44 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



but since they were tending toward the Lake Iroquois level, having 

 the outlet at Rome to the Mohawk valley, they have more properly 

 been called hyper-Iroquois. 



From, the Warren to the Iroquois plane the lake waters fell 

 through 440 feet of vertical distance (Warren level in central New 

 York about 880, Iroquois about 440), and long pauses must have 

 occurred during the lowering of the great volume of water and the 

 cutting of the huge canyons and cataract cliffs in the Syracuse 

 region which rival those of the present Niagara. Only one of these 

 stages has been recognized, namely, that which produced the strong 

 beach first discovered in the Seneca valley and named the Geneva 

 beach, the producing waters being called Lake Dana. 



The altitude of Lake Dana is 700 feet, or 180 feet under the 

 Warren plane. Its outlet is believed to have been the capacious 

 channel leading east from Marcellus, as that is the only strong 

 channel with the proper hight. 



Numerous and indubitable evidences of this water surface have 

 been found in wave-cut notches and spits of gravel on the hills as 

 far west as Buffalo. Theoretically it should extend westward over 

 the same general area as the Warren, and many evidences of standing 

 water have been found in the Erie district at the Dana level, declin- 

 ing westward in accord with all the water planes, but no con- 

 tinuous beaches are found as the waters were too transient to do 

 much work under unfavorable conditions. Lying 180 feet under 

 the Warren plane the Dana plane passes under Lake Erie in the 

 neighborhood of Westfield. Eastward, strong bars have been found 

 at Fayette, between Seneca and Cayuga lakes. 



SHORE LINES OF THE GREATER LAKES 

 General description of the beaches 



The general relation of the ancient lake beaches to the present 

 geography can be more clearly understood by examination of the 

 maps than by verbal description alone. By reference to the maps 

 [pi. 2-6] it will be seen that the several beaches lie in a belt which 

 has, in general, a straight course across the entire area, with north- 

 east by southwest direction from State Line to Indian Falls, a 

 distance of nearly 90 miles. The chief exception to the above 

 statement is the embayment at the Cattaraugus, which however 

 affects only the higher beaches. It will also be seen that in the 

 stretch from State Line to Silver Creek, about 38 miles, the beaches 

 lie close together and parallel with each other and with the present 

 shore of Lake Erie, which is only i to 3 miles away. At the embay- 



