74 GEOLOGY OF ERIE COUNTY 



L,ake Whittlesey, judging from the beaches still existent, 

 covered that portion of Erie county northwest of an irregular 

 line connecting Versailles on Cattaraugus creek with Marilla. 

 Westward, the lake stretched as a long band across northern 

 Ohio, its southern beach closely parallel to the southern beach of 

 the present L,ake Erie. South of Sandusky it spread westward to 

 the Ohio line, thence northward to the neighborhood of Port 

 Huron where it drained through a channel northwestwardly into 

 a lake which drained into the Mississippi. 



Its beach enters Erie county at Gowanda where it is a 

 succession of deep gravel and sand beds. The top of one of these 

 has been opened as a sand pit just above Gowanda at the edge of 

 the road leading to Collins station. Another is open at the edge 

 of the Erie Railway just at the northern edge of the village. It 

 lies parallel to the Taylor Hollow road nearly to that point but 

 curves eastward nearly to Collins station. From Gowanda to 

 Taylor's Hollow it is a strongly marked ridge below which lies a 

 flat delta plain, the Four Mile level. This level is a delta thrown 

 into the lake at this point by the waters of Cattaraugus creek. 

 It extends from Gowanda to Versailles. It is at all points a 

 dead level stretch of sand and fine gravel. At Versailles its 

 outward end shows a steep sand escarpment. 



From Collins station the beach curves back to Taylor Hollow 

 thence it follows the state road through Eawton and North 

 Collins to Eden. It crosses the road twice in a sinuous curve at 

 the north branch of Clear creek and again a mile north. At 

 these points it is a strong sand ridge. From Clear creek nearly 

 to North Collins it lies just east of the State road, which it 

 crosses in a loop just before reaching the village. 



North of the Council House on the Indian Reservation at 

 Eawton is an island of this lake. At each end is a spit, the 

 southern of which is a strong sand ridge on which stands the 

 Council House. 



From North Collins to Eden the beach lies east of the state 

 road but beyond Eden it curves away to the east and crosses the 

 south branch of Eighteen Mile creek at the end of the State Road 

 just north of Toad Hollow. Thence it curves away in a general 

 northeast direction and crosses the north branch of Eighteen 

 Mile creek approximately at the line between Boston and 

 Hamburg. 



