highly distorted, and the distorted layers are planed off smooth. Spring
sand covers the distorted beds. The disturbance can be attributed to ice
which froze to the lake bottom and dragged the clay layers as it
expanded and contracted with changes in temperature.

Locally the clays are exceptionally hard about certain centers, forming
clay stones or concretions. A willow twig or shell or some organic
substance is commonly present at their cores. Groundwater has deposited
calcium and iron carbonate about the adjacent clay particles and
cemented them into rock.

_The Holyoke Range_

For years it has been a popular outdoor pastime to "walk the Range." The
distance is neither so great nor the route so rugged that it cannot be
covered in the course of an afternoon, even if ample time is allotted
for stops at the many lookouts. The latter provide ever changing views
of the valley from Greenfield and beyond, to Meriden, Connecticut. The
buildings in Hartford are easily visible on a clear day. The trail
follows the crest of the Range closely and only rarely leaves the basalt
lava flow. The trip is somewhat less arduous from west to east than it
is in the opposite direction, and the view from Bare Mountain is a
pleasant climax for those ending their hike at the Notch.

At the toll booth the trail leaves the road which ascends to the Mount
Holyoke Hotel and angles upward along the mountain slope. Overhead the
dark basaltic lava columns rest upon red and white Triassic sandstone,
and the path soon crosses the contact between the two types of rocks. A
short distance above the contact the trail takes advantage of a col and
climbs to the top of the ridge. Down the steep southeasterly slope Mount
Holyoke College appears in the distance through a screen of oak trees.

The remainder of the climb is gentle, and soon the path enters the
clearing around the hotel. The view is arresting. The Connecticut
emerges from behind Mount Sugarloaf, wanders through the Hadley fields,
flows through the watergap just west of Mount Holyoke, and disappears
far to the south beyond Springfield. Northampton is spread out below.
Automobiles on the Hockanum Road look like so many moving dots. The
hills between the Range and South Hadley are made of volcanic ash and
lava; many have pipe-like cores which were the necks of ancient
volcanoes. Off to the east are higher points on the Range which lie on
the route to be followed.

The path continues along the crest of the range and descends gradually
to the toll road level at Taylor's Notch. Here it is on sandstone, and
the lava-sandstone contact is exposed on both sides of the gap.
Sandstone cliffs rise fifty feet high a few yards down the road; and the
fine arenaceous character of the rock and its bedding are visible at
some distance.

The trail climbs steeply from this col and soon skirts the edge of an
abrupt cliff, in which are carved the initials of many hikers who paused
on the ledge to rest and to enjoy the panorama. Eastward the path might
well serve as the model for a roller coaster in an amusement park. "The
Sisters" are a series of hills separated by sharp, deep valleys; and no
sooner has one attained a summit than a drop down the other side is in
order. Abrupt 30-foot cliffs trending north and south form many of the
valley margins; they are smooth joint surfaces where the rock is weak,
and where blocks were plucked out by the great Ice Sheet. Each of "the
Sisters" has a cleared lookout which affords a new picture of the
Hadley-Deerfield lowland to the north.

The last lookout is some distance below the succession of summits, and
it affords a view to the east. A cliff drops 200 feet vertically, and
about one-quarter of a mile farther east other cliffs of red-weathering
basalt face towards it. Almost all of the broad, low gap between the
cliffs is underlain by a complicated mixture of volcanic ash,
agglomerate and irregular lava flows. The cliff itself is thick columnar
basalt, and at its base is a coarse sandstone. But the sandstone is thin
and disappears in the depression, whereas the agglomerate and lava
become very thick and extend northward to the top of "Little Tinker" and
the "Tinker." They are part of an ancient volcanic cone, buried in
sandstone both to the east and to the west. Flow structures in the main
sheet move away from this center, which is believed to have been one of
the volcanoes on the line which supplied the basalt for the great lava
field.

In the depression, the trail winds between hills of twisted lava and
consolidated agglomerate. When the trees are leafed out and the
surrounding hills concealed, it is easy to imagine oneself on the slope
of a Pacific volcano. The trail divides at the lowest point in the
depression, and the less used fork goes north to the Bay Road at the
northern base of the Range. The other fork ascends Mount Hitchcock, and
at a slight elevation above the low flat it crosses from the agglomerate
to the Holyoke basalt sheet.

The best lookout on the Range between the Mount Holyoke Hotel and Bare
Mountain is on top of Mount Hitchcock. A side trail leads out to a
promontory, from which one may peer along the face of the Range, look
down upon the "Tinker" and "Little Tinker," and gaze over the lowland
which the Connecticut has excavated in the New England upland through
the long course of geologic time.

The east slope of Mount Hitchcock descends steeply, and many a hasty
hiker has made the trip in less time than he intended. The path drops to
a flat which measures about 1,000 feet across, and in which the
sandstone lying below the lava sheet is sporadically exposed. Here the
thick basaltic lava has been worn away; and erosion ceases both east and
west at conspicuous fracture surfaces which locally become fault planes.

Beyond this low notch the trail leads irregularly upward and eventually
comes out on Bare Mountain. The top is bare indeed; even scrub oak is
absent from the summit. The long south slope of the Range is clearly
visible, and to the west is the Mount Holyoke Hotel where the hike
started. The Mount Tom Range, with the Connecticut River at its foot, is
just to the left. Due south are the towers of Mount Holyoke College and
the cities of Holyoke and Springfield. If the day is clear, the tall
buildings of Hartford appear in the far distance. Six hundred feet
directly below, the highway goes through the Notch, and across the road
is the trap quarry in Notch Mountain, which supplies the crushed stone
for the local highways. The face of Notch Mountain lies north of the
main line of the Range because the basalt sheet has been displaced
northward between fault planes that bound the eminences on either side.
The notches utilized by the highway and by the power line are due to
facile erosion of the crushed rock along the fault planes. Farther to
the east, Mount Norwottock rises to the greatest height in the Range,
and the view from its summit is at least the equal of that from Bare
Mountain. The Hadley lowland stretches northward between the Pelham
Hills on the east and the Berkshire Hills on the west, and protruding
above its relatively flat surface are Mount Warner, Mount Sugarloaf and
Mount Toby. The Deerfield gorge trenches the western upland just west of
Sugarloaf, and on the skyline is Glastenbury far off in Vermont.

    [Illustration: Fig. 24. _Diagrams showing the stages in development
    of topography in the vicinity of the Notch._]

    [Illustration: a. _The New England peneplain stage at the Notch._]

    [Illustration: b. _The incoherent rocks are removed from the lava
    flow._]

    [Illustration: c. _The contours of the cliffs are smoothed out._]

The downward trail follows the cliff above the highway. The drop is
rapid but not precipitous, and soon the western half of the trail is
behind.

The east end of the Range, especially beyond Mount Norwottock, is less
commonly visited, but it offers much more of the valley's story. Here
the Range is more broken than it is in the western half, and the trail
winds through valleys for much of the distance. Long gentle slopes from
the west lead to mountain summits, and steep eastern descents take the
hiker into the valleys. Plainly the walk is much easier from west to
east than in the opposite direction.

The trail leads from the crusher scales around the north base of Notch
Mountain and thence up the power line to the crest of the ridge. The
path lies on conglomerate below the lava sheet through most of the
distance and returns to the lava only where it bends eastward along the
crest line. Faulting east of Notch Mountain has moved the base of the
lava southward until it abuts on the sandstone above the lava occurring
west of the fracture. Thus, the entire backslope of the Range along the
power line is coarse sandstone, whereas in the woods to the east it is
vesicular basaltic lava.

Many small but abrupt descents occur along the path as it follows the
ridge eastward. Each of them marks the position of a minor fault, along
which the eastern side has been pushed down and southward under the
western side. However, the elevation of the trail increases gradually to
the summit of Mount Norwottock, which is almost as high as the uplands
bordering the valley. If one can momentarily overlook the lowland
excavated on the incoherent Triassic sandstones, the regional surface
seems to slope gently upward to the east, the north and the west. Far to
the east Mount Wachusett rises above the general level, and there in the
northeast is Monadnock's sharp cone. On the western skyline Mount
Greylock's summit, with the fire tower at the north end, attains
prominence as Massachusett's highest peak. The long ridge of Glastenbury
and the point of Bald Mountain are clearly visible in the northwest. Far
to the south stretches the lowland, and on a clear day Hartford's towers
stand sharp and clear against the sky.

The north face of the Range is a sheer 250-foot cliff. The south side is
a half-mile-long, 20-degree slope. Eastward the crest terminates in a
precipitous drop, and the trail winds down the corner between the north
face and the cliffs at the east end. It crosses the contact between the
lava flow and the red Triassic conglomerate about 150 feet below the
summit. The conglomerate beds are separated by shaly sandstones, many of
which have weathered out to make rock shelters; these are the so-called
"Horse Sheds" and are said to have been used during Shays' Rebellion.

The great cliff at the east end of Norwottock was caused by the rapid
erosion of the sandstones below the lava sheet, which has receded
steadily westward as it was undermined. Recession started at a fault
plane about halfway between Norwottock and Hilliard Knob, for here
displacement pushed the lava down and southward on the east side until
the subjacent sandstone was exposed west of the fault. Exposure led to
erosion and to recession of the lava cap.

The trail passes through the "Horse Sheds" to the south base of the
Range, following the contact of the lava with the overlying sandstone
for about one-half mile on the way towards Hilliard Knob. This eminence
lies over half a mile north of the crest of the Range, for it has been
offset by faulting, much like the displacements near Mount Norwottock
and Notch Mountain, and the trail passes suddenly from the conglomerate
above the lava flow to the conglomerate below it. Trail markers must be
observed closely through this section because many wood roads cross the
path.

Eastward the way again leads upward to the lava and follows the crest of
a low section of the Range, but soon another fault breaks the continuity
of the ridge, and the high top of Flat Mountain stands out on the far
side of a deep hollow. The hollow is underlain by sandstone below the
lava sheet, and the trail follows down the steep dip slope of the beds,
only to ascend again towards the reddish basalt cliffs of the mountain.
At the base of the flow, the bed of a dry brook exposes a mass of frothy
lava.

The best views from the top of Flat Mountain are those along the south
slope of the Range towards Mount Tom, and northward across the Hadley
lowland. The path then turns down the north face of the mountain some
200 yards along the crest from the west end and, passing over a series
of conglomerate ledges underlying the lava, it continues along a wood
road beside a steep-sided brook until it comes to the Bay Road at the
fork to Dwight and Belchertown.

Any nature lover will find the trail very interesting. The views from
the western half are unexcelled. Wild flowers and birds abound along the
less frequented eastern section. Anyone wishing to see how molten lavas
and earth movements in the distant past have influenced the topography
of the present will find the far eastern walk a veritable revelation.

                         Trips from Northampton

Northampton makes an excellent base for many drives that will gratify
the lover of scenery, of rocks, or of minerals. The drives range from
ten to one hundred miles in length, and any one of them may be extended
or shortened at the whim of the driver. To the east the hard surface of
Route 9 leads through Amherst, Pelham, and Belchertown; and to the west,
as the Berkshire Trail, it rises to the western upland via Williamsburg
and Goshen. Side roads go to Ashfield and Conway, and permit a return by
way of South Deerfield; or, via Cummington and West Chesterfield, one
may come back by way of Huntington and Westhampton. Federal Highway 5
follows the Valley north to Greenfield, whence optional return routes
are available through Shelburne Falls, Conway and South Deerfield in the
western upland; or through Orange, Pelham and Amherst in the eastern
upland. Each of these routes offers arresting views of the broad
Connecticut Valley, the picturesque gorges along its margins, and the
even-crested highlands with distant peaks of greater elevation. Indeed,
the choice of attractive drives is bewildering, even for those who are
hesitant about wandering off the surfaced highways.

In the following pages only a few of the possibilities which are
available to the motorist are described. And for each one chosen, the
striking views and the significant geological features are indicated, in
the hope and belief that the traveler may turn explorer and, in
following other byways, may reconstruct for himself many additional
details of the region's geologic past.

_Northampton, Amherst, Pelham_

The route leaves from the Court House corner on Highway 5 and the
excursion follows Route 9 eastward across the Coolidge Memorial Bridge
(1.3),[1] where a panorama of the floodplain with its many channel scars
and terrace levels is spread out below (see pp. 1-3). Beyond Hadley
(3.0) the road tops the highest river floodplain at a conspicuous
terrace (4.9) and rolls gently over the ancient bed of Lake Hadley. The
shore line of this glacial lake appears as a broad flat between Orchard
Street and Lincoln Avenue in Amherst (6-9). (See pp. 5-7.)

The route turns left at the traffic intersection (7.2) and continues to
the north end of the common (7.4), where it turns right on the Pelham
road. This road crosses the lake bottom from the Central Vermont
Railroad tracks (7.9) to the Orient (9.9), where the delta of glacial
Orient Brook made a conspicuous gravel terrace at the farthest limit of
the lake. Stone fences make their appearance (see pp. 8-9); rocky ledges
and erratics abound at higher elevations, but perched shore lines of
ice-margin lakes occur at many levels up Pelham Hill. The road to Mount
Lincoln (see pp. 51-52) turns right (11.2) just west of the Amherst
reservoir (11.4). As the road approaches the hilltop (12.9), an opening
westward through the trees reveals an unusual view of the Holyoke Range;
and the broad lowland valley from Mount Tom in the south to Mount
Sugarloaf in the north spreads out below. On the hilltop (13.3) the road
enters the Daniel Shays Highway (13.9). Mount Wachusett (see p. 15) lies
straight ahead and projects above the great expanse of the New England
upland (see p. 46); Mount Monadnock rises even higher in the northeast,
and everywhere, deep valleys furrow the highland and break its otherwise
monotonous surface.

