r40 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of east, some 3 miles to East Syracuse, where it expands into the 

 broad, low plain in which lies Oneida lake. 



Channels between Syracuse and Oneida 



Eastward from Syracuse for 25 miles, to beyond Oneida, the 

 phenomena of river erosion are interrupted and fragmentary,, 

 but not the less interesting. The channels and banks are indi- 

 cated on the accompanying map and pictured in the plates 20-26. 

 Following is a brief description. 



Going east from Syracuse by the New York Central Railroad,, 

 the first of the stream-cut banks, the characteristic river phe- 

 nomena of the region, will be seen 2 miles beyond East Syracuse, 

 at the first road crossing. Close to the railroad on the south 

 side is a conspicuous concave bluff cut out of the north- 

 west flank of the hill composed of Salina shale. The south side 

 of the same hill, by the West Shore Railroad, shows no such 

 erosion. This bluff is a type of the stream-cut banks which 

 occur on the north or northwest sides of the exposed hills or 

 salients in the Syracuse-Oneida district. 



By referring to the sheet, plate 8, the reader will see that 1 

 mile south of the hill above noted a similar hill occurs, which 

 also has pronounced erosion on the northwest flank. Between 

 the two hills is a well developed channel, traversed by the West 

 Shore Railroad. 



Previous to the cutting of the banks on the two hills the escap- 

 ing glacial waters were forced to flow alongside the high ground 

 southeast of these hills and north of Fayetteville. The abrupt 

 slope, fronted by low swampy ground, is clearly shown on the 

 adjoining edges of the Syracuse and Chittenango sheets are re- 

 produced in plates 8, 9. The horizontal, clean cut outline and the 

 abrupt, concave slope are features produced by stream flow, the 

 river having been crowded by the glacier against the rock wall 

 for a long time. The canal takes advantage of this horizontal 

 bank and follows it all the way from Limestone creek east, 

 past Manlius Center, to Green lake outlet, about 2J miles. The 

 same relation of the canal to the banks is preserved to beyond 

 Canastota. In the entire distance of over 20 miles from Syra- 



