M 



LAKI ONTARIO. 



the number of small bays and inlets tli.it 'In circuit i> 

 \. r " mile- The prinri|ial harbor* are Kingston. 

 Cbborg, Tun-iii". nn-1 ll.iiiiili-ni. in Canada: and 

 Charlotte, Oswegn. ami Sackctt s Harlnir in New Y'-rk 

 The commerce of the lake is \vry important ci-nn.v 

 titui being made with tin- Krii- Canal ami tin- Ilud-on 

 River through the Oswcgo Canal, and with the up|-er 

 taken through the Wclland Canal, which connect.- Like 

 Ont.iri-. with Like Krie. the cntramv to the t'ornicr 

 lake being at Port Ii.ilhousie. The level of Lake 

 Ontario if 250 ft. above the ocean. Therefore the !>t 

 lorn of the lake, in some parts, is 350 ft. bt-luw the 

 surface of the ocean. Ontario lieing much shallower 

 than any other of the great lakes (with the exception 

 of Kri-\ the l-ottom* of the iipjier lakes drop to 

 about the siine level as that of Ontario. 



The discharge of water through tin- Detroit River 

 from the lakes above, after allowing for the probable 

 portion carried off by evaporation, docs not appear by 

 any means eoual to the quantity of water wnich the 

 three upper lakes receive. It has been conjectured 

 that 11 subterranean river may run from Lake Ontario. 

 This o-njci-tiirv is not improbable, and, if correct, 

 accounts for the singular fact that salmon and herring 

 arc caught in all the lakes communicating with the 

 St Lawrence, but in no others. As the Falls of Niag- 

 ara block the way, it would seem that the fish readied 

 the upper lakes by some underground river. The 

 theory of an underground river has also been adopted 

 by several scientists who have been watching the 

 variations in the levels of the great lakes. There are 

 two kinds of variations: the annual, which rise from 

 the melting of the snows in the spring ; ami the oce.i- 

 sionnl. which come at various intervals. All of the 

 lake- wc-t of the Niagara River are subjected to the 

 oec:i.-ioiial variations. The period of each rise and 

 fall covers from 4 to 7 years. The variation from 

 lowest to highest points has sometimes been as much 

 as 3} ft- These variations are aside from those can-cd 

 by the winds. In September and Octoln-r Like 

 Michigan is subject to an annual flood-tide. the ebb tide 

 occurring in January, February, and March. Like 

 Ontario is subject to such variations, hut. apparently, 

 in a less degree. The fact that certain of the varia- 

 tion* have taken place at the time variation- were no- 

 ticed in the upper lakes tends to confirm the theory 

 of the underground channel. In 1 ssti the miwrintMM- 

 cut of the U. S. Life-Saving Service, in which Lake 

 Ontario is included, reported that the unusual high 

 water all along the lake had become troublesome. At 

 the same time there was high water in Lakes Krie and 

 Michigan. On the other hand there have been periods 

 when the level of Lake Ontario has fallen to such an 

 extent that the towns along its banks became alarmed 

 lest they should be left in the interior. One reason 

 assigned was that Lake Krie had become so filled uj> 

 by sand brought down from the Detroit River that it 

 had become itself merely a river, thus keeping back 

 the flow of water and allowing it to evaporate in the 

 upper lakes. Another reason given was that the out- 

 let of Ontario, the River St Lawrence, had been so 

 enlarged by the enlarging of a canal at "The Gallops " 