The Daniel Shays Highway runs north to Athol, where it joins the Mohawk
Trail; but on this trip we shall turn to the right, or south, at Pelham
and follow Federal Highway 202 along the valleys in the Quabbin
reservoir watershed. Pelham gneiss is the most abundant rock along the
highway, outcropping west of the road (14.1) in a series of
eastward-dipping layers that resemble sandstone. Mount Lincoln's fire
tower stands high above the skyline directly west from the power line
crossing (16.1). The country has a gently rolling form, which was
imposed upon it by the ice sheet (see p. 9), and the miles of stone
fences represent glacial debris piled up by the early settlers in an
effort to bring agricultural order out of geological chaos. Blossoms on
the wild cherry trees along these fences and the flowering dogwood make
this a particularly attractive drive in the spring. A ledge of gneiss
with large eye-shaped crystals of reddish feldspar lies east of the
highway at 16.3 miles. As the road begins to descend (18.1), a panorama
of the broad lowland between Belchertown and Palmer spreads out below.
View succeeds view as the road drops to lower levels: At one place it is
Holyoke and Springfield; at another it is Belchertown; and finally the
highway comes to the corners (21.1) where routes lead right to Amherst,
left to Worcester, and straight ahead through Belchertown to Palmer,
Springfield and Holyoke.

The Granby-Holyoke road (Federal Highway 202) turns right at the south
end of the Belchertown common (22.0). After crossing the railroad
(22.4), it passes out upon the plain of glacial Lake Springfield (25.3)
where the stone fences cease to line the roads, because the lake
deposits cover the glacial boulders. Rocky islands in glacial Lake
Springfield surmount the flat lacustrine plain (26.9). Granby is
situated on a long rolling point (28 to 31.6) that is underlain
principally by flat-lying arkosic conglomerate, but more ancient
crystalline rocks appear just a little farther east. In this section the
lake plain is very narrow, and the drop to the Connecticut River Valley
begins at 32.3 miles and continues to the junction with the South Hadley
road (33.2), where varved clay (see pp. 4-7) makes its appearance in the
pits to the right of the highway.

The itinerary of this excursion continues on Federal Highway 202 through
Holyoke in preference to the alternate routes through South Hadley and
thence either by way of Hockanum (p. 85) or via Amherst (pp. 83-84) to
Northampton. The Holyoke road crosses the Connecticut River (33.8 to
34.1) where the Longmeadow or youngest Triassic sandstone appears in a
series of serrate ledges between the bridge and the dam at the right.
Mud-cracks on some layers and ripple marks on others tell of wet and dry
seasons at the time they were formed. The route turns right just south
of the Holyoke post office (34.6) and right again into Federal Highway 5
(36.2), which parallels the river.

The road has been built on a terrace which was once the flat bottom of
glacial Lake Springfield (37.8), but at the north end of the city it
descends towards the Connecticut River, utilizing the contact between
the red layers of Longmeadow sandstone and the massive, dark green
Granby tuff with large volcanic bombs that are visible from the road.
The twin entrances to Mountain Park (38 and 38.2) may tempt the motorist
to indulge in an attractive side trip, but there is enough to occupy him
on the main highway. Nearer the river (38.5), a ledge slopes from the
roadway to the railroad tracks and to a series of riffles in the stream.
This is the Smith's Ferry footprint locality (pp. 66-67), and the
widened highway and the entrance to the ledges offer an invitation which
cannot be declined (38.6).

North of the dinosaur tracks, road, railroad and river run parallel.
Lateral roads are few, but there is a gateway (40.2) into the Mount Tom
Reservation. The Granby tuff, which has outcropped persistently on the
west side of the road, rises to a high bluff and then passes eastward
beneath the river (40.6). The underlying second lava replaces it in the
road cuts and is especially conspicuous along the railroad (40.9). The
next dark gray bluff west of the road (41.4 to 41.6) is part of the
Holyoke flow which caps the Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke ranges (see pp.
26-27). Soon it, too, crosses the river to Titan's Pier (pp. 60-61), and
old residents say that a ledge of it outcropped in the river bed at low
water before the Holyoke dam raised the water level. Directly ahead,
southward-dipping beds of conglomerate outcrop on either side of the
road (41.0); these beds underlie the lava forming the gentle southern
slopes of the ranges, and their position beneath the trap can be seen
plainly on the steep northern slopes.

The road through the Mount Tom Reservation rejoins the highway (42.2)
just south of the outlet from the Oxbow Lake (42.3), the upper end of
which also loops 'round and abuts against the highway (42.7). (See
p. 3.) Annual floods inundate most of this section, and even the
banked-up road and railroad periodically go under the swirling waters of
the swollen river. A sign (43.5) announces that the roadway was 13.5
feet below water at the height of the 1936 flood, but it is hoped that
the new dike at the southern limit of Northampton will hereafter turn
the floods away from the lower sections of the city. Federal Highway 5
bears right (44.0), and the road ahead continues into the Berkshire
Trail. Of passing interest is the fact that a well drilled near this
junction penetrated 3,700 feet of Triassic arkose without reaching the
crystalline rock floor. The road crosses the unused bed of Mill River
(44.2) and comes once again to the Court House corner in Northampton
(44.6).

_Belchertown, Amherst, and Northampton_

In our first tour we noted that a road (Route 9) turns right to Amherst
at the south end of the Daniel Shays Highway (21.1), and if we will
return to this junction, it will be worth our while to make the Amherst
run. Just beyond the intersection the highway traverses the level gravel
plain of a nice margin lake (see p. 7) before it descends (22.0) toward
the Lake Hadley plain. Erratic boulders and stone fences are abundant on
the slope, and the bedrock is part of the pre-Triassic complex. One very
interesting pegmatite contains inclusions of contorted schist (23.2).
The road soon leaves the rocky slopes for the gravel plain of Lake
Hadley, but only a short distance northward and westward lie the
Belchertown Ponds, which seem to occupy a large and deep kettle hole
area (see pp. 7-8).

The road winds through pine-clad kame terraces, left on the margin of
the ice which filled the Lake Hadley basin; and where it emerges from
the woods (24.4), the line of hills making the Holyoke Range may be seen
stretching westward in a series of sharp points. These are the
projecting edges of the Holyoke lava flow which resisted erosion after
all the softer sediment and volcanic debris flanking it were removed.

The road to Mount Lincoln turns right at Pansy Park (24.9), and north of
this point the Amherst road follows a kame terrace between the Pelham
Hills on the right, and the former ice-filled bed of glacial Lake Hadley
on the left. Ultimately (27.1) the highway leaves the terrace and drops
to a delta which was deposited in Lake Hadley. The view northward shows
Mount Toby and Mount Sugarloaf outlined sharply, and to the east near
the Orient, the sharp V-shaped notch of the north fork of Fort River
cuts one of the kame terraces. The delta deposit (27.5 to 27.7) shows
excellent fore-set beds in the gravel pit (27.7), and its entire surface
is dotted with ponds which occupy irregular kettle holes (see pp. 7-8).

The highway continues down the delta slope and crosses the Fort River
(28.4). This river established a meandering course upon the bed of Lake
Hadley, but its floodplain is now excavated below the level of the lake
deposits, which form a terrace above the stream. The road passes through
Amherst (30.2) and returns to Northampton (37.4) by the outbound route.

_South Hadley, Amherst, Northampton_

The route 116 north from the road junction at South Hadley Falls (33.2)
also has its points of interest. After it passes over the deeply
dissected deposits in Lake Springfield, it rises above the old lake
level at the Mount Holyoke campus (35.1) and continues at this higher
elevation beyond the Hockanum-Amherst fork (35.9) in the center of South
Hadley. Along the right fork (State Highway 116), which leads to
Amherst, horizontal Longmeadow sandstone outcrops west of the road
(37.1) where the slope to the valley of Bachelor Brook begins. The flat
lake plain extends from Moody's Corner (37.4) to the base of the Holyoke
Range. A gravel road turns right from the highway (38.2) and crosses the
brook one mile east, and from this locality were excavated many of the
excellent dinosaur footprints in the Amherst College collection.

The lake plain ends at ledges of Granby tuff and agglomerate (38.5). The
outcrops east of the road are grooved with glacial striations, and the
fragmental nature of the rock is clearly revealed in the smooth surface.
Lava lies on the tuff west of the road (38.7) and also at the bottom of
the volcanic series at the Aldrich Lake road (39.0). Coarse
conglomerates make recurrent ridges as far as the base of the Range
(39.5), where the road follows a shelf cut into the Holyoke lava flow
just west of the Notch fault. The conglomerate east of this fault was
displaced downward; and as it disintegrates easily, a depression has
been cut into the Range east of the road. The quarry situated at the top
of the Range (39.8) just north of the Amherst town line, has brought to
light many fault fractures that have served the mineral collector well
for almost a century. The Range trail (see pp. 73-75) westward leaves
the highway at the town line marker, and the path eastward follows the
old trolley line northeastward from the scales house.

The route begins its descent (40.2) through a cut in conglomerate, and
the entire northern valley is spread out below: Sugarloaf and Toby close
the eastern side of the view, and hills far up in Vermont form the
background in the northwest. The road quickly reaches the flat plain of
Lake Hadley (40.7), with apple orchards stretching along its gravel
shore line. The Bay Road crosses the highway (41.1) and parallels the
Range from end to end.

The lake deposits fail to conceal many earlier features. Two drumlins
(see p. 9) rise to the east of the road (41.8) near South Amherst. South
Amherst (42.7) is on an island in the old lake; erratic boulders cover
the hilltop, and bare rocks mark the old wave-washed shore. The highway
crosses Fort (or Freshman) River (43.8), and at the railroad tracks
(44.6) it rises to the old lake beach, which is continued in the flat
land on the south side of the Amherst College campus. The route turns
left at Northampton Road (Route 9) and continues to Northampton (52.2).

The Hockanum Road (State Highway 63), which follows the left fork at
South Hadley (33.2), crosses the Lake Springfield sand plain (34.1) and
rises above the lake level beyond Bachelor Brook (34.3), staying at this
higher altitude beyond the junction with the Moody's Corner road (35.3).
The hills directly ahead are tuff, agglomerate and lava, and are
products of the last volcanic episode in this region. Dry Brook (35.6)
flows on the sandstone overlying the Holyoke lava sheet, and the latter
outcrops in the road cuts (35.8) and to the left in Titan's Pier (see
pp. 60-61). The road to the Mount Holyoke House and Titan's Piazza (see
p. 61) turns right (36.0) where the highway breaks through the last of
the lava mass.

The 1936 flood inundated this highway (36.5 to 37.2), and the old
watermark may still be identified by debris caught in the bushes and
left on pasture land. The view upstream from the floodplain (37.0) shows
where the Connecticut is cutting into its eastern bank and causing it to
recede (see pp. 1-2). Soon it will penetrate the valley of Fort River.
The road passes through a woodland on the dissected lake-shore deposits,
but it soon emerges upon the lake bottom and early river silts (38.6).
The Bay Road (39.8) enters from the east just south of the bridge over
Fort River (39.9). The road joins the outbound route at Hadley (41) and
returns to Northampton (44).

_Holyoke, Easthampton, Northampton_

The return from Holyoke (36.2) by way of Easthampton leaves Federal
Highway 5 and rises westward across a ridge of Granby tuff. Several
small lakes (36.7) occupy basins on the friable "second" sandstone
between the "second" lava and Granby tuff, which lie immediately to the
east, and the Holyoke lava, which lies below and to the west. The
sandstone is very thin, and the road shortly begins to climb up the dip
slope of the Holyoke lava sheet. Sandstone crops out below the sheet at
the west base of a low cliff (38.1) which continues northward to the
south face of Mount Tom. The Christopher Clark road through the Mount
Tom Reservation enters from the north at the summit (38.5); it follows a
scenic route under the west cliffs of the Range to its north end at
Mount Nonotuck, where it drops abruptly in a series of hairpin curves to
Mount Tom Junction on Federal Highway 5.

At the junction of the Easthampton and Christopher Clark roads, a
turn-out offers an opportunity to view the Western Upland, within which,
as it makes its way from Goshen and Williamsburg to Northampton, the
Mill River has cut an impressive valley. On the long descent to the base
of the mountain (39.5), the Easthampton road is cut out of coarse
arkosic sandstones, but then it levels off abruptly on the flat plain of
glacial Lake Hadley. The lake sediments continue into the center of
Easthampton (41.3), broken only by the shallow valley of the Manhan
River. From Easthampton the route utilizes the College Highway (State
Highway 10) to Northampton; and its position on the lake beds affords
good views of the Range and of the abnormally broad floodplain of the
meandering Connecticut River in the vicinity of the Oxbow. Just north
and east of the New Haven Railroad's underpass, the river has cut away
the terrace followed by the road, and this low stretch, like the rest of
the floodplain, is subject to frequent inundations.

The road enters Northampton east of the Smith College campus (45.5) and
joins the Berkshire Trail. A right turn at the traffic light leads to
the Court House corner (45.7).

