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"s 'ii- ■■ ,'*\ ■•'., '■'''-''•^ ■■■■' I ■rim V ■ •■ %-'^ f /. /U/^^^y^^ 'Ad. ^/fi, /; r / DISCOVERY OF THE Preglacial Outlet of the Basin of Lake Erie INTO THAT OF LAKE ONTARIO; WITH Notes on the Origm of our Lower Great Lakes. BY y. W. SPENCER, B.A.Sc, Ph.D., RG.S, King's College, ll'lndsor, N. S. {Readbejort the American Philosophical Society, March i8, xS8i.) ■w " "T^rrT'J*^ ^^ • "'"* .:■ V ■''< ■>;' Z 8poiiiM!r.] 300 LMuruh 18. I i Discovery of the I'reglacial Outlet of the Basin of Lake Erie into that of Lake Ontario; with Notes on the Origin of our Lower Great Lakes. By J. W. Spencer, B. A. Sc, Ph.D., F.O.8., King's College, Windsor, N. 8. (Bead before the American Philosophical Society, March 18, 1881.) SUMMAKY. The object of this paper is to bring before the scientific world the follow- ing observations, bearing on the Pioglacial Drainage and origin of our Great Lake Basins : 1. The Niagara escarpment, after skirling the southern shores of Lake Ontario, bends at nearly right angles in the neighborhood of Hamilton, at the western end of the lake ; thence the trend is northward to Lake Huron, At the extreme western end of the lake thi;» enciirpment (at a height of about 500 feet) encloses a valley gradually narrowing to four miles, at the meridian of the western part of the city of Hamilton, where it suddenly closes to a width of a little more than two miles, to form the eastern end of the Dundas valley (proper). This valley lias its two sides nearly paral- lel, and is bounded by vertical escarpments, which are capped with a great thickness of Niagara limestone, but having the lower beds of the slopes composed of Medina shales. On its northern side the escarpment extends for six miles to Copetown ; but westward of this village it is covered with ** tni.1 .'JOl fMppncor. P 4^ %» drift, but it is not absent. On its soviliiGrn side tbc steep slopes extend tor less than four ntiles to Ancaster, where they abruptly end in a great de- posit of drift, which there fills the valley to near lis summit, but which le partly re-excavated by the modern streams, forniinsf gorges from two to three hundred feet deep. To the north-eastward of Ancaster these gorges are cut down through the drift to nearly the present lake level. Westward of Ancaster, a basin occupying a hundred sriuare miles, where the drift is found tc a great depth, forms the western extension of the Dundas valley. With the north-western and western i^rtions of this drift- fllled area tho upper portion of the Grand river and Neith's creek were formerly connected. The Grand river, from Brantford to Seneca, runs near the southern boundary of this basin, then it enters its old valley, which extends from Seneca to Cayuga, with a breadth of two miUs, and a depth, in modern times, of seventy-five feet, having its bed but a few feet above the surface of Lake Erie. Near Cayuga, the deepest portion of the river- bed is below the level of Lake Erie. 2. The Dundas valley and the country westward form a portion of a great river valley, filled with drift. Along and near its present southern margin this drift has been penetrated to 227 feet below the surface of Lake Ontario, thus producing a canon with a lateral depth of 743 feet, but with a computed depth, in the middle of its course, of about 1000 feet. 3. The Grand river, at four miles south of Gait, has, since the Ice Age, left its ancient bed, which formerly connected with that of the Dundas valley, as did also Neith's creek, at Paris. 4. Lake Erie emptied by a buried channel a few miles westward of the present mouth of the Grand river, and flowed for half a dozen miles to near Cayuga, where it entered the present valley, and continued this channel (reversed) to a place at a short distance westward of Seneca, whence it turned into the basin referred to above, receiving the upper waters of the Grand river and Neith's creek as tributaries, and then emptied into Lake Ontario by the Dundas valley. This channel was also deep enough to drain Lake Huron. 5. Throughout nearly the whole length of Lake Ontario, and at no great distance from its southern shore, there is a submerged escarpment (of the Hudson River Formation) which, in magnitude. Is comparable with the Niagara escarpment itself, now skirting the lake shore. It was along the foot of this escarpment that the river from the Dundas valley flowed (giving it the present form) to eastward of or near to Oswego, receiving many streams along its course. 5. The western portion of the Lake Erie basin, the south-western coun- ties of Ontario, and the southern portion of the basin of Lake Huron formed one Preglacial plane, which is now covered with drift or water (or with both) to a depth varying from fifty to one hundred feet, excepting in channels where the filling by drift is very great. A deep channel draining Lake Huron extended through this region, leaving the present lake near the Au Sable river, and entering the Erie basin between Port Stanley and spcncer.J 302 ( Mnroli IK. Vienna, at a depth near its known margin of 'JOO feet, but at a probable depth in the centre sufflcionlly great to drain Liiite Huron. «, The Pregliicial valleys (now hurioii) of Oiiio and Pennsylvania— for example ; tin- Juyahoga, Mahoning (reversed), and Alli'viheny (di'Ucnti'd), formed trihularicrt to the great river (lowing tiirough the Erie basin and the Dundiis valley. 7. Tilt bays and inlets north of Lake Huron arc true fiords in character, and are of aciiieoim origin. 8. The Great Lakes owe their existence to sub aerial and fluviatile agen- cies, being old valleys of erosion of great age, but with their outlets closed by drift. Glaciers did not excavate tlie lakes and had no important action in bringing about the present tojwgraphy of the basins. 9. The old outlet of the Niagara river, by the valley of St. David's, was probably an interg'.acial channel. L Introduction. Whilst residing in Hamilton, Ontario (1877-80), a portion of my time ■was devoted to studying the geology of the neighborhood. At first it began in connection with Lieut. Col. Grant, H. P., Sixteenth Regiment, and some other gentlemen, in making collections of fossils ; as this locality is one of the best for obtaining Niagara Fossils (and also tl-we of the Hud- son River Formation from the drift pebbles in the beuciies) In Canada. In 1874, the pre9 3nt writer published in the Canadian Naturalint a sketch of the local geology. In 1878, he laid the plan of collecting the Information necessary ' r Teparing an exhaustive paper on the Geology of tiie region about the V,,-.tern End of Lake Ontario. When systematic work was commenced, the information gained required so much time for Its study that it has long delayed the publication. A large number of new species of Niagara fossils (twenty-nine of the Graptolite family alone) were ob- tained. The present state of the work is, that a paper on the PalaM)zolc Geology, and another on the Palceontology, containing descriptions of many new fossil species, are ready for publication. A third portion, on the Surface Geology, is under way ; and the investigations on this subject have, step by step, carried the writer outside of his original field, — having as- sumed an importance never anticipated ; and have resulted in this advance notice of a few of the most striking facts concerning the origin of oi:f great lakes. The completion of the work will be further delayed until oppor- tunity will have been afforded to study some questionable points, espe- cially such as relate to the drift deposits of the region, and others hav- ing a broader bearing on the physical geography of the lake regions in Pre glacial times. In the present paper, all discussion relating to the vexed glacial hypothe- sis is scrupulously avoided, except those questions bearing on a true expla- nation of the origin of our great lakes. In tlie study of the surface geology, the first great question that pre- sented itself was, " What is the origin of my native valle}', DundasV" The T «t T IMKI. 303 {Spcncor. i* i possibility of Luko Erie tlowing down throu/l, he Diindns valley (thouph If suggt'sU'd itself) did not seem prohiihle, owing to Iholiigii lunds between the two greet lakes. However, in the Canadian NaluralUt, 1874, I re- ferred to it as having been produced by a "mighty viver." Thl:; was like one of those gratiiit(»u8 hypothosea that are rommon, now-adays, for attributing to a continental ice sheet most of tlie causes of the present phys- ical features of the continent, which do not readily explain themselves. Hub- Eoquently, Mr. George J. Ilinde refers to it as liaving l)een scooped out by a glacier. This assertion will be found in the sequel to be a perfectly un- lenat)Ie hypothesis. Certainly, the origin of the valley was obscure, yet it showed that the excavation of a rdwonof such magnitude required a pro- portionately great agent; and no present stream would account for even a small portion of the excavation. However, In this paper it will be se^m that its existence was unciuestionably occasioned by the action of a mighty river, as originally oUggested. This outlet of Lake Erie also perfectly ac- cords with, and accounts for the preglacial drainage of Pennsylvania, as made known at ttie close of last year by Mr. Carll, of the Geo'ogical Sur- vey "that State. II. TorOOHAPHY OF THE REGION ABOUT THE WESTERN EnD O" LakE Ontarfo, The Niagara E»carpment.— Tim range of hills commences its course in Central New York, and extends westward, at no great distance south of Lak(! Ontario. It enters Canada at Queenston Heights, and thence its trend is to the western end of the lake, wlierc, near Hamilton, it turns northward and extends to Cabot's head and Maintoulin island . Everywhere in Canada, south of Lake Ontario, it has an abrupt fall looking towards the nortliward ; but at Thonld and other places to the eastward its bow is more broken than at Grimsby, and westward. At Hamilton, the brow of the escarpment varies from 388 to 398 feet above Lake Ontario.