REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1902 rll 



in continuation of work done in the two previous years. The 

 following is his summary of the work and his conclusions: 



In the early spring and summer, visits were made to the 

 region of Syracuse and Rome to complete the study of the 

 lower and later glacial drainage. The results of this work 

 are included in the 21st report of the state geologist. 



Late in the summer two short visits were made to the vicinity 

 of Clinton and Utica in continuation of the study of the earlier 

 and high-level glacial drainage. It was found, as expected, that 

 elevated channels, in continuation of those described in the 

 paper published in the 20th annual report, are cut across the 

 intervalley ridges east and west of Clinton and on the south 

 slope of the Mohawk valley beyond Utica. 



The main work of the year was in midsummer and late in the 

 autumn in the extreme western part of the State, in the effort 

 to complete the study of the glacial stream and lake phenomena 

 in the Erie basin, which had been under way for several years. 

 This investigation covers the history of the drainage across 

 the divide and past the glacier front, as well as the phenomena 

 of the vast lakes which later faced the glacier. The early snow 

 of the past autumn, prevented the completion of the work. A 

 few more days of driving will be required to map the channels 

 of glacial flow east and west of the Oatka and Tonawanda 

 valleys. The recently issued United States Geological Survey 

 monograph 41, by Mr Frank Leverett, describes the area in a 

 general way, but the maps of the present writer will give the 

 channels and beaches with greater fulness and precision. It 

 was found the past summer that all the way from Hamburg 

 to the Pennsylvania state line, the steepest slopes facing the 

 northwest had been swept and channeled by streams held up to 

 their work by the ice front. It was also found that eastward 

 from Hamburg and East Aurora all the intervalley ridges have 

 been crosscut by the flow of the glacial waters. The correlation 

 of these channels with the valley lakes is an interesting study. 

 Where the lower of these channels opened into lakes Whittlesey 

 and Warren, 1 deltas were formed of wide extent. These are 

 specially prominent at Westfield, Portland, Fredonia, Silver 

 Creek, Brant, Eden, Hamburg, East Aurora, Elma, Alden and 

 Fargo. 



The full history of the glacial waters and of the ice retreat in 

 western New York will make a story of much interest. The 

 prologue may be given here, as follows: 



At its greatest advance in central-western New York the 

 latest, or u Wisconsin," ice sheet had at its front a reentrant 



'See plate 1. 



