southward side of said Blue Hill until it comes to Wallingford bounds, at the east end of said hill, and thence westwardly in the north side line of said New Haven bounds unto said Amity line." Pages 193, 194.

For a further account of the formation and history of the Mt. Carmel parish reference is made to the contribution to the ecclesiastical history of the town, by the Rev. L. H. Higgins, in this volume.

It would now be difficult to follow these boundary lines by the descriptions. The boundaries of farms have changed again and again, families have passed away, and houses have disappeared.

It has, however, been the custom for generations past to have the boundary lines of the town perambulated by the selectmen at intervals of a few years, and by this means a traditional knowledge of the town limits has been maintained.

The following, relative to the northern boundary of New Haven, afterwards a part of Hamden bounds, is interesting in this connection.

At the court of election, held at Hartford, in May, 1673, it was granted "that the bounds of New Haven shall runn according as it is agreed betwixt the sayd towne of New Haven, Brandford, Wallingford and Milford." The agreement was as follows:

"That New Haven shall runn two miles and a halfe northward from the foot of the Blew Hills, on the Mill River, upon that river, and the line from a stake there to the foote of the Blew Hills on the East River, and from the sayd two mile and halfe stake along our reare, west and by north, to the end of their bownds; which issue they, the committee for Wallingford, consented to and accepted, and this to be an issue in loue and peace. Memorandum: That the committee for New Haven doe consent that the meadow between the Mill River and the East River northward aboue the Blew Hills shall be Wallingford's as to the bulk of it, and liberty of drowneing it as they

shall see cause, although the line agreed to should cutt through it."

The aboue written is a true coppy of the original."*

At the May court in 1674, the following agreement was reached and recorded:

"This writeing sheweth, to all whome it may concerne, that all differences respecting the line or lines for bownds between the townes of New Hauen and Wallingford are forever ended, and agreements made and concluded by persons deputed for, and by each towne whose names are underwritten, which agreements are as followeth, viz.: That Wallingford bownds on the east side of the East River shall be from Brandford lyne northerly to Wharton's Brooke, where it crosseth the sowth branch of the sayd brooke, and thence as the brooke runns into the East River; and from the mouth of the sayd Wharton's Brooke, where it falleth into the sayd East Riuer, the sayd East River to be the bound or line upward vntill it come as high as the Blew Hills, and against a tree marked on the west side of the river with a heap of stones caste at the root of it; and from the sayd tree with stones at the root of it, a streight line westward to New Haven, Mill river, where there is a tree marked with a heap of stones at the root of it, being about two miles and a halfe aboue the Blew Hills; and from the sayd tree and heap of stones by the sayd Mill River, a straite line west and by north to the path which lyeth from Milford to Farmington, by which path is a tree marked and stones cast at the root of it. To declare this to be our firm and full agreement, wee

*Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1675 to 1678; p. 202.

subscribe our hands this 12th day of May, in the year of Or Lord, one thowsand six hundred seuenty fower.*

From Wallingford:

John Brockett,

Samuel Andrews,

Nathaniel Roise.

From New Haven:

The marke of

John IC Cowper, Sen'r.,
Moses Mansfield,

Abram Dickerman.

MAPS OF THE TOWN-AREA.

There is no good recent map of the town showing its extent and boundaries. The United States Coast Survey map of the New Haven region, executed in 1871-1877, under the immediate supervision of the late R. M. Bache, gives an excellent representation of the topography and roads of the southern half of the town, the work not having been extended north of Centerville. This map is on a scale of roboo and the differences of elevation are shown by contour lines for each twenty feet.

In the Atlas of New Haven county, published in 1868, by Beers, Ellis & Soule, a map of Hamden is given on a scale of two inches to the mile. By measurements made upon this map the length of the town from north to south is approximately 8 miles; its breadth at the widest, north part, 5 miles; and at the narrowest part, 3 miles. Taking the average breadth as a little under 4 miles, the total area is approximately 32 square miles.

Barber gives the average length of the town as 7 miles; average breadth about 34; making about 26 square miles in

area.

The adjoining towns on the north are Cheshire and Wallingford; on the east, North Haven; on the south, New Haven; and on the west, Woodbridge and Bethany.

*Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut; p. 234.

TOPOGRAPHY.

ORIGIN OF THE GENERAL FORM OF THE SURFACE.

HE Quinnipiac river forms a portion of the eastern boundary, and the town may be said to lie between the broad valley of the Quinnipiac and the summit of the West Rock range. The direction of the greatest length of the town conforms to the direction of these two leading natural features, which is a little east of north, and this general direction is maintained by the chief streams, the smaller valleys and ridges, by the leading highways and by the railways. The valley of the Quinnipiac itself is approximately the same in direction as the great Connecticut river valley further north, and there is good reason to believe that in remote geological history the Hamden and New Haven valley, including the Quinnipiac valley, was the southern prolongation of the Connecticut River valley.

The region first received its approximate form and direction from its fundamental geological structure; and, secondly, from the ploughing and planing action of the great ice-sheet of the glacial era; succeeded by the comparatively modern eroding and depositing action of existing streams.

Mill River, the principal stream of the town, flows through its entire length in a general southwesterly direction. Its principal branch, Shepherd's Brook, flows into it from the north, a short distance above Augerville. Mill river is known as one of the chief sources of supply of the city of New Haven with water, and fills Whitney Lake, the storage reservoir of the New Haven Water company.

The Narrow gorge at Mt. Carmel, through which Mill River flows, was formerly known as the Steps.

Wilmot Brook, on the west side of the town, drains a long, deep valley, on the eastern side of the West Rock range, and flowing between West Rock and Pine Rock

through the village of Westville, reaches West River. It has an important feeder from the west in the brook flowing from Wintergreen Lake, also one of the sources of the supply of water to New Haven.

The chief rocky elevations within the town limits are the East Rock and the West Rock ranges and the Blue Hills, now known as Mt. Carmel, or the Sleeping Giant. The bluff terminations of both East Rock and West Rock are, however, a short distance south of the town line. Whitney peak, rising from the northern slope of East Rock, reaches an altitude of about 300 feet. The bluff of East Rock is 360 feet above tide, and the top of West Rock is 387 to 405 feet. Mill Rock rises to the height of 225 feet, and Pine Rock to 271 feet.

The West Rock range increases in altitude northward from 380 feet at the south end of the town to 480 opposite the south end of the Wintergreen Lake; to 575 feet west of Cherry Hill, 600 to 610 near the Merrit place, abreast of the Blue Hills. Mt. Carmel ranges from about 600 to 800 feet in height.

From the top of Mt. Carmel, East Rock appears as a slight and comparatively isolated elevation. Long Island sound can be seen over its summit, and Long Island over the top of the Soldiers' Monument.

The sandstone hills and ridges of the town are all lower than the chief trap rock ranges, and are smoothly rounded off, with flowing outlines. They extend generally in long and approximately parallel lines, and are highest and most extended under the lee or protection of the chief outbursts of the trap rock; this harder rock having broken the force of the denuding action of the ancient glacier. The sandstone formation is also found overlying the bedded trap rocks, and rises in places almost to the summit of the trap ridges. When hardened and changed by the trappean intrusions it resists decay almost as well as the trap, and forms enduring and picturesque bluffs.

From the Methodist church southwards there is a broad,