* About five miles east of Ham- ilton, the escarpment makes an abrupt bend enclosing a triangular valley, down which Rosse.uix creek, and otlier streams now flow. This valley is about two miles wide at its mouth, and has a length of about the same distance. About five miles westward of Hamilton, the Niagara escarpment be- comes covered with the drift deposits of a l)roken country, or rather ends abruptly in the diiftof the region. Above the range, the country gi-aduall / rises to the divide between Lake Ontario and the Grand river, or Lake Erie, without any conspicuous features. South-eastward of Hamilton, at a point about five miles from the brow of the escarpment, where the Ham- * Prof. Danu places the mean level of Lake Ontario at 23.'5.ri feet above ocean- level ; ihe Canadian OeolojjlciU Survey, at 2S2 feet; the New York Central Raihoad, lit 24!».8I; the (ieolosieal Survey of Pennsylvania, takes 5% feet as the mean of the results of tleterminlnK the level of Lake Erie ; t'le Welland canal levels show Lake Erie as being ;i2«.75 foot higher than Lake Ontario; and the llanillton and North Western Kailway a dlft'erence of A'lH feet, both of these last routes being short lines with direct courses. Therefore the height of Lake Ontario should be about 24.5 feet above the sea. Spencer. | 304 [March 18, ilton and North Western Railway reaches the summit, the altitude above Lake Ontario is 4!)3 feet. At Carpenter's quarry, two miles southward of the "mountain" brow, at the head of James street, tlie altiiude reaches 4R5 feet : and near Ancaster the summit is HiO feet above Lake Ontario. From eastward of Grimsby (for twenty miles) to near Ancaster, the es- carpment presents an abrupt face from 150 to 250 feet below the summit (having a moderate amount of talus, at the base), thence it extends by a more or less steep series of slopes to the plane, which gradually inclines (sometimes by a succession of terraces), to the lake margin. On the northern side of the town of Dundas, the abrupt fa( o of the es- carpment looks southward, and extends four or five miles westward, until tlie exposure becomes covered by the drift deposits near Copetown station, similar to the termination at Ancas^ter on the, south side of the Dundas valley, but not by an abrupt ending as at the latter locality. About two miles east of the G. W. Railway station, at Dundas, the trend of the range bends more to tiie nortiiward, and from this point thei-e is a marked differ- ence in the configuration of the country below tb ; summit. The range, after extending beyond Waierdown, turns still more to the northward and passes near Milton, and Limehouse station (on the G. T. Railway), and thence extends to Georgian bay. Tlie height of Copetown above the lake is 503 feet. On the west side of Glen Spencer it is 409 feet, and east- war' o: the same gorge the highest point is 520 feet (Niagara limestone coming within four feet of the surface). At Waterdown the altitude is over 500 feet (?) and at Limehouse the brow of the range (though only the lower beds of the Niagara limestones occur) is 810 feet. The features of the surface of the country above the highlands north of Dundas are much more varied than south of the Dundas valley. As the trend of the es- carpment turns northward around the end of the lake, the face of the slope looks towards the eastward. But the country does not present the 6,teep declivities as exhibited along the southern side of Lake Ontario ; for the vertical face is usually less than 100 feet, and the country between it and the water has a more uniform pitch. Basin of Lake Ontario. As Is well known. Lake Ontario consists of a broad, shallow (considering its size) basin, excavated on the southern niargiu -mt of the Medina shales, and having its southern shores from one to several miles from the foot of the Niagara escarpment. The Medina shales fonii the western margin (where not covered with drift) to a point near Oakville. From this town to a point some distance eastward of Torcmto, the hard rocks are made up of the different beds of Hudson River Epoch ; while the soft Utica shales occupies the middle portion, and the Trenton limestones the portion of the Province towards the eastern end of the lake. The country at the western end of the lake consists of slopes gently rising to the foot of the Niagara escarpment, noticed before. Sometimes this ele- vation is by teriacti, and again by inclines so gentle, as between the foot of the escarpment at Limehouse (on the G. T. Railway) and the lake, where ^ ^1* ^ 1881.] 305 [Spencer^ ff 1<* tlV the difference of altitude above the water is more than 700 feet, without any very conspicuous features. At the western end of the lake, the two shores converge at an acute angle. At about five miles from the apex of this angle is the low Burling- ton beach, thrown across the waters in a slightly curved line, which forms the western end of the open lake. Burlington lake, thus formed, is connected with the oi^en lake by a canal of the same name, made where there was a former shallow opening between the waters within and without the beach. This beach is made up of sand and pebbles (mostly of Hudson River Age), and is more than four miles long, but nowhere is it half a mile wide. No mean depth of Lake Ontario can be fairly stated. For geological pur- poses it has no mean depth, because it is simply a long channel with the adjacent low lands covered by back-water. West of the meridian of the Niagara river the lake is evidently filled with more silt then eastward, as we find that the bottom slopes more gradually towards the centre, where the mean depth (increasing from the westward) of the channel may be fairly placed at 400 feet below the pres- ent surface of the waters. In this section of the lake, the average slope from both shores may be stated at 30 feet in a mile. At a short distance east of the 78th meridian, the character of the late bottom changes in a most conspicuous manner. Here we find a deeper channel which extends for more than ninety miles, having an average depth of about 90 fathoms or 540 feet, with, in some places, a trough of about 600 feet depth, gener- ally near the southern margin of the 90-fathom channel. Here and there is a deeper sounding — the deepest being 123 fathoms or 738 feet. The long channel, surrounded by the 90-fathom contour line, is situated at a mean distance of not less than twenty miles from the Canadian shore, whilst its southern side approaches in some places to within six miles of the Amer- ican shore, with which it is parallel. This 90-fathom channel varies from three to twelve mil'^ > in width. Its broadest and deepest portion is soutJi of the Canadian peninsula of Prince Edwards' County. The mean slope of the lake bottom, from the ('anixdian shore to this deep channel just pointed out, may be placed at less than twenty-five feet in a mile, with variations from twenty to thirty feet in that distance. The mean slope from the New York shore line to the 90-fathom channel may be placed at sixty feet in a mile, but varying generally from fifty to ninety feet. On examination we find that the greater portion of this slope belongs to a belt which descends much more rapklly than the off-shore depression. That the southern side of Lake Ontario has a submerged series of escarp- ments or one moderately steep and of great dimensions, is manifest when we come to study tin' soui.dings. In fact, if the bed of Lake Ontario were lifted out of the water, this submerged escarpment would be more con- spicuous than the greater portion of the present one, known by the name of the Niagara. In many places the descent from the table-land above the Niagara ehcarpmeul is no more precipitous than the slopes of the sub- Spencer.] 306 [March 18, merged Cambro-Silurian (Hudson River, in part, if not throughout the entire length) rocks, with its sloping summit, in part crowned by a gently sloping surface of Medina shales. Nearly north of the mouth of the Gen- esee river we find that within a single mile the soundings vary from forty- three to seventy-eight fathoms (between contour lines). This gives a sud- den descent in one mile of 210 feet. As the soundings are not taken con- tinuously to show to the contrary, most of the change of levels may be within a few hundred yards. In the region of these soundings the deepest water outside of the 78- fathom line is 84 fathoms, while from the shore to the 43-fathom sounding tlie least distance is four and a half miles, thus giving the greatest mean slope of the lake bottom at sixty feet in a mile, before the escarpment is reached. An excellent series of soundings can be studied in a line nearly north- ward from Pultneyville, N. Y. : Distance from Pultneyville Depth of Sounding. Slope from previous Sounding. 0.5 miles. 42 feet. 1.0 72 60 feet per mile. 1.75 126 72 4.125 246 50 5.0 " "1 Face of the " /escarpment. f372 " } 144 6.0 \583 210 7.0 624 42 10.0 642 6 12.0 738 48 Section ofLakeOnt€trix> from Bnnt Peter Light,Ontano, toPubwynUe.TTK PtPeter. J)istanne ,j9mUer. JPai/uryrtUt From this table it will be seen that in a distance of less than two miles the slope of the escarpment is the difference between 582 and 246 feet, or 336 feet as actually recorded. At Hamilton, the Niagara escarpment is only 388 feet above the lake, which is two miles distant, whilst the present slope at Thorold is spread over nearly twice that distance. That this escarp- ment is not local is easily seen. For a distance of over forty miles, from near Oswego westward, it plunges down 300 feet or more in a breadth varying from less than two to three miles. Eastward and westward of this portion of tlic lake this submerged escarpment can be traced for nearly 4 1.S81.I 307 [Spencer. one hundred miles, but witli the portion deeper tlian tlie 70-fathom con- tour having more gradual soundings, as the base of the hills either origi- nally had a more gradual slope, or the lake in its western extension has subsequently been filled with more silt. Although we have not soundings made very close together, yet the admirable work of the United States Lake Survey is more than sufficient to prove the existing of a continuous escarpment that has an important bear- ing on the Preglacial geography of the region, and on the explanation of the orig'n of the Great Lakes themselves. The soundings do not show a conspicuous escarpment after passing west- ward of the meridian of Niagara river, partly on account of the sediments