GLACIAL LAKE WHITTLESEY. 381 



In July, 1905, H. L. Fairchild and the writer made some detailed studies on beaches and 

 related moraines in the critical area between Hamburg and Alden, N. Y. Among other tilings 

 the writer recognized very faint marks of the Whittlesey beach for a mile or two north of 

 Marilla, 905 to 910 feet above sea level, the altitude of the upper Arkona beach less than a 

 mile to the northwest being 850 feet. These fragments are extremely faint, but they evidently 

 belong to the Whittlesey beach, for they are only 3 miles northeast of stronger fragments previously 

 recognized and lie in the plane of the Whittlesey beach produced from the southwest. 



WHITTLESEY BEACH IN ONTARIO. 



In Ontario the Whittlesey beach (Spencer's Kidgeway beach) runs irregularly from Komoka 

 northward to Lucan crossing and thence directly north to a fading termination south of Clinton. 

 From Komoka it runs eastward to about 10 miles south of London and thence somewhat 

 crookedly to a little north of Waterford, where it turns directly north, passing west of Brantford 

 and thence northeastward in fading strength toward Georgetown. Northward from London it 

 was traced by the writer, eastward by Spencer. 



ALTITUDE OP THE BEACHES. 



In the area of horizontality, the Whittlesey beach, wherever found in average strength and 

 development as a beach ridge, lies about 735 to 740 feet above sea level. Northeast of Bir- 

 mingham, Mich., however, it begins to rise northward in common with the Maumee, Arkona, 

 and Warren beaches at the rate of about 1 foot to the mile. At Richmond its altitude is about 

 751 feet. Spencer made its altitude 770 feet 3 miles east of Emmett, but this is undoubtedly 

 10 to 15 feet too high. On the great spit at Spring Hill its altitude is about 765 feet and on 

 some of the strong bars west of Applegate about 775 feet. At Ubly, in the head of the outlet, 

 no distinct mark of a water level is visible, but the gravel bars in the upper part of the outlet 

 channel seem to suggest about 10 feet of water, and the level of the floor in the head of the outlet 

 at Ubly is about 800 feet above tide, making the level of Lake Whittlesey at the head of the 

 outlet close to 810 feet. These measurements are all by aneroid. 



In Ohio Mr. Leverett finds from the new topographic sheets that the Whittlesey beach 

 on the front or west side of the Defiance moraine stands pretty generally at 740 to 743 feet 

 altitude but is a trifle lower — 735 to 740 feet — on the inner or east side. This slight difference 

 is thought to be due to the greater strength of the westerly winds. 



Mr. Leverett 1 remarks that "the altitude of the beach has very little variation from the 

 Maumee River near Defiance eastward to Ashtabula, Ohio, a distance of 200 miles, the lowest 

 measured altitude being 731 feet and the highest 742 feet above tide." At the Ohio-Pennsyl- 

 vania State line the Whittlesey beach has an altitude of 746 feet, which is 6 or 8 feet higher than 

 in the area of horizontality. It rises at first gradually, but soon attains a rate of more than 1 

 foot a mile, being 772 feet at Erie, 785 feet at the New York-Pennsylvania hue, a little above 

 800 at Westfield, a little above 820 at Dunkirk, 840 at Hanover Center, 850 at North Collins, 

 890 near Elma station, and a little above 900 feet at Marilla. Thus, from the Ohio-Pennsylvania 

 line to Marilla, N. Y., a straight-line distance of 125 miles, it rises about 155 feet. 



Near Applegate, Mich., it stands about 30 feet above the uppermost of the three strong 

 Arkona beaches, in the Ann Arbor quadrangle about 32 feet above the same beach, and at 

 Marilla about 55 feet above it. It was observed in the field that the Arkona beaches are much 

 better preserved and show less modification in New York State, especially east of the Cattarau- 

 gus Valley than in what appear to be equally exposed situations in Ohio and Michigan. North- 

 eastward from Hamburg this is no doubt partly accounted for by the narrowness of the waters 

 between the ice front and the land, affording a measure of protection, like that in the Black 

 River valley. But it is also due in part to the wider vertical interval between the Whittlesey 

 and upper Arkona beaches and the consequent greater depth of submergence, which reduced 

 the power of the Whittlesey waves. This consideration applies especially to the beaches in 

 New York southwest from Hamburg. 



i Mon. U. S. Geol. Survey, vol. 41, 1902, pp. 755-756. 



