Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1922-03-29
THE LAKE BUILDERS.
How New England Lakes We're
Formed by Giant Glacier Many
Years Ago.

how New England Lakes Were
Formed by Giant Glacier Many
Years Ago.
From geological standpoint, the
New England states offer an excep-
tionally interesting study, and the
story of how the wonderful lakes,
hills, valleys and islands happened
to come into existence is one of the
most interesting and romantic that
can be told.
Ages ago the great masses of rock
in what is now New England were
subjected to an immense pressure.
and the result was that in many
places the land was forced high into
the air, forming mighty mountains,
with deep valleys between Then
came heavy rains, with high winds
and extreme changes in the tempera-
ture, which caused the freezing of
the water in the cracks of the rocks.
AS water always expands when
frozen, SO it did in this case, and the
mountain tops especially the high
ones were very much broken up with
the result that the large, loose
boulders which .one sees to-day on
the submits of such peaks as Wash
ington, in the White Mountains, and
others, were formed
The temperature went up and then
down, first freezing the water into
ice, and then becoming warm
enough to melt the ice. Soon, little
streams began to form and run down
the mountain sides, cutting their
valleys deeper and deeper as the cen
turtles went by. The result of all
fpn
crumble off the tops of the high
mountains until these were much
lower in altitude, and to- reduce the
low mountains to the elevation of
hills.
COVERED WHITE MOUNTAINS.
Then a strange event occurred.
Away up in the Hudson Bay country
an immense ice sheet had formed,
with it's center midway between the
bay and the Atlantic ocean. For
hundred of years in that country
more snow had fallen in winter than
had melted in summer, and thus a
great snow bank had developed the
bottom of which had become heavy
ice. In course of time this enormous
mass began to move south, gathering
rocks and soil in it's progress, and as
it advanced it wore off the tops of
mountains and deepened and wild
ened the existing valleys.
When this enormous ice sheet
reached New England it was so high
that it covered even the tallest
mountains like Washington, and
great boulders still to be found up
on this height, as well as hundreds
of others in Maine and New Hamp-
shire, were left there by the glacial
ice. Other mountains also show
deep scratches made by the ice as it
passed over their rocky surfaces.
NANTUCKET AND MARTHA'S
VINEYARD.
This immense glacier advanced
until it's southern point extended in
to the Atlantic ocean in the vicinity
of the islands of Nantucket and
Martha's Vineyard. These are be-
lieved to have been only partly COW
cred by the great field of ice. About
half of Long Island, New York, was
also buried beneath this frozen sheet
and the marks may still be seen
there.
Then for some reason the climate
began to grow warmer, and the ice
slowly melted away. The glacier did
not retreat north, but simply disap-
peared as would a snow ball or
cake Of ice on a hot summers day,
leaving everything that it contained
on the ground. In this way giant
stones which had been picked up
away in the north and brought along
by the frozen sheet were dropped in
Maine and other places far to the
south.
Thousands of these great boulders
may be seen to-day in almost any
section of New England, some of
them weighing tons. There are
others so small that they may be
picked up and carried about. The
latter are the famous rocks which
the farmers have collected from
their fields and piled into stone walls
about their property. In other
places hundreds and thousands of
square miles were covered with loose
sand and gravel deposited promiscu-
ously through the state by the
glacier. This also explains why New
England has so many boulders and
why so much of the soil is composed
of sand and gravel.
WONDERFUL LAKES.
The melting of the glacier caused
the formation of Names wonderful
lakes, nearly l 900 in number. These
were originally rivers, but the de-
post left by the ice sheet stopped
their flow and the water backed up
forming these great and small inland
seas. The rivers were forced to find
new channels in their courses to the
ocean, and many of them were
obliged almost to flow over noun
tains in order to reach their destina-
ton. That is why there are
throughout northern New England
so many wonderful waterfalls and
cascades, in numerous instances
leaping from the tops of hills hum
dreds of feet in the air.
Then there were hard rock and