BORDERING ON BIG FORK RIVER. 321 
occasional drift-hills. The bottom-lands are generally from six to ten feet above 
the usual level of the river, but are subject to overflows in times of high water. 
Judging from marks left on the trees, the bottoms are then flooded to the depth of 
three or four feet. The timber is oak, ash, aspen-poplar, bass-wood, soft maple, elm, 
and some black haw, with a profuse growth of grape and hop-vines. A few large 
white and yellow pines were seen on some of the hills, and occasionally some cedar. 
The first rock met with after leaving the vicinity of the falls was greenstone 
(No. 561), bearing east by north and west by south. In some places, where it 
inclined to a slaty structure, the dip was west by south, nearly vertical. About 
five miles beyond this, we came to an exposure of mica slate (No. 562); and two 
miles further brought us to the “Little Falls.” The fall at this place is six feet. 
The rock is greenstone (Nos. 563 and 564), with thin seams of quartz traversing 
it. There is about twelve feet of rock exposed, bearing east-northeast and west- 
southwest. Near the upper part of the fall are some thin seams of a talcose rock. 
About two miles above “Little Falls,” a ridge of gneiss (No. 565), crosses the 
river, bearing east and west. It is the highest ridge of rocks seen on this route, 
and was estimated to be sixty feet high. A short distance above this is another 
ridge, about thirty feet in height, but the character of the rock was not ascertained. 
Eight miles above this, is a rock-island in the river (No. 566), about twenty-five 
feet in diameter, and rising two feet above the water, which was unusually deep at 
this place, the men being unable to touch bottom with their setting-poles. 
Three miles above the island, hornblende slate (No. 567), again makes its appear- 
ance in the river, in a small island, twenty by thirty feet in diameter. Two miles 
beyond this is an exposure of porphyritic greenstone (No. 568). 
The clay-beds still show themselves in the river banks; and the bottom lands 
begin to bear rich meadows. The rice plant is also frequently seen in the margins 
of the stream. Back of the meadows are low, rounded hills, some of them covered 
with grass, and others with cypress and small poplar. Since leaving “ Big Fork 
Falls,” the principal timber has been oak, birch, aspen, poplar, fir, cypress, and a 
few large white and yellow pines. Among the drift deposits large fragments of 
drab-coloured limestone were frequently met with. 
Three miles beyond the last exposure of rock noted, greenstone (No. 569) makes 
its appearance, and is seen in the river-bed for the distance of three hundred yards ; 
and about five miles further, greenstone (No. 570) again emerges from under the 
drift, bearing north of east and south of west. From the bearing of these last two 
exposures, and the course of the river, which runs in the line of strike, I consider 
them to belong to the same ridge. Six miles higher up the river is a large exposure 
of syenite (Nos. 571 and 572), bearing north of east and south of west. This was 
the last rock seen on this river, and is the one on which the drift- hills of the 
dividing ridge are based. : 
The river, which, up to this pomt has been growing narrower for a long distance, 
is not over ten or fifteen yards in width, at the last granitic exposure. It now 
becomes wide, and is filled with the rice plant. Five miles above this rapid, we 
came to another, made by boulders. It is the last one met with in ascending Big 
Fork River, and we may now be said to have attained the summit-level between 
41 
