ft2 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



and flint, combined like those on Bird Island, at the outlet of the lake, and bearing every 

 mark of the attrition and abrasion of the waves. The rocks are scooped out by. the water. 

 On digging a cellar here, a great collection of lakesand, and another of gravel, were found. 

 Might not Lake Erie have formerly covered the Tonewanto Valley, and formed an 

 immense bay, when the Niagara Falls were at Queenstown ? and on the recession of the 

 cataract, might not Lake Erie have retreated from the valley? Perhaps the stone ridge 

 was the boundary between Lakes Erie and Ontario? or might not Lake Erie have formerly 

 discharged itself by the Tonewanto Valley into the Genessee river ? It is, however, 

 believed by some that this lake formerly discharged itself by the Chicaga creek, and 

 Illinois and Mississippi rivers, into the Gulf of Mexico, before the supposed barrier at 

 Lewiston was broken down. Between Vendeventer's and this precipice are to be found 

 a great variety of fossil shells and petrefactions, embedded in limestone. 



On another occasion I made the following statement in relation to Lake Ontario : 

 " From near the Genesee river to Lewiston, on the Niagara river, there is a remarkable 

 ridge, or elevation of land, running almost the whole distance, which is seventy-eight 

 miles, and in a direction from east to west. Its general altitude above the neighbouring 

 land is thirty feet, and its width varies considerably; in some places it is not more than 

 forty yards. Its elevation above the level of Lake Ontario is, perhaps, one hundred and 

 sixty feet, to which it descends by a gradual slope, and its distance from that water is 

 between six and ten miles. There is every reason to believe that this remarkable ridge 

 was the ancient boundary of this great lake. The gravel with which it is covered was 

 deposited there by the waters, and the stories everywhere indicate by their shape the 

 abrasion and agitation produced by that element. All along the borders of the western 

 rivers and lakes there are small mounds, or heaps of gravel, of a conical form, erected by 

 the fish for the protection of their spawn : these fish banks are found at the foot of the 

 ridge, on the side towards the lake ; on the opposite side none have been discovered. 

 All rivers and streams which enter the lake from the south have their mouths affected 

 with sand in a peculiar way, from the prevalence and power of the northwesterly winds. 

 The points of the creeks which pass through the ridge correspond exactly in appearance 

 with the entrance of the streams into the lake. These facts evince, beyond doubt, that 

 Lake Ontario has receded from this elevated ground; and the cause of this retreat must 

 be ascribed to its having enlarged its former outlet, or to its imprisoned waters (aided, 

 probably, by an earthquake) forcing a passage down the present bed of the St. Law- 

 rence." Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vol. 2. 



The little falls on the Mohawk river, in connexion with the surrounding country, 

 exhibit a very interesting aspect. As you approach the falls the river becomes narrow 



