M m
M
WI N TE R
A PH E L I O N
%
S
% OR
T HE
Ga
an
AM % E L
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%
%
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L OR %
N E W HAM P S HI R E % O AR %
O%
AG
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R I% % L T % R E .
% ON % OR D
P R INT E %
% %
T HE
REP% % LI %
AN
1 8 84
PRE S S
AS S O % I AT I ON
.
THE
AN% IENT M ERRIM A% % AN% ITS
APHELION WINTER
G LA% IERS IN
.
Looking at the Merrimack river we see its waters flow in a
c omparatively s m a l l channel but at th e sam e time the form of
its banks and its sev eral recedi n g terraces now level now i n
satisfy u s
c l i n i n g extending som e times a mile on either side
th a t at some time in its geological history its water s were mad e
to flow over a greater space under very different condition s
from the present
We have seen the cu rrent v o raciously take away sand and
soil from one sid e of the stream and at the same time gently
deposit the like on the other side and we h ave seen river beds
filled the strata of sand and mud deposited one above the other ,
until after a few years they rise above the level of the stream
and become permanent dry lan d and vegetation grows the r eon
The character of such formations is not unlike that of the river
banks and terraces along the Merrimack from its rise to the
ocean T hat these ban ks and terraces are the work of water ,
no one for a moment can ques t ion But when we S peak sim ply
of the action of water in produ cing these formations we are not
satisfied to stop here for our belief goes further and we seek
to know the causes of these phenomen a
In riding from Hooksett to Suncook near the mills south
westerly from the great clay banks we m ay see a boulder of
great proportions weighing some hu n dred tons bedded in the
sand and clay of that pl ace It is a gneissic rock and the sand
and cl ay there could u nder no ordinary tran sformation form
such a rock It is in composition foreign to the pl ace % urther
n orth near the railroad track excavated from the sand w e se e
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m any other smaller bou lders of granitic form ation But s u c h
boulders are found everywhere in New Hampshire
Whence came these boulders % Di ffering in composition fro m
th e surrounding sand or earth we know they are not natives of
th e place % they are foreign to it and were transported ther e
by some force that has now ceased to exist
The S ecretary of the Board of Agriculture in boring a well
on his farm on the Merrimack river beneath a few feet of inter
val so i l came to clay which he found to be some forty feet
thick and below this clay at a depth of eighty two feet through
successiv e l ayers of sand clay m arl and gra vel %all being a
sedimentary deposit% he reached a pebbly formation the u n
doubted bed o f the ancient river
No w the action of water u nder varied circumstances migh t
produ c e these formations of the banks terraces and sediment
ary deposits of clay and sand ; but i ts ac tion in this w ay does
not account for the boulders we find T hey do not swim in th e
water but the y are and can be transported on th e ice which
m ay float in water % and here we come boldly to the suggestio n
of the floating ice or more tardy glacier , in the valleys of the
Merrimack and its tributaries
At the first thought this suggestion may seem i ncredibl e b ut
we read of and see the glaciers in the A lps and even neare r to
u s in Greenland and we know of their existence at the present
tim e in nearly e v ery lofty mountain and when we see the m arks ,
stri a e and scratches u p o n t h e highest ro c ks and boulders scat
t e r e d everywhere w hich mark the tracks of th e glacier or flo a t
i ng i ce
and which the geologists follow with as mu ch certainty
as the hu nter does the tracks of the deer we are conv inced th ere
is no other true interpretation ; and yet it i s only a few years
that we have dared to entertain such a thought
Geologists have tr a ced the river Rhone from its begin n i ng i n
the glacier at the foot of the Alps to the Mediterranean
On
this river i s the celebrated Lake Geneva fifty miles long and
f rom two to eight miles wide ; and we are told that this lake w a s
s coop ed out by the glacier that on c e moved do wn that valley
Looking to the Switzerland of A m erica i t is not incredible that
our own Wi n n i p i s e o g ee wa s formed by the same forc e of th e
gla c i er for th e eviden c e i s j u st a s strong