_Northampton, Hadley, Sunderland, Hatfield_

This tour also leaves Northampton by the Coolidge Memorial Bridge, but
at Hadley (3.0) it turns north on State Highway 63 and follows the river
to Sunderland. Here the route recrosses the river, joining Federal
Highway 5 at South Deerfield, and from this point south to Northampton
the road lies almost literally in the shadow of the western upland.

In Hadley (3.0) the road turns north along Center Street and then swings
right at the curve in the Connecticut (3.5). The river bank is lined
with riprap to resist the current and to prevent the river from washing
away a substantial section of the town. Across the stream in Hatfield
the Connecticut very nearly achieved the type of destruction which the
residents of Hadley are trying to escape, and the flood-channel, or
"washout," which was gouged by the swollen stream in the spring of 1936,
may be seen (4.3) on the way to North Hadley. The road approaches Mount
Warner, whose crystalline rocks appear at the south end of a long, low
spur (4.8) on the edge of the river floodplain. Elsewhere along the base
of the eminence, which scarcely merits the name "Mount," the crystalline
rocks are hidden by a terrace, but they crop out on the higher slopes.
The younger red Triassic sandstones are present, too, and they may be
seen dipping steeply westward in the brook bed between the bridge (5.9)
and the dam (6.1) at North Hadley.

Sand dunes appear near the river on the outskirts of North Hadley (6.3)
and extend north beyond Mount Warner (7.0) to the point where the road
drops from the terrace to the floodplain (8.2). Here the former bed of
the river is occupied by a puny brook, which enters the mainstream on
the left. The terrace marking the edge of the floodplain lies close to
the east side of the road for a long distance (8.2 to 9.8) and then
swings a half mile eastward. The road follows a high area between two
abandoned channels formerly used by the river (11.3), until it joins the
Amherst-Sunderland road (11.8) at the southern edge of Sunderland. The
route turns left in the center of town (12.4), crossing the river
beneath Mount Sugarloaf, and it continues on to Federal Highway 5 at the
traffic light in South Deerfield (14.2).

On the trip south from the junction, sand dunes appear east of the
railroad between the Boston & Maine (14.6) and the New Haven crossings
(14.9). The highway is situated on the flat bed of Lake Hadley from this
point to Hatfield. The road to Whately, which turns west at 16.7, offers
some attractions. It forks two miles beyond Whately, and the right
branch leads to the Northampton reservoir and to Haydenville (see
p. 89). The left branch follows West Fork Brook and comes back to
Federal Highway 5 at North Hatfield (19.1). Either route provides a
scenic drive over little-frequented gravel roads.

From the main highway the delta built by West Fork Brook into glacial
Lake Hadley appears as a flat terrace along the western highland (18.2).
The rolling fields (19.7) east of the railroad are dunes which were once
raised by the wind along the old Connecticut channel. Mill River, which
rises near Conway, parallels the highway for 6.1 miles and crosses it
here to enter the Connecticut (20.3). The road approaches the massive
gray rocks of the western upland (20.5), and the Hatfield lead vein (see
p. 64) outcrops in a bluff on the right (20.9). The view south (22.3)
shows the water gap between the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom ranges. At
the State Police barracks (23.4) the Hatfield road turns left, and a
short distance beyond (23.9), on the west side of the road, is the
abandoned City Quarry. The granite exposed in the quarry contains a
black, radio-active mineral called allanite, and each glistening black
crystal is surrounded by a reddish halo caused by bombardment of the
feldspar by alpha particles.

A road to Florence branches right (24.5) near the railroad crossing, and
one to the Coolidge Bridge turns left across the Boston & Maine tracks
(24.7). A by-pass to the Berkshire Trail (25.6) goes west, and the tour
returns to the Court House corner (26.1).

_Northampton, Cummington, Plainfield, and South Deerfield_

This tour includes a representative section of the Connecticut Lowland,
traverses rugged valleys on the western margin of the lowland, and
crosses a wide remnant of the New England upland. The trip is 58.6 miles
long, and all of it except the last twelve miles moves through rapidly
changing scenery.

The route leaves the Court House corner on State Highway 9, the
Berkshire Trail, following Main and Elm Streets past Smith College. At
the Cooley Dickinson Hospital the road rises from the bed of glacial
Lake Hadley to the Mill River delta, which, despite some dissection,
maintains the same general level through Florence (2.6) to Look Park
(3.4), where a ridge dotted with glacial erratics rises through it. The
road follows the delta margin past the Veteran's Hospital and shortly
(4.3) climbs to the land of erratics and stone fences. The road from
Whately (see p. 88) enters from the right in Haydenville (7.1), and the
Trail continues up Mill River to Williamsburg (8.1). Not far beyond the
center of Williamsburg the road forks left for Chesterfield and right
for Cummington.

The right hand route climbs a long wooded hill with a deep valley on the
right and occasional cliffs of schist intruded by reinforcing granite
dikes on the left. The view back near the hilltop (12.5) offers, through
a frame of trees, a panorama of the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom Ranges
surmounting the Connecticut Lowland. The New England upland begins at
the hilltop (13.1) in Goshen. Just past Goshen Pond (13.6), a road
continues straight ahead to Ashfield, and the hard surface of the
Berkshire Trail curves left. Ledges of flaggy Goshen schist outcrop from
Goshen to Swift River (18.4); the banding of the ledges is almost
horizontal at one place (14.6) and makes excellent flagging for garden
walks. The west-flowing Swift River tumbles into the deeply entrenched,
east-flowing Westfield River at Swift River village, and the combined
streams flow due south through a "door" in a vertical wall of Goshen
schist so narrow and inconspicuous that the water appears to run
downhill and then up again. The Berkshire Trail follows up the north
bank of the Westfield River as far as the lower bridge (19.5), at
Cummington, where a road to Chesterfield turns left (19.6).

The Plainfield road branches off to the right across the river at the
center of Cummington (20.5), and it climbs almost continuously from the
Westfield valley to the summit of the New England upland at the
Plainfield corner (24.5). Here the broad, gently rolling expanse of
country offers no suggestion of the deep valley only three miles away.

The tour takes the road right (Route 116) to Ashfield (33.0), Conway
(40.2), and South Deerfield (46.6), where it turns south on Federal
Highway 5, returning to Northampton (58.6) over ground that is covered
in another tour (see pp. 87-88). The twenty-two miles of country between
Plainfield and South Deerfield contain a succession of highland views,
glimpses into youthfully incised valleys, and a final sweep of
Connecticut lowland that defy description. Nearly everywhere the
glaciers of the Ice Age have scraped away the soil and have exposed the
underlying metamorphosed sediments. Their high structures and their
metamorphism show that they are merely the roots of an ancient range
that once rose majestically to summits which, were they restored, would
dwarf the planed upland of today. Rugged as some of the topography may
seem, prolonged erosion has greatly softened and tamed it. (For more
details of the features which can be seen along this route, see pp. 94
-95.)

                         Trips from Greenfield

The most popular drive from Greenfield is westward over the Mohawk
Trail, but the eastward continuation of this highway to Orange, combined
with the Daniel Shays Highway to Pelham, offers almost equal attractions
and should not be missed.

_Mohawk Trail, Adams, Plainfield, and South Deerfield_

The Mohawk Trail (State Highway 2) heads west from the center of
Greenfield and crosses the Green River (0.6) before climbing out of the
valley. A lookout (2.1) affords an excellent view of the north end of
the Connecticut Lowland, and the observation tower on Shelburne Summit
(3.2), situated on a shelf cut out of black Ordovician slate (see pp. 35
-37), provides a broader sweep of central New England scenery. Beyond,
the upland is gently rolling, trenched by one deep valley at Shelburne
Center (6.8). The descent into this valley (5.6) offers a glimpse to the
south across the Deerfield River gorge, but the road soon rises again,
hovering 300 feet above the sharply incised stream. The Sweetheart
Teahouse (9.9) makes use of one of the ideal sites overlooking the gorge
and river. The highway to Colrain (10.2) continues straight ahead, but
the Trail turns left across the Deerfield River (10.6) and then right in
Shelburne Falls. The road left leads to Conway and South Deerfield.

Thick, almost horizontal bands of gray granite gneiss are exposed in the
road cuts (11.6) along the south bank of the Deerfield River, but the
entrenched stream has left so little room for the highway that the
latter soon crosses to the relatively low and more hospitable north bank
(11.9). For many miles the road follows the stream so closely that
spring floods occasionally cover its surface with ice cakes. The drive
along this stretch to the next bridge (21.0) contains the most restful
scenery on the trip, though the flat open valley is hemmed in by abrupt
slopes which rise for 800 feet. Nor does the flatness of the valley
harmonize with the mountain-structure of the platy Goshen schist, which
stands on edge all along the roadside. Davis Brook (18.7) crosses the
route, and the road beside it leads up to the Davis Mine, which once did
a thriving business extracting iron pyrites for the manufacture of
sulphuric acid.

Once more the highway crosses the Deerfield River (21.0) and enters
Mohawk Park, which invites the motorist to linger. A mile farther on
(22.0) the road leaves the Deerfield River (22.0) and follows the narrow
gorge of Cold River, which seems scarcely wide enough to accommodate it.
A shady picnic ground and auto camp (23.6) lie just below the narrowest
and deepest part of the gorge (24.5), where the crowding summits seem to
tower high above the puny cars.

The road crosses to the north bank of Cold River (25.8) and climbs a
shelf cut into green volcanic schists (25.8 to 27.6). Leaving the gorge
(26.6), it ascends to the upland (29.0), while in view below is the
laborious route of the Boston and Maine Railroad along the Deerfield and
thence through the east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel near Zoar.

A lookout (29.4) affords a memorable view of the sharp V-shaped gorge of
the Deerfield River cut deep into the highland surface, which stretches
unbroken to the horizon, with only a few divides rising to greater
elevations in the west and northeast. A set of broad rock benches, about
200 feet lower than the upland, forms a strath terrace (see pp. 46-47)
which closely follows the river's course. Great landslide scars, caused
by the heavy rains accompanying the 1938 hurricane, mar the valley walls
far to the north and again eastward from Zoar.

The road to Zoar (30.2) turns right a short distance east of the
Whitcomb Summit (30.6), where lookout towers at an elevation of 2,240
feet enhance the excellence of the view westward across other straths to
Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. From these same
vantage points, one may survey the deceptively smooth slope of the New
England upland eastward down the course of the Deerfield towards the
Atlantic coast.

    [Illustration: Pl. 10. _View of the Deerfield gorge from the east
    summit of the Mohawk Trail._

_The high level flat to the extreme right and extreme left is the New
England peneplain. The terrace bordering the steep walls of the gorge is
a strath._]

The road crosses a series of strath heads, which drain into the Cold
River, and ascends to the west summit (33.2). At first it seems possible
to throw a stone into North Adams, so abrupt is the western slope. The
city lies deep in a limestone valley, and beyond it the Taconic ranges
rise steeply west of Williamstown, over six miles away.

On the long descent into the valley, the roadway is cut into
albite-biotite schists with horizontal cleavage. Above and below the
sharp hairpin turn (35.2), there is a beautiful view to the south along
the strike of the limestone trench and along the route (State Highway 8)
which is to be followed from North Adams (37.8) to Adams. Not far south
of North Adams the road passes the west portal of the Hoosac Tunnel
(39.4). Boulders on the mountainside east of the highway are glacial
erratics which were left above the level of the valley trains and above
the surface of glacial Lake Bascom. The limestone which outcrops on the
slopes of Mount Greylock west of the road is used for lime (41.6), and
the quarries provide ideal exposures for a study of the rock. The
burning plant (42.2) is at the roadside. The road branches in the center
of Adams (43.6), one route (State Highway 116) continuing ahead to Savoy
and Plainfield, the other veering right to Mount Greylock, Dalton, and
Pittsfield.

The Savoy road follows a broad valley eastward into the hills. A
perceptible steepening of the slope occurs where it crosses from the
dolomitic limestone below, to the albite-biotite schist above, at a
thrust fault (47.5). Hard white Cheshire quartzite (48.2) and arenaceous
limestone (49.0 to 49.6) overlie the schist and outcrop by the roadside,
and in places the arenaceous limestone has weathered to a white
glistening sand.

The road soon drops into a wide and open valley (50.1) which seems to
slope interminably southeastward; this is the head of the Westfield
drainage, and it has occupied this position in the Westfield system far
back in geologic time (see p. 14). The little village of Savoy (51.8)
nestles near the eastern edge of the valley, and once beyond the
settlement, the highway tops a divide (52.7) comprised of rolling hills.
It skirts Plainfield Pond (56.0 to 56.4) and then comes out upon a
panorama of the upland which embraces the entire Westfield basin (57.5).
This section is underlain by the Savoy schist, which is characterized by
its many large red garnets. At the hilltop (59.7) in Plainfield the road
forks, the route to the right descending to the Berkshire Trail and the
road ahead proceeding to Ashfield. This portion of the New England
upland lies so far back from the main streams that the small tributaries
have not yet cut deeply into its gently rolling surface, and no hint of
hidden valleys can be detected in the peaceful landscape.

