CHAPTER XVII. 



GLACIAL LAKE WHITTLESEY. 



By Frank B. Taylor. 



GENERAL FEATURES. 



The history of Lakes Whittlesey and Arkona is so intimately interwoven that a description 

 of either one involves many references to the other. Although Lake Whittlesey came after 

 Lake Arkona in time, it stood at a higher level, coming into existence in consequence of a 

 readvance of the ice front up the slope of the "thumb" to Ubly. This readvance raised the waters 

 of the Huron-Erie basin to the level of the Whittlesey (Belmore) beach. 



The Whittlesey beach is one of the strongest and best developed in the Great Lakes region. 

 It was recognized as a "lake ridge" in Ohio and Michigan at an early day and in many places 

 was used by the early inhabitants as a highway. Mr. Leverett * has published an account of the 

 early literature relating to this beach and has described the beach itself in detail. It does not 

 seem necessary to do more here than to summarize his description briefly and to add a few 

 recently ascertained particulars. 



WHITTLESEY BEACH IN MICHIGAN. 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The Whittlesey beach lies below theMaumee beaches and above the Arkona. From the Ohio- 

 Michigan line directly south of Adrian it runs north nearly to Adrian and thence nearly straight 

 northeast for about 80 miles to Romeo, where it turns east and southeast to Richmond. Here 

 it turns again at a sharp angle and runs directly north to Avoca and then northeast to a large 

 spit at Spring Hill. Northward from this point it takes an irregular course to the head of the 

 outlet at Ubly. North of Spring Hill it is faint where it formed the west shore of the Black 

 River Bay of Lake Whittlesey, but it is strongly developed on many bars and islands that 

 existed in this bay. It fades out in the shallow extension of the bay northward from 

 Carsonville. (See PI. XVI.) 



BETWEEN THE OHIO LINE AND SPRING HILL. 



The Whittlesey beach crosses the Ohio line in the southwest corner of sec. 4, Ogden 

 Township, Lenawee County, where it is a strong ridge of sandy gravel convex to the east. About 

 If miles east of this point or about 1£ miles northwest of Metamora, Ohio, an oval-shaped island 

 fragment of the Whittlesey beach less than an eighth of a mile long and composed wholly 

 of beach gravel rises 6 or 7 feet above the surrounding clay plain. Such a feature is very 

 exceptional on the openly exposed shores of the glacial lakes in a region so flat as this. 

 Where the country is hilly, as in western New York along the line of this beach, islands 

 were common enough, and there were many in Black River Bay north of Spring Hill. 



After running about 10 miles a little west of north in rather weaker expression, the beach 

 turns northeast along the inner side of the Defiance moraine, passing about 3 miles east of 

 Adrian, and is crossed by the Wabash Railroad at Holloway. Five miles east of Tecumseh 

 it enters the Ann Arbor quadrangle. Thence it runs northeast through Lake Ridge and York, 

 passes 3 miles east of Ypsilanti, and goes through Cherry Hill to Plymouth. In this area it has 

 been traced in detail by Mr. Leverett. 2 It is generally a very strong ridge, with rather 



i Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 41, 1902, pp. 741-742, 745-757. 



= Ann Arbor folio (No. 155), Geol. Atlas U. S., U. S. Geol. Survey, 190S, pp. 7-8. 



