380 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is remarkably deep. Upon the north side near the village, there 

 is on the side of the road a ledge with a smooth striated perpen- 

 dicular side. The course of the striae is N. 20° W. The distin- 

 guishing glacial feature here is the wall, or perpendicular side of 

 the ledge, smoothed parallel with the course of the valley. The 

 direction coincides with that of the drift in the vicinity. Similar 

 striae and grooves coming from the northwest, and worn upon the 

 perpendicular face of the ledges, may be seen in Abbot, where the 

 Monson road crosses the Piscataquis. 



Third, on Sandy river. The great bending of the striae in the 

 valley of this river mentioned in our last report, page 262, must be 

 an example of glacial markings. Confirmatory traces may be seen 

 on the road to Rangely near the head of the river ; for the striae 

 there run down hill most perceptibly for a great distance. This is 

 never the case with drift striae. The descent here must be very 

 great, rather more than the proper average for glacial slopes. No 

 one can for a moment suppose that an iceberg can slide down hill — 

 it must always be the true glacial ice that accommodates itself to 

 the slopes and windings of vallies. 



In the valley of Ellis' river below Andover, the sides of many 

 ledges are perpendicular, and resemble the walls which have been 

 mentioned as characteristic of glacial markings. We had not time 

 to examine them carefully. We cannot doubt the existence of 

 many glacial markings in the numerous vallies of the western por- 

 tions of the State. The rocks, however, disintegrate so easily that 

 they may not preserve the markings very well. 



We do not understand Dr. DeLaski to mean byhis great Penob- 

 scot glacier exactly what we do in distinguishing certain glacial 

 markings from the drift proper. He regards the drift markings as 

 made by one great glacier, extending over the whole of the north- 

 ern portion of the continent. He supposes that all the striae upon 

 the rocks were made by glaciers, when the whole continent was 

 much more elevated than it is at present. The view we have 

 adopted and explained in detail, supposes a combination of glacial 

 and iceberg agencies — the traces of the latter being those most 

 commonly seen now upon the rocks. AVhen many of our valleys 

 were filled with rivers of ice, the tops of the higher mountains must 

 have been covered with perpetual snow and the scenery have been 

 strikingly similar to that now exhibited among the glaciers of the 

 Alps in Europe. Even with the striated and embossed rocks in 



