Moraines with Baised Reaches of Lake Erie. be 
Taking up now the detailed discussion of the eastern termi- 
nus of the Crittenden beach, we find the beach leading some- 
what directly northeastward from Hamburg to Alden town- 
ship, Erie county, where a branching occurs, the higher 
portion passing E.N.E. through the village of Alden and 
beyond to the western border of Genesee county, while the 
lower portion bears northeast to, and beyond, Crittenden. 
Between Hamburg and Alden the beach traverses the vil- 
lages of Abbotts Corners, Websters Corners, Springbrook, 
Elma Center and West Alden. In this portion of the beach 
distinct ridges are not usually developed, though at one point 
(south of West Alden) three ridges were found with a dif- 
ference in altitude of fully 15 feet between the highest and 
lowest, and at Hamburg two distinct ridges appear whose dif- 
ference in altitude, as determined by Aneroid, is about 25-30 
feet and whose trend is quite dissimilar (see map). The beach 
usually consists of a single main ridge below which there is a 
sandy or gravelly slope on which subordinate lines appear 
which are less continuous than the main ridge and above which 
there are also subordinate lines. The main ridge is, therefore, 
in the midst of the system rather than at its upper limit. 
_ Whether or not this is true of the portion west from Hamburg 
the writer is not prepared to say. The main ridge is usually 
20-380 rods in breadth and has a gravelly or sandy deposit 
8-10 and occasionally 15 feet in depth. At the point where 
streams entered the old lake, notably at Cazenovia creek west 
of Springbrook, at Buffalo and Little Buffalo creeks west of 
Marilla, and at Cazenovia creek south of West Alden, there 
are delta accumulations of considerable extent. These deltas 
contain gravelly rather than sandy material. 
The portion of the beach which passes eastward from West 
Alden has the form of a series of beachlets or short ridges so 
arranged that the eastern end of one lies south of, or outside, 
the western end of its neighbor, the whole series occupying a 
breadth of nearly one-half mile. These extend into the west- 
ern end of Darien township, Genesee county, about three 
miles E.N.E. from Alden station, where they terminate very 
abruptly on a low plain bordering Ellicott creek. The altitude 
farther east is such that the lake could have covered it toa 
depth of but a few feet at most, and this may perhaps account 
for the limitations of the beach. There is, however, another 
feature which may have been influential. A till ridge of 
morainic type begins north of Alden between this outer por- 
tion of the Crittenden beach and the main beach line (which 
leads to Crittenden) and this till ridge leads eastward into 
Genesee county past the end of the beach. It is distant only 
about a mile from the beachlets and has sufficient height to 