filling this portion of the lake, and partly because the lake in all proba- bility never had its channel excavated to so great a depth as farther east- ward. Attention must be called to the fact that the depth of the Niagara river is 12 fathoms near its mouth, but that the lake around the outlet of the river has not a depth exceeding four fathoms with a rocky bottom. Another escarpment at the level of Lake Ontario, now buried, was dis- covered by the engineers of the enlargement of the Welland canal, accord- ing to Prof. Claypole (Can. Nat. Vol. ix, No. 4). When constructing. No. 1 lock, at Port Dalhousie, it vas found that at its northern end, there was an absence of hard rock which formed the foundation of its southern end. Hods more than 40 feet long were pushed into the slimy earth without meeting any hard rock bottom. This discovery will be noticed in the sequel. * Basin of Lake Erie. The exceedingly shallow basin of Lake Erie has its bottom as near a level plane as any terrestrial tract could be. Its mean depth, or even maxima and minima depths from its western end for more than 150 miles, scarcely varies from 13 or 13 fathoms for the greater por- tion of its width. The eastern 20 miles has also a bed no deeper than the western portion. Between these two portions of the lake, the hydrography shows an area with twice this depth (the deepest sounding being 35 fathoms). This deepest portion skirts Long Point (the extremity, a modern peninsula of lacustrine origin), and has a some- what transverse course. An area of less than 40 miles long has a depth of more than 20 fathoms. The deeper channel seems to turn around Long Point, and take a course towards Haldeniand cwunty, in our Canadian Province, somewhere west of Maitland. The outlet of the lake, in the di- rection of the Niagara river, has a rocky bottom (Coniferous limestone). The study of this lake at first appears less practicable than that of Ontario, but, when its former outlet and its tributary rivers are described, the writer trusts that he will have made some observations, that may help to clear the darkness that hangs about the history of our interesting lake region, before the advent of the Ice Age. The Dundas Valley and adjacent Canons. We may consider that the * See Report of Cliief Engineer of ( 'anadlun Canals, I8H0. I'UOC. AMEU. PHILOS. 80C. XIX. 108. 2m. PUINTED M.\nCH 30, 1881. Spencer.] 808 [Mfvrch 18, Dundas valley begins at the " bluff" east of the Hamilton reservoir, and extends westward, including the location of the city of Hamilton and the Burlington bay, at least its western portion. With this definition, the width at the Burlington heights (an old lake terrace 108 feet above present level of the water) would be less tiian tive miles. At a mile and half westward of the heights, the valley suddenly becomes narrowed (equally on both sides of its axis of direction, by llie Niagara escarpment making two equal concave bends, on each side of the valley, whence the straight upper portion extends, the whole resembling the outline of a thistle and its stem;, from which place it extends six miles westward to Copetown, on the northern side ; and three and a half to Ancaster, on its southern side. The breadth between the limestone walls of this valley varies somewhat from two to two and a half miles The summit angles of the limestone walls on both sides are decidedly sharp. Dundas town is situated in this valley, its centre having a height of about 70 feet abave Lake Ontario, but its sides rise in terraces or abrupt hills ; and on ascending the valley, we find that between the escarpments are great ranges of parallel hills separated by deep gorges or glens, excavated in the drift by modern stream This rugged character continues until the summit of the Post Pliocene ridges have a height equal to that of the es- cirpment. As the gorges ascend towards the westward, they become smaller, until at some distance soutli-west of Copetown and Ancaster, tlie divide of the present system of drainage is reached. Some of these streams have cut through the drift, so that they have only an altitude above the lake (which is seven miles distant) of 240 feet, while the tops of the ridges im- mediately in the neighborhood are not much less than 400 feet high, though they themselves have been removed to a depth of about another hundred feet, for the drift has filled the upper portion of the valley to the height of 500 feet above Lake Ontario. Even to the very sources of the streams, the country resembles the rivers of our great North Western Territories (or those of the Western States), cutting their way through a deep drift at high altitudes, which is not underlaid by harder r< 's, showing deep valleys rapidly increasing in size and depth, as they are cleaning out the soft material, and hurrying down to lower levels — a strong contrast to the fea- tures in most other portions of our Province. On the south side of the Dundas valley, a few unimportant streams, mostly diy in summer, have worn back the limestone escarpment, over which they flow, to distances varying from a few yards to a few hundred, making glens at whose head in spring time some picturesque cascades can be seen. At Mount Alb'on, six miles east of Hamilton, there are two of these larger gorges, whose waters, after passing over picturesque fills, 70 feet high, and through glens several hundred yards in length, empty into the triiuigular valley noticed before. On the north side of the Dundas valley, besides small gorges with their streams comparable to those on the south side, there are several of much larger dimensions ; for example, that at Waterdown, six miles north of Hamilton. Still larger is Glen Spencer wiiich has a camn half r 1881.) 309 [Spencer. V a mile long, SOO feet deep and between 200 and 300 yards wide at its mouth. At the head of this is Spencer Falls, U') feet high, and joining it laterally tiiere is another canon, with a considerable stream flowing from Webster's Falls, which, however, is of less height tiian the other. The waters feed- ing their streams come from northward of the escarpment, and belong to a system of drainage difierent from those streams which flow down through the drift of the Dundas valley, and are of much greater length. At the foot of Spencer Falls,the waters strike the upper portion of the Clinton shaly beds. Tlie Falls now are two feet deeper than twenty years ago. Yet the stream is small, and makes a pond below in the soft shales. Bat this difference in height does not represent the rate of vvearing or recession of the precipice. Tiiat the stream is much smaller than formerly is plainly to be seen, for at present it has cut a narrow channel, fnmi ten to fifteen yards in width, above the falls, and from four to six feet deep, on one side of the more ancient valley, which is about 50 yards wide and 30 feet deep, excavated in the Niagara dolomites. The surfaces of the escarpment in both sides of Glens Spencer and Weljster present a i)eculiar aspect. That on the north-eastern side has a maximum height of 520 feet above the lake. On the same side, a secti(m made longitudinally shows several broad shallow glens nearly a hundred feet deep crossing it and entering Glen Spencer. The surface of the rocks is glaciated, but not parallel with the direction of the channels. On the south-western side of the same canon, we find that a portion of the thin beds of Upper Niagara limestone have been removed. This ab- sence is not general, for it soon regains its average height of about 500 feet. Dundas Marsh. The eastern end of the Dundas valley contains a large swamp, nearly three miles long, with a breadth of about three-fourths of a mile, known in the early settlement of the country by the name of Coote's Paradise. This marsh was formerly connected by a small rivulet with Burlington bay. but this was subsequently closed by the G. W. Ra vvay, when the cutting of Desjardin's canal through Burlington heights was completed. Into this marsh all the drainage of the Dundas valley is deposited, causing it to fill up at the rate of one-tenth of a foot per annum. B'U-ltngton Heights. Across the eastern end of the Dundas swamp and some of its branches, are the Burlington Heights, varying from a few hundred yards to nearly a quarter of a mile in width, and over 100 feet in height, which have been an old beach, at a time when the lake level was at the same eleva- tion, for we find that a lake beach extends along the flanks of the escarp- ment, both eastward and northward for a considerable distance at the same level. This is mentioned here as forming a most conspicuous terrace, and as changing the physical character of the western extremity of Bur- lington bay, and the ontlet of the Dundas valley. Various terraces and beaches are found, both at lower levels, and also fragments at higher alti- tudes, or along the side of the "mountain," until some attain a height of 500 feet above Lake Ontario. Hpencer.] 