264 Tlie Parallel Drift- Hills of Western New York. 



dered jorobable by the eyidence we have that Lake Ontario stood 

 for a long time at a point two hundred feet above its present 

 level. This evidence is afforded by the old lake ridge, which, 

 beginning near Big Sodus Bay, extends westward to and beyond 

 the ISTiagara River, at a distance of from three to five miles from 

 the lake. Its height, about two hundred feet above Ontario, is 

 several feet above the summit level of the Mohawk Valley, while 

 this latter has evidently been considerably silted up since Onta- 

 rio ceased to discharge its waters in this direction. Moreover, 

 that there w^as ice not far distant, while this lake ridge was be- 

 ing formed, is proved by the absence of fossils from the ridge 

 itself, and from the heavy beds of clay deposited during the same 

 period. Professor Hall did, indeed, report from hearsay evi- 

 dence, the finding of shells in the ridge, but I am not aware 

 that the report has been verified. The clays are, I am sure, 

 barren of fossils. 



The eastern terminus of the ridge is peculiarly interesting. 

 As shown by the map, near Big Sodus Bay it turns to the soutli- 

 east. It may be traced in this direction for two or three miles, 

 and is then lost in the cultivated fields. Why is this ? 



As has been shown, the surface rocks of this region rise to 

 the w^est of Sodus. ISTow, west of this point, the lake ridge 

 is at about the level of the valleys in the drift, while east- 

 ward the valleys are deeper, and hence a continuous beach was 

 impossible. The waters of the lake did, however, work great 

 havoc with many of the lai-ger hills, evidence of which fact is 

 still apparent in the beds of sand and j'ounded pebbles about 

 them, and of clay in the valleys. Naturally, such evidence is 

 found near the present lake shore, since the first ranges of hills 

 would break the force of the Avaves, and in a measure protect 

 those further south. Again, the ranges of hills still further 

 south, facing Cayuga and Seneca lakes, suffered denudation in 

 the same manner and at the same times, though of course to a 

 much less-marked extent. The beds of sand between Lyons 

 and Geneva, and at numerous other points along the valley of 

 the Clyde and Seneca rivers, were undoubtedly deposited at this 

 period by wave-action. There was thus a belt between Ontario 

 and Cayuga and Seneca lakes protected against wave-action ; 

 here we find the hills nearly as they were left by the glacier, and 



