REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1902 1*23 



regarded as the night of the wasteweir during the principal 

 stage of the waters previous to Iroquois time. On the 500 foot 

 contour the valley averages over a mile wide, the widest section 

 being some two and one half miles, at Utica; and it is 36 miles 

 long from Little Falls up to Rome. Such is the basin of the 

 hypothetic lake waters, which probably had existence at the 

 ice front, expanding as the ice front slowly retreated up the 

 valley (northwest) and they probably shallowed or were locally 

 supplanted by alluvial filling successively in the same direction as 

 far as Frankfort. The waters above Frankfort, called the Utica 

 lake, seem to have remained open, with a series of marginal deltas, 

 at 520 feet altitude. The deposits and the river history will be 

 considered later [p. r35J. 



GLACIAL DRAINAGE FROM ONEIDA VALLEY TO ORISKANY VALLEY 



High-level channels on Eaton hill [sec pi. 2] 

 The primary glacial waters in the Oneida valley, Stockbridge 

 lake, were drained down to a lower level when the ice sheet un- 

 covered Eaton hill, 7 miles southeast of Oneida. The bold north 

 front of this great hill is conspicuously terraced and channeled 

 by the rivers which curved about it, held in place by the ice 

 front. These channels are mapped in plate 2. The highest 

 of these channels is over 1100 feet altitude, and the lowest is 

 800 feet. North of the lowest channel is a moraine which was 

 protected from stream erosion by the high ground on the west. 



The two highest channels on the brow of Eaton hill had cata- 

 racts on the east slope, and the cutting reaches down to 1000 

 feet. This indicates that the receiving water on the east, in 

 the Sconondoa valley (which we may call the Vernon Center 

 lake), was standing at about 1000 feet. This in turn indicates 

 that the ice front on the east had receded farther north, being 

 south of Lairdsville and permitting flow into the Oriskany 

 waters at the Clinton stage. The rather indefinite scourway 

 leading east to Hamilton College grounds seems to correlate 

 with the higher Eaton hill channels. 



The above conditions imply still further that the ice front 

 near Utica had receded far enough to allow overflow of the 

 Clinton waters through an 800 foot channel east of Clinton, and 



