358 APPENDIX TO PARTS I AND II. 



APPENDIX F. 



Geology of the Region about the Head Waters of the Andros- 

 coggin River, Me. 



By J. H. Huntington. 



If we examine a map, and look at the western part of New Hampshire, we see that 

 Hall's stream, one of the principal branches of the Connecticut river, has a part of its 

 branches in the province of Quebec ; then eastward, all the streams as far as the St. 

 John's in Maine have their waters wholly in the states. Of the streams included in 

 this area, Indian, Perry's, the Connecticut, the Magalloway, the Cupsuptic, the Kenne- 

 bago. Dead river, and Moose river, I have followed from their sources to their conflu- 

 ences with other waters ; and, besides this, I have traversed much of the intervening 

 country. As a continuous forest extends along the north-western border of Maine, 

 geological work is slow and extremely laborious. The topography of the country is 

 somewhat peculiar. The boundary itself is a mountainous ridge, rising from 2,500 to 

 3,000 feet above the sea, and it is extremely irregular in outline. The streams from 

 Hall's to Dead river have a course almost due south ; then to the north-east the streams 

 at first all begin their courses by flowing northerly and north-easterly. The glaciation 

 of the continent, and the trend of the strata of the rocks, have given in part, at least, 

 this peculiar feature to the streams of this region, though there is no doubt but that 

 the great depression of the St. Lawrence valley is the primal cause. 



The area of country to which this paper relates more specifically borders on the Cup- 

 suptic and Kennebago rivers. Both of these streams rise on the boundary. On the 

 first, three fourths of a mile from the boundary, the beavers, by building a dam, have 

 formed quite a little lake. This is 600 feet below the highest point of the ridge. For 

 five miles in a direct line the stream is sluggish, and is frequently interrupted by beaver 

 dams ; then for half a mile it cuts a deep gorge through an argillaceous schist, and has 

 a fall of some thirty feet ; then for six or seven miles it has very much the same char- 

 acter that it has above the gorge ; then for nearly a mile it rushes along in a series of 

 wild cascades, while here and there it plunges down into great eddies, when it rests 

 only to leap again over the rocky strata below. The falls passed, it assumes again its 

 sluggish character, which it retains until it flows into Cupsuptic lake. The entire length 

 of the stream in a direct line is about 13 miles. The Kennebago is quite a different 

 river. On the boundary rise numerous streams, which widen into lakelets, and then 

 flow southward until they unite in No. 4 R. 3. Then the descent is quite gradual until 

 after it passes Kennebago lake,— then there are extensive falls ; thence for the most 

 part the descent is gradual for the rest of its course. There are some things about the 

 topography that are quite noticeable. From a point a mile south of the outlet of Ken- 

 nebago lake a range of mountains begins, which runs north-west, and extends to the 



