22 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



were attributed to glacial waters held up to the level of the Al- 

 tona spillways, and these waters were called Lake Emmons. 



Further study of the problem led to serious doubt of the cor- 

 rectness of these views concerning the ancient waters of the 

 Champlain valley, and specially of the nature of the so-called 

 Vermont waters, and it became necessary to reexamine the 

 phenomena. 



Under the theory holding the Vermont waters as glacial the 

 summit plane of the marine waters was thought to be repre- 

 sented by the top of the series of heavy cobble bars about Covey 

 hill, with an altitude of 525 feet. The shore features above this 

 level were attributed to glacial lake waters. This view was ac- 

 cepted by Professor Goldthwait, who was studying the marine 

 plane in the lower St Lawrence valley for the Canadian Survey. 



Several considerations, specially the amount of land uplift in 

 the district indicated by the Iroquois outlets, induced the belief 

 that the Covey hill cobble ridges did not represent the highest 

 stand of the oceanic waters, and that the '' Lake Vermont " fea- 

 tures (about 650 feet at Covey hill) were also produced by sea- 

 level waters. At the beginning of the summer's work in 19 12 a 

 field conference was held with Professor Goldthwait and the 

 features on a part of the-Mooers quadrangle were reviewed. The 

 beach phenomena between the Covey hill bars and the Vermont 

 plane are very weak in that district. The lack of definite shore 

 features above the summit plane ol the Covey hill bars, 525 feet, 

 is in strong contrast with the heavy development below that 

 plane. The results of the conference were unfavorable to the 

 view that the land surface above the Covey hill plane had been 

 slowly raised out of the sea-level waters, like the slopes below 

 that plane. 



Immediately following the conference an examination was 

 made of the phenomena on the territory south of the ^looers 

 quadrangle, the newly surveyed Dannemora quadrangle, taking 

 advantage of an advance copy of the unpublished Dannemora 

 sheet. A very unexpected and surprising display of shore features 

 was discovered. It Avas found that south of the Mooers quad- 

 rangle the Covey hill shore features are almost wanting, being 

 replaced in the vertical position by a deluge of sand. But rang- 

 ing above the Covey hill plane is a remarkable development of 

 beach and delta features, reaching up to 700 feet. The strongest 

 display of the cobble bars represents the " Vermont " plane, here 



