TONAWANDA AND OATKA VALLEYS 66 



of about 1,425 feet, the middle one about 1,300 feet; or about the same 

 as Johnsonburg railroad station. The lowest one is near the valle}^ 

 bottom and bears the village of Johnsonburg, but is a little higher than 

 Varysburg, two miles north. 



The highest Avater plane correlates with a swamp col, an abandoned 

 outlet on the western valley border, about two miles south of Johnson- 

 burg and close to the flag station called Perrys. The Buffalo, Attica and 

 Arcade railroad crosses the swamp a few rods east of the highest part. 

 The channel leads west to Buffalo creek and the Erie basin. The height 

 of this col is estimated at 1,410 feet. The lake held at this highest level 

 should be known as the Johnsonburg lake. The outlets correlating with 

 the two lower water-levels are unknown. They are probablj^ on the 

 western border. Probably the water of the middle level would cover 

 the site of Attica and should bear the name of Attica lake, which was 

 applied hypothetically to all the glacial water of this valley in the earlier 

 published paper. In that case the waters impounded in the lower part 

 of the valley and having the lowest level might be appropriately called 

 the .Alexander lake. The Attica lake received for a time the overflow of 

 the Warsaw lake from the east. 



Oatka Valley 



The upper half of Oatka (Allen) creek lies in a t3'pical pregiacial 

 valle}^ commonly known as the Warsaw valley. "With its steep ice- 

 moulded slopes, its north and south direction, and its heading abruptly 

 in a moraine, it is characteristic of those in western and central New York 

 which held glacial waters. In several features it is the counterpart of 

 the Dansville valle3^ 



A few miles above Warsaw the valle}" ends abruptly in a moraine filling 

 which is the northern edge of a broad belt of moraine drift traversing 50 

 miles of this section of the State. Excellent views of the valle}^ the mo- 

 raine, and the glacial lake outlet are given b}^ two lines of railroad. The 

 Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg traverses, upon the east side, the whole 

 length of the valle3^ The Buffalo division of the Erie passes through 

 the head of the valley, entering from the south b}- the primitive outlet 

 of the glacial waters, and leaving the valley, northwest of Warsaw, by the 

 second or lower outlet. The Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg railroad 

 crosses the Erie and the higher outlet by a trestle at the head of the chan- 

 nel. This ancient river bed is 15 to 20 rods in width and of good charac- 

 ter, although somewhat obstructed b}^ the cuttings and fillings of the two 

 railroads. About a mile from the col the channel passes through the vil- 

 lage of Silver Springs and leads southeast past Castile to the Genesee river. 



