MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 297 



Topography and Soil. 



The most marked topographic features of Cecil county are the 

 broad necks of land separated by tidal rivers (Plate XXII). These 

 necks are found in the southern part of the county and often bear 

 the name of the adjacent river. The principal necks, beginning at 

 the south, are, Sassafras, Middle, Town Point, Back Creek, and Elk. 

 Sassafras and Elk are the largest necks, being 12 miles long. The 

 greatest width of Sassafras Neck is seven miles, and of Elk, five. 



With the exception of Elk Neck, these divisions are level or roll- 

 ing areas of clayey or sandy loam, as shown in Plate XXII, Eig. 2. 

 Their general elevation above tide-water is never more than 80 feet. 

 They slope gradually to the bay-shore or end abruptly there in steep 

 cliffs. 



Elk Neck differs from the other necks in having a ridge or back- 

 bone of high land for the greater part of its length (Plate XXII, 

 Eig. 1). The high points of this ridge reach an elevation of 300 

 feet. Its soil, too, varies with its topography, being poor, rocky, or 

 of a gravelly nature, especially in the north. The slopes along the 

 bay-shore are good farming lands, though hardly equalling in fer- 

 tility the deep soils of the eastern necks. 



The northern and main portion of the county reaches an elevation 

 of 400 feet for the greater part of its area. The lower half is 

 broken and hilly, with poor gravel soils similar to those of Elk Neck. 

 North of this is a belt of good soil from three to five miles wide ex- 

 tending across the county from east to west. This section is rolling, 

 with its lowest depressions along the streams, and ends abruptly to 

 the west in steep cliffs along the Susquehanna river. 



Drainage. 



Chesapeake Bay receives the entire drainage of the county through 

 numerous sluggish streams in the south and through swift-flowing, 

 shallow creeks (Plate XXIII, Eig. 2) in the north. The creeks are 

 from 30 to 100 feet in width and usually carry less than two feet of 

 water. 



