Glaciatifm of ^fountains, Etc — Upham. 160 
We may profitably note in successive order the observations 
which have been gathered concerning the striation and drift 
of these mountains, that we may learn which of them stood 
above the ice as landmarks when it attained its greatest depth, 
and in wliat direction the glacial current passed over the sides 
of these and over even the tops of the others. All the lower 
mountains and hills of the New England states, and New 
York, and of Ontario, Quebec and the eastern provinces, were 
enveloped by ice, and bear its typical marks of striation and 
deposits of drift from base to summit. 
The dcscrii)tions of Mt. Katahdin, or Ktaadn, by Jackson, 
Hitchcock, Packard, and Hamlin, give us very ample and 
clear knowledge of its glaciation. According to president M. 
C. Fernald's determinations, this highest mountain of Maine 
rises 5,215 feet above the sea, and tho latitude of its summit is 
45° 53 ' 40 ' '. Its distance north-nor; liwest from the boundary 
of the ice-sheet, which lay probably outside the gulf of Maine, 
was about two hundred and fifty milps. 
Dr. C. T. Jackson's ascent of Katahdin, in the prosecution 
of his labors as state geologist, was accomplished Sept. 23, 
1837, under great difficulties from deficiency of provisions ; 
and the top was reached in a furious northeast snow-storm, 
which made it impossible to obtain detailed observations. He 
determined the elevation approximately by barometer, and 
noted important topographic features, the limit of the forest, 
a few of the plants seen at greater bights, and that the moun- 
tain is composed entirely of granite. At that time the drift 
was little understood, though beginning to attract the attention 
of geologists ; and Dr. Jackson expressed the opinion that it 
had passed over this summit.' 
Twenty-four years later, in August, ISGl, professor C. H. 
Hitchcock, state geologist, ascended Katahdin, accompanied 
by G. L. Goodale, as botanist, and A. S. Packard Jr. as ento- 
mologist. The party passed along the very narrow, sharp ridge, 
running westward with precipitous descent on each side, that 
joins the peak of Pomola with the east and west peaks, the 
latter of which is the highest point of the mountain. ''We 
never imagined," writes professor Hitchcock, ''that in our 
New England mountains, localities could be found so nearly 
' Second annual report on the geology of the public lands of Maine 
and Massachusetts, Au;;usta, 183S. 
