Ilesozoic and Caiuozoic Geology and Paloiontology. 295 



until they were in some measure protected by this barrier before they 

 were deposited. 



One of the most interesting of the superficial deposits is the Lake 

 ridge, which, from Sodus in Wayne county, with some trifling excep- 

 tions, is a traveled highway nearly as far as the Niagara river. Be- 

 yond this it can be traced to the head of Lake Ontario. It follows the 

 general course of the Lake; being at its nearest point about three 

 miles distant, and at its greatest about eight miles. In some places 

 it is strongly defined, descending toward the lake twenty or thirty and 

 even fifty feet in a moderate slope. It consists of sand and gravel, 

 and contains fragments of wood and shells, and in every respect it re 

 sembles the sea beaches. It was undoubtedly the ancient beach of 

 Lake Ontario, or a body of water which once stood at this elevation. 

 The top of the lake ridge is 158 feet above Lake Ontario at Lockport ; 

 185 feet at Middleport, and 188 feet at Albion and Brockport. 



Beside this well-defined ridge or ancient beach there are a number 

 of less distinctly defined terraces of gravel and sand at much higher 

 elevations, on the hill sides, leading to the supposition that the water 

 of the Lake stood more than 750 feet higher than at present, or 

 that the country has been correspondingly depressed. 



Prof. W. W. Mather* found that the drift scratches, grooves and fur- 

 rows conform in their directions to those in which currents would flow, 

 if the country were mostly covered by water. In some parts, they cor- 

 respond in direction to the main water-sheds ; in others they do not, 

 but where they do not, the deviation is owing to some topographical 

 feature which disturbed the course of the currents of water. 



In 1845, Alexander Murray f found the drift of western Canada, con- 

 sisting of various beds of clay, sand and gravel, interspersed with 

 large bowlders. The thickness frequently reaches 200 or 300 feet. The 

 clay cliffs of Scarborough, are 320 feet. The ridges running parallel 

 to the north shore of Lake Ontario, are 200 or 300 feet, and the high- 

 lauds in Oxford, are 100 or 200 feet, and even more, and the banks of 

 Grand river often expose a considerable amount of drift. The southern 

 shores of lake Simcoe, are extensive sandy plains, which are in many 

 places thickly strewed with bowlders, and bear proof of having once been 

 the bottom of the lake. Wherever gravel is found, its pebbles consist of 

 limestone, and with the larger fragments of that formation, they con- 

 tain the fossils of the calcareous strata at Rama on the north. The 



* Geo. of the 1st Geological Dist, N. Y. 

 t Geo. Sur. of Canada. 



