Red Rocks

It's no secret that Delaware County is known for it's bluestone. Maybe that's why I get so excited when I see a red rock.

I am not a geologist, so, if my ignorance in the subject shows in this post, please forgive me, and feel free to correct me in comments.

I have not seen any solid quartz around here, but I keep looking. In the Logan site post there is one photo of a rock I found that I am quite certain has quartz in it, but it appears to be a cobble, not solid quartz. I have found at least 2 other rocks similar to this one, but I can't say for certain that they are quartz cobbles.

However, red rocks have shown up within or on structures here with some degree of regularity.

Also, click here for the link to the Rock Piles Blog for Norman Muller's article on red stones.

There are the 2 red rocks at the top of the tallest cairn at the Logan site:



This rock on boulder - it may be a celt:



Then, notice the red rock to the right of this structure that looks like a niche:



The niche in the above photo is located at the very top of a high bank, above a creek bed. You can follow a line of rocks, that includes this niche, up the creek short distance, to a very distinct stone wall which has that 'slanted' look to it.

Going down the creek bed and near that niche is this nice barrel shaped cairn. Notice the red rock and also the upright rock to the right of the barrel cairn:



The barrel shaped cairn is a gorgeous structure. It is small, solid, and, on the side where the upright rock is, it allows access to the interior of the cairn which is somewhat hollow. I stuck my hand and camera in there to get a picture:



There is one rock in that cairn which stands out as having a white stripe on it. The overall color is tan/white. I noticed a similarity between this rock and others I have found around here that are under other rocks. So, this is where my ignorance of geology may really be showing, because I don't know if these are all the same rocks, but some look this tan/white color because they are not exposed to the elements, or if they are really a different type of rock. Here are some more pictures:

This one I had posted previously:



This is one I just found at a small cairn site along a State owned road that is due to be widened soon, which will destroy the line of small cairns (subject of another post):



Here is a picture of one of those small cairns, just so you can have an idea of the size. There is an old foundation nearby. I will post more of these another time:



One more thing about quartz. I googled 'quartz in Delaware County, NY' and the only thing I found so far that has any significance is this link from Wikipedia. Scroll down to the geology section. I'm not sure what this all means, but I found it interesting that there is a dearth of explanations as to why there are quartz pebbles at the top of Slide Mountain.

Two interesting articles

Before I post about the red rocks, I found something very interesting on the internet, that I just have to post.

The first article is from 2005 and may be something that you've seen before. But, since I am new to rock pile hunting, this article is new to me and I liked it. It's about Native American Petroglyphs on rocks in the Susquehanna River below Safe Harbor Dam. Click here for the link. Scroll down for the article - on the right hand side of the page.

What I really liked about the article is that Paul Nevin looks beyond the presence of the petroglyph as being a mere artifact, and understands the personality and spirituality of the Native Americans who created them - and he respects that. About 2/3rds of the way down the article discusses this, and also states "'Indians liked to gather where water, sky and earth meet,' he said. 'The People,' as Indians referred to themselves, observed nature as the 'mother' with respect. They would never deface 'a grandfather', a rock, for anything less than a spiritual or important meaning, he believes."

This next article I found as a link from Google Earth. I think it's interesting that the report states, about the location of the incident, "Witness requested location details be kept confidential", but I found it as a post, or link, on the Google Map. The link to the article is here. According to the Google Map, the location of this incident is in the same State Forest as the large cairn site in Masonville, and is about 3 or 3 1/2 miles away.

Read both articles and see what you think. I know what I thought - immediately - before I even finished reading the Bigfoot article. I do believe that this person experienced what is written in the article. But, I don't believe it was Bigfoot, I believe it was something else.

The red boulder

Here are some additional pictures of the big red boulder.

The whole boulder:


A little closer view:


Walking around to the left, toward the upturned side. This is where the duck rock is placed:





Underneath the red boulder is another boulder. The red boulder did not appear to be propped.





