DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR BULLETIN 589 THE CALCITE MARBLE AND DOLOMITE OF EASTERN VERMONT BY T. NELSON DALE WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1915 CONTENTS. Page. Preface, by David White.................................................... 5 Intrpduction................................................................ 7 Bibliography............................................................... 8 Geographic distribution...................................................... 9 Deposits by counties and towns.............................................. 10 Franklin County........................................................ 10 Richford........................................................... 10 Bakersfield......................................................... 11 Lamoille County........................................................ 11 Waterville......................................................... 11 Johnson............................................................ 12 Washington County...................................................... 14 Moretown............................................................ 14 Orange County......................................................... 15 Topsham........................................................... 15 Washington......................................................... 17 Addison County.......................................................... 19 Hancock..................................:........................ 19 Rutland County (eastern part)........................................... 20 Mendon......'....................................................... 20 Mount Tabor........................................................ 20 Mount Holly....................................................... 21 Windsor County........................'................................. 22 Bethel............................................................. .22 Rochester.......................................................... 23 Weston............................................................ 24 Plymouth........................................................... 24 Ludlow............................................................. 28 Cavendish.......................................................... 28 Weathersfield....................................................... 31 Windham County. ...................................................... 34 Athens............................................................ 34 Townshend......................................................... 36 Jamaica............................................................ 36 Stratton...............:........................................... 43 Dover.............................................................. 45 Somerset..................................'^......................... 46 Wilmington........................................................ 47 Whitingham....................................................... 49 Bennington County...................................................... 51 Searsburg.......................................................... 51 Readsboro.......................................................... 52 Essex County.......................................................... 52 General petrographic character of the marbles and dolomites.................... 54 3 CONTENTS. Classification................................................................ 55 Stratigraphic relations....................................................... 56 Geologic age....'.............................:........:.................... 60 General scientific significance of the data...................................... 61 Economic possibilities...................................................... 65 Index...................................................................... 67 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. PLATE I. Map of Vermont showing the marble and dolomite localities described. 8 II. A, Polished slab of granular dolomite breccia from Plymouth, Vt.; B, Railroad cut If miles southeast of Jamaica, Vt., looking up West River............................................................ 24 FIGURE 1. Marble outlier on George Butler farm, in Johnson, Lamoille County, Vt............................................................. 13 2. Map of Topsham and Washington townships, Orange County, Vt.... 16 3. Map of part of Plymouth Township, Windsor County, Vt........... 25 4. Map of parts of Cavendish and Weathersfield townships, Windsor County, Vt.................................................... 29 5. Map of Athens and Townshend townships, Windham County, Vt.... 35 6. Map of part of Jamaica Township, Windham County, Vt............. 37 7. Section between Ball and Turkey mountains, Jamaica, Vt........... 42 8. Map of parts of Stratton, Dover, and Somerset townships, Windham County, Vt.................................................... 44 9. Map of parts of Wilmington and Searsburg townships, in Windham and Bennington counties, Vt................................... 48 10. Map of parts of Whitingham and Readsboro townships, in Windham and Bennington counties, Vt................................... 50 11. Tentative section across marble and schist in W. C. Wheeler pasture, Searsburg Township. Bennington County, Vt..................... 52 PREFACE. By DAVID WHITE. The reports of the United States Geological Survey that relate in particular to the mineral resources of the country are of two kinds annual reports containing statistics of production and discussing the general conditions of the mineral industries of the country and reports describing the mineral resources in the ground. The former comprise a valuable summary record of the mineral development in the United States; the latter constitute fragments of an incomplete survey of the mineral wealth of the country. Most of the reports describing the unexploited mineral resources are devoted each to the consideration of some particular resource, such as coal, iron, oil, or copper, in a given area, but others treat of all the economically important minerals of the particular regions they cover. By far the greater number of these reports are by-products embracing the more succinct economic results derived from general geologic studies or detailed areal examinations. On the searching thoroughness of scope and the precision of the scientific studies and examinations depend, other things being equal, the completeness, accuracy, and value of the qualitative and quantitative results. It should be added that, after all, the vastly greater part of the infor­ mation regarding the .mineral resources of the country that has been brought to light by the Geological Survey has not been segregated and published apart from the folios, monographs, professional papers, and bulletins describing and mapping the geology of the areas with whose stratigraphy, structure, and geologic history the economically useful minerals are inseparably connected. Occasionally, however, the Survey makes special reconnaissance examinations of the mineral prospects and localities in certain dis­ tricts in order to compile the readily available information and to place it in the hands of the public for immediate use. A report of this kind may concern but a single mineral resource, in which case it constitutes a census of that mineral material as then recognized in the district. Such reports are those by Mr. Dale on the chief com­ mercial granites of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (Bulletin 354), published in 1908; on the granites of Vermont (Bul­ letin 404), published in 1909; and on the commercial marbles of west­ ern Vermont (Bulletin 521), published in 1912. 6 PREFACE. In Bulletin 521 Mr. Dale described the known marbles in western Vermont their mode of occurrence, extent, characters, availability, exploitation, and uses. The region covered includes the most exten­ sive marble industry in the United States. The present report on the marbles of eastern Vermont is a companion to that bulletin. In this region, which lies east of the Green Mountain axis, there is practically no marble industry. The report relates to a virgin field where, in the lack of a general study of the stratigraphy, the structure, the paleon­ tology, and the areal geology, it is at present not only impossible to determine the area and general attitude of many of the beds but also even the thickness of some of the marble formations which are but partly exposed. The eastern area appears to be .one of greater metamorphism than the western, and the deposits are more interesting in their conditions of occurrence and then1 associated minerals. Although it is likely that a detailed areal survey of the region will show that some of the deposits are of considerable extent, many of the exposed marbles are believed by Mr. Dale to be probably lenticular. In the descriptive review of the known marble outcrops of the region, most of which Mr. Dale has personally examined, the marbles are discussed as to texture, color, composition, adaptabilities, etc., in accordance with the methods followed in Bulletin 521. It will be noted that these marbles of eastern Vermont, many of which are dolomitic, vary widely in kind and character and that the outcrops, though few in number, are scattered from the Massachusetts line to the Canadian boundary. Many of the marbles are suited only for indoor ornamental use. About a dozen outcrops occurring in as many areas are regarded