234 R. S. TARR — DRAINAGE FEATURES OF CENTRAL NEW YORK 



broadly open valley, flow toward a narrowing section of the valley, pass 

 through a gorge with rock walls and drift floor, and thence on into 

 another broader section. These conditions may best be understood by 

 describing several specific instances. 



Seneca and Cayuga valleys. — In both these valleys (plate 37) there is an 

 open trough southward across the present divide, which is in drift; and in 

 both cases one side, and in some cases both sides of the valley have pre- 

 cipitous sides. A canal and a railway have passed across the Seneca 

 divide with moderate grade, and a railway with a somewhat steeper 

 grade passes through the Cayuga trough. In these two valleys the 

 topography does not demonstrate the exact location of the earlier divide 



The Chemung near Elmira. — From Corning to Elmira there is a broad 

 valley swinging northward past Horseheads, and followed by two rail- 

 roads (see plate 40). The Chemung river leaves this valley near Big 

 Flats and makes a cross-cut to Elmira behind a high mass of hills. 

 This section of the valley is much narrower than the abandoned portion 

 past Horseheads, and it flares both ways from a narrow gorge section, 

 evidently the site of an old divide. No rock is encountered by the 

 stream, and the valley is partly filled and clogged with glacial drift, in- 

 cluding well defined moraines. 



Near this region there are four smaller hills, with valleys behind them 

 flaring both ways from a central divide, which bear a close resemblance 

 to the valley followed by the Chemung. Two of these lie about 2 miles 

 southwest of Elmira (see plate 41, figure 1), one about 2 miles northeast, 

 and one about 2 miles northwest of Horseheads (see plate 40). If the 

 plain of outwash gravels over which the Chemung flows had been built 

 100 feet higher, there would be in these cases an almost exact duplica- 

 tion of the conditions in the Chemung valley, only on a smaller scale 

 (see plate 40). 



Cayuta valley. — Next to the Chemung river, Cayuta creek is the longest 

 stream on the Watkins Glen quadrangle. It is, however, joined by no 

 large tributaries, and for most of the distance its divide is within from 

 2 to 4 miles of the creek. Its valley has two narrow, gorge-like sections, 

 in each case with a broadening of the valley in both directions from the 

 narrow portion (see plate 37). One of these narrow sections is about 

 midway between Cayuta and Rodbourn and one between Van Etten and 

 Waverly. The topography clearly indicates that the narrow sections 

 were the sites of earlier divides, and that parts of three stream systems 

 have been united to form a single creek. One portion was tributary to 

 the Seneca valley, one flowed eastward past Spencer, and the third, as 

 now, southward to the Chemung river at Waverly. This valley is fol- 



