GB )o, 5 .CJsW<3 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR John Barton Payne, Secretary United States Geological Survey George Otis Smith, Director Water-supply Paper 449 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA CONNECTICUT BY GERALD A. WARING Prepared in cooperation with the CONNECTICUT STATE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY Herbert E. Gregory, Superintendent WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1920 Pass (a; Ij Book__Xi Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/groundwaterinmerOOwari DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR John Barton Payne, Secretary United States Geological Survey George Otis Smith, Director Water- Supply Paper 449 3? GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA CONNECTICUT BY GERALD A. WARING Prepared in cooperation with the . CONNECTICUT STATE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY Herbert E. Gregory, Superintendent WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1920 *$* LIBRARY Of CONGRESS DOCUMENT^ ,.olON CONTENTS. Page. Introduction 5 Geography 7 Geology 10 Ground- water supplies 13 Water in stratified drift '. 13 Water in till 13 Water in Triassic rocks 14 Water in trap rock 14 Water in ancient crystalline rocks 14 Availability of ground-water supplies 14 Well construction ! 17 Quality of ground water 19 Descriptions of towns 21 Berlin 21 Cromwell 2 32 Meriden '_ 40 Middlefield 52 Middletown 59 Rocky Hill _ 72 Index 81 3 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Plate I. Map of Connecticut, showing physiographic divisions and areas covered by water-supply papers of the United States Geo- logical Survey 6 II. Map of the Meriden area, Conn., showing glacial deposits, rock outcrops, and the locations of typical wells and springs In pocket. III. Map of the Meriden area, Conn., showing bedrock geology and structure sections In pocket. IV. Map of the Meriden area, Conn., showing woodlands In pocket. V. A, Hanging Hills, Meriden, Conn., from Buckwheat Hill ; B, Black Pond, Meriden, Conn., from the north . 8 VI. A, Esker near Baileyville, Berlin, Conn. ; B, Stratified drift near Harbor Brook, Meriden, Conn : 12 VII. A, Cliff of trap in Cathole Gorge, Meriden, Conn. ; B, Boulder- strewn field near Harbor Brook, Meriden, Conn 42 Figuee 1. Diagram showing annual precipitation at Middletown, Conn., 1859-1913, inclusive 9 2. Diagram showing average monthly precipitation at Middle- town, Conn., 1859-1913, inclusive 9 3. Diagram showing depths to water in dug wells in the Meriden area, Conn., in May, 1915 16 4. Curve showing population of the town of Berlin, Conn 22 5. Curve showing population of the town of Cromwell, Conn 34 6. Curves showing population of the town and city of Meriden, Conn.i : 42 7. Diagram showing monthly discharge of Quinnipiac River at outlet of Hanover Pond, Meriden, Conn . 45 8. Curve of population of the town of Middlefield, Conn 53 9. Curves of population of the town and city of Middletown, Conn 61 10. Curve of population of the town of Rocky Hill, Conn 74 4 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONNECTICUT. By Gerald A. Waking. INTRODUCTION. In a water-supply paper issued by the United States Geological Survey in 1904 1 a list of more than 500 wells and springs in Connecti- cut was published, together with a brief paragraph on the water-bear- ing rocks and several analyses of water from wells and springs. A similar report, issued in 1905, contains an article on drilled wells in the Triassic area of the Connecticut Valley 2 and specifically describes about 160 wells in the area. The same publication also contains an article on the Triassic rocks as a source of water 3 and a list of 16 analyses of well and spring waters. In the same year a summary of the conditions affecting the occurrence of ground water through- out the State was published. 4 A report issued in 1903 s discusses the different kinds of rocks in the State and their water-bearing capacity and gives tabulated data for about 800 wells. These earlier reports treated of the State as a whole, or of large* parts of it, and were necessarily general in character. The increas- ing need for potable water for municipal and farm use made it ad- visable to undertake a more detailed study of the State, and this study was undertaken by the United States Geological Survey under cooperative agreement with the Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey. As a result eight reports (including the present paper) have been issued or are in preparation covering the areas indicated on Plate I. The field examination on which this report is based was done under the direction of Prof. IT. E. Gregory during six weeks in 1 Gregory, II. E., Notes on the wells, springs, and general water resources of certain eastern and central States; Connecticut: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 102, pp. 127-168, 1904. - Pynchon, W. H. C, Drilled wells of the Triassic area of the Connecticut Valley : U. S. Geol. Surrey Water-Supply Paper 110, pp. 65-94, 1905. 3 Fuller, M. L., Triassic rocks of the Connecticut Valley as a source of water supply ; U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 110, pp. 95-112, 1905. 4 Gregory, H. E., Underground waters of eastern United States ; Connecticut ; I'. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 114, pp. 76-81, 1905. 5 Gregory, II. E., and Ellis, E. E., Underground water resources of Connecticut, with a study of the occurrence of water in crystalline rocks : U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 232, 1909. 5 6 GROUND WATER I-N" THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. April and May, 1915. The area covered comprises about 137 square miles and includes the towns of Berlin, Cromwell, Meriden, Middle- field, Middletown, and Rocky Hill. The work consisted chiefly in •collecting records of a sufficient number of wells in each town to furnish adequate data concerning the ground water. In connection with this study, the Pleistocene glacial deposits — till and stratified drift — which cover nearly all the surface, were carefully observed, and as they differ considerably in their water-bearing capacity, they were separately mapped (see PL II, in pocket) as well as could be done in the time available for the work. The till consists of un- assorted gravel, sand, and clay, deposited by the glacial ice sheet as it melted, and in general is not a good water bearer, because its heterogeneous material is unfavorable to the easy circulation of ground water. The stratified drift consists of bedded deposits of glacial materials which were to some extent assorted and redepositecl by streams that were formed largely by the melting ice, and because the materials are thus assorted the circulation of ground water is generalty freer in these deposits than in the unassorted deposits of till. The map (PL II) shows the areas covered by stratified drift as determined with special reference to water-bearing capacity. Detailed study of the glacial geology of the region based on the origin and source of the material would probably result in consider- able changes in the geologic boundaries, especially in places where the transition from stratified drift to till is obscure. Exposures of the bedrock underlying the glacial material were also noted (see PL II, in pocket), but the map of bedrock geology and its structure (PL III, in pocket) is copied with only slight changes from geologic maps of the region, prepared by Davis x and by Gregory and Robinson. 2 This map of the bedrock structure is reproduced with the present report because it is believed that it will be of assistance to property owners and to drillers in forecasting the kind of material that will be encountered in drilling- wells, Throughout the area the successive rock formations are present in the order in which they are shown in the legend of Plate III. The first rock encountered at any place in the area will be that indicated by the color at that point on the map, and this rock is in most places successively underlain by the other formations in the order indicated in the legend. For example, in sinking wells in the city of Meriden the first rock reached is the lower sandstone, and this material continues for many hundred feet down to the ancient crystalline rocks, except, possibly, where it may be interrupted by dike rocks. 1 Davis, W. M., The Triassie formation of Connecticut : I T . S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pis. 19 and 20, 1898. 2 Gregory, H. E., and Robinson, H. H., Preliminary geological map of Connecticut : Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 7, I907. U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 449 PLATE MAP "THE PRESENT U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 449 PLATE 1 MAP OF CONNECTICUT SHOWING MAIN PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS AND AREAS TREATED IN THE PRESENT AND OTHER DETAILED WATER-SUPPLY PAPERS OF THE U. S . GEOLOGICAL SURVEY c It I \ t t fi b si ii tl c< r( Ai Cc INTRODUCTION'. 7 At Middletown, however, the i i it rock encountered is the upper sandstone, and this rock is believed to be successively underlain by trap sheets and by other sandstones thai extend for several thousand feel down to the crystalline rocks; A Eew exceptions to the regular succession of the beds may be found in localities close to the fault zones, where blocks of the different rocks have been broken off and shifted from their normal positions. Such displacement and crush- ing may explain the presence of trap rock in the Worthington School well, at Berlin village (Berlin well 4<>. p. 31), though the geologic struct ure at this place (section C-D, PL III) indicates that the trap is several hundred feet below the surface. It is probable also that there are minor faults whose presence has not been detected. The wooded areas were mapped incidentally (see PL IV, in pocket) because they affect to some extent the storage of ground water. The maps in this report also show certain changes in the roads and other cultural features that have taken place since the area w T as mapped topographically by the Lmited States Geological Survey. GEOGRAPHY. The State of Connecticut may be divided into three physiographic provinces — the central lowland, the eastern highland, and the western highland. (See PL I.) The area described in this report is in the south-central part of the State, and is chiefly in the central lowland, or Connecticut Valley, but its southeastern end lies in the eastern highland. From Con- necticut River, which borders it both on the north and the east, the highland area rises in steep slopes that culminate in hills more than GOO feet in elevation. The surface of the lowland to the west is also broken by numerous hills and ridges, but the greater part of it is less than 300 feet above sea level, and it is dotted with lakes, ponds, and marshes. In the part of the central lowland here considered the hills and ridges trend uniformly north-northeast. The most prominent ridge in the entire lowland area of the State is that which forms the Hang- ing Hills (PL V, A) 2 or 3 miles northwest of Meriden and which attains its maximum height, 1.007 feet above sea level, in West Peak. Connecticut River is a quarter of a mile in average width where it borders the Meriden area, and it is affected by the tide for some dis- tance farther upstream, to the city of Hartford. Mattabesset River, which drains nu :t of the area and enters the Connecticut near Mid- dletown, is also affected by the tide for several miles above its mouth. Quinnipiac River, which crosses the southwestern corner and receives the drainage of the southwestern part of the area, falls 60 feet in the 10 miles between South Meriden and the tidal limit at Quinnipiac. 8 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CON^T. About 30 per cent of the Meriden area is wooded (see PL IV, in pocket), chiefly with chestnut, oak, and maple. Practically all the woods consist of second or later growths, the mature trees having long ago been cut for timber or for fuel. Numerous wood lots in the farming areas furnish fuel and posts for local use, but the lower lands, originally heavily wooded, have been cleared and are given over to agriculture. The cities of Meriden and Middletown — the principal centers of population — are in the towns of the same names in the southwestern and southeastern parts, respectively, of the area. Each of the other four towns — Berlin, Cromwell, Middlefield, and Rocky Hill — con- tains a village named for the town, and a few other communities are scattered throughout the area. Meriden and Middletown are manu- facturing cities, carrying on factory and foundry industries. At most of the villages there are also factories and mills, but hay farming, fruit raising, and dairying occupy a large part of the population. Transportation facilities in this part of Connecticut are good. The main line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad passes through the city of Meriden and the village at Berlin station; the Valley division follows the western bank of Connecticut River and passes through the city of Middletown and the villages of Cromwell and Rocky Hill; and the Air Line division passes through Middle- field and Middletown. Trolley lines connect Middletown, Meriden, and Berlin stations and neighboring villages. The Connecticut still affords transportation between river towns, but navigation on this old trade route has become of minor importance. The climate of the region is not severe, the latest killing frost usually being in the last part of April, 1 and the earliest in the last part of October. 2 The mean annual temperature is about 47° F. s The average precipitation is about 48 inches and is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, as shown in figures 1 and 2. These average figures of temperature and precipitation are be- lieved to represent closely the conditions throughout the greater part of the Meriden area. In the lowlands bordering Connecticut and Mattabesset rivers and on the higher ridges the winter tempera- tures are probably somewhat lower, however, and on the ridges the precipitation is doubtless somewhat greater than at Middletown- the only station in the area for which a long record is at hand. 1 Henry, A. H., Climatology of the United States: U. S. Dept. Agr. Weather Bureau Bull. Q, pi. 20, 1906. 2 Idem, pi. 19. 8 Idem, p. 122 ; record for Southington, Conn. V. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 449 PLATE V ^.^ ■■ . ■ . A. HANGING HILLS, MERIDEN, CONN., FROM BUCKWHEAT HILL. B. BLACK POND, MERIDEN, CONN., FROM THE NORTH. GEOLOGY. Figure 1. — Diagram showing annual precipitation at Middle-town, Conn., 1850-1913, inclusive. 6 5 .o O u c a. < a c 3 >-9 •"5 bo < 0) CO o o i + 5 ^ * en o ± 2 0) P5 m vyy/ts 4 '//•/// ._:.': ^/^ IP P w * ro t- m 9 W4 4%/ -T CD CO i§ 0, ^ HI CO ffi g 2 1 m w vm U W?i Y//^ if ^% 9 ////// iff yyyyy/, 4%? ft ////// §1 §§ 4% ////// w, Wfr H ■ vytyZ' A. Figuke 2. — Diagram showing average monthly precipitation at Middletown, Conn. 1859-1913, inclusive. 10 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. GEOLOGY. The sandstones, shales, and lavas of the Meriden area are Triassic in age; the ancient crystalline rocks are the altered equivalents of sediments and igneous rocks which, during Paleozoic time, occupied all Connecticut. Toward the close of the Paleozoic era the previously deposited rocks were folded, broken and uplifted into mountains, and during the long period of erosion that followed the ranges, peaks, and gorges of these Paleozoic mountains were worn into groups of hills separated by shallow valleys. It is believed that at the close of the Paleozoic era central Connecticut was one of these wide-floored valleys near sea level or perhaps submerged. Into this valley was carried rock waste — sand, gravel, and mud — from the surrounding highlands. During the early part of the Triassic period the bottom of the valley was not much lower than its rim, but while sediments were being deposited the floor of the valley was broken and its east side was dropped much lower than the border. This great displacement deepened the valley and the thick deposits of sand and mud were gradually hardened to sand- stone and shale. At three periods during the deposition of Triassic sediments molten rock made its way to the surface and spread widely as lava flows. As a result of sedimentation and igneous activity the Triassic deposits between the surface and the floor of the ancient valley form the following sequence : 1. Sandstone and shale (surface). 2. Lava. 3. Sandstone and shale. 4. Lava. 5. Sandstone and shale. 6. Lava. 7. Sandstone and conglomerate. At the end of the Triassic period, or perhaps early in the suc- ceeding Jurassic period, a mountain-making uplift took place in Connecticut. The sandstones and lavas in the Connecticut lowland were broken by faults and tilted into a series of ridges with steep westward and gentle eastward slope. A period of erosion, very long even in geologic time, then followed. Rivers on the land and the waves of the sea wore down the surface of the entire region — ancient highlands and uplifted lowlands alike — to an undulating plain, above which scattered hills rose a few hundred feet. During the Tertiary period the region was again uplifted, and though the earth movements were not so great as those of earlier times, they increased the slope and activity of the streams and thus gave new impetus to erosive processes that have carved the whole region into the prominent hills and valleys that now form its main features. Triassic rocks have been worn down much more than the GEOLOGY. 11 more resistant ancient crystalline rocks on each side, so thai a low- land, comparable with the greater depression of Triassic time, ha again been formed, bounded by an eastern and a western highland, as indicated in Plate I. Where the edges of the hard Layers of trap reek were brought to the surface by the extensive faulting late in Triassic or early in .Jurassic time, they have resisted erosion more than the so£tei shales and sandstones with which they are inter- bedded, and they now stand out in many places as prominent ridges in the lowland. During the Pleistocene or glacial epoch all Connecticut probably A\as covered several times by great sheets of ice, which in its slow movement southward scoured off the soil that had been formed bj the weathering of the rocks. When the last of the ice sheets melted, however, it deposited large quantities of gravel, sand, and clay that it had gathered up and thus formed a new coating of loose material over the bedrock; otherwise the greater part of the region would, to-day consist of bare, rocky slopes on which agriculture would be practically impossible. Since the disappearance of the ice there has been little change in the surface features of the Meriden area. The greater part of the area is included in the area of Triassic deposition, and the most prominent ridges in it are formed by the broken and tilted edges of the thickest of the three trap sheets. These three sheets of trap rock, which have become known as the " Anterior " or lower sheet, the " Main " sheet, and the " Posterior " or upper sheet, have in this area thicknesses, respectively, of about 250 feet, 400 to 500 feet, and 100 to 150 feet. The " Posterior " and " main " sheets are separated by about 1,200 feet of sandstone and shale. Between the u Main " and " Anterior ,1 sheets the sedimen- tary rocks are considerably thinner, but the series of trap sheets is both underlain and overlain *by several thousand feet of sandstone and shale. The manner in which the rocks have been faulted and the prominent ridges have been formed is indicated in the structure sections (PI. Ill, in pocket). 