Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

270    GAZETTEER    OF    MAINE,

the Gregoire grant. Col. John Black, an Englishman hy birth, who
resided at Ellsworth for many years, was agent for the Bingham heirs.

Hancock County has one mountain chain, and one group of moun-
tains. The line stretching across Mount Desert Island is a continua-
tion of the Schoodic system, as are also Mount Desert Island and the
Porcupines. There are thirteen well-defined peaks on Mount Desert
Island, of which Green Mountain, in Eden, is highest, having an alti-
tude of 1,522 feet above the sea. In Dedham is a mountain group, where
ten mountains are clustered together, from which the town has gained
the name of the “ Switzerland of America.” The other elevations suf-
ficiently high to deserve the name of mountains, are Blue Hill Moun-
tain, in Blue Hill; Bull Hill Mountain, in Eastbrook; Ball and Tunk
Mountain, in Number 10, and Lead Mountain, in Number 28. There
are narrow.defiles of the gorge form at Morgan’s Bay, Surry, McIIeard’s
Landing, in Blue Hill, and near Mason’s Mills, in Orland. There is
much waste land, known as “ Heaths.”

The county has three drainage streams: the Penobscot River on the
west, the Union in the Middle, and Narraguagus on the east. The
area within the county, tributary to each drainage basin, as computed
from Walling’s surveys, is Union River, 516,250 acres ; Penobscot
River, 252,440 acres; Narraguagus River, 113,510 acres. There are
about 300 islands within the county limits, 270 of which are represented
on the county map. The light stations in the county are No. 10, Prospect
Harbor, 5th order ; 11, Winter Harbor, 5th order; 12, Mount Desert,
3d order ; 13, Egg Rock, 4th order ; 14, Baker’s Island, 4tli order ; 15,
Bear Island, 5th order; 16, Bass Harbor, Head, 5th order; 17, Burnt
Coat Harbor, 5th order; 18, Burnt Coat Harbor 4th order ; 19, Egge-
moggin, 5th order; 20, Saddleback Ledge, 5th order; 22, Deer Island
Thoroughfare, 4th order; 23, Eagle Island Point, 4th order; 24,
Pumpkin Island, 5th order ; 33, Dice’s Head, 4th order ; total number,
fifteen.

The rock formation of the county is mainly granite, syenite and
gneiss. The granite formation appearing at the surface at Deer Isle
continues in a curve through Blue Hill, Sedgewick, Brooksville, Orland,
North Ellsworth, Number 8, Franklin, Sullivan, and ends at Mount
Desert. In Eden there is red granite. Most of the granite in Bucks-
port, Orland, Dedham, Waltham and Eastbrook is porphyritic, with
black mica, like those huge bowlders at Ellsworth Falls. Within the
horse-shoe-like circle of granite which curves from Deer Isle to Mount
Desert, the rock is mostly mica schist, or a micaeous slate. The
valley bed of the Union River basin is of this rock. The most abun-
dant variety of this class of rock consists of alternate layers of mica
and quartz. It indicates the presence of gold rather than coal. At
Buck’s Harbor, in Brooksville, Green’s Landing, in Deer Isle, McHeards,
in Blue Hill, at Somes Sound, and in Sullivan and Franklin, the gran-
ite crops out in massive form. Extensive deposits of plastic clay are
found at Castine, Penobscot, Ellsworth and Surry. The whole extent
of the county is what is termed a “ glaciated surface,” the soil of which
is formed chiefly of the simple geological formation “ drift.” The
course of this drift is shown hy the strife, or scratches upon the ledges,
varying from N. 15° W. to N. 15° E. Verd Antique, or green marble,
is found at Deer Me. Milk-white marble, such as is used for statuary,
is said to occur in Eden and Mount Desert.