ments of basaltic granite.

Witli the " wedge and feather" the coarser-grained
basaltic rock is readily worked. Sills, cornice, step-
stones, and building-stone of any size or shape can



easily be worked out of this rock. The time will come,
no doubt, when this will be the material in greatest
request for fine edifices. At present, owing to the
cost, it is not attracting much attention for this pur-
pose. The only structure in Hunterdon that is built
of this material is the one in which the author of this
chapter now sits writing this article. It was erected
by the writer in the fall and winter of 1875.

From Goat Hill much valuable basaltic granite has
been shipped to Philadelphia and elsewhere. Upon
this site the rock works well, and, the canal being
near by, it is easy of transportation. At this place
have been split out slabs twenty feet long that were
not more than two and a half feet wide and two feet
thick. From this site, also, thousands of tons have
been shipped for paving material.

The other sites upon the Sourland at which the
surface-trap has been successfully worked are (Shep-
herd's Hill, Rocktown, Basaltic Cliff, and Pero Hill.
As they exist in the larger dikes, the trap-rocks are
stratified. This may be seen in the exposure near
Rocktown, in that upon the west side 'of Goat Hill,
and elsewhere. In the main, the layers are thick. In
some places are beds that are twenty feet deep ; at
others not more than one or two feet ; while upon the
top of Goat Hill, on lands owned by W. F. Bain-
bridge, is a quarry or working of basaltic trap in
which the layers are in many cases less than half an
inch in thickness. Slabs of basalt four feet long, two
and a half feet wide, whose average thickness was less
than an inch, are here obtained. This quarry is
worked for flagstones and for bridge-covering; and
from it, for these purposes, is taken some of the most
handsome and substantial material.

In the main, the strata of trap are traversed by two
systems of joints that cross each other at such angles
as to divide the beds into blocks somewhat lozenge-
shaped. Occasionally the blocks are rather cuboidal,
sometimes rhombohedral. Be the blocks whatever
shape they may, when exposed to the atmosphere they
yield to climatic influences, and in the process of dis-
integration the course is always the same. The block
exposed first loses its corners. Upon examination of
the pieces that have fallen we learn that the surface
by which it adhered to the parent block is concave;
upon examining the surface of that part of the block
from which a corner fell, we learn that it is convex.
In the process of time, from each of the projecting
parts of the remaining portion of the parent block a
somewhat meniscus-shaped piece becomes disjointed
and falls. In time, from each of the protuberances
another meniscus-shaped piece separates, and so the
process is repeated, until the residue of the block be-
comes almost a perfect sphere. Nor does this process
of concentric exfoliation cease at this juncture, for
meniscus-shaped pieces still separate from thespheroid
until the core is in size, in many cases, less than a
walnut. The core, however, disintegrates in another
way. At first it divides; then it subdivides; and



PHYSICAL CHOCKAI'IIV AND ( I K< )U HI V OF II UNTKKlx I.N C<>[\\TY.



179



finally its crystals disjoin and crumble into very small
particles.

In many cases, when the process of . tentric ex-
foliation has progressed onl) so far as to round off the
corners a little, the parenl block separates through
the middle. Thus are produced two fragments, each
<>f which has lour sharp, well-defined corners and
lour convex protuberances. Bui angularity is uot
allowable by the law thai regulates the disintegration
of detached basaltic blocks. Ere long the corners of
the newly-formed fragments fall, meniscus-shaped
pieci follow, and in :i ahorl time the disinb
block becomes at firsl irregular]) plano-convex, then
irregularly ovoid, and finall) irregularly spheroid, [n
main cases where the parenl block is very large the

meniscus-shaped fragments are corresj lingly large,

;iuil ofttimes, especially when separated from inferior
parts of the parenl stone, remain standing, sometimes
in a vertical position, but more frequently they are
inclined. Occasionally the separation is such that
the parent block, while exfoliating, divides into four,
eight, or sixteen pieces, or any other number that maj
result from a fission in which the joints are horizontal
and vertical. Hence arise soman) of tl fantas-
tic form- seen in the shapes of the trappean bowlders

along theSourland Ridge. . s of these are worthy

of mention.

A little north of Pero Hill, on I tie « esl jide of the
road, is a large bowlder projecting its upper surface
-oiiH- three feel above the soil. This table-rock is
about twenty-seven feel long and about twenty-six
feet wide. Upon il are three irregularly oblong rocks,
eai ii of which is about fifteen feet long, five feet high,
and seven feel wide. These superimposed rocks are
known as the "Three Brothers."

