140 PLEISTOCENE OF INDIANA AND MICHIGAN. 



the south side of the lake and reaches a height of about 85 feet above it; in its highest part it 

 incloses a kettle or basin which is at lake level. East and west of the lake basin are sandy 

 and gravelly ridges 10 to 40 feet high. A short distance north of the lake a till ridge rises 50 

 to 60 feet above the lake and 30 to 40 feet above the general level of the country. 



Five miles northwest of High Lake along the valley of Turkey Creek another system of 

 esker-like ridges, noted and mapped by Dryer, 1 inclose the basin of a lake about 50 acres in 

 extent, known as Gordys Lake. The main ridge is 15 to 30 feet high and connects at the north 

 with a plexus of ridges and mounds of corresponding heights. The lake has a maximum depth 

 of 35 feet. Dryer suggested the term "esker lakes" for lakes of this class, whose existence and 

 outline depend so largely on the presence of eskers. 2 



STRUCTURE OF THE DRIFT. 



In Noble County the moraine bears gravel knolls and short esker-like ridges as well as 

 knolls and ridges of loose-textured till. In Kosciusko County it has fewer gravel knolls (though 

 these are common near Boydstown Lake) and a more clayey till. In Elkhart County it has a 

 conspicuous gravel accumulation in the massive knoll south of New Paris, but elsewhere is 

 mainly till so far as exposed. 



The most conspicuous gravel knolls in the tract west of Elkhart River and the ones drawn 

 upon for ballast for miles around are near the corners of sees. 26, 27, 34, and 35 and along the 

 line of sees. 21 and 22, T. 36 N., R. 5 E. Much of the moraine in Elkhart and Kosciusko counties 

 is a clayey till which was once timbered with beech and maple. 



Bowlders, mainly granite, are numerous all along the moraine and especially on the sharp 

 knolls and ridges. A few of red jasper conglomerate were noted. 



Few records of wells sufficiently deep to show the structure of the lower part of the drift 

 were obtained. As a rule wells strike a water-bearing sand or gravel under a thin sheet of till, 

 their depth being 20 to 30 feet. 



Records of a few deep wells at farmhouses in the undulating tract west of Turkey Creek 

 were obtained. The well of Solomon Pebble, in sec. 3, T. 35 N., R. 5 E., on ground about 875 

 feet above sea level, is 230 feet deep, and terminates in sand and gravel under a thick bed of till. 

 The well of Noah Bare, in sec. 15, T. 35 N., R. 5 E., on ground about 860 feet above sea level, 

 is 148 feet deep; it passes through yellow till, 10 feet; blue till, 100 feet; yellow till, 30 feet; 

 gravel, 8 feet, bearing water having a head 60 feet below the surface. A neighboring well in 

 sec. 16 is 175 feet deep. The well of James Brown, in sec. 36, T. 35 N., R. 5 E., on ground about 

 840 feet above sea level, is 106 feet deep; it passes through surface till for 40 feet, and is thence 

 in sand and gravel to the bottom. Neighboring wells in sec. 30, T. 35 N., R. G E., are nearly 

 100 feet deep and are largely in blue till. The well of Charles Michael, in sec. 25, T. 36 N., R. 

 5 E., on ground about 880 feet above sea level, is 157 feet deep, largely through till; near the 

 bottom it struck water that has a head 50 feet below the surface. 



OUTWASH. 



Along the outer or southwest face of the moraine from the Barbee Lakes and west end of 

 Tippecanoe Lake to Milford is a gravel plain apparently formed as an outwash from the moraine. 

 When first settled it was largely prairie, the part from Leesburg northward being known as 

 Turkey Prairie and that near the west end of Tippecanoe Lake as Bone Prairie. A gravelly 

 and sandy tract between the Barbee Lakes and Boydstown Lake in eastern Kosciusko County 

 has a northwestward slope that seems to indicate derivation from the moraine of the Huron- 

 Erie lobe which lies southeast of this tract, rather than from the moraine of the Saginaw lobe 

 north of it. 



A gravelly plain follows the Turkey Creek valley from Milford down to Elkhart River along 

 the western or outer border of the main moraine. It continues down Elkhart River to the St. 



1 Loc. cit. 



2 Dryer also suggests that the plexus of ridges north of Gordys Lake forms an esker delta. In the present writer's opinion it is quite as likely 

 to form the head of the esker, as eskers leading away from such a plexus are common. In this particular case also drainage is more likely to have 

 been southward toward the ice margin than northward into the ice sheet. 



