USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 2
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" East of this line and at many points the serpentine rock comes to the surface, and on Todt hill rises to an altitude of about 370 feet above tide-water. Below the serpentine rock should occur the carboniferous strata and old red sandstone. also the Silurian rock overlaying the gneiss and granite. I be- lieve that the serpentine rock rests upon the gneiss rock, the usual intermediate rock being absent. and the reason for this
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
belief is that the gneiss rock of New York city is observed dipping under the bay, rising to form Robin's Reef, and ex- tending west to the beacon opposite New Brighton, probably passing under Staten Island at the same rate of dip.
"As the result of observation of American and European engineers, the magnesian limestones are prolific water bearing rocks, and the primitive gneiss liable to fissures and stratifica- tion leading from great distances and bearing water of great purity. The granite from its freedom from fissures or strata, and irregular contour may form good basins, but rarely carries water far. Geology is by no means an exact science, as far as determining without experimental examination the probable strata or their water bearing conditions, but the above men- tioned conditions are an assistance in an intelligent considera- tion of the subject now under investigation.
"I find by observation, that there is a series of admirable springs commencing at the famous Hessian springs, near La- fayette and Brighton avenues, below Silver lake; also the Be- ment boiling springs, then various lesser springs, to the large springs at the Four Corners or Constanz brewery, and so on to the Willow brook and down to Springville. I have esti- mated, and find the amount of water discharged is vastly in excess of any surface drainage on the higher grounds of the island adjacent, and am thus led to the belief that these springs arise from the rock below, and have their source on hills far distant."
. The climate of the island is subject to frequent and sudden changes of temperature, but is generally more mild than that of other localities in the same latitude farther away from the sea- shore. The mercury varies during the year between ninety de- grees and zero, very seldom passing either of these extremes .. The prevailing winds of winter are from the north or northwest. In summer the south shore receives a breeze from the ocean al- most daily, and southwest winds prevail throughout the island. Being surrounded by salt water the island is naturally subject to fogs, especially about the shores, though they seldom pene- trate far into the interior. They are prevalent toward spring and continue to occur at times until June or July and occasion- ally at other seasons. Thunder showers in summer sometimes suddenly arise in the north and are wafted over the island on
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
heavy gusts of wind, and are occasionally accompanied by a fall of hail stones.
The island has long been celebrated for the salubrity of its climate, except perhaps for affections of the lungs and throat. There are few localities on the continent where the number of instances of extreme longevity in proportion to the population can be equalled, many of them being more than centenarians. To show that the healthfulness of the northern part was recog- nized we quote from an announcement in 1788 as follows: "The healthy and clear westerly breezes on the one side, and the thick southerly atmosphere, abstracted by a ridge of hills on the other side, make it so healthy that it must induce gentle- men of fortune to purchase, who wish to lengthen out their days and enjoy all the temporal happiness this life can afford."
Some very cold winters have been recorded in the climatic history of the island. That of 1740-41 was unusually severe. Whenever alluded to it was spoken of as the "hard winter." Its extraordinary severity continued from the middle of No- vember to the end of March. Snow fell to the depth of six feet on the level; fences were buried out of sight: domestic animals were housed during the whole period, and many of them per- ished: intercourse between neighbors was suspended for several weeks; physicians were not able to reach their patients because of the utterly impassible condition of the roads; many families Suffered for want of bread while their granaries were filled with grain, because the mills were inaccessible; the roofs of dwell- ings and out-buildings in many cases were crushed by the weight of snow upon them; churches remained closed and the dead unburied. At length a day or two of moderate weather cane and with a light, misty rain, softened the surface of the snow, which froze hard again, and formed a solid crust suffi- ciently firm to bear the weight of a horse. This for a time af- forded great relief to the imprisoned people, and enabled them to procure fuel and other necessaries. Again, the winter of 1761, beginning with January, was an exceedingly cold one, continuing until March, meanwhile the Narrows were frozen over. Another severe winter was that of 1768. Ten years later brought a recurrence of climatic severity, of which the follow- ing record, dated December 12, 1788, gives us a hint:
" The intense cold weather has, within these two days occa- sioned the quick-silver in the weather glass to fall four degrees
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HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
lower than has been observed for the last seven years; several ships, &c., and many lives have been lost by the monstrous bodies of ice floating in our Bay."