310 [March 18, Sx The Grand River Valley. The Grand river of Ontario rises in the County of Gray, not more than twenty-five miles from Georgian bay. Thence it flows southward, and at Elora the river assumes a conspicuous feature. Here it cuts througii tlie Guelph Dolomites to a depth of about 80 feet and forms a canon about 100 feet in width with vertical walls. At this place it is joined by a rivulet from the west, which has formed a tributary canon similar to that of the Grand river itself. The country in this region is so flat that it appears as a level plane. Fartlier southward the river winds over a broader bed, and at Gait the present river valley occupies a portion of a broad depression in a country indicating a former and much more extensive valley. In fact, the old river valley existed in Preglacial times, for the present stream has re-excavated only a part of its old bed at Gait, leaving on the flanks of one of its banks (both of which are) composed of Guelph Dolomites, a deposit of Post Ter- tiary drift, in the form of a bed of large rounded boulders mostly of Lau- rentian gneisses. The country for four miles south of Gait is of similar character, forming a broad valley, in which the present river flows. At this distance from Gait the river takes a turn to the south-westward ; but at the same place, the old valley appears to pass in a nearly direct line with the course of the present bed (before the modern turn is made to the west- ward). As this portion of the valley now entered, has not to any extent been cleaned out by modern streams, it forms a broad shallow depression in the country extending for a few miles in width. Yet, it is often occu- pied with hills composed of stratified coarse gravel belonging to that belt, which extends from Owen Sound to the County of Brent, and called by the Canadian Geological Survey "Artemesia gravel." It is through a portion of this valley that the Fairchild's creek flows. Many streams derive their supplies of water from the Beverly swamps, which also feed the Lindsay creek, that empties over Webster falls and flows down Glen Spencer through the Dundas valley to Lake Ontario. The G. W. Railway, at four miles south of Gait, enters this valley and continues in it or its branches as far as Harrisburg, thougli the deeper de- pression is near St. George (a short distance west of Harrisburg). After leaving what I consider its more ancient bed, south of Gait (unless the country between the present bed and Fairchild's creek was an island), the Grand river flows southward to Paris and Brantford, having a deep, broad valley. At the latter place the valley may fairly be placed at a few miles in width, while further to the eastward the river winds in an old course, which had formerly a width of over four miles (see map). In the region of Brantford the valley is bounded by a somewhat elevated plateau. At Paris, Neith's creek enters the Grand riv.erfrom the west, and has a val- ley almost comparable in size witli that of the latter at this town. At Paris, the Grand river cuts througii the plaster-bearing Onondaga forma- tion. Similar rocks appear at various places along the river, at places where the river has cleaned out a portion of one side of lis ancient valley. At the Great Western Railway crossing, east of Paris, the bed of tlie 1881.] 311 [Spencer. ^ river has an altitude of 493 feet above Lake Ontario, while at Brantford it IS 410 feet (this elevation may not be perfectly accurate) above the same datum. From Brantford the river winds through a broad valley, with a general easterly direction, to Seneca, where the immediate bed is about quarter of a mile wide, flowing at the southern side of a valley, more than two miles wide, and 75 feet below its boundaries, which are 440 feet above Lake Ontario (see profile on subsequent page). At Seneca the bed of the present nver-course is 30.") feet above Lake Ontario, or only 37 feet above Lake Erie. (The H. & N. W. Railway levels give Lake Erie as 328 feet above Lake Ontario, whilst the Report of the Chief Engineer of the Wel- land Canal states that the difference of level is 326f feet. As these two levels agree so nearly, and as the other figures refer to the railway levels I have followed thein here. ) Eastward from Seneca the river continues to have its broad valley as far as Cayuga. To near this town the waters of the Welland canal feeder reach, at a height of about 9 (?) feet above Lake Erie. From Seneca to Cayuga the direction of the valley is nearly south, but at tiie latter place it abruptly turns nearly to the eastward, and in a short distance it passes to a flatter country and flows over Coniferous limestone After a sluggish flow, it enters Lake Erie (passing through a marshy country) at Port Maitland, more than fifteen miles in a direct line from Cayuga. It must be remembered that, from Seneca to Cayuga, the valley 18 broad and conspicuous. At only a sliort distance south of the river, at Seneca, the summit of the country is occupied by a gravel ridge.* Returning to the valley of Pairchild's creek, we find the stream princi- pally flowing in the former bed of the Grand river, abandoned a few miles below Gait since the Ice Age. This creek crosses the Great Western Rail- way at a level of fifteen feet below the crossing of the Grand river at a few miles to the westward. Again, the Fairchild's creek crosses the Brantford and Harrisburg railway at an altitude of 407 feet above Lake Ontario, or a little below that of the Grand river at Brantford, althoucrh it empties into it a few miles east of the city just named. '^ Fairchild's creek is now of moderate size meandering through the drift for a width of two miles. This drift is in part stratified clay. The Grand *The General .Manager and Chief Engineer of the air lineo- the G. W Rail- way have recently kindly furnished me with a profile of the railway crossing over the Grand river. A similar favor has been kindly conceded by the Chief Knglneer o the Canada Southern Railway. From both of these lines of leveL (about a mile apart) we find that the hard rock appears in the drift at a few feet below the bed of the river, buc at a level below that of the surface of Lake Erie The stream, at these places, occupies the eastern portion of the valley about two miles from the m»rl*ern or .rnHft-western boundary of the valley, marke by lie contour line of m feet above Lake Ontario, noticed south of Se^erbu which also occurs westward of Cayuga, near the general bend in course of the river. On both of these promes, ut about half a mile to the westward of he present site of the river, a depression in the drift occurs to a depth but little nterior to that of the present river-bed. This appears to mark the place where the ancient channel leaves what Is now the modern direction of the river for a nearly direct line to the Erie basin. $^A, spencer.] 312 [Murch 18, river from Bnintford eastward, is generally excavated from tlie drift deposits, although occasionally one side of the valley shows rocks of Onondaga formation, exposed by the removal of the drift in modern times. It is aiso desirable to call attention to the fact that in the region of Brantford, much of the Onondaga Formation is shaly and forms the surface country rock, covering a broad belt, whilst from Seneca eastward, the surface oi the country is more generally covered with Coniferous limestone. Country between the Grand River and Dundas Valleys. The watershed between these two present drainage systems is at only a short distance south- west of Copetown, and the distance in a direction from the Fairchild's to the Dundas side of this divide is less than seven miles, with an average altitude of less than 480 feet (the same as that of the Fairchild's creek as it crosses the Great Western Railway). The highest point that I have leveled is 492 feet above Lake Ontario. On receding westward from the divide, the country gradually descends to tlie Fairchild's creek, which, as it crosses the Brantford and Harrisburg Railway, is 407 above the lake. It is considerably lower where it enters the Grand river. The region between the divide and the Grand river is traversed from north-west to south-east by a considerable number of streams, all with relatively large valleys, cut in the drift, since the present system of drainage was inaugurated in Post Glacial times. The country from Jersey ville (about 465 feet above lake) slopes gradually to the Grand river, from six to eight miles distant to the southward. On examination, it may be seen that the country is too high to permit the Fairchild's creek or Grand river, as they are at present situated, to flow over the height of land into the upper portion of the Dundas valley. As referred to before, the Niagara limestone forming the summit of the es- carpment at Ancaster and eastward has a height of about 500 feet. These beds dip at only about 25 feet in a mile (to about 20 degrees west of south) and are not generally covered by a great thickness of drift, but in many places are exposed on or near the surface. Westward of Ancaster these limestones are nowhere to be found, but the country is only covered with drift. At a short distance west of this village, we find streams flowing north-easterly and easterly with very deep valleys in the drift, indicating the absence of the floor of limestone to a depth of over 250 feet below the surface of the escarpment. But on going westward we find that the streams have not cut to an equal depth, but still running deeply through drift. Eventually we reach the divide, after which we find that other systems of streams also cut deeply in the drift running in a south-easterly direction to join the Grand river ; but the Niagara limestone is absent from a consider- able extent of country. On the northern side of the Dundas vallej' the escarpment after reach- ing Copetown is burled by the drift. Although the line of buried cliffs recedes somewhat to the northward of the Great Western Railway, yet there are occasional exposures, as at Troy and other places in Beverly and Flamboro, where the underlying limestones (;ome to the surface. At 1881. 