1 Only one noteworthy dike has been found in the area. This dike is exposed along the hillside south of the city of Meriden and seems to have a maximum width of 15 or 20 yards. The southeastern part of the area is underlain by the ancient gneisses and other crystalline rocks of the eastern highland. It is 1 The delineation of bedrock areas and fault lines on this plate is reproduced from the map accompanying a detailed report by W. M. Davis on the region ( U. S. Geo!. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pi. 19, 1898), modified slightly in accordance with the pre- liminary geological map of Connecticut, prepared by IT. K. Gregory and II. II. IloMns .So si o •3 . 03O 03"^f 1 CO to 2 -•do 03g» O w 03 Wells in glacial deposits: Stratified drift: Berlin No. 20 25 IS 17 18 Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. 42 14 11 20 15 5.0 4.8 5.6 9.6 8.8 10 Trace 0.0 .0 .0 .0 197 9.7 14 48 8.2 11 29 10 7.5 14 14 7.0 8.0 44 10 12 109 119 93 101 Cromwell No. 6 Middlefield No. 11 19 Trace. 22 7.6 7.1 .0 67 15 11 18 130 Till: 17 20 26 Trace. Trace. Trace. 40 11 25 17 3.9 8.9 9.5 4.9 16 .0 .0 .0 153 34 63 16 9.8 34 17 4.5 18 30 12 28 226 80 192 Berlin No. 107 Middlefield No. 6 21 Trace. 25 9.9 10 .0 83 20 13 23 166 Wells in rock : Sandstone: Berlin No. 31 22 25 17 17 27 25 15 16 20 Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. Trace. 31 46 65 28 50 69. 28 33 41 22 13 17 7.4 9.6 6.3 14 19 19 1.6 2.5 5.3 Trace 13 24 .6 .7 8.5 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0 143 143 102 92 134 129 117 148 219 11 16 147 10 46 77 11 10 9.0 13 19 5.0 5.0 16 23 7.0 11 7.0 30 16 .0 3.0 15 40 14 18 .0 184 Berlin No. 46 Berlin No. 83 128 235 339 159 187 Middletown No. 104 213 20 23 Trace. Trace. 43 58 14 32 6.2 7.0 .0 .0 136 251 37 8.6 12 36 15 32 222 Trap: 367 Springs: 27 16 19 15 Trace. Trace. Trace. » 0.20 29 22 21 23 4.1 7.2 5.6 4.1 3.0 Trace Trace Trace .0 .0 .0 .0 92 70 65 46 5.3 8.6 Trace 16 7.0 3.0 6.0 4.0 6.0 .0 14 8.0 120 Middletown No. 27 96 Middletown No. 37 102 Middletown No. 87 99 19 20 .05 24 34 5.2 11 .8 .0 68 7.5 5.0 7.0 104 6.0 .0 108 24 12 16 181 a Calculated. Nitrate is reported to be absent from one spring water and two sandstone waters. It reaches a maximum amount in the water 1 Jackson, D. D., The normal distribution of chlorine in the natural waters of New York and New England : U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 144, p. 20, 1905. BERLIN. 21 from Cromwell well No. 6, which ends in stratified drift. The high nitrate content of this water and of some of the other waters may be due to the presence of considerable organic matter, but it is evident that pollution exists in a number of the waters. Although the evidence is based on mineral and not sanitary analyses, any water that contains more than 25 parts per million of nitrate and an amount' of chloride much higher than the average should receive a bacteriologic examination before being used for drinking. Some of the waters analyzed are rather hard and poor for use in boilers, but on the whole their quality compares favorably with that of ground waters in other parts of the country. The use of drilled wells drawing water from the rock for do- mestic supplies is advisable in many places, even though the rock water may be somewhat harder than the water from the glacial deposits, because more dependable supplies are assured and the danger of contamination is reduced. Further discussions of the ground waters and statements pertaining to their economic value 1 are presented in the descriptions of the towns from which they were obtained. DESCRIPTIONS OF TOWNS. BERLIN. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The town of Berlin occupies the northwestern part of the Meriden area. The first white settler in the present town was Sergt. Richard Beckley, a planter from New Haven, who about 1660 established his home on 300 acres of land in the valley of Mattabesset River, near the present village of Beckley. Within the next few decades a settlement known as Beckleys Quarter was built up in the vicinity, and another settlement, which was known as the Great Swamp, in the lowland to the west. In 1705 these early settlements were organized as a society of the community of Farmington, which originally embraced also the town of New Britain, to the north. This society was for a time known as Farmington Village, but in 1722 the western part adopted the name of Kensington. In 1754 the northern part organized as the society of New Britain, and by 1785 the population had so increased that additional organization was warranted. The three societies of New Britain, Kensington, and the original settlement, then known as Worthington, accordingly incorporated as the town of Berlin. At the' time of incorporation and for many years after Worthington (now East Berlin) was the principal place of business. In 1850 the town was again divided, the societies of Kensington and Worthington retaining the original 1 Dole, R. B., Standards for classification ; Ground water in San Joaquin Valley, Calif. : U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 398, pp. 50-81, 1916. 22 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. town name and its present boundaries, and the society of New Brit- ain being incorporated as the town of New Britain. „ The town of Berlin now con- tains the villages of Berlin, East Berlin, Beekley, and Kensington and includes an area of about 17,700 acres, according to pla- nkneter measurement on the Meriden and Middletown topo- graphic maps. 1 About 36 per cent of the total area is wooded. ( See PL IV, in pocket. ) Nearly 8 per cent is marsh land, com- prised almost entirely in a tract' between the villages of Berlin and East Berlin. Several ponds and reservoirs in the town cover an area of about 360 acres. POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. Records of the early popula- tion within the present limits of the town have not been found by the author. From about 1660 until a number of years after the incorporation of the town in 1785, growth must have been fairly rapid, for in 1800 Kensing- ton had a population of 764 and Worthington 1,003. During the following decade Kensington lost 8 and Worthington gained 47 people, 2 but 40 years later, shortly after the incorporation of New Britain as a separate town, the total population of Kensington and Worthington (forming the town of Berlin) had gained only 60. Since 1850 the growth has been more rapid, as is shown in figure 4. 1 The assessor's returns for 1915 give a total of 15,1851 acres. The area given on p. 413 of the Connecticut State {Register and Manual for 1915 — 10,516 acres — is evi- dently in error. 2 Camp, D. N., History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Conn., p. 196, New Britain, 1889. co M (tf \ * N \ CO col cvj] \ CD \- \cJ I i ]co o CO [ 10 p S " Noiivmaod BERLIN. 23 This increase has been due largely to the railroads that were built through the town from Meriden in L839 and from Middletown about L845, for these transportation lines began in a few years to attract manufacturing industries. The manufacture of tinware in Connecticut whs begun in Berlin about the time of the Ai ierican Revolution, and a number of other industries were early developed, water power being used for factories as well as for gristmills. At present the chief industries are the manufacture of iron bridges and other structural iron work at Berlin station, jewelry at East Berlin, and envelopes, paper bags, and other paper articles at Kensington. The uplands of the town are noted for fruit raising, and the low- lands have long been devoted to hay raising and to pasturage. In the lowland near Beckley and near Berlin station brickmaking has also been carried on extensively for many years. SURFACE FEATURES. The highest points in the town of Berlin are the crest of South Mountain, on its southwest border, at an elevation of 790 feet, and the crest of Ragged Mountain, on its northwest border, at an eleva- tion of 754 feet. The Hanging Hills, in the southern part of the town, and Lamentation Mountain, in its southeastern part, form prominent highlands that trend east of north. From these prominent ridges the surface slopes northward through rolling hills down to extensive lowlands along Mattabesset River. Where this stream leaves the town and swings eastward its channel is only a few feet above the tide. The higher parts of the town are densely wooded with second or later growths of chestnut, oak, and other trees, and numerous wooded patches dot the lower hills. The open valley lands are. however, practically free from timber. (See PL IV, in pocket.) STREAMS. Practically the entire town is drained by Mattabesset River and its tributaries, the only exception being a small area on the southern border, which drains southward through Cathole Gorge. The western and southern boundaries of the town represent approxi- mately the limits of the Mattabesset drainage basin in those direc- tions. In conformity with the main topographic features, the tribu- taries of the Mattabesset flow in a fairly direct course east of north to the major stream, which winds eastward through the lowland of the northern part of the town, and then, after flowing southward, forming the town line for 3 miles, it turns east and southeast to Con- necticut River. 24 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN". The Mattabesset is a sluggish stream throughout its lower portion. The operation of numerous mill ponds and reservoirs on its tribu- taries greatly affect. its daily discharge, and reliable measurements of the flow of the main stream and its branches are difficult to obtain.' The mean flow during the six months of low water has been given as follows : x Mean flow of Mattabesset River (hiring six months of low water. Second-feet. 2 At Berlin station 10 Below mouth of Belcher Brook 20 Above Westfield s 50 Since the claj^s of early settlement the Mattabesset has furnished power for mills. The stream is badly polluted in its lower portion by factory wastes and by the effluent from the sewage beds of the city of New Britain, which are in the lowland west of Beckley. (See PL IV, in pocket.) The principal tributary to Mattabesset River in Berlin is Belcher Brook, which heads in Beaver Pond, in the town of Meriden, and thence flows directly northward through a large pond on the town line to the Mattabesset a mile southeast of Berlin station. A short distance above its junction with Mattabesset River Belcher Brook is joined by North Brook, a stream that heads in the gap in Hanging Hills that is occupied by Merimere reservoir of the Meriden city water supply. Overflow water from this reservoir is, however, diverted by a ditch into a lower reservoir on an upper branch of the Matta- besset proper. The drainage of the slopes between Belcher and North brooks enters Belcher Brook through two minor streams that join it at points respectively about one-eighth and five-eighths of a mile above its mouth. The approximate mean discharge of North Brook in its lower course is 3 second-feet, and the mean flow of Belcher Brook in its lower course is about 8 second-feet. 1 Measure- ments made by the writer at different points in the lower course of each stream indicate, however, that a considerable part of the flow of each stream sinks into the gravel of the lowland and hence is not visible at the junction with the Mattabesset. A stream system that drains the southwestern part of New Britain also drains the northernmost portion of Berlin. Its three main branches unite in the lowland half a mile north of Berlin station to 1 Report on the investigation of the pollution of streams, Connecticut State Board of Health, p. 45, 1915. 2 A second-foot is the rate of discharge in a stream 1 foot wide aud 1 foot deep, flowing at the rate of 1 foot a second — that is, 1 cubic foot a second, or 7.48 gallons a second. 3 On April 14, 1915, the flow of the stream one-half mile west of Westfield station, according to a current-meter measurement, made in connection with the present investi- gation, was 42 second-feet. BERLIN". 25 form Willow Brook, which flows for more than a mile eastward and southward across the lowland and joins the Mattabesset 1J miles below the mouth of Belcher Brook. In the saturated lowland Willow Brook is a sluggish stream whose average flow is difficult to determine, and near its mouth the probable accession of water from the New Britain sewage beds renders measurements of the flow of the stream unreliable. The natural flow in its lower course seems to be only 1 or 2 second- feet. Webster Brook, a small, sluggish stream that comes from the north and drains only lowlands, also enters the Mattabesset near the sewage beds. A fairly straight brook that drains a narrow basin beading in the town of Rocky Hill enters Berlin near its northeast corner and joins the Mattabesset where that river turns from an easterly to a southerly course. The lower mile of this brook has a fairly uniform and steep grade, the fall being nearly 100 feet. Its narrow basin is only 2| miles long, and its average flow is less than 1 second-foot. Two other streams of about the same size enter the Mattabesset from the Berlin side. One of these streams heads in Middletown on the north- east slope of Lamentation Mountain, flows first northward through a large marshy area between the villages of Berlin and East Berlin, then swings eastward and joins the Mattabesset opposite the Rocky Hill-Cromwell town line. The other stream drains the lower slopes east of Lamentation Mountain and only the lower half mile of its course is in Berlin. It joins the Mattabesset 300 or 400 yards above the Berlin-Middletown town line. In the southern part of Berlin much of the drainage of the Mat- tabesset is collected in three reservoirs — Merimere, Hallmere, and Kenmere — for the water supply of the city of Meriden. Harts Ponds in the northwest and a large pond in the southeast portion of Berlin are in part formed by dams. Ice is harvested from the southeastern pond in winter, but Harts Ponds serve chiefly as stor- age supplies for the mill ponds farther downstream. Chief of these ponds is that of the American Paper Goods Co., a mile southwest of Berlin station, and a newer pond that is formed by another dam half a mile below. GEOLOGY. The Triassic bedrock in the town of Berlin has been greatly dis- placed from its original position by extensive faulting. The blocks between the fault zones, which trend generally northeast, have been tilted eastward or southeastward at angles of 10° to 20° from the horizontal. The several blocks have also been offset by movements that have in general shoved the rocks on the western side of each fault southward with respect to the rocks on the eastern side. This extensive faulting has brought to the surface the broken edges of 26 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. the three trap sheets in the manner shown in the cross sections C-D and E-F of Plate III (in pocket). The rock of the " Anterior " or lower trap sheet has been brought to the surface only near the southeast corner of the town and at one place on its west border. In these places the " Anterior " trap forms only a few small exposures, as is indicated in Plate II (in pocket). The main trap sheet is well exposed in several cliffs in the southern and western portions of the town and also forms the bed- rock beneath considerable areas in those portions. (See PI. III.) The " Posterior " or upper trap sheet has been brought to the sur- face and forms several bands or zones in the northern and north- eastern portions of the town. Three or four of the bands formed by this trap sheet are low but distinct ridges, but the others are so inconspicuous that the courses of the broken edges of the trap sheet are very largely hidden by the overlying glacial deposits. The beds of sandstone with which the trap sheets are associated have been so displaced from their original position that the " Pos- terior" sandstone (which underlies the "Posterior." trap sheet) and also the sandstones beneath the other trap sheets, now form the uppermost rock beneath considerable parts of the town, although the original upper sandstone remains as the uppermost rock beneath most of the northeast part of the town. In deep drilling in the areas where the upper sandstone forms the uppermost rock the en- tire series of sandstones and three trap sheets would therefore be penetrated if the drill hole were continued to sufficient depth. In the lower lands of the town, which are along the valley of Mattabesset Eiver and its main tributaries, the bedrock is overlain by stratified glacial drift, as shown in Plate II (in pocket). Beds of brick clay are found in these deposits along the Mattabesset and appear to have been laid down in a lake that occupied the river valley for some time after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice. 1 In a few places the stratified drift forms characteristic features other than flat lowland areas. In the lowland one-half mile to 1 mile southwest of Beckley there is a long, narrow curved ridge or esker (PI. VI, A) composed of sand and gravel that was deposited along the course of a glacial stream that flowed beneath the ice sheet. A small area 1| miles southeast of Turkey Hill and a few hundred yards west of the railroad contains several depressions that are probably kettle holes, formed by the melting of great blocks of ice that were left with other glacial debris as the main ice front melted and retreated northward. The higher lands, which form the greater part of the town, are overlain by glacial till. On the higher slopes this loose material is 1 Loughlin, G. F., The clays and clay industries of Connecticut : Connecticut Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 4, p, 24, 1905. ,i,iN. 27 in many places vary thin, however^ and the underlying rock, which is chiefly trap on these slopes, is Laid bare a( numerous points. Dishur, evidences of glaciataon are shown by glacial scratches nt several places on the exposed ruck surfaces, botih in the ridges and in the lower rolling hills. A number of the lower hills are also rounded and elongated in a geneasal northerly direction and are p afely (Irnmlins or masses of till ( nnstratiiied glacial drift), which were formed beneath the ice sheet in somewhat the same way that sand bars are formed in sluggish streams. WATKK SUPPLIES. Surface traicr. — In the southern part of the town of Berlin a few families near the Meriden water main from Kenmere to Elmere reservoirs obtain domestic supplies from that source. In 1914 in the village of Berlin 113 customers were supplied by a line extending southward from the New Britain Water Co.s system. 1 The Berlin Water Co., organized about 1912, has planned to sup- ply the village of Berlin with water pumped from Mattabesset River, but in the summer of 1917 construction on its system had not been begun. Except for the families in Berlin village that are supplied by the New Britain Water Co., and those in the southern portion of the town that are supplied from the Meriden main, the people of the town of Berlin depend for water on individual wells, though a few of them obtain their supplies from springs. Wafer in stratified drift. — By far the greater number of wells in Berlin are dug in the unconsolidated glacial deposits. Relatively few wells have been dug or drilled into the underlying rocks. The de- posits of stratified drift occupy most of the lowland areas in the town, and also cover some of the adjacent hillsides, as is shown in Plate II (in pocket) . Of the 87 dug w T ells ~ in the town that obtain water from the glacial deposits. 35 are in the stratified drift, and although some of them get low and even fail completely during the later part of the summer, they furnish water at relatively shallow depths during mo of the year. The depth of the wells differs considerably, the maxi- mum that was noted being 43 feet in well 105 early in May, 1915. The depth of water in the wells ending in stratified drift that were measured in this town differs markedly according to the topographic position, and, as is shown in figure 3 (p. 16), the ground water stands about twice as deep on the hillsides as in the lowlands. The average depth to water in the three wells examined on hilltops was 1 Connecticut Public Utilities Commission Rept., 1014, p. 661. 