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The Massabesic is surrounded by hills % the outlet is over a
h ard ledge now worn down b v the water and ice to its present
level that in glacial times was many feet higher These reser
v o i r s of the Wi n n i p i s eo g e e and Massabesic are the work of
erosion —once plains and by the erosive force of water and i c e
dug out and the mu d and sand washed down the valley of the
Merrimack forming in part its banks and terraces of to day
S uch instances are common in all parts of th e state where the
and left the evidences behind
s ame forces have done like work
them in the form of lakes and po n ds of all sizes
T he % osemite valley was once filled with the glacier and flo a t
i ng ice ; the great canons of the Colorado w ere caused by the
erosion s of water in glacial times ; and why have w e n o t the
i ndisputable right to say the c a fi o n of the M errimack shall be
interpreted in the same way %
But you will say before we can have the ice and snow of the
glacier we must have the temperature fit to produce it ; and if
this condition is established n o o n e can do ubt
T housands of years ago all admit there was a n a g e of ice
and many m en of science believe these glacial periods have o c
curred i h all the different geological divisions at t i mes of high
eccentricity
Mr Croll one of the best authorities on this
says that the glacial age must have occurred between
s ub j ect
and
years ago or between
and
y ears ago and he further says
on this point I consulted sev
and they all agreed in referring th e gl a
e ral emin ent geologists
c i a l epoch to the former period the reason assigned being that
they considered the latter period m u ch too re c ent a n d of too
He however refers i t
s hort duration to represent that epoch
to the latter He might have referred to both and others pre
vions also I do not propose to invite vo u in this paper to go
back so far as those ages but only some
years where I
hope to be a ble to find conditions fit for a New Hampshire gla
c ier and this by simple astronomical facts which we learn in our
s chool s that if applied to our sub j ect m ust be apparent to all
To begin let me refer to some meteorological conditions and
T he mean an nual temperature
data which you may all know
north it will b e lower and sout h
of Concord is about 45
I assum e that the mean annu al temperature of the stat e
h igher
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now
Since the freezing point is
we have only to find
a temperature averaging 1 3 below the present to represent one
proper for snow and ice in some p arts at least the vear ro u nd
Snow now remains during n early the whole year in some parts
of the White Mountains and it was p articularly noticed in the
summer of 1 88 2 in some of the rav ines there very late
On
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the first of % uly 1 8 8 3 the sno w i n T uckerman s ravine in
places was fifty feet deep and did not disappear till the first of
% u t how
Augu st and again appeared th e 9th of S eptember
shall we accou nt for so low a temperature as we seek n ec
essary to produ ce a gl acier % Is not the heat of the su n the
s am e from year to year equal in intensity % Did New Ham p
S hire ever h ave a temperature l n which snow rem ained for the
Whole year and year after year accumulating u ntil it reached
an altitude higher than Mt Washi n gton % How otherwise will
you account for those scratches on the summit rocks their chan
n elling the stri a e all parallel pointing in one co m m on di r e c
tion u nless the gl acier or ice sheet reached even higher and in
i ts m ovement with rock s frozen in it chiselled out the channels
and grooves we find on the lofty mountain ledges and rocks %
Prof D ana claim s that in northern New E ngland the ice had a
mean thickn es s of
feet while between the St Lawrence
’
and Hudson s Bay it was not l ess th an
feet
There are three caus es %astronomical % that I give as s u fficient
to produce su ch a climate % 1 th e p r ecessi o n of the equinoxes ;
2 the o bli q u i ty of the ecliptic ; 3 the eccen tr i c i ty of the ecliptic %
and it will be observed that these all relate to the ecliptic — the
orbit of the earth in its annual motion arou nd the sun
I will no w discu ss the fir st th e p r ecessi o n of th e equ i n o xes
By equinox is m eant equ a l night and there are two poi nt s
’
o n the line of the ear th s annu a l m otion wh ere there are equal
days and equ al nights T hey are those points where the s u n
as we s ay in common langu age
