150 G. H. Stone — Drift Scratches in Maine. 



glaciated S. 10° E. to the very base of the scarp. But when 

 the direction of the ice flow changed to S. 30° to 35° E., then 

 the steep scarp protected a portion of the depression, and a 

 strip from two to eight inches wide was left in its lee wholly 

 untouched b} 7 the later glaciation. Over all the rest of a rock 

 exposure fifteen feet in diameter, the later glaciation had 

 wholly effaced the earlier. 



It thus appears, that at one time, the high hills of Hope, 

 Lincolnville and Camden (the "Camden Hills" of the mariners) 

 formed a great barrier and forced the ice to flow around them 

 both to the east and the west. In doing this they were aided 

 by the topographical features of the country lying to the north 

 of them, where is a great gently rolling plain. During Cham- 

 plain time, an arm of the sea extended up the St. George Val- 

 ley to Searsmont and thence eastward through Belmont and 

 Morrill to Belfast. The average elevation of the country lying 

 between the St. George Valley at Searsmont and the head of 

 Belfast Bay is rather less than 200 feet. Megunticook and its 

 associated peaks rise from 600 to 1000 feet above this plain. 

 When the ice was thickest the flow was directly over these 

 hills, but when the thickness was 1000 feet or less, this would 

 manifestly be impossible. My exploration reached only the 

 northern and western bases of these hills, and a thorough ex- 

 ploration will be needed in order to trace all the deflections of 

 ice-movement which would naturally take place in so uneven 

 a county. A single item of detail will be referred to in clos- 

 ing. As has been stated above, in the southern part of Belmont 

 the flow was southwestward down the St. George Yalley, rather 

 than south or southeastward, though the latter route presents 

 a more favorable slope through a somewhat level valley from 

 one to two miles wide. No lateral moraines are found near 

 the north ends of the valleys which lie between the high hills 

 of Hope, Camden, etc. Apparently, then, these valleys were 

 filled with emba} T ed ice. That is, instead of a series of local 

 glaciers penetrating the hilly region, the valleys were filled with 

 stationary ice, at least it was stationary enough to unite with 

 the hills to form a great barrier which caused the main ice-flow 

 to take place around the eastern and western bases of this sys- 

 tem of hills. It will be proper to add that the direction of the 

 drift-scratches in the vicinity of Belfast bears a significant rela- 

 tion to the glacial gravels of the region. Five systems of these 

 gravels converge to Belfast Bay, all roughly parallel with the 

 glaciation. These deposits are in several respects different 

 from the other Kame or Osar gravels of Maine which I have 

 heretofore described, at least from those of the interior of the 

 State where no evident signs of local ice-movements have been 

 discovered. 



Colorado College, Oct. 29, 1884. 