2 Wells 33 and; 56 are omitted from this enumeration, as they obtain water from the underlying sandstone. 28 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. over three times as great as in the lowland wells. In one lowland well (No. 41), however, the depth to water was greater than in two of the hilltop wells. The analysis of the water of the deepest recorded hill- top well in drift (well 20, p. 32) shows it to be a water of moderate concentration, in which calcium and bicarbonate predominate, mak- ing it a moderately hard water for this area, although the amount' is not excessive and No. 107 is the only Berlin water analyzed that con- tains less hardening constituents. The detached area of stratified drift in the vicinity of Harts Ponds (see PL II, in pocket) is thin, and although water is obtained at shallow depths, the wells are liable to fail in summer. The stratified drift in the valley of Belcher Brook and in the stream valley between Berlin and East Berlin is also rather thin, and some of the dug wells in these localities likewise fail. In the lowland north of Mattabesset River there are extensive deposits of clay, and dug wells there do not obtain satisfactory supplies of water. On the south side. of the Mattabesset near the mouth of Belcher Brook, dug wells obtain more reliable supplies of water, for the drift there is more sandy. Large quantities of ground water probably can be developed in this locality by shallow wells drilled or bored to the bottom of the principal water-bearing strata. Wells sunk in this area should be cased to keep out fine sand, and properly screened to allow the rapid inflow of water. Ample supplies of water of good quality for domestic consumption and industrial use could probably be thus developed in this lowland area at a relatively small cost for the neighboring communities of Kensington, Berlin station, and Berlin. Below Beckley the stratified drift is clayey, and conse- quently good supplies of water are not so commonly obtained there as near the mouth of Belcher Brook. I Water in till. — The greater part of the town of Berlin is covered with glacial till. Over the higher lands the till is too thin to serve as a water-bearing formation, however, and both the underlying trap and the sandstone are exposed in many places. (See PL II, in pocket.) The average depth to water in the 52 till wells that were measured was 14.5 feet, or practically the same as in the 35 wells in stratified drift. (See fig. 3, p. 16.) The average depth to water in the wells in till on hills and slopes was noticeably less than in wells in stratified drift in the same topographic positions, however. In the lowlands, on the contrary, the average depth to water was nearly 50 per cent greater in the wells in till than in the wells in stratified drift. ; The analyses of water from dug wells 51, 85 (p. 30), and 107 (p. 31), the first two being hilltop wells in till and the last on a slope in the same material, illustrate the marked differences in character in well waters obtained from the till. The water from well 51 is a moder- BERLIN. 29 ately hard calcium-carbonate water, whereas that from well 107 is unusually free from mineral salts in solution. The high content of calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate in the water from well 85-shows thai it is a very hard water for this area. This well is in a barnyard, and the unusually large amounts of chloride and nitrate indicate that the water is contaminated b}' the barnyard wastes. Wet, r in sa/ndstone and trap. — Records were obtained of the water level in only 13 drilled wells in Berlin. These wells range in depth from 50 to 300 feet, the average depth being 120 feet. Most of these wells are drilled into the sandstone and obtain dependable supplies of water sufficient for domestic use. Well 23, how T ever, which is drilled at a brickyard in the lowland near Beckley, probably is sunk its entire depth in the stratified drift and obtains its water from a sandy layer below the clay deposits. Trap was penetrated in wells 46 and 77, but their main water supplies are from the overlying sandstone. "Well 70 is of unusual character, as it has an artesian flow. Its natural yield of 100 gallons a minute is much larger than is usually obtained from drilled wells. The trap rock of the pos- terior sheet is exposed near the well, and the bottom of the well, which is reported to be 117 feet deep, may be a short distance below the bottom of the trap sheet, and the artesian flow may come from the sandstone beneath the nearly impervious trap rock. The analyses of water from drilled w T ells 31, 46, and 83 (p. 32) show them to be waters of moderate concentration, in which calcium and bicarbonate, the usual constituents in this region, predominate. The water from well 83 is notable for its high content of sulphate in addition to bicarbonate. It is a rather hard water, but the low con- tent of chloride and the absence of nitrate indicate that it is prob- ably free from contamination. In this respect it is a better water than many others in the town. Springs. — Only five springs were noticed in the town, and only one of these was used as a domestic supply. Three of the springs issue directly from sandstone. The other two issue from the glacial deposits that overlie the sandstone, but possibly have their principal source also in the water that is stored in crevices in the sandstone. All are of small but perennial flow. RECORDS OF WELLS AND SPRINGS. The locations of a number of wells, scattered throughout the town, are indicated on Plate II (in pocket), together with the depth to water in each early in May, 1915. Additional data concerning these wells and the springs that were noticed are given in the following tables and their discussion. The depth to water in the wells listed, and the relative capacity and permanence of their supplies, are be- lieved to be typical of the many other wells in the town. 30 GROUND WATER IN THE" MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Bug mells in Berlin. Map No. a Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water May, 1915. Feet. Feet. . 15 12 19 17 23 12 20 10 14 8 13 3 32 16 6 3 20 15 17 10 1:9 11 .31 6 16 10 20 6 22 16 20 14 44 42 25 20 38 35 18 11 38 22 33 29 98 36 19 14 24! 15 -23 :8 23 18 28 27 6 4 12 5 29 12 23 14 11 6 29 27 18 16 14 11 11 9 31 7 21 17 •27 20 60 12 35 33 31 22 14 11 8 4 23 20 31 16 24 20 19 13 14 12 38 32 21 20 15 6 29 14 26 7 21 19 24 20 20 16 14 5 22 15 19 18 32 16 22 3 25 20' 26 5 20 15 16 12 14 7 21 18 33 32 Method of lift. Remarks. Slope. do Swale do Lowland Base of hill... do do.. Slope . . . Knoll... Slope Saddle.. do... Slope. . . do... do. . Knoll..... do. Slope . . do. do. Knoll... Slope. . do. ....do. ....do. ....do. ....do. Swale Base of ridge. Swale Ridge Lowland ....do ....do ....do ....do Slope ....do.. Knoll Slope Swale Small ridge. . Slope ....do Swale...: Slope Base of hill... Lowland Knoll Slope ....do Knoll Slope Swale ....do Slope Lowland Slope Swale Base of knoll. Swale Slope Swale Slope ....do ....do Small ridge. Hill Feet. 210 210 160 140 55 220 220 190 110 120 70 ISO 180 100 100 70 90 120 «0 120 60 100 80 130 140 230 140 125 100 55 170 175 55 60 55 65 65 110 80 80 •180 190 230 230 190 80 90 160 110 65 160 150 110 100 80 . 230 200 205 185 190 145 140 100 110 130 180 180 180 185 195 Windlass . do. Well sweep *. Rope and bucket . Chain pump do. Pitcher pump Windmill Windlass Chain pump . do Pitcher pump Windlass do Chain pump Wheeland bucket do ....:.. Windlass .....do ....do Wheel and bucket Wheel and bucket Windlass do ....do Windmill . Windlass . Wheel and bucket Chain pump Windlass do do Chain pump_ . do Windlass Hand pump . . Windlass ....do do Rope and bucket. Wheel and bucket Chain pump do Windlass Chain pump Wheel and bucket Chain pump.. Windlass.. ....do Wheel and bucket ....do ....do Rope and bucket. Hand pump. Pitcher pump Wheel and bucket ....do. , Hand pump ....do ....do Rope and bucket . Pitcher pump. ....do Gets low but never dxy; trap pene- trated. Does not dry. Dry every summer . Never dry; 100 yards east of No, 4. Low in summer; 100 yards southeast of No. 7. Trap penetrated. Dry in summer. ' Unused but never dry. Good supply. Dry in summer. C. W. Downe, -owner. (See analysis, p. 32.) Never dry. Dry in summer. Do. Unused. Dry in summer. Most of distance in sandstone; do- mestic supply from spring No. 34. Close to drainage channel. Low in summer; trap penetrated. Never dry. Do. Do. Dry in summer. Gets low but not dry. Never dry. Dry in summer. Algot Larson, owner. (See analysis, p. 32.) Never dry; trap penetrated. Dry in summer. Nearly entire distance in sandstone. Dry in summer. Unused. Gets low but not dry. Never dry. Gets low but not dry. Trap penetrated. Do. Dry in summer. Do. Rarely goes dry; entire distance in sandy material. Gets low but not dry. Sandstone penetrated. Unused. Gets low but not dry. Dry in summer. C. W. Dyer, owner. ( : See analysis, p. 32.) a The map number corresponds with the number of the location on PL II (in pocket). BKKLIX. Dun wells in Berlin Continued. 31 Map No. Topographic position. K liga- tion above sea level. Total depl ii. Depth to water May, 1915. Method of lift. Remarks. 8(5 88 ol lull Feet. 1 10 130 100 Feet. 6 28 38 Feel. 2 22 30 10 15 13 4 19 S is 3 6 13 G 5 1 43 19 17 Pitcher pump do Gets low but not dry; sandstone penetrated. Dry in summer. ' Do. 89 Knoll Wheal and bucket 90 60 Unused. 91 Swale 2 1 245 205 210 280 210 200 190 210 150 160 180 190 300 350 21 30 11 25 is 30 5 19 14 9 6 6 50 27 21 Never dry; trap penetrated. 92 93 94 ind Base of hill do Slope >i knell.. Rope and bucket. . Dry during dry summers. 95 90 9S 99 Chain pump Wheeland bucket. Pitcher pump Dry in summer. Unused. 100 do Lowland Unused; drive point. 101 Large supply; sandstone penterated. 103 do Rope and bucket.. Wheeland bucket. Greenhouse supply; trap penetrated. 104 Swale 1 05 Flat Never dry; sandstone penetrated. 100 Unused but never dry. 107 do Never drv. Dennis Kahalev, owner. (See analysis, p. 32.) Drilled ircllx in Berlin. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water May, 1915. Depth to rock. Kind of rock. Yield. Remarks. 1 Base of hill .do.... Feet. 170 230 110 30 220 90 100 180 180 110 140 180 175 Feet. 100 140 50 73 97 80 120 96 117 80 135 300 176 Feet. 16 20 8 40 25 15 10 20 18 29 15 30 Feet. Gallons per minute. Dug 23 feet; drilled 77 feet. 9 do Force pump. Force pump and electric motor. 16 do Hand pump. 23 Lowland Slope do (iood supply of water at 70 feet. 31 6 do do Supplies three families. John 39 Base of ridge .. Ross, owner. 1 See analysis, p. 32.) D$ig 20 feet; drilled 00 feet. 46 do Force pump. Trap prob- ably penetrated. At Worthington school. Trap 54 do.. 24 1 15 60 Trap penetrated. (See analysis, p. 32. ) Force pump. 70 75 Low ridge Slope do Sandstone.. do 100 12 Water struck at 89 feet; tem- ' ire 52° F. Flows. Engine pumps 7 gallons a min- 77 ute. Trap penetrated. 60-127 feet in sandstone; 127- 80 Slope do 135 feet in trap. 38 Flat do Mrs. Mary A. Dunham, owner. (See analysis, p. 32.) Springs in Berlin. Map No. Topographic position. Elevation above sea level. Temper- ature. Yield. Bedrock. Remarks. 34 Feet. 110 100 100 200 140 "F. Gallons per min- ute. i i i i 4 Sandstone do Domestic supply. 76 45 Nearly dry in summer. 87 do Drinking water supply. 97 Unused; at roadside. 102 .do.... 48 Drinking water supply. 32 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. ANALYSES OF GROUND WATER. In the following table are given the analyses of seven samples of ground water collected in the town of Berlin. Of these samples four are from dug wells and three are from drilled wells. These analyses are discussed on pages 19-21. Chemical composition and classification of toater from toells in Berlin. [Parts per million. Samples collected May, 1915; S. C. Dinsmore, analyst.]' Silica (Si0 2 ) Iron(Fe) Calcium (Ca) Magnesium (Mg) Sodium and potassium (Na+K)t>. . . Carbonate radicle (C0 3 ) Bicarbonate radicle (HCO3) Sulphate radicle (SO4) Chloride radicle (CI) Nitrate radicle (N0 3 ) Total dissolved solids at 180° C Total hardness as CaC0 3 & Probable scale-forming ingredients & Probability of corrosion & c Quathy for boiler use Chemical character Dug wells. 20 a 25 Trace. 42 15 9.6 .0 197 8.2 7.5 8.0 209 166 170 N Fair. Ca-COs 17 Trace. 40 17 9.5 .0 153 16 17 30 226 170 160 Pair. Ca-C0 3 85 15 Trace. 100 48 27 .0 297 27 131 60 617 447 390 (?) Poor. Ca-COs 107 20 Trace. 11 3.9 4.9 .0 34 9.8 4.5 12 80 44 59 (?) Good. Ca-C0 3 Drilled wells. 31 22 Trace. 31 22 1.6 .0 143 11 13 30 184 168 150 ^ ? ) Fair. Mg-C0 3 46 25 Trace. 46 13 2.5 .0 143 16 19 16 213 168 180 (?) Fair. Ca-C0 3 S3 17 Trace. 65 17 5.3 .0 102 147 5.0 .0 340 232 240 (?) Poor. Ca-S0 4 a Numbers at heads of columns correspond to those on map (PI. II, in pocket) and in tables (p. 30-31). 6 Computed. c N=noncorrosive; (?)=corrosion doubtful. CROMWELL. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The town of Cromwell forms a rudely triangular area that is bounded on the east by Connecticut River and on the west by Mattabesset River. On the north a straight boundary line sepa- rates Cromwell from the town of Rocky Hill. The first settlement within the limits of the present town was in 1650, when several families from the vicinity of the present city of Middletown moved to the lowland along Connecticut River near the mouth of the Mattabesset, which was early known as Little River. Provision in the allotment of land was originally made for only 15 families, but in 1670 there were 52 families in the locality. In 1704 the settlement, which had become known as Upper Houses, was organized as Upper Middletown parish. The parish remained a portion of Middletown until 1851, when it was incorporated and named after Oliver Cromwell as a separate town, with its present boundaries. One post office, at the village of Cromwell, supplies the present needs of the town, as the population is largely concentrated at this village in the southeast, near Connecticut River. North Cromwell, CROMWELL. 33 a mile away, is a separate community, though homes are closely spaced along the main highway northward from Cromwell village. In the. western part of the town a small community has grown up, about half a mile northwest of Westficld station, but in the main the houses in the western portion of the town are scattered. The Valley division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford "Railroad passes along the eastern border of the town and through the village of Cromwell. A trolley line extending northward from Middletown parallels the railroad to Cromwell village and thence continues northward along the main highway. The western border of the town is crossed by the trolley line between Middle- town and Berlin station. The area of the town, taking the middle of Connecticut River as its eastern boundary, is about 8,700 acres, according to planimeter measurement on the Middletown topographic map, but 400 acres ot this total is the water surface of Connecticut River. 1 The lower course of Mattabesset River is affected by the tide and adds per- haps 20 acres to the total water surface, and half a dozen small ponds add about 20 acres more. A wide lowland area along Mattabesset River and a smaller area beside Connecticut River comprise a total of fully 600 acres of marsh land, or 7 per cent of the total area of the town. . Originally the town was very largely wooded, in the lowlands as well as in the hilly portions. From the greater part the timber was long ago removed for fuel and for building, but a large acreage in the northeast is still covered with second and later growths. Numerous small wood lots (see PI. IV, in pocket) increase the total woodland to about 1,850 acres, or fully 21 per cent of the entire area. POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. Early records of the population of Middle Houses are included in those of Middletown, so that definite figures of the growth of the newer settlement do not seem to be available. It is known, however, that from a population of about 250 'in 1704, when the parish was formed, Middle Houses increased to a total of 754 persons in 1776. 2 During the first half of the nineteenth century commerce with the West Indies afforded a substantial industry and growth. In 1850 the proposed town of Cromwell had a population of 1,275, and in the succeeding 20 years the town's population increased nearly 50 per cent. From 1870 to 1880 there was a notable loss, ow T ing to migra- tion to neighboring towns wdiere manufacturing was being more 1 The area is given as 8,455 acres in the Connecticut State Register and Manual, p. 419, 1915. 2 Adams, J. C, History of Middletown Upper Houses, p. 57, New York, 1908. 1.14445°— 20 3 34 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. actively developed and to the movement of farmers to lands farther west. A considerable increase in population was attained during © the next 10 years, however, and since | 1890 there has been a slow but fairly uniform growth. The available records of population of the area embraced by I the present town are shown in figure 5. The principal industry in the town is & agriculture. Hay and corn are the main crops, but much tobacco is grown in the northeast.. A. number of dairy farms | have also been established within recent years at scattered points throughout the g town. Employment to a number of % °. people in the town is afforded by a few | long- established factories, the principal | ones being a factory for toys and light I & hardware and a hammer works. Within ° recent years extensive greenhouses near | Cromwell village have also given local H o employment. Z GEOLOGY.. o «| § Faulting, which has produced corn- 's plex structure in the rock formations in Berlin, is not so pronounced in Crom- well, and the upper sandstone is the first rock penetrated in by far the greater portion of the town. The western part of the town is traversed by at least four faults, however, and the " Posterior " or upper trap sheet has thus been brought to the surface. The areas immediately underlain by this trap have been pains- takingly worked out by Davis, 1 as is shown on Plate III (in pocket), but the trap rock is actually exposed at only a few places, as indicated on Plate II (in pocket). The great fault that passes be- tween Lamentation and Higby moun- tains extends northeastward through Cromwell, but in this town the displace- ment of the rocks along the fault has | § been sufficient to bring the upper trap NOLLvinaoa sheet to the surface only near the 1 ro O c\T 1 N CO SB \ o / ID/ nit SI 1 \ \ \- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 1 1 \ 1 I I 1 u it-v _ 8 55 1 Davis, W. M., The Triassic formation of Connecticut : U. S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Aan. Kept., pt. 2, pi. 19, 1898, IMWEUU 35 southern border oi the town. Farther north, although the displace- ment of the beds is several hundred feet, the upper ne forms the rock immediately imderlying the tri oi i,iie fault. In tin' v n1 of the town an extensive fault west of the belt of upper trap rock nasbrought bedsof.the i a " sandstone along sastern side up into juxtaposition is of the upper sandstone along its western side. Deep wells drilled between this fault and the belt oi trap rock will therefore penetrate the main I t as the first trap, whereas deep wells drilled west of the fault will iirst pene- trate the upper trap sheet. The approximate position of the several trap sheets and sandstone formations beneath the town of Cromwell is shown in the structure section C-D on Plate III (in pocket). The lowlands along Connecticut and Mattabesset rivers are covered CD by stratified glacial drift. The central and northeastern portions of the town are also covered by sandy stratified deposits, which are believed to have been spread out as a plain by water from the glacial ice front at a period when ice that still lingered farther south partly dammed up the valleys of Mattabesset River and of Connecticut River near Middletown. 