SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 279 



Corinth, appear ledges of bright green schist, argillaceous, and 

 often quite micaceous, precisely identical lithologically with the 

 greater part of the slaty rocks on the East Branch of the Penobscot 

 above Mattawamkeag, which we described last year. Like them, 

 also, these strata are very much contorted, and their average dip 

 is about 55° S. E. These peculiar rocks continue for two or three 

 miles. 



In the north-west part of Charleston, at B. Bradley's, a compact 

 schist resembling talcose schist, but really a quartzite occurs, dip- 

 ping from 70°-75° S. 30° E. The land here is higher than anything 

 passed over west of the Penobscot, and it contini*es to rise till the 

 summit of the mountain is reached, (M in the figure,) about 800 

 feet above the ocean. Upon the county map it will be noticed 

 that a range of mountains extends through Charleston and the 

 towns adjacent. This range is the one we are now crossing, and 

 it must all be an anticlinal ridge, marking the line of the most 

 important of all the axial lines specified above. Passing down the 

 north side of this range, (for which we have no name,) we find the 

 opposite dip, making the anticlinal. We are coming into a nar- 

 rower basin than the one just left, it being only ten miles wide, 

 and it has almost an east and west course. The first observation 

 taken is of a ledge just north of Ricker Hill, in the south-east part 

 of Dover; an argillo-micaceous schist dipping 72° N. 10° W. In 

 this rock the mica is quite abundant and distinct. The dip is sim- 

 ilar to this all the way to the Piscataquis river. 



The traveller sees at once the superior fertility of the soil in the 

 Piscataquis valley, when compared with that passed over since 

 leaving Bangor. It seems to be due to the character of the rock, 

 and to be confined to this basin of schist. The rock is often cal- 

 reous and indeed certain layers in Foxcroft are real limestone and 

 have formerly been burnt in kilns for lime. As in so many other 

 instances the character of the lock here determines the quality of 

 the soil in great measure. By cilling this superior to that in Pe- 

 nobscot county, we do not mean to underrate the latter — only that 

 this is better. That in Penobscot county is far superior to much 

 that is found along the sea coast and covering granitic and gueissic 

 regions. And most excellent farms are common on the road all 

 the way from Bangor. 



The first of the southerly dips noticed is on the Piscataquis river, 

 at the bridge between Dover and Foxcroft, where the strata dip 



