Niagara Falls 



1898 [Review of " The age of Niagara Falls, as indicated by the erosion at 



the mouth of the gorge," a paper by Prof. G. Frederick Wright, read at 

 the meeting of the A. S., Boston. 1898.] (Nature, Nov. 3, 1898. 

 59:16.) 



1898 Spencer, Joseph William Winthrop. An account of researches 



Spencer relating to the great lakes. (Ann. rep'ts of the com'rs of the state reserv. 



at Niagara. N. Y. and Albany: 1899. 15:139-159.) 



This account is taken from the American Geologist, February, 1898, 

 21 :1 10— 123. It gives a brief review of the principal investigations into 

 the lake history with special reference to the author's contributions to the 

 subject. It was read before the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, at the Detroit meeting August, 1897. 



Twenty years ago very little was known of the history of the 

 Great Lakes and of Niagara Falls. Since then the origin of the 

 lake basins has been explained by the discovery of the buried 

 and drowned ancient Laurentian River and its tributaries, the 

 valleys of which have been obstructed by drift, their altitude 

 above the sea now greatly reduced, and their respective bar- 

 riers in part raised up by the recent unequal tilting of the earth's 

 crust. 



The after-history of the lakes has been partly studied, for their 

 old and now deserted shore lines have been approximately 

 mapped over a large area, and the amount of subsequent tilting 

 of these old water lines has been measured. The most interesting 

 feature in their subsequent history is the change of outlets, both 

 past and in prospect. Thus the three uppermost lakes discharged 

 through Lake Huron towards the east, so that the Niagara did 

 not receive any more than the waters of the Erie Basin until in 

 a recent period. This discovery was first made by the writer in 

 1888, 1 although more recently Mr. F. B. Taylor, by a remark- 

 able method of reasoning, has gone out of his way to ascribe it 

 to another, 2 although this other has not so claimed it, so far as 



1 Proc. Am. Assn. Ad. Sci.. XXVII, pp. 198-200, 1888. 



2 Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. IX, p. 180, 1898. Am. Jour. Sci., 



ser. IV, 6:439 n. 



608 



