542 JOHN L. RICH 



slight gradient northward as far as Pine Valley where the glacial 

 lake properly began, as to the south into Elmira." 



The failure of these authors to recognize the true beginning of the 

 channel is probably due to the peculiar drainage condition now prev- 

 alent in the channel. Two miles north of Horseheads, Catherine 

 Creek enters the old channel and, turning northward, follows it with 

 very slight gradient as far as Pine Valley, where, one-half mile north 

 of the village, its grade suddenly becomes steeper as it leaves the 

 channel and flows the remainder of the distance to Seneca Lake delta 

 through a deep drift valley (Fig. 7) . 



The question at once suggests itself: Why does Catherine Creek 

 flow northward in the channel in a direction opposite to that taken 

 by the glacial waters ? Tilting of the land may be suggested as an 

 explanation, for it is well known from the studies of Gilbert that this 

 part of New York has suffered deformation since glacial times. 

 Tilting, however, does not offer a solution of the problem, for the 

 land was tilted toward the south, with uplift in the north. This would 

 increase the grade of the channel rather than decrease it sufficiently to 

 cause a reversal of drainage. A more satisfactory explanation may be 

 found in the fact that Newtown Creek, which enters the channel at 

 Horseheads, has built a fan across it, and by ponding back the normal 

 stream in the channel has caused the reversal of drainage. Were it 

 not for this fan, if a lake were now held up in Seneca valley, it would 

 outflow at Pine Valley. Nevertheless, in glacial times the outlet was 

 not here but was one and one-half miles north of the village close to 

 the base of the steep hill at the mouth of Johnson Hollow. 



The channel at the beginning has a width of 700 feet; gravelly 

 bottom and distinct, clear cut, and approximately straight banks 

 from fifteen to forty feet in height. At the first road crossing, one 

 mile below the beginning, a small stream entering from the hills on 

 the west has built a very perfect alluvial fan entirely across the chan- 

 nel and caused the formation of the shallow pond shown in Fig. 8. 

 Below this the channel continues for about one-half mile to near the 

 road leading into Pine Valley. For the next half-mile southward 

 through the village one side of the channel and a part of the bottom 

 have literally dropped out. Near the road the west bank and the 

 west half of the .channel are intact ; the east half of the bottom and the 