313 [Spencer. Horrisburc the limestones are known to be absent for a depth of more than 78 feet, as shown in a deep well in the drift. In the town of Paris one well came upon hard rock at 10 feet below the surface, whilst anotiier at 100 feet in deqith, reached no further than boulder clay. This last well must have been in a buried channel of Neith's creek, as outcrops of gypsum-bearing beds of the Onondaga Fornuition frequently occur near the summit of the hills. From what has just been written, it is easily seen that the Niagara limestones are absent from a more or less horizontal floor (which is over 500 feut above the lake, on both the northern and southern sides of the Dundas valley) which continues from Dundas westward to near Harrisburg, where it meets a portion of the Grand River valley. But almost immediately west of Ancaster we find streams running northward at right angles to the escarpment, and cut- ting through drift to the depth of almost hundreds of feet. In fact, if we draw a line from Dundas to northward of Harrisburg (a mile or two), and another from Ancaster southward to the Grand river, we have two limits of a region where the limestone floor has been cut away from an otherwise ■ generally level region. The southern side of this area is the south- ern margin of the Grand River valley, between Seneca and Brantford, and the western boundary is composed of Onondaga rocks east of Paris (which perhaps forms an island of rocks buried more or less in drift). Additional proofs may be cited. About a mile south of Copetown a well M-as sunk to the depth of 100 feet before water was obtained. At two miles south east of the same village there is small pond only 240 feet above Lake Ontario, or more than 260 feet below the neighboring escarpment. This is In drift. Again, at a mile north of Jerseyvilie, the country has a height of 465 feet, with a well in the surface soil to a depth of 40 feet. A small rivulet flows in a valley a few hundred yards south of the last named well which has a bed 435 feet above the lake. At about a mile west of Jerseyvilie, the altitude is 463 feet with a well .52 feet deep. A^ain, at about two miles west of the same village, near the county line, the altitude is 400 feet, with a well 57 feet deep (the bottom being lower than the Fair- child's creek more than three miles to the westward). About a mile north of the last named station is a ravine 436 feet with the adjacent hills forty feet higher, and rising in a mile or two to about 500 feet. All these wells are in the drift. From exposures near Ancaster, it appears that the un- stratified drift has not an altitude of much more than 400 feet. And as we know that some of these superficial beds are stratified clay, and over most of the country just described not a boulder is to be seen, neither on the sur- face nor in the material taken fnmi the greater portions of the wells, it is probable that the water is only obtained on reaching the more porous boulder clay below. It has also been noticed that two wells, at least, are 100 feet deep before reaching water, therefore we may f lirly jilace this as about tiie inferior limit of stratified superficial clays. By reference to the accompanying map, it will be seen that westward of the meridian of Ancas- ter there is an area of over 100 sper holes to have been produced l.y so.nc receding cascade fnm tlie adjacent 9^.orc to wh.cl, tl.ere appears to be a transverse deep channel south of the mouth of Gooseberry river. Again Prof. N. H. Winchell calls attention to the depression in the low country between the Chocolate river (east of Marquette), and Train hay (near the Pictured rocks), as the only place where there coul.l have been connection between the basins of Lakes Superior and Michigan. It may be remarked that some of the deeper soundings put in towards this portion of the coast, whilst, to the westward and eastward, the present lake bottom slopes more gradually. The soundings, however, that are near the shore show a rocky bottom, excepting north of Laughing Fish point (Sable river . and along a narrow channel north of the mouth of Chocolate river Ihe lake is very shallow for some distance westward of the St. Marv's river. "^ Lake Michigan. Tliia lake may be said to consist of a broad long plane the northern half having a mean depth of about 600 feet, whilst the soundings in the southern half are not much more than half that measure- ment. The deepest sounding recorded is 870 feet, in the latitude of the southern end of Green bay. Throughout the whole length, the lake ap- pears to be traversed by a deep channel, and in the northern end by more than one. Although the pitch of the bottom from the shore line is more or less gradual-generally less than 40 feet in a mile -yet. along the eastern side there is a precipitous escarpment extending for a considerable distance which in one place suddenly descends, in a horizontal line of little over a mile, from 17 to 93 fathoms, or 456 feet, and increases 60 feet more in the distance of another mile. The conspicuous channels in the submerged plane extend far northward to near the end of the lake. An interesting sounding east of the mouth of the Man.stique river shows a depth of 448 feet, at a distance of two miles from the shore, whilst all the adjacent depths do not exceed 11 fathoms- Ihis appears to be a continuation of the deep soundings, tea miles to the southward, but the surrounding lake bottom is covered with drift to a great depth, wherever the Niagara limestones have been removed. It is more than probable that this great depth is in a rock-bound channel of an ancient water course, which elsewhere has been filled with drift. It seems proba ble that It was a portion of a buried channel extending through tlie valley of the Manistique lakes to the depression in the country south of Lake Su perior. alluded to above, and formed a Preglacial connection between the valleys of Lakes Superior and Michigan. Prof. Winchell regards the val- ley between the two lakes along the Chocolate and White Fish rivers (the latter emptying into Little Bale De Noc). as indicating the ancient con- nection. This route seems less favorable, as both Little Bale de Noc and Green bay are shallow compared with Lake Michigan, for the greatest depth which IS near an outlet through Portes des Mortes, is only 32 fathoms' whilst generally the bay does not exceed 100 feet. PHOC. AME15. i'HILUS. mc. XIX. 10^. JN. i'lUMKU MAKCH 30. l88l. Hponcor.J 316 IMnrohlH, Grcori buy is sopiirnlcd from Lake Michigan by a Niiigara em^arpment fiirini; t\w. wi^stwiinl, and risinij two ')i tliree hmidreil feet above tlio waters. Tliorinip|t(!ar.s not to liavo been any closer connect ions between these two basins at any previous time tlian at present, excepting wlien the waters were at a liiglier level. We are told that from Green bay for 400 miles to the Mississippi river, a broad, low^ depression occurs in tl»e coun- try and may have been a former outlet for Lake Superior. This valley is filled with drift even if it ever had a sufHclent depth.* Grand Traverse bay has a considerable jpth in both of its branches, especially in the eastern. Here we find depths to 013 feet, whilst ila north- ern mouth is now tilled, so that it does not exceed 120 feet. The north (sastern portion of the basin of Lake Michigan has a general depth of less than 100 feet, but with deeper channels running through it. Many of the soundings about the Straits of Mackinac show a rocky bottom nt no great depths. The channel between the 10-fathom contour margins is not much more than a mile and a half wide, and though generally shal- lower, contains a hole 253 feet deep. In proceeding outward, the deepest channel passes northward of Mackinac island, having a depth not exceed- ing 210 feet, and a width of less than a mile. Again, a depression of the country extends from near Chicago, on Lake Michigan, towards the Mississippi river, which, in some places, is known to be filled with drift to a depth of more than 300 feet, according to Dr. Newberry. Tliis is along the Illinois river, whose valley is from two to ten miles wide ; whose mouth is 300 feet lower than Lake Michigan ; and whose upper streams, near Chicago, are only a few feet higher than the neighboring lake. Lokei^ Huron nnd St. Clair. Of these water basins we can make four divisions. The first section may be made to include the shallow basin soutli of a line drawn from Thunder bay, or Presqu' He, to Kincardine, in Canada, and Lake St. Clair. The second basin comprises the deep chan- nels of Lake Huron, and extends northward to the Manitoulin islands and the Indian peninsula ; the third, the north channel between the Manitoulin islands and the lluronian hills, to the northward ; the fourth, Georgian bay proper. The first of these divisions is represented by shallow water, seldom thirly- * Siiu-e writing the above, I have fortunately been able to see General War- ren's Report on the Transportation Route from the Mississippi river to Green bay (via the Wisconsin and Fox rivers). In this report we And that the bottom of the valley alluded to in the text has a maximum height of 208.8 feet al)ove Green bay, and also that Lake Winnebago (on F'ox river) is 109 feet above the same water. This small lake discharges by the Fox river, which flows over hard limestones down a series of rapids. Therefore Green bay never discharged Us waters into the Mississippi river, and this depression In the country between the Great river and Lake Michigan (the Green bay portion) was not a former outlet of Lake Superior, since It was within about 20(J feet of the present level. This fact strengthens the probable correctness of tin) sugge.-ition that Lake .Su- perior emptied Into the i.orthern end of Lake Mhh if,;.<;i directly. Also, Green bay has evidently the character of a fiord. The outlet t : Lake Michigan could only have been by the low country along the IlUuots;. river. 18M1.] a 17 [Hpettour. five fulhoms »l(.'cp, but witli n chiuinol of ttl)oiit fifty fatlioins depth running throuph it, towards tho direction of tlie nortli angle of the Au Sable river, near Brewstcr'H mills. Haginaw bay, belonging to tills 8c«!tion. is like Green bay, shallow even at its mouth, where it is less than 100 feet deep. Lake St. Clair is a flat plane, with its bed varyiag from 18 to 21 I'oet below ilH surface, and is altogetlier modern. At Detroit the drift is 130 feet deep. The three south-western coun- ties of Ontario are low and Hat. and covered with drift varying gen- erally from 50 to 100 feet in thickness below the level of hake Erie. In places it is known to be nbsenl to a / a considerable depth of Erian shales, reposing on the thick development of Coniferous limestone, and traversed by deep channels running through it. The section of Lake Huron under consideration is mostly excavated out of Upi)er Erian shales in a direction at right angles to the trend of the formations. The denuding action was lessened when the waters in the deeper northern part of the lake subsided to a level having a southern mar- gin bounded by hard Coniferous limestone, covered to no very great dei)th wiuh Upper Erian shales subjected to only sub-aerial action— the whole traversed with water courses in deej) channels. The second division into which, for convenience, I have made of Lake Huron, is that portion between the line drawn from Presqu' He to Kincar- dine, and the Manitoulin islands to the no-thward. This is the deepest portion of the lake and extends in a direction running from northwest to south-east. It consists of a broad plane traversed by several deep channels. The average depth of this plane below the surface of the lake does not ex- ceed 75 fathoms, although there are channels much deeper, one of which is represented by a depth of 117 fathoms. There is also one isol.ited sounding, which reaches 135 fathoms or 750 feet, this being the deepest spot known. The deeper channels appear to lead from the northern portions of tho lake, and unite as they proceed southward, being separated by elevations indicating peninsulas or islands. Two of the principal channels appear to proceed from Missiasagua strait (between Manitoulin and Cockburn islands), ai-d from south of Manitoulin island, eastward of the Duck islands. However, the channels in the marginal portions of the lake are generally more obscured by drift or silt than towards the central waters. The channel, if such you can call it, proceeding from the Mackinaw straits is of inferior depth to those leading from the more northern end of the lake. This portion of the lake is excavateci out of the rocks of the various for- mations from the Niagara to the Conitcrous limestones. But most largely out of the mcjre or less soft rocks of the Onondaga group, along the strike of these formations, thus giving the eroding agencies the power of remov- ing the softer basal rocks, and of producing an escarpment of the Conifer- Spencer.] 