GLACIAL WATERS IX THE LAKE ERIE BASIN 



13 



they lie landward of the water-parting between Erie and Allegany 

 drainage and outside of our glacial lake territory. 



The morainal belt which forms the divide or water-parting from 

 the Pennsylvania state line eastward, along the heads of Chautau- 

 qua lake and Cassadaga and Conewango creeks was called by 

 Leverett the Lake Escarpment moraine, a description of which 

 may be found on pages 654-72 of his monograph, with plates. 

 Streams of the glacial drainage [see p. 19] flowed along the landward 

 side of the Escarpment moraine in the stretch from the Pennsylvania 

 line to Chautauqua creek. Eastward the moraine is cut by trans- 

 verse outlet channels where the glacial waters held in the valleys 

 escaped across the divide (constituted by the moraine) to the 

 Allegany drainage. The drift-filled valleys heading in the moraine 

 at these outlets and leading southward, as shown on the map 

 [pi. 2], are remarkable features. 



West of the meridian of Fredonia the Escarpment moraine is the 

 last one now existing, as below this the north-facing slope was all 

 swept by glacial streams or washed by the lakes, and the debris 

 which the ice had dropped was removed or scattered by the waters. 

 East of this meridian other and later morainic belts occur [see pi. 

 3-6I 



The next succeeding moraine has been named by Leverett the 

 Gowanda. Appearing in fragments east of Fredonia it curves 

 around to Forestville and then swings eastward to the Cattaraugus 

 valley at Gowanda, whence it passes northeast to join the 

 broad interlobate moraine tract in Wyoming county. Near 

 Fredonia we find interesting evidence of the destroyed moraine. 

 Lying 2 miles east of Fredonia in the Belmore (Whittlesey) beach, 

 close to the west side of the Townline road, is a conspicuous mound 

 of till [see pi. 7]. It is evidently an erosion remnant of a frontal 

 moraine which has been mostly removed by Whittlesey waves and 

 Prewhittlesey drainage. Three fourths of a mile southwest from 

 this knoll is another less prominent till mass by four-corners. 

 Doubtless these fragments represent the southwestward extension 

 of the Forestville moraine. 



Another belt of moraine which extends northeast from Hamburg 

 has been named by Leverett after that village. As suggested by 

 him, the ice margin probably extended southwest from Hamburg 

 but the drift was removed or leveled by the glacial waters. An 

 isolated tract of moraine of about 2 square miles area, lying midway 

 between North Collins and Irving and 2 miles north of Cattaraugus 

 creek, probably belongs to the Hamburg moraine. This lies be- 

 neath or lower than the Warren plane, which south of Brant and west 



