Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1889-10-23


Hawkins to reconstruct" pre-adamite
monster from one solitary jawbone or frag-
mental vertebrae, and to tell us with the cool
assurance of an eyewitness bow the ichthyo-
saur and the deinosaur, the pleiosaur and the
enaliosaur swan and tished and fought and
died, and were succeeded by the oreoden and
the glyptodon, the mylodon, the iguanodon
and all the rest of the dons. But II we must
believe such Reconstruction" possible, we
want at least to be dead sure of the rib or the
jawbone OF the fossil footprint, whichever it
is No manufactured fossils, if you please.
If we are to re-translate Moses on the testi-
mony of the rocks, let us not have the track
of an Alabama niger showed on US as the
trail of a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. or the petri.
fled ear of Chicago detective exposed as the
gill flap of an Elasmosaurian. Such, am
sure, though imperfectly expressed, Is the
feeling of the average man; SO let us give
Nova Scotia fossils the go by and deal With
her rocks and minerals.
The tourist with only an elementary knoWl-
edge of geology is at first confused in Nova
Scotia. The whole rock system appears to
be without plan or order: At Halifax, let
us say, he finds himself on ridge Of bowl
ders resting Oh the hard old archoean; few
miles north he finds q sudden and surprising
change; schistose rocks appear; there are in
dications of gold, and from there to the
northwestern shore all is apparent confusion.
There are forests in which heavy powders
stand among the trees, from the size OF the
ordinary ''niggerhead" to that OF country
church, and valleys where the rich black
earth conceals all signs Of rock. One side OF
such valley is crystalline limestone Or slate,
and on tho other softer rock; hero and
there reefs Of splitting rock" come in, ana
the observer is assured that this Is rich
mineral region-it only lacks development"
And as q matter of statistical fact Nova SEQ
tia did last year produce $40, 900 in gold, the
average being 80. 70 for each days work. Of
course, all those locally interested insist that
this is only proof of what can be and ought
to be done: 1.-The mines would yield splendid
returns to capital if they were worked to-
gether and Systematically"
When, however, the observer has crossed
the peninsula at two or three points he finds
that under the apparent disorder there is
charming order; it may best be expressed in
the popular local phrase: The strata are set
on edge" In crossing the province from
southeast to northwest one travels over the
outcrop of all the formations from archSan
granite and fire distilled flint to the latest
drift. To map this out let the reader take a
jelly cake of many layers as representative
of the strata in their original order; then
oend it till it breaks along the center, throw
away the one half and let the other half
nearly perpendicular represent the strata
Of the province. And if it were not so
there would be no Nova Scotia; for If the
strata had remained nearly horizontal the
top would have gone long ago and the ocean
would have rolled hundreds Of feet above
what is now the very crest of the peninsula.
AS it is, the unyielding archaean Of the south
west coast stands ont against the Atlantic at
a slope of perhaps ten or twenty degrees from
the perpendicular-just the slope for most
effective resistance. On this the waves have
hammered and gnawed for uncounted mil
lenniums till ell the soft parts are eaten away;
and all that shore consists OF bold, rocky
headlands and capacious haFbors with narrow
inlets. And some local savants maintain
that tho ocean bnt lately flowed through
some passages across the peninsula which are
now fertile valleys
Going across the peninsula, northwest, one
crosses rapidly all the geologic ages, and the
northwest shore has comparatively moder
ate slope. There the rich pastures incline
gently to the very edge of the bay; at high
tide the green sward actually seems to hang
over into the salt water, and from the deck
of vessel the view is indeed enchanting
Where the hills recede and inclose a low
tract, which high tide would spbmerge, are
the noted dyke lands, The low embankments
shut out the sea, but at stated times the
fioodgates are opened. the salt water spreads
over the land, carrying fertility, as is so
charmingly described in "Evangeline," and
the soil is renewed But if one would see the
section of Nova Scotia where nature has
done her perfect work he must go to Cape
Breton Island. There all possible elements
of interest are combined. The sea has torn
away all the yielding rocks and left coast
of bold snblinity. Only the best protected
coal sears remain, and they are scientifically
perfect. The shore is all deep harbor and
bold headiand. The topography is alternate
ly rugged and picturesque, while the people
are quite as primitive as the land and far
more interesting.
New York. J. H. BEADLE.