The Ashfield road traverses woodland country that is almost flat. The
stream valleys are broad and are rarely more than a hundred feet below
divides. Even Swift River (63.9), which crosses the road about two miles
above the end of its entrenched gorge, has not deepened its valley,
despite the long span of years since New England was raised to its
present elevation (see p. 47). Past the alternate road to Cummington
(64.0), the route continues across the flat country above Ashfield; but
where the road to Goshen turns south (66.4), deep dissection of the New
England upland begins. An opening in the trees (66.6 to 67.1) discloses
the valleys along the South River in the vicinity of South Ashfield, as
well as the level skyline in the highlands east of the Connecticut
Valley. The road drops into the South River valley at Ashfield (68.2),
where a choice of routes to Greenfield is presented. The road that
follows the South River to Conway (75.4) is the more interesting.

The river is joined by a tributary from the north at South Ashfield
(69.9), and the streams occupy deep but open valleys. Kame terraces
flank the rivers and are a source of gravel for road ballast. The old
dam (73.9) near Conway is a picturesque spot, and the deep, shady pool
below is not neglected by anglers. Glacial erratics (see pp. 8-9) dot
the hill slopes, but ledges are rare and consist of the locally named
Conway schist where the rock does appear at the surface. The road
branches again at Conway: the left fork goes north along the dissected
brink of the Deerfield gorge to Shelburne Falls, but our choice falls
upon the eastward route to South Deerfield.

The highway climbs through a cut (75.8) in contorted, gneissic Conway
schist, which seems to be lined with twisted white quartz veins from
this point to the margin of the Connecticut Valley. The road levels off
just before it reaches the New England upland, and then it drops through
rolling hill country to the shaded valley of Mill Brook (77.4), which it
follows to the edge of the lowland (80.1). Rocky ledges are common along
this swiftly flowing stream. A good view of the Pocumtuck Hills appears
on the left (79.7), with the flat plain of the old Deerfield delta
stretching to their base. The road crosses this plain and enters South
Deerfield (81.8).

The tour turns north on Federal Highway 5, which is built on the
deposits spread in glacial Lake Hadley by the Deerfield River from its
mouth eastward to the foot of the Pocumtuck Hills of Triassic
conglomerate. Bloody Brook (82.2) drains this part of the plain. North
of the road which goes through the notch between the Sugarloafs (82.6),
the delta deposits continue as a terrace along the base of the Pocumtuck
Hills as far as Cheapside. But the Deerfield has excavated its
post-glacial delta, and the roadway descends to the meander-cut
floodplain (84.4 to 88.1), though it rises over one of the meander
scarps (85.1). Remnants of the Deerfield delta form a terrace due west
across the valley and on the margin of the hills. The entire lowland
north of the meander-cut terrace was inundated in 1936, and the water
level may still be identified by debris on the railroad embankment on
the right. Old Deerfield (86.1) itself is on a meander-scarp terrace,
and the 1936 flood line is well marked along it. After the road crosses
the Deerfield River (88.3), it leaves the floodplain as it climbs to the
center of Greenfield (89.8).

_Greenfield, Orange, Pelham, Amherst, and Deerfield_

Route 2 also leads eastward from Greenfield to the French King Bridge
and Millers Falls. The highway out from Greenfield turns north (0.3)
along the west front of the trap ridge, near the summit of which several
individual lava flows are represented by separate sets of columns
superimposed one upon the other (see p. 26). The underlying bedded
sandstones outcrop in the lower wooded slopes. A road branches right
(1.7) to Turners Falls and crosses the lava ridge, but the main highway
continues straight to a sharp curve near Falls River (3.4).
Pillow-shaped masses of lava characterize the bottom of the lava flow
and lie above conglomerate in the bluff to the right. The valley of
Falls River is a fault zone slicing across the lava sheet, which
reappears at the lookout-parking place at Turners Falls (3.5). The
extent to which the waterfall has receded (see pp. 58-59) may be judged
from the length of the gorge.

The route continues left past the bridge entrance (3.6). Ripple-marked
red shales--once Triassic muds in which stray dinosaurs left their
tracks--outcrop by the roadside (4.6 to 5.7), and coarse conglomerate
beds (5.9) overlie the shales and dip steeply towards the river.
Somewhat farther east a broad sand plain (6.0 to 6.8) of glacial outwash
(see p. 59), which ends at the French King gorge, buries the Triassic
bedrock, but once again conglomerate appears and forms the west wall of
the gorge. Pre-Triassic crystalline rocks (6.9) likewise outcrop on the
western cliffs, and form a narrow ridge between the present course of
the river and the pre-glacial channel, which lies below the glacial
delta (7.0 to 7.9) of Millers River.

The road to Northfield turns left (7.9) and another (8.7) leads right to
Millers Falls, but Route 2 continues east, climbing high above the river
(9.9), which flows through a narrow gorge. Gneiss with horizontal
banding outcrops (11.2) in mesa-like hills north of the highway, which
descends to a point (12.5) that was 5.5 feet under water during the 1936
flood. The road continues near the water's edge for almost half a mile,
and the narrow gorge through gneiss ends at Erving (13.8). Here the
valley widens out into a hilly lowland which has been developed on
schist with occasional bands of gneiss. The road follows the north bank
of the river across this lowland to Orange (17.9). Route 2 continues to
Athol where the Daniel Shays highway enters from the south, but an
alternate route, which turns right in the center of Orange and crosses
Millers River (18.0), provides a preferable short-cut to the Daniel
Shays Highway (21.8). This section of road is lined with stone fences
which memorialize the combined labors of the great Ice Sheet and the
early settlers.

Route 32 from Petersham and Worcester enters from the left (22.7) just
before the highway dips into the creek bottom at the edge of the Quabbin
basin. Thence it ascends to the New England upland level, where a
lookout (25.5) affords an expansive view to the east and north, with
Mount Monadnock rising prominently on the distant skyline. New Salem
(25.8) is on the hilltop. Hornblende schist outcrops at intervals across
the broad ridge, and especially near the descent (28.4) southwestward to
another stream (30.3) which empties into the Quabbin Reservoir. Once
again the highway climbs rather steadily for three and one-half miles,
passing the Shutesbury road (31.0) on the right, until it reaches
another lookout (34.6) from which the trenched New England upland
spreads out to the east. Pelham gneiss is the main rock on the broad
ridge west of the Quabbin basin, especially in the vicinity of Pelham
(35.2), which gave the rock its name.

The tour turns east to Amherst (41.7), following a section which has
been described elsewhere (see pp. 78-79). The principal sights include
the panorama of the Connecticut Lowland and the ice-margin lake
deposits. The drive from Amherst to Northampton (see pp. 78-79) and from
Northampton to South Deerfield (see pp. 87-88) on Federal Highway 5 has
likewise been covered in other tours, but some new features may be seen
along the shorter route from Amherst to Sunderland.

The Sunderland road turns right at the north end of the Amherst common.
It descends, first, from Amherst Island, in glacial Lake Hadley, to the
old beach at Massachusetts State College (42.6), and then from the beach
to the lake bottom (43.2) north of the campus. The route takes the left
fork in North Amherst (44.2), traverses part of the old lake bed, swings
west around the Long Plain delta (45.5), and crosses its entrenched
brook (46.1). Most of the stream's water seeps through the delta sands
and gravels, and emerges in springs at the Fish Hatchery (46.3). Gravel
pits across the road furnish an excellent section of the fore-set and
top-set beds of the delta. The road right (46.8) goes to the delta top
east of Mount Toby, Montague and Turners Falls, but the main highway
continues north.

The road turns left and then right (47.2), cutting through a beach bar
in glacial Lake Hadley, and passing a sand dune area (47.6) which
developed from the sandy braids in the channel of the Connecticut when
it first established its course on the lake bed (see pp. 4-6). The route
drops down from a terrace (47.9) to the highest floodplain level of the
Connecticut. Swales (48.3 and 48.5) on this flat represent former river
channels, and the scalloped embankment to the east records the lateral
swing and undercutting of the meandering river. The North Hadley road
(48.7) enters from the south along a low ridge between two swales, and
after the sharp right turn into Sunderland (49.2), the road divides, one
fork going north to Montague, the other west across the Sunderland
Bridge to South Deerfield.

The Sunderland Bridge (49.4 to 49.6) offers a good view downstream along
the natural levees (see p. 2) and westward to the cliffs of Mount
Sugarloaf (see pp. 56-58). The road rises above the floodplain (49.9)
and passes the Sugarloaf trail (50.0) on the right. A right turn into
Federal Highway 5 at South Deerfield (51.0) brings the motorist back to
a section of country already described in connection with the Mohawk
Trail tour (see pp. 95-96), and another eight miles of driving brings
him to Greenfield (59.1).

_Greenfield, Turners Falls, Montague, North Amherst_

A variant of the drive east from Greenfield is available in the route
that turns right across the Turners Falls Bridge (3.6 to 3.8) and
follows the east side of the Connecticut Valley southward. The road
turns left in the center of Turners Falls (4.2) and climbs the
embankment which the river excavated in the old lake beds. On the sand
plain above (4.9), the left fork goes to Millers Falls and the right, to
Montague. The Montague road skirts the west side of a low line of hills
which terminate at a depression (8.6) on the pre-glacial course of the
Connecticut. The road goes over Saw Mill River (9.4), in the bed of
which Triassic conglomerate is exposed. Conglomerate also appears in the
hills directly south, but the older crystalline rocks crop out in an
exhumed ridge to the southwest and in the highlands eastward. The
conglomerates form the south end of a Triassic basin extending from
Mount Hermon and Northfield farther up the valley (see p. 26). Beyond
Montague (9.7) Triassic conglomerate appears along the roadside (10.1)
as far as the forks to Sunderland and Millers Falls (10.8).

The Millers Falls road follows the foot of a terrace which rises to the
old delta level, and at the next fork (11.0), the route keeps right and
continues southward to North Amherst. The delta of the glacial stream
buried many ice cakes which left numerous kettle holes (11.0 to 11.5)
when they melted. The stratification of the deposits is displayed in the
many road cuts. The route crosses the Central Vermont Railroad (11.5)
and follows an old outwash plain southward past the road to Roaring
Brook (13.1) (see p. 54). The tour continues through a narrow stretch in
which crystalline rocks predominate, as far as the Long Plain delta
(15.6). Mount Toby rises steeply on the west side of the railroad. A
third of the way up the mountainside can be seen (13.9) a conspicuous
bench, which consists of an exhumed remnant of the ancient, sloping
granite mountain front on which the Triassic sediments were laid (see
pp. 20-21). The bench level drops northward to the railroad at Roaring
Brook, and southward it crosses the road (14.9). The conglomerate east
of the road (14.9 to 15.3) fills an old mountain valley. A road east
(15.3) goes to Leverett, and the lead vein is located just south of it
at the hilltop.

The route skirts the margin of the crystalline rocks and crosses the
railroad again (15.6). Just beyond the road to Leverett station (16.1)
the motorist may exercise the option of returning to the Sunderland road
(17.3) by going right across the Long Plain delta and thence to
Greenfield (29.6) via South Deerfield (see p. 95). Or he may extend his
trip by taking the left fork of the Mount Toby road, which follows the
boundary between the Long Plain delta and the glaciated eastern
highlands. Boulders and bare ledges feature in the landscape to the
east, whereas the flat delta and the level beach margin (17.9) lie to
the west. Beyond the limits of the delta lies a series of bare ledges of
gneiss. After crossing Factory Hollow Brook (19.1), the route joins the
Sunderland road (19.2) at the center of North Amherst, returning to
Greenfield (34.1) by way of Sunderland and South Deerfield, as before
(see p. 98).

_Greenfield, Turners Falls, Montague, Sunderland_

The Sunderland road (10.8) just beyond Montague turns right and climbs
the terrace along the floodplain of Saw Mill River. The plain is the
delta which this stream built into Lake Hadley. A few rock ridges
project above it; buried ice has melted to form kettle holes (11.4) (see
pp. 7-8); and post-glacial streams have cut valleys in it; yet it
preserves its deltaic form to the old lake margin (11.6). Low shed-like
cliffs occur east of the road (11.9); the overhanging rock is Toby
conglomerate, and the excavated shelter is a gray shale which was laid
in a Triassic lake bed (see pp. 22 and 68). These cliffs recede from the
highway and end (12.3) at the Sunderland Caves (see p. 55). The route
continues downhill and joins the river road on the floodplain of the
Connecticut (14).

The road rises over a promontory (14.1) formed by the resistant
Deerfield lava sheet (see p. 26) and then descends to the river
floodplain and meander-cut terraces (see p. 22), which cross to the east
side of the highway and continue south beyond Sunderland (15.5). In
Sunderland junction is made with the longer tour through Amherst (see p.
98), and the return to Greenfield may be made by that route (25.4).

                         Trips from Springfield

In the vicinity of Springfield the most interesting drives are to be
found on the west side of the Connecticut River, for the comparatively
flat land east of the river is thickly settled and heavily
industrialized, and geological phenomena are effectively masked. The
country to the west offers a display of features which may be traced to
the activities of the river, to the former presence of glacial Lake
Springfield, to the prolonged erosion of the Triassic bedrock, and to
the resistance of the pre-Triassic rocks in the western highland. Almost
any trip will include this entire suite of geological phenomena. The
distances which are given in the following tours have been taken from
the west side of the North End Bridge.

_Springfield, Holyoke, Easthampton, and Westfield_

This route follows north on the floodplain along the river bank via
Federal Highway 5, and the heavy retaining wall is designed to keep the
river out. The sand promontory which comes to the left side of the road
(0.6) is a remnant of the old lake--bottom deposits. Past the junction
with the road through West Springfield (0.8), the highway utilizes the
old lake beds, which form a terrace above the present floodplain; but
ultimately (1.6) it drops again to the floodplain level, with its many
abandoned channels, although it discreetly stays on one of the higher,
and older, meander-cut terraces. A cut-off to Chicopee turns right
(2.4), but Federal Highway 5 continues north across the meander terraces
to the forks (4.6) which lead to the residential (left) and business
(right) sections of Holyoke.