318 [March 18, OU8 limestone looking to tl.c northward, until it was finally undermined and worn back to its present position, submerged beneath the shallowed wafers of the southern portion of the lake, or buried in drift deposits. On the northern side, the lake has not made .o much encroachment, as t .s b„u,ulod by the hard Niagara limestones .: the Manitoulin islands, and the^Ind.an peninsula of Canada, the stmta dipping down beneath the iake. 1 et ,t must be noticed that these rooky shores are indented by nu- merous deep bays transverse to their directions. rA. iVr,,,A Ckannel. This is generally a shallow water, the greatest o Ir;? ' r'' T ''''n^ '''^ ''" ""■"'"^^^' ^' ''-^' ^'- «---- rocks form ng the boundary. The islands, especially towards the east .vard, and nea the whole north shore, are generally composed of Trenton limestone. oM e ir " ■'' T'^'° ""^ "'' '^"'""'^'' '^"""^^^ "y Manitoulin and the o.her s ands. is often composed of Hudson river, more or less, slialy rocks overaid by the Niagara limestones (where not removed by d..nuI"on ' constituting an escarpment facing the northward. In fact, the whole of the wTiH. H '•" " l'""^'f^'^">' ^^"'^P'^fl oi^t of the Hudson River Formation, which attains a considerable thickness in this re'«^''''" ''•"• ll^i^ continent? Son e of ...r American rrion.l,s. who have advoc.ated the suh-mrial and Huvta , ..n,na of the hikes, have ph.ced it back to the Devonian A,e k 2 . l'" ^r"'"^"«"".^'"^' ^^« X-'ow no^l'inS- It woukl he safer to phu-e aft. the Pahuo^otc tune, for probably son.e portions of the Province of Oh o ; .TT,"'''" ""' ^'•^'•'-"i'-ous deposits, as well as Michigan and Ohio n luci, have subsequently been removed by denudation. wifh" oril f ^'^ "r^' '^''' '^••"^'^■^^^•^^^••n countries of (Ontario are dotted with boungs for 0,1. Fn,m these well records, one can draw only a single its in it -f '"'? ^ \" ""' '""'' '""" '^'^ '"'''^- Tl-re are deeper bor- channl F •".' "S"""'" '""^'•^^ ftMrly considered as in buried channels. For mstance. at Detroit the drift is 180 feet deep. Again at m feet" r r '\ ' P '"' If'^ ''' '''''^'^ "^ ^•'^- '^^^ ' ''^ V-"- '^ ' 200 feet belovv Lake Ene If we draw a line from near the northern angle o the Au Sable n ver ( of" the south) to east of Vienna, we have a bound ryo S MTrv' V'"'" "'■ ^•"^^"--^«- <>"tario; for at Tilson.nfrg! St. Maty s and elsewhere (Just east of this line) the hard limestones conie Excepting a few shales, at Kettle Point, all the .south-eastern shores of this lake are composed of sand dunes and other Post-Tertiary deposi. Tie upper portion of the Thames and Au Sable rivers are In cons.tuou sly Preglacal beds filled with drift. The Au Sable after turning nor w" d contmues m a partly re-excavated valley to a point within a mile of Uke Huron, and then turns at an acute angle and runs for a dozen miles south- ward parallel, and very close, to the lake before emptving into it tha^tw r '■ ' '""^"V'. f ''"'"'' ^''^''^''^ ™'^1^ «*■ <-'^"'»l'^- '^ ^i" l^e seen mm 1 "r " 7"'"^ '^ ^'''^"^'" ^'^""'"'"^ ^'"^'^^ ^^^'^"'•^ south-eastward Dr fw't T' T^. '•'' ""'"''"^^ ^'^' •'^'^'■"^^ ^'^'^ ^•'""''•y '- Lake Erie. Dr mmi has shown, that in places these shales are four or five hundred fee thick, beneath the drift. On a careful study, it will be seen trtM.es rl;"rr," T^'^'^'I '' ^"'"•■'^ '^""^^^^ ^•^••--^ ^^ continuation ot.: valley of Lake Ene to Lake Huron, or vice versa. The depth of this val- ! wi.'' r' ""^ ''' ''^'''' '''"• '^"'^ "°^ "^^^^'1 100 feet below the lake evel (Erie), except in channels, and generally less than that depth ; while le waters in adjacent portions of Lake Erie vary in depth from 80 feet, at the wes ern end. to a maxium depth of 84 feet further eastward, where re- moved rom the mass of moder.i sediments now being brought down by the western rivers. From these facts, but one conclusion can be drawn and that IS. the deepest western portion of Lake Erie is not silted uo to a greater depth than the difference between its soundings and 100 Lt ex cept in channels, such as the Cuyahoga. ' From these figures it will be seen that the country including the greater portion of Lake Erie, the south-western counties of Ontario, and the southern portion of Lake Huron formed one nearly unifor.n plane in ha! i I 1S81.] 321) laiieaeer. rocks, which, however, gnuluiilly sloped both to the northward and east- ward towards tlie deepest portions of the laltes. From tlie borings, we see tliat there were ciianncls, and I thini< iliat we are fiirnisiied with tiie data for pointing out wiiure the outlet of Huron formerly flowed, even to a depth sufficiently great to drain tiie deepest portion of the lake, although filled with some sediment. That portion of the Au Sable flowing northward in an old buried valley, and then turning southward, indicates a portion of the ancient outlet. The channel having been dammed in the Ice Age, has caused the modern river to How in the capricious manner indicated on the map. This portion of the river reversed, formed an ancient outlet for Lake Huron, and flowed to its south-western angle, then turning eastward, the direction (with gentle curves) was south of eastward across the coun- try to Lake Erie, having Port Stanley on its right, and Vienna on its left bank. It is known that the channel at the former place was loO feet, and at the latter 300 feet below Lake Krie, and with a sufficient distance be- tween these places to have permitted of a valley four times that depth, even in the Hamilton shales, and underlying Coniferous limestones. At a distance of only a few miles eastward of this line, the Coniferous limestone comes to near the surface of the country, and is e.vposed by several modern streams. The upper portion of the Thames, the eastern branches of the Au Sable, and other streams belong to Preglacial times with buried chan- nels, were tributaries to this old outlet. Throughout the south-western counties generally there is a broad belt underlaid by several hundred feet of Devonian rocks (mostly of shale of the Hamilton group), beneath the drift dei)osits, which cover them to a depth of from .'lO to 100 feet. Two things along this route support the theory that this channel, known to be 200 feet deep (below Lake Erie) ami able to drain half of the surface of Lake Huron, was of more gigantic proportions, is the nature of the drift near Port Stanley, and the configurations and soundings of Lake Erie. Near Port Stanley, the drift is piled up much deeper than it is usually found in this section of the country, reaching I.IO feet above the lake. From which- ever cause ("glacier or iceberg), it is just what would be expected along the margin of a valley against which drift-bearing ice would be passing. The other indication is, that if we draw a line from a short distance north of Port Stanley to southward of Vienna (the direction of the valley), it forms a continuation of a nearly direct portion of the presentshore, curving slightly to Long point, just off which the deepest portion of the lake is found, and around which the channel turns, to the Grand river of Canada. It cannoc be justly said that the present configuration of the lake is independent of its Preglacial form. Nor can it be said that the lake is generally silted up to great depths, except in channels, for any such statement is unwarranted by facts, as I have shown from the analogy between the bottom of the western end of the lake, and the south-western counties, to be improbable. Coume of Preglacial Rivers. We are now able to construct an approxi- mately true river map from Lake Huron to the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Sponccr.J :m Tl.o siroHtus ran from tl.o north und wcBt <.f fmke Hii towards Goduricli : ilioncc Hoiirhwurd, and norllicni anu'Ie; it turned (mst ward ron, <;nt sweep, having Vienna on tl.o I.ft and Port Stanley a 'il.nt ; ! ('•''^•"vi'.^'tho upper. waters of the Au Sable and Thamog as tnhuta.ies), , passed Loni- ,K,i„t, »lowin,r „„„ ^he present Canadian shore, and entermg the Grand river (reversed, south of Cayuga ; ader- wards ,t passed down the Dundas valley towards north-east, into the bas.n of Ontario, and then along the foot of the buried Hudson River es- carpment to near Oswego. Along its course, it received, ,>rolmbly, a small stream from near Detroit, tarj, he Mahonmg). Conneaut. Allegheny, and other rivers from the American States and afterwards the Genesee and various other streams in Its course through the basin of Ontario. wir nf'^' ^'- ''"'"' ""' •''"'" ''"'' "^^^^'''t'"!- of roun,e depende,! on the wear of the Innestonc rocks after entering the Gmnd rive . But as this J^u Iv • f T" "'''' '" *"' '''^^^' '''''''' "^••"^ «^«''- l>«'^«. ->»'d be greatly widened, as we see it. No great pitch in the rivers would be required to occa8i.