Along the t -;i — t side of the h.ise-rock lies a bowlder
about on, •-hull' tin' size of our of the Brothi rs, which
within a few year- has dropped fr one of these su-
perimposing fragments, and within a few years mon
another segmentation will take place with another of
i he Brothers: in facl it began long since, and i- rap-
idly completing ii- work. Now, these five rocks, the
table, the Three Brothers, ami the fragment which
ha- fallen off, have in an earlier day been hut one

rod . hi i nse bowlder almost cubical in Bhape.

At first tin' segmentation took place horizontally.
When the two parts had grown entirely distinct, ami
their adjacent edges, by the exfoliating process, had

become bi iwhat rounded, tin upper rock fractured

n rtically, with joints thai extend from east to west.
Km these several vertical fractures were not all made
at the same time. At firsl was separated the south
Brother; after this tin- northern piece divided in two;
ami finally, thesegmcnl that im» Ii, - upon the ground
fell from the south Brother.

I in the east side of the road, a little way north of

tlir Three Brothers, ma) bi seen specimens of this
kind of work on a scale far more grand. But, a- they
arc farther removed from public view, their fantastic



form- have not -o much attracted tin attention of
lovers of tin- marvelous.

A favorable example of the proee-s of r-.,i ntrie

exfoliation ma) be Been in the hank along the road
extending from Ringos to Rocktown; a more favor-
able one -till may be found in a sand-pit upon the
northern -lope of ' roat Hill.

The disjointed corners ami tin- meniscus-shaped

-palls, as a in!', are very ephemeral. They soon

crumble ami moulder to -"il. Each i- hut the result
of a step in the process of disintegration. This will
In- learned upon a careful inspection of any basaltic
bowlder that i- rapidly disintegrating. Even those
ina - e- that are decaying beneath the surface of the
scil exhibit tin- I '■: t in a sinking manner In sand-
pits along the Bourland we often -era vertical wall
that seems to consist of 3olid blocks, each of which is
formed of a core around which are concentric layers
capped with corners. But when this fantastic wall i-
struck with the pick it yields, crumbles, ami. except-
ing the cons of the apparent blocks, inoiihler- to
-ami.

COPPEB 0EE.

In tin- altered shale along the northern part of the
Anastomosing Dike exists that variety of copper ore
known a- gray euprie sulphide. This on
sive ami i- sectile. In color it is a dark lead-gray.

Speci ns are sometimes found that polish readily by

rubbing them with a woolen cloth. This i- the kind
of ore found in tin- mine at Flemington : also in those
on Qershom ('. Sergeant's farm ami at Copper Hill.

t topper ore of the same grade ha- been found in a
digging on the southeast Bide of Dike Ridge. Indeed,
it may he looked for along any of the anastomosing
or insular 'like-.

Cupro-ferric sulphide, or copper pyrites, i
sionally found associated with euprie Bulphide.

OXIDE or u ING i\i -i

A vein of this ore was found on a hill about equi-
distant between Clinton ami Lebanon, ami somewhat
south of the line between them. It is on lands of
John T. Leigh ami lie- estate of Gen. I leorge Taylor.
The hill i< of red sandstone and conglomerate, and

the opening- in it arc in a northw.-t ami southeast
line at intervals for about one hundred ami fifty feet.

Tley indicate a vein about ten feet wide, ami the
openings have been made four or \\w feet deep. The

ore i- quite distinct from the rock, ami not at all

intermixed. Tin- ore contains between seventy ami

eighty per cent, of Oxide, hut a portion of it i- sesqui-

oxide.

It ha- not been applied to any use, ami the open-

ere mad i the supposition that it was iron

■ ire.

1 ' - II -.
Fossil w 1 i- found in -mall fragments at almost

every point where the -hale i- quarried. In BOmC
place- mi-, be I ini'l the fruit 0/ thl ttii i i r. -t.



ISO



HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.



Such is the case in the shale in the bank of the
Locatong Rivulet, where it cuts through the brow
of the table-land. At this site are some layers
of shale that seem to have been formed of sticks,
twigs, leaves, and fruit, cemented together by mud.
Indeed, the shale of these layers, when pulverized
and heated in a retort, gives off abundantly an in-
flammable gas. In most places the shale is too soft,
if exposed, to retain in a legible condition the fossils
it contains, but where indurated it retains its fossil-
iferous treasures for a greater length of time.

