262 H. L. Fair child — Glacial Lakes in Central New York. 



Water levels between Lakes Dana and Lroquois. — In the 

 district south and east of Syracuse there are several other 

 abandoned channels. All are lower than those described 

 above ; some of them are in rock and of great capacity. The 

 most interesting ones are the sluiceways which carried east- 

 ward the overflow of Warren and Dana Lakes, and which con- 

 stitute, with the Gulf and Cedarvale channels, a connected 

 series (see page 251). All this series lie transverse to the 

 present drainage and conveyed eastward, across the intervening 

 high lands, the waters impounded by the ice-dam in the north 

 and south' valleys. The flood poured into the Onondaga 

 Yalley from the hypo-Warren and Dana Lakes by the Cedar- 

 vale channel was carried over to the Butternut Yalley by three 

 successive channels lying southeast of Syracuse and near James- 

 ville. The lowest and most important is a great " rock cut," 

 three miles southeast of Syracuse. While perhaps not the 

 largest, this channel is the finest, the most typical, and the 

 most easily seen of any glacial channel in New York. It is 

 about three miles long and is traversed, its whole length, by 

 the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad, and has been 

 named the " Railroad" channel. The walls are nearly vertical 

 bare rock, 125 to 150 feet high, and the bottom of the cut will 

 average 900 feet wide. 



The water was conveyed eastward from the Butternut 

 Yalley to the Limestone Yalley by other great rock channels, 

 the largest and latest one heading opposite the mouth of the 

 Railroad channel and extending somewhat over three miles to 

 High Bridge, south of Fayetteville. The Syracuse sheet of 

 the topographic map well portrays the Railroad channel, but 

 the High Bridge channel is not well delineated on the north 

 side by the 20-feet contours. From the valley of Limestone 

 Creek three channels lead northeast ; the highest of these heads 

 in a cataract, one and one-lialf miles southwest of Mycenae, and 

 joins the second channel, which ends at Mycenae above the 

 Iroquois level. The lower waterway holds Round and Green 

 Lakes, which occupy depressions produced, as pointed out by 

 Dr. Gilbert, by the sinking of strata due to solution of the 

 underlying salt beds. The heads of these three channels are 

 higher than the High Bridge channel, and they probably 

 ceased to be effective earlier. Indeed they were probably the 

 first of the east and west series to be abandoned, excepting the 

 890 feet (" Green's ") channel, south of High Bridge. 



Northward of the outlet series described above, lies another, 

 later, series of channels. The Syracuse sheet exhibits a broad 

 channel,, heading a mile east of Fairmount at 500 feet eleva- 

 tion, which passes eastward directly through the center of 

 Syracuse, where its elevation is only 400 feet. West of Syra- 



