HYDROLOGY. 



131 



Pike river, and left its record in a low beach ridge. The Pike ri^er 

 seems, at that time, to have discharged directly into the lake, and it 

 would appear that there was then as now, a southerly current which 

 forced the stream southward by the formation of a bar and gave it 

 its present course. The gorge it now occupies, it has since cut from' 

 the yielding clays. This little river then seems to teach us something 

 of the past history of Lake Michigan, and since the present shore cur- 

 rent is believed to be due to the prevailing direction of our winds, it 

 perhaps also teaches us something of ancient meteorology. 



The course of the Milwaukee river is even more interesting. It 

 originates chiefly in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties fi'om a 

 number of nearly parallel southward-flowing streams, which gradually 

 unite to form the main river. At "West Bend it turns abruptly east- 

 ward. After passing ITewburg it makes a rude sigmoid flexure to 

 the north, and i-esuraes its eastward course. "When within about nine 

 miles of the lake, it bends suddenly to the right and flows almost di- 

 rectly south parallel to the lake shore for more than 30 miles, being 

 distant from it at some points in its course less than two miles. It 

 really then consists of three portions: the southward-flowing parallel 

 branches, the eastward-flowing portion, and the main trunk flowing 

 south as last mentioned. The course of the river in each of these 

 three parts requires a diflerent explanation. 



The parallel branches occupy so many valleys enclosed by the ridges 

 of the Kettle Kange which here develops a more than usual parallel- 

 ism among its component ridges. At the occasional breaks in these 

 ridges, the streams And the means of uniting. 



At West Bend, where by taking advantage of these interruptions 

 the united stream has reached the east flank of the Kettle Range 

 proper, its course is intercepted by an east and west valley, attended 

 with "kettles " and serpentine ridges, and corresponding to the direc- 

 tion of drift movement, in short, a glacial valley. This, the stream 

 follows to the vicinity of JSTewburg, when it passes across to a parallel 

 valley on the north. These two east and west valleys are entirely 

 analogous to those in Walworth county, already mentioned ; indeed, 

 they belong to one system of topographical features, occupying more 

 or less conspicuously the whole territory between them, and dne to the 

 same glacial action. 



Near the great bend, in the town of Fredonia, the stream reaches an 

 ancient beach line, which marks the shore of the lake at the time of 

 the deposit of the Lower Red Clay, yet to be described. The river 

 follows along this beach line to its mouth at Milwaukee. The con- 

 clusion can scarcely be avoided then that it owes its course to this re- 



