of which some are the most noble rivers of the earth. Vet in 

 marked contrast with this northern land of drift, there is not 

 within the borders of the greater number of states comprising this 

 lakeless region a single lake, and within the remainder, with the ex- 

 ception of Florida and Louisiana, but few. The lakes, even <>t these 

 latter states, are mere lagoons or estuaries of the sea where the tides 

 ■ebb and flow, or they owe their existence to abandoned river beds. 

 Unlike the clear, pebbly lakes of the north, they degenerate into 

 dark and slimy morasses of shallow water and miry shores. The 

 charms of our pleasant lake — its popularity with those who seek 

 rest and pleasure here — are no doubt enhanced by the fact that it 

 lies upon the southern borders of this northern land of lakes, so 

 easily accessible from the great lakeless regions of the south. 



What scooped out the basins for these northern lakes, chiseled 

 the gorges and deep chasms for the fiords, and spread the drift over 

 all, in such vast quantities, has long been one of the most interesting 

 and perplexing problems. It has been explained by some upon the 

 hypothesis that has been called the iceberg theory. We are told of 

 a continent submerged beneath a great northern ocean, bearing upon 

 its bosom armadas of glittering icebergs, each laden with a cargo 

 of rocks and earth, and which, like phantom ships, for an epoch 

 drifted southward in frozen splendor. Again, others tell us of a 

 frost-bound continent, most elevated in the north, buried beneath 

 glittering mountains of ice and broad fields of stainless snow, 

 slowly, very slowly, moving southward along a gentle slope, but 

 with immeasurable power, grooving channels for the rivers, scoop- 

 ing basins for the lakes, and spreading everywhere a traveled mass 

 of gravel, sand and rounded stones. It seems that the true ex- 

 planation of this phenomena is that it was the operation of glaciers 

 through vast eras of time, aided by icebergs along the borders of 

 the continent and across its widest waters. 



The point of departure, from whence the <ireat glacier that 

 spread over the Chautauqua basin, and all of the eastern part of 

 North America, started, is located in the highest point in the high- 

 lands that extend between the river St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay. 

 Early in the cold period the snow and ice, which had accumulated 

 in this elevated region, put forth immense toneues. which at first 

 followed the courses of the valleys among the hills of Canada, filling 

 them with ice. carving them wider and deeper, advancing south- 

 ward during the cold of winter, and receding slightly before the 

 heat of summer. As the cold of this period increased in intensity 

 the glaciers increased in magnitude. Having filled the valleys, they 

 ascended the lower hills, moving southward in the winter, and 

 lingering longer there in the summer. At length a field of ice 

 moved across the valley of the St. Lawrence into New York and 



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