GOWANDA MORAINE. 673 



Wyoming- County, while the remainder continue eastward, past the north 

 end of this interlobate moraine, in part as distinct ridges and in part coa- 

 lesced. While they may have been formed in nearlj^ as close succession 

 as the several moraines of the Lake Escarpment system, they are on the 

 whole more distinct from each other than those moraines, and should not 

 perhaps be grouped as a single system. In the present discussion each 

 morainic ridge receives a name, and the several ridges are considered in 

 turn, beginning with the southernmost. 



GOWANDA MORAINE. 

 DISTRIBUTION. 



The westernmost appearance of the Growauda moraine, so far as recog- 

 nized, is in a chain of knolls which lies along the base of the escai-pment in 

 Sheridan Township, Chautauqua County, N. Y., from near Sheridan east- 

 ward to Walnut Creek at Forestville. On the east side of Walnut Creek it 

 widens out to a strip a mile or more in width, which occupies the entire 

 space between the Belmore beach and the base of the escarpment from 

 Hanover Center eastward to the valley of Cattaraugus Creek at Gowanda. 

 An isolated morainic tract, covering about !2 square miles, .appears on the 

 north side of Cattaraugus Creek, 3 to 6 miles east of Irving, as indicated in 

 PI. XIX. It stands below the level of the Forest beach, yet it presents a 

 sharp knob-and-basin topography. Its relation to the Gowanda moraine is 

 not understood. 



After crossing Cattaraugus Creek near Gowanda the moraine turns 

 northward, following nearly the base of the escarpment past Lawtou at an 

 altitude but little above the level of the Belmore beach. Northeast of Law- 

 ton it crosses over the ridge that lies between Cattaraugus and Eighteen- 

 mile creeks, passing 2 or 3 miles east of North Collins and coming to 

 Eighteenmile Creek Valley at Clarksburg. Thence its course is northeast- 

 ward over another ridge to the east branch of Eighteenmile Creek at 

 Boston Center. It continues northeastward over a prominent ridge between 

 East Eighteenmile and West Cazenovia creeks, and comes to the valle}' of 

 the latter creek at West Falls. Thence its course is more nearly east across 

 a ridge in southern Aurora Township, Erie County, to East Cazenovia 

 Creek, at and north of the village of South Wales. It is not so well defined 



3ION XLI 43 



