1869J 237 [Morse. 



sand. The impression it gives the beholder is, that as the land began 

 to sink, the upper portion rushed swiftly down towards the little 

 brook which ran at the foot of the ridge, and in its progress was en- 

 tirely turned under, while the clay at the bottom came upon top. 

 Scarcely a vestige of the sod is to be seen. In the rapid descent, 

 large trees were cai-ried down, overturned, and in some cases buried 

 in the clay. In one instance a large pine was carried with great 

 force between two trees but two or three feet apart, stripping off the 

 branches upon either side, and burying the top some five or six feet 

 in the earth beyond. The appearance of the upturned earth is bil- 

 lowy, and it is evident that the different strata of soil have been 

 pretty thoroughly mixed up. The brook, now forced from its bed, 

 creeps along the edge of the ruins, while immediately on the opposite 

 bank arises a somewhat abrupt ridge covered with a thick growth of 

 pines." Another report says that the phenomenon was preceded by 

 several loud reports followed by heavy rumbling sounds, resembling 

 thunder. This slide is designated upon the map as the " Slide of 

 1849." Its area was estimated at seven acres. 



On the 22d day of November, 1868, another land-slide occurred on 

 the north bank of the Presumpscot River, above the slide of 1831, and 

 about a third of a mile below the village of Congin, or more properly 

 Ammoncongin. This slide was much greater in extent than those 

 already spoken of. The bed of the river, some two hundred feet in 

 width, was filled for nearly half a mile with the debris. The contour 

 of the sunken area is quite different from the other slides, as will be 

 seen by referring to the map. As one looks into this chasm from the 

 banks above, the appearance is startling. On a large portion of the 

 sunken area, the trees stand nearly vertical, but here and there occur 

 long ridges of soil bearing upon them the trees, inclining at various 

 angles, many of the trees prostrate, and the intervals between the 

 ridges filled with the light, upturned, plastic clay, or huge, square 

 blocks of the unaltered clay. In one place may be seen a portion of 

 an old wood road, with a large pile of cut wood, but little disturbed. 

 Looking toward the river from the sunken area, the sight is singu- 

 larly wild, for here the masses of earth have been forced out, the 

 ridges of earth crowding upon each other, and trees and shrubs are 

 broken, bent and turned in every direction. A few stately elms on 

 the intervale beyond, show marks of the soft clay four feet above the 

 present level of the surrounding clay, as if this mass surged out in 

 billows, or else a considerable subsidence of the debris had taken 

 place since its movement. These trees have entwined about them 