But perhaps one of the most memorable winters for its sever- ity was that of 1779-80. The waters surrounding the island were then firmly frozen over, so that troops, cannon and mili- tary stores of all descriptions were conveyed hither from New York on the ice. Sleighs were driven across the Narrows and over New York bay on the ice. A New York paper (Riring- ton's Gazette) of January 29 has an item saying that several persons came from Staten Island to New York that day over the ice, and on the first day of January it records the fact that a four-horse sleigh made the same passage.
x
NETTREKS
NEWARK BAY.
UPPI. BAY.
EXPLANATION
AAAAAA AAAAAAA AAAAAA Archeun Serpentine.
Robbin's Reef
ELIZABETHPORT
Bergen
V
x x Point
Ku
Aychean Gueiss.
Shooter's
Kill
Brighton
Mariner's Harbor
Poft
New Brig
A
Ridge
× ×
Triassic Suudstonc.
x X
×
×
X
Trup Rock.
Four A
orners
Iron A
Chelsea
Cretaceous.
Springville
1
Todt Ililla
V V
V V
Ure/
Garretsous
Marine Alluviam. COVERING OTHER STRATA
VR
ong
Il ill A
w Dorp
Beach, Sauds.
Elm
Court House
Tree Light.
Rossville/
Gifford's
Clap
Clay /CS, / Kaolin?
Woodrow
Great
Woodbridge
Kreischer-
Annadale
ville
Clay
"Huguenot
Foint of the Beach LOWER BAY.
Priit's Bay
Pleasant Plains
Richmond;
Valley !!!
Perth
Tottenville
Seguine's Point
Prince's
1 Bay
0
Drin
A GEOLOGICAL MAP OF
River
Sonth Amboy
RARITAN
RICHMOND CO. N. Y.
BAY.
BY N. L. BRITTON. Scale, I : 120 000
. x
Richinond
Stapleton
Silver
Lake
Clifton
A Clifton The Narrows. 77777-7-7
AIron A A Ore, A Iron
77
UNen Creek
V Rielimond
v. V.V
RAIL ROAD
Arthur
Eltingvillý
STATEN ISLAND
Mary
Raritan
Ward's Point
X
Constable Point
vVVvVV.V. VVvvVvv
Tompkinsville
1777-
A
CHAPTER II.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISLAND.
Geology .- Fiora of the Island .- Animal Life .- Indian Relics.
IN the matter of geology Staten Island presents a great variety for so small a section of territory. For our repre- sentations of the subject we have drawn largely upon the facts gathered by the investigations of Dr. N. L. Britton, of Columbia College. He tells us that within the limits of this territory we find strata of the Archæan, Triassic. Cretaceous, Quaternary and Modern eras, each of which will be noticed in the order of its age.
Archaan Strata. - True granite occurs on the shore of the Upper bay, about four hundred feet south west of the Tompkins- ville steamboat landing, and directly in front of the old build- ing known as Nautilus Hall. The surface of rock exposed at low tide is about eiglity feet wide by fifty feet long: the rock disappearing at high-water mark beneath a hill of drift some fifteen feet in thickness. More of the same rock is exposed about two hundred l'eet sonth of this. Elsewhere on the island the granite is covered by newer formations. There is reason to believe, however, that it extends in a belt of unknown width all around the eastern edge of the main range of hills, covered by the glacial drift and Cretaceous strata to an unknown depth. and that the same belt continues in a southwesterly direction to Arthur kill, and thence across the state of New Jersey to Trenton, where it again comes to the surface.
At the exposure at Tompkinsville before spoken of, this granite is very coarsely crystalline in structure, and for that reason could never be very satisfactorily employed for building purposes. The feldspar is mainly orthoclase, occurs in large masses. and is greatly in excess of the other two constituents; the quartz varies in color from dark brown to nearly white; wtrat mica there is appears to be muscovite. In places the last napred mineral is absent, the rock being then a kind of peg-
10
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
matite or graphic granite. No stratification is observable, but the surface of the rock outcrop dips about fifteen degrees to the east. Mather calls this granite primary, and to the best of our present knowledge it belongs to the oldest geological formation in North America. .
