GLACIAL DRIFT. 209 
the course is S. 8° W. Perhaps the most natural way to explain this 
case is, to say that ice from the north entered the mouth of the valley 
at Gorham, and, being powerfully urged onwards, followed up the Pea- 
body river, because that lay in the direction of least resistance. Whether 
this action was coeval with the motion on Mt. Washington, is doubtful ; 
most likely the intensity of that force had somewhat abated before this 
culminated. The valley is on the lee side of the mountains, and might 
possibly have been moving at the same time with that on the summits 
without inteference. Dr. Packard has cited this valley movement as an 
illustration of a local glacier passing northerly down the Peabody river 
to join the Androscoggin.* In this he is followed by Vose.t The latter 
thus states the case: 
The Peabody river rises upon the eastern slopes of Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Clay, 
and Washington, and upon the western slopes of the opposite range of the Carter 
mountains,—the Imp and Mt. Moriah, and flows about N. N. E. to Gorham, where it 
joins the Androscoggin. The surface geology of this valley is exceedingly interesting. 
It has been carefully studied by Dr. Packard, and, from the arrangement of its 
terraces and the other forms of the unconsolidated material, he concluded that a large 
glacier once occupied this valley, extending as far down as toGorham. His conclusion 
is somewhat confirmed by the following facts: About 150 yards north of the Glen 
house, just south of a large boulder upon the west side of the road, the surface has 
been cut open, and has exposed a portion of a ledge, perhaps a dozen feet in length 
and a yard wide, on which, at right angles to the contorted lamination of the rock, 
faint lines, or, rather, furrows, are seen, running N. 35° E. or S. 35° W. This ledge 
was covered several feet deep by the material of the terrace in front of the Glen house. 
Just across the valley from the hotel, where the carriage-road commences to ascend, 
the upper part of the large exposure on the right hand is well polished and furrowed in 
a south-west direction. Half a mile further up the road, furrows upon the right side, 
close to the road, are seen running S. 40° W. or N. 40° E.; and, again, a short dis- 
tance above the path leading to Tuckerman’s Ravine, upon a surface somewhat inclined 
towards the road, may be seen lines running S. 30° W. or N. 30° E. Many more 
traces would doubtless be found in this neighborhood, if sought for with care, as the 
few recorded were noted without stepping out of the common road. 
These and other examples given in the table have been carefully ex- 
amined; but I am satisfied the force proceeded up instead of down the 
valley. If the facts about stoss and lee sides of ledges declare truth, 
* American Naturalist, vol. i, p. 267. 
F I'd, vol. ii, p. 287. 