Here the main highway climbs steeply from the floodplain to the top of
the lake deposits. The view north shows the Holyoke Range rising above
the roofs and chimneys of Holyoke. Lake deposits form a broad flat
between the Triassic volcanic ridges which lie to the west and the
trench cut by the Connecticut River.

The road from Westfield and the airport (Federal Highway 202) from the
left, and the road to Easthampton (7.6) turns left from the main
highway, which continues north. The north route, described under the
tours from Northampton (see pp. 80-82), features the dinosaur tracks and
the succession of Triassic rocks. The Easthampton road goes past the
south end of the Mount Tom Range, and its scenic attractions have been
dealt with elsewhere (see p. 85). Its most interesting sights are the
line of lakes between the two volcanic series and the view from the
summit of the ridge. Easthampton (12.7) lies on the old lake bottom,
from which an impressive view of the palisade of massive columns
comprising the tilted lava flow of Mount Tom can be obtained.

At Easthampton the tour turns south on the College Highway (State 10)
towards Southampton and Westfield. The road follows the gravel plain
which was spread into Lake Hadley by streams flowing out of the western
highland. The plain is dissected locally by the Manhan River (15.2 and
18.0) which crosses the road twice, and one small valley near
Southampton (17.1) discloses Triassic arkose buried by the sand. The
road rises above the lake deposits (17.4) near the Manhan River, and at
once glacial erratics become numerous. The "land of stone fences" forms
a narrow divide between the Lake Hadley basin and the Lake Springfield
sand plain (21.1), which extends south to the valley of the Westfield
River. The Holyoke road (22.5), which enters from the left, came over
the trap ridge and across the lake plain.

As the College Highway approaches the edge of the Westfield valley
(23.6), it slopes steeply down to the level floor cut by the river. It
crosses the Westfield (24.5) and comes to the junction (24.9) with the
Jacob's Ladder route (Federal Highway 20), which offers another
interesting sidetrip into the Western Upland.

The route continues south to the center of Westfield (25.2), leaving the
College Highway at the south end of the common. The Springfield road
goes around the central square and starts east in the valley which the
meandering Westfield River carved out of the Lake Springfield sediments.
The terrace levels and the scalloped pattern of the meander scarps are
conspicuous along the lowland. The highway crosses the Little Westfield
River (26.1) and then the Westfield itself (27.0) just beyond the
entrance to Robinson State Park.

Most mineral collectors will instantly recognize a road turning off to
the left (27.8) as the way to the Westfield trap quarry. For years this
locality has been as important a source of specimens to collectors as it
has been of crushed rock to road-builders. Beyond the quarry road the
valley narrows, and the terraces close in as the river enters the gap in
the trap ridge. The black lava flow crosses the river (28.3) at the
Westfield-West Springfield town line, and shortly the upper flow
appears, resting on red shales in both railroad and road cuts (29.1).
Actually there are two flows separated by an amygdaloidal band in the
upper lava series at this place. The highway crosses the Boston and
Albany tracks (29.3) and leaves the river. After passing the junction
with the Holyoke road (31.0), the highway drops to the upper terrace
level on the bed of glacial Lake Springfield (31.4). The upper terrace
is narrow here, and the road soon descends to the meander-cut terraces
of the floodplain (32.1). The road to Memorial Bridge turns right (32.3)
and our route returns to the North End Bridge (32.8).

_Westfield to the Westfield Marble Quarry_

This is a short drive of 5.7 miles each way from Westfield, with a mile
walk from the Little Westfield road to the marble quarry. The view of
the Little Westfield gorge and the entire Connecticut Lowland from
Meriden to Amherst makes this trip well worth taking.

The tour leaves Westfield on the Jacob's Ladder road and soon reaches
the terraced margin (1.6) of the Westfield valley. The numerous benches
along the stream banks represent temporary flood-plain levels of the
Westfield. The route turns left from the Jacob's Ladder highway (4.0)
and parallels the base of the western highland to the Little Westfield
road (4.9). Throughout this distance the marble quarry derrick appears
on the highland skyline. Our road turns right at the next crossing and
winds along the edge of the Little Westfield gorge (see pp. 61-62). The
narrow hill road to the marble quarry turns right (5.7), but it is
inadvisable to drive. The walk is an easy one, and the view at the top
is worth the moderate physical exertion.

                             Optional Trips

It must be plain, even to the casual reader, that the foregoing pages
have been written with self-restraint. Many of the luring side roads
were passed without so much as a pause; trips to the Cobble Mountain
Reservoir west of Westfield, and to the Quabbin Reservoir east of
Belchertown have not even been suggested; some of the main highways were
slighted. For anyone who knows the byways and the hidden beauties that
can be found in reasonably accessible places, this chapter will seem
inadequate and incomplete.

But it would take a volume far beyond the scope of this brief guide to
do justice to the scenery, the geography, and the geologic detail of the
Connecticut Valley and its bordering uplands. The authors can merely ask
the indulgence of those who would like to know more.

                      Mineral and Rock Collections

Travelers are inveterate collectors of mementos, and those who travel up
and down and across the Connecticut Valley and who delve into its
geologic history may well be interested in gathering records of its
past. The best records are not in notes or printed pamphlets--not even
in this volume on the subject; they are to be found imprinted in the
rocks and minerals themselves. But the value of records is measured
solely by their utility, and utility is achieved by systematic
arrangement. So the authors will venture a few suggestions on collecting
and arranging the minerals and rocks which are present in the valley and
in the bordering uplands.

One mineral may come from a vein, which is the record of a fissure
beneath a hot spring; another comes from a dike, which was a molten
igneous rock. This specimen is a conglomerate or consolidated gravel
washed into place by an ancient stream; that is a slate which was
transformed from clay by intense squeezing and shearing. And if these
four specimens were to constitute the nucleus of a collection, the need
for classification is apparent. The first two are minerals, which are
substances of limited chemical composition and well defined physical
properties. The last two are rocks, which are aggregates of minerals or
of mineral grains. And the minerals may be further classified according
to their separate modes of origin. So, too, with the rocks. Their
mineral composition indicates some of the conditions which existed where
the minerals originated; the shapes of the mineral grains reveal the
process which moved them to their present site; and the arrangement of
grains discloses the conditions existing during aggregation at this new
locality. Mineral make-up, size, shape, and arrangement of the grains
provide means of recognizing major rock varieties--namely, sedimentary,
igneous and metamorphic types,--and also of reading each rock's history.

                              THE MINERALS

The vein minerals, which are deposited in conduits for hot spring water,
commonly possess attractive crystal forms; they include barite, quartz
and amethyst, fluorite, calcite, datolite, galena, sphalerite, pyrite
and others almost too numerous to list. Almost equally attractive
crystals may be obtained from some metamorphic rocks, in which they have
formed as heat and pressure abetted the growth of certain minerals at
the expense of their less favored fellows; this group contains garnet,
kyanite, chlorite, amphibole, epidote and many others. Less spectacular
are the minerals resulting from the decay of rocks by percolating
surface water, such as kaolin, limonite, some calcite, and the
bright-colored copper carbonates. Two additional types of minerals are
formed as the result of normal sedimentary and igneous processes, which
will be described at length in connection with these two kinds of rocks.
So, after the rock specimens are sorted from the minerals, the latter
may profitably be arranged into five groups:

  1. The Vein Minerals.
  2. The Minerals of Pegmatites and Igneous Rocks.
  3. The Minerals of Metamorphic Rocks.
  4. The Minerals of Soils and Rock Decay.
  5. The Minerals of Sedimentary Rocks.

                          _The Vein Minerals_

The mineral list which follows is far from complete; it contains only
those minerals which are most commonly found in casual visits to the
localities discussed in connection with the local tours of the
Connecticut Valley. Additional species are listed and described in any
textbook on mineralogy.

  QUARTZ is a hard, white or colorless mineral which will scratch glass
  easily. In the technical language of the crystallographer, crystals
  are hexagonal or six-sided prisms, terminated by hexagonal pyramids;
  and the six flat faces which make the sides, together with the six
  triangular faces which form the apex, are readily recognized. Massive
  forms break with a curved or conchoidal fracture and were used by the
  Indians to make arrow-heads. The mineral is very abundant in all the
  lead veins and trap quarries; and in some of the latter, specimens of
  the purple variety of quartz, amethyst, are common. A black, smoky
  variety has been discovered in the pegmatite dikes of the highlands.
  Chemically quartz is the dioxide of silicon (SiO_2).

  CALCITE breaks along three smooth surfaces or cleavage planes. Each
  surface is rhomb-shaped, and the six rhombic faces fit together into a
  characteristic rhombohedral form. A knife will scratch the mineral
  easily. Calcite is abundant in the white veins of the trap quarries
  and is the principal constituent of the crystalline limestones in the
  Hoosac Valley between North Adams and Pittsfield. Calcite is a
  carbonate of lime (CaCO_3).

  BARITE resembles calcite because it can be scratched with a knife and
  has three smooth cleavage planes. It differs in having one cleavage
  perpendicular to the other two, which intersect at angles of 78°. The
  mineral is more than four times the weight of an equal volume of
  water, and it feels heavy. It is found in the lead veins at West
  Farms, Hatfield and Leverett. In large quantities it has commercial
  value as a source of the element barium, for it is the sulphate of
  barium (BaSO_4).

  GALENA is the chief metallic mineral in the veins at Leverett,
  Hatfield and Loudville. It is very heavy and has a metallic gray
  color; it breaks into perfect cubes. A knife scratches it easily and
  crumbles it to a black powder. The mineral is a lead sulphide (PbS).

  SPHALERITE is a lustrous, resinous brown mineral in these same veins.
  It cleaves into multi-faced fragments and is softer than a knife.
  Chemically it is the sulphide of zinc (ZnS).

  PYRITE is the deceptive golden-colored, metal-like mineral which has
  earned the name of "fool's gold." It will scratch glass, and it
  crushes to a black powder. The materials in it are iron and sulphur
  (FeS_2).

  CHALCOPYRITE resembles pyrite but will not scratch glass and has a
  greenish yellow color. It is a compound of copper, iron and sulphur
  (CuFeS_2).

The veins in the Connecticut Valley region contain many other minerals,
among which must be mentioned datolite, natrolite, apophyllite,
thomsonite, fluorite and babbingtonite in the lavas; and siderite,
rhodochrosite, rhodonite, wulfenite and pyromorphite in the older veins
of the highlands.

               _Minerals of Pegmatites and Igneous Rocks_

The minerals found in pegmatites are legion. More than thirty can be
collected on any trip to Collins Hill near Portland, Connecticut, or to
the Ruggles Mine near Grafton Center, New Hampshire. Only the minerals
appearing most commonly in pegmatites are described, but a list of
others is appended as an aid in consulting a textbook. Igneous rocks
contain practically the same suite of minerals as pegmatites, but in
smaller grains.

  MICROCLINE is a white to flesh-colored feldspar with two almost
  perpendicular cleavages. It will scratch glass or a knife. One
  cleavage face shows a grid of translucent and transparent lines
  intersecting at 90°.

  ALBITE is the second most abundant feldspar. It is white and may
  generally be recognized by its two cleavage surfaces at 86°. Its
  growth may be likened to piling a series of plates with their surfaces
  parallel to one of the cleavages; during growth the plates are laid
  alternately face up and face down, so that the 86° cleavage edges
  zigzag in and out, forming a surface which, on the average, is
  perpendicular to the growth cleavage surface. The separate plates can
  usually be detected as fine bands or striations. The mineral scratches
  either glass or a knife.

  MUSCOVITE is the white mica found in tabular crystals that can be
  cleaved into flexible and elastic sheets. It can be scratched and cut
  easily with a knife or shears.

  BIOTITE is an amber-colored to black mica. Like muscovite it is
  flexible and elastic, but it is slightly more brittle.

  TOURMALINE crystals occur in triangular prisms with the corners
  bevelled so as to give them a rounded appearance. They lack cleavage,
  are very brittle, and will scratch glass. Black is their usual color,
  but red and green varieties are present in many pegmatites.

  SPODUMENE crystals are white to pale rose in color, and they occur as
  flattened prisms with bevelled corners. They cleave parallel to the
  surfaces bevelling the corners. The mineral is much harder than a
  knife, and the cleavage surfaces have a lustrous, slightly satiny
  appearance.

  RADIOACTIVE MINERALS occur in many pegmatites and metamorphic rocks of
  this region. The species which have been formed as a result of recent
  alteration are brilliant golden or green encrustations in cracks or on
  a pitchy-black nucleus. The most abundant ones are uranite, autunite
  and torbernite. Older primary or source minerals are pitchy-black and
  are surrounded by a narrow rusty red zone or "halo," ^1/_1_6 to 1/8
  inch wide; an elongate species resembling a rusty hand-made nail is
  allanite; the more pitchy, irregular-shaped mineral is usually
  uraninite or pitchblende.

  Other minerals found in pegmatites in the Connecticut Valley region
  include beryl, apatite, zircon, garnet, fluorite and lepidolite.