The magnesian rocks, serpentines, form the upper portion at least of the main series of hills. This rock originally is sup- posed to have been of very considerable thickness, for a large amount must have been removed by erosion; the serpentine area is estimated at about thirteen and a half square miles. It is impossible to estimate accurately the present thickness, but it is probably over one hundred feet. The most eastern exposed boundary of the serpentine rock is marked by a series of very sharp slopes, which are nearly continuous from Tompkinsville to Richmond, and in some places these are as straight and regular as they could be constructed. This regularity of the slope is a characteristic of these hills, and is not the least element of their beauty. It is not known how far east of the foot of these hills the serpentine extends, but it is probably no great distance, as the granite at Tompkinsville occurs within a few hundred feet of it. The southern end of the ridge descends rather gradually and is lost under the Freshkill marshes not far from Richmond. The western boundary of the formation, or more properly the eastern limit of the Triassic sandstone which rests upon it, cannot be accurately located, as there are no out- crops, and any attempt to designate it would be speculative and only approximate.
The magnesian rock varies in color from light green to nearly black, and in texture from compact to quite earthy, much of it being fibrous. Its specific gravity is about 2.55, and in chemi- cal composition it is all a hydrated magnesian silicate. The best exposures are at several places around the base of Pavilion hill at Tompkinsville; in cuttings for streets in the village of New Brighton; near the school house at Garretson's station: on Meissner avenue near Richmond, and near Egbertville. The highest point of the ridge is nearly opposite Garretson's sta- tion. and about half way across the hills, where the elevation measured by an aneroid barometer is four hundred and twenty feet. Among the interesting minerals associated with the ser- pentine rocks that have been collected at Pavilion hill and in New Brighton are compact and fibrous serpentines, marmolite,
11
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
silvery tale, apple green tale, gurhofite, dolomite, calcite and chromite.
Near the new railroad terminus at St. George's there was formerly an outcrop of very tough actinolite rock. This has been covered by the filling in of the water-front at that place.
The metamorphic rocks of Staten Island are apparently a southern continuation of those of Hoboken, N. J., and New York island, their strike, position with regard to the other rocks, and their composition being generally alike or nearly so. The serpentines are supposed to have been originally highly magnesian limestones which by metamorphic agencies were brought in contact with highly heated carbonic acid and silica bearing solutions, which, by removing the greater part of the calcic carbonate and altering the magnesic carbonate to a sili- cate, left the rocks in the condition of hydrated magnesian sili- cates. During or at the close of this period of metamorphism, the eastern edges of the strata were tilted up, forming an ele- vated axis, while the extension of the formation to the west- ward was subsequently covered by the shale and sandstone deposited from the Triassic sea.
The true geological age of this belt of metamorphic rocks, which runs through Staten and New York islands, extends far northward through the New England states, where it has a wide expansion, and has been traced southward as far as North Carolina, is not definitely known. Perhaps of all the theories in regard to it, that which claims it to belong to the Laurentian age, as portions of the Highlands of New Jersey and the Adi- rondack mountains, is the one most generally held by those who have studied the evidences most thoroughly.
Triassic Formation .- Strata of the Triassic age extend over the parts of the island bounded by the assumed western edge of the serpentine rocks, the submerged gneissic belt, Arthur kill and Newark bay. This area contains about fourteen and a half square miles. The rocks consist of red ferruginous shales and sandstones, which dip to the northwest, and are broken through by a dyke of diabase or trap rock. They are in part the eastern extension of the Triassic strata that cover so large a part of New Jersey.
The shales and sandstones are exposed in but few places and only in small quantities. They appear on Shooter's island and on the adjacent shore. Here the strata consist of shaly red
12
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
micaceons sandstone. which differs in no essential particular from that so abundantly exposed in eastern New Jersey. No fossils have hitherto been found in these rocks on Staten Island, and the exposed surfaces are not sufficient to warrant any great expenditure of time or labor in search for them.
The diabase ridge that disappears beneath the Kill von Kull at Bergen Point cuts through the red sandstone of Staten Island from Port Richmond to the Freshkill marshes, and appears as a low, long, round-backed hill. having a general strike of south 40 degrees west, thus being nearly parallel with the serpentine. Toward the south end its elevation is so little above that of the sandstone that its position cannot be well distinguished. The length of this outcrop is about five and three-quarters miles. and its width, measuring from its assumed eastern verge to where the sandstone covers it, has an average of less than half a mile. Both the eastern and western boundaries, however, are so much obscured by drift that their exact positions cannot be determined, and the outcrop may be wider or narrower than the most careful estimate would lead us to suppose.
