250 the pictou coal field — pool.e. 



Cambro-Silurian. 



The waters of Siitlierland's river leave the Iiill country tliat 

 overh^oks the coal held from the south and tumble through a 

 picturesque o-oi-qe of metamorphic rocks at Park's mills to flow 

 among carboniferous strata to the sea. These rocks have been 

 described by the Survey and classed as Cambro-Silurian/^* They 

 are almost immediateh" succeeded above the falls and to the west 

 bv fossiliferous Silurian beds, Medina and Clinton that trend 

 to the southwest. On leaving the river the hill range rises tO' 

 the westward with a steep declivity to the north, and the rounded 

 surface is covered with fragments of pale green slates weathered' 

 to whiteness/-) Passing westward these barren Silurian strata, 

 continue to the flanks of the high peak that rises to a height of 635 

 feet behind D. McLean's house, there the}^ give place to trap that 

 crowns the summit on the eastern side. On the western face, which 

 is somewhat the highest, Cambro-Silurian slates and grits again 

 come in and occupy the north front of the range as far as McLellan's 

 brook. The crest of this peak is smoothed but only very par- 

 tially planed down by glacial erosion, and unexpectedly no strifB 

 recording the direction of the ice flow were found. The peak 

 marks the south-east corner of the coal field, and from it north- 

 Avard may be assumed to extend a concealed spur on which 

 rest the Carboniferous Limestone series that form the 

 eastern rim of the basin. Immediately westward of t]\e peak 

 among the hills are collected the head waters of McLean's brook,, 

 and V)eyond them rises the still higher mass of McLellan's moun- 

 tain, attaining altitudes of 760 and 790 feet. Rocks of many 

 colours compose the series : bright red argillites, grey whins 

 closely intersected by quartz veins, coarse purple grits and intru- 

 sions of diorite, may in turn be seen. Strewn on the surface are 

 to be found fragments that to the casual glance might be mistaken 

 for Millstone Grit, but which under the hammer ring with a 

 sound that cannot he mistaken. 



On the south side of the spur of McLellan's mountain that 

 stretches to the brook of the same name, a well defined fault 



(11 Geol. Sur. Reports. Fletcher 33 P. 1SS6. (2) Lojran p. 5, 6, 1866-9. Honeyinaii Trans. 

 N. S.Instit, Vol. Ill, p. 10.3. 



