34 IT. L. FAIROiriLD — GLACIAL WATERS IN FINGER LAKES REGION 



The eltn'ation of the head of the eliannel, ac^cording to tlie old profile 

 of the Erie railroad, is about 1,400 feet. Near Rock Glen, a mile north- 

 ward, at the head of the open valley, the drift is terraced at an elevation 

 about 15 feet higher than the channel Ijottorn. This water-plane shows 

 well from the valle}^ northward, and glimpses of it may be had from the 

 trains on the Erie railroad. The high-level waters are called the Warsaw 

 lake. These, however, did not long survive nor cover a large area, as with 

 the recession of the ice barrier the water soon found a lower outlet north- 

 westward across the western border northwest of Warsaw. This notch 

 in the valley rim, utilized, as stated above, by the Erie railroad, leads to a 

 small, north-slo})ing valle}^ in which lie the villages of Dale and Linden- 

 The elevation of this outlet is not closely determined, but l)y Erie datum 

 it is not far from 1,300 feet. 



\V\t\\ the first o])ening of this western pass the Dale-Linden valle}' was 

 only flooded by the Warsaw high-level water, and it was a gulf of the 

 Warsaw lake. With further recession of the ice-foot the ridge of land 

 separating these waters from the Tonawanda valle}^ on the west was un- 

 covered and the lowering of the water-level finally made the second out- 

 let effective. No good distinctive name is available for this second and 

 lower level, and we may call it the second phase of the Warsaw lake. 

 It was reall3^a distinct lake, for while the water b}^ the Silver Springs outlet 

 found escape to the Genesee lakes and into the Susquehanna drainage, 

 that by the Dale-Linden outlet Avas tributary to the Attica lake and ulti- 

 mately to the great lake Warren and INIississippi drainage. Some traces 

 of the work of these second i3hase waters are visilde on the valley slopes 

 where the land streams dropped their detritus. 



The Warsaw lake was eventually destroyed b}' the removal of the ice 

 barrier on the eastern border, and the lacustrine history of the lower or 

 northern part of the valley blends with that of the seventh stage of the 

 Genesee glacial waters. 



Genesee Valley 



The lacustrine history of the Genesee valle}^ is remarkable, complex, 

 and truly romantic. Reaching from Penns3dvania northward entirely 

 across New York State and sloping from over 2,000 feet elevation down 

 to Ontario level (246 feet), the valley held waters at man}^ d liferent 

 levels as the ice barrier uncovered successively lower outlets on either 

 side. The waters at various stages flowed into different drainage sys- 

 tems, east and west. At least ten stages are recognized of the Genesee 

 glacial waters. In a separate article this valley and its lakes have been 

 treated at length (see reference on page 28). In one point an addition 



