6 HISTORICAL GEOLOGY OF ^IICHIGAN. 



the Maple and Grand rivers, a nearly continuous valley occurs, the highest 

 elevation therein being only seventy-two feet above lake Michigan. 



On the other hand, the elevations of the northern portion of the Lower 

 Peninsula are believed tn reach nearly or quite eight hundred feet in Oge- 

 maw county, and probably twelve hundred feet in Otsego. The heights are 

 not those of the hilltops, but rather those of plateaus. 



There are sand dunes along the east shore of Lake Michigan, at New 

 Bullalo, from thirty to ninety-three feet in height; at Grand llaven, from 

 one hundred to two hundred feet. Limestone forming the northern angle of 

 Leelanaw county, rises somewhat precipitously to a height of two hundred or 

 three hundred feet. 



Steeji or precipitous bluffs occur in Oceana, Mason, Manistee, Benzie, Lee- 

 lanaw, Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet, Presque Isle, and the northeast part of 

 Huron counties. 



Probably owing to the configuration of the bottom, there is, especially at 

 the north, a tendency to the formation of lagoons or small lakes, along the 

 eastern shore of Lake Michigan, by the forming of a new beach in advance 

 of a former one. Pine Lake, in Charlevoix county ; Carp and Glen, in Lee- 

 lanaw; Crystal, in Benzie; Portage, in Manistee; and Big Sable, in Mason; 

 are perhaps results of such processes. 



An impression has existed quite generally that nearly the entire eastern 

 shore of Lake Michigan consists of drifting sand. In 1874, Henry Clubb, at 

 that time a resident of Grand Haven, after an exploration of about two hun- 

 dred miles of this coast, and making careful inquiries respecting the remain- 

 der, states that, "In a distance of two hundred and forty miles, from the south- 

 ern line of the State to the northern extremity of Leelanaw county, sand hills 

 extend only about seventy-six miles, leaving about one hundred and sixty- 

 four miles where good arable land presents to the lake a bluff, varying in 

 height from forty to two hundred feet, which, of itself, is a sufficient protec- 

 tion against sand storms, even if denuded of forests; that, of this seventy- 

 six miles of sand-hills, at least sixty miles are well-c<:>vered with forests, and 

 show no tendency to drift inland; that of the sixteen miles of wide beach, 

 where the lake is receding, at least fourteen miles are fenced off from the 

 good land by undisturbed forest; and that the two miles of movable sand, 

 where the protection either never existed or has been cut away, are spread 

 among the various points along the shore, such as Muskegon, Grand Haven, 

 Pigeon Creek, and the mouths of Holland and Kalamazoo harbors; that 

 even at Grand Haven, where the greatest damage has been done, the river 

 prevents it from encroaching farther inland, while the natural growth of 

 young pines is greatly limiting the area of drifting sand." 



The assertions that these mountains of sand '' have already moved several 

 miles inland," and that the sand hills extend the whole length of the shore, 

 and are of an average width of six miles, are so at variance with facts, that 

 it is surprising that anyone should venture the statement without first ascer- 

 taining its correctness. 



