No. 4. J CLAYPOLE — PRE-GLACIAL GEOGRAPHY. 193 



waters. In the present state of our knowledge of the geology of 

 the region it is impossible to point out the exact position of this 

 channel, but the following extract will indicate its probable 

 situation. After citing and discussing numerous instances of 

 buried river-channels of pre-glacial age in different States, and 

 relying on his experience and his knowledge of the geology of 

 the country, Dr. Newberry says : 



" I ventured to predict to General Warren that an old filled 

 up channel would be found passing round the Mississippi rapids, 

 and his examinations have confirmed the prophecy. I will ven- 

 ture still farther, and predict the discovery of buried channels of 

 communication between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, 

 probably somewhere near and east of the Grand Sable, at least 

 between the pictured rocks and St. Mary's river, between Lake 

 Erie and Lake Ontario through Canada, between Lake Ontario 

 and the Hudson by the valley of the Mohawk, and between Lake 

 Michigan and the Mississippi somewhere along the line I have 

 indicated before." Geology of Ohio, 1874, p. 19. 



Of these the first, the channel between Lake Superior and 

 Lake Michigan had already been announced in 1871 by Mr. N 

 H. Winchell, then a member of the Michigan Geological Survey, 

 in the American Journal of Science and Arts for July of that 

 year. This paper is noticed by Dr. Newberry in the volume 

 just quoted, page 13, 



The existence of a buried channel therefore between Lakes 

 Erie and Ontario, though not actually proved by boring as in 

 the former case, yet rests on evidence not to be estimated lightly. 

 The opinion of one so well acquainted with the country as Dr. 

 Newberry, deserves great confidence, and as in other cases, so 

 here, it is likely that further investigation will reveal the buried 

 channel somewhere near the line of the "Welland Canal.* 



The condition of the Ontarian valley at the time in question 



* It would be conducive to the interest of science, and might at 

 the same time repay the expenditure of the public money if the Go- 

 vernment of the Dominion would set on foot a systematic examina- 

 tion of the region before completing the section of the new Welland 

 Canal that passes through it. If such a buried channel could be 

 found through the great Upper Silurian escarpment which forms so 

 striking a feature in the landscape between St. Catharines and Nia- 

 gara and the excavation carried through it, the cost would certainly 

 be less than that of a rock cutting. 