crosses th e line
Now th e
exact point where the
sun crossed the line in March 1 8 8 2 ,
was not the point where he crossed the line in March 1 8 8 3
The di fference between these two points is
according to
Stockwell as given by him in the 1 8 th vol S mithsonian Contri
butions & c T he point of crossing va r ies this amou nt annually
to the west By reducing the whole ecliptic of 3 6 0 to seconds
is
°
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and dividing by
we find the quotient nearly
years
a s the time required for completing the whole ecliptic or the
pr eces sion period But while the equinoxes move to the west
to wards perihelion the perihelion also moves towards the equi
so these two points are approaching
n o c ti a l about 1 2 annu ally
each oth er by the sum of
and 1
or about
ann u
ally —and no w again red u cing the 3 6 0 of th e ecliptic to sec
ouds and dividing by
we find the period is red u ced from the
to about
ye a rs T his will be better understood
by studying the diagram which represen ts the positions of the
earth a n d s un wi th reference to t h e ecliptic
years ago
But we m ust re m ember the positions at the present time are the
reverse of those of
ye a rs ago our pres ent wint er being
in perihelion with the earth at A moving in winter fro m B
through A to D and describing the a r e D C B in su mm er
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T he
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ecliptic it
th e earth moving
We will consider
the equator
T aking A as a
l i p t i c th r ough D
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will be seen is represented an ellipse in form
round the s u n in the direction of A D C B
the i n e of A psides A C a s coincident with
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starting point the earth will move on th e c c
C B and reach A or rather a new equinoctial
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point
west from A towards B in a year and this equ i
n o c t i a l point at A w ill move annually this distance o f
towards B This movement is called p r ecess i o n becau se th e
point where the earth reaches the equinox p r ecedes the previou s
year by this distance and in time this point will recede to B
then to C B ut agai n the line of A psides moves in a cont r ary
”
direction % t owards B 1 2 annu ally and we have seen that in
a bout
or one half o f
years they wi l l meet some
where between % and B moving over half of the ecliptic the
whole being some
years
T he line of Apsides A 0 measures th e distance betwee n
aphelio n and perihelion — bei n g opposite eac h other the move
m ent of thes e points is con sequent of course u pon the move
m ent of the ecliptic itself This change of perihelion in refer
ence to the motion of the earth is conside r ed i n the astronomical
relations of the eart h to the fixed stars and the revolution of
the earth from perihelion rou nd to perihelion again is called the
a n o m a l i sti c
ear
four
min
utes
longer
than
the
eq
uinoctial
year
y
Looking for ward we find the earth in this movement in the
year
will be in aphelion in w inter again and m ost dis
tant from the s un
T h e s easons change with the change of the equinoxes
One
fou rth revolution gives winter for S pring and on e hal f r e v o lu
tion gives winter for su mmer and this is the change from peri
helion to aphelion T his change of seasons from the perihelion
to aphelion it is important to remember in reading this paper
since it is by reaso n of the tra n sfer of the perihe l ion winter to
aphelion winter that the climate we seek is to be found T h e
present wi n ter in perihelion was
years ago in aphelion ;
the earth was therefore
of miles farther from the
one thirtieth of the whole distance of the
s u n than at present
earth from the s u n and consequently colder
In 1 2 5 0 or 6 3 4 years ago th e sol stice and perihelion were at
the same point on the ecliptic we are told by astronomers and
i f we take that as the starting point 6 34 years of the present
p erihelion winter h ave passed which added to
gives u s
the date of the beginning of the l ast aphelion winter as a bout
years ago hence we conclude we are a p proaching a
colder period
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9
Summer is now eight days longer than winter because in a p h e
lion so the aphelion winter is eight days longer than the peri
h elion su m m er ; and taking the eight days from the perihelion
summer a n d adding eight days to the aphelion winter makes a
