228 flature'e 



water that flowed off through the great Miss- 

 issippi must have been of enormous volume as 

 compared to the present time. A large por- 

 tion of the delta of the Mississippi which now 

 is a part of the States of Louisiana and Miss- 

 issippi was carried down during the ice-melt- 

 ing period. Dr. Wright as we have before 

 stated has estimated that there are a million 

 square miles of country that has been covered 

 to an average depth of fifty feet with glacial 

 drift. A very large amount of the earth that 

 was spread over the northern portion of the 

 United States by leveling down hills and 

 mountains in the northern country and scoop- 

 ing out the great lakes has been carried much 

 farther than to the margin of the ice sheet. 

 And I have no doubt but that a great portion 

 of Louisiana and western Mississippi is made 

 of earth carried down largely during the 

 period of melting ice and deposited in this 

 great delta. 



Imagine the effect that would be produced 

 by the giving way of an ice dam or a great 

 number of them at different periods, that 

 would allow a body of water as large or larger 

 than Lake Michigan to be drained off in a 

 comparatively short time. When we think of 

 it in this light the great delta of the Miss- 

 issippi is easily accounted for. 



There are evidences of a great lake in the 

 Red River country of the Northwest that is 



