107 



bushes ; and these sandy deposits can be found for long distances north, 

 probably to near the height of land. In deep cut sections the blue clay 

 frequently appears in which, however, the marine organisms have not 

 yet been found, and the mode of deposition can not therefore be dis- 

 tinctly affirmed. Marine shells have been found as far west as Bryson, 

 on the Ottawa, and nodules like those of Green's Creek on Coulonge 

 Lake 365 feet above sea level. It is thus cleai that a very considerable 

 part of the Ottawa basin has been submerged. 



A very interesting point in connection with this question is the dis- 

 tribution of Laurentian boulders along the flanks of the mountain 

 range which, traverses the eastern townships of Quebec, seventy to 100 

 miles south-east of the St. Lawrence River. Here on the slopes of the 

 hill ranges which extend north-eastward from the Vermont boundary 

 to Gaspe", scattered masses of gneiss and limestone from the Laurentian 

 hills north of that river are found at elevations of 1000 to 1400 feet 

 above the sea level. In the great valley between this ridge and the 

 highland along the boundary of Northern Maine the drift has also been 

 very extensive, clays and sand occurring at elevations of 800 to 

 1000 feet. This country has undoubtedly been submerged, and Hitchcock 

 and others have recorded the presence of beaches and terraces along 

 the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire at elevations of 2000 

 to over 2500 feet. The whole question of submergence and elevation 

 is of very great interest and the gradual accumulation of facts from 

 many widely scattered points should, if properly interpreted, give us 

 much reliable information when properly correlated. Unfortunately, 

 however, the peculiarities of many minds prevent these facts from 

 being regarded from the same stand point, so that while one sees in 

 these phenomena the clearest evidence of submergence and sea beaches 

 another sees only elevation and terminal moraines. 



There is yet a large field of study along the Ottawa River and the 

 many tributa-y streams for those who are interested in this branch of 

 scientific investigation, and many points, a few years ago accessible only 

 with difficulty and much expense, can now be readily reached by the 

 various lines of railway lately constructed. There is no doubt therefore 

 that fresh facts bearing on the question will rapidly accumulate and 

 the vexed question of submergence or continental glaciation may be 

 satisfactorily settled in the not far distant future. 