relative di fference of sixteen days for the aphelion winter over
th e present
We may then have so m e conce ption of such a wi n ter But
the summer coming i n perihelion must have been so m uch
the warmer and one would say war m enough to co m pensate
for the cold of winter T his is true in t h e o r y ; bu t a m eteo
r o l o i c a l pri n ciple comes in here
viz that th e extra heat is
g
c ancelled or absorbed in converting t h e sno w and i ce of the pre
v i o u s winter to water and in other ways ; f o r the greater the
extremes of heat and cold the greater and denser the clouds will
be the greater the heat ap plied to the boiler the greater will be
th e quantity of steam and the summer o f
years ago
m ight for this reason
through the density of the clouds and the
loss of heat in th e great evaporation be even colder than the
pr esent Let u s see an application of this in our present tem
T he s u n for a month before the S eptember equinox
p e r a tu r e
and a month after the March equ inox is in the same relative
position to the equator and to us at the same angle and the
same distance and the same amount of heat is distributed over
our zone ; yet there was a mean difference of
in temper a
t ure in those times in 1 8 8 3
Mr Meec h a writer on L i gh t a n d Hea t referring to this s ub
—
t
in
high
latitudes
says
A ccording to Dr % ane and
ec
j
others a dense a n d lasting fog prevails after th e middle through
the rest of the summer season and eff ectually prevents the rise
’
of temperature which the sun s intensity would otherwise pro
duce
T his is to be explained in the loss of h eat in the work of
evaporation and reducing the snow and ice to water producing
fogs a n d clouds which intervene b etween the sun and the earth
This much for precession I shall recur to this again and be
more particular as to the range o f the ther m ometer in the a p h e
lion winter we have found
Some fifty years ago A dhemar a % rench mathematician rec
o g n i z i n g the eff ect of th e precession period on the climate con
tended that periods of heat and cold followed each other every
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y ears — consequ ently ice and cataclysms succeeded each
other accordingly that the vast aggregations of ice at the North
pole in aphelion winters and its melting and floods in the a p
proach of the perihelion winter ac cou nt for geological cata
c ly s m s of the past
It is not however advocated at present
The seco n d reason for a reduction of temperatu re
years
a g o was in consequen ce of the g r eater obliqui ty of the ecliptic at
that period By the obliquity of the ecliptic astronomers m ean
the greater a n gl e it forms with the eq uator ; in other words
th e further south the su n goes the greater obliquity of the
ecliptic
south of
T h e su n in winter at th e solstitial point is 23
the eq u ator a n d this obliquit y cau ses our winter because the
les s vertical h i s rays are to the earth the less heat we have from
the s un a n d we are told by astrono m e r s that the su n m a v go to
a solstitial point 2 4% south or one degree more than now and
at about that period it di d go south to that d egree and Stock
well finds th at
years ago it did go to th e southern s c l s ti
tial point of
T he obliq uity changes about 4 6 seconds of
a degree per century
6
On the basis of these figures it was colder b y this one d egree
of latitude of the s u n furthe r south by s everal degrees of the
thermometer in northern l atitudes T he sun in his annual
j o ur n e v south is fo u r days in passing one degree of this obli
g ui ty and he is also as many days return ing which adds eight
days more to the aphelion winter of that period ; and the same
tim e being taken f r om th e s umm er gives a relative difference of
sixteen days more for that winter than at present T his differ
ence must be allowed simply to the obliquity of the ecliptic at
that tim e We have then found thirty tw o da y s m ore for the
aphelion wi n ter past than for the p r esent winter
I h ave said the earth was
of miles n earer th e s un at
perihelion than at aphelion Now at that period
y ear s
ago the distance was more th a n
by one half million
according to Lever r ier We see then it was colder in
n early
consequ ence T his di fference of one half million of miles in the
eccentricity of the ecliptic is the third reason I have n amed for
a cold period at that time
T his shrinkage of eccentricity now amounting to one half
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million of m iles since the aphelion winter will % o n tinue till the
