Washington’s Trail through Post Glacial Butler, PA
In 1753, the future first president of the United States, George Washington, was dispatched to Western Pennsylvania to deliver a message to the French soldiers stationed near Presque Isle. Only twenty-one years old, young Washington traveled north from Fort Duquesne through modern day Butler County. Although aware of the critical and dangerous nature of the mission, it is unlikely that that the young explorer was aware that he was traversing a land of physical features shaped by a 100,000 years of geological history (WTA, 2013).
After embarking from present day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Washington first entered Butler County on November 30, 1753. Traveling north on an Indian trail, the first sign of the area’s cataclysmic past would have appeared out of place from the rolling hills typical of the Western Pennsylvanian landscape. Peering down into a valley over 400 feet deep, the mighty gorge was littered with enormous boulders, thus framing the Slippery Rock Creek. These relict boulders of rock types foreign to the area are known as “glacial erratics” and are indicative of the strength of the encroaching glacier. As defined by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, “Glacial erratics are stones and rocks that were transported by a glacier, and then left behind after the glacier melted. Erratics can be carried for hundreds of kilometers, and can range in size from pebbles to large boulders. Scientists sometimes use erratics to help determine ancient glacier movement.” (NSIDC, 2014)
To understand the unique aspects of a gorge created in just a few days, it is necessary to look back to the events which occurred 100,000 years ago. Described by James Lovelock in his book, The Age...
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...ail. For the geo-tourist, these two locations share a common geologic foundation and history. Both parks have the same bedrock formations and formed their topography from the same glacial events (Fleeger, et al. 2003).
Works Cited
Department Of Conservation And Natural Resources, PA DCNR Map Viewer, http://www.gis.dcnr.state.pa.us/maps/index.html
Fleeger, Gary M., Bushnell, Kent O., and Watson, Donald W. “Moraine and McConnells Mill State Parks.” Pennsylvania Trail of Geology. 2003. Print. 29 April 2014.
Lovelock, James. “The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth”. New York: Norton, 1995.
National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), “Glacier Landforms: Erratics”, All About Glaciers, 2014.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, The Importance of McConnell's Mill and Moraine State Parks, 2007, www.waterlandlife.org/e-conserve/fall-07/paul.htm
Illinois State Geological Survey, 2005, Time Talks – The Geology of Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks
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States. National Park Service. (2014, May, 12). National Parks Service. Retreived May 19,2014, from http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/geology.htm
The gorge also has an interesting formation history. It started as the beach of an island hundreds of millions of years ago. The beach turned to sandstone over time. Then the Appalachian
After being issued by President Thomas Jefferson to map, explore, and compile information on the land just bought through the Louisiana Purchase, Captain Meriwether Lewis and 2nd Lieutenant William Clark set off on one of the greatest expeditions of all time. This paper will explore what adversities were faced on the Corp of Discoveries. From militant Indians to diseases like dysentery, they faced it all. And as Captain Lewis documented, “We went as close to hell as you can go in this lifetime.” (11.Perry)
Q6-13: What geologic processes could have formed this landscape? What field evidence could you gather to test your hypothesis? (2pts)
Quinn, David B. North America From Earliest Discovery to First Settlements. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1977.
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Watkins, Jeffery. Regents Prep: Global History: Change & Turning Points:, "Neolithic Revolution." Last modified 2003. Accessed March 23, 2012. http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/change/neo.cfm
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of the book. Eds. James H. Pickering and Jeffery D. Hoeper. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice, 1027-28. Mullen, Edward J. & Co.