8 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [Vol. VII. 



south boundary of the Park, where the Ontario Power Company- 

 sank a test pit, rock was not found till the hole was down thirty- 

 three feet in the sand, or between thirteen and fourteen feet below 

 the water in the channel above referred to. The dip in this part 

 of the Park is to the south, but it is too slight to account for these 

 differences in level. 



The above facts show the existence of a V-shaped depression in the 

 Park, the rock level sloping downwards north and south, to a point at 

 or near the present gravel pit. The bottom of this depression is lower 

 as it recedes from the river, so that if it were cleared of drift, the water 

 would even now flow down it. It is also generally in a line with the 

 course of the old Tonawanda River across the course of the present 

 Niagara. The course of this channel through Niagara Falls South is 

 not so easy to trace, but what evidence there is, is confirmatory. At 

 the Michigan Central Station at Niagara Falls Centre, the rock is 

 within a foot or so of the surface. In digging the seu^er in front of 

 Victoria Hall, the excavation went down nine feet, six inches, but no 

 rock was found. At the line between Niagara Falls and Niagara Falls 

 South, a well was dug over thirty feet without striking rock, and where 

 the street car turns to go to Drummondville, a well thirty-three feet 

 deep is resting on hard pan, that is, it is not yet down to solid 

 rock. Between Niagara Falls Centre and the Niagara Falls South 

 boundary, the land level rises about sixteen feet, leaving sixteen 

 feet fall in rock level in 960 feet, a difference not accounted for by 

 the dip. 



The next place where conclusive evidence of the channel is found is 

 at St. David's ravine. The opening in the escarpment worn out here 

 is about one and a half miles across. The banks slope gradually as do 

 those of all ancient channels, and have not vertical walls as the gorge 

 and other modern canons have. The old river bed at St. David's is at 

 present used for obtaining the fine sand which is deposited there. 

 These sandpits are very deep, and the arrangement of the sand and 

 gravel in them is very interesting. On the Governor Maitland estate, 

 near them, a, well over 150 feet deep was dug through sand and 

 gravel. Mr. Warder, of Stamford, who dug many of the wells of 

 this district, says that a deep deposit of sand and gravel is found 

 continuously from St. David's Ravine to Niagara Falls South. 

 On the way to the latter place, the depth of soil overlying the 

 rock increases, but the increase in depth, he thinks, is due to 

 the greater accumulation of drift in that direction, and not to any 



