230 PLEISTOCENE OF INDIANA AND MICHIGAN. 



A flowing well on a marsh near the outlet of Houghton Lake is 50 feet deep, largely through 

 blue clay. 



The glacial drainage from the Houghton Lake chain of ridges was evidently down the 

 Muskegon Valley, for the ridges lie in a sandy plain that extends to the river in southeastern 

 Missaukee and southwestern Roscommon counties. 



HIGGINS LAKE SYSTEM OF RIDGES. 



Higgins Lake lies between two morainic ridges, each of which is several miles in length. 

 West of the lake the ridges seem to be represented by only a single belt, and east or southeast 

 of it by isolated groups of drift knolls, surrounded by marshy plains that extend to the West 

 Branch morainic system near St. Helen Lake, in eastern Roscommon County. The ridge on 

 the south side of Higgins Lake, if a chain of hills east of the outlet is included, is about 15 miles 

 long and is 1 to H miles wide; it stands 50 to 75 feet above the level of the lake and has a gently 

 undulating surface. The ridge on the north side of the lake is about 16 miles long and less 

 than a mile wide; it sets in at the southeast immediately south of Roscommon village, leads 

 north of west into Crawford County, and then westward through the southern tier of sections 

 to the southwest corner of the county. It there connects with a prominent drift mass covering 

 several square miles in the northeast corner of Missaukee and southeast corner of Kalkaska 

 counties that rises fully 100 feet above the bordering plains and more than 1,300 feet above sea 

 level. The slender ridge that leads from this drift mass eastward to Roscommon has a relief 

 of only 30 to 50 feet and rises but little above the 1,200-foot contour. The knolls southeast 

 from Higgins Lake rise 50 to 75 feet or more above bordering plains. The chain of knolls 

 known as Ninemile Hills and the knolls west and south of St. Helen Lake form a natural 

 continuation of the southern ridge; knolls farther north are probably to be considered a con- 

 tinuation of the northern ridge. The relief above the bordering swamps puts these knolls 

 above the reach of killing frosts in the late spring and some of them bear successful peach 

 orchards. All these knolls and ridges are of loose and generally of gravelly drift containing 

 enough fine-textured material to make them fairly fertile, and they are already largely under 

 cultivation. 



The plain bordering these knolls southeast from Higgins Lake and between Higgins and 

 Houghton lakes is reported to have a clay subsoil. The drier parts are under cultivation, 

 but a considerable portion is still covered to a slight depth with water in rainy seasons. East 

 from Roscommon for a few miles and thence southeast to St. Helen Lake a sandy plain borders 

 the clusters of knolls, but the northeast part of Roscommon County is occupied by a fertile till 

 plain. A sandy plain west of Higgins Lake extends southward to the Muskegon River marshes 

 in western Roscommon County. 



This system of ridges is distributed along the divide between the Muskegon and Au Sable 

 drainage, the southern border being drained to the Muskegon and the northern to the Au Sable. 

 The glacial waters evidently found their escape down the Muskegon. The outwash, however, 

 seems not to have been carried far from the edges of the ridges, probably because the district 

 to the south has very little fall. 



RIDGES SOUTH OF ATJ SABLE AND MANISTEE VALLEYS. 



A somewhat complex series of morainic ridges runs along the south side of the Au Sable 

 Valley from northern Ogemaw and southern Oscoda counties westward across southern Craw- 

 ford County to the vicinity of Portage Lake; farther west it is continued by a massive moraine 

 running along the south side of Manistee River from Portage Lake westward across south- 

 eastern Kalkaska, northwestern Missaukee, and northern Wexford counties. 



The outer ridge of this series is a distinct member for 35 or 40 miles. It parts from the 

 West Branch morainic system about 10 miles north of West Branch and 3 miles directly west 

 of Rose City. Instead of turning eastward with the West Branch system it runs northward 

 nearly to the line of Ogemaw and Oscoda counties and there turns abruptly westward. It passes 

 across the southern edge of the southwestern township of Oscoda County and just north of 