1 Over the sand plain and in the marsh lands along the Mattabesset and the Connecticut, the drift is probably deep, but on the western border of Cromwell village the underlying sandstone is exposed in a large abandoned quarry. Other outcrops of the sandstone in the vicinity show that the drift is only a few feet thick on the slopes near Cromwell village, and the rock has also been exposed in trenches dug for water mains. The higher portions of the town are formed by rounded hills that are covered by glacial till and are probably, in part at least, molded into drumlin forms by thick layers of the glacial debris. In one locality in the northwest the covering of till is very thin, however, and numerous ledges of sandstone are exposed. SURFACE FEATURES. The central and northwestern portions of the town constitute a hilly area whose greatest elevation is reached in a hilltop in the northwest, nearly 300 feet above sea level. A number of other hills are more than 200 feet high, but the area is deeply incised by several streams, and the slopes also drop rapidly to the west and south to Mattabesset Eiver. In the northeastern portion of the town lies a sand plain that has i, mean elevation of about 180 feet, but it has been dissected from the north and from the south by the headwaters of minor streams. On the east the plain drops rapidly to Connecticut River. On the south- Loughlin, G. F., The clays and clay industries of Connecticut: Connecticut Geol. an*. Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 4, p. 24, 1905. 36 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. east the surface slopes down to a wide expanse of lowland extending to the river. The southeast corner of the town is occupied by an extensive marsh land between the Connecticut and the Mattabesset, and this marsh extends up the Mattabesset for nearly 3 miles above its mouth. Con- necticut River along the entire eastern side of the town and the Mattabesset to at least the upper limit of the marsh land are within the influence of the tide. All the lowlands of the town are therefore only slightly above sea level. Most of the hilltops and adjacent slopes have long been cultivated, and only detached areas of woodland remain in the central and western portions of the town. The largest remaining wooded areas are along stream valleys on the northern border, and on the slopes from the sand plain down to the Connecticut. STREAMS. Connecticut River has a fairly uniform width of about a quarter of a mile where it forms the eastern boundary of Cromwell. It is navigable from its mouth to the city of Hartford, 15 miles above Cromwell village, and formerly was the principal means of trans- portation for the region. Since the construction of railroads, how- ever, the river transportation has became of minor importance. The eastern portion of the town drains fairly directly to Con- necticut River through a few small brooks. Dividend Brook, which has its course mainly in Rocky Hill, swings southward and then sharply northeastward to the Connecticut. The southernmost part of its course crosses the Rocky Hill-Cromwell boundary and drains the northeastern border of Cromwell. Its average flow at the road crossing at the southernmost point of its course is probably less than 1 second-foot. On May 6, 1915, it carried 0.6 second-foot of water. A small tributary that parallels the north border of the town has been locally called Peat Swamp Brook. Peaty deposits in its marsh-land course were intermittently prospected for many years, but the material does not seem to be of commercial value. A smaller perennial stream drains a portion of the eastern slopes of the town directly to the river. The greater part of the sand plain in the north-central part of the town is drained by a brook that flows southeastward through North Cromwell village to the Connecticut. In its upper portion this stream is ponded in three places, the upper two ponds regulating the flow to the lowest, which furnishes power to one or more fac- tories. Below North Cromwell the brook flows for nearly a mile across the lowland to Connecticut River. Because of the several ponds and the mill dam at and above North Cromwell a satisfactory estimate of the normal flow of the brook was not obtained. It seems, CROMWELL. 37 however, to have a considerably larger discharge per unit drainage area than Dividend Brook. Its upper course is intrenched 60 feet or more in the sand plain, hence it probably receives considerable water by seepage inflow from the deep sandy deposits and perhaps also by springs that issue close to its channel. The southern and western portions of the town arc drained by a number of small brooks that flow directly to Mattabesset River, which forms the town boundary on the south and west. The Matta- besset itself is affected by the tide for half its course along the Crom- well border. Above the limit of the tide it is a sluggish stream, so polluted by factory wastes and sewage that few fish inhabit it. Its average flow during the low water of summer and autumn is about 50 second-feet at the northwest corner of the town. Half a mile above its mouth it is joined from the south by Coginchaug River, and it enters the Connecticut with a mean low-water discharge of about 70 second feet. 1 The stream receives a normal low-water ac- cession of only about 2 second-feet between the northwest corner of Cromwell and the mouth of the Coginchaug. Several of the indi- vidual brooks that enter this portion of the Mattabesset both from the south and from the north at times carry more than 2 second- feet, however. On May 5, 1915, the brook that enters the north side of the Mattabesset one-third of a mile west of Westfield station had a dis- charge of 3.7 second-feet, at a time when the Mattabesset shortly above the mouth of this brook carried 42 second-feet. The brooks that drain the southern and western slopes of Crom- well are at present almost unused for the development of power, but in former times the largest ones were of some importance for this purpose. A grant to a mill site on Chestnut Brook 2 was obtained in 1655, but of late years this stream has been used little if at all for the development of power. WATER SUPPLIES. Surface water. — A few years ago a pumping plant was established shortly below the power dam at North Cromwell, and water from the brook was delivered to consumers in Cromwell village. In 1915 this plant, owned by the Cromwell Water Co., a private corporation, com- prised an electrically driven centrifugal pump, lifting water from the brook below the power dam to two standpipes in the highest part of the village. (See PL IV, in pocket.) The distribution system comprised 8 miles of mains. The pump was run three to eight hours each night to supply the average daily use of about 175,000 gallons. 1 Report on the investigation of the pollution of streams, p. 45, Connecticut State Board of Health, 1915. 2 Adams, J. C, Middletown Upper Houses, p. 15, New York, 1908. 38 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONE". In 1915 the Cromwell Water Co. supplied about 1,500 people, 1 or about two-thirds of the population of the town. The remaining third, scattered throughout the town,, depend chiefly on shallow dug wells for water supply, A few drilled wells have been put clown in the western portion, however, in places where the glacial material is thin, and a few springs are used. Water in . stratified drift. — As- the greater part of Cromwell is covered by stratified drift, most of the dug wells obtain water from this material. The average depth to water in the 23 wells in strati- fied deposits that were measured early in May, 1915, was 12.5 feet. The water level differed notably in the individual wells, but as shown in figure 8 (p. 16) the average depth on hills, slopes,, or lowlands in the stratafled drift did not differ notably. In general the depth to water in the eastern part of the sand plain that occupies the north- central part of the town was greater than in the western portion of the plain and indicated a marked eastward slope of the water table, caused, presumably, by the deeply intrenched drainage course of the brook that flows through North Cromwell. Although the wells in. the sand plain obtain ample supplies of water for individual families, the greatest available supplies of ground water in the town are prob- ably stored in the lowland east of Cromwell village and in the more marshy land in the southeast corner of the town. Wells were not seen in either area, and no test borings were reported which might show the character of the stratified drift in either place. It is prob- able that the lowland along the Mattabesset is underlain by clay beds similar to those of the brick-clay pits near Newfield, and hence large yields of water could not be obtained from wells sunk in these lowlands. The area east of Cromwell village is, however, probably underlain by more sandy material, in which there may be large sup- plies of water that could be developed by shallow wells and pump- ing plants for the use of neighboring industrial establishments. Analyses of water from three dug wells in the stratified drift (see table, p. 40) show that some of the wells T of which Nos. 6 and 7 are examples, yield very soft and pure water. Other domestic wells, however, which are situated adjacent to kitchens or to outhouses may become dangerously polluted by organic wastes, resulting in abnor- mally high amounts of chloride and nitrate. Well 41 is an example of such a well ; the chloride and nitrate radicles constitute more than half of the total solids, which they have increased to an extent that is abnormal for this area. Water in till. — The records of 10 dug wells in the till, chiefly in the western portion of the town, indicate that the water level is there on an average about three-quarters as deep as in the stratified drift of the lower areas. There is, however, as marked a variation in the 1 Connecticut Public Utilities Commission Rept. 1915, p. 649. CEOMWELL. 39 water level in individual wells in (ill as there is in the wells in strati- fied drill. Water in sandstone. — Four dialled wellswere observed in thi taw a, All are in tin- western part, in localities where tin- glacial '•'ii'i is too thin to serve ns a reliable water-bearing formation. The wells are drilled 63 to H42 feet deep, (lie depth to water in them being 20 to 30 feel in May, L&15. In the deepest well (No. 26) the - Po terior" trap siieei was drilled through and a dependable water supply obtained from the underlying sandstone. In the other three \ only sandstone was penetrated below the till. Springs. — Three of the four springs noticed in the town are used for domestic supply. Each of these three springs issues from the stratified drift and yields only about half a gallon a minute, but each is said to have a perennial flow. The fourth spring issues from the trap in a small road-metal quarry and supplies a roadside trough. RECORDS OF WELLS AND SPRINGS. The wells and springs indicated on Plate II (in pocket) and tabu- lated in the following list are believed to be typical and to show the ground-water conditions in different portions of the town. Dug irells in Cromirell. Hap No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea Total depth. level. Feet. Feet. 110 22 140 25 145 15 ISO 37 180 23 190 10 175 7 175 21 190 19 185 29 165 23 50 9 150 11 110 20 170 18 170 9 190 18 200 18 59 15 55 18 50 15 80 18 30 15 30 14 30 14 170 18 130 11 95 30 110 28 130 32 30 17 60 20 20 15 Depth to water Mav, 1915. Method of lift. Remarks. Knoll Slope Flat Slope ....do Base of hill.. Flat ....do Knoll Flat ....do Swale Slope do ....do Flat Base of knoll Knoll Slope do ....do ....do Slope Base of hill.. Swale Knoll Saddle Slope do ....do Base of hill.. Slope Lowland 35 Rope and bucket. Windlass Piieher pump Windlass . 12 i Pitcher pump. Windlass Rope and bucket. Windlass Hand pump Windlass do do Rope and bucket. Wheel and bucket. Hand pump Wheel and bucket . Windlass do do do Wheel and bucket. Windlass Wheel and bucket. Windlass Chain pump Pitcher pump Windlass do. .do. .do. .do. .do. .do. Never dry. Dry in summer. Never dry. Benjamin Rooney, owner. (See analysis, p. 40.) Never dry. J. W. Gardner, owner. (See analysis, p. 40.) Dry in summer; water level affected quickly by rains. Never dry. Do: Do. Gets low but nor dry. Never dry. La small, marsh}- patch. Dry in summer. Never dry; supplies several families. Never dry. Dry in summer. Never dry. Dry in dry summers. Supplies 5 families during summer; trap penetrated. Never dry. Dry in summer. Never dry. Only slightly used. Dry in summer. O. A. Perkins, owner, p. 40.) (See analysis, I 40 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Drilled tcells in Cromwell. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above • sea level. Total depth. Depth to water Mav, 1915. Depth to rock. Kind of rock. Yield. Remarks. 2 Slope do do Knoll Feet. 110 130 90 70 Feet. 63 112 142 65 Feet. 30 30 20 20 Feet. Sandstone Gallons per minute. 3 do 26 28 9 Through trap to sandstone. Sandstone 4| first struck. Springs in Cromwell. Map No. Topographic position. Elevation above sea level. Tempera- ture. Yield. Bedrock. Remarks. 5 18 Slope do do do Feet. 1*0 120 70 70 °F. 48 Gallons per min- ute. 1 2 Sandstone do Trap Part of domestic supply. Domestic supply. 30 50 32 Sandstone ANALYSES OF GROUND WATER. The following table contains the analyses of three samples of water from dug wells in the town of Cromwell. The analyses are discussed on pages 19-21. Chemical composition and 'Classification of water from wells in Cromwell. [Parts per million. Samples collected in May, 1915 ; S. C. Dinsmore, analyst.] -K)6. Silica (Si0 2 ) Iron(Fe) ".. Calcium (Ca) Magnesium (Mg) Sodium and potassium (Na- Carbonate radicle (CO3) Bicarbonate radicle (HCO3) Sulphate radicle (SO4) Chloride radicle (CI) -. Nitrate radicle (NO3) Total dissolved solids at 180° C Total hardness as CaC03 b Probable scale-forming ingredients & . Probability of corrosion & e Quality for boiler use Chemical character 6« 7 15 17 Trace. Trace. 14 11 5.0 0.8 8.8 10 .0 .0 9.7 14 11 29 14 14 44 10 119 93 56 47 65 57 C C Bad. Bad. Ca-N0 3 Ca-S0 4 22 Trace. 107 29 170 .0 105 117 102 500 .,108 386 390 C Very bad. Na-NOe o Numbers at heads of columns correspond to those on map (PI. II, in pocket) and in table (p. 39). b Computed". « C = corrosive. MEHIDEN. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The town of Meriden occupies the southwestern part of the area considered in this report. The area was first organized as a parish of the town of Wallingford, which adjoins Meriden on the south. MEIUDEN. 41 The parish is generally considered to have been named from Meriden, in Warwickshire, England, l>ut doubt as to this source of the name has been raised in favor of a farm near Dorking, in Surrey County, England. ' lu L730 the population of the parish was only about 250, for immi- gration was not rapid, and after the French and Indian War migra- tion was westward rather than into the Meriden region. By the close of the American devolution the population of the parish of Meriden was probably about 500, and in 1806, when the settlement was incorporated as a separate town, it contained about 1,100 people, 2 The present population is concentrated in the center of the town, in the city of Meriden, which was chartered in 1867. South Meriden and East Meriden are communities about a mile beyond the corporate limits of the city. The area of the town is close to 15,000 acres, according to plani- meter measurement on the Meriden and Middletown topographic maps. 3 Nearly 24 per cent of the total area is wooded (see PL IV, in pocket ) with small second and later growths of chestnut, oak, maple, and other native trees. There is only about 200 acres of marshland in the town, and this land consists largely of strips along the principal brooks. Nearly 300 acres, or 2 per cent of the total area, is covered by the water surfaces of several ponds. POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. During the first few decades after incorporation Meriden gained only slowly in population. The development of manufactures, which were early started in and near the city, soon gave impetus to settlement, however, and between 1810 and 1850 the population nearly doubled. An even greater increase took place in the succeeding decade, and since 1860 the growth has continued at a rapid rate, Meriden being now one of the most important manufacturing cities in the State. The accompanying diagram (fig. 6) shows the grow T th in population of the town since its incorporation, and of the city since 1880, when the population of the city as distinct from the town first appears in the census reports. The principal industry of Meriden is the manufacture of sterling silverware and plated ware, on which account it is sometimes called the " silver city." Other important industries are the manufacture of nickel and granite ware, of Britannia ware, cut glass, electric and other lamps, clocks, furniture trimmings, and many minor arti- cles. Cutlery and other small articles are made at South Meriden, and several small factories are located in East Meriden 1 Curtis, G. M., and Gillespie, C. B., A century of Meriden, p. 4G, Meriden, 1906. 2 Idem, p. 333. 3 The area of 10,483 acres, given on p. 432 of the Connecticut State Register and Manual, 1915, is evidently in error. 42 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEIST AREA, CONK. The rolling slopes outside the city are extensively cultivated, field crops being raised chiefly, though there are numerous small orchards of apples and other deciduous fruits. The double-track line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad passes through the city of Meriden and gives easy access both to New Haven, on tidewater, 18 miles to the south, and. to Hartford, the State capital, at the head of navigation on Connecti- cut River, 18 miles to the north. Inter-urban trolley lines connect Meriden with villages to the east and to the west, and the principal 36,000 32,000 24,000 O 20,000 £; 16,000 . 1 35,414 A ■28,695 32,066 23,528 ! f ^2 4.296 -27,265 V ^1,652 • 18,340 y / / / / / / / / / / 15,540 10,495/ / / / / "7,426 6,C 00 (CITY NCORPOFt AT£D) 1,100 1,309 1,708 1,880 6,559 1867 1 1 1,249 18061810 1820 1830 1S40 1850 1860 1870 1880 1830 1900 19101914 Figure 6. — Curves showing population of the town and city of Meriden, Conn. highways are either concreted or metaled, affording easy means of communication by automobile. GEOLOGY. The geologic structure in the town of Meriden is largely deter- mined by two extensive faults that cross it in a northeast-southwest direction. (See PL III, in pocket.) Of these major faults the western one is believed to have caused a displacement of not less than 2,000 feet and the eastern one of not less than 1,300 feet. 1 Along these two great fault zones uplift and offset of the rocks has taken place and the " Main " trap sheet has been broken and 1 Davis, W. M., The Triassic formation of Connecticut : U. S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 96, 1898. U. S. GEOLOGICAL suitVEY WATER-ST7PPL? PAPER 449 PLATE Vir ■y ^^r^^'v:^^ A. CLIFF OF TRAP IN CATHOLE GORGE, MERIDEN, CONN. B. BOULDER-STREWN FIELD NEAR HARBOR BROOK, MERIDEN, CONN. MERIDEN. 