from the melting of the Quaternary Glacier. 93 
To make the depositions extend up to a common level across 
a valley, or to approximate to this condition, either (1) the val- - 
ley must have no outlet and the water therefore no current or 
velocity, so that contributions from the bordering slopes shall 
deposit equally, as nearly as possible, over the general area ; 
or (2) the amount of transported material must be so large that 
transportation and friction use up the working force of the 
stream and reduce its velocity almost to zero. 
_ Neither of these conditions was a fact in the flooded Connect- 
icut. This is manifest from the varying nature of the deposits ; 
and from the obliqne lamination and flow-and-plunge structure 
characterizing the bedding in many parts of the valley. It is 
equally evident from the fine straticulation of the sand-beds. 
Had the stream been so clogged by its transported material as 
nearly to lose its motion, the assorting and stratifying action of 
flowing water would not have been exhibited so universally, and 
especially not in producing so generally a fine straticulate bed- 
ding of the sands and clays, the little layers of the beds but a 
fraction of an inch thick. This structure, like the same in 
the alluvium of the Nile, is proof of deposition by flowing 
waters, for each little layer required a separate special act in the 
flowing movement, or else successive conditions of supply and 
deficiency such as come by the changes of the day, or season, 
or year. From one end of the valley to the other there is this 
evidence in favor of the Connecticut's having been, through all 
the flood, a free-flowing stream, very much as now 
depositions, the current where of greatest velocity locating the 
channel, and retardation either side by friction along with the 
attendant conditions of eddies locating the depositions. 
Further, as is illustrated in all modern streams, a channel- 
way should have steep sides. The present pitch of the terrace- 
fronts toward the river, 35° to 42°, corresponds to the angle 
of rest in sliding gravel or sand when dry or nearly so. How- 
ever steep the fronts at their formation, the retreat of the 
Waters at any time would have left them to this treatment 
of gravity, whether formed as the flood rose, or by abrasion 
=e the riverward margin of the terraces while it was declin- 
The channel-way being thus the result of the dynamics of 
flowing water, no ice was needed along it, or “kame” ridges 
on its sides, to fix its shape or limits : 
he extensive terrace-formations of the Sacramento River 
valley, in California, among the first studied by the writer (a 
