THE RECORDS OF ALGONQUIN TIME 



which the Nlaj^ara resurrected. The Lower Reef, at tlie out- 

 let of tlie pool, is the remnant of the breached wall of tiie old 

 gorge; the Upper Reef marks the site of the ancient St. 

 David's Falls. At present tlu- current, dashing along the right 

 side of the gorge, swirls around to the left in the pit of the 

 Whirlpool, swings back upstream into the Lddy Basin and 

 then downstream over the Lower Reef, cutting deeper and 

 deeper into the soft shale bed of the pool and also cutting 

 against the drift fill of the ancient St. David's Gorge. A small 

 stream, Bowman Creek, enters the \\'hirlpcK)l from the old 

 gorge and carries its contribution of rock waste as cutting 

 tools for the Niagara. This section of the gorge, made during 

 the two-outlet stage of Lake Algonquin, is two miles long, 

 showing the long time that the second stage of this lake 

 existed. 



The Records of Algonquin Time 



The rising deepening waters of Lake Algonquin, whose 

 powerful waves beat with force against the shores, built 

 strong beaches which are marked by well-defined cliffs and 

 beach ridges in the landscape about the present three upper 

 lakes — Michigan, Superior and Fiuron. As one drives toward 

 the shores of these lakes, the highway leads from rolling mo- 

 rainic uplands, down over cliff to terrace, and across the sev- 

 eral beaches of Lake Algonquin. In places later lakes have cut 

 away the Algonquin beaches, but in the main these beaches are 

 the high cliffs set some distance back from the present lake 

 shores. Tracing of the beaches shows that the Chicago outlet 

 is choked by the Algonquin beach; that the tip of the 

 Southern Peninsula of Michigan, north of Indian River and 

 Petoskey, was an archipelago; and that only the highest points 

 of Keweenaw Peninsula were above water as islands. \ he 

 great inland lakes of Michigan — Torchlight, Charlevoix, Wal- 

 loon, Mullet, Douglas, Burt and others — with their high- 

 cliffcd terraces, are remnants of lake Algonquin. The "in- 



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