MODIFIED DRIFT OF THE LAKE DISTRICT. 1 29 



crossed by the road to Fort point, it is a level, sandy plain, but south- 

 ward it is partly occupied by a similar plain and partly by kames, which 

 form mounds and ridges, extending from north to south, with the inter- 

 vening hollows 20 to 30 feet deep. The material of the kames is water- 

 worn gravel, containing pebbles up to one or two feet, and often enclosing 

 boulders of all sizes up to six or eight feet in diameter. 



On the west shore of Alton bay, south-west from Gcrrish point, we 

 find kames and level-topped mounds of intcrstratified sand and gravel, 

 with occasional large boulders enclosed or on the surface. These rise 

 about 50 feet above the lake, and border its shore for nearly a half mile, 

 extending southward from the mouth of the principal valley or opening 

 among the hills on its west side. With these exceptions, till and ledge 

 form the shores of this bay till we come to its end at the south extremity 

 of the lake. 



From Alton Bay station a continuous area of modified drift, varying 

 from one fourth of a mile to nearly two miles in width, extends towards 

 the south-east along Merrymeeting river and across the low water-shed 

 only ^2 feet above the lake, which separates this basin from the head of 

 the Cochecho valley. A kame, forming a well defined ridge 40 to 60 feet 

 high, extends nearly a mile southward from the lake. It lies for the first 

 third of a mile on the west side of the railroad, by which it is then crossed 

 twice, thence continuing to the south close upon the west side of the 

 river. It is mainly composed of coarse water-worn gravel, which con- 

 tains rounded boulders up to two or three feet in diameter. It also con- 

 tains occasional angular boulders of larger size, and in some portions the 

 ridge is made up almost wholly of such angular blocks one to four feet in 

 diameter. Deposits of fine gravel and sand reach an equal height along 

 this distance on the east side of the river. 



Alton village is situated about 60 feet above the lake on a level plain, 

 the north part of which is coarse gravel full of pebbles three inches to 

 one foot in diameter, while its south portion is finer gravel or sand. To 

 the south-east the alluvium is nearly two miles wide, and consists of plains 

 of sand or fine gravel, and low, marshy meadows. The former do not ex- 

 ceed 60 to 70 feet above the lake, or about 30 to 40 above Merrymeeting 

 river. No kames were seen between Alton and New Durham station; 

 but a short distance from this station a kame 25 feet in height was seen 

 VOL. III. 17 



