THE GLACIAL GRAVELS OF MAINE AND THEIR 

 ASSOCIATED DEPOSITS. 



By Geokge H. Stone. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This investigation was begaiii in the summer of 1876, and has been 

 prosecuted during vacations. The report was substantially completed in 

 June, 1889. The work was much embarrassed by the lack of sufficiently 

 accurate maps, those available warranting only a reconnaissance and an 

 approximate location of the kames, osars, etc., in relation to the roads, 

 streams, and other features shown. The true relation of the glacial gravels 

 to the relief forms of the land can be shown only on topographical maps, 

 and the full delineation of the magnificent kame and osar systems of 

 Maine is therefore left to the topographer and geologist of the future. 

 In certain parts of the State, especially in the wooded regions, the work 

 is not complete, but it can be confidently claimed that all the longer 

 systems and the more common types of formation are here described. 



The investigation made slow progress, not only because there were 

 several thousand miles to be carefully explored, but especially because the 

 nature of the subject renders such an investigation exceedingly difficult. 

 The scout of the Western frontier who undertakes to guide a body of 

 troops in pursuit of hostile Indians — to follow the trail, and, from the traces 

 left behind, to give a history of the enemy's performances from day to 

 day — has a difficult task before him; but in thus reconstructing history he 

 has the advantage of knowing, from direct observation, the habits of the 

 Indians. In his study of glacial deposits the g'lacialist labors under the dis- 

 advantage of not knowing, by observation, the exact nature of the geolog- 

 ical work going on beneath and within an ice-sheet. It is comparatively 

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