R i: V 1 1: w AN I) iM<i: VI t w 



from all the western distributaries into twtj — the channels 

 around Grosse Isle — leaving the abandoned channels as curi- 

 ous depressions occupied by small creeks or as the natural 

 canals across Grosse Isle. 



Since the establishment of the present lake s\su'ni, i\iai;ara 

 River, with the force of overflow waters from the lour upper 

 lakes, has cut the gorge over two and one-quarter miles — from 

 the railroad bridges to the Horseshoe Falls. 



The Story Unfinished 



Thus reads the story of the Great Lakes — descendants of 

 much smaller, higher, independent lakes which were outside 

 the present lake basins and discharged to the sea through 

 outlets leading to the Mississippi River, thence to the Gulf 

 of Mexico; which grew in size to lakes larger than the present 

 and found eastern outlets to the Atlantic, first by the Mohawk 

 and Hudson rivers and finally by the St. Lawrence — a 

 history and record of which there is no counterpart on the 

 globe. Through all the time man has been on the continent, 

 the lakes have exerted an influence on his life. The old outlets 

 served as highways and portages from one part of the country 

 to another; they were chosen as the sites of forts to guard 

 the frontier; they became the passes for railway, canal, and 

 concrete highway. The ancient beaches served as lines of 

 travel for red man and white, for trails and highways, for 

 roads of rail and concrete; they are the sites of all the forts 

 which commanded the Great Lakes. The lakes lured the early 

 explorers westward as they sought a route to India, served 

 as routes for trapper and fur trader and for the seeker of 

 precious metals, and finally, as the highways of a vast water- 

 borne commerce when the riches of their waters and their 

 borders became known. The old spillwa> s and lake beds be- 

 came the fertile gardens of agriculture. And not the least of 

 their significance, the shores of these lakes offer some of the 

 most magnificent scener>' in the world. 



81 



