THE lEOQUOIS BEACH. 



123 



— Burlington Beach (a name preoccupied by a modern spit) in place of Burlington 

 Heights, which is the lowest part of the great beach at the western end of the Lake 

 Ontario ; and Mohawk, a name connected long since with a supposed outlet of the lake 

 to the south-east. The amount of overflow in this direction during the epoch of this 

 beach formation did not cut a great gap through the mountains ; therefore a geographi- 

 cal name in this region i.s objectionable, even if not involving unsettled theoretical ques- 

 tion. The north-eastern limit of the beach is not known as yet. Consequently, I have 

 adopted a historical name and carried the priority of its use as far back as practicable, 

 and here propose for the best developed beach of the Ontario basin the name of the 

 great aboriginal confederation which dominated the lake region at the time of the Euro- 

 pean encroachments— the Iboquois Beach. The lake, which was accordingly much 

 larger than the modern Lake Ontario, is called Lake Iroquois. 



Stile ' ■' ■■• ■> '° 



Elevations referred to Beach above Sea 

 Lake Ontario, 247 feet above Sea. 



Scarioro 



^l Cayuga 



Map of the Western Portion of L.^ke Iroquois surrounded by the Iroquois Beach, as identified by the author, 

 author, upon the Canadian side of the lake and at the northern end in New York; and by Mr. Gilbert from 

 Niagara Hiver to Adam's Centre. 



(2.) Location of the Iroquois Beach. — This beach skirts the Canadian shores of 

 Lake Ontario at a distance of usually from two to four miles. From the head of the lake, 

 it may be followed for 150 miles to near Belleville. It then sweeps around into the embay- 

 ment north of Oak Hills. To the northward and eastward, the lake of this epoch covered 

 the great triangular area between the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence Elvers, sending an arm 

 far up the valley of the former river. The lake in this region contained many islands of 

 Laurentian rocks. The marginal shores of thi.s portion of the lake have not been followed, 

 although many fragments, doubtless belonging to it, have been seen ; but the difhculties 

 of tracing any beach among islands of crystalline rocks, through a country covered with 

 very little drift soil, dotted with numerous swamps and lakes, and still mostly wooded, 

 is readily appreciated. The boundary of the western part of Lake Iroquois is shown on 

 the above map. 