>n a flow of the waters a very few inches in the mile wouhl sutHce. If we observe Z deepest portions of Lakes Huron and Ontario, we have a difllrence ! altuude of .60 feet (both being below sea-level in 4.H, ml !, ng route md.cated. whilst probably there were lake-expansions along le course, thus causing the fall to be confined to a few places e neeiar through the Dundas Valley, in the form of a series of hm s tL 1 c ea f pmg limestones had been removed. ' Excavation of Lal-e Basim. Having seen the course of the Preglacial a irst let us look at Lake Ontario. Tlje river coming down the Dundas valley flowed originally at near the The d rection of the stream was parallel to its trend. On the one side were the sof^ Cambro-Silurian shales, geographicallv higher, geolo'icany r'ti '" TT:- ^"""'""'"^ ''''■ ^'^"^ ^^''^-'^- '""---. ''ene>Uh w h we e the soft Medina shales, until these were worn away in part. As he we had f 7'"' '""""'' *'" """^"'" """'^ ''^ nndennined.and theref e we had the Niagaha escaupment produced. How far these li.nestones Lavereceded towards, he present fuce and su.nm.t of theslope, isaques on yet to be decided. As the waters sunk to a lower level a sec md sea m n was prodt^ced (the one noticed at Port Dalhousie. at the p e^ 1 e evel). Afterwards, the Hudson Kiver shale, (with so.ne hard o ks w re pierced, wh.lst yet there were capping Medina shales, forming the If a e of he country between the river and the li.nestonc escamme'nt. All this presupposes the continent at a higher level (at least between five f 1881.] 331 [Hpencor. and six hundred feci). Prof. Diina iMiints out timt llic continent, during lit leii8t the Mesozoir. if not the Tertiary times, at(M)d iit iin altitude equal to this measurement, a« sliown by the HOundin^H at tlie mouth of tlic Hud- son river, which extends 80 miles seaward ; and Prof. Ilillgard lias shown tliat tlie Mississippi also had nearly an equal elevation al)ove tiial of tho present day. In the alcetch of the topography of Lakes Erie and Huron, we have seen tImt the whole of the latter lake and the south-western half of the former are excavated mostly out of softer rock ; and the north-eastern half of Lake Huron is excavated along the junction of harder and softer rocks similar to Lake Ontario. The rate at which these upper lakes were excavated would depend on the rate of the excavation of the Dundas valley and its extensions through the limestone, at first by a slow abrasion, and the solution of the carbonate of lime by the carbonic acid held in the water, and afterwards by the ua- derinininjr of the hard rocks on the removal of the Medina shales. As to Georgian bay and the North channel, these formed independent valleys. Thai the North channel is excavated out of the flambro Silurian shales, along the junction of Niagara limestones on one hand, and the meta- niorphic rocks on the other, is apparent at a glance ; as we see that tho Spanish, Mississagua, Thessalon, and other rivers all point in that direc- tion. It has been noticed that the North channel has the same depth as the deepest outlet ; and also that the deeper portions of the northern part of Lake Huron ai-e in that direction. An appropriate coincidence is that the strait between Manitoulin and Cockburn islands should be called Mis- sissagua, which was doubtless the ancient outlet of that river ; and False De Tour channel that of the Thessalon river. Again, Georgian bay is scooped out of the soft rocks between the crystal- line rocks on the east and the Niagara liniestones on the west along the line of junction similar to the North channel, or to Lake Ontario. The Indian peninsula is a perfect counterpart to the Niagara escarpment, and the escarpment submerged beneath Lake Ontario. For here the Ni- agara limestones tower more than iJOO feet above Georgian bay, whilst at the foot, but submerged, there is a precipitous descent of 500 feet below the surface of the lake. The deepest outlet into Lake Huron is only about 800 feet. Whether this is filled with drift deposit or not we cannot say. One thing is certain, that a broad depression in the topography of the couniry extends all the way from the southern end of Georgian bay, in- cluding Simcoe, Balsam, Rice, and a multitude of smaller lakes emptying into the bay of Quinte by the Trent river, to Lake Ontario. A great sys- tem of drainage did exist along this line. According to Sir William Logan, this trough is deeply filled with drift. Lake Simcoe is 130 feet above Geor- gian bay, however, and the height of land in the trough to the east of Lake "Simcoe is more than 100 feet higher. It may be said that this trough is bounded by a ridge (known as Oak ridge) which is, according to the levels of the Torontc) and Nippissing railway, 893 feet above Lake Ontario, and f rnoc. AMEi;. piiiLOS. soc. xi.v. 108. 2i'. ruiMEU a ''jul issi. Spencer.] 332 [Mnrch 18, further westward to about the same height. The country gradually rises nearly 300 feet. This ridge consists of drift to a considerable depth. I have several profiles across it. Yet there are no Indications that the rivers, such as the Nottawasaga and others flowing northward into Georgian bay, formerly flowed in the opposite direction, emptying into Lake Ontario by the Humbpr. ^ The .idences are not quite clear whether the Georgian bay always emptied (except when the waters were at a much higher level), by the present outlet, or by that just indicated. But fron. tiie soundi.igs I am inc'med to favor the present route. It may be stated that the writer is assummu^ too frequently that the present soundings are some criterions of the original depths. This assumption I hope to prox « in a subsequent paper, when treating of the driftdoposits, and feel confident that outside of confined channels of comparatively narrow width, or certain bays, that the evidence adduced, with regard to ihe western end of Lake Erie holds still nearer to the truth when applied to the more northern waters If Georgian bay were so filled with drift we ought not to find the deep es- carpment situated so close to Indian peninsula. One more remark is necessary with regard to Georgian bay and the North cliannel,-that is concerning the deep bays or fiords. All the con- ditions for the making of fiords as noticed under Lake Superior exist here Owen sound, one of the largest of those fiords, is situated at the junction of the Niagara and Hudson River Formations, with a buried channel emptying into it, and now occupied by the small Sydenham river. At any rate the fluviatile origin of this rivulet is unquestionable (although Mr George J Hinde asserts that it was made by glacial action), after theatudy that we have made in the Dundas valley. The buried channel of the Sydenham river is more than half a mile wide at the town of the same name. Some of the indentations in Manitoulin island were probably formed by n vers flowing across the island, but were closed by drift in portions of their course, thus producing the lakelets and bays. That most of these bavs are fiords IS apparent, as is also proven by the numerous islands north of Mani- toulin islands, the whole bein- a perfect counterpart of Puget sound or of the fiords of the Scandinavian peninsula. Owing to the much greater depth, and other obstacles of the present time. It does not seem at all likely that Lake Huron ever emptied bv Georgian bay._ excepting possibly at the close of the great floods that made the whole region from Huron to Ontario one body of water, even then the present topography would not favor it. The Outlet of lake Ontario. The three great questions, involved in the sub-aena and fluviatile origin of our three Great Lakes, are, where were the outlets of Lake Ontario. Lake Erie and Lake Huron, at s.-fflcient depths to dram their basins. As shown, the outlet of Lake Erie through the Dundas va.ey is sufllc.enily deep to empty the two upper lakes. Also, the outlet /■ < 1881.] 333 [Spencer, 71 ' described on previous pages points to every condition necessary to indicate its depth X9 being sufficiently great to empty Luke Huron, altliough the actual neasureinent (on the north-cast side of the channel) has only reached to 200 feet below the surface of Lake Erie, with a bottom com- posed of soft shales. There now remains one other question to be an- swered, but certainly one of no greater moment than the ancient connection betweer. Lakes Erie and Ontario — the outlet of Lake Ontario. Dr. Newberry, at times a glacialist, finally appears to advocate the glacial excavation of the lakes after their courses had been determined by river action. Various writers for the last twenty years have referred to the deep buried channel near Lake Onondaga, more than 400 feet below "ts surface, as indicating the former outlet of Lake Ontario by this route, and down the Mohawk to the Hudson river. This course will not answer, as the Geo- logical Survey of Pennsylvania has shown, for at Little Falls, Herkimer county, the Mohawk flows over metamorphic rock. Various fluvialists refer some buried route by the St. Lawrenfce. This seems scarcely possible, as that great river flows over hard rocks at various points for 200 miles east- ward of Lake Ontario, unless the outlet existed somewhere between Kings- ton in Canada, and Oswego in New York, and continued in a burled course through crystalline rocks (in part) to eastward of Montreal. The north- eastern portion of Lake Ontario is very shallow, and the deepest channel points to the south-eastward extremity of the lake. At the present time the writer knows nothing positively of the most probable outlet, as that by the Mohawk will not answer. Yet he will pre- dict that its outlet will be found as certainly as the one between Lakes Erie and Ontario, oi which there was no clue, or even suggestion until working up the origin of the Dundas valley. One other route presents itself, but as positive proof is not at hand, I will defer theorizing. The Geological Survey of Pennsylvania has shown that many of the water courses, emptying southward at the present time, formerly emptied to the northward. In New York, we find most of the small lakes of narrow but long dimensions having their axis in a meridional direction. Also, these waters are generally along some stream flowing northward into Lake Ontario even at the present time Though the bottoms of these lakes are frequently below the sea level, yet in no case, that I am aware of, are they nearly as deep as Lake Ontario. Doubtless these small lakes v. ore former expansions of the rivers running into Lake Ontario in Preglacial times, and owe to ice, simply, the closing of their outlets by drift. JVo local land oncillationn apparent. I agree with Mr. Carll that there are no indications of local oscillations in the region of our lower great lakes, at least to account for any changes in the drainage systems. It has been a popular idea tiiat the coast of New England, even at the present time, is sinking. If so, any changes must be very slow, for Mr. Henry Mitchell, of the United States Coast Survey, shows (in appendix 8 of re- port for 1877), that the whole north-eastern coast of the United States has undergone no change of level during the last hundred years. Spencer.] 