Chapter I: Front Matter

State of Connecticut
State Geological and Natural History Survey
Bulletin No. 30

Drainage Modifications and Glaciation
in the Danbury Region
Connecticut

By
RUTH SAWYER HARVEY, Ph. D.

HARTFORD
~Published by the State~
1920

BULLETINS

OF THE

State Geological and Natural History Survey
of Connecticut.

1. First Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1903-1904.

2. A Preliminary Report on the Protozoa of the Fresh Waters of Connecticut: by Herbert William Conn. (Out of print. To be obtained only in Vol. I, containing Bulletins 1-5. Price $1.50, postpaid.)

3. A Preliminary Report on the Hymeniales of Connecticut: by Edward Albert White.

4. The Clays and Clay Industries of Connecticut: by Gerald Francis Loughlin.

5. The Ustilagineae, or Smuts, of Connecticut: by George Perkins Clinton.

6. Manual of the Geology of Connecticut: by William North Rice and Herbert Ernest Gregory. (Out of print. To be obtained only in Vol. II, containing Bulletins 6-12. Price $2.45, postpaid.)

7. Preliminary Geological Map of Connecticut: by Herbert Ernest Gregory and Henry Hollister Robinson.

8. Bibliography of Connecticut Geology: by Herbert Ernest Gregory.

9. Second Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1905-1906.

10. A Preliminary Report on the Algae of the Fresh Waters of Connecticut: by Herbert William Conn and Lucia Washburn (Hazen) Webster.

11. The Bryophytes of Connecticut: by Alexander William Evans and George Elwood Nichols.

12. Third Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1907-1908.

13. The Lithology of Connecticut: by Joseph Barrell and Gerald Francis Loughlin.

14. Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Connecticut growing without cultivation: by a Committee of the Connecticut Botanical Society.

15. Second Report on the Hymeniales of Connecticut: by Edward Albert White.

16. Guide to the Insects of Connecticut: prepared under the direction of Wilton Everett Britton. Part I. General Introduction: by Wilton Everett Britton. Part II. The Euplexoptera and Orthoptera of Connecticut: by Benjamin Hovey Walden.

17. Fourth Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1909-1910.

18. Triassic Fishes of Connecticut: by Charles Rochester Eastman.

19. Echinoderms of Connecticut: by Wesley Roscoe Coe.

20. The Birds of Connecticut: by John Hall Sage and Louis Bennett Bishop, assisted by Walter Parks Bliss.

21. Fifth Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1911-1912.

22. Guide to the Insects of Connecticut: prepared under the direction of Wilton Everett Britton. Part III. The Hymenoptera, or Wasp-like Insects, of Connecticut: by Henry Lorenz Viereck, with the collaboration of Alexander Dyer MacGillivray, Charles Thomas Brues, William Morton Wheeler, and Sievert Allen Rohwer.

23. Central Connecticut in the Geologic Past: by Joseph Barrell.

24. Triassic Life of the Connecticut Valley: by Richard Swann Lull.

25. Sixth Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1913-1914.

26. The Arthrostraca of Connecticut: by Beverly Waugh Kunkel.

27. Seventh Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1915-1916.

28. Eighth Biennial Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological and Natural History Survey, 1917-1918.

29. The Quaternary Geology of the New Haven Region, Connecticut: by Freeman Ward, Ph.D.

30. Drainage, Modification and Glaciation in the Danbury Region, Connecticut: by Ruth Sawyer Harvey, Ph.D.

31. Check List of the Insects of Connecticut: by Wilton Everett Britton, Ph.D. (In press.)

Bulletins 1, 9, 12, 17, 21, 25, 27, and 28 are merely administrative reports containing no scientific matter. The other bulletins may be classified as follows:

Geology: Bulletins 4, 6, 7, 8, 13, 18, 23, 24, 29, 36.

Botany: Bulletins 3, 5, 10, 11, 14, 15.

Zooelogy: Bulletins 2, 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 31.

These bulletins are sold and otherwise distributed by the State Librarian. Postage, when bulletins are sent by mail, is as follows:

No. 1 $0.01 No. 13 $0.08 No. 23 $0.03
3 .08 14 .16 24 .10
4 .06 15 .06 25 .02
5 .03 16 .07 26 .06
7 .06 17 .02 27 .02
8 .05 18 .07 28 .02
9 .02 19 .08 29 .03
10 .08 20 .14 30 .03
11 .07 21 .02 31
12 .02 22 .08

The prices when the bulletins are sold are as follows, postpaid:

No. 1 $0.05 No. 13 $0.40 No. 23 $0.15
3 .40 14 .75 24 .65
4 .30 15 .35 25 .05
5 .15 16 .35 26 .80
7 .60 17 .05 27 .05
8 .20 18 .25 28 .05
9 .05 19 .45 29 .50
10 .35 20 .50 30 .45
11 .30 21 .05 31
12 .05 22 2.00

