CHAPTER II. 



FUNDAMENTAL FACTS OF SURFACE CEOLOG-Y AS 

 ILLUSTRATED IN MAINE. 



In order that there may be no doubt as to the sense in which certain 

 words are employed in this report, or as to the standpoint from which it is 

 written, the following explanatory chapter is prefixed to the report proper. 

 This is the more necessary because I have found it desirable to use some 

 words in a more restricted sense than that in which they have been used 

 by many in the past. 



The principal facts with which the student of the drift has to deal are 

 the following: 



SURFACE FEATURES OF MAINE, 



The surface features of the regions penetrated by the several systems 

 of glacial gravel will be described in connection with the gravels. It is 

 therefore not necessary here to give any detailed description of the topo- 

 graphical features of the State. A few remai'ks will suffice. 



The State consists of two main drainage slopes : (1) That drained 

 southward into the Gulf of Maine by the Saco, Presumpscot, Androscoggin, 

 Kennebec, Penobscot, Narraguagiis, Machias, and St. Croix rivers, and 

 by numerous smaller streams. The average fall of the streams of this 

 slope is not far from 7 feet per mile. All the larger deposits of glacial 

 gravel appear to be confined to this slope. (2) That drained northward 

 and eastward into the St. John River. This slope contains much swampy 

 and other rather level land, with here and there hills rising above the 

 great plain. 



An inspection of the river systems of Maine shows great irregularities 



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