43 uptilted, so that its edges now form the <1 i (Ts of Hanging Hills, Lamentation Mountain, and the Higby-Beseck mountain mass. X near view of one of these cliffs is shown in Plate VII, !. The man- ner in which repeated faulting h:is caused the " Main' 1 trap sheet to form the extensive cliffs ©f the Banging Bills is shown in structure section K-V on Plate 111. The uplift was so great that the "Anterior " or lower trap sheet is also expose;! along the b of the mountains, as shown on Plate III. This lower trap sheet fo. his :i prominent shelf or bench below the main cliffs of the Hang- ing Hills, as shown in Plate V, A. At the base of Lamentation Mountain it also forms a minor ridge, but along liigby ami Beseek mountains it does not appreciably affect the topography. The ap- parent secondary bench of Beseek Mountain, south of Black Pond, that is shown in Plate V, B, is a more distant portion of the cliff formed by the " Main " trap sheet. In the northern and eastern portions of Meriden the successive rock formations from the lower sandstone upward to the "Main'" trap sheet are exposed. The lower sandstone is the uppermost rock in the greater part of the town, and in drilling wells in these areas, except for the remote possibility of penetrating* a dike, no trap rock will be met. One dike of diabase rock, which is similar to the trap rock of the several sheets, is exposed at several points south of Meriden, but it is believed to be the only dike of note in the region. A small dike near Baileyville, in Middlefield, has been de- scribed by Griswold. 1 The northernmost exposure of this dike that was noticed is in the unpaved roadway of Prospect Halls Avenue. The dike there appears to be only 2 or 3 feet wide, but half a mile southward, in the western portion of Walnut Grove Cemetery, it has a width of 15 feet or more. At this locality it is best exposed in a small quarry or pit, which is probably the Golden Parlor mine, where prospecting for copper was carried on many years ago. Far- ther south the dike rock is well exposed as a very low rocky riclge. Its surface exposures terminate at a road cut, -i feet deep, where the dike is about 40 feet wide. The eastern contact between the dike and the sandstone is well shown in this cut. The lands along the principal streams in the town are covered by stratified drift. The bedded character of this material is shown in numerous gravel banks, such as the one illustrated in Plate VI. B. "Well records show that in many places this drift is shallow, but along the lower course of Harbor Brook the deposits are deep. Through the center of the city of Meriden the western border of the lowland along Harbor Brook is probably marked by a steep, buried bedrock- slope; for it is said that whereas the western portion of Winthrop 1 Griswold, L. S., A basic dike! in the Connecticut Triassic : Harvard Coll. Mus. Comp. Zool. Bull., vol. 16, pp. 239-242, 1893. 44 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Hotel is built on sandstone, the eastern portion rests on piles driven into unconsolidated materials. South Meriden is situated on a sand plain that extends from Quin- nipiac Eiver westward to the hills that limit the river valley and southward down the river valley for several miles. This plain was probably formed by the reassorting and redeposition of sand and finer materials by water that was produced by the melting of the glacial ice and that spread over the valley before a definite channel had been established. In these porous sand-plain deposits the city of Meriden has constructed very successful filter beds a short dis- tance below the town line. In the southeastern portion of the town there is a low but well- developed esker in the upper part of the valley of Harbor Brook. A road makes use of this low, narrow ridge, which forms a well-drained thoroughfare through the meadow land on each side. i Rolling hills occupy considerable portions of the town. Most of these hills are elongated in a uniform direction east of north. They are drumlins, but around their bases and even on some of the higher slopes the till is very thin. Unstratified material also occupies some of the lower lands and in the lee of the prominent trap ridges occasionally forms boulder-covered areas, like that shown in Plate VII, B. In numerous places, especially in road cuts, the underlying sandstone is well exposed for distances ranging from a few yards to several rods. The observed areas of such exposures are necessarily exaggerated on Plate II, in order that they may be shown on the map. Doubtless the sandstone is exposed in many other places that I were not seen by the writer. SURFACE FEATURES. The highest points in the town, and by far the most prominent elevations in the central lowland of Connecticut, are the Hanging Hills, which reach a maximum elevation of 1,007 feet in West Peak, on the northwest border. East Peak, on which an observation tower 38 feet high has been erected, and South Mountain and Cathole Mountain, farther east, are also prominent though lower summits of the Hanging Hills. In the northeast part of the town Lamenta- tion Mountain proper and its southern extension, known as Chauncy Peak, also f orm prominent cliff-bordered masses. These higher areas are practically all wooded and have the usual second and later growths of the native trees. The central portion of the town comprises a belt of lowland extending from the headwaters of small streams in the northeast to the valley of Quinnipiac River in the southwest, the lowest point in the town being where this stream crosses the southern border, at an elevation of about 55 feet. MERIDEN. 45 The lowland of the town is bordered on each side by rolling hills, which form the greater part of the surface. streams. Quinnipiac River enters the town of Meriden through a gorge cut 200 feet deep in sandstone and crosses the southwest portion of the town, receiving the drainage from nearly all of it. In its upper portion the stream is used for power development at a number of places, and at South Meriden the Meriden Cutlery Co. obtains power at the outlet of Hanover Pond, a water body of about 35 acres that' is formed chiefly by a dam across the river. Mr. Harold T. Burgess, civil engineer, of Meriden, has furnished the curve of discharge of the river at the outlet of Hanover Pond, which is presented in fimire 7. H hJ UJ *T 300 a z o (J UJ in 200 z UJ CD < 100 X o m - o Apr. May July Aug. Sept. Oct. Dec. Figure 7. — Diagram showing monthly discharge of Quinnipiac River at outlet of Han- over Tond, Meriden, Conn. This record shows that the maximum flow, which is usually attained in March, is about eight times the minimum flow of the summer months. Storage ponds, however, regulate the flow of the stream sufficiently to make it fairly dependable for the development of power throughout the year. Harbor Brook, which empties into Hanover Pond, drains the eastern part of Meriden through its North Branch, which heads in marsh land at the base of Chauncy Peak, and through its other branches it drains the southeastern part of the town. In their upper portions these streams are fairly pure, and shortly below their junction they supply a chain of ice ponds, but below these ponds the main stream flows through the city of Meriden and is polluted by factory wastes. The daily flow T of the stream is affected by the opening and closing of the pond gates, but the average discharge into Hanover Pond is probably about 10 second-feet. Cathole Brook drains the slopes on each side of the mountain of the same name, and flows southward through a small valley. Its 46 GROUND WATER IN THE MEMBER AREA, CG1TE". western branch lias been dammed and a small pond has been formed at the entrance to Cathole Gorge. This branch normally carries per- haps 1 second-foot of water, and the main or eastern branch carries somewhat more. About 1 mile above Hanover Pond Cathole Brook joins Sodom Brook, which heads in the slopes of South Mountain. Shortly below the junction of these two streams Crow Hollow Brook, which heads near the base of West Peak, also enters, and the com- bined discharge into Hanover Pond averages perhaps 5 second-feet of water. Meetinghouse Brook and its tributary Spruce Dale Brook are small streams that drain a southern portion of the town southward to the Quinnipiac. WATER SUPPLIES-. Surface water. — The municipal water supply of the city of Meriden is furnished by several reservoirs, which are shown on Plate IV (in pocket). Merimere reservoir, which was constructed in 1888 in the gap between East Peak and South Mountain, has an available capacity of about 341,000,000 gallons and furnishes a gravity water supply. Kenmere reservoir was later built on another stream, and the water is being pumped from it to Elmere distribut- ing reservoir. In 1895 Hallmere reservoir was constructed, higher up on the same stream,, for storage of water. Excess water from Elmere reservoir is also diverted into Hallmere reservoir by a ditch across the low divide between the two drainage courses. With the rapid growth of the city the reservoir supply has proved inadequate during the late summer, and emergency pumping stations at Hanover Pond (Hanmere station) and at Baldwin Pond (Baldmere station) have been used for short periods. The quality of the water from these two ponds is poor, however, and in order to provide for a better and more adequate supply, Broad Brook reservoir, in the town of Cheshire, was constructed in 1915. This reservoir has a capacity of 1,200,000,000 gallons. From it the water is lifted by electrically driven centrifugal pumps to a distributing reservoir on Johnson Hill. Thence the water is supplied to the mains by gravity under a head of about 250 feet in the business section of the city. Pollution of this new supply has been guarded against hy the purchase of farms adjacent to the reservoir and the removal of the buildings. In excavating for the foundations of the Broad Brook dam well- preserved glacial scratches were found on the sandstone underlying the till. An average thickness of 28 feet of sandstone was removed until diabase was reached, evident^ dike material, containing copper stains. This rock was uncovered at a depth of about 44 feet, en- tirely across the dam site. Similar dikes a few miles to the south have long been prospected for minerals. MERIDEU. 47 In addition to the people within the city limits, a few families in tin 1 northern part of the town of Meriden and in the southern part of Berlin, near whose houses the city mains pas-, arc supplied with water £rom this system. Several industrial establishments in the city have sunk wells to supply their factories* These wells have been only partly i'ul. however, for the water obtained is too hard to be satisfactory for boiler use. ami tin.' factories depend on the city supply for water for this purpose. The community of East Meriden and the numerous farmhouses throughout the town depend on individual wells for a water supply. Wat< r in st ratified drift. — Only a small part of the town of Meri- den is covered by stratified drift and only 11 of the 55 dug wells ob- served that obtain water from the glacial materials are sunk in stratified drift. Wells 6, 9, 26, 35, and 106 obtain water from the sandstone, and hence are not included in the present discussion. The average depth -to w T ater in the 11 wells in stratified drift was 15 feet early in May, 1915, but the water level in the several wells ranged from 7 to 24 feet. (See fig. 3, p. 16.) The stratified drift along the stream valleys above Hanover Pond seems from the available records neither to be very deep nor to contain extensive layers of good water- bearing sand and gravel. In the plain south of Hanover Pond, however, the stratified drift seems to contain extensive water-bearing layers of sand, and ground-water development on a large scale in the town could probably be best undertaken in this lowland. The Meriden sewage beds discharge into the sand a short distance south of the town line, but it is not probable that the diluent seeps north- ward and contaminates the beds within the town of Meriden. The average depth to water in the 44 wells in till that were meas- ured was nearly 2 feet greater than in the wells in drift, being 16.7 feet as compared with 15 feet, and a greater range in depth was also found in the wells in till. Both the least depth (1 foot) and the greatest depth (43 feet) to water in dug wells were noted in wells in till on the hillsides. Water in sandstone. — A large proportion of the dug wells fail in summer, and hence of late years many of them are being improved by drilling deeper, or else the dug wells are abandoned and drilled wells are sunk to furnish better and more permanent domestic water supplies. Deep wells have been drilled in the city of Meriden by several in- dustrial concerns, in order to obtain supplies for their factories. In general these wells yield moderate amounts of water, but it is only fair for use in boilers, and the softer surface water of the munici- pal system has been again utilized for making steam. The chemi- cal character of the water from three of the drilled wells is shown bv the analyses of water from wells 7. 41. and 52, given on page 52, 48 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. The water from well 7 is fairly soft and contains only small amounts of mineral matter in addition to the calcium and bicarbonate radicles, which, combined as calcium bicarbonate, form Avith the silica the principal constituent of the scale that results from the use of this water in boilers. The water from well 41 contains nearly twice as much total solids and is noticeably harder. Well 52 was drilled in 1905 by the Charles Parker Co. to a depth of 1,000 feet in an attempt to obtain a large supply of water suitable for industrial use. A pumping test of about 50 gallons a minute is said not to have over- taxed the well, and the water is used for some purposes in the factory. This well water forms a very hard white scale in boilers, however, and the city water is used for making steam. The analysis shows that in addition to the relatively high calcium and bicarbonate the water contains a rather large amount of scale-forming sulphate. Five wells drilled in the grounds of the Edward Miller Co. (well group 43) in 1895 are said to be the first deep wells sunk in Meriden. Three of the wells are 300 feet deep, the other two being respectively 250 and 350 feet in depth. The deepest well was not successful and has been abandoned. The shallowest well is said to have the great- est yield. It and the three 300-foot wells supply the needs of the factory except for making steam, for which purpose the softer muni- cipal water is used. The amount of well water that is pumped varies according to the factory needs, but a supply of 75,000 to 100,000 gal- lons a day of 10 hours is said to have been obtained at times from the four wells. The factory of the Meriden Curtain Fixture Co. and the factory of Foster, Merriam & Co. each have a- well about 300 feet deep. The well of Foster, Merriam & Co. is said to have a capacity of about 170 gallons a minute, but that of the Meriden Curtain Fixture Co. yields only about 25 gallons a minute. Like the other deep wells of the town, these also yield water that is too hard to be satisfactory for boiler use, but they have supplied other needs of the factories. The records of the drilled wells in Meriden show that in the sand- stone, which throughout most of the town is below the " Anterior " or lowest trap sheet, never-failing domestic supplies can be obtained from wells about 100 feet deep. Supplies of less than 10 gallons a minute are usually developed at this depth, however. The 300-foot wells of the Edward Miller Co. do not seem to have obtained appre- ciably larger supplies than shallower drilled wells in the town. A 562-foot well drilled by the International Silver Co. did not obtain water that was suitable for their factory needs. The deepest well that was reported is that of the Charles Parker Co. (No. 52). By drilling to 1,000 feet a supply of more than 50 gallons a minute was obtained, but it was not learned whether the main water supply was MERIDEN. 49 struck near the bottom of the well in a porous sandstone or whether it was obtained from numerous joints and crevices in the fairly solid sandstone. Although this one well, 1,000 feet deep, is capable of yielding fully 50 gallons a minute, other wells, sunk to equal depth in the sandstone, may not be equally successful in tapping a fairly large supply of water. Springs. — A number of springs in Meriden have been developed for domestic use, and water from Redrock, Hillside, and Live Oak springs (Nos. 33, 39, and 68) is bottled and sold locally for table use. The analyses of water from Hillside Spring (No. 39, p. 52) shows that it has a fairly low total solid content. Calcium and bicar- bonate, two of the substances that render water hard and form scale in boilers, are the principal constituents in this spring water, as in the well waters of the region. Most of the springs issue directly from the sandstone. Spring 4, however, issues at the base of a steep slope in which trap is exposed, and spring 99 seems to derive its supply from the till-eovered slopes above it. RECORDS OF WELLS AND SPRINGS. The following lists give data concerning certain wells, scattered throughout the town of Meriden, that are indicated on Plate II and are believed to be typical of their respective localities. Data con- cerning certain springs are also listed. Several of these springs have been developed commercially, and their waters are locally sold for table use. Dug irclls in Maiden. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water Mav, 1915. Method of lift. Remarks. 2 Base of hill Lowland Feet. 200 170 210 190 170 180 210 280 380 130 125 150 150 170 210 390 330 300 350 350 140 200 300 F,kx. Drilled /cells in Meriden Continued. 51 U ip No. Topog poal ton. Eleva- tion abo e sea level. Total depth. Depth to water May, 1915. to rock. Kind of rock. i'ield. i irk -. 34 Slope Fett. 3.50 3 1.5 260 1 25 130 170 280 250 260 390 370 330 305 300 300 80 245 290 330 320 350 Feet. 79 100+ 150 562 152 250-350 120 205 1,000 200 220 48 60 76 128 90 93 75 102 50 70 Feet. 30 30 50 10± 7 25 54 70 30 30 20 30 30 15 20 40 27 20 22 15 Feet. 2.5 5 per minute. Dug 35 I et; drill d 1 1 feet. 37 38 do do Lowland do Slope d" do... 40 lOOdl 31 6-10 do... 41 43 do do hard fir boiler use; stained silverware; formerly used for, sprinkling, etc.; aban- doned. Thos. P. Lyons Bottling Works; water struck at .50 feet; rose to 7 feet. (Sec analysis, p. 52.) Edward Miller Co., drilled 46 do do do Hilltop Ridge do 1895; 5 wells 250-350 feet deep. Factory supply. Dug 32 feet; drilled n, f et. 49 do Dug 15 foet, drilled 190 feet. 52 do... 5S do... 1905; too hard for boiler use; air lift. Factory use. (See analysis, p. 52.) 73 20 12 40 43 do do 12 74 Slope Saddle Slope do Lowland Slope do do Base of hill Ridge 75 76 80 do do do 4 6 to 20 feet. 90 do... 94 do... 96 do 100 do 101 do at 92 feet. 104 do Springs in Meriden. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Tem- pera- ture. Yield. Bedrock. Remarks. 1 Slope Feet. 180 180 250 190 130 290 250 220 85 100 80 120 290 °F. 49 47 45 49 49 Gallons per minute. 5 1 4 5 f> 5± 13 1± 2 5 5 3± 3± Sandstone Trap 4 Base of hill Domestic supply of several adjacent houses. Redrock Spring; hoi tied and sold locally; also dairy supply; flow noticeably less in dry summers. Hillside Spring; bottled and sold locally (See analysis, p. 52.) Unused . Supplies fire-protection tank of Edward Miller Co. Live Oak Spring; bottled and sold lo- cally. Live Elm rein:. Watering trough at roadside. Supplies a pond. Domestic water supply. Domestic supply for several houses. Domestic supply, raised by hydraulic ram. 33 Sandstone do do do do do do do do do do 39 50 .5-1 68 69 83 86 do Base of hill do do do do Swale 87 89 Base of hill Slope 99 do 52 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. ANALYSES OF GROUND WATER. The following table contains four analyses of ground waters in the town of Meriden, of which three are from drilled wells and one is from a spring. The analyses are discussed on pages 19-21. Chemical composition and classification of water from, Meriden. [Parts per million. Samples collected May, 1915; S. C. Dinsmore, analyst.] Drilled wells. 