70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



necting arm between the two larger lakes was also shorter and 

 somewhat wider. The larger Lake Pleasant spread over most of 

 the swampy area just east and north of the present lake, and also 

 probably sent a long narrow arm northward to cover the area of 

 Elm lake. The former water level was, and the present one is, held 

 up by Pleistocene deposits east of Speculator. 



Piseco lake. There is positive evidence that the water of Piseco 

 lake formerly stood fully 20 feet higher as shown by the perfectly 

 developed delta sand flats at an altitude of something over 1680 

 feet in the vicinity of Rudeston and Piseco at the south end of the 

 lake. During this higher water stage, a long arm extended north- 

 ward to include even Fawn lake. A perfectly continuous swamp 

 (old lake) area reaches from Piseco to Fawn lake and the greater 

 elevation (1695 feet) of Fawn lake is readily explained as due to 

 the Postglacial differential elevation of the land increasing north- 

 ward at the rate of several feet a mile. 



Oxbow and Hamilton lakes. These two lakes were certainly 

 a few^ feet higher formerly so that the water spread over the swamp 

 areas just northward in each case. The waters of these lakes are 

 held in by drift dams. 



Other lakes. Several small lakes deserving special mention be- 

 cause of their remarkable situations on mountain side or top are: 

 Johnson Vly lake (altitude 1980 feet) 2)4 miles northeast of Guide 

 Board hill; Loomis pond (altitude 2240 feet) i mile north of North 

 Branch mountain: Buck pond (altitude 2550 feet) i}^ miles 

 northeast of Whitehouse ; and Three ponds (altitude 2480 to 2600 

 feet) on Three Ponds mountain. Perhaps the most remarkable is 

 Buck pond situated almost at the summit of a steep mountain which 

 rises over 1400 feet above the river level. All these small lakes 

 are of the usual glacial type with drift dams and afiford positive 

 evidence for a depth of ice great enough to cover the mountains on 

 which they occur. 



All other lakes of the quadrangle are likewise held up by drift 

 dams. 



The gorge of West Branch 



The gorge of the West Branch Sacandaga river is situated be- 

 tween 2 and 3 miles west of Whitehouse. For a half mile the 

 practically perpendicular rock walls of this narrow gorge rise from 

 200 to 300 feet. The river has just room enough at the bottom. 

 It seems certain that the river here flows in a Postglacial channel. 

 Such high, steep rock walls could scarcely have withstood the rav- 