’
earth s orbit will b ecome nearly a circle never however to reach
a circle before the eccentricity will increase again and so con
tinn e and produce in the dista n t future perhaps a n other ice
period like those of
and
years ago Two hu n
dred thousand years ago the eccentricity was
miles and
according to
y ears a g o it was
Leverrier now only
and these are the periods to
which Mr Croll refers as the great gla cial e p ochs I have nam ed
Probably no man h as ever given this sub j ect more attention than
M r Croll and as h is conclusions are perti n ent a n d in the d i
rection of my argument I wil l quote from h i m
About
years a go he says
the northern winte r solsti ce was in the
aphelion T he eccentricit y at that time was 0 1 8 7 being so m e
wh at greater than it is now but the winters occurring i n a p h e
lion instead as now i n perihelion they would on that account
be proba bly 1 0 or 1 5 colder than they are at the present day
But this was spoken of the English climate modified then as
and if w e apply the doctrine of i nverse
n o w by the Gulf stream
squares the reduction of temperature would be
for the i n fl u
ence of the Gulf stream does not reach us and New Hampshire
h ad nothing to temper the severity of an ap helion winter
Let u s review We have seen that through the precession of
the equinoxes the northern hemisphere was in aphelion
years ago in winter and consequently
of miles
further from the s un than l n our present winter ; that the a p h e
lion winter is eight days longer than the perihelion summer a
relative di fference of S ixteen days in winter from the present
p erihelion wi n ter ; that according to the meteorologist Croll the
winter of that period would be 1 0 or 1 5 colder than the pres
ent but here really it would be 20 colder according to th e law
of inverse squares in m atter of di r ect rays of heat
It will be remembered that S ir % ohn Herschel and M Pouil
let th e % rench sa va n t by di fferent methods found absolute zero
to be 4 6 1 nearly and stella space to be 2 3 9 belo w the zero of
our thermometer %% % from which it appears the d i fie r e n c e be
tween 46 1 and
viz
of our heat is due to the stars
Now adding
the temperature of New Hampshire in winter
to
we have 26 2 due to the direct heat of the sun T he
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12
phelion distance of the su n being ninety three millions and th e
per i helion distance ninety millio n s i n ro u nd numbers witho ut
taking into account o u r atmosphe re ac c ording to the law of i n
g i ves about
v erse squ ares the proportion
2 42 a s the temperature of the aphelion w inter or 20 below t h e
present So taking the average winter temp er ature at 23 %it
is
at Concord % at present reduced b v
it gives a tem
p e r a tur e of 3 above zero for the four Wi nter months of that
period
Aga i n % we have seen t h at the s u n twelve thou sand years ago
w ent one degree further south giving eight m ore of m id winte r
days , and a relative di fference of sixteen da v s from th e presen t
to be added to that aph elion winter wit h the accomp anyi n g me
teo r o lo g i c a l con ditions
from which I i nfer an addition al redu e
tion of at least 3 for the four winter months making a temp er
ature of zero for the aphelion winter
Then , again % from th e eccentricity be i ng on e h alf million o f
m iles greater t h an now
the su n being m ore distant by that
amount than now , I infer a reduction of 3 m ore for the wi n
ter months on that accou nt These estimates would give an
average temperature of 3 below zero for the four instead of
three as n o w, winter months The an n u al temperature ne ar
above
th e north pole or rather as near as approach ed i s 5
zero We m ay h ave a fai nt idea of the clim ate of 3 below zero
for a th i rd o f the year The mean temperature for D ecember ,
% anuary and % ebruary would be 2 6 belo w the present ; and
th at of the four other month s of winter now about
would
be redu c ed at least
and for the seven months incl udin g
w inter the average temperature could not be m uch above
Now I think i t plai n i n these estimates not extravagant that
conditions of atmosphere would exist with th e extra thirty two
days for winter that would reduce the temperature lower than I
h ave here estim ated Considering the effect of a s ummer s u n
u pon such an i cy atmosphere and an i cy surface I c a n have
n o doubt the temperature of summer although th e sun wa s
of m iles nearer than in the winter m ust throug h
