Sandusky Bay and Cedar Point 225 



Recent Ridges. 



Ridge 8 extends along the lake to within 363/2 rods of the 

 Beacon Light at the inner end of the jetty. It is only three or 

 iour feet higher than the valley behind it, but is growing. Its crest 

 is well covered with cottonwoods whose lower branches are 

 partly buried in the sand and whose tops rise only eight feet 

 above it. Several of these cut with a jack knife showed five 

 Tings. It has evidently formed since the jetty was begun, Oct., 

 1896, and probably because of the accumulation of sand produced 

 by that obstruction. At the north end is a group of cotton- 

 woods 11 to 14 feet tall. These may have been a factor in deter- 

 mining its location. Besides cottonwoods Ridge 8 has a number 

 of small willows, but no other trees. 



In the valley behind Ridge 8, is a conspicuous line of drift- 

 wood and many fragments of coal from wrecks marking the place 

 where the waves came before this ridge was formed. 



Ridge 7 is longer, broader and higher, rising 12 to 16 feet 

 above the lake. Its crest is covered with cottonwoods 35-50 

 feet tall growing almost to the exclusion of other trees. In one 

 spot are several buttonwoods 12-17 inches in circumference. 

 There is a willow (Salix amygdaloides) 17 inches in circumference 

 quite a number of white ash, the tallest 6 feet, an oak and a 

 -maple less than 2 feet. Two cottonwoods were found with a 

 circumference of 37 inches. One of them 52 feet tall was cut 

 three feet from the ground and 21 rings counted. As the section 

 was 3]4 feet above the roots and the inner, circle thick, three or 

 four years may be added in estimating the age, making it 24 or 

 25 years. Ridge 7 has no trees much older than this. It prob- 

 ably originated in 1878 the year of maximum rainfall at Cleveland 

 and Buffalo. This is the year in which a ridge was formed on 

 the Marblehead Sand Spit on the other side of the entrance to 

 Sandusky Bay from Cedar Point according to a fisherman who 

 lived there. On September 11, 1878, occurred the great storm 

 described in the first chapter. No doubt this or the storm of 

 August 15, 1879, probabl}^ both, were instrumental in the build- 

 ing of this high ridge. Cottonwoods started on it in 1880 and 

 were not all destroyed by the great storm of April 23, 1882, but 

 their roots more deeph" covered. The ridge was then finished so 

 far as the work of the waves was concerned. 



In the valley behind ridge 7 and resting upon the base of 

 ridge 6 is a line of driftwood, some of it rotten. In it were found 

 a cleat of a boat and a large cinder or clinker. There are also 

 shells of clams and other mollusca that live in the lake. Shells 

 and coal were found both on and below the surface, a fish bone 

 below the surface. 



