232 THE I'ICTOU COAL FIELD — I'OOl E. 



occurretl in ISDO when several large blocks of coal were found in 

 the loose ground within the supposed limits of the coal field just 

 north of the Vale area. A trial pit on the spot exposed, instead 

 of the expected coal measures, only red rocks, and the discovery 

 although so disappointing was of value as it confirmed the gen- 

 eral belief that the flow of the glacial (h-i ft into this district came 

 from the high lands to the southwest. 



A paper in the Transactions of this Institute* on the surface 

 geology of this field gave the thickness of the till or boulder clay 

 in places as deep as 86 feet and referred to its character in some 

 parts as drumlin. Tt may be added, in further proof of the till 

 having been originally deposited in parallel ridges and not as a 

 uniform coat over inequalities of the older surface, that since 

 then in a pipe line cutting at Stellarton the thinness of the de- 

 posit in a shallow depression between two of these- ridges exposed 

 the crop of a small coal seam while the depth of the cla}' on 

 either side was over 20 feet. The gentle slope of the ridges and 

 the swampy nature of the depression debarred the idea that 

 erosion occasioned the local thinning of the deposit. This exposure 

 thus tended to confirm the remark made in that paper that in 

 this field the sinker of trial ]>its more speedily reaches the metals 

 in the hollows than on the ri Iges of the land. 



To further show how foreign to the country rock is the com- 

 position of the till, in the same cutting a pebble of soft red 

 triassic sandstone was turned out : now no similar rock is known 

 in situ nearer than Valley Station, 40 miles to the south-west. 



That the set of the drift was from the south-west is as- 

 sumed from the direction of the surface ridges and from the 

 course of the principal series of stria; on the rocky surfaces. 

 There is a good exposure on Weaver's mountain, N. 45° E , an- 

 other on the southern base of the highest peak of McLellan's 

 Mountain overlookinp- the Marsh, N. 42° E. Also at Pictou, N. 

 53^ E., and again near the Fox Brook school-house. The form 

 too of the peak on the range of McLellan's Mountain close to the 

 brook of the same name suggests a similar conclusion. Viewed 



*Vol. VII, Part 4. 