Boulder on boulder view from the side opposite the duck rock:



This small tree was growing into the boulder on the side closest to the water's edge:



I recently noticed that there is no visible moss on the duck rock, even though there is moss on the boulder. This still doesn't change my opinion about the duck rock - I don't think it was placed recently. Also, the rock is place in a high spot, so I am not able to view it from the top, unless I was to climb up onto the boulder. So, whether or not there is moss on the top or back side of the duck rock, I don't know.

The coloration of some of the rocks I've seen out here is an interesting subject, and has recently been discussed on the Rock Piles blog. Click here for the link and look for the Friday, October 26, 2007 entry. In this area of NY, I have not seen any pure white quartz, only a few stones with what I think is mixed quartz. I have, however, seen red rocks in what I believe are strategic locations, although that has been under debate. The different colored rocks I've found will be my next post.

Writings from 1856

What made me decide to go to the reservoir? Fishing, of course, and checking on our boat. So, now that the technicalities are over, I also read something at the History of Delaware County website that made me want to go to the reservoir.

Click on the heading for the link. It is the very last paragraph that piqued my interest. Jay Gould wrote "There is, near Margaretville, an ancient graveyard; supposed to have been used either by the early Dutch settlers before the revolution, or by the half-breeds who preceded them. It has long been abandoned, and the spot and even the graves of many of them are overgrown with trees and underwood, and little or nothing is now known of its history save its existence. Near the mouth of the Mill brook, and on the banks of the Delaware, are certain remains, which bear strong resemblance to works of art. Many suppose them to have been ancient fortifications or works of defense, but when or by whom they were erected is mere conjecture. I am informed by Mr. Dickinson, who resides near them, that in that vicinity were once found what was supposed to have been a stone battle-ax and that arrow-heads exist in great abundance in that immediate locality, which strengthens the opinion that they were of Indian occupation. They are two in number, each of a circular form, and have been surrounded by a high embankment, protected by a deep ditch.4 The one on the east side of the river has been passed over many times with the plow, but much of its original symmetry and form are still visible. The other, on the opposite side, further down the stream, is still surrounded by a deep ditch filled with growing trees and underwood, but has less regularity, and will not so soon attract the attention of the antiquarian." (Gould, Jay 1856 Chapter III).

Footnote 4 is the Gould Map and the link is broken, so I have not been able to view that.

When I first read this, I was sure Mr. Gould was writing about stones. However, coming back to it several times, I realized he never uses the word stone or rock in his writing and only calls them "certain remains". Reading this over, I still believe he is speaking of stone, due to the fact that he starts the paragraph talking about a graveyard near Margaretville and, after referring to the "certain remains", he states that they have "been passed over many times with the plow".

I was compelled to go out and have a look in the area where these remains are located. I found the Mill Brook on my map - a day trip from here - not too far away! But my excitement turned to disappointment, even sorrow, when I realized I would need diving gear to find this site. In 1955 the flooding to form the Pepacton reservoir was completed and these "certain remains, which bear strong resemblance to works of art" were submerged.

My next thought was that the reservoirs do run low at times, and we have not had much rain over the last few months. With water levels low, would rock piles start to show themselves around the rim of the reservoir? Roads and foundations have been known to come up. I questioned how much any rock pile would retain it's original form with the action of the water, and land erosion under water, after all these years, but I still had to have a look.

I only made it to the Cannonsville, which is lower than the Pepacton right now. So far, I haven't seen anything in the reservoir that looks interesting. I did get some nice photos of the old road and bridge that have shown themselves due to the low water level. I also found the rock piles made by row boat owners interesting.

Here are some photos:

Looking down toward the dam.


Looking up to where the river enters the reservoir.


The Rock Royal bridge (I'll bet some big trout hide under there when the water level is at 100%!).


Looking up toward where Dry Brook enters the Cannonsville (Dry Brook is just to the left, not in the photo). The old road is visible if you click on the photo to enlarge it.


Stone piles on the horizon were made by fishermen, to tie their boats up as the water level was receding.



Bibliography

Gould, Jay 1856 History of Delaware County Delaware County, NY Genealogy and History Site.

Some effigies

Of the effigies I've noticed in the woods since I've been looking at rock structures, all have been of animals and, until now, all have been 2-D. Two of the rocks, I've posted pictures of already. The animal head on the cairn at the Logan site (maybe a deer or maybe it's just a coincidence that it has this shape), and another animal head, not far from the Logan site, that also may be just a coincidence.