The only places at which the diabase is exposed so as to be easily studied are at and near the so-called granite quarries at Graniteville and near Port Richmond. The rock is not a gran- ite, but a coarsely crystalline diabase, mainly composed of angite and triclinic feldspar. which is probably labradorite. It has been found in well-digging within the belt that has been indicated, extending from Port Richmond to the Fresh kill near its junction with the sound. in the water at Linoleumville, and in outcrops near Chelsea, on the road to Springville. It is noticeable here, as in other localities, that the trap-dykes seem to shun the exposed Archæan rocks and cling closely to the Triassic, none being found outside of the red sandstone era.
The Cretaceous Formation .-- This, more or less covered by glacial and modified drift and salt meadows. extends through all points of the island lying east and southeast of the Archæan rocks. The area underlaid by it is therefore about twenty-eight and a half square miles. The strata consist of beds of variously colored clays and sands, dipping slightly to the sontheast. and having a general strike of abont sonth 45 degrees west. They are a direct continuation of the " Plastic Clay" division of the Cretaceous, so named by the New Jersey geologists, and lie at the base of the formation in eastern North America.
13
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
South of the terminal glacial moraine, the strata are generally covered by a deposit of grayish yellow sand and gravel of vari- · able thickness, known as the " Yellow Drift." This is seen on the island only in the vicinity of Tottenville, for the area lying southeast of the moraine near New Dorp and Garretson's is cov- ered with modified drift, imperfectly stratified. These Creta- ceous strata of clay and sand extend eastward to Long Island, where their extent is unknown. The clays are white, yellow, brown or black. They appear on the surface at a number of places, and the purer varieties have been extensively used in the manufacture of fire-brick, drain-pipe, gas-retorts and other refractory ware. White clays outcrop on the road just north of Rossville, at various places south of Rossville and near Kreischerville, along a stream near Prince's bay. They have been noticed near Gifford's, and are said to occur at the bottom of a well near New Dorp, and perhaps may be found in other. localities.
The extension of this formation to the east is indicated by an outerop of buff-colored clay on the shore of the Lower bay about one-half mile south of the Elmu-Tree light-house. The fact that all the pits from which clay has been taken are in the region between Rossville and Kreischerville does not prove by any means that clay occurs only in that neighborhood. It is probable, on the contrary, that the beds extend with some inter- ruptions, across the island, but are deeply covered by the drift- hills of the moraine, and materials washed from these which cover all the territory assumed to be underlaid by the clays, . except that portion where pits have been excavated.
Thin beds of Limonite iron ore, of limited extent are found in . terstratified with and overlaying the clays and sands. This sub- stance frequently cements the sand and gravel, and forms a con- glomerate of variable coarseness. Hitherto this iron ore has not often been discovered in sufficient quantities or sufficient purity to warrant its use in the manufacture of iron. Lignite and pyrites are frequently found in the clay excavations. The former substance may also be seen on the shore of Arthur kill, near Rossville, aud in a ravine a short distance northeast of the same village, after slides of the banks occur. It is generally impregnated with the pyrites, and with copperas which mani- fests itself upon exposure to the air for a little time. No fossil leaves or shells have been found in the clays of the island,
14
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
though it is not improbable that they may be found in more extended excavations than have been made.
As these beds are composed of fragments of quartz, mica and clay, or decomposed feldspar, it is evident that they are the products of the disintegration of gneissic or granitic rocks. That they have not been formed in place, but have been de- posited from suspension in water, is proved from their stratifi- cation and by the assorted state of the materials composing them. That the waters that deposited the clays were fresh, is indicated by the absence of fossil marine organisms, and the presence of shells apparently allied to the modern fresh-water genera, in the clays of New Jersey.
The Quaternary Epoch .- Deposits of material brought from the north by the ice of the glacial epoch, are found distributed over the greater part of the island, but do not entirely over- spread it. The most southern terminal glacial moraine crosses the island from the Narrows to Tottenville, and is distinctly marked by a continuous line of hills. These hills mark the farthest southern extension of the ice-sheet, and the line along which the glacier deposited much of its burden of boulders, pebbles, sand and clay, which it had torn from the rocks in its southward journey. In many places these hills have the pecu- liar lenticular form which they assume on Long Island and in the Eastern states. The moraine has been partially removed by the wash of the waves from Prince's bay northward to near the Great kills. Jeaving a bluff of variable height.
