288 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Clay Slates again. 



At Moose River settlement, ledges of another clay slate appear, 

 though we somewhat hesitate to call it clay slate, because it is 

 different from the great clay slate formation below Moosehead lake. 

 The cleavage planes are generally different from the planes of 

 stratification, and it is unusually difficult to distinguish them. 

 For this reason previous observers have confounded them. The 

 rock is more properly a shale over much of its area, rather than a 

 slate, and this is the chief difference between the two formations, and 

 may indicate a more recent origin. The first ledge seen is on the 

 north side of Moose river, with strata dipping 28° S. 10° E., and 

 cleavage plains dipping 40° N. 10° W. The argillaceous odor is 

 scarcely perceptible in this ledge. The valley of Moose river is 

 very pretty. and is lined with terraces, two or three of which are 

 well marked. The second is the meadow, and is a quarter of a 

 mile wide. It is composed of clay mostly. There is quite a settle- 

 fnent here, and the soil is very good. On the south side of the 

 river the meadow is very short, and the surface for a great distance 

 is covered with large boulders of granite. Many high mountains 

 are in sight from Moose river, which are all unknown to the out- 

 side world, being barely named. 



Quite a tract of level land is located north of the settlement, say 

 two miles in width. Ledges of slate show themselves occasionally 

 for several miles, all having the cleavage planes inclined to the 

 north-west. Near the north line of Holden is another ledge of the 

 slates, which we supposed at the time to dip 35° N. 20° W., but 

 made the remark in our note book that very likely this dip was 

 merely of cleavage, and that the true dip was 40° S. 20° E. We 

 make all these remarks where any doubt exists, partly that others 

 may decide for themselves this question, and partly to show that 

 the difficulty of obtaining good observations of the dip of strata is 

 often very great. Near the top of a spur of Bald mountain in the 

 south-east corner of Sandy Bay township, the rock is argillaceous, 

 though closely resembling the schists west, and dips 50° N. 20° W. 

 This hill is almost as high as the Boundary mountain. 



Mica Schist. 



The last formation on the section is a genuine mica schist, moi'e 

 apt to be confounded with talcose schist than clay slate. The 

 eastern portion of it comes up on the west flank of Bald mountain. 



