BORDERING ON BIG FORK RIVE R. 



321 



occasional drift-hills. The bottom-lands are generally from six to ten feet above 

 the usual level of the river, but are subject to overflows in times of high water. 

 Judging from marks left on the trees, the bottoms are then flooded to the depth of 

 three or four feet. The timber is oak, ash, aspen-poplar, bass-wood, soft maple, elm, 

 and some black haw, with a profuse growth of grape and hop-vines. A few large 

 white and yellow pines were seen on some of the hills, and occasionally some cedar. 



The first rock met with after leaving the vicinity of the falls was greenstone 

 (No. 561), bearing east by north and west by south. In some places, where it 

 inclined to a slaty structure, the dip was west by south, nearly vertical. About 

 live miles beyond this, we came to an exposure of mica slate (No. 502) ; and two 

 miles further brought us to the " Little Falls." The fall at this place is six feet. 

 The rock is greenstone (Nos. 563 and 564), with thin seams of quartz traversing 

 it. There is about twelve feet of rock exposed, bearing east-northeast and west- 

 southwest. Near the upper part of the fall are some thin seams of a talcose rock. 



About two miles above "Little Falls," a ridge of gneiss (No. 565), crosses the 

 river, bearing east and west. It is the highest ridge of rocks seen on this route, 

 and was estimated to be sixty feet high. A short distance above this is another 

 ridge, about thirty feet in height, but the character of the rock was not ascertained. 

 Eight miles above this, is a rock-island in the river (No. 566), about twenty-five 

 feet in diameter, and rising two feet above the water, which was unusually deep at 

 this place, the men being unable to touch bottom with their setting-poles. 



Three miles above the island, hornblende slate (No. 567), again makes its appear- 

 ance in the river, in a small island, twenty by thirty feet in diameter. Two miles 

 beyond this is an exposure of porphyritic greenstone (No. 568). 



The clay-beds still show themselves in the river banks ; and the bottom lands 

 begin to bear rich meadows. The rice plant is also frequently seen in the margins 

 of the stream. Back of the meadows are low, rounded hills, some of them covered 

 with grass, and others with cypress and small poplar. Since leaving " Big Fork 

 Falls," the principal timber has been oak, birch, aspen, poplar, fir, cypress, and a 

 few large white and yellow pines. Among the drift deposits large fragments of 

 drab-coloured limestone were frequently met with. 



Three miles beyond the last exposure of rock noted, greenstone (No. 569) makes 

 its appearance, and is seen in the river-bed for the distance of three hundred yards ; 

 and about five miles further, greenstone (No. 570) again emerges from under the 

 drift, bearing north of east and south of west. From the bearing of these last two 

 exposures, and the course of the river, which runs in the line of strike, I consider 

 them to belong to the same ridge. Six miles higher up the river is a large exposure 

 of syenite (Nos. 571 and 572), bearing north of east and south of west. This was 

 the last rock seen on this river, and is the one on which the drift- hills of the 

 dividing ridge are based. 



The river, which, up to this point has been growing narrower for a long distance, 

 is not over ten or fifteen yards in width, at the last granitic exposure. It now 

 becomes wide, and is filled with the rice plant. Five miles above this rapid, we 

 came to another, made by boulders. It is the last one met with in ascending Big 

 Fork River, and we may now be said to have attained the summit-level between 



