12 BULLETIN 111, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



A considerable part of the soils of the Clyde series in this section 

 consists of the heavier clays, while smaller areas contain enough 

 coarser material to constitute the Clyde fine sandy loam and fine sand. 



The largest area of the glacial lake deposits of New York State 

 extends from the vicinity of Syracuse to the Niagara River and 

 from the southern shore of Lake Ontario to the bordering high- 

 lands which pass through the western portion of the State at a dis- 

 tance, roughly, half way between the Lake Ontario shore and the 

 southern boundary of the State. From Syracuse to Buffalo, N. Y., 

 the upper limit of the lake sediments lies approximately along the 

 line which marks an elevation of 1,000 feet above sea level. At 

 higher altitudes there were only local lake deposits, while even below 

 the 1,000-foot .contour line there are many higher lying ridges and 

 hills which were probably not covered by lake waters for a sufficient 

 period of time to give rise to distinctively glacial lake deposits. 



This portion of the glacial lake province is also marked bj^ great 

 differences in altitude and surface configuration. Along the shore 

 of Lake Ontario the surface of. the land lies at 250 to 300 feet above 

 tide level or approximately from the level of the lake to elevations 

 of 50 feet above its waters. Thence a narrow belt, ranging from 

 10 to 15 miles in width from north to south, lies in the Lake Iroquois 

 plain, formed at the latest stages of glacial lake occupation. This 

 area slopes gently downward from altitudes of 130 feet to the shore 

 of the lake. It is usually bordered at the higher altitude by a grav- 

 elly and sandy shore line. Other minor ridges of a similar nature 

 extend in a generally parallel direction with the present shore line 

 and at positions intermediate between the higher shore line of the 

 glacial Lake Iroquois and the present shore of Lake Ontario. 



From Oswego County westward, and particularly in Wayne and 

 eastern Monroe Counties and in the region immediately south of 

 them, there are numerous lenticular hills (known geologically as 

 "drumlins"). They are also found through the lake plain region 

 at all elevations as far west as Erie County, N. Y. They rise to 

 maximum elevations of 150 feet above the adjacent lowlands and 

 will probably average an altitude of 75 to 100 feet in elevation along 

 their crests. They consist of glacial till and are merely surrounded 

 in the majority of instances by the sedimentary deposits of the sev- 

 eral glacial lake occupations of the general territory. 



The lower lying land areas, lake sediments in the main, consist 

 of very similar materials reworked by glacial waters and redeposited. 

 The surface of the majority of areas of this character is remarkably 

 flat or uniform in slope in the area which was covered by the glacial 

 Lake Iroquois. The greater part of the sediments of this body of 

 water lie in such positions as to be fairly drained, except in the ex- 