The only well-defined fossils indicative of animal
life are those found by Prof. Smock in the indurated
shale along a rill near Tumble's Station, not far from
the Delaware. These are the tracks of a reptile
whose stride was thirteen inches, and the length of
whose central toe was three and a half inches.
Doubtless the animal that made these tracks belonged
to the Dinosaurs, and at the time of making them
was erect, walking upon its feet, with its hands pend-
ent. The slabs upon which are the tracks are in the
museum of Rutgers College, at New Brunswick, N. J.

In the quarries of Milford tracks are said to have
been found, although quite indistinct. The writer
has searched all the accessible exposures of shale for
the past twenty years, and, with the exception of
those upon the slabs in Rutgers College, has seen no
tracks.

QUATEKNAKY AGE.

The rocks of this age belong either to the Glacial
Period, or else to the modern era of the Recent Pe-
riod.

Glacial Period. — The rocks belonging to this, period
are unstratified drift. They do not occur in all parts
of the county, nor are they very abundant or of great
depth at any place. A part of the surface of Leb-
anon, Tewksbury, Clinton, and Readington is be-
strewn with small bowlders, gravel, and sand of this
period. The most southern limit of the drift is in the
southern part of Clinton township, between the South
Branch and Prescott Brook. Here is a deposit of
small bowlders, gravel, and sand that overlies the red
shale. From this deposit we have picked up bowl-
ders of Medina sandstone, Oneida conglomerate, Pots-
dam sandstone, magnesian limestone, fossiliferous
limestone, Hudson River slate, Lower Helderbcrg
limestone, Oriskany sandstone, gneiss and cauda-galli
grit. Hence, we see that this mass of drift, small as
it is, consists of fragments from nearly all the older
rocks that lie to the north of it. And perhaps one
would express a truth should he affirm that this little
tongue of drill contains fragments of every formation
that lies within a hundred miles north of it.

Modem Era of the Reeent Period. — In this county,
during this era, no extensive beds of rock either have
formed or are now forming. Since within the county
there, are no estuaries, bays, or lakes into which
streams flow, we seem almost barren of opportunity
for (he deposition of rock of this era. However, de-



posits have taken place upon a small scale, and are
still taking place. These deposits are confined almost
exclusively to ponds of water the result of art, — mill-
ponds and the like. Of these there are none so large
or so important as to deserve a special description.

But, while there are but few areas over which rocks
are now forming, excepting these small areas, the en-
tire soil of our county is suffering change — disintegra-
tion and transposition — to effect the formation of de-
posits upon the bottoms of the bays or estuaries into
which, beyond the limits of our county, our streams
flow. This change is immense, and the amount of
material annually transported from the surface of our
county to the Delaware Bay and to Raritan Bay is
enormous. But so silently is this change effected,
and so commonplace are the agents employed in
effecting it, that the commonalty of people scarcely
notice it.

At each rainfall the rills, rivulets, and rivers are
swollen. The pluvial waters saturate the surface of
the ground, flood the soil, and flow off to the sea. At
each rainfall some substances are dissolved from the
soil, others are held in suspension, others are pushed
along at the bottom of the flow ; all are transported
seaward. In this way, during every considerable rain,
tons of the soil are carried from our fields and de-
posited upon the bottoms of the estuaries of the.
streams that drain our land.

About twenty-five years ago the writer began to make
systematic observations upon the Wickecheocke Rivu-
let and its basin. As this stream has a rapid flow. — ■
about eighty feet in a mile, — it is favorable to this
kind of study. The observations that have been made
show the following: Since the observations began,
between Sergeant's saw-mill and the bridge that spans
the stream some quarter of a mile above, the rivulet
has eroded the solid rock to a depth of two and a half
feet ; between the bridge and Pine Hill Pond it has
excavated a channel about five feet deep. Twenty-
five years ago a little way below the saw-mill was a
pond, about four and a half feet deep, witli solid,
smooth rock floor ; at present there is a riffle about
where the middle and the deepest part of the pond
formerly were. By eroding the bed of the channel
below the pond the stream has drained the pool, ami
now the area of rock previously covered with water
is as dry, and exhibits its joints as plainly, as the
rock in any well-worked quarry. Nor is the change
respecting the altitude and condition of the stream
here greater than at any other place for a full mile
down the stream.

