underlaid with this grade of limestone. Its relation to the gneiss of Mus- conetcong Mountain can be in a cut made by the Central Railroad about half a mile northeast of As- bury Station, At this place the limestone dips from 30° to 50° towards the southeast. This is upon the north side of the track. Upon the south side the gneiss may be seen dipping in the same direction.

That part of German Valley that is included in the limits of Hunterdon County is also underlaid with magnesian limestone. This rock is extensively quar- ried and burned into lime, chiefly for agricultural purposes.

" Clinton .- The limestone ontcrop nnder this designation extends from Dawes' Mill, on Prescott Brook, northeasterly, by Allerville and Clinton Station, to Clinton and the Spruce Run, and then westward between the Musconetcong Mountain and the Mouselanghaway Creek to Patenburg. Its length, as thus traced out, is about eleven miles. It varies greatly in breadth, being over two miles across from Clinton to its northern border, while east of Clinton it is scarcoly a half mile in breadth. Towards euch extremity the ontcrop becomes very much contracted. On the north and northeast it joins gneiss-slopes, and is bounded by that rock, excepting at two points where the Potsdam Sandstone, already described, comes between it and the gneiss. The red shale of the Triassic formation bounds it on the south throughout its whole length.

"North of Clinton, along Willoughby Run and nearly a mile north of the Contral Run, limestone has been found in sufficient quantity to yield five kilns of lime.

" The rock of this tract generally dips towards the west or south west. At a few of the places observed the dip was towards the east or south- east. The only inforence to be drawn from these observations on the position of the beds is that they incline away from the gneiss towards the red shale that lapa over their southern border.

" Tho Clinton limestone is generally of u light drab-color, very hard, crypto-crystalline or massive, and breaking with a smooth fracture. Somo specimens found at. Mulligan's quarry ure buff and reddish shades, in irregular masses, due to an oxidation of the iron. A variety used for building-stone is bluish-black, vory hard and compact, and subconchoidal fracture, Tho great mass of the stone of this tract is characterized by its light drab-color und its compact texturo. Several analyses showed

169

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

it to be a magnesian limestone. It Is essentially a dolomite, modified by more or less foreign matter. An immense amount le quarried in the vi tulty of Clinton for the making of lime.

" Southwest of the main body of the Clinton limestone there are three holated onterops of the sumo formation, due, apparently, to the denudu- tion of the everlying shule. The most southerly of these is about half a mile southwest of the Sidney church, on lauds of II. Hoffman, who has gunriled It for lime. It Is a very limited area, and about forty rods west of the Clinton and Plttstown road. It dips 20 N. 50° W. It is almost black, very compet, and traversed by seums of calcite and quartz.

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 44

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170