14 BULLETIN 141, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The lake deposits of this section were prevalently fine grained and 

 the heavier soils of the Clyde series are quite extensively developed. 



There are also areas in Niagara County where underlying till 

 deposits reached nearly to the surface, but were thinly veneered 

 with lake sediments, and maintained for a long period of time in a 

 partly drained condition. On such tracts there is a scattering of 

 field stones of glacial origin which is unusual with any soils of the 

 Clyde series. Probably a part of these stones have reached their 

 present position through having been brought to the low ridges 

 and stranded by the melting of floating ice. Others have been sepa- 

 rated from the till by wave action which redistributed the finer 

 grained materials locally as lake sediment and left the stones in a 

 prominent position at the surface. Such areas give rise to the stony 

 phase of the Clyde loam. 



Throughout the entire region of the glacial lake deposits in New 

 York State limestone rock underlies a considerable part of the plain. 

 It has contributed mechanically divided limestone to the glacial till 

 and both directly and indirectly to the lake sediments. Even where 

 both of these classes of material overlie noncalcareous rocks there 

 is a perceptible admixture of limestone fragments of all sizes in 

 both the unstratified materials and the sedimentary deposits. This 

 furnishes the small or large percentage of lime carbonate which is 

 associated with the subsoils, at least, of the majority of the types of 

 the Clyde series, 

 up to an elevation of 800 feet above sea level. This higher plain is 



In extreme western New York, from Dunkirk to the western 

 boundary of Chautauqua County, in the northwestern portion of 

 Pennsylvania, around Erie, Pa., and in northeastern Ohio, around 

 Ashtabula, the glacial lake plain is very narrow, measuring not more 

 than 3 to 5 miles in breadth from Lake Erie southward. Only small 

 areas of the soils of the Clyde series are found in this region. 



From the vicinity of Sandusky, Ohio, westward nearly to Fort 

 Wayne, Ind., and thence northeastward to the vicinity of Port 

 Huron, Mich., lies an extensive area which was occupied at several 

 successive stages by glacial lake waters. The oldest of these glacial 

 lakes has been named Lake Maumee. This was succeeded by Lakes 

 Whittlesey and Warren. The latter occupied a portion of the 

 higher lake plain in western New York as well as the lower portion 

 of the glacial lake plain in northwestern Ohio and adjacent por- 

 tions of Michigan. 



It is probable that the waters of these several glacial lakes did 

 not occupy the Maumee Valley for any great period of time, yet it 

 is certain that they were present for a sufficient period to establish 

 very definite shore lines on the landward side. These shore lines 