  Most of the minerals in normal igneous rocks are too minute to be
  recognized easily, but a few have distinctive characteristics which
  serve to identify them. QUARTZ is a hard, dark, glassy-looking mineral
  without cleavage. ORTHOCLASE and MICROCLINE feldspar are hard,
  flesh-colored (occasionally white) minerals with flat cleavage
  surfaces. The minerals making the white lathlike mosaic on the
  weathered surface of the Range at the Mount Holyoke House are
  LABRADORITE feldspar. They are about ¼ inch long and ^1/_5_0 inch
  thick--too small to permit testing by ordinary physical methods,
  although unweathered pieces have essentially the same physical
  properties as orthoclase and microcline. The MICAS are flaky and
  reflect light like minute pieces of tinfoil; muscovite is white, and
  biotite is amber-colored to black. CHLORITE resembles mica but is less
  lustrous and is dark green.

  Some minerals of igneous rocks do not appear in pegmatites. Among them
  is OLIVINE, which has almost the same color as chlorite but is harder
  than a knife and is massive or granular. It is commonly associated
  with massive green SERPENTINE, which is softer than a knife. These
  three minerals are especially abundant in rocks found in the vicinity
  of Blandford, Massachusetts, and Dover and Chester, Vermont.

  AUGITE is a dark brown to black pyroxene which occurs between the
  mosaic of whitish labradorite feldspar prisms in the weathered diabase
  near the Mount Holyoke House.

  AMPHIBOLE crystals are dark green to black, "match-shaped" crystals.
  They have almost the same hardness as a knife and are characterized by
  two cleavages parallel to their length and intersecting at 56°. The
  mineral is also abundant in metamorphic rocks and is frequently
  reported as a "fossil fern" from ledges at Charlemont and Shelburne
  Falls.

                    _Minerals of Metamorphic Rocks_

The principal minerals of metamorphic rocks include many which are
likewise present in pegmatites and igneous rocks, such as microcline,
albite, quartz, muscovite, biotite, amphibole, serpentine and
tourmaline. But there are others which are more exclusively metamorphic:

  GARNET occurs in twelve- or twenty-four-sided red crystals. It is much
  harder than a knife. The geometric form is diagnostic, and crystals up
  to an inch thick are obtainable in Plainfield, Massachusetts, and at
  Grafton, Chester, and Gassetts in Vermont. They occur in a muscovite
  schist, in which the muscovite flakes are wrapped around the
  individual crystals.

  TALC is a white to pale-green mineral found around the margins of
  intrusive rocks that are rich in olivine and serpentine. It is
  foliated and is so soft that even solid masses will rub off on cloth.
  It is present in the green marble quarry near Westfield.

  KYANITE is a sky-blue, bladed mineral, with two excellent cleavages at
  nearly 90°, and a good smooth fracture at almost 90° to both. One face
  is harder than a knife and the other two are softer. It is very
  abundant in the country rock southeast of the Westfield marble quarry.

                 _The Minerals of Soils and Rock Decay_

Aluminous minerals decay to KAOLINITE, and those with a high iron
content alter to LIMONITE. Both these products of decomposition form a
sticky paste in their original forms. Kaolinite is white to yellow, and
limonite or ochre is yellow to orange. Limonite also appears in
orange-colored or brown balls, in icicle-like masses, and in thin beds.
Specimens have approximately the hardness of a knife. Quartz does not
decay easily and remains behind in solid granules.

                  _The Minerals of Sedimentary Rocks_

Most sedimentary rocks are formed by the cementation of deposits of
transported waste, derived from older materials. They may contain
anything. The minerals which undergo rapid decay break down to limonite,
kaolinite and quartz, leaving only the more resistant varieties, which
include, in order of decreasing resistance, quartz, microcline,
orthoclase, albite and muscovite. Less abundant constituents are garnet,
tourmaline, zircon and magnetite.

Certain kinds of sedimentary rocks may be formed through other
agencies--for example, limestone, which is composed of calcite,
initially precipitated by lime-secreting organisms or by the evaporation
of lime-charged waters. The effects of organic activity may be seen in
the limestone near Bernardston, but most of the calcite now present in
the rocks of western Massachusetts is of vein or metamorphic derivation.
Salt (halite) and gypsum are formed by the evaporation of saline waters,
but only the vacated casts of salt crystals have been detected in the
Triassic sediments of the valley.

                               THE ROCKS

Rocks record three distinct methods which nature employs in the
aggregation of minerals. The sedimentary rocks register the work of
wind, water and ice. Deposits left by wind and water are generally
stratified or bedded, and they, together with glacial deposits, are
composed of fragments which touch one another and are cemented at the
points of contact. Igneous rocks record the solidification of hot
liquids which injected themselves into older rocks or filled crevices,
and which, upon cooling, formed masses of closely fitting crystals. The
third group includes types which are crystalline like the igneous rocks,
and which may be laminated somewhat like the sediments; they show
effects of heating and squeezing until their original forms and even
their minerals were changed. These are the metamorphic rocks.

Anyone who wants an orderly record of geologic history will arrange his
rocks into these three groups--the sedimentary, the igneous, and the
metamorphic. In the Connecticut Valley the metamorphic rocks reveal the
ancient phases of earth history, and the sediments contain the details
of younger or later geological episodes. The igneous rocks have a wider
historical range; and, like the other types, they record a long period
of violence and upheaval which seems out of harmony with the placid
countryside for which they now provide a solid foundation.

                        _The Sedimentary Rocks_

The sedimentary rocks are built from the disintegrated wreckage of older
ones. The products of rock decay are picked up and dragged, or carried
in suspension or solution, by wind, running water, or moving ice. They
are deposited when and where the transporting agent can no longer
function. Such rocks are usually layered because the transporting power
of the carrying agent fluctuates. Bands of one kind of material,
separated by dissimilar materials above and below, are called beds.

The bedded or stratified rocks of the Connecticut Valley vary greatly,
from the coarse bouldery deposits in Mount Toby to the fine-textured,
red and black laminated beds at Whittemore's Ferry. Conglomerate,
arkose, graywacke, shale and even limestone are represented, but there
is little true sandstone. Sandstone is an even-textured, granular rock,
most commonly composed of cemented quartz grains. Its uniformity of
grain-size and composition reflects prolonged weathering of the original
rock and good sorting of the fragments as they were transported to their
new resting place. The sequence of exposure, transportation and
deposition was too rapid in the ancient Connecticut Valley to permit
appreciable decay and sorting; hence sandstones are absent. Limestones
and salt beds are likewise rare, but the metamorphosed limestones which
are found in the western highlands and in the Berkshire valley
demonstrate that limestone-forming processes played a significant, if
intermittent, part in the history of the region.

  CONGLOMERATE is consolidated gravel. Pebbles and boulders of all sizes
  are packed together by the stream which was moving them, and the
  spaces between the larger fragments are filled with the sand that
  settled in from the stream bed. The entire mass is cemented by silica,
  limonite, carbonates or some other substance deposited by percolating
  ground-water. The Devil's football near the Mount Holyoke House is a
  famous piece which was dislodged from the hillside above; and
  excellent specimens may be collected on Mount Toby, on Mount
  Sugarloaf, and in the cut at Mount Tom Junction.

  ARKOSE resembles conglomerate, but the individual grains consist of
  mineral fragments, among which reddish feldspar is prominent. Quartz
  and mica may be present, too; and all the pieces are
  characteristically angular, commonly ranging from ^1/_1_6 to 1/8 inch
  in size. The rock is red and crumbles easily. Beds of arkose alternate
  with conglomerate on the steep sides of Mount Sugarloaf.

  GRAYWACKE is light to dark gray in color, and the fragments composing
  it are sand size pieces of older rocks. A few mineral grains, such as
  quartz, may be present, but mica is rare. Graywacke occurs interbedded
  with arkose in some parts of the valley.

  SHALE is a thinly laminated sediment composed of microscopic quartz,
  feldspar, mica and kaolinite grains. Most shales in the Connecticut
  valley were deposited as muds in old lake beds. Some are red and
  record ephemeral pools, but others show from their black color, their
  coal layers, and their fish skeletons, that the water bodies in which
  they accumulated remained in existence for a comparatively long time.

  LIMESTONE is a rock composed of calcium carbonate, and it consists
  essentially of an aggregate of calcite crystals or calcite fragments.
  It will give off gas bubbles in a very dilute solution of hydrochloric
  acid, and it exhibits other properties peculiar to the mineral
  calcite. A thin, sandy limestone bed has been identified in several
  sections of Holyoke.

                          _The Igneous Rocks_

Igneous rocks were once molten, and in this hot fluid state some were
extruded at the surface as lava flows. Congealed flows reveal the
motion, which brought them to their present resting places, in the
banding and streaks that are so evident in the patterns of steam holes
and minerals; but their massive structure bears witness to stagnation as
they hardened. Other molten masses insinuated themselves into
underground openings, where they solidified as intrusives, varying in
size from small dikes less than an inch wide, to huge masses that can be
measured in miles in any direction. Most of the igneous rocks in the
highlands of western and central Massachusetts are massive intrusive
types; light-colored varieties predominate, but some dark-colored dikes
cut the older rocks both east and west of the valley. Dark-colored,
massive and banded lavas are conspicuous in the ranges within the
valley.

Igneous rocks may be divided into three general groups for practical
classification, and each major group may be further subdivided. Rather
conveniently each of the major groups may be recognized by the prevalent
color of its rocks--whether dark, medium-colored, or light. And within
each major classification there may be flows, characterized by banded
structures and fine textures; small intrusives composed of well formed
crystals in a fine-grained groundmass; and large intrusives consisting
of goodsized, equi-granular crystals. Not all of these types can be
found in central Massachusetts, but the variety of igneous rocks is
surprising and offers some excellent possibilities for the collector.

                            _The Dark Rocks_

The dark rocks owe their color to iron-bearing minerals like olivine,
pyroxene (augite), amphibole and biotite. All of these minerals weather
to a rusty red surface, which is typical of their outcrops at many
places.

  BASALT is a black rock, dense in some places but perforated with
  bubble holes or vesicles, at others. It occurs throughout the length
  of the Holyoke, Tom and Pocumtuck Ranges; and fragments of basalt are
  abundant in the Granby tuff and agglomerate.

  DIABASE resembles basalt but is distinguished by the thin, short
  crystals embedded in it. These crystals of labradorite feldspar
  resemble pieces of clipped thread, and they sparkle in reflected
  light. Almost all dark-colored dikes and the slowly cooled central
  portions of thick lava flows consist of diabase.

  PERIDOTITE is a dark green, coarse, granular rock composed of olivine
  and subordinate amounts of pyroxene. It occurs near Westfield and
  Blandford, and at many places in Vermont.

                       _The Medium-Colored Rocks_

The medium-colored rocks contain approximately the same proportions of
light- and dark-colored minerals. The dark iron-bearing minerals are
relatively stable, but the light-gray feldspars decompose to kaolin and
give the weathered rock a chalky white surface. Surface flows of this
group are unknown in central Massachusetts, but the coarsely granular
intrusives are well represented.

  GRANODIORITE PORPHYRY is a greenish-gray rock occurring in many dikes
  in the western highlands. It has rectangular crystals of andesine
  feldspar up to 1/8 inch across, and these have a dull porcellaneous
  luster. A few dark-green amphibole crystals are only slightly smaller.
  Both feldspars and amphiboles are embedded in a very fine-textured,
  pale greenish groundmass.

  GRANODIORITE is a gray equigranular rock containing flesh-colored
  microcline feldspar, white andesine feldspar, greenish flakes of
  chlorite, needles of amphibole and sparse grains of brown biotite. All
  crystals are about ^1/_3_2 inch thick and commonly display a parallel
  arrangement. This rock forms huge irregular masses at Williamsburg,
  Whately and Belchertown.

                       _The Light-Colored Rocks_

The light-colored rocks are well represented by dikes and large masses
but not by recognizable surface flows in central Massachusetts. Their
exposures have rarely weathered much, because the predominant minerals
are quartz, microcline, orthoclase and albite, which resist decay.

  QUARTZ PORPHYRY is a light gray rock that is found in dikes. It has
  porcelain-white cleavable feldspars up to 1/8 inch thick, and dark
  glassy quartz of equal size in a granular mass of very fine-grained
  crystals. Intrusives of this type are numerous in the vicinity of
  Whately.

  GRAY ALBITE GRANITE occurs in many dikes and small irregular masses
  throughout the highlands. All crystals have approximately the same
  size and rarely exceed ^1/_3_2 inch in thickness. They consist of
  white orthoclase and albite, dark sugary quartz, and brown to black
  biotite.

  RED MICROCLINE GRANITE is found in very large, irregular intrusives in
  the highlands. The crystals are ^1/_1_6 inch or more in thickness. The
  red color is due to the flesh-colored microcline. Quartz is dark and
  glassy, and muscovite is the typical mica.

                        _The Metamorphic Rocks_

Metamorphic rocks were once sedimentary or igneous rocks which have been
changed by intense pressure, by heat, or by solutions moving through
them. Pressure usually produces a sheeted or foliated structure along
which the rock exhibits a tendency to part--somewhat like the pages in a
book that was bound before the ink was dry. Percolating solutions may
produce chemical alterations in the original materials and even
crystallize new substances along the foliated surfaces within the rock,
much as water circulating through cooled soil may solidify to ice and
cause heaving. Many of the rocks in the highlands bordering the
Connecticut Valley are highly foliated or banded in consequence of the
mechanical deformation they suffered when the ancient upland mountain
system was created. They include the slates, schists and gneisses. A few
massive types, like marble, serpentine and soapstone, owe their origins
chiefly to the effects of heat or of the hot, chemically charged
solutions which permeated them.