At the point where the stream from Sergeantsville
Hows i u to the Wickechcoche was some time ago a pond.
It was about fifty yards long, about twenty-five yards
wide, and about four and a half feet deep, — a favorite
resort For the young who were learning to swim.
Upon the south side the bank was steep, formed of
rocks that well preserved the mark made by a chisel.
Upon these rocks the writer used to keep his mark-



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OE HUNTERDON COUNTY.



1-1



Bui now ill" pond is g and the rocks have

been eroded and removed. Here now is a riffle which
i- al least t < - ■ i feel below the altitude thai marked our
old swimming place. Farther down, where the stream
Bows through whal was formerly B. Larison's farm,
the surface of the water, upon an average, is fully five
feel lower than ii was twenty-five years

In this way we mighl take up section after section
and show thai from Pine Hill to the canal al Pralls-
ville tlic Wickecheoche is rapidly deepening
of its basin and transporting seaward the material of
its banks.

While this rivulet is excavating its bed, the pluvial
waters are washing from the slopes thai form its basin
silt, detritus, and debris to lower the level of their
surfaces. To I"- sure, 1 1 1 i - lowering of the altitude of
these slopes is less than the lowering of the altitude
of the bed and banks of the Btream. Yet, from mark-
ings upon pillars and the like-, it is evident thai from
ce of the farm >>n which the writer was raised so
much detritus has been transported thai the surface,
upon an average, is fully twelve inches below the sur-
face of the sod which he used to plow. Indeed, he
who farms theold homestead now plows not the soil
which thr writer used to turn twenty-five years ago.
That which he mow (ills was the subsoil then, beneath
the reach of tin- plowshare. Similar changes are, and
have been, effected everywhere. The surface of our

fields is re ?ed, our hills are lowered, our valleys

deepened, the estuaries of our streams filled.

I'll, removal of the finer particles of the surface of
the land— the loam, clay, sand, and gravel by clima-
tic influences effects many phe tens that are nol

easily explained bj the tyro. Of thesi phenomena,
we will discuss bul one, the bowlders and surface-
stones existing in our county thai are not a pari of
the ilrii't material.

We have already stated thai thr strata belonging to
the Triassic Period vary in chemical and physical
composition ami in degree of hardness or durability.

B i of the strata yield readilj to climatic influences,

easily moulder into soil, ami arc quickly tran
to expose the subsoil. Other strata are more durable
ami lor a greater length of time resisl decay.
in thr Bame stratum there are sections which, in
chemical ami physical composition, are quite unlike
thr main portion of the bed. These sections are
Bometimes harder, sometimes softer, than the main
part of the layer. Hence it is thai a durable layer,
or a durable poi tion o ■ layer, may It both

underlaid ami overlaid bj softer and more yielding
rock. Ami, as thr softer and more yielding rock i>
the soonest removed, the layer underlying as well as
th.' layer overlying a given hard stratum may he ili—
integrated and transported, while the hard strata, or
the hard section of a softer one, are only exposed
along the line of their strike, or bo disintegrated thai
they are separated into bowlders, spalls, sand, and the
like. Hence results, in long ridges, the projecting



outcrop of the more silicious layers, everywhi
over the face of the red -halo. So, too, has n

the bowldi rs thai - o be collected upon ie

patches or are scattered over the surface, as
in the Sandy Etidge district and elsewhere. Likewise
has resulted the cobble-stone, or scattered surface-
stone, more or less numerous everjrw here.

At Borne places these bowlders and surface-stones
arc far removed from the strata from which they have
di tached. Such is the case with the basaltic
bowlders Boutfa of Rocktown. Here we find large
bowlders of basall lyingupon the surface of altered
shale, two, three, four, and five hundred yards from
any stratum or bed of rock of the same kind. In-
deed, thi nearest bed of this kiml of rock is that
ig the dike that extends along to the north of the
village, and from this layer, doubtless, they have been
detached. At an early time the Sourland Ridge, al
this place, and indeed at every other place, was verj
much higher than it now i-. At thai time the eleva-
tion, as now, was effected by the continuity and thick-
ness of it- strata. Then the strata of altered shale

that (lank the dikl the BOUth were longer than

now, and, with the same dip thai they now have, ex-
tended upward and reached farther towards the south.
Upon these strata of altered -hale the .trap-dike
rested. At the same time, the <1 i k<- itself was covered
with indurated shale. But, the shale being the most
easil] disintegrated and transported, the layer above
has been first removed, exposing the outcropping
basalt : the outcropping basalt has then been sepa-
rated at its joints into large blocks, which, l>y exfoli-
ating, have effected targe inter-pace-, so as to expose
more or less the underlying altered shale ; the under-
lying altered shale, then subjected to climatic in-
fluences, has been disintegrated and transported more
rapidly than the fragments of basall thai rested upon

it. As the transporting pr ss reduced the elevation

of the surface, the detached portion- of the basalt re-
main to show how far towards the southeast the <iik<-
extended in earlier times.

