236 PLEISTOCENE OF INDIANA AND MICHIGAN. 



A well at Georges Lake, in sec. 18, T. 21 N., R. 2 E., penetrated 19 feet of till, 91 feet of sand 

 and gravel, and 60 feet of a gray clay called "soapstone," beneath which lay gravelly clay and 

 then sand to a depth of 214 feet. The "soapstone" may be only a hard till. 



A well at Edwards Lake, in sec. 28, T. 21 N., R. 1 E., penetrated sandy clay 48 feet, sand 

 112 feet, red clay 10 feet, and red sand 33 feet, beneath which sandstone was struck at a depth 

 of 203 feet. The well was continued in rock to a depth of 238 feet. 



At Chapman Lake, in sec. 32, T. 21 N., R. 1 E., a well penetrated clay 30 feet, gravel and 

 sand 70 feet, sandy clay 50 feet, sand 20 feet, and gravelly clay 15 feet, below which alterna- 

 tions of sandstone and other rock formations extended from 180 to 403 feet. 



Jacob Schwartz, 1 mile north of McClure, Gladwin County, made several flowing wells 

 just north of the small ridge which runs past Gladwin; they are about 100 feet in depth and are 

 largely through a clayey till. Other borings in and around Gladwin pass through considerable 

 till with thin beds of gravel and sand from which they obtain flowing wells; some, however, 

 are carried into the rock. 1 



OUTER BORDER. 



From Mecosta County northward the district outside West Branch morainic system is 

 largely occupied by sandy outwash aprons, which dramed southwestward through Muskegon 

 and Little Muskegon rivers. The outwash has an altitude of about 1,200 feet in southern 

 Oscoda County and in much of Roscommon County, but from southwestern Roscommon County 

 it slopes rapidly southwestward down the Muskegon Valley. In Mecosta County the glacial 

 drainage led southward and westward through the Little Muskegon Valley. 



In Montcalm County the border is very complex. Its limits are less definite than in districts 

 to the north, and there is some uncertainty as to where they should be drawn. The best-defined 

 moraine runs past Edmore and just east of McBride and Stanton, and then swings southwest- 

 ward toward Amsden. But outside of this there is a district in which sharp knobs and clusters 

 of hills are surrounded by nearly plane tracts. West of these knobs and the surrounding till 

 there are tracts of nearly plane sandy gravel, which may perhaps be an outwash from the ice 

 border at the time the sharp knolls were forming. If these knolls are included in the West 

 Branch morainic system the border runs nearly directly south from southeastern Mecosta County 

 across Montcalm County and passes just west of the city of Stanton. Mount Dodge, the highest 

 of the knobs, situated 1J miles northwest of Stanton, has an altitude of about 190 feet above 

 Stanton station, or 1,082 feet above sea level. From it lower knolls extend a short distance 

 southwest and west, and a sharp range of hills leads northward about to Westville, a distance 

 of 4 miles. These are all gravelly kames, and the district immediately west is a plain of sandy 

 gravel, probably an outwash. 



A small esker at the north end of this range of hills leads northwestward for 3 miles from 

 near the Pere Marquette Railroad about a mile south of McBride across sees. 17 and 7, Day 

 Township, and sec. 1, Douglas Township. The esker is 10 to 20 feet in height, but has several 

 small gaps. It lies in an esker trough, which is rather obscure at the southeast end, but is well 

 defined from sec. 7, Day Township, northwestward beyond the end of the esker to the Flat River 

 valley in sec. 28, Belvidere Township. Its width is one-half to three-fourths of a mile, and its 

 surface is 10 to 20 feet or more below the bordering plain. Its extension beyond the esker is 

 through a tract of sandy till. 



Northern Belvidere Township, Montcalm County, and northeast Cato Township are dotted 

 with sharp knolls 50 to 75 feet high, but much of their surface is very gently undulating. The 

 knolls are gravelly, but the undulating tracts consist of a loose-textured, sandy to gravelly till 

 that seems to merge at the northwest into the great outwash plain along the Little Muskegon 

 River. This district adjoins a strong moraine in Millbrook Township, Mecosta County, which 

 also fronts on the outwash apron. The features strongly support the inclusion of this knolly 

 undulating tract with the morainic system under discussion, though as already indicated a line 

 of stronger morainic features leads southeastward from Millbrook Township toward Edmore. 



i Water-Supply Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 1S3, 1907, p. 114. 