  SLATES are fine-grained rocks characterized by flat, parallel cleavage
  surfaces which usually cross the original sedimentary structure. They
  were formed from shales, by shearing and compression during ancient
  mountain-making movements. Slates crop out beside the station platform
  at Brattleboro, Vermont, and at many places southward along Federal
  Highway 5 to Greenfield.

  SCHIST is foliated, too, but it is composed largely of cleavable
  minerals, such as chlorite, muscovite, biotite and amphibole, which
  are distributed along the cleavage surfaces. These minerals result
  from the chemical activity of hot solutions circulating along a slaty
  cleavage, re-crystallizing old materials, and bringing in new to make
  these coarse mineral flakes. The schist receives its specific name
  (biotite schist, chlorite schist, etc.) from the mineral which
  accentuates its cleavage structure.

  A few schists contain large crystals which bulge the schistose
  surfaces outward around them. Garnet is characteristic in this role,
  and a muscovite schist with garnets in it is called a GARNETIFEROUS
  (or garnet-bearing) MUSCOVITE SCHIST. Other minerals with occurrences
  similar to the garnet are microcline, albite, staurolite, amphibole,
  tourmaline, pyrite and magnetite.

  GNEISS is a banded rock containing cleavable minerals, but it lacks
  the cleavage structure of schist. The cleavable minerals (biotite,
  muscovite, amphibole, etc.) may give the gneiss its specific name, but
  as often as not, the name is derived from the whole mineral
  assemblage, or from an assumed origin, as in the case of granite
  gneiss. As in the igneous rocks, the mineral ensemble is held together
  by interlocked quartz and feldspar grains. Black-banded biotite gneiss
  and hornblende gneiss are the most abundant varieties in the
  neighborhood of the metropolitan reservoir east of Pelham.

  MARBLE is a granular rock composed of calcite crystals. It is formed
  when heat volatilizes the bituminous coloring agents of ordinary
  limestone and simultaneously causes enlargement of the calcite grains.
  It is the principal rock in the Berkshire Valley in which North Adams,
  Adams and Pittsfield are located.

  OPHICALCITE is a lime-silicate rock. It is formed by the chemical
  reactions of hot solutions on limestone or marble at considerable
  depth within the earth. The original calcite is converted into
  diopside, garnet, vesuvianite and tremolite, forming a rock that may
  be massive, or which may preserve some of the original bedded
  structure. It is found in association with the crystalline limestone
  and magnetite at the old iron mine, located one mile north of
  Bernardston.

  SERPENTINE is a dark-green rock made almost exclusively of the mineral
  serpentine. It results from the reaction of hot solutions on olivine
  and pyroxene rocks (peridotites). Serpentinite is present in the
  Westfield marble quarry and at Zoar on the south side of the Deerfield
  River.

  SOAPSTONE is composed principally of talc. It, too, results from the
  chemical activity of hot solutions ascending through serpentine and
  causing the mineral transformation. Bodies of this material are
  associated with the serpentinite at Westfield and Zoar, and northward
  in sections of Vermont. It is mined for talc, but in colonial days it
  found many uses. The colonists used cross-cut saws to make blocks for
  foot warmers in their sleighs, to control the heat in the old
  wood-fired ovens and to make water pipes before iron and lead were
  available in adequate quantities. Many soapstone articles may be
  seen--and purchased--in Wiggins Country Store and in other good
  antique shops through the valley. One of the most primitive Indian
  cultures in this region utilized soapstone pots, and exhibits are on
  display at both the Springfield Museum of Natural History and the
  Amherst College Museum.

                               Conclusion

To anyone who has had the patience to read through the preceding pages
and to reach these concluding remarks, it must be obvious that geology
is not merely a pastime for specialists. It does not take half a dozen
college and university degrees to collect rocks and minerals, and to
understand what they mean; or to appreciate not alone the beauty, but
also the long and involved, yet logical, origin of scenery; or to
comprehend from a rock-cut or cliff the vast changes which have occurred
in the course of geologic time; or to grasp the current significance, as
well as the historical importance, of such rock and mineral products as
the trap, the limestone, the pyrite, the lead veins, the soapstone, the
varved clay, the gravel banks.

Whether one's interests are practical, historical, acquisitive,
esthetic, philosophical or scientific, the geological features of the
Connecticut Valley possess the variety to gratify them all. One must
indeed be blind if he cannot find something of interest--a hobby--even a
profession in the geological display spread before him in central
Massachusetts. Let it not be thought that this little volume tells the
whole story. On the contrary, its authors expect to have a difficult
time justifying their sins of omission, more particularly because many
of the omissions have been conscious and deliberate. But they trust they
have left for the reader a wealth of features which he can make his own
by right of discovery. For it will not take him very long to penetrate
the fourth dimension of geologic time more deeply and intimately than is
possible in the pages of a book.

                               Footnotes

[1]The figures denote the distance in miles from the starting point to
    the feature mentioned.

                             General Index

          "P" indicates plate following page number indicated

                                   A
  Agglomerate, 22 P, 24, 36, 72, 84
  Albite, 109
  Albite granite, 116
  Allanite, 88, 110
  Alluvial fans, Triassic, 19, 28, 43, 46
  Alluvial plain, 3, 21
  Alluvial wash, 25, 43
  Amphibole, 110
  Appalachian disturbance, 42
  Argillite, Leyden, 64
  Arkose, 114
  Arkose, "first" sandstone, 86
  Ash, volcanic, 28, 66, 71
  Augite, 110
  Autunite, 110
  Azurite, 64

                                      B
  Bank, undercut, 2
  Barite, 30, 63, 108
  Basalt, 72, 115
  Basalt, columns, 71
  Basin, Triassic, 27, 43
  Batholith, 32
  Beaches, sloping south, 49
  Bedrock, depth, 10
  Biotite, 109
  Block mountains, 25
  Boulders, striated, 21
  Brickyards, 4, 69

                                      C
  Calcite, 64, 108
  Calendar beds, 69
  Cambrian, 37, 38
  Canyon, Little Westfield River, 61
  Carboniferous period, 33, 42
  Carboniferous swamps, 34, 42
  Caves, Sunderland, 55
  Chalcopyrite, 64, 108
  Channel scars, 79
  Chicopee shale, 18
  Chlorite, 110
  Cinder cone, 25
  Cirque, 10
  Clay, 4
  Clay beds, 69
  Clay, distorted, 6, 66 P, 70
  Clay stones, concretions, 70
  Clays, banded, 4, 6
  Clays, record climate, 69
  Climate, Triassic, 23
  Coal, 33
  Coal basin, 34, 42
  Coal swamps, Carboniferous, 33, 40
  Coal, Triassic, 22
  Coherent rock, effect, 12
  Columns, basaltic, 60
  Concretions, 70
  Conglomerate, 20, 25, 28, 54, 56, 99, 113
  Conglomerate, boulder, 21
  Conglomerate, Devonian, 35
  Conglomerate, Mt. Toby, 54
  Conglomerate, Triassic, 19, 21
  Contact, conglomerate with crystallines, 59
  Crater, 25
  Cretaceous period, 17, 46
  Cretaceous sediments, 16
  Crops, 7
  Cut-banks, 11

                                      D
  Delta, 7, 8, 49
  Delta, Deerfield River, 58, 95
  Delta, Florence, 89
  Delta, glacial lakes, 49, 69
  Delta, Long Plain Brook, 98
  Delta, Millers River, 58
  Delta, Sawmill River, 99
  Delta, Westfield River, 62
  Desert climate, Triassic, 46
  Devonian, 39
  Diabase, 62, 115
  Dike, 32, 32 P, 42
  Dinosaur habits, 67
  Dinosaur tracks, 22, 22 P, 66, 66 P, 81, 96
  Dinosaurs, 18, 46
  Dinosaurs, bipedal, 67
  Disturbance, Appalachian, 42
  Disturbance, Shickshock, 40
  Disturbance, Taconic, 40
  Drainage, Atlantic, 15, 47
  Drumlin, South Amherst, 9, 84
  Dunes, 4, 49, 56, 87, 98

                                      E
  Earthquakes, ancient, 19, 26
  Eastern Upland, 32, 33, 37
  Entrenched valleys, 12
  Eocene period, 46
  Erratics, 8, 82, 89
  Everlasting hills, 11

                                      F
  Fans, alluvial, 19
  Fault, buried, 24
  Fault, eastern border, 19, 25
  Fault fissure, 66
  Faulting, at Notch, 73, 75
  Fault movement, 25, 26, 60
  Faults, Turners Falls, 44
  Fish, extinction of Triassic, 68
  Fish fossils, Durham, Conn., 22
  Fish fossils, Sunderland, Mass., 22, 68
  Fish, living conditions, 68
  Fish, Triassic, 22
  Fish, Whittemore's Ferry, 69
  Flood level, 1936, 82, 96, 97
  Floodplain, 3, 4, 79
  Floods, 1, 3, 4, 6
  Floor, Triassic basin, 30
  Folds, 34, 36, 40, 42
  Footprint localities, 66, 68
  Footprints, dinosaur, 22, 22 P, 67, 84
  Fore-set beds, 8
  Forests, oldest, 40

                                      G
  Galena, 20, 30, 63, 108
  Garnet, 111
  Glacier, 8, 9, 21, 42, 46
  Glacier recession, 9, 49
  Glacier slope, 48
  Glaciers, Permian age, 42
  Gneiss, 28, 118
  Gneiss, horizontal, 97
  Gneiss, Pelham, 79
  Gorge, Cold River, 92
  Gorge, Deerfield River, 56, 92, 92 P
  Gorge, Little Westfield, 105
  Gorges, buried, 10
  Gorges, Pliocene age, 48
  Grade of rivers, 15
  Granite, 21, 28, 33, 34, 42, 54, 116
  Granite, pre-Triassic, 100
  Granite quarry, 88
  Granodiorite, 116
  Granodiorite porphyry, 116
  Granodiorite, Williamsburg, 64
  Graywacke, 114

                                      H
  "Horse sheds," 76
  Hot springs, 30, 42
  Hudson drainage, 15
  Hurricane, 12

  Ice Age, 10, 48, 56
  Icebergs, 8
  Ice-cakes, 8
  Ice dispersal centers, 48
  Ice recession, rate, 49
  Ice sheet, 5, 9, 52, 72
  Ice thickness, 48
  Indian campsites, 3
  Indian graves, 3
  Intrusive, 33
  Inundation, 3
  Iron ore, 34, 35

                                      J
  Joints, Mt. Sugarloaf, 56
  Jurassic period, 46

                                      K
  Kame terraces, 82, 95
  Kaolinite, 111
  Kettle holes, 82, 83, 100
  Kyanite, 111

                                      L
  Labradorite, 110
  Lake Bascom, 93
  Lake beds, 22
  Lake deposits, Triassic, 55
  Lake Hadley, 5, 49, 52, 70
  Lake Hadley, glacial bed, 59, 79
  Lake, ice margin, 82
  Lake shore, Amherst, 79
  Lake shore, old, 7
  Lake shore, slope of, 7, 49
  Lake Springfield, 5, 49, 103
  Lake Springfield, antiquity, 70
  Lake Springfield, frozen, 70
  Lakes, post-glacial, 49
  Lakes, Triassic, 46, 56, 68, 101
  Landslide deposits, 46
  Landslide, Triassic, 56
  Landslides, ancient, 19, 21
  Lava, amygdaloidal, 104
  Lava, columnar, 32 P, 60, 60 P, 71
  Lava, Deerfield flow, 101
  Lava field, 72
  Lava flow, 25, 26, 28, 43, 44, 48, 60
  Lava, Holyoke flow, 26, 44, 81, 85
  Lava, pillow type, 96
  Lava, "second," 85
  Lead veins, 30, 63, 65
  Limestone, 35, 40, 114
  Limestone, Bernardston, 40
  Limestone, Cambrian, 38
  Limestone, Devonian, 34, 35
  Limonite, 111
  Longmeadow sandstone, 18
  Lowland, excavated, 13
  Lowland, Miocene age, 55
  Lowland relief, 53

                                      M
  Malachite, 64
  Marble, 118
  Marble, Westfield, 61, 105
  Maturity, 14
  Meander, 3, 62
  Meander scarps, 56, 57, 104
  Meander scarps, Sunderland, 57
  Meanders, Westfield River, 62
  Microcline, 109
  Microcline granite, 117
  Mine, West Farms, 64
  Mineral, definition, 106
  Minerals, genetic classification, 107
  Minerals, metamorphic, 111
  Minerals, pegmatite, 109
  Minerals, sedimentary, 111
  Minerals, soil, 111
  Minerals, vein, 63, 107
  Mine shaft, 64
  Miocene, 11, 14, 30, 55
  Miocene lowland, 14
  Monadnocks, 12 P, 55
  Moraine, terminal, 8, 48
  Mountain, eastern block, 19, 28
  Mountain, exhumed, 48, 100
  Mountain, Triassic, 21, 54
  Mt. Warner rocks, 87
  Muscovite, 109

                                      N
  Natural levee, 2, 3
  New England landscape, 15
  New England peneplain, 12 P, 15, 45, 74, 92 P
  New England upland, 51, 55, 90, 94
  New England upland, monadnocks, 55
  Notch, 25
  Notch, origin, 44, 74
  Notch quarry, 84