7a Hillside Spring. Silica (Si0 2 ) Iron(Fe) Calcium (Ca) Magnesium (Mg) Sodium and potassium (Na+K)b. . . Carbonate radicle (C0 3 ) Bicarbonate radicle (HCO3) Sulphate radicle (SO4) Chloride radicle (CI) , Nitrate radicle (N 3 ) Total dissolved solids at 180° C Total hardness as CaCOs b Probable scale-forming ingredients b Probability of corrosion b c Quality for boiler use Chemical character 17 Trace. 28 7.4 0.0 0.0 92 10 5.0 3.0 128 100 110 (?) Fair. Ca-C0 3 27 Trace. 50 9.6 13 0.0 134 46 16 15 235 164 190 (?) Fair. Ca-C0 3 25 Trace. 69 6.3 24 0.0 129 77 23 40 339 198 240 (?) Poor. Ca-CO s 27 Trace. 29 4.1 3.0 0.0 92 5.3 7.0 6.0 120 89 120 (?) Fair. Ca-C0 3 a Numbers at heads of columns correspond to those on map ( PI. II, in pocket ) and in table (pp . 50-51 > b Computed. * c(?)=corrosion doubtful. MIDDLEFIELD. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The town of Middlefield, which occupies the south-central part of the area under discussion, was settled about 1700 by three families, who took up their homes respectively in the lowland in the southern portion, in the highland in the north, and near the center of the town. The principal village is at Rock Fall, which had a population of about 250 in 1915. Middlefield Center and Baileyville are communi- ties of about 100 people each. The remainder of the population re- sides mainly near Coe Hill, in the northern part of the town, and near Middlefield railroad station, in the southern part. The area of the town is about 8,600 acres, according to planimeter measurement on 'the Middletown and Guilford topographic maps. 1 About 2,700 acres in the town, or nearly one-third of the total area, is wooded. The woodlands are very largely contained in one body covering uplands in the western part of the town, however, and only four or five areas of more than a few acres each are situated in the eastern two-thirds of the town. A large area of marsh occupies the south-central portion of the town, along the vallejr of Coginchaug 1 The area is given as 8,406 acres on p. 432 of the Connecticut State Register and Manual for 1915, which probably is exclusive of the water surface. MII'DLEFIELD. 53 River, and together with a smaller area in the northeast makes a total of fully 400 acres of marsh land. Highy Mountain reservoir of the Middletown city water supply is in the northern part of the town, and Laurel Brook reservoir, of the same system, lies mainly within the eastern border. Black Pond (PI. V, B) on the west border, Beseck Lake in the west-central portion, and a power pond in the east make, together with the two reservoirs, a total water surface nearly equal to that of the marsh land. POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. In 1744, when Middlefield community was organized as a parish, it contained about 50 families, or possibly 350 people. At this time the community was given its present name, signifying that it was a rural portion of Middletown. By 1815 the population had increased only to about 450, but in 1866, when the parish was incorporated as a separate town, its population was more than double this number. 1,053 1,002 "Sso i — — — — 926 8« 1815 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 Figure 8. — Curve of population of the town of Middlefield, Conn. Since the incorporation of the town its population has fluctuated somewhat with the activity of factories within its borders, but it has not risen above the figure of the first census after the town was formed. The diagram (fig. 8) shows the fluctuation in population, so far as it is given by the records of the census, taken at 10-year intervals. The available water power was early utilized by gristmills and other mills, and the manufacture of various small articles was early undertaken. At present factories near Rock Fall and Bailey- ville produce cording, suspender webbing, and cotton cloth. Other industries in these settlements are the manufacture of gun sights, pistols, and novelties made of ivory and bone. The greater part of the town is devoted to agriculture. Hay and other field crops are raised on the lower lands, and orchard fruits, especially peaches, are extensively grown in the higher areas. A number of dairy 'farms have also been established within recent years. The town is crossed by the Air Line division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, which gives direct outlet south- 54 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. ward to New Haven and northeastward to Middletown. A trolley line extends from Middletown to Middlefield Center, and the main thoroughfares are surfaced and afford a good means of communica- tion with the neighboring settlements. GEOLOGY. The town of Middlefield is not traversed by any extensive faults, and the bedrock structure is therefore simple. The series of Triassic sandstones and interbedded trap sheets dips gently eastward, as is shown in the middle portion, of structure section G-H on Plate III (in pocket). In the northwest corner of the town the " Anterior " or lower trap sheet is well exposed,, both in the bed of the brook between East Meriden and Highland and in a very low ridge at the west side of the road. (See PL II.) This trap sheet is apparently broken and offset by a small fault in the extreme corner of the town, for it is there replaced by the overhang " Anterior " sandstone, as shown on Plate III. This sandstone forms the uppermost rock along most of the western border of the town, at the base of Higby and Beseck mountains. This, northward-trending mountain ridge is formed by the " Main " trap sheet, but this trap dips eastward beneath the " Posterior " sandstone, which forms the uppermost rock through the central part of the town. Eastward this sandstone is succeeded in turn by a band of trap rock of the " Posterior " or upper sheet, which is overlain in the southeastern part of the town by the upper sandstone. East of the valley of Coginchaug River the upper trap sheet is so far below the surface that it probably would be penetrated only by wells more than 1,000 feet deep. The liability of striking trap rock, which is tough and hard to drill, in wells sunk in the region east of Coginchaug River is therefore remote. The " Posterior " trap sheet, however, immediately underlies portions of Middlefield Center and Rock Fall and the intervening lands, as well as less thickly settled lands to the north and to the south. Wells that are drilled within this area, which is shown on Plate III as underlain by the " Pos- terior " trap, will therefore reach the trap immediately beneath the glacial deposits. This trap sheet is 100 to 150 feet thick, but it is probable that by drilling through it into the " Posterior " sandstone, fairly large supplies of water can be developed. The lands under- lain by the " Posterior " trap are for the most part lower than the area of " Posterior " sandstone to the west. It seems possible, there- fore, that artesian flows can be obtained from this sandstone beneath the confining layer of trap rock at some places in the trap area. Except along its western border the area of " Posterior " sand- stone west of the " Posterior " trap sheet is underlain at depths of MIDDLEFIELD. 55 500 to more than 1,000 feat by the "Main" trap sheet. 'Flu-re is therefore little liability (hat (rap will be encountered in wells drilled near Coe Hill and near the outlet of Beseck Lake. Stratified glacial drift fills (he valley of Coginchaug River and the adjacent lower lands, but the greater part of the town is eovered by deposits of till. Over the slopes in the southeast the material seems to be fairly thick, and throughout the central portion it forms several drumliu hills. Over Hig'by and Beseck mountains the till is thin, however, and the trap rock is exposed on their east- ern slopes, probably at man} 7 points in addition to those indicated on Plate II, as well as in the cliffs that form the western fronts of these ridges. SURFACE FEATURES. Middlefield is divided topographically into three fairly distinct belts that trend northward. Along the western side Higby and Beseck mountains constitute a prominent ridge whose crest attains an elevation of about 925 feet on the northwest border of the town. Westward the ridge drops abruptly to rolling land along the edge of the town. Eastward the slope is less abrupt, though steep, to a narrow lowland in part occupied by Beseck Lake and Higby Moun- tain reservoir. East of this lowland a series of narrow, elongated hills constitutes an area that slopes in the main eastward to the val- ley of Coginchaug River. The lowest point in the town, where this river crosses the northeastern boundary, lies at an elevation of about 80 feet. The eastern portion of the town constitutes a gently rolling surface that rises less than 200 feet above the river. STREAMS. Coginchaug River drains practically all the town except about 2 square miles in the northwestern part, which is tributary to Higby Mountain reservoir. The Coginchaug has its headwaters in Dur- ham and Guilford towns, several miles south of the Middlefield boundary. For fully half its course through Middlefield it is a sluggish stream, flowing through marsh land half a mile wide. The open valley ends near Middlefield Center, however, and thence eastward the stream has a steeper gradient. The drainage of the west and southwest portions of the town is received by Beseck Lake, which discharges directly eastward to the Coginchaug. In the southeast a portion of the drainage is received by Laurel Brook reservoir. This reservoir overflows northward through Laurel Brook, which joins the Coginchaug half a mile below the Middlefield town line. The drainage basin of Coginchaug River above the north- east border of Middlefield comprises about' 33 square miles. The 56 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. basin is situated similarly to that of Quinnipiac River and it lias similar climatic conditions. It seems probable, therefore, that the unit run-off from the two basins is approximately the same. On this as- sumption the discharge of the Coginchaug would appear, by compari- son of its drainage area with that of the Quinnipiac and its discharge curve with that of the Quinnipiac (fig. 7, p. 45), to be about 150 second-feet during the spring high water and 16 or 18 second-feet during the summer low-water flow. The daily flow of the Cogin- chaug and its various tributaries is greatly influenced by mill ponds, however. A gristmill, built near Rock Fall in the eighteenth century, was replaced about 1800 by a sawmill, and below this a fulling mill was constructed shortly afterward. A snuff mill, a powder mill, and other small factories were early established near Rock Fall and near Bailey ville. A cotton factory, constructed near the same place in 1847, was burned in 1874 and was replaced by a larger structure. A storage dam was built about 1848 at the outlet of Beseck Lake by those interested in manufacturing along the lower Coginchaug, and the dam was in later years increased in height. The original pond has thus been greatly increased in size and still furnishes an important supply of water for power development during the lowest stages of Coginchaug River. The drainage area tributary to the lake is about 1,400 acres, of which the lake covers about 35 acres. GROUND- WATER SUPPLIES. Water in stratified drift. — So far as was learned by the writer, all the residents in Middlefield obtain their water supplies from in- dividual wells or springs. In Middlefield only the lowland along the valley of Coginchaug River is covered by stratified drift, and as the larger part of this area is marsh land, few wells have been sunk in it. In the six wells ending in stratified drift that were examined by the writer in May, 1915, the average depth to water was 12 feet, the extreme depths being 7 and 21 feet. • (See fig. 3, p. 16). The deepest well is said to fail in summer, but the others } T ield perennial supplies. An analysis of water from one of the shallowest drift wells (No. 11), given in the table on page 59, shows this water to be comparatively low in total mineral content, calcium and bicarbonate being the chief constituents. The most promising part of the town for the development of large quantities of ground water is probably in the marshy valley of Coginchaug River, for sandy layers that would yield good sup- plies to shallow drilled wells, properly screened, probably are present beneath the surficial layers of soil and silt. MIDDLEFIELD. 57 Water in till. — The greater part of Middlefield is covered with glacial till, and most of the domestic water supplies are obtained from wells dug in these unstratified deposits. The average depth to water, in May, 1915, in the 27 wells in till that were measured, was ! \;.\ feet. (See fig. 3, p. 10.) The average depth to water in wells in till on hillsides and in lowlands was only slightly greater than the average depth in the six wells in drift that were observed, but in several wells in till on the tops of hills and knolls the average depth to water was nearly 21 feet. The analyses of water from two wells in till (Nos. 6 and 26, p. 59) show larger mineral contents than the water from the well in strati- fied drift (No. 11), and it is probably true that the waters in the till as a rule contain more mineral matter than the waters in the stratified drift. This condition is indicated by the average mineral contents in all the waters of wells in till and drift that were analyzed. (See table of analyses, p. 59.) The water of well 6 con- tains rather large amounts of chloride and nitrate, and it is possible that a portion of these substances is due to contamination by the wastes from the adjacent house. Well 26 is dug beside a house and is situated so that it may receive polluted water both from the kitchen and from the adjacent barnyard. Serious contamination of this sort appears to be shown by the large amounts of chloride and nitrate that were found in the water. This water also is noticeably hard, as it contains relatively large amounts of calcium and bicarbonate. Water hi sandstone and trap. — Five drilled wells were noted in the town in localities where the glacial till is too thin to furnish a reliable water supply. Two of these wells penetrate the " Pos- terior " trap sheet, their total depths being 60 and 106 feet, and they obtain supplies of soft water sufficient for domestic needs. The other three wells are drilled in sandstone, to total depths of 65, 125, and 150 feet. These wells also } T ield sufficient water for domestic use, though the capacity of each is probably less than 5 gallons a minute. Springs. — Three springs (Nos. 4, 15, and 16) were noted in the town. All have slight flow, however, and are little used. Other small springs probably issue on the higher slopes of Beseck and Kigby mountains, but no springs were reported to be used for domestic supply. RECORDS OF WELLS AND SPRINGS. The following lists contain data concerning certain wells and springs whose locations are indicated on Plate II. They are be- lieved to be representative of the ground- water conditions through- out the town. 58 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Dug wells in Middlefield. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water May, 1915. Method of lift. Remarks. i Ridge Feet. 450 380 330 230 370 320 * 330 150 150 380 350 190 220 250 250 250 190 380 360 330 370 230 320 370 280 150 175 170 125 170 110 200 350 Feet. 22 16 26 22 14 23 30 28 13 32 41 25 13 26 26 24 16 29 39 28 39 18 27 23 8 21 30 22 13 18 21 18 32 Feet. 12 7 22 12 11 13 10 7 9 15 12 21 5 24 20 17 12 22 23 15 28 12 11 12 2 16 14 12 8 15 16 7 16 Wheel and bucket. Chain pump do Dry in summer. Do 2 3 Do. 5 Knoll 6 Base of hill do Never dry: sandstone encountered. W. H. Holmes, owner. (See anal- ysis, p. 59.) Dry in summer. 7 do 8 do 11 ....do Wheel and bucket. do Never dry. Emma L. Beebe, owner. (See analysis, p. 59.) 12 Base of knoll.. 13 Hand pump Do. 14 do Do. 17 do do Dry in summer? ' 19 do 20 21 Saddle Wheel and bucket. Windlass do Do. 22 do 23 Swale do 25 26 Base of knoll.. Hill Wheel and bucket. do Dry in summer. Never dry; hard water. Fred An- drews, owner. (See analysis, p. 59.) 27 28 Base of hill Ridge Chain pump Windlass... 29 Base of hill do 30 Unused; dry in summer. Never dry. 32 . .do 33 ...do 34 35 Lowland Pitcher pump 60 feet from brook and 2J feet above it. Never dry. Dry in summer. 36 Flat do 37 ....do 38 do 39 do Wheel and bucket. Hand pump Wheel and bucket. Gets low but never dry. Never dry. 40 do 41 Hilltop Drilled ivells in Middlefield. Map No. Topographic position. Slope. do do Ridge. Slope. . Eleva- tion above sea level. Feet. 250 190 250 385 320 Total depth. Feet. 106 60 125 150 65 Depth to water May, 1915. Feet. 60 30 15 25 12 Depth to rock. Feet. Kind of rock. Trap do Sandstone. do do Yield. Gallons per 'min- ute. Remarks. Soft water. Good supply. Springs in Middlefield. Map No. Topographic posi- tion. Elevation above sea level. Temper- ature. Yield. Bedrock. Remarks. 4 Feet. 400 270 290 "F. 50 Gallons per min- ute, i 1 2 Sandstone Roadside drinking. 15 do Trap Unimproved. 16 do do Do. MIDDLETOWN. 59 AN.\l,YS!''s OF i;i:m ND WATER. The following table contains three analyses of ground water in the town of MululolioM. The analyses are discussed on pages H)-21. Chemical composition ami classification* of tenter from dun irciix in Middle, field. [Parts per million. Samples collected May, 1015; S. C. Dinsmoro, analyst. Wells ending in till. Silica (SiOj) Iron ( Fe) Calciiun (.Ca) Magnesium (Mg) Sodium and potassium (Na+K)&. . . Carbonate radicle (CO3) Bicarbonate radicle (HCO3) Sulphate radicle (SO*) Chloride radicle (CI) Nitrate radicle (NO3) Total dissolved solids at 180° C Total hardness as CaCOsfc Probable scale-forming ingredients b Probability of corrosion b c Quality for boiler use Chemical character 18 Trace. 20 5.6 .0 .0 48 10 7.0 12 101 73 86 (?) Good. Ca-C0 3 26 Trace. 25 63 34 18 28 192 99 111) (?) Fair. Ca-C0 3 19 Trace. 118 37 51 .0 49 102 352 769 447 430 C Poor. Ca-N0 3 a Numbers at heads of columns correspond to those on map (PI. II, in pocket) and in table (p. 58.) b Computed. c C= Corrosive; (?)