evaporation c o n de n s m g clouds winds and the general meteor
ological conditions consequ ent have been red u ced during those
temperature
of
sum
mer
and
m onths m u c h below the
,
present
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13
winter mantle of sno w on the gro u n d for the whole year
i ncreasi n g fro m year to year u ntil it ex c eeded the altitude o f
No as tronomer u ntil Croll co n ceded
Our highest mountains
that the eccentricity would have caused the icy clim ate n e c e s
s ary to produce the glacier ; and none before him took into con
s ideration the meteorological e ff ects of such a winter upon th e
following summer
While I believe these glacial condition s extended south to th e
Ohio we m u st perhaps go back to those periods of grea ter e c c e n
tr i c ity in aphelio n w inters to a c c ount for most of the phenomen a
of drift and boulders in this country as well as in E urope % ut
it is evident the precession p eriod which came once in
years , then , as n o w was a part in produci n g the phenomena o f
tho s e times
B u t we have c orroborative evidence of our position in the so i l
i tse l f
In the precession period of
years we must give a
sm all h alf of i t to a temperature fit for vegetation and for veg
s tation of the present kind we have a right to claim one thir d
of th e period ; and it is evident that we have advanced mor e
than h alf of the
years or period of vegetation i n o ur
s tate
S oil is composed of the materials of disintegrated rocks w ith
decayed vegetable m atter Now fifteen inches is a suffic i ent
estimate of the average depth to which vegetable m atter can b e
traced in our soil formed in place not alluvial or drift I w i l l
concede tho u gh it is too small an increm ent of 0 0 5 of an inch
annually to the soil by vegetation In a hun dred years it would
be h alf an i n ch and in a thousand years five inches , and i n
three thousand years fifteen inches —due to vegetable matte r
alone We cannot I think in New Hampshire give a greater
age than that to vegetation of the present kind even if so long
O ur denuded hills then show u s that three thousand years is s u ffi
cient time to acco unt for all present vegetable growth in Ne w
Ham pshire since they escaped the erosive action of the ice sheet
and glacier
Let us digress here a moment and turn to the future of a fe w
hundred years T he su n is at the southern solstice the 2 1 s t of
December and at perihelion about the first of % anu ary peri
helion being about 1 0 on the ecliptic from the solstice Abo u t
l eft the
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14
as we have said the winter solstice and perihel i on wer e
at the s a m e point on the ecliptic If we take that as the start
ing point in the ecliptic in
years from that time or i n
the year
th e aphelio n wi n ter will again co m e We h av e
then a lr e a d v p as sed 63 4 y e ars towards it Dividing
the prese n t eccentricity by on e half of the period vi z
we see we are going from the sun abou t 3 0 0 miles annually an d
our climate is beginning to grow colder a n d in about
years we shall reach the aphelion wint er We cannot the n ex
pe o t permane n t i mprovement in our winters sin ce the s un i s
receding and the cold will be p erceptibly i ncreased as ti m e
moves on ; and the glare of th e su n i n su mm er will be propor
ti o n a lly increased i n our latitude but acco m panied by denser
clouds
It is fortu nate for u s that we l i ve l n a perihelion winter i n t he
midd l e o f the preces si o n period We may l ament for our s u c
years h ence —b u t
c e s s o r S — o f cou rse we do for those of
the approach of the age of i c e will be slo w ; th ey will have am
ple notice the equator will then be but a few days distant and
long before the tim e the ice age shal l s et in the y will move in
c rowds to the south their descendants p erhaps in ages to return
Can you erect a monu me n t that will resist the ravages of time
and its accompanying destroying f orces to tell the future of
years of the race n o w inha biting Ne w Hampshire % All
here n o w w ill if anything be fossil ; and some geologist m ay
trace out an ancient p eople from our ce m eteries as we do n o w
from our Western mound builders
So much for o u r argu men t on temperature In our study of
the p ast conditions of climate we find a p eriod some twelv e tho u
sand years ago where the temperature was cold enough to have
caused constant congelat ion and to have s o continu ed man y