 Rapids that more than twice the usual quantity of 

 water had passed through. In other words, the re- 

 moval of the natural dam of hake Ontario had resulted 

 in lowering the level of the lake. At the present 

 time (IH8H), however, thi-re appear to be no complaints 

 in regard to the level. There are on record a number 

 '>f instances where the level of the lake has risen sud- 

 denly by the appearance of a tidal wave. Such a 

 wave caused the water to rise 22 in. at Charlotte (the 

 port of Rochester} in I sTJ 



Ontario, being the lowest of the I ', real L .ikes and sur- 

 rounded by some of the largest mountain ranges in 

 the country, forms nn intensely interesting subject for 

 ncientific. investigators. The geology and topography 

 of the lake are no combined that they cnnttut readily 

 be separated. The eastern UK! of the lake U confined 



by the L-iurcntian rocks of the Adirondack Mountains 

 of New York, and its out let is over the low and narr\\ 

 barrier of the same, forming the Thousand I-land- 

 The lake itself is excavated out of the soft i 

 Silurian roeks. The northern limit of the basin is an 

 east and wot line, about M miles back from the 

 northern shore. Its southern limit is made by three 

 remarkable escarpments, ranging in parallel east and 

 west lines fpun the Hudson River to Like Krie, caused 

 by the broad outspread and almost imperceptible 

 southern dip of the whole pal;i'o/.oic system, from the 

 I'otsdam sandstone at the bottom of the Silurian to 

 the coal-beds at the bottom of the Carboniferous rocks. 

 The basset edges of the formations make a series of 

 steps toward the north : while down the southern 

 slope, almost from the very edge of' the lakes of Cent ral 

 New York, flow all the northern watersof the Delaware, 

 Susqnehanna, and Ohio liner.-. The lowest escarp- 

 in. -m i- that of the Niagara, or Middle Silurian, for- 

 mation which commences at a slight elevation between 

 Albany and I'tica. along the south side ot 'the Mohawk 

 Valley, and crosses the Niagara River at Ijcwiston. 

 Back of this runs the escarpment of the Hejderberg, 

 or Ixjwer Devonian, limestones, forming high hills 

 south of the Mohawk, but dying away as it approaches 

 Lake Erie. Still farther south, and at a still higher ele- 

 vation, runs the high escarpment of the Fpper Devonian 

 sandstone, from the base of the Catskill Mountains, 

 on the Hudson, to Like Eric. The range runs along 

 the southern shore of Lake Krie into South- 

 Ohio. At an elevation of 1000 11. above Lake Krie 

 are the bituminous coal-fields of Ohio and Pennsyl- 

 vania, and from the northern part of these fields the 

 River Genesee cuts its way through the three escarp- 

 ments into Lake Ontario. In the western and central 

 parts of the State of New York deep valleys have 

 been cut between the middle and upper escarpments 

 and into the Lower Devonian terrace. These are 

 known as Lakes Canandaigua, Cayuga, Seneca. Crooked 

 Like. Auburn, and Skaneateles -all of them, with 

 Lake Oneida, at the foot of the lowest escarpment, 

 drained by the ( )swego River into Lake < (ntario. Hut 

 the principal drainage of Southern New York is 

 southward through the upper escarpment and by deep 

 gorges in flu \lleghcny Mountains of Pennsylvania, 

 by the Eknqvahauna River and Chesapeake May, into 

 the Atlantic Ocean. In Western New York the 

 same set of the waters away from Like Erie carries 

 the drainage into the Allegheny, Beaver, and other 

 affluents of the Ohio, the head waters of which, 

 therefore, overlook Lake Erie 1000 feet from a distance 

 of scarce a dozen miles. Then- are. in fact, several 

 spots along the watershed where the head waters of 

 the St. Lawrence, the Susquehanna. and the Alle- 

 gheny may be fed by the same cloud. Lake Chantau- 

 ijiia. which drains into the Allegheny River, is much 

 farther north and at a much higher elevation than 

 the interior lakes of New York, named above, which 

 drain into Lake Ontario. The lowest or Middle Silu 

 rian escarpment crosses the Niagara River and becomes 

 the constant limit of the basin of Lake Ontario. \t 

 Lewiston Heights it is 365 ft* above the lake. Enter- 

 ing the Province of Ontario it turns about the head 

 :>f the lake and runs to the Georgian May and then to 

 Lake Huron at Cape Hurd. The Blue Mountains of 

 (ieorgian May are of the I'ppcr Silurian strata. This 

 makes Lake Simcoc lie in a hollow of the Lower Silu- 

 rian lakes similar to that which confines Lake Ontario. 

 Lake CliaHiplain. and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 Likes Simcoc. ( >nfario. and Champlain. and the Gulf 

 of St Lawrence would form a continuation of the 

 same water basin if it were not for the rise in the 

 L-wcr Silurian rocks between Simeoe and Ontario and 

 the up|>cr of the Liurentian ro--ks at the Thousand 

 I-lands, below which are all the rapids of th 

 Lawrence down to Montreal. It is, apparently, agreed 

 by geologists that when the whole of this part of the 

 continent was submerged 300 or 400 ft., below the 



