Other lake deposits with fish remains appear at different levels from Whittemore’s Ferry up to the Sunderland Caves. Each is covered by a conglomerate layer, and at each place the lake clays had been partially hardened before the pebbles were washed over them. Seemingly dry alluvial plains followed transient lakes in kaleidoscopic but cyclic succession.
The lakes in which the fish lived and died date back to late Triassic time. Much younger were the lakes that followed the continental ice sheets, and in many valley localities these younger water bodies have registered their brief span of geologic life. For they, too, were settling basins for clays, which are characterized by annual depositional bands like the growth rings in a tree. These clays may be examined best in the clay pits at any of the brickyards, particularly at South Hadley Falls, or beside the high river banks rising above the Connecticut flood plain just south of Hadley.
The clays consist of alternating thin, dark, fine bands and thick, light, coarser ones. The coarser bands are sandy, and some of them have ripple-marks. The total number of pairs of beds is the number of years that glacial Lakes Springfield and Hadley inundated the valley, but it is not a simple matter to count them. Actually the lake bottom deposits are but a small fraction of the total volume of material brought to the lake. Lake shore deposits and deltas grew outward and buried the bottom deposits after a few hundred years had passed. Thus in the pits at South Hadley Falls, the clays rest upon glacial gravels, and a scant hundred layers intervene between them and the sands above. Shore encroachment is not encountered at Hadley, but the shallow depth of the present water table hinders deep exploration, and the Fort River has removed many of the upper beds.
Long winters result in thick winter deposits, and heavy spring floods cause thick sand layers. If the winter of any year is long atNorthampton, it is usually long everywhere in New England; and if the Connecticut has floods, most neighboring drainage systems have them, too. In this way, similar layers, or similar successions of layers, are formed at different places at the same time; and the lake deposits at White River Junction, Deerfield, Hadley, South Hadley Falls, Chicopee and Springfield may be matched and dated with respect to each other. The complete record in the valley shows that, in the vicinity of the Holyoke Range, the lake came into existence about 18,000 years ago.
In each of the clay pits every set of lines exposed on the working faces represents a year, and the deposit as a whole is a calendar—in fact, it is also a thermograph for part of the region’s post-glacial history. Some bands at South Hadley Falls and along the Hadley river bank are 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.
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 lessarduous 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 thana 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 hasexcavated 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.
Fig. 24.Diagrams showing the stages in development of topography in the vicinity of the Notch.
Fig. 24.Diagrams showing the stages in development of topography in the vicinity of the Notch.
a.The New England peneplain stage at the Notch.
a.The New England peneplain stage at the Notch.
b.The incoherent rocks are removed from the lava flow.
b.The incoherent rocks are removed from the lava flow.
c.The contours of the cliffs are smoothed out.
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 basaltcliffs 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.
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.
The route leaves from the Court House corner on Highway 5 and the excursion follows Route 9 eastward across the Coolidge MemorialBridge (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 (seep. 15) lies straight ahead and projects above the great expanse of the New England upland (seep. 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 (seep. 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 bedsunderlie 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). (Seep. 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).
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 (seep. 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 marginof 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.
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 ofBachelor 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 (seep. 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 (seep. 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).
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 andto 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).
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 theriver, 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 ofthe 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 (seep. 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 (seep. 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).
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 (seep. 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.)
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.
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 themost 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.