A part of the edition of these Bulletins have been assembled in volumes substantially bound in cloth, plainly lettered, and sell for the following prices, postpaid:

Volume I, containing Bulletins 1-5 $1.50 Volume II, containing Bulletins 6-12 2.45 Volume III, containing Bulletins 13-15 2.50 Volume IV, containing Bulletins 16-21 2.15 Volume V, containing Bulletin 22 2.50

It is intended to follow a liberal policy in gratuitously distributing these publications to public libraries, colleges, and scientific institutions, and to scientific men, teachers, and others who require particular bulletins for their work, especially to those who are citizens of Connecticut.

Applications or inquiries should be addressed to

~George S. Godard~,
_State Librarian_,
Hartford, Conn.

In addition to the bulletins above named, published by the State survey, attention is called to three publications of the United States Geological Survey prepared in co-operation with the Geological and Natural Survey of Connecticut. These are the following:

Bulletin 484. The Granites of Connecticut: by T. Nelson Dale and Herbert E. Gregory.

Water-Supply Paper 374. Ground Water in the Hartford, Stamford, Salisbury, Willimantic and Saybrook Areas, Connecticut: by Herbert E. Gregory and Arthur J. Ellis.

Water-Supply Paper 397. Ground Water in the Waterbury Area, Connecticut: by Arthur J. Ellis, under the direction of Herbert E. Gregory.

These papers may be obtained from the Director of the United States Geological Survey at Washington.

CATALOGUE SLIPS.

_=Connecticut.= State geological and natural history survey._

Bulletin no. 30. Drainage Modifications and Glaciation in the Danbury Region, Connecticut. By Ruth S. Harvey, Ph.D. Hartford, 1920.

59 pp., 5 pls., 10 fig., 25cm.

=_Harvey, Ruth Sawyer, Ph.D._=

Drainage Modification and Glaciation in the Danbury Region, Connecticut. By Ruth S. Harvey, Ph.D. Hartford, 1920.

59 pp., 5 pls., 10 figs., 25cm.

=_Geology._=

Harvey, Ruth S. Drainage Modifications and Glaciation in the Danbury Region, Connecticut. Hartford, 1920.

59 pp., 5 pls., 10 figs., 25^cm.

State of Connecticut

PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 47

State Geological and Natural
History Survey

HERBERT E. GREGORY, SUPERINTENDENT

BULLETIN No. 30

~Hartford~

Printed by the State Geological and Natural History Survey
1920

State Geological and Natural History Survey

COMMISSIONERS ~Marcus H. Holcomb~, Governor of Connecticut ~Arthur Twining Hadley~, President of Yale University ~William Arnold Shanklin~, President of Wesleyan University ~Remsen Brickerhoff Ogilby~, President of Trinity College ~Charles Lewis Beach~, President of Connecticut Agricultural College ~Benjamin Tinkham Marshall~, President of Connecticut College for Women

SUPERINTENDENT
~Herbert E. Gregory~

_Publication Approved by the Board of Control_

Drainage Modifications and Glaciation
in the Danbury Region
Connecticut

By
RUTH SAWYER HARVEY, Ph. D.

HARTFORD
Printed by the State Geological and Natural History Survey
1920

CONTENTS.
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Page

Introduction 9

Regional relations 11

Rocky River 15
Description of the river and its valley 15
Relation of the valley to geologic structure 16
Junction of Rocky and Housatonic Rivers 18
Abnormal profile 18
Preglacial course 20
The buried channel 23
Effect of glaciation 25

The Neversink-Danbury valley 27

Still River 30
Statement of the problem 30
Evidence to be expected if Still River has been reversed 31
A valley wide throughout or broadening toward the south 32
Tributary valleys pointing upstream 34
The regional slope not in accord with the course of the Still 35
Evidence of glacial filling and degrading of the river bed 36
Glacial scouring 36
The Still-Saugatuck divide 38
Features of the Umpog valley 38
The preglacial divide 42
The Still-Croton divide 43
Introduction 43
Features of Still River valley west of Danbury 43
The Still-Croton valley 44
Glacial Lake Kanosha 45
Divides in the highlands south of Danbury 46
The ancient Still River 47
Departures of Still River from its preglacial channel 48

Suggested courses of Housatonic River 50

Glacial deposits 53
Beaver Brook Swamp 53
Deposits northeast of Danbury 54
Deposits between Beaver Brook Mountain and mouth of Still
River 54
Lakes 55
History of the glacial deposits 56

ILLUSTRATIONS.
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To Face
Page

PLATE I View south on the Highland northeast of Neversink Pond 14