Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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were thrown down. He mentions particularly the fact that in the places where the ground was cracked open some earth of a differ- ent color from that on the surface was thrown up. During the week there were fifteen shocks and then no further disturbances. As a re- sult of this earthquake there was a religious revival because the people, smelling the sulphur, believed that it was the work of the devil. In November, 1775, about seven- teen days after the earthquake at Lisbon, another earthquake oc- curred in Boston. This one v as the worst in the history of the city. In one place the eruptions caused a spring to flow out of the ground which has continued flowing to this day. The springs of Essex County are called boiling springs because they come out of the ground with such force. The water of all the springs of Essex County is soft and good to drink and in some cases is sold commercially as mineral v ater. The early settlers built their houses near these springs in order to obtain their water supply easily. The land which was dry and sandy or rocky was used for public buildings and burial grounds. Another force that contributed to the changing of the earth was the glacier. Ordinarily we speak of but one glacier, but according to rec- ords of geologists there were two The character of Essex County, a hard uneven surface of rock and lit- tle soil, is due to the work of the second glacier. A number of years after the glacier there was an uplift of land which in Essex County amounted to about two hundred feet. When the land was thus raised, it caused the rivers that had been formed from the ice and gla- ciers t o cut deep ridges in the ground. Rafe’s Chasm in Magnolia, named after a certain Ralph, an early settler, is an example of this. Ipswich has the largest area of all the towns and cities in Essex County, forty-one square miles. The next largest city in area is Glouces- ter having thirty-four. The small- est town is Nahant having but one square mile. The highest hill in Essex County is Holt’s Hill in An- dover having an elevation of 400 feet. In Ipswich the highest is Turn- er’s Hill v.flth 260 feet. The lowest drumlin in Essex County is Little Neck in Ipswich with an elevation of only eighty feet. It might be of interest to note that before the glacier the forma- tion of Gloucester Harbor was en- tirely different from that of to-day. The inner harbor was entirely dry, and Norman’s Woe, celebrated in Longfellow’s poem, and Eastern Point were separated by only a very small stream. Eastern Point was also connected to Thatcher’s Is- land and Londoner’s Rocks off Rock- port. The beach at Ipswich is supposed: to be one of the most beautiful in this part of the country. In Profes- sor Sears’s book, Ipswich Beach is given as an example of the perfect beach in the formation of sand, wa- ter, and land. A number of years after the glaciers there was a pe- riod when much land sank into the sea. The sea was disturbed by storms, and the breakers caused ridges of gravel and sand to form. 24

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Geology in Essex County By Shirley Knowles L atin is regarded by many as a dead language. It is, in the sense that scholars fifty or a hun- dred years from now who study the language will be using the same works that we are using today. There will have been nothing new written for them to use. They will have at their disposal the same works we have — the same, and no more. Geologists, on the other hand, in their study of the earth will have to aid them the records of former geologists and the earth itself, con- stantly changing with a never-end- ing opportunity for study. Since the beginning of time down through the ages, the earth has gone through numerous changes. By studying the formations of the mountains and bodies of water, the land and the sea itself, geologists are able to dis- cover what did happen and what is likely to happen to this world on which we live. Earthquakes are one factor which contributed to changes in the forma- tion of the earth. A theory has been advanced which would account for the changes wrought by the earth- quakes in the Rocky and Appala- chian Mountain ranges. It is be- lieved that the Rocky Mountains are much younger than our mountain ranges on the eastern coast. The earthquakes are more frequent on the west coast because the Rockies are in the process of being made. They are pushing up through the ground and gradually increasing in height each year. The Appala- chians, however, are completed and are now in a process of degenera- tion. The first severe earthquakes in this vicinity recorded in human his- tory was in Boston, June, 1638. An account of it is given as follows in Bradford’s History: “This year about ye 1. or 2. of June was a great and fearfull earthquake ; it was in this place heard before it was felte. It came with a rumbling noyse, or low murmure like unto remoate thunder: it came from ye norward, pased southward. As ye noyse aproched nerer, the earth begane to shake and came at length with that violence as caused platters, dishes, such like things as stood upon shelves, to clatter and fall down; yea persons were afraid of ye houses themselves.’’ He goes on to say that the people believed it was a sign of the Lord’s displeasure. The earthquake did not last long, but it was especially severe, being felt along the coast as well as on the land. About a half an hour later there was one more shock of less violence. The account closes say- ing, “So powerful is ye mighty hand of ye Lord as to make both the earth and sea to shake, and the mountains to tremble before him when he pleases; and who can stay his hand ?’’ An earthquake of perhaps more local interest to us occurred in New- buryport in October, 1727. In those days the ministers kept the records of the shocks. From the record of Reverend Mathias Plant we learn that it occurred on a Sunday night about twenty minutes of eleven. The chimneys and fences, and dishes and pottery in the houses 23

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As a result of this, we have the in- land beaches and dunes in George- town, Byfield, and Newburyport. Nearly everyone has heard of Singing Beach at Manchester. The sands on this beach make a peculiar rasping sound when walked upon. The sound is caused by tiny parti- cles, some having spokes like small wheels and others shaped like nee- dles v hich rub together. No other beach in the world has sand v hich can compare with this except that in the Bay of Laig on the island of Eiggs in Scotland. It is now generally known that the ocean is gradually wearing away the coast. The wave action of the ocean is caused by the sink- ing of the land. Essex County has a highly indented coastline — proof of the fact that the land is sinking. Perhaps some of you may have heard of the Roxbury Puddingstone. Once upon a time when the world v as young and the giants lived here, the legend says, the giants had a great feast. During the feast, at which a great plum pudding was served, the giants quarrelled and threw pieces of the pudding at each other. The pudding turned to stone, and you can still find great masses of it with its stony plums in Rox- bury. The truth is that the so-called “Puddingstone’’ is conglomerate. Conglomerate is formed when pieces of rocks are thrown into melted rock and cemented. Hence we have the meaning of conglomerate as a collected or assorted mass. Near Bass Rocks another interest- ing tvpe of stone can be found called rocking stones. These were mentioned by Cotton Mather in one of his letters to England in 1724. According to him these stones rock with the waves, and there are some that can even be rocked by hand. Essex County was the birthplace of the brick and pottery industry. To-day pottery is made in Beverly and Newburyport. The clay used in this industry is found. in pits which were formed by the water running off the glacier. Most of the pits are below sea level, and some clay is found as deep as 180 feet. There are many minerals which can be found in Essex County. Tour- malines are found in Groveland, and garnets have been found in slate on Conomo Point as large as one-quarter of an inch. Coal is available on the east side of Nahant near the old iron mine. The Chip- man I ' . ine in Newbury contains gold, silver, copper, quartz, and galena, a compound containing gold, silver, and lead. At Rockport, as its name implies, an exceptional- ly large variety of rocks can be found. Newbury, Rockport, New- buryport, Lynn, and Salem Neck are all represented in the collection of “Rocks and Minerals from New England’’ to be found in the Muse- um of Natural History in Boston. Truly Essex County is an excel- lent place not only for the study of birds, but also for the study of geol- ogy. It contains a perfect beach, mines where gold and silver can be found, one of the two “singing’’ beaches in the world, and many points of geological interest in its large boulders and inland beaches. Without a doubt Essex County has been able to contribute to the study of geologists of to-day. What it 25