Page 7 - Demo

Sandstone between red ore seams, Helen-Bess Mine. Plate XV, USGS Bessemer-Vandiver Folio, 1927. Courtesy Thomas Denny.
At the time Jemison & Co. planned to build residences at Altamont, the crest of the mountain was a rocky “wine-dark, rock-rimmed” summit from which descended “a little hiding stream and silver thread of waterfall that winds down through the park from a cleft in the rocks of the Tip-Top Trail.” Here, broad-leaf blackjack oak, fragrant little pines, Spanish oaks, hickory, dogwood, and redbud trees were found together with lichened rocks with fern and vine.2
Limestone deposits underlie the forested slopes on the northern side of the mountain. This limestone occurs in long narrow belts on the flanks of the mountain ridges and is highly fossiliferous. Weathered surfaces are frequently marked with furrows caused by the dissolving action of little rills of rainwater running down the exposed surface. The dif- fering hardness of rock belts probably led to the several trails in today’s Altamont Park that follow the limestone terraces.
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