492 new york state museum 



Chapter 4 

 Lake shore natural gas belt of Chautauqua county 



The belt of country bordering Lake Erie in Chautauqua county 

 is a beautiful and favored tract. Its southern boundary is the 

 continuous escarpment that faces the lake, five to seven miles 

 back from its shore and which rises to 800 feet above its level, 

 within the distance named. 



The surface of the belt is occupied with two lines of trans- 

 ported material, viz, 1) the glacial drift, with its usual variety 

 of composition; and, 2) deposits from the lake when it held a 

 considerably higher level than at present. Under the first divi- 

 sion we find wide stretches of boulder clay, giving rise to strong 

 but heavy soils; the latter are often blackened by organic matter 

 due to the swampy conditions of an earlier state. Under the 

 second we note specially the extensive beds of sand, gravel and 

 loam which mark the beaches or lake ridges that were thrown 

 down in the higher stages of the water. These last accumulations 

 give rise to warm and mellow soils which are also generous and 

 productive. 



To the advantage of the soil must be added that of climate. 

 The immediate neighborhood of Lake Erie insures late springs, 

 thus averting to a considerable extent the danger from spring 

 frosts; while the presence of the same body of water, warmed 

 by the heat of summer, holds off autumn frosts, thus allowing 

 time enough for the ripening of grapes. 



These two elements, soil and climate, have led to the recent 

 transformation of a considerable portion of this belt into vine- 

 yards, orchards and gardens of small fruits. Probably this fruit 

 culture is more indebted to climate than to soil, for we find vine- 

 yards as successfully established on the heavy clay lands as on 

 the gravelly loam. On the clay lands their fruit requires a some- 

 what longer time for ripening, but is counted of finer quality. 



At best the surface deposits of this lake shore belt are thin. 

 It is rare to go down more than 20 to 30 feet without reaching 

 bedded rock. The largest streams of the district all occupy new 

 valleys, as is attested by the narrow rock-walled and rock-bottomed 

 gorges in which they flow. The altitude of the most character- 

 istic portion of the belt is 650 to 750 feet above tide. The differ- 