The glacier moved across the island in a south-southeasterly direction. This is proved by the markings on the trap-rock near Port Richmond, which have about that bearing. The snr- face of this rock is also smoothed like portions of the Palisades and Newark mountains. There are no such markings on the serpentine rocks, because they are too soft to retain them. The ice extended over their whole area, however, with the exception of a small area on Todt hill, which is east of the moraine. North and west of the morainal hills the drift is not so abund- ant, and rarely forms hills of any considerable size. But boulders are to be found over all this area, except when it is covered by newer formations and the soil is often very clayey.
Diabase of various degrees of coarseness is the most abundant rock in the drift. This has been carried from the Palisades and the Newark mountains. and probably in part from the
7
15
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
trap-dyke on the island itself, and is fonnd over the whole drift area. Gneiss of various kinds, largely syenitic. is perhaps the next most abundant rock, and occurs often in very large masses. One of these large boulders rests directly on the top of Fort hill, New Brighton; another along a roadside near Pleasant Plains, and a third worthy of notice lies in a field near Hngnenot.
Moderately large boulders, both of trap and gneiss, abound on the moraine between the Narrows and Garretson's. The gneiss has come either from the New Jersey Highlands or from much farther northward, and perhaps in part from New York island. Triassic red sandstone, carried from New Jersey or from the northwestern parts of the island, is often met with. A specimen impregnated with copper salts was obtained from the bluff at Prince's bay. This locality has yielded many other interesting specimens illnstrating the material brought by the glacier. Among these may be mentioned Potsdam sandstone, a number of rocks of Helderberg limestone, a specimen of granite containing graphite, a cherty rock which may belong to the Corniferous, and a conglomerate of nncertain age, but thought to be of the Oneida epoch. A boulder of Hamilton limestone ocenrs near Richmond, and a rock containing galena was found in some excavations near New Brighton.
It is evident that the ice-sheet passed entirely over the clay- beds of the Cretaceous formation in the vicinity of Rossville, apparently withont deteriorating them to any great extent. At first sight it would appear that these soft, unconsolidated strata would have been greatly eroded and almost entirely removed down to the bed-rock, by such an immense mass of ice moving over them, but although some was undoubtedly carried away, the ice seems to have swept across the clays without cut- ting into them very much. South and east of the drift line (which flows in general in a course parallel with the south shore of the island in some places running inland a mile or more for short distances) bonlders are almost entirely absent, being chiefly found in the beds of brooks, where they have been carried by water since glacial times, and are never very large.
Modified drift, or material derived from the glacier, but more or less sorted and stratified by water, may be seen on the plains lying east of the moraine from near Gifford's to Clifton. The soil over this area is seen in well-diggings to be imperfectly
16
HISTORY OF RICHMOND COUNTY.
stratified, and to consist of loam and sand, with few pebbles and fewer boulders. On Todt hill, near the moraine, there is quite an extensive deposit of gravel colored yellow by oxide of iron; this is the pre-glacial drift, which has a greater develop- ment farther south in New Jersey. Occasionally some stratifi- cation may be seen in the morainal hills themselves, but these are generally very heterogeneous in composition. Modified drift also occurs in small quantities along the edge of the moraine near Tottenville. The true glacial drift in this vicinity is not thick, but generally forms a niere mantle over the Cre- taceous strata, and was probably deposited by a local pro- jection of ice in advance of the main glacier.
The era of the formation of limonite iron ore deposits is only provisionally referred to the Quaternary. Their deposition is supposed to have begun long before the glacial epoch, but since the magnesian rocks, upon which they rest. These beds of iron ore are found resting directly upon the serpentine or talcose rocks at a number of places, in some of which mining has been carried on. All the deposits have the sanie general character- istics-they are superficial, though sometimes covered by glacial drift to a variable depth. The ore consists of the hydrated sesquioxide of iron, limonite, and is either compact or quite earthy in texture, and is associated with colorless, green and red quartz. It has been extensively mined near Four Corners, at several places on Todt hill and Richmond terrace, and along the Clove road, and is known to occur at several places on the serpentine hills. The deposits vary from a few inches np to twenty feet or more in thickness, and their lateral extent is limited to a few hundred feet in any direction. The Todt hill mines are the only ones wholly uncovered by glacial drift, be ing east of the moraine.
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