There i~ a phenomenon relating to Burface-bowldere,
ami to Burface-stone in general, that demands ex-
planation. Everywhere the cobble-stones ami bowl-
ders are -ecu. m.t resting upon the surface of tin'
ground, but parti] sunken into it, a- it wire. How
happen- this'.' In the spring, at the time that the

fro-t disappears from the -oil, the earthy substance is
surcharged with water, bo much bo that the entire

-oil bet - an imperfect liquid. Then the bowlders

ami surface-stone -ink into the ground until they

reach that point at which their weight is poised by

the -p.- hi gravity of the liquid ■ il In.- main-
tain their relation to the soil in the same way. Itut

tor this process the transporting of the -oil by cli-
matic influences would in a short time not only leave
howl. hi- upon the surface of the ground, bul would

lay hare the root- of every tree ami every perennial
plant.



182



HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.



CHAPTER II.

LAND TITLES AND SETTLEMENT.

Title derived from the Crown — Deeds from Indians — Head-lands — Irregu-
larity in Surveys — Treaty with Indians, 1703 — Dividends of Land —
Proprietary Tracts — Early Settlement — The Quakers make first Settle-
ment, in 1676 — First Church — First Accurate Survey in Hunterdon,
1707— Tax-roll of 1722— Early Settlers in Various Portions of the
County— Early Bridges— First Koad— Early Mills— During the Revo-
lution — Growth, etc.

The title to the lands of West as well as East Jer-
sey was derived from the Crown. Although deeds
from Indian claimants are held by some of the pres-
ent owners, unless patents or surveys were also ob-
tained, the legal title must rest .upon possession aud
not upon deeds. After the division of the province,
in 1663, West Jersey was sold in hundredths. Fen-
wick, to whom a conveyance had been made in trust
for Byllinge, and who himself executed a long lease
to Eldridge aud Warner, was recognized as entitled
to ten hundredths, and other parties became proprie-
tors of ninety hundredths, so that a full proprietary
right in West Jersey was a hundredth part. These
were subdivided into lots of one hundred parts
each. No patents were issued in West Jersey. In
1676 the proprietors, freeholders, and inhabitants
established and signed certain concessions and agree-
ments regulating the government and the mode of
acquiring title to land. " Head-lands" were granted
to settlers, and commissioners appointed to regulate
the setting forth and dividing them. The amount of
land thus appropriated was not large. After the right
to head-lands ceased title was derived from the orig-
inal proprietors of the hundredths. Regular deeds of
conveyance — formerly by lease and release, in modern
times by deeds of bargain and sale, either of a frac-
tional part or of a specified number of acres — trans-
ferred the title.

During the early years of the settlement there was
much irregularity in the mode of making surveys.
For many years the surveys called for fixed monu-
ments, and, the measurement of the lines being re-
turned much shorter than they really were, great frauds
were perpetrated by making the survey to include more
land than the acres specified.* This led, about 1786,
to the order to surveyors to establish a " beginning"
corner, and then to confine themselves to strict course
and distance. This remedied the abuse in part, but
it was found in some cases that, though no fixed cor-
ners were specified in the return, they were marked
on the ground, and, being respected by other survey-
ors, they were, after a lapse of time, necessarily recog-
nized by the council and courts as established monu-
ments, although a large overplus of land became thus
included in the survey.t



* An allowance of ftvo acres to the hundred was mado in West Jersey
for highways.

t Appendix to " Constitution and Government of the Province and
State of Now Jersey," by I.. Q. C. Elmer, IH72, pp. 481, et »■•./.



Commissioners were elected who were empowered
"to set forth and divide all the lands of the Province
as were taken up, or by themselves shall be taken up
and contracted for with the natives, and the said lands
to divide into one hundred parts, as occasion shall
require."! The first and second divisions extended