The rock that is on the ground, I think looks like a wolf head, but my friend's 6 year old son looked at it and said "that's a turtle!". He thought the part that looks like a dog ear was the turtle tail and the part that looks like a dog nose looks like the turtle's head. So, that stone, too, is probably just a coincidence, especially since it is on the ground - not next to or on any other rocks - but I still like the stone.

This next stone is a rock on rock formation very close to a logging road. I thought it looked like an eagle when I first found it. This one, too, may be coincidence.



This one is a rock on rock, and, I believe, is much less of a coincidence than the other rocks in the pictures above. I thought it was a duck, but I've had other people say it could be a bird sitting on a nest or egg:



The eagle and bird rocks are in Delaware State Forest, not far from the large cairn site.

This next rock is the one that made me want to post about effigy rocks. It is, finally, a 3-D rock, but only if viewed from a very certain angle, much like the chalk drawings on sidewalks, done by professionals.

The location of this rock is, dare I say, prophetic. You can see the flat area just below the tree line in the background. This is an area of silt, covered with young grass and weeds which have just sprouted from the receding reservoir. The area is full of waterfowl dung.



I didn't notice it was an effigy of a duck until I got home and loaded the pictures on the computer. My first reaction was "Whoa". When I was at the site, I was getting close up pictures of this rock because I did notice that it was placed on the boulder, and that has a different color than the boulder. But, I thought it was placed in a spot to give the front view of the boulder a look like a bear's head - at the nostrils. I also hadn't noticed that the duck head was propped by two small stones. You can see it better in the photo here, especially if you click on it to enlarge it:



There is a reason why I wanted to look for stones at the reservoir, and I will post more on that tomorrow. This rock is on NY City owned land, but it is connected to Delaware State Forest on the East and Northeast sides. The name of the town? Rock Royal, NY.

5 rock piles

Here are some photos of the last 5 rock piles in this area. The first two are just stone piles with no obvious form:





This pile had a side with interesting stacking:



One seemed to form more of a wall than a stone pile, and made me think it could be a seat because of the very slight curve to the stacked stones. I also read something recently that said a structure like this could be a decorative garden wall (colonial), but I question if that could be the case with this structure:



One pile had really nice form to it - definitely a cairn:



This is the same cairn, where you can see one of the open L or boat rudder shaped rocks in the pile. You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it:



That pile also had what appears to be a niche, and possibly even a see through niche, in it. This is the entire niche structure:



This is one side of the niche:



This is the other side - not as pronounced as the other side:



I have more exploring to do in this area, and I know I will be back around these stones again, now that the leaves are coming off the trees. Hopefully, I will find some more stone piles here.

My next post is going to be about effigies I have found. I was going to wait to post anything about effigies, but I just found something really spectacular (at least I think it's spectacular!), so I'm going to post that next.

The last boulder here

I am posting pictures of the last boulder on the steep bank today, and one picture of stacked stone that is also in this area. Here is the stacked stone:



This is the boulder that is the farthest to the southwest of the large cairns, on the steep bank. The propped rock, that appears to be pointing, almost looks staged. It has memorable quality. Before I started rock hunting, I was only familiar with the woods for its small game or large game qualities. However, I can manage to think back on certain areas and remember something unusual about the area, like a swamp, rock cut, or other geographic oddities. This boulder stuck out in my mind before I came back to this site for rock hunting:





Here is a view of the stone to the left of the upright rock, as you're facing it looking up the hill:



And here is a view of the stone to the right - it looks like there could be a niche there:



And this is the view looking down the bank, as you stand just behind, and on top of, the boulder. If you click on the photo to see a larger view, you can see the stone wall down below this boulder:



On just the other side (to the southwest) of that stone wall, the land plateaus before going back down the other side of the mountain. There is a small cairn/rock pile field there, consisting of 5 stone piles. I will post photos of those during the week. Beyond that, the state land ends and the property is posted. On the positive side, there is a LOT of state land going down the mountain, heading to the northeast, that I haven't explored for rock piles yet.