years and we will now look to the product of those times —the
glac i er But how will we construct the glacier % T o form an ice
field with a snow and ice covering several th o u sand feet thick ,
i s very e asy in the tem perature we have reached
Bordering on the Ste ki n river in the southern part of Alaska
on the p arallel of
in % uly 1 8 75 a gentleman informs m e h e
saw a glacier one thou sand feet thick and a mile w i de extend
i ng far back into the mountains
1 25 0 ,
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15
On Mt Rainer Washington territory there are gl aciers
which are described by a traveller as more beautiful than those
of the Alps T his is in latitude of
a parallel l ess than
three hundred miles north of ours
T o southern Greenland it is only a little further than to Chi
c a go ; and n o w let us bring Greenland down twelv e hu ndred
miles and construct such conditions The annual rain fall here
i s forty fiv e inches % freezing it would be forty eight i n ches
e ars it
water
expands
in
freezing
four
feet
In
a
hundred
y
%
%
would be four hundred feet in a thousand years four thou sand
feet and in two thousand years eight thousand feet if not melt
ing If falli n g in snow and we allow ten inches of snow for
e ach inch of water we h ave of the forty eight inches of water
four hundred and eighty inches or forty feet a y ear ; in a tho u
sand y ears forty thousand feet of snow or an altitude if not
reduced by m elting or pressure of seven and on e half miles or
But we must s u ppos e these con ditions came by degrees
m ore
and it mav h ave required six or eight thousand years We
h ave then all the elements and the facto r s of the snow mantle
of enormou s thickness —the temperature th e sno w the ice ,
mountains and ravines for the glacier
What a dreary waste to contemplate % No ve getation n o bird
or beast but those that live around the pole s which m a v have
wandered here on the coast Greenland to day gives us an idea
of such a condition and we have only to travel north twelve
hundred miles to reach a latitude of eternal snow Greenland
is represented to be an unexplored continent buried under a
continuou s and colossal mass of ice that is moving slowly to
the west to the s e a
This cove r ing of sno w and ice is by some estimated to be
feet thick extending o v er an area of
miles long and 5 0 0
m iles wide
Wh en this moving m ass reaches the coast it finds
the ravines and moves down as so many glaciers into the ocean
from
to
feet thick carrying fragments of rocks and
earth heaped upon it and frozen in it A nd when far enoug h
in the water to fin d a depth to s wim these glaciers break o ff
into icebergs and then at the mercy of the sea float down i n
som e instances to our latitude
Dr Hayes and his p arty travelled some s eventy miles i n the
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16
i nterior
of Greenlan d a n d he b eautifully describes his v i sit a s
follows %
O ur station at camp was sublime as it was danger
ous We had attained an altitude of
feet above the sea
level and were seventy miles from the coast i n the midst of a
vast frozen S ahara immeasurable to the h uman eye There was
neither hill mou ntain nor gorge anywhere in view We had
completely sunk the strip of land between the Mer de Glace and
the s ea and n o obj ect met the eye but our feeble tent which
bent to the storm % itful clou ds swept over the face of the
full orbed moon which descending towards the horiz o n glim
m ered through the drifting s n ow that scudded over the icy plain
to the ey e in u ndulating lin e s of do wny softness to the flesh i n
showers of piercing darts
The % rench exploring expeditio n in the As tro l o b e found an
iceberg fro m 1 0 0 to 225 feet above water and about five mile s
i n length
These are the prod u ctions these are the conditions we h av e
f ou nd in New Hampshire a few thousand years ago
The move
ments of glaciers are known , and are described with acc u racy
Th e Alps a r e studied a n d th e glaciers are the adm i ration a s
well as the w onder of the world a n d from them the laws o f
the glacier appl i ed to other similar phenomena that were u n ex
These glaciers are n o t solid compa c t i ce
p l a i n a bl e otherwise
througho u t but composed of every form of ice and snow fro m
the freezi n g to the frozen from the m in u te p article to the m a s
sive block from the round to the angular They m ove slowly ,
owing to obstructions in their way a f ew feet p erh aps i n w i n
ter but in sum m er more Now in g iving motion to the glac i er
