NIPISSING GEEAT LAKES. 451 



The strength of the Nipissing as an individual beach becomes more and more apparent farther 

 north as it becomes more widely separated from the Algonquin. 



From Au Sable River northward the Nipissing beach runs for about 1 1 miles, or nearly to 

 Greenbush, as a belt of sandy, gravelly ridges. This beach forms the retaining barrier at the 

 southeast end of Van Etten Lake, and two of its prominent ridges inclose the long, narrow 

 lagoon of Cedar Lake. 



At Harrisville the Nipissing is cut away for a short distance, but it is well formed toward 

 Sturgeon Point and at Alcona. Between Alcona and Ossineke the beach carries the highway 

 for much of the distance through a great swamp. It is strongly developed as a heavy graveUy 

 spit a little back from the point that projects halfway between Alcona and Ossineke. 



From Ossineke to Alpena the Nipissing shore line is a great belt of sandy ridges. The 

 sand is mainly fine and is considerably modified by wind but forms no large dunes. It is as 

 distinct as along the front of the Au Sable delta. South of Alpena it incloses Devil and Mud 

 lakes. Just east of Alpena it passes off the belt of sand and enters a region of limestone thinly 

 covered with drift, where it becomes predominantly a pebbly, gravelly ridge or belt of ridges, 

 in some places changing to a wave-cut bench with more or less of a cliff behind it and in a few 

 places becoming simply a wave-washed rocky slope. 



At Alpena the Nipissing beach stands over 30 feet above the lake, more than twice as high 

 as in the area of horizontality. This widening of the vertical interval below it permits better 

 expression for the so-called post-Nipissing raised beaches below, which were formed by lakes 

 that bore the same relations to each other and had the same outlet as those of to-day, the only 

 difference being that the earlier lakes were somewhat more intimately connected and that the 

 water stood higher in the Straits of Mackinac and at Sault Ste. Marie than it does now. 



East of Alpena the Nipissing beach appears as a gravelly ridge lying about a mile back 

 from the shore north of Whitefish Bay. Fragments of it extend for some distance south onto 

 the peninsula. At El Cajon Beach, 6 miles east of Alpena, the Nipissing shore hue is a strong 

 finely formed gravel ridge at the base of a rather low wave-cut cliff. A mile farther north it 

 forms a high gravelly barrier which shuts off Grass Lake from Lake Huron. Thence northwest 

 to the south end of Grand Lake it runs in great strength, in places as a heavy gravel ridge at the 

 base of a low cliff and in places as a strong wave-cut bench with only a bowldery or rocky slope 

 for some distance below the notch. Near Bell it turns west past the south end of Grand Lake 

 and ends against a vertical cliff of limestone which forms the west side of this lake for several 

 miles. 



On the peninsula of Presque Isle along the east side of Grand Lake the Nipissing beach 

 is finely developed at several localities. Both north and south of Presque Isle post office 

 there are areas over a mile wide and 2 to 4 miles long around which the beach is strongly 

 developed as a prominent gravel ridge. It is particularly strong as a great spit or deep-water 

 bar projecting southeast to Presque Isle from a larger island a mile or two northwest. The 

 quantity of coarse, clean gravel in these deposits is enormous. The body of the peninsula is 

 limestone with very little drift upon it, and this rock has been the principal source of the gravel. 

 Beach gravels are also finely developed on the outer part of the narrow peninsula which extends 

 to Presque Isle lighthouse, but are below the Nipissing level. 



From the north end of Grand Lake the beach extends to Little Trout River mainly as a 

 wave-cut bench and cliff , but in some places as a barrier ridge inclosing swampy land. Beyond 

 the river it lies farther back from the shore and is chiefly a wave-cut cliff at the back of a sandy 

 belt as far as Crawford's quarry, but between that place and Rogers it is a wave-cut cliff with 

 a wide bench covered with gravelly beach ridges. This accumulation of gravel is one of 

 the finest developments of the Nipissing beach on the southern peninsula of Michigan. (See 

 PI. XXVIII, A.) 



From Rogers for 7 or 8 miles northwest the cliff marking the Nipissing beach is about 

 40 feet high. It turns westward at Fortymile Point, from which it continues as a cliff to the 

 east side of Hammonds Bay, where it once more becomes a broad belt of sandy and gravelly 



