Page:The Journal of geology (IA journalofgeology11893univ).pdf/408

land was elevated and estuarine conditions gave place to fluviatile, the Scantic lengthened "mouthward," consequent upon the minor inequalities of the newly made beds. The effect would be substantially the same if the terraces were built by great valley floods, as Dana supposes. In pre-glacial times this river, in common with several other rivers rising on the crystallines and flowing into the Connecticut, had courses of various lengths over the Triassic sandstones, but these old valleys are lost entirely, the later trenches in the terrace deposits being altogether independent of them.

Other examples. The lower Hockanum, Farmington, Park, and the entire length of many short streams are similar to the lower Scantic, and originated under similar conditions. Stony Brook, a little stream north of Windsor Locks, presents the same features, but with this variation: It is superimposed through a thin layer of drift upon the sandstone, into which it has cut a deep, picturesque gorge. The Hockanum and Farmington are also "locally superimposed" in a few places. The Connecticut, also, north of Middletown, although following its pre-glacial valley, has departed in numerous places from its former bed, and has cut down through the valley-filling onto ledges of rock beneath. The water-power at Enfield, Conn., and at Turner's Falls and Bellows Falls, Mass., is the result of this superimposed position.

Abandoned gaps. Many abandoned water-gaps must exist among the hills of the state. Cook's Gap, through which the New York and New England Railroad crosses the trap ridge, three miles west of New Britain, has already been discussed. It must not be confounded with the majority of the other gaps in the trap ridge, which are oblique, break the alignment of the ridge, and are due to faults.

The New York and New England Railroad in ascending to the eastern plateau passes through Bolton Notch, a few miles east of Manchester. This notch, also, is an abandoned river bed but, as it seems, abandoned at a later date and for another reason than that assigned for Cook's Gap. The drift is very heavy in