PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS OP VALLEY GLACIERS 439 



this connection, especially that in his Geology of New Hampshire, will, 

 when the glacial geology of New England is more full} 7, worked out, need 

 to be considered as a prominent contribution to glacial geology. 



When Agassiz first came to this country he detected what he believed 

 to be evidence of valley glaciers among the mountains of New r England, 

 and, though he did not until later publish fully upon them, he was one 

 of the first to definitely suggest valley glaciers for that region. His 

 papers on that subject* contain one of the clearest statements of the, 

 evidence of these valley glaciers that I have seen, and, granting the cor- 

 rectness of his observations, they would seem to prove conclusively that 

 such glaciers did exist there." Important contributions to the subject of 

 valley glaciers in these mountains have been made by Packard,f Vose,J 

 and Dana.§ The latter author assigns many of the so-called evidences 

 of valley glaciers to the influence of topography upon the ice currents. 



Hamlin || suggests that the location of a chain of three ponds (plate 

 31) near the foot of mount Ktaadn is significant of local glaciers, being 

 situated just where terminal moraines of glaciers issuing from the basins 

 would naturally occur. He concludes, however, that entirely satisfae- 

 torv determination of these deposits is impossible while they are so 

 completely masked by dense thickets. This suggestion of valley glaciers, 

 made by Hamlin, naturally occurs to one as he looks from the top of 

 Ktaadn into the North and South basins and notes the tiny ponds, 

 apparently nestling in the midst of an irregular morainic topography 

 (see plate 32. ) This suggestion likewise occurred to me during my first 

 visit to Ktaadn, and it was primarily for the study of this region that I 

 returned to Ktaadn in 1899. 



Topography of Mount Ktaadn 



The general topographic features of Ktaadn are well illustrated in 

 Hamlin's model, which is here reproduced (see plate 31) from an illus- 

 tration in his paper referred to above. The mountain rises far above 

 the elevation of any surrounding land, reaching well above the timber 

 line. From the north side the ascent is rather gradual, but from the 

 south side the mountain rises as a great block from the lowland of the 

 West branch of the Penobscot, the grandest mountain in New England. 



* Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sei., vol. xix, 1870, pp. 161-1G7 (reprinted in Amer. Naturalist, vol. iv, 

 1871, pp. 550-558) ; Geological Sketches, vol. ii, 1890, pp. 101-152. 



f Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. xliii, 18(17, pp. 42 ; Amer. Nat., vol. i, 1808, pp. 2G0-2G9. 

 I Amer. Nat., vol. ii, 18G9, pp. 281-291. 



g Amer. Jour. Sci., ser. iii, vol. ii, 1871, pp. 233-243, 305 ; same, vol. v, 1873, p. 198 

 || Bull. Museum Comp. Zoology, vol. vii, 1881, p. 219. 



