Chautauqua Grape Belt. 139 



not endangered. The depth of this permanent water zone is 

 variable, but it is usually several feet. 



The width of this gravel belt is very variable, as indeed are the 

 details of its composition. Near the months of large streams, as 

 at Silver Creek, Fredonia, Westtield and the state line, the zone 

 broadens so that a sandy soil extends from the base of the trne 

 gravel ridge across the plain, nearly, if not quite, to the lake. Be- 

 tween the streams the gravel ridges become narrower terraces, and 

 the lake clay soil commences at their very base. Therefore, in 

 different parts of the grape belt, the area in which the soil features 

 are especially adapted to grape raising is somewhat variable; but 

 there is a certain uniformity, and the importance of this to the 

 question of origin is sufficient to call for a more detailed statement 

 of the features of the gravel ridges, or, as we may now call them, 

 the ancient beaches. 



The Modekn Beaches. 



Let us first take a glimpse at the present shore line features of 

 Lake Erie. There are two separate kinds of shores, the rock or 

 clay bluffs (Fig. 48) and the gravelly or sandy beaches (Fig. 61). 

 Oftentimes the bluff is faced by a beach (Figs. 48 and 61). Where 

 the larger streams enter the lake, the width of the beach is in- 

 creased, and the waves are not cutting at the base of the shale 

 bluffs. The cliffs need not delay us, for it is the beaches with which 

 we have to do in particular. The beaches consist of sand and 

 gravel thrown by the storm waves to a height of several feet 

 above the reach of the ordinary waves. In time of strong waves 

 the water dashes over the top of the beach, moving the pebbles 

 to and fro, although they are situated fully ten feet above the 

 present lake surface (measured at Barcelona) (Fig. 58). This is the 

 crest of a terrace whose width varies, sometimes being a narrow 

 strip at the base of a bluff (Fig. 59), sometimes, especially near the 

 mouth of a stream, broadening out to quite an extensive plain. At 

 Silver Creek and at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek, the beach 

 deposits are very extensive ; and in the latter, the action of the 

 wind by building sand dune hills has raised the level above the 

 reach of the highest waves. In these places also, bars are being 

 built opposite the mouth of streams (Fig. 60). 