w e have only to apply the same cause that acts u pon all b o die s
of ice gravitation If a solid m ass of i c e its m otion downward
mu st be very slow if it has any but the glacier i n mot i on is n o t
entirely of that description We m ay suppose a glac ier in a
ravin e ; th e effect o f melting the surface wo uld be to create a
current and t h e water with the particles of ice would flo w dow n
the surface till inte r cepted or drop down to the bottom through
some crevice and create a muddy stream there But in the
m elting of those parts of the ice that were obstructed there woul d
b e n o obstacle in th e way and the whole mas s would move o n
w ard and downward by its own gravity
If the ice be what we
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18
i ng
back beyond Concord and receiving the muddy torrents
laden with clay from the l a k e s to the nort h to be deposited o n
the eastern shore now so u seful in bu siness along the river At
the Amoskeag falls there a r e the rem n a nts of an ancient cli fi
extending across the river n o w worn down but once high
enough to flow the water over the intervening banks to Hook
s ett
If there were an obstruction belo w Manchester of sufficient
h eight %I think there mu st h ave been su ch % there would have been
standing w ater on the plain of Manch ester In tim es of flood
strong currents would flow through with their pools and eddies
on either S ide flowing and r e flo wi n g and depositing the sa n d i n
i ts control until the sand plain form ed w a s left dry u pon wh i c h
Manchester stands
The picture of the ancient Merrimack would be beautiful i n
’
deed Here a lakelet exte n ding from Goff s falls to the higher
Amoskeag winding u p the Pi s c a ta q u o g and from the Am oskeag
to the cataract at Hooksett —thence north to Concord and b e
yond flowing th e low lands ad j oining — a river of lakelets from
a few rods to sever a l m ile s in width u niting only in falls or cat
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a r a c ts .
T he
clay cam e down in the muddy streams as th e rocks
yi elded to the d isintegrating forces of alternate heat and frosts
wh en the curta in of th e aphe l ion winter began to rise and was
gently d eposited little by little —th e sand m ore sluggish i n its
course following S lowly behind —while the huge bo u lder I have
n amed floated down on the ice from the E psom hills and became
stranded on the clay b anks at Su ncook
We know that soil found u pon the hillside is the decompos i
tion of the older rocks there with the addition of vegetable m at
t er w ashed there or blo wn there by th e winds ; and w e k n o w
fu rther that some of this s oil fi nds its way to the runnin g
stream while the sides of the hill are left bare and rocky The
c l a y passes o ff in the stream in the form of mud while the sand
moves sluggishly ; but if only a few feet a year in a hundred
and a thousand years the movement i s mighty
Our rocks are chiefly granite gneiss qu artz m ica felds par
and s andstone of various kinds and all h ave sand and cla y in
certain proportions A hundred tons of qu artz deco mposed
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19
would make as many tons of sand In a hun dred tons of feld
spar most easily decomposed by water and frosts there would
be 6 5 % tons of sand 1 821 tons of clay and 1 4% tons of potash ;
and in a hundred tons of mica there would be 4 6 % tons of s and
3 6% tons of clay 4} tons of iron and 9; tons of potash with
other m aterials Su ch are the proportions substantially as g iven
by Lyell So we have abundance of sand and olav in the dec o m
position o f the rocks Both move away from the parent rock ;
but clay moves so far and is so tran sformed as to have no r e
semblance to the family rock T hese disintegrated rocks from
lake and mountain in the form of mud and sand are the mate
rials o f which th e Merrimack built its banks and terraces
As w e began with a v iew of the Merrimack river its terraces
i ts banks of sand and clay its boulders its worn and torn down
obstructions in our study thereof we trace back to an age of
cold of snow and ice in glacial form freezi n g and bringing
down the boulders thawing again and bringing down the sand
and clay flowing and r e flo wi n g forming banks and terraces a n d
channelling through th e rocks a canon whose running waters
give employment to thousands now and hereafter will furnish
labor and employment to millions more to c om e
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