282 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Piscataquis rivei*. ITere the dip is N. 82° W. At this point a 

 hurricane two years ago tore up the trees from their roots, twist- 

 ing them together and forming a formidable barricade for an extent 

 of a mile and a half. The whirling of the tempest had completely 

 obliterated all traces of the wood road, and rendered walking a 

 matter of extreme difficulty. The course of the hurricane appears 

 to have been from south-west to north-east, and reminded me of 

 the whirlwind-traces noticed last spring on the river St. John. 



Near the Shirley west line is a ledge of fine roofing slate of great 

 extent and easily exposed. I saw an excavation, evidently an old 

 one, which enabled me to examine the slate quite carefully and 

 form a deliberate opinion in regard to the character of the slate. 

 It is fine grained, bluish-grey, easily fissile into one-eighth inch 

 plates of twelve inches square, even where the frost had exerted 

 some efiect upon its texture. Owing to its peculiarly soft charac- 

 ter it would make, I think, good school slates. The strata were 

 in this place perpendicular with a strike north 70° east (excl. var.) 



At Sandy stream, same rock, same dip and strike 



At Alder stream, east branch, the rock is exposed near a slight 

 waterfall, the same in all essential particulars with the last. Near 

 the west branch of Alder stream the rock appeared to have lost its 

 fissile character and to have become more like the compact slates 

 occurring in Scarboro'. Numerous quartz veins run through the 

 slate in an east and west course, but with no metallic deposits. 

 At Moxie outlet the same rock was again seen. It is harder and 

 has entirely lost its distinctive fissile structure. Near Clark's 

 camp, three miles or a little less from the outlet of the pond, clay- 

 slate was noticed dipping north 85° east. This convinced me that 

 I had passed over a synclinal axis. At the Forks of the Kennebec 

 the slate dips north 70° east, and confirms, I think, the opinion 

 formed in regard to the axis. 



We were able to reach the comfortable hotel of Mr. Murray at 

 the Forks late in the evening, having walked through a thick forest 

 of second growth and swamps of cedar, part of the way in a hard 

 shower. The distance is variously estimated from eighteen to 

 twenty-two miles. I incline decidedly to the latter opinion. Ac- 

 companying this, is a vertical section* of the slate between the 



* Reduced and incorporated into the general section of the whole route. The 

 description of the figure will show the localities of the route and the dip of the strata; 

 h are the clay slates, and i the elates west of Moxie Falls. c. u. h. 