                                      O
  Olivine, 110
  Ophicalcite, 118
  Orchard land, 8
  Ordovician, 36, 33, 39
  Ox-bow, 3
  Ox-bow Lake, 4 P, 82

                                      P
  Paleozoic era, 42
  Pegmatite, 28, 32, 82
  Peneplain, erosional plain, 46
  Peneplain, New England, 12 P, 15, 45, 74
  Peridotite, 36, 38, 115
  Piedmont plains, 40
  Piracy by Farmington River, 47
  Pitchblende, 110
  Plains, lacustrine, 49
  Plankton, Cambro-Ordovician, 36
  Plants, Triassic, 22
  Plateau-like upland, 11
  Playa, 21, 22, 23, 46, 68
  Pliocene, 10, 11
  Pliocene uplift, 48
  Providence basin, 33
  Pyrite, 64, 108
  Pyromorphite, 64

                                      Q
  Quarry, Westfield Marble, 61, 62
  Quartz, 30, 63, 107
  Quartz porphyry, 116
  Quartzite, Cheshire, 93
  Quartzite conglomerate, 35

                                      R
  Raindrop imprints, 22
  Recession of Atlantic, Pliocene, 48
  Recession of ice, 9
  Red rock basin, 18
  Reeds, 67
  Rift movement, 43, 44
  Rift, Triassic, 43, 44
  Ripple-marks, 22, 69
  Roches moutonnées, 4 P, 9, 10
  Rock-benches, 15
  Rock, definition, 106
  Rock, extrusive, 32 P
  Rock, history recorded, 112
  Rock, igneous, 114
  Rock, intrusive, 32 P
  Rock, metamorphic, 117
  Rock mosaic, 17
  Rock, sedimentary, 113
  Rock, story of igneous, 114
  Rock, story of metamorphic, 117
  Rock, story of sedimentary, 113
  Rock varieties, 106

                                      S
  Salt crystals, casts, 67
  Sand bar, 1
  Sand dunes, 4
  Sandstone, 71
  Sandstone, Longmeadow, 83
  Sandstone, "second," 85
  Sandstone, Silurian, 39
  "Scallops," 4, 56
  Scallops, meander scarps, 56, 57
  Schist, 28, 117
  Schist, Conway, 95
  Schist, garnetiferous, 118
  Schist, Goshen, 89
  Schists, volcanic, 92
  Scour-channels, 1
  Screes, 43
  Sea, Cambrian, 36
  Sea, Devonian, 35
  Sea, Ordovician, 36
  Sediments, Devonian, 24
  Serpentine, 110, 118
  Shale, 21, 22, 55, 68, 114
  Shale, Chicopee, 18
  Sheets, intrusive, 42, 62
  Shickshock disturbance, 40
  Shore, Lake Springfield, 80
  Siderite, 64
  Sill, 32
  Silt, 3, 4, 21
  Slate, 35, 36, 117
  Slickensides, 66
  Snowfields, Triassic, 21
  Soapstone, 118
  Soapstone, uses, 119
  Sphalerite, 63, 108
  Spodumene, 109
  Springs, hot, 30
  St. Lawrence drainage, 15, 47
  Stock, 32
  Stone fences, 9, 52, 80
  Strath, 14, 15, 16, 47, 58, 92 P, 93
  Striations, 9
  Swales, 1, 98
  Swamps, 40

                                      T
  Taconic disturbance, 40
  Talc, 111
  Talus, 46
  Terminal moraine, 8, 49
  Terraced surface, 17
  Terraces, 4, 7, 49, 79, 98, 104
  Terraces, floodplain, 87
  Terraces, meander cut, 95
  Tertiary period, 16
  Till, 8, 10
  Top-set beds, 8
  Torbernite, 110
  Tourmaline, 109
  Tracks, dinosaur, 66
  Trail, Holyoke Range, 84
  Triassic, 42
  Triassic basin, filled, 13
  Tuff, 25, 36, 81, 84
  Tuff, Granby, 22 P, 25, 85

                                      U
  Upland, Eastern, 32
  Upland, New England, 18
  Upland, Western, 32, 34
  Uraninite, 110
  Uranite, 110
  U-shaped valley, 10

                                      V
  Varve, 9
  Varves, annual deposits, 69
  Vein, Hatfield, 64, 88
  Vein, Leverett, 65, 66
  Vein, Whately, 64
  Veins, lead, 63
  Veins, Loudville, 30, 63
  Volcanic necks, 23, 71
  Volcanics, Cambro-Ordovician age, 36
  Volcanics, Mt. Hitchcock, 29
  Volcanoes, 23, 27
  Volcanoes, Cambrian, 38
  Volcanoes, Ordovician, 38
  Volcanoes, Triassic, 43
  V-shaped valley, 14

                                      W
  Washout by flood, 87
  Watergap, 3
  Well, deep hole, 82
  Western Upland, 32, 34, 37
  Windblown sand, 4
  Wulfenite, 64

                            Geographic Index

          "P" indicates plate following page number indicated.

                                   A
  Adams, 14, 93
  Adirondack Mountains, 15, 35, 38
  Amherst, 7, 21, 25, 97
  Amherst Island, 98
  Ashfield, 90, 94
  Atlantic, 3

                                      B
  Bare Mountain, view, 73
  Belchertown, 80
  Belchertown Ponds, 82
  Berkshire Hills, 15, 38
  Berkshire Trail, 89
  Bernardston, 34, 35, 40
  Bernardston Ridge, 30, 43
  Blandford, Mass., 110
  Bloody Brook, 95
  Brattleboro, 3, 35
  Brimfield, 32

                                      C
  Catskill Mountains, 15, 40
  Central Vermont Railroad, 21
  Charlemont, 14
  Cheapside, 95
  Chester, Mass., 36
  Chester, Vt., 110
  Chesterfield, 89
  Chicopee, 7, 102
  Christopher Clark Road, 86
  Cobble Mountain, 105
  College Highway, 103
  Connecticut Lowland, 9, 12, 15, 49, 58, 61, 97
  Connecticut River, 11, 12 P, 56, 57
  Connecticut River, birth of, 47
  Connecticut River, pre-glacial, 58, 59
  Connecticut Valley, 6, 9, 14
  Conway, 55, 95
  Coolidge Memorial Bridge, 1, 9, 10, 48, 78
  Cummington, 14, 89

                                      D
  Daniel Shays Highway, 79, 97
  Davis Mine, 92
  Deerfield River, 12, 14, 21, 47, 58 P
  Dover, Vt., 110
  Durham, Conn., 22

                                      E
  Easthampton, 3, 86
  Erving, 97

                                      F
  Falls River, 58, 96
  Farmington River, 47
  Fish Hatchery, 96
  Flat Mountain, 76
  Fort River, 85
  French King Bridge, 22, 28, 30, 58 P, 59

                                      G
  Goshen, 55, 89
  Grafton Center, N. H., 109
  Granby, 21, 25, 46
  Greenfield, 96
  Greenfield Ridge, 26, 44
  Green Mountains, 15, 35, 36, 37, 38, 46

                                      H
  Hadley, 1, 4, 4 P, 11, 87
  Hadley lowland, view, 71
  Hartford, 18
  Hatfield, 4, 30, 64
  Haydenville, 89
  Hilliard Knob, 76
  Hockanum, 1, 2, 25
  Holyoke, 23, 67, 80
  Holyoke Range, 25, 52 P
  Holyoke Range, view of, 52 P, 83, 89
  Hoosac Tunnel, 92
  "Horse sheds," 76
  Housatonic, 6

                                      J
  Jacob's Ladder route, 61, 103
  Jamaica, 12, 14

                                      L
  Leverett, Mass., 21, 30, 35, 65
  Litchfield Hills, 16
  "Little Tinker," 29, 72
  Little Westfield River, 61
  Long Island, 9, 48
  Long Island Sound, 14, 16
  Loudville, 30, 63
  Lowell Mountains, 36

                                      M
  Maine, 15
  Manhan River, 103
  Martha's Vineyard, 9, 48
  Memphremagog, 35, 36
  Merrimack River, 6, 47
  Middletown, 3, 7, 22, 23, 49
  Mohawk Park, 92
  Mohawk Trail, 14, 35, 91
  Montague, 7, 21, 30, 99
  Mt. Ascutney, 15, 46
  Mt. Grace, 55
  Mt. Greylock, 15, 46, 55
  Mt. Hitchcock, 29, 72
  Mount Holyoke Hotel, 23, 71
  Mt. Holyoke Range, 3, 9, 14, 26, 44, 52 P, 71
  Mt. Lincoln, 12 P, 51, 52 P
  Mt. Lincoln, road to, 79
  Mt. Monadnock, 5, 9, 12 P, 46, 52, 55, 97
  Mt. Nonotuck, 86
  Mt. Norwottock, view, 75
  Mt. Okemo, 15
  Mt. Sugarloaf, 12 P, 56, 58 P, 87
  Mt. Toby, 18, 20, 52
  Mt. Tom Range, 9, 14, 26, 44
  Mt. Tom Reservation, 86
  Mt. Wachusett, 15, 46, 55
  Mt. Warner, 4, 14, 30, 43
  Mt. Washington, 9

                                      N
  New Hampshire, 15, 48
  New Haven, 14, 17, 19, 26
  New London, 3, 14
  New Salem, 97
  North Adams, 93
  Northampton, 1, 3, 4 P, 26
  Northfield, Mass., 17, 52
  Northfield Mountains, 36
  North Hadley, 4, 87
  Norwottock, 4
  Notch Mountain, 73, 74

                                      O
  Old Deerfield, 95
  Orange, 52, 97
  Orient, 79

                                      P
  Pelham, 15, 51
  Pelham Hills, 9
  Pelham, view, 51, 79
  Plainfield, 14, 38, 90
  Plainfield Pond, 94
  Pocumtuck Hills, 14, 52, 95
  Portland, Conn., 19, 109

                                      Q
  Quabbin Reservoir, 79, 97, 105

                                      R
  "Riffles," 22, 67
  Roaring Brook, 21, 52, 99

                                      S
  Saguenay, 10
  Savoy, 93
  Shelburne Summit, 91
  Shickshock Mountains, 35
  "Sisters," the, 71
  South Amherst, 9
  South Ashfield, 94
  South Deerfield, 4
  South Hadley, 7, 25
  South Hadley Falls, 7, 69
  Spencer, 32
  Springfield, 19
  Stratton Mountain, 15, 55
  Sunderland, 4, 22, 28, 98
  Sunderland Bridge, 2, 3, 10, 48, 98
  Sunderland Caves, 21, 55, 69, 101
  Swift River, 89

                                      T
  Taconic Mountains, 35, 36, 93
  Taylor's Notch, 71
  "Tinker," 29, 72
  Titan's Piazza, 60, 85
  Titan's Pier, 61
  Townshend, Vt., 12
  Trail, Holyoke Range, 71
  Tuckerman Ravine, 10
  Turners Falls, 22, 26, 44, 58, 96

                                      W
  Ware, 32
  Westfield Marble Quarry, 62
  Westfield River, 14, 60 P, 89
  West Pelham, 11
  West River, 12, 47
  Whately, 30, 64, 88
  Whitcomb Summit, 92
  White Mountains, 10, 15, 46, 47, 48
  Whittemore's Ferry, 68, 69
  Wilbraham Mountains, 18, 60 P, 62
  Williamsburg, 89
  Williamstown, 93
  Windsor Dam, 32 P
  Worcester, 32

                                      Z
  Zoar, 92

                            Publications of
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_Birds of the Connecticut Valley_, by Aaron C. Bagg and Samuel A. Eliot.
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  A large comprehensive and authentic book for bird lovers. Many
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_Geology of the Connecticut Valley_, by William I. Miller.
                                                                    1.25

  First published in 1921. Went into two editions and is now out of
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_Retreat from Reason_, by Lancelot Hogben.
                                                                     .75

  With notes by Isabel Stearns.

  First American edition 1937. An original and acute mind criticises the
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_The Flow of Time in the Connecticut Valley_: Geological Imprints, by
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                                                                    2.00

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_A Puritan Town and Its Imprints_: Northampton, 1786-1845, by Barbara
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                                                                    3.75

                                 _MAP_

_Pictorial Map of Northampton_, by Priscilla Paine.
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_Vesper Address_, by William Allan Neilson.
                                                                     .15

_The Rights and Privileges pertaining thereto ..._, by Marjorie H.
      Nicolson. 1939.
                                                                     .25

_Approach to Proust_, by Marine Leland.
                                                                     .35

                          _HAMPSHIRE BOOKSHOP
                           DEFENSE PAMPHLETS_

1. _America's Dilemma_, by William Allan Neilson. 1941.
                                                                     .10

2. _First Things First_, by Mary Ellen Chase. 1941.
                                                                     .20

3. _The Liberal Arts College in War Time_, by Esther Cloudman Dunn.
      1941.
                                                                     .20

4. _Guarding the Line_, by William Allan Neilson. 1942.
                                                                     .15

                              OF THIS BOOK
             ONE THOUSAND COPIES WERE COMPOSED AND PRINTED
        IN THE SPRING OF 1942 BY E. L. HILDRETH & COMPANY, INC.,
                      BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT, U.S.A.

                          Transcriber's Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
  is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
  _underscores_.