GLACIAL WATERS IN CENTRAL NEW YORK 



33 



vation of features and accessibility to observation it is the hand- 

 somest glacial lake outlet channel in the State. The western end 

 of the channel [pi. 19, fig. 2] is 3 miles southeast of the center of 

 Syracuse, and the mouth of the cut forms a V-shaped gorge descend- 

 ing abruptly to the Butternut creek nearly 2 miles north of James- 

 ville. It is 2 \ miles long, 800 to 1000 feet wide at the bottom, and 

 125 to 150 feet deep in rock. The nearly vertical bare walls of 

 limestone have given it the local name of " Rock Cut," but since 

 it is traversed by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Rail- 

 road, and is the only channel in the district so utilized, the name 

 Railroad channel is more distinctive. Unlike the channels in 

 shale, which are liable to be more or less V-shaped by the weather- 

 ing and storm wash of the walls, merely the edges of the channel 

 floor are covered by a talus. The floor is nearly level throughout, 

 with an elevation of about 540 feet. Like the Reservoir channel 

 it lies directly athwart the direction of the glacier movement, with 

 both ends high in the air, the intake being 140 feet above the 

 bottom of the Onondaga valley, less than a mile away. 



The highest channel of this group is the stream-cut bluff lying 

 along the south side of the road leading west from James ville, the 

 highway resting on the rather indefinite terrace and the village 

 being at the mouth of the shallow gorge terminating the channel. 

 Close on the north is the canyon, cataract and lake which has been 

 named after the village, which lies near the terminus of the gorge. 

 Above the cataract, on the west, the limestone is worn and ter- 

 raced in a manner characteristic of the swift waters of " rapids." 

 The cataract is a semicircular amphitheater, perhaps 800 feet in 

 diameter, with steep limestone walls 160 feet high. In the plunge- 

 basin repose the green waters of Jamesville lake, 60 feet deep, 

 about 400 feet wide and 500 feet long [pi. 22, 23]. 



Between the Jamesville canyon, 760 feet altitude, and the Rail- 

 road canyon, 540 feet, the rock is carved into a series of anasto- 

 mosing channels and terraces, partially depicted on plate 4. Several 

 plunge-basins occur in these channels, though none hold water 

 permanently. 



The large volume of delta rubbish which must have been pro- 

 duced by the excavation of the gorges in limestone is not found in 

 large amount near the canyon mouths. A remnant of the boulder 

 deposit from the Jamesville canyon is found at the northern edge 

 of the village, and relics of the transportational work of the Rail- 

 road river lie either side of the valley road a mile north of James- 



