rl38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



terrace forms the state farm and the plain on which stands 

 Collins village, its altitude varying from 857 to 852 feet. A 

 strong terrace on the valley side south of Growanda has the same 

 altitude as the upper asylum level, or 883 feet. This we have 

 called the John Brown terrace. 



5 Below or northwest of Gowanda lies a vast stretch of gravel 

 plain locally known as the ^' Four mile level." It is mostly 

 included in the Cattaraugus Indian reservation. It seems to be 

 composed wholly of water-laid drift, the surface slowly declining 

 to the northwest or downstream. Its altitude near the Shoos 

 four corners, at the north end of the asylum plateau, is 822 feet, 

 but this is near the head of the plain. It is confidently believed 

 that this great plain was formed as the delta, probably sub- 

 aqueous, of the Cattaraugus creek in the waters of a great glacial 

 lake, which has left as the proofs of its existence the heavy 

 beaches lying either side of the Cattaraugus embayment and 

 around the Erie basin, and known as the Belmore beach. The 

 altitude of the Belmore bars in the vicinity of Collins and North 

 Collins is 840 to 845 feet. This great plain of the Four mile 

 level therefore belongs with the widespread phenomena of the 

 supra-Warren waters, the discussion of which will be taken up 

 in a future paper.^ 



The higher terraces around Gowanda, or those above the Four 

 mile level, belong to the falling waters of the Cattaraugus glacial 

 lake. The highest of these water levels, 1210 feet, is at least 

 100 feet below the level of the Persia outlet, and consequently 

 must correlate with some lower and later outlet. Such escape 

 was probably to the southeast, past the ice front and along the 

 high ground facing northwest. The study of this slope has not 

 been completed, but suflicient has already been seen to give the 



^ The Belmore and Forest beaches, which lie parallel with the Erie 

 shore, have been partially traced in this district by Frank Leverett, 

 G. K. Gilbert and Frank B. Taylor. They are suggested by the contours 

 on the topographic sheets, the Forest beach being 730 feet at Bipley 

 (Westfield sheet), and 770 feet at Brant (Silver Creek sheet). The Belmore 

 beach is about 70 feet above the Forest, being 800 feet at Ripley and 

 840 feet in the Cattaraugus embayment. 



