The Portland daily press., 1865-04-01


~ Reading Matter on all Four Pages.
Important Metalliferous Rocks in Mainel.
A few weeks since lecture was delivered
in the city OF st. John, N. B., by Professor
Hind, on some points connected with the Ge-
ology OF New Brunswick, of which Province
Professor Hind has been making prelimina-
ry geological survey during the past summer
The excitement attending the recent elections
In st. John, which were taking place during
the week in which the lecture was delivered,
evidently engaged the attention OF the St.
John press to the exclusion OF all other mat
tiers. for we find no notice of this lecture be-
yond few complimentary paragraphs. An
attentive correspondent, not locally interested
In Provincial politics, or much troubled with
predictions for ants or cons, has supplied us
with a synopsis of portion OF the lecture
which has reference to the mineral wealth of
Maine.
After the return of the ]. A. Poor, Esq,
Hon. Mr.. Johnston, and others of the party
who visited New Brunswick and Canada in
August last, in connection with the Frontier
defence question, and who saw Professor
Hind at Woodstock, N. B., we were made
aware of the existence in New Brunswick
and Maine of a group of rocks called the
"Quebec group" (of Sir William Logan the
great metalliferous rock series of North Amer
lea. Some of the party again met Professor
Hind In Montreal during the month of Sep
TENDER, and in company with him and some
of the officers of the Canada Geological Sur
vey they visited the Geological Museum and
were shown the metals and minerals and spec
linens of the strata characterzing the "Que-
bee Group"
The lecture recently delivered at st. John
referred to the distribution of this group in
New Brunswick, but its extension into Maine
was represented on colored geological map
exhibited by Professor Hind. The lecturer
stated that in Canada and in various States of
the Union, there have been discovered, from
time to time, sedimentary rocks exceedingly,
rich in metalliferous wealth. The shores and
islands of Lake Superior, and the northern
shores of Lake Huron, have long been re-
markable for their enormous deposits Of cop
per. The immense aggregations of ores OF
the same metal in Eastern Tennessee, and in
Lower Canada, are contained in rocks of the
same geological age, though known by differ
emit names. The vast lead deposits of Missou-
ri, associated with zinc, cobalt, nickel and COZ
per, have long been known to belong to the
most ancient sedimentary rocks; and from
similar deposits the gold OF the Appalachian
range, from Virginia to Georgia, has been
originally derived, as well as in Nova Sco-
tia. .s,,44 edH
Sir William Logan was the first to show, in
1850, that all these different metal bearing
rocks, some of which are more than thou
sand miles apart, belonged to one and the
same formation; and because this formation
was well developed near Quebec, and first
studied and understood there, Sir William
named it the "Quebec Group"
Not only is the "Quebec Group" the great
metalliferous formation of North America, but
Its remarkable thickness and completely,
1000 feet, or one mile and a third coupled
with the extraordinary manner in which it
was deposited and brought to the surface, all
unite to make it one of the most interesting
and important formations of the entire geo.
logical series, with, perhaps, the single excep-
ton of the coal measures.
Its iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, anthony,
lead, zinc, chromium, arsenic, titaniam, silver
and gold, which are all known to exist in re-
munerative quantities in this vast rock series,
give it special value which no other possess
as q oil In hx, no
ton with these ores of metals, of serpentines,
roofing states, soapstones, potstones, whet-
stones, magnesites, dolomites and building
stones.
This great formation stretches from Gaspe
to Alabama, then sweeps round through Kan
sas to Lake Superior where it reappears with
out any diminution of volume. Its age is
that of the Chazy, Calclferous, and part of the
Potsdam formations of the New York Sur
vey, and 1t occupies a position near the base of
the Lower Silurian System.
1t has been brought to the surface in Cana
da, New Brunswick, Maine, Nova Scotia and
Newfoundland, by series of undulations, or
parallel folds, originating from lateral pres
sure coming In southeasterly direction, sim
liar to that which has given rise to the Ap-
palachian chain of mountains. These folds
have broken through the upper crust, and ex-
posed the surface Of the Quebec Group. &
One of these great fluctuations crosses the
st. John below Presquile, and taking south
westerly course enters the State of Mainenea
the forks of the Meduxnekeag, pursuing its
course towards the Atlantic Ocean on the
north flank of the granite axis, where it is
represented on @. b. Hitchcock's Map of Me.
as a belt Of mica schist. p8 . ssodfls.l
Prof. Hitchcock also describes in his Re-
port and delineates on his Map, another and
more southerly belt of granite, which has al
SO, according to Professor Hind, brought up
the Quebec Group to the surface, from the
Atlantic coast of Maine nearly to the st. John
river, N. B. t
The occurrence of this great group Of rocks
In the form of two belts within the limits of
the State is most important, for we now know
that the rich anthony deposits Of New Bruins
wick, the vast beds of iron ore at Woodstock,
some fourteen miles from Houlton, the copper
and the manganese, which occur in the same
neighborhood, are all situated in the Quebec
Group, and there is no reason to doubt that
they extend into Maine, and may be found,
together with all the other minerals enumera-
ted above, in these broad belts, extending
from the Atlantic at Mount Desert to the New