Professor Percy Kendull—Glacier Lake Channels. 29 
river, and respectively 450 and 600 feet above its level. ‘hey cut 
across a prominent spur and then coast along it fortwo or three miles, 
and finish almost as inconsequently as they began. (2) A headland, Two 
Howes Rigg, separating Wheeldale Gill from Eller Beck, is trenched 
by achannel about a mile long that carries on the chain to within 
about a mile of the beginning of Newtondale, a tremendous ravine 
that attains a depth of 250 feet where it passes through the escarp- 
ment formed by the Kellaways Rock. 
Professor Bonney regards these ‘ channels’ as relics of a very 
ancient river system that has been encroached upon by a more 
energetic system, namely, that of the Murk Esk. In my first attempts 
to elucidate the river development of the Cleveland area I attributed 
the principal role to river-capture, and presented it for discussion 
at a meeting of the Yorkshire Geological Society, but later, when 
I descended to details, I found insuperable difficulties, and I think 
Professor Bonney will recognize their importance. Firstly, the lower 
channel on Murk Mire Moor—as I have mentioned, begins with 
a perfect railway cutting section within one mile of the River Esk 
and 450 feet above it. The floor falls, not towards the river, 
but away from it, with a fairly steady gradient except for accumula- 
tions of peat and a small amount of running down of the sides. The 
upper channel falls in the same direction, and the channel on Two 
Howes Rigg continues the course, but from west to east. After 
ashort interval the great gorge of Newtondale, falling south, com- 
pletes this series. I ask, is it likely that two rivers could have 
flowed backward across the Cleveland: anticline and away from the 
Esk, the main drainage line of the district ? 
Their sections, as [ have pointed out, indicate that they carried 
a large volume of water. Whence was it flowing? Several alterna- 
tives might be suggested—(1) That the channel had been deprived of 
its headwaters by the widening of the Esk Valley. This, unless the 
course of the Esk has been materially altered, would increase 
the drainage by one mile, and then only on the assumption of 
a vertical side to the Esk Valley. (2) That the Ksk itself flowed 
this way and cut the Newtondale channel as well as those along the 
Moor-edge. Such a readjustment of drainage is not only opposed to 
the whole build of the country, but it seems negatived by the 
behaviour of Wheeldale Beck and Eller Beck, which shows that 
the ‘trespass’ was all in the opposite direction (i.e. encroach- 
ment across the anticline by the Esk by virtue of the ‘law of steepest 
slope’). (8) That there was no Esk Valley at the time when these 
channels were operative and that the drainage of the North Cleve- 
land hills, ignoring syncline and anticline alike, came over into this 
system. Ido not think such a hypothesis needs any refutation, for 
Professor Bonney expresses the opinion that the original watershed 
was ‘‘rather more than a quarter of a mile north of Goathland 
Station”. This is almost exactly on the axis of the anticline. 
A watershed in such a position would, however, attach the Murk 
Mire Moor channels to the Esk drainage, although they slope directly 
away from it. 
(To be continued.) 
