196 Wilson — Glaciation of Orford and Sutton Mis., Quebec. 



Art. XIII. — On the Glaciation of Orford and Sutton 

 Mountains, Quebec / by Alfred W. G. Wilson. 



In a report published some years ago Dr. Chalmers,* the 

 Pleistocene geologist of the Canadian Geological Survey, 

 places the upward limit of glaciation in the Eastern Townships 

 of Quebec at 1800 feet above sea level. In a paper read a 

 few months later at the Boston meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1898, Profes- 

 sor Hitchcockf drew attention to the fact that Orford moun- 

 tain is striated from bottom to top and that the ice movement 

 was in a southeasterly direction. Hitchcock however gives 

 the height of Orford mountain as about 5000 feet. Principal 

 Dresser,:}: a year later and working independently, drew atten- 

 tion to the presence of exotic materials and striae on the sum- 

 mit of Orford mountain (2800 feet approx.) over 800 feet 

 above the highest limit set by Chalmers. In a recent report 

 to the State geologist of Vermont, Hitchcock§ restates his 

 original observations and adds additional data. In a still later 

 article, published in the Ottawa Naturalist for May 1905, 

 Chalmers I not only reasserts his original position without 

 indicating in any way that he has re-examined the area in the 

 vicinity of Mount Orford, but attempts to question the accu- 

 racy and veracity of both the observers whose results do not 

 agree with his own. 



During the past few years the writer has been collecting 

 data for a study of the physiography of the St. Lawrence 

 Plain and the adjacent areas. In carrying out these investiga- 

 tions it has been found necessary to review in the field practi- 

 cally all the work that had been done previously. ]STew and it 

 is believed more accurate determinations of the heights of all 

 the prominent elevations on the St. Lawrence Plain have 

 been made and independent studies of the Pleistocene geology 

 of the district are under way. 



While the physiographic studies are not sufficiently advanced 

 to permit of immediate publication, the time seems opportune 

 to offer the results of independent investigations which bear 

 directly on the problem of the glaciation of Mount Orford and 

 the adjacent peaks and ridges. Three new elevations are 

 given which are based on barometric determinations that are 



* Chalmers, Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada, vol. x, 

 Part J, 1897. 



f Hitchcock, Proceedings Ainer. Asso. Adv. Sci., Boston, vol. 47, p. 292. 

 1898. 



X Dresser, Canadian Record of Science, vol. viii, pp. 223-225, 1900-1902. 



§ Hitchcock, Report of the Vermont State Geologist, p. 72, 1903-1904. 



|| Chalmers, Ottawa Naturalist, vol xix, pp. 52-55, 1905. 



