408 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, U. S. 



GEORGIA. 



lying northward, or, more exactly, lying in the 

 direction toward the source of the glacial mo- 

 tion as indicated by the striae. These phenomena 

 suffice to demonstrate that the hells of knob- 

 and-basin drift are terminal moraines. At a cer- 

 tain epoch the southern margin of the great 

 northern ice-sheet was divided by the inequali- 

 ties of the land surface into great fingers or 

 loops, and within each loop the ice gradually 

 spread to the right and left from a central line 

 of greatest motion. A large portion of the de- 

 tritus torn and ground from the rock-floor by 

 the glacier was deposited at the margins of the 

 lobes, and the irregular manner in which it 

 dropped from the melting ice gave to the mar- 

 ginal moraines their peculiar tumultuous to- 

 pography. The muoraines have not yet been ac- 

 curately determined in all parts, but, as shown 

 on the map, enough has been ascertained to 

 prove that they traverse the country from Cape 

 Cod to the valley of the Missouri, and then 

 pass from Dakota northwestward into British 

 America. Their range in the United States is 

 about two thousand miles, but the sinuosity of 

 their course gives them a length of not less 

 than three thousand miles, and they traverse 

 thirteen States, and the Territory of Dakota. 



As may be seen by the map, a large area of 

 undulating drift lies south of the great mo- 

 raine belt, and a still larger area north of it. 

 While there is a general similarity between the 

 superficial features of these two areas, there is 

 also a contrast, and this contrast is indicative 

 of age. It is readily understood that the ordi- 

 nary processes of change on the surface of the 

 land tend to obliterate lakes. The streams 

 that flow into them bring at every flood a 

 tribute of mud and other debris, which falls 

 to the bottom and gradually fills their basins. 

 The streams that flow out of them constantly 

 tend, by eroding their channels, to lower the 

 surfaces of the lakes and eventually drain them. 

 A lake is thus an evanescent feature, whose 

 ultimate destruction is merely a question of 

 time. When, therefore, it is observed that 

 the surface of the undulating drift at the north 

 abounds in lakes and ponds, while the corre- 

 sponding surface at the south is almost per- 

 fectly drained by streams, it becomes evident 

 that the northern drift received its undulating 

 configuration at a later date than the southern. 

 It is thus known that a considerable time elapsed 

 between the deposition of the southern drift 

 and the epoch of the northern drift. The time 

 represented by the southern drift is called the 

 first glacial epoch. The second glacial epoch 

 is represented by the moraine and all drift 

 deposits lying north of it. It is a remarkable 

 fact that the undulating drift represented by 

 the earlier epoch is not furnished at its outer 

 margin with a terminal moraine, and this fact 

 leaves a residuum of doubt in regard to its 

 mode of deposition. While the inapplicability 

 of the iceberg theory to the knob-and-basin 

 drift of the district of the Great Lakes has 

 been fully established, the theory can not yet 



be set aside as a possible explanation of .the 

 phenomena of the undulating drift of the more 

 southerly district. It has, moreover, an assured 

 though subsidiary place in accounting for cer- 

 tain deposits which overlie the glacial drift in 

 some parts of the Laurentian lake-basin. Dur- 

 ing the retreat of the ice-sheet from that basin 

 it happened at many points that temporary 

 lakes were held between the ice front and the 

 uplands at the south, and in some of these lakes 

 floated icebergs. 



In various other ways the simplicity of the 

 phenomena is interrupted, and it is already 

 evident that the Quaternary history of the 

 continent is highly complex. The southern 

 drift in many places consists of two layers, be- 

 tween which is interpolated a bed of vegeta- 

 ble debris, and the plants that constitute this 

 layer indicate that the glacial climate was in- 

 terrupted by one comparatively mild. The 

 great moraine is not simple, but in many 

 places divides into two or three lines, or even 

 more, showing that, after the ice had reached 

 its greatest extent and begun to retreat, it hesi- 

 tated more than once, and may even have re- 

 advanced. All the phenomena were influenced 

 by changes that took place in the altitude of 

 the land. During the earlier ice epoch the 

 region of the Missouri river appears to have 

 been more depressed than during the later. 

 For an unknown period, terminating after the 

 close of the later epoch, there was a great and 

 general depression at the north. 



GEORGIA. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year : Gov- 

 ernor, Henry D. McDaniel, Democrat ; Secre?- 

 tary of State, N. C. Barnett ; Treasurer, R. V. 

 Hardeman ; Comptroller, William A. Wright ; 

 Attorney-General, Clifford Anderson ; State 

 School Commissioner, G. J. Orr. Judiciary, 

 Supreme Court : Chief-Justice, James Jack- 

 son; Associate Justices, Martin J. Crawford 

 and Alexander M. Speer. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature met on 

 the second Wednesday of July, and adjourned 

 in the latter part of October. The following 

 are the more important acts of the session : 



Appropriating $25,000 to place in proper condition 

 the buildings of the university of Georgia. 



To authorize the payment of interest on certain in- 

 dorsed bonds of the Macon and Brunswick Eail- 

 road. 



Levying a special tax for the completion of the new 

 Capitol. 



Requiring tax-payers to make return under oath of 

 their property in detail. 



Changing the time of meeting of the Supreme Court 

 from the second Monday of February and the first 

 Monday of September to the first Monday of March 

 and October respectively. 



To authorize and empower the Board of Education, 

 or other proper authorities, in certain counties and 

 municipal corporations, in their discretion, to annex 

 to the public schools a department of Industrial Edu- 

 cation. 



Amending the law relating to the organization and 

 government of the militia. 



To provide for a complete roster of Georgia troops 

 in the Confederate army. 



To encourage good behavior and diligence of per- 



