BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 21, pp. 407-432, PL. 31 JULY 20, 1910 



BIRDS HILL, A-N ESKER NEAR WINNIPEG, MANITOBA^ 



BY WARREN UPHAM 



(Presented hy title before the Society December 29, 1909) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction and topographic description 407 



Origin of the name 408 



Structure of Birds Hill 409 



Till overlying the esker gravel and sand 414 



Formation of the esker by a glacial river 417 



Deposition of the overlying till 419 



Depth of the esker shown by wells 420 



Relationship to the Glacial Lake Agassiz 421 



Other esker and kame deposits in the vicinity 424 



Belt of modified drift extending southeastward 427 



Evidence of much englacial and superglacial drift 429 



Conditions of the origin of eskers and kames 431 



Introduction and topographic Description 



Last August, during the meeting in Winnipeg of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, an excursion by 16 of the geologists 

 in attendance was taken for examination of the esker named Birds Hill, 

 adjoining the station and little village of Birds Hill, 8 miles northeast 

 of Winnipeg, on the old and original main line of the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway. This esker, a ridge of sand and gravel, extensively excavated 

 for building and street uses, has a length of about 4 miles to the south- 

 east and east from that station. Both the old line of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway and its newer line on the south have spur tracks or short 

 branch lines for bringing the sand and gravel from the many and long 

 excavations by which much of this esker at each end and along the 

 greater part of its course is being removed for economic purposes. 



The height of the esker is mostly 40 to 50 feet above the level of the 

 very flat Red River Valley plain. Its width, including the generally 



1 Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society December 30, 1909. 



(407) 