334 [March Is, Depth, of the lakes cannot be accounted for by the relaUvely hu/her elevations much" nT" , '" "" '"^ ''"'''' '^■■'^^ ^"^-- ^'- ''--"om ve"; perior. or 500 feet below sea-level. If a sufficient elevation did occur, it would require to be local or to ex din nf'v T'" '"""T"'-^^- Tliat it was not local appears from the general dip of rocks in which it lies. However any continental elevation or subsidence occasioned by the change of the centre of gravity of the earth, such as that by the great ac- cumu ation of ,ce in the polar regions, would be equal to the elev^ui n or subsidence at the pole n.ultiplied by the sine of the latitude. From thi we find that if the elevation at the poles were a thousand feet, the differ- ence between the elevation or subsidence of the northern end of Lake Huron and the Dundas valley, would be equal to only about 40 feet. Even that It was sufficient to cause a polar difference of 3000 feet of level which at most would effect the relative levels of the northern end of Lake'nuron and the southern latitude of Ontario to no greater extent than 120 feet Again, It IS shown by Prof. Whitney, that no ice cap occupied north-western America, and by the author of " Fire and Frost ' ' (see Q. J. G S ) thvt the ice-belt IS only known to have surrounded ,. .egion of northern^tit" The greatest changes of level by the accumulation or removal of ice woi,Td thus be occasioned along the north-eastern margin of America in the region of the Appalachian and Laurentian mountains. If the continent continued high during the Ice Age. the coastal ranges would cut-off mo of the moisture, and thus greatly lessen the thickness of any ice .heet over the region of the great lakes, if it ever did exist. This is exactly the state served 'ZT "" 'T' ''"' ''° ^•^^ ""'''''■ ^'^"^^ -^ Ilance. ob erved"tJie paucity of glaciers, and the non-existence of the ice cip " iH- J. (t. 8 No. 135), and state that no glaciers descend to the level of the sea, as on the Greenland coast or Hall basin. The idea of the lake basins being greatly effected by oscillations must be abandoned, except so far as the whole area was subject to a more or less uniform change acting proportionably on the eastern and central parts of the continent. Even then, the change was far too little to explain the dephs of these waters. Another evidence against the irregular changes of the lake region is that, at tl=o close of the Ice Age we have terraces in Canada a thousand feet or more above the sea, and at various levels all the way to the present surfaces of the waters. Terraces or ridges occur at similar heights m our country, Ohio, New York and elsewhere In a u sequent paper the writer hopes to show the relation existing between these old beaches, termces and kamcs. deposited when our three lakes formed one common body of water That this water had numerous outlets, as the con! tinent was rising, has been pointed out by the Geological Survey of Ohio to say nothing of the outlets referred to by the Surveys of Pennsylvania and Canada. At only a comparatively few levels did the waters seem to ^ 1881.] 335 [Spencer. linger, as the lower lake region was being desiccated, and therefore we do not find continnous shore lines between many of the beaches ; Carll ex- plains this by the waters being frequently lowered by debacles, apparently an adequate reason. Niagara River. That the Niagara river is Postglacial, at least from the Whirlpool to Qucenston, is apparent. It is icnown tliat the Niagara river formerly left its present course near the Whirlpool and flowed down the valley of St. David, which is now filled with drift. Tliis valley (through the limestone escarpment) is not so great as the present cttnon. This buried valley of St. David could only have been produced after tlie closing of the Dundas valley outlet of the Erie basin, for until then the waters flowed at a very much lower level. Therefore, it seems necessary to regard this channel (not of very great magnitude) as an interglacial outlet for Lake Erie. The geologists of the Western States point to the Forrest bed as a period of high elevation, preceded by the Erie clay (stratified) and succeeded by the yellow stratified clays or loam, corresponding to the Brown Sangeen clay of Canada, which is unconformable to the underlying Erie clays (or Boulder clay in the upper portion of the Dundas valley). So, for the present, we look upon the old course of the Niagara river as the chan- nel excavated during this warm interglacial period. Hypothetical Glacier Origin of the Lakes. The writer, having pur- posely left the hypothesis that the lakes were excavated by glaciers until now, will briefly examine what evidence is existing. One cannot do better than give a summary of what Prof. Whitney (in Climatic Changes) says with regard to the erosive power of ice. " Ice jmr se has no erosive power. ' ' Glaciers are not frozen to their beds. Ice permeated with water acts as a flexible body and can flow accordingly. In neither the extinct glacier regions of California nor in the shrunken glaciers of the Alps will it be found that ice scoops out channels with vertical sides as water does. "No change of form can be observed at the former line of ice. Aside from the morainic accumulations, there is nothing to prove the former existence of the glacier, except the smooth, polished or rounded surfaces of the rocks, which have no more to do with the general outline of the cross-section of the valley than tlie marks of the cabinet-maker's sandpaper have to do with tlie shape and size of the article of furniture whose face he has gone over with that material." The most important work of a glacier is the scratching and grooving of surfaces. This may, however, be done by dry rubbing, and therefore isolated scratched stones or patches are no evidence. The underlying rock surfaces may lose their sharpness, owing to contained detritus in the ice, and become rounded. The ground moraine is neither characteristic nor important. There is but little dctrital material beneath Alpine glaciers, and this is the result of waler more than ice. The only characteristics of ice action are striation and polishing. All floating ice shod with stones frozen in them will scratch surfaces over which they rub. The only gla- Hpencer.] ma [March 18. ca'iSn"::':,r':S'',°:;;r '"° °""'"' -^'"^ <'-'"="^-> ««"«, „r liiin that some of them ocei, v „!T ^ ^ ' '""8'' ' <1<> -"1 agree will, Superioi). "^^ gBological valleys („„le,s possibly Lake .en^r^mlXalTtn/pol^t ts' "" °""= '"" «^'"°*" -"" "«» -i'" Others in a similar direction nt h„ / ^'''''' Ontario, and also asserts that Lake Ontal L ex avTSr." "V *'" '^'^^' "^^^^^"^ ^- cepts his statement as prooTLt on dl J^^^^^^^^^ ,^!"- ,^«-'--y - >nined the direction of the contineral glLier """"' '^''^^ ''^^«'- rivt%" wtlotstTaCid-i' '^'r' T '''' '^^^^'^ ^^'^^ ^^ the Niagara are of^Lierorig n""' Wet^ ^^^ ^^ ^"^^^ -^ «-" sound the Dundas vallty is a buS rTr ,' 'f ''''^'' incontrovertibly that Owen Sound and t^.e St Dav d'sT.u "f' ^'^° '' '^'^^ '^^^'^^ «^^» ^hat terglacial rivers "^"'''^ ^'' ^°^^ ^^^'^^ «f P^'^glacial or In- sets), that is parallel wUrtheaxiJof ! "" ""T" ""^ ^""* "^ ^'^''^^ "^'^^X l>l, one polisled su fL ^the Tailed; " """"'^^ "^"^^ (except;,.,,^ at considerableangles I^ tie 1^^^^^^^ the axis of ths lake, but always are S. 4o° W. (Bell) and some oth rs S 8? w' -^ T""""' ^"•^^^^- tions are parallel with the axirof .1 , , ' """'"' "^ ^'"^^^ '^'^'^^ Observed scratches th t tre Taral l, ^th U ^'■"^^' '"^ ''^- «'"^« necessity would have been at an a '"e .wt ht ^.N " "' ?' '''''• ''''^ "^ any glacier could have scooned o n tL «"»^'"erged escarpment. If summit edges of the N LZl e' rm^^^^^^^ 1 "^^'^ ^^"^''^"«' '' ^^^' ^he planed off. Also, if it excaATed H ! ""'P '^^ P"'^''^'^' "'^^ "«t mit of soft Medin'a shales ovetl^al el! TT T' ''"' '' '''' '^ ^"- merged escarpment, beneath wlch .re Uticl '7 T '"^'^ "' *'" «"'^- Georgian bay the face of the elc ntnt^ vt ?: f '""' ''""^'^'^ *" ^he here, there has not been lef Z^n^^^F^r'^ Vr •'"■""*' '"^ ^^^'^ n^2'j;"----.strati.ed\s::;:;:^\:^-::: Ihe observations of Prof Prof H V w ^ . "uriea;. are here interesting. He has shown nf^V "'"'^'."'^ ">« «""st of Labrador, polishing the sldes'of Jm^r^Z^^ Ci::;" "" T ^"" ^^^ ^ coast has been rising several hunHr./f ? ^""'"""ng its action whilst the hanging rocks ,he ^^:\^^'J':^,!Zr''' '" ''''''' ""^ ^^^'■ lake region, would be attributed to glacie!)' Air'.""; "'"'' '' '" ^'" Clay being .rmed at the present ti^^-t; U^act^^:; ^l^Zr ^ f IS. 1881.] 337 [Spsncer. en i>y of of n- l,h i ■i-ii^ kU^ *' :.u>V'^^ ^\^'\,• "i^^^^ll^'" •>,()V VUU- N>^\ •'^^ a kU^ . *'. ^'W^^-^' ^\'.Vm 'i^^>^>^^" 1 .. '• ivl''V ^^^ i\U- t I p ^ 1 I f i. I - \ TrouL . •' , ' BranU'oTd Level <)/' Licke Erie '>73 above tule. 1 ANt" S. \RT STA7F PHINJ'K.H SECOND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF PENNSYLVANIA J.P.I, KSI.KY, Stale (ifoUigiMt. PREGLACIAI. DRUNAGE INTO THK WESTKRN FIND OF LAKK ONTARIC by Dr. J.W. Spencer, KG.S ~i — r — c_ Scale ^ Preylaci/il Rivers Modem Riwrs differing Horn Prtiffl/tcirU Margin of' Baxiji with Ufruv/oue t'Inof ab.:ent . .1i:l iljn \-\\ ■■ -M !l K ;i' ;a ■.';." ,d .li is a '^ -:%:5 V: «c5>^'* Detroit IN 1) I A X A "V V- -'1 S - ftOT S'^ATr "Ri"' TR SECOND CEOLOCICAL SURVEY OF I'FNNSYLVANIA .1.1' l.l'SI.I'IYsrA'IK iil'.dl.uc.iST M A P A r C () M P A N I N G NOTKS ON PH]:OIA( lAI. OlTTLi:! OF LAKE KRIK .%c Published 111 Appendix loRoport Q4. By I'mf J.W. Sponcor L \' A \ J A Jill Ui.S H^^ N f'HQXO IITM