=corrosion doubtful. MIDDLETOWN. HISTORICAL SKETCH. Middletown occupies the central and southeastern portions of the area treated in this report. The first white settlers established their homes in 1650 in or near the area at present occupied by the city of Middletown, which stands on the site of an Indian village, Mattabesset or Mattabesec, on slopes overlooking Connecticut River. The name Mattabesset is the cor- ruption of a phrase signifying " at the mouth of a large brook." The community was organized in the year following its settlement and was known as Mattabesset until 1653, when the present name was adopted, from the position of the settlement midway between the upper river towns and Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut. Since the first settlement the population has been concentrated in the city of Middletown, but small communities have also been built up at Westfield, Newfield, and Highland, in the western part of the town, and in the vicinity of Maromas railroad station, in the eastern part. The town originally included the area that now comprises Chat- ham and Portland, east of Connecticut River, and also Cromwell, 60 GROUND WATEE IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Middlefield, and a portion of Berlin. The present area of the town, considering the center of Connecticut Eiver as its eastern boundary, is about 28,700 acres, according' to planimeter measurement on the Middletown, Guilford, and Meriden topographic maps. 1 A relatively large part of the town — 35| per cent — is wooded, the main wooded area being in the southeast, as shown on Plate IV (in pocket) . As in other parts of the State, practically all the trees of the original forest have been cut, and the woods now consist almost entirely of small trees of later growth. About 570 acres, or 2 per cent of the area, may be classed as marshy. This area consists largely of land adjacent to Mattabesset River, along the northeast border of the town ; but there are also marshy areas of considerable extent near the southern border of the city and in the southern and southeastern por- tions of the town. The western half of Connecticut River, which is included within the town, constitutes its greatest water body and covers about 650 acres. Several ponds and reservoirs cover a total area less than one-third as great, or only about 200 acres. POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. In 1673 the entire town of Middletown contained only 52 families, and for the next few decades the growth in population was slow. An actual decrease took place in some years, for the country is rough, markets are distant, and the heavily timbered farm lands offered little inducement to immigration. During the half century preceding the American Revolution, however, the town increased notably in population and in prosperity, owing chiefly to the develop- ment of trade with the West Indies, where cotton cloth and other finished products were exchanged for rum, molasses, and tropical goods. The development of industries and the location of institutions near the original settlement have caused the population of the town to remain concentrated near this place. The city was incorporated in 1784 and, as is shown in figure 9, more than half the total popu- lation of the town is within the corporate limits. A considerably greater percentage of the total population than is indicated by the diagrams is located within 2 miles of the city hall, for there are built-up districts to the south and southeast, beyond the city limits. At the time of the Revolution the city of Middletown had become an important shipbuilding and commercial center, and manufactur- ing was also becoming important. The first steam-driven factory in the State was built in 1812 by the Middletown Woolen Manufactur- ing Co. 2 The industrial activity of the city continued to increase iThe area is given at 27,287 acres on p. 43S of the Connecticut State Register and Manual for 1915. 2 Encyclopaedia Britannica, lltlx ed., subject Connecticut, MIDDLETOWN. 61 until, in the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury, it was one of the principal cities in the State. The develop- ment of the rival cities of Xew Haven, Hart- ford, and Bridgeport into railroad centers, as well as seaports, gave them a great ad- vantage over Middle- town, and beginning about 1850 this city declined in commercial activity for several decades. Within re- cent years, however, Middlet'ownhas shown renewed activity as a manufacturing center. The principal indus- tries at present in- clude the manufacture of pumps and other hydraulic machinery, hardware, automo- biles, typewriters, cut- lery, and other small articles, and wooden, cotton, rubber, silk, and web goods. Agri- culture and dairying are carried on throughout the lower lands of the town. Brickmaldng is an ex- tensive industry at Xewfield and near TTestfield, and feld- spar and building stone have been pro- duced in great amounts from pegmatite and granite gneiss in the o V \o c\ \s \> AS >^ +> z \ C \ u, fO o 1 o F - :0 .. > 4 0.. '.") <~>i H B 8 2 NOUVTildOd b2 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. eastern portion of t,he town. An " old silver-leacl mine " near Connecticut Eiver, 2 miles east of the city of Middletown, is re- ported to have produced some lead during the Revolutionary War, but the workings have long been abandoned. No reports of other prospects of metallic minerals in the town have been obtained by the writer. In addition to being an industrial city, Middletown is the seat of Wesleyan University, founded in 1831, and of Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1849. The State Industrial Home for Girls is a short distance south of the city limits, and the State Hospital for the Insane is at South Farms, east of the corporate limits. . GEOLOGY. In its geologic structure Middletown presents three well-defined zones — an area of complex structure in the west or northwest, a central area immediately underlain by the upper sandstone, and an area of ancient crystalline rocks in the east and southeast. The northwestern part of the town is traversed by a great fault',, along which, according to Davis, 1 the rocks have been vertically dis- placed not less than 1,300' feet, the rocks east of the fault zone being uplifted with respect to those west of it. In addition to the vertical displacement, the rocks on the east side of the fault have been shoved northeastward with respect to those on the west, and minor faulting has complicated the structure west of the main fault zone. The present surficial positions of the several beds of trap rock and sand- stones, as worked out by Davis, 2 are shown on Plate III (in pocket). The "Anterior " trap sheet is the uppermost rock in Middletown in only a narrow area that extends southward from a point near High- land. The "Main " trap sheet forms both Lamentation and Higby mountains. The parallel trends of these two mountains and their offsetting well illustrate the results of the northeast-southwest move- ment along the great fault zone that passes between them. The " Posterior " trap sheet, as a result of minor faulting in addi- tion to the major displacement, appears as the surficial rock in two narrow bands that extend northward from Highland and in a wider belt west of Westfield station. East of Westfield station the " Posterior " trap is again exposed, and it forms the bedrock in a gradually widening zone that extends southward. No faults of consequence in Middletown are known east of the major one, so that from the southwestern corner of the town the entire series of Triassic rocks, from the lower to the upper sand- 1 Davis, W. M., The Triassic formation of Connecticut : U. So Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 96, 1898. 2 Idem, pi. 20. M3DDLET0WK. G3 stones, appear in sucoessive north south bands, as one proceeds ea i- ward from the west edge of the (own. This succession of beds is shown in the middle portion of structure section E-F, Plate III. The centra] portion of the town is underlain by the upper .-anti- stone, beneath which the three trap sheets presumably have their usual relative positions. Tn the vicinity of Staddle Hill the upper surface of the "Posterior" trap sheet is probably about 500 feet be- low the surface, and at other points nearer the eastern border of the zone of "Posterior" trap, this rock is of course nearer to the surface. The Triassic rocks dip eastward at an angle that decreases from about 15° to about 10° from the horizontal. This eastward dip prob- ably carries the " Posterior" trap sheet to a depth of 1,500 feet or more below the city of Middletown, provided this upper trap sheet, the thinnest of the three trap sheets, persists as far eastward as the city. The central area of upper sandstone is bounded on the east by the great fault zone that forms the eastern border of the central lowland of the State. The ancient crystalline rocks east of the fault have been uplifted with respect to the Triassic rocks. Xo definite contact of recks of the two classes has been found at any point along the fault zone in Middletown, but the existence of faulting is shown by the presence of crushed, laminated phases of the sandstone in the transition zone from unaltered sandstone to the granite gneiss and pegmatites. The belt of lowland nearly a mile wide that extends from the city of Middletown nearly to Mattabesset River is covered by stratified drift. Narrower areas of drift also extend up the valleys of Sawmill and West Swamp brooks, and the lowlands along Coginchaug River and along the main branches of Sumner Brook likewise contain de- posits of stratified drift. In the lands along the lower portion of Mattabesset River this drift seems, from the records of wells, to be in some places more than 50 feet in thickness. It contains extensive beds of clay that have long been used for brickmaking. Over parts of the lowland the drift is very thin, however, and the underlying bedrock of sandstone or of trap crops out at a number of places, as is indicated on Plate II (in pocket). The greater part of the town is overlain by deposits of till, though on the higher lands the till is only a few feet thick and the under- lying rocks are exposed in many spots. In Lamentation and Higby mountains the lava rock of the main trap sheet that forms these ridges is well exposed in their cliffs. On their eastern slopes the trap is also exposed over considerable areas beneath the very thin covering of till. On these slopes the trap is doubtless exposed in many places a few yards in extent that can not well be shown on a map of the 64 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. scale of Plate II. Over the highland area in the southeast the till is also in the main very thin, and ledges of the granite bedrock and numerous prominent dikes of pegmatite are exposed in many places. There are, accordingly, doubtless many exposures of the bedrock in addition to those indicated on Plate II. SURFACE FEATURES. Middletown has an irregular shape, being bounded on the north and east by streams — the Mattabesset and the Connecticut — and hav- ing a large reentrant in the southwest, caused by the incorporation of its former parish of Middlefield as a separate town. The southeastern portion of the town is occupied by a rugged, hilly area that forms part of the eastern highland of the State. Within the town Bear Hill and Chestnut Mountain are the highest points of this highland, but their respective elevations are only 650 and 620 feet. Near its western border the town includes portions of Lamentation and Higby mountains, the highest point in the town being on the crest of Higby Mountain, at an elevation of about 925 feet. Between the two high areas in the east and in the west the surface is, rolling or hilly, and the drainage is developed along nar- row northward-trending valleys. There is a wide area of lowland in the northern portion of the town, in the vicinity of Mattabesset River and along its tributary, Sawmill Brook. Near the city of Middletown there are also lowlands to the west along Coginchaug River and to the southeast along the main branches of Sumner Brook. East of the city, along the Con- necticut, the slopes come down rather abruptly to the river, but there' is a narrow lowland extending westward from Maromas railroad station and a meadow a quarter of a mile wide at the mouth of Hub- bard Brook. STREAMS. Connecticut River, the master stream of the region, borders the eastern side of Middletown for 9 miles. In this portion of its course the stream has a width of one-eighth to three-eighths of a mile and a depth of channel sufficient for small seagoing vessels. The limit to the draft of ships that traverse the river is chiefly determined by a bar at its mouth, 30 miles below Middletown city. The influence of the tide is felt in the river for a number of miles above Middletown. The drainage from the different parts of Middletown flows in fairly direct lines to the Connecticut. Mattabesset River, which forms the northern border of the town, receives several northward- flowing brooks that drain the northern and western lands. Sawmill Brook, the principal one, heads near the western boundary of the town. Early in May, 1915, it was carrying nearly 2 second-feet MIDDLETOWN. 65 of water in its lower course, but its normal summer flow probably is less than half that amount. A considerable part of its How also sinks in the lowland near Mattabesset River before uniting with that stream. The flow of Fall Brook, which joins Sawmill Brook near Westfield, is in large part stored in Higby Mountain reservoir. At the falls of the brook, where it cascades across the main trap sheet near West- field, it had, in May, 1915, a flow of about 0.5 second-foot, but nearly all this water was absorbed by the gravel of the lowland in the half mile between the falls and Sawmill Brook. The slopes between Westfield and Newfield are drained by West Swamp Brook, which joins the Mattabesset a mile below Westfield station, and by a brook that enters the main stream one-quarter of a mile above the station. Neither of these streams normally carries more than 0.2 or 0.3 second-foot of water. Coginchaug Kiver, which flows from the southwest through Mid- dlelield, is ponded both in Middletown and in Middlefield, and its daily flow is greatly affected by the storage or release of water at the mill ponds. On May 5, 1915, the discharge of the Coginchaug 1 mile above its junction with the Mattabesset was 52 second-feet, but its average flow during the six months of low water has been given as about 18 second-feet. 1 The Coginchaug unites with the Mattabesset in the marsh lands half a mile from Connecticut River. The current of the Mattabesset apparently is so checked by its entrance into the larger, more slug- gish stream that it deposits a considerable portion of the sediment carried during freshets. Willow Island seems to have been thus built up in the Connecticut opposite the mouth of the Mattabesset. Sumner Brook drains the southern portion of Middletown and enters Connecticut River at the eastern border of the city. Its western branch, sometimes called Pameaqhea Brook, drains only slopes that are within the town, but the eastern branch, early known as Sanseer Brook, rises on the border between Durham and Haddam, 2 miles south of the Middletown boundary. Measurements of the west and east branches short distances above their junction three- quarters of a mile from the Connecticut, on May 5. 1915, showed discharges respectively of 20 and 7 second-feet. Both streams are used for power at storage dams short distances above their junction, and these measurements may represent the approximate amounts of water that are normally used during factor} 7 hours. Storage dams at Dooley Pond, on the upper course of the west branch, and at a 1 Report on the investigation of the pollution of streams, p. 45, Connecticut State Board of Health, Hartford, 1915. 154445°— 20 5 66 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. similar reservoir on the east branch aid in controlling the flow for factory use. The average low-water flow of Sumner Brook probably is pro- portional to that of Coginchaug River, which has a total drainage area of about 38.7 square miles and an average summer flow at its mouth of 18 second- feet. 1 The entire drainage area of Sumner Brook is about 12.4 square miles, so its mean summer supply to the storage dams along its branches is presumably 5 or 6 second-feet. The highland area in the eastern part of the town is drained mainly by brooks that flow eastward to the Connecticut. Hubbard Brook and another stream that crosses the southeast border of the town are the largest of these brooks, but each carried only about three-quarters of a second-foot early in May, 1915. The northwest portion of the highland is drained by two small brooks, whose headwaters have been dammed to furnish a water supply for the State Hospital at South Farms. WATER SUPPLIES. Surface water. — In 1866 the city of Middletown constructed Laurel Brook reservoir for a municipal water supply. This reservoir has a mean depth of 10 feet and a capacity of 220,000,000 gallons. Its watershed has an area of 1.05 square miles (672 acres). The growth and increased needs of the city rendered the supply from this reser- voir inadequate about 1897, and Higby Mountain reservoir was constructed, with a maximum depth of about 27 feet, a capacity of 308,000,000 gallons, and a drainage area of 2.06 square miles (1,318.4 acres). The total safe daily supply from the two reservoirs, estimated at 2,300,000 gallons, was nearly reached during 1913, it being estimated that in the later part of that year 15,000 people were served, the average daily consumption being 2,000,000 gallons, or 133 gallons per capita. By complete metering of the system and the reduction of all wastes to a minimum, however, it has been estimated that the present supply will suffice for the needs of the moderately growing city for a number of years longer. On the basis of an average daily consumption of 90 gallons per capita and the present rate of growth, the supply has been figured as sufficient until 1940. Beseck Lake is considered by hydraulic engineers to offer an available source when an additional supply is needed. During the summer months some trouble is experienced from a taste and odor developed by algae in the open reservoirs, but treat- ment with copper sulphate has very appreciably reduced this un- 1 Connecticut State Board of Health Rept., p. 45, 1914. See also estimate on p. 37. based on discharge of Quinnipiac River. MIDDLKTOW'N. 67 favorable condition. The following partial analyses show the general quality of water in the two reservoirs. The low figures for dissolved solids and hardness indicate waters suitable for in- dustrial use and domestic supplies. The water from Laurel Brook reservoir has a higher content of dissolved solids, owing, it is said, to the greater effect of evaporation during this reservoir's longer period of use. Analyses of water from Laurel Brook and Higby Mountain reservoirs* [Parts per million.] Total residue. ' Chloride radicle. Hardness. Dates of collection of samples. Laurel ' Hi 8 b y Laurel Brook. Higby Moun- tain. Laurel Brook. Higby Moun- tain. August 1889, to June, 1891 42 57 63 2.3 18 31 31 February, 1909, to September, 1910 Julv, 1912, to March, 1913 (Laurel Brook), and July, 1913 (Higbv Mountain) 54 51 3.0 1.9 2.8 2.4 25 24 a From report of a consulting engineer. Name of analyst not given. In 1880 a 2,500,000-gallon impounding reservoir was constructed on a branch of Pameachea Brook by an earthen dam 300 feet long, as a water supply for the State Industrial Home for Girls. One or more drilled wells on the grounds have within recent years aug- mented this surface-water supply. The State Hospital for the Insane, situated at South Farms, is supplied by five storage reservoirs, as shown on Plate IV (in pocket). Three mains, 6, 8, and 16 inches, respectively, in diameter, conduct the water to the grounds. The two reservoirs that are not thus directly connected contain additional storage supplies that can be turned into the adjacent reservoirs. The only other surface-water supply reported in the town is a system that pumps water from Laurel Brook to a private estate on a knoll one-third of a mile west of Long Hill. The available records indicate that in 1915 about 15,000 people were supplied from the Middletown municipal water system and about 3,000 from the systems of the Industrial School and the State Hospital. As is shown in the preceding paragraph, about 18,000 people, or 82 per cent of the entire population of Middletown, are supplied with surface water. The remaining 4,000 people depend on indi- vidual wells and springs. Water in stratified drift. — The areas of stratified drift in the northwestern part of the town are to a large extent underlain by clay, and although supplies of water sufficient for domestic pur- 68 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. poses may be obtained, the fine-textured sediments do not readily yield water. Detailed study of the stratified drift as a water bearer was not made, but so far as was observed it seemed that the stratified deposits in the valley of the main branch of Sumner Brook were more sandy than in the areas farther west and north and offered the most favorable conditions for the development of ground water on a large scale for industrial or municipal use. The average depth to water early in May, 1915, in the 21 dug wells that obtain water from the stratified drift was 13.1 feet (see fig. 3, p. 16), but the water level ranged in individual wells from 3 feet in a hillside well to 26 feet in a well in the lowland. 