202 



BULLETIN OF THE 



miles farther northwest to a remarkable gorge, known as the "Gulf." 

 This has been eut by Pleasant lUver for five miles through black slate 

 that rises on either side in walls, sometimes to the height of from 100 

 to 300 feet, often vertical or overhanging. 



He next '* ascended Saddle Eock, a mountain wdiich is about eight 

 miles north 36° east from the Iron Works."* Its height he gives as 

 *' 3,010 feet, being 2,416 feet above the ground in front of the furnace 

 of the Iron Works." f He says again : '^ 1 was disappointed when I got 

 to the summit to find it composed of the same slate formation that I 

 had been on so long." After a few lines more he adds : " To the north- 

 west arc several mountains, the highest of which is called ' White Cap/ 

 on account of its naked white summit, which, as a hunter informed mo, 

 is composed of granite. It is about eight or ten miles from Saddle 

 Eock, and is probably near the southwest limit of the Katahdin granite 



region." :[ 



This report of a '' hunter," and Dr. 'Jackson's false statement, grounded 

 on hearsay, that Joe Merry Mountain is made up of granite, constituted 

 Mr. Houghton's only warrant for considering the granite district to 

 extend beyond the Pemadumcook chain of hikes, and so far south as the 

 northern line of the township next north of Prownsville, as is repre- 

 sented upon the geological map. Furthermore, the fact that, in the 

 whole forty miles of the route between Ktaadn and the imaginary south- 

 ern line of the district, granite has been found coming to the surface, 

 over exceedingly narrow areas, in five localities, — viz. at the third, fourth, 

 and fifth falls, near the outlet of North Twin Lake, and at the Upper 

 Joe Merry Lake, — furnishes a very slender basis for belief in the exist- 

 ence of a continuous granite area south of Ktaadn. 



Suppose we concede to be made up of granite the cliffs seen by Mr. 

 Hodge and myself on the hill, or hills, west of Katcpskonegan Dead-water, 

 and apparently identified by him as granite through a distant view 

 gained as he passed up the river in his boat.; and White Cap, reported 

 to consist of granite by one whom we do not know to have learned its 

 character from person.al examination. With these additions we have 

 data still entirely insufticicnt to justify the conclusion that has been 

 drawn from them. 



The sudden appearance, and as sudden disappearance, of granite in 

 districts covered by stratified rocks, arc characteristic of Central Maine. 

 The granite not uncommonly occurs as isolated hills separated by a 



* Prel. Rep, Kat. Hist, and Gcol. of Maine, p. 430. 



t Ibid., p. 430. X Ibid., p. 431. 