1 Only one of these wells (No. 20) is said to go dry in summer. Water in till. — As the greater part of the town is covered by deposits of till, the majority of the domestic wells obtain supplies from this material. There is marked difference in the depth to water in different wells, owing to the diversity in the surface features of the town, which includes crystalline highlands thinly covered with till in the southeast, sandstone hills in the south, and trap ridges in the northwest,, as well as rolling lands more deeply covered with till throughout the central portion. The extremes of water level in. the 55 wells in till that were measured were 2 and 36 feet, both extremes being in wells on slopes. The average depth to water in the hillside wells in till was 16.1 feet, early in May, 1915, and 10.3 feet and 12.3 feet, respectively, in wells in lowlands and on hilltops. The fact that the shallowest average depth in wells in till was on hilltops may have been because the relatively thin layer of till and consequent shallow depth to bedrock on the higher lands kept the water table nearer the surface than in localities where the till is thick. Water in bedrock. — Many of the wells in till go dry in summer, and in localities where these glacial deposits are too thin to furnish reliable water supplies, wells drilled into the bedrock have of late years come into favor. The 16 drilled wells that were noted in the town (see p. 71) range from 57 to more than 200 feet in depth, aver- aging about 113 feet, and the average depth to water in May, 1915, was about 25 feet. One well (No. 102) furnishes water at the rate of about 20 gallons a minute. So far as was learned, the other drilled wells have smaller capacities, though careful pumping tests might show that they are capable of yielding more than the amounts with which their owners credit them. The lower half of one well (No. 24) is drilled in the "Main" trap sheet but furnishes a supply of about 5 gallons a minute from this rock. The trap here is probably frac- tured and fissured to a greater extent than usual, as the locality is 1 In the preparation of figure 3 Middletown dug wells Nos. 17, 70, 72, and 84 were omitted, for they obtain water from the sandstone. MIDPLETOWN. 69 close to one of the largest faults or breaks in the rock structure, (See PI. Ill, in pocket.) The quality of water in the drilled wells is indicated by the analyses of water from three of them included in the table on page 72. They are waters of moderate mineral content, in which the principal constituents are the usual calcium and bicarbonate. These constit- uents are largely responsible for the rather high hardness of the waters. This hardness would be somewhat objectionable in washing, for soap would be wastefully consumed, and in steam-making, for the formation of scale would gradually lower the efficiency of the boilers and eventually necessitate cleaning them. Springs. — Several springs in Middletown furnish domestic water supplies, and in 1915 water from three of them (Nos. 35, 37, and 87) was. sold locally for table use. Two other springs (Nos. 27 and 103) also were formerly developed commercially. Water from a spring near the southwest border of the town has long been piped southward as a. supply for the village of Durham, but in 1915 the spring was not accessible to the writer. The analyses of three of the spring waters given on page 72 show that they contain notably less mineral matter in solution than the average well waters, but the principal dissolved substances in the springs also are calcium and bicarbonate. RECORDS OF WELLS AND SPRINGS. The following lists, of wells and springs through the town are believed to represent typical conditions in their respective vicinities. The locations of the several wells and springs are indicated on Plate II. Dug wells in Middletown. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water May, 1915. Method of lift. Remarks. 2 • Feet. 240 105 40 230 150 140 110 25 225 230 150 145 210 210 60 220 120 45 Feet. 38 27 29 18 38 21 24 13 15 15 14 16 15 30 16 21 29 23 Feet. 33 12 17 9 29 13 20 10 12 9 10 3 9 25 9 12 23 7 Hand pump Rope and bucket.. Dry in summer; sandstone pene- 3 4 do do do do trated. 5 6 7 Chain pump Wheel and bucket . Windlass do Dry in summer. Never dry. Dry in summer. 8 Slope Do. 9 Lowland Base of hill do 10 do Do. 12 Pitcher pump Hand pump do Supplies horse trough; sandston 13 penetrated . Dry in summer; trap penetrated. 14 do Saddle Never dry. Dry In summer; sandstone below 6 feet. 15 17 Chain pump 19 Knoll do 20 Rope and bucket.. Wheel and bucket. Dry in summer. 21 22 do Flat Never dry. 70 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Dug tvells in Middletown — Continued. Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water May, 1915. Method of lift. Remarks. 97 100 101 105 106 107 108 109 111 Slope Base of knoll. Slope do Swale Slope do do Base of hill... Lowland do Saddle Slope Base of hill. Slope do do... Lowland . Slope Base of knoll. Slope ....do Swale ....do Knoll Ridge Slope Saddle Slope Lowland . . . Slope Base of hill. Slope do Knoll Slope Base of hill. Slope . . ....do. ....do. Swale . Slope ....do Base of hill. Slope Low ridge. Lowland . . Swale Knoll Saddle .... Swale Slope ....do.... ....do.... Base of hill. Swale ....do. ....do. Slope . . ....do. Ridge. . ....do. Feet. 220 280 290 250 280 320 380 130 100 40 50 440 380 120 160 60 180 60 70 140 70 50 80 130 150 130 150 185 120 15 140 20 180 140 160 180 120 210 200 270 350 370 175 140 210 190 115 210 340 360 300 340 400 410 220 210 200 560 300 120 170 160 Feet. 27 17 40 20 21 50 26 26 23 21 25 12 16 19 33 17 21 25 28 25 21 22 15 20 29 32 24 10 10 21 29 29 25 17 31 15 11 18 41 14 5 28 20 18 33 17 13 17 20 8 18 14 Feet. 22 13 36 16 17 23 18 8 17 13 17 4 5 17 28 Bucket. Windlass. do... Hand pump. Windlass . . . do do do do Hand pump . . Windlass do do Chain pump . do... Windlass . do... .do. Rope and bucket. Windlass do do do Chain pump. Windlass Chain pump . Windlass do do do 14 do. 10 do. Chain pump . Windlass Wheel and bucket do Windlass Rope and bucket. Windlass ....do Hand pump . Windlass Windlass Chain pump Windlass Rope and bucket. Windlass ....do Rope and bucket. do Chain pump. Windlass Hand pump Windlass Chain pump do Rope and bucket. Never dry. Unused; dry in summer. Never dry. Do. Unused; have city water. Sandstone penetrated. Never dry. Do. Dry in summer. Never dry during 30 years; supplies several families. 33 feet above Connecticut River. Seldom dry. Dry in summer. Do. Gets low in summer; have city water sandstone penetrated. Never dry. Never dry; used as milk cooler; have city water. Never dry. Unused. Used only as milk cooler. Not dry during 9 years. Dry in summer. Dry in summer; 100 yards from No. 57. Never dry; last 3 feet in sandstone. Never dry; supplies 4 families. Dry in summer. Gets low but not dry. At Maromas station. Gets low but not dry; last 12 feet in sandstone. Last 4 feet in sandstone. Gets low but not dry. Dry in summer. Spring No. 75, which is 100 yards north, furnishes drinking water. Gets low but not dry. Do. 10 feet south of brook, exposed. Pegmatite Never dry. Dry in summer; 300 feet from No. 82. Scant supply; gets low but not dry; last 12 feet in sandstone. Unused; have city water. Never dry. Dry in summer. Do. At border of small marsh; 200 feet from No. 98. Never dry. Unused; 125 feet from and 12 feet below No. 100. At base of large pegmatite ledge. In small marshy area. MIDDLETOWN. Drilled irclls in M iddletOWIt. 71 Map No. Topographic position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Total depth. Depth to water Mav, 1915. Depth to rook. Kind of rock. Yield. Remarks. 1 Slope Feet. 130 225 210 220 280 410 470 100 150 170 210 220 270 200 140 200 Feet. 112 129 90 90 65 101 200+ 150 98 115 86 120 230 57 70 100 Feet. 30 15 25 30 15 34 16 30 20 35 20 20 20 20 30 30 Feet. Gallons per minute. 11 Base of hill Slope do 4 16 do (See analysis, p. 72.) At Wcstfield school. (See IS do do analysis, p. 72.) Good supply. 24 Base of knoll. .. 30 50 Trap 5 4 33 Sandstone. .. . do 42 Knoll Drilling in dug well that dried; 1 gallon a minute at 35 feet, but no other supply down to 200 feet. 49 Slope 55 do 57 Knoll do 61 Slope 100± 17 do 63 86 do Knoll do do 8 Small supply. 90 18 10 do do do 8 7 20 92 102 Base of hill Base of ridge . . . Slope Supplies dairy of 50 cows; gas engine. 104 3 do (See analysis, p. 72.) Springs in Middletoum. Map : Topographic No. i position. Eleva- tion above sea level. Tem- pera- ture. Yield. J Bedrock. Remarks. 27 Feet. 220 240 300 160 120 120 180 250 170 140 140 160 220 150 160 '/. Gallons per minute. 2± Sandstone .... do Highland Spring. (See analysis, p. 72.) Domestic supply. Supplies roadside watering trough. Crystal Spring; bottled and sold locally. Beech Spring; domestic supply, also bottled and sold locally. (See" analy- sis, p. 72.) Whitmore Spring; in small marshy area; domestic supply. Domestic supply! 29 31 35 do do Base of knoll. . Slope 50 49 1 (») 2 o do Trap. 37 59 Sandstone .... do Gneiss Sandstone do do 66 do do 69 71 51 o 75 feet west of brook; roadside drinking spring. Domestic supply. Oak Spring; bottled and sold locally. (See analysis, p. 72.) Hubbard Spring; domestic supply and roadside watering trough; flow no- ticeably less in summer. Domestic supply. Mountainview " Spring; unused; for- merly bottled and sold locally. 75 87 93 Base of low ridge. Slope 16$ i do do do 94 do Rase of slope. . 103 110 50 48 3 do Gneiss a Slight. ANALYSES OF GROUND WATER. In the following table are given three analyses of water derived from drilled wells and three of water derived from springs in Mid- dletown. The analyses are discussed on pages 19-21. 72 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. Chemical composition and classification of water from icclls and springs in Middletoim. [Parts per million. Samples collected May, 1915; S. C. Dinsmore, analyst.] Silica (Si0 2 ) Iron (Fe) Calcium (Ca) Magnesium (Mg) Sodium and potassium (Na+K) &.. . Carbonate radicle (CO3) Bicarbonate radicle (HCO3) Sulphate radicle (S0 4 ) Chloride radicle (CI) , Nitrate radicle (N0 3 ) Total dissolved solids at 180° C Total hardness as CaCC-3 6 Probable scale-forming ingredients b . Probability of corrosion b, c Quality for boiler use Chemical character Wells. 15 Trace. 28 14 .6 .0 117 11 7.0 14 159 127 120 (?) Fair. Ca-CCv, 10 Trace. 33 19 .7 .0 148 10 11 18 187 160 140 (?) Fair. Ca-C0 3 20 Trace. 41 19 8.5 .0 219 9.0 7.0 .0 213 180 170 N Fair. Ca-CC-3 Springs. 16 Trace. 22 7.2 .0 .0 70 8.6 3.0 .0 96 84 93 (?) Good. Ca-COs 19 Trace. 21 5.6 .0 .0 65 Trace. 6.0 14 102 75 90 (?) Good. Ca-CC-3 15 .20 23 4.1 .0 .0 46 16 4.0 s. a (?) Good. Ca-COs a. Numbers at heads of columns correspond to those on map (PI. II, in pocket) and in table (p. 71). b Computed. e N=noncorrosive; (?)=corrosion doubtful. ROCKY HILL. HISTORICAL SKETCH. The town of Rocky Hill forms the northeast corner of the area discussed in this paper. It embraces the land that lies between Connecticut River on the east and Mattabesset River on the west, and between the towns of Newington and Wethersfield on the north and of Cromwell on the south. The name Rocky Hill first appears in the records of Wethersfield in 1649, and a grant of land at Rocky Hill was made to Samuel Boardman in the same year. Historical records indicate that a. small community existed at Rocky Hill in 1680, the immigrants be- ing the sons of settlers in Wethersfield who started a new community at the convenient landing place 4 miles farther south, on the west bank of the Connecticut, where the river swings over to the base of the rocky hill from which the town is named. It is probable that not more than half a dozen families constituted the first settle- ment, and it was not until 1720 that it was organized as a parish of the town of Wethersfield. The name " Stepney Parish " was adopted in 1723, but the local name of Rocky Hill clung to the community, and this name was formally adopted in 1826. 1 The pres- ent town was incorporated from Wethersfield in 1843. The original settlement has remained the principal village, but the population has also spread along the main highway extending to the north and to 1 The hill has been locally known as Sbipmans Hill, from the tavern of Samuel Ship- man, early built at its western base. ROCKY HILL. 73 the south, and a number of farmhouses also dot the western portion of the town. The area of the town, taking its eastern boundary as the center of Connecticut River, is about 0.100 acres, according to planimeter measurement on the Middletown topographic map. 1 About 240 acres of this total is covered by the river surface, however. There are only three or four small ponds in the town, and their combined area is only 10 or 15 acres, but four areas of marsh in the northern part, near the headwaters of small brooks, cover a total of about 120 acres. About 23 per cent of the town, or 2,100 acres, is wooded. (See PI. IV, in pocket.) The woods occupy lands that are chiefly in the southern and eastern portions of the town. These wood lots have been repeatedly cut over, so that very few large trees are left. POPULATION AND INDUSTRIES. Shipbuilding and maritime commerce, to which the parish had access through Connecticut River, early became the principal indus- tries. In 1779, during the industrial depression caused by the Revo- lution, the parish had a population 2 of 881, and during the succeed- ing 30 or 40 years it developed, chiefly as a shipbuilding center, until it probably had greater industrial importance than it has at present. About 1820 shipbuilding at Rocky Hill began to decline, owing to its more favorable development at other river points, and since that time the population of the town has not changed much. The nor- mal increase due to excess of births over deaths has been about bal- anced by the excess of those who have moved away over the number of newcomers. The maximum population was reached in 1872-1874, immediateh T after the construction of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad through the town. This development led to an increase of perhaps 150 in the number of inhabitants, but within a few years this temporary gain was lost. Although the population has remained nearly stationary, its character has changed consid- erably in the last half century, owing to the emigration of the descendants of the English settlers and the incoming of an increas- ingly large proportion of Irish. Figure 10 shows the population of the town for the periods for which the figures are available. Transportation by water on Connecticut River and by rail over the Valley division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, which traverses the western border of the river valley, afford easy outlet for produce. A trolley line also gives frequent service between Rocky Mill village and other settlements to the north and to the 1 The area is given as 9,111 acres on p. 444 of the Connecticut State Register and Manual, 1015. 2 Stiles, H. R., History of ancient Wethersfield, Conn., p. 952, New York, 1904. 74 GROUND WATER IN THE MERIDEN AREA, CONN. south. The main highway, paralleling the trolley line, is metaled and also affords easy transportation to and from the principally settled portions of the town. Since the decline of shipbuilding the chief manufacturing industries in the town have been the making of machinery and of iron castings and forgings. Agriculture and dairying prob- ably are the chief industrial pursuits in the town, however. The northeastern part, be- tween Goff Brook and Connecticut River, is meadow land that is too moist for the success- ful raising of crops other than the native grasses, but the greater part of the remainder of the town is tilled. Corn and hay are staple crops, though a considerable acreage in the southern portion is devoted to tobacco growing. GEOLOGY. Both of the great faults that traverse the region in a southwesterly direction cross the town of Rocky Hill. The eastern fault crosses only the southeast corner of the town, but the western fault extends through its central por- tion. Several minor faults also displace the rock beds, and the structure within the town is complex. From the northwest portion of the town the successive Triassic rock beds, from the " Main " trap sheet upward to the upper sandstone, inclusive, form the surficial rock east- ward through the northern portion of the town. Southeastward, however, the series of beds is traversed before the western of the two major fault zones is reached, and east of this zone the beds above the " Main " trap sheet are re- peated. (See PI. III.) The most remarkable feature of the bedrock structure is the manner in which the rocks have apparently been rotated by horizontal movement along the major faults, so that in the block between these two great zones of dis- placement the exposed belts of " Posterior " trap are swung far from the normal north and § south trend. The surficial distribution of the Noixvinaod several members of the Triassic system that has CO \ M s tn ID o en O CO o o \ t^ 01 i • o 00 o CO -' 1 1 15 OJ 1, 4t\ power from 45 Ragged Mountain, height of 23 Railroads in the area 8 Belief of the area 7, 10-11 Reports, earlier, record of 5 Rivers of the area 7 cutting by, and diversion of 12 Rock Falls. Middlefield, population of 52 Rocks, succession of 6-7 water in 14 Rocky Hill, drainage of 76 geology of 74-75 ground water in, analysis of__ 78 historical sketch of 72-73 land and water in, areas of 73 population and industries of__ 73-74 springs in, features and rec- ords of 78,80 surface features of 75 water supplies of 76-7S wells in, records of 78-80 Sandstone, water in 15 wells in 29,39, 47-48, 57, 68-69, 77-78 Shipman Hill, Rocky Hill, features of 75,76 South Mountain, Berlin and Meri- d e n , location and height of 23,44 Springs, analyses of water from — 19-21, 40, 52, 72 features and records of 29, 31, 39, 40, 49, 51, 57, 58, 69, 71, 78, 80 Page. Sumner Brook, Middletown, area drained by 64,65-66 Tide, points reached by, in rivers- 7, 36, 76 Till, water in 13, 15, 16 wells in___ 28-29, 38-39, 47, 57, 68, 77 Towns and cities of the area 8 Transportation in the area 8 Trap rock, deposition and thick- ness of 10, 11 in Cathole Gorge, Meriden, plate showing 42 position and structure of__ 25—26, 34— 35, 42-43, 54-55, 62-63, 74, 75 water in 14 wells in 29, 57, 68-69, 77-78 Water-supply papers, areas covered by, map of Connecti- cut showing In pocket. earlier, record of 5 Webster Brook, Berlin, area drained by 25 Wells, casing of 18 map of the Meriden area show- ing In pocket. screens for, cleaning of 18 making of 18 spacing of, in gangs 17-18 Westfield, Middletown, location of — 59 West Peak, Meriden, height of 44 Willow Brook, Berlin, area drained by 24-25 Woodlands, map of the Meriden area showing In pocket. mapping of 7 nature and extent of 8, 22, 23, 33, 36, 41, 52, 60 o > ill 449 PLATE II H ; v \ — 1 EXPLANATION Stratified drift GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER-W9 PLATE II EXPLANATION 7^ Sandstone out crop "Trap" outrrnpB (Including diabase dike south of Meriden) Quarry Note. Number in red is number ol the well or spring. Number in blue is depth to water, in feet, in May, 1916. t l ■■- fro n U S Geological Survey topograph MAP OF THE MERIDEN AREA, CONNECTICUT Showing glacial deposits , rocfc outcrops, and the location oi typical wells and springs By ii A Waring Scale I:«2.500 Surveyed in 1915 r..,, T „, inti i il20fi . 449 PLATE III is (PI. XIX of the [rt cf the U. S. Geological 7) modified slightly by Robinson (Preliminary ticut, 1906) )NG LINE u EXPLANATION "Upper" sandstone I r,l-;nl.in.|CA1. Sl'UVEV WATEH- SUPPLY PAPKH449 PLATE m GEOLOGIC MAP AND STRUCTURE SECTIONS OF THE MERIOEN AREA. CONNECTICU FPLY PAPER 449 PLATE IV U s, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER SUPPLY PAPER 449 PLATE IV MAP OF THE MERIDEN AREA, CONNECTICUT, SHOWING WOODLANDS Woodland areas by G- A. Waring, 1915 1920. (■EL— LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 953 664 3