12 BULLETIN 141, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A considerable part of the soils of the Clyde series in this section 
consists of the heavier clays, while smaller areas contain enough 
coarser material to constitute the Clyde fine sandy loam and fine sand. 
The largest area of the glacial lake deposits of New York State 
extends from the vicinity of Syracuse to the Niagara -River and 
from the southern shore of Lake Ontario to the bordering high- 
lands which pass through the western portion of the State at a dis- 
tance, roughly, half way between the Lake Ontario shore and the 
southern boundary of the State. From Syracuse to Buffalo, N. Y., 
the upper limit of the lake sediments lies approximately along the 
line which marks an elevation of 1,000 feet above sea level. At 
higher altitudes there were only local lake deposits, while even below 
the 1,000-foot contour line there are many higher lying ridges and 
hills which were probably not covered by lake waters for a sufficient 
period of time to give rise to distinctively glacial lake deposits. 
This portion of the glacial lake province is also marked by great 
differences in altitude and surface configuration. Along the shore 
of Lake Ontario the surface of the land lies at 250 to 300 feet above 
tide level or approximately from the level of the lake to elevations 
of 50 feet above its waters. Thence a narrow belt, ranging from 
10 to 15 miles in width from north to south, lies in the Lake Iroquois 
plain, formed at the latest stages of glacial lake occupation. This 
area slopes gently downward from altitudes of 430 feet to the shore 
of the lake. It is usually bordered at the higher altitude by a grav- 
elly and sandy shore line. Other minor ridges of a similar nature 
extend in a generally parallel direction with the present shore line 
and at positions intermediate between the higher shore line of the 
glacial Lake Iroquois and the present shore of Lake Ontario. 
From Oswego County westward, and particularly in Wayne and 
eastern Monroe Counties and in the region immediately south of 
them, there are numerous lenticular hills (known geologically as 
"drumlins"). They are also found through the lake plain region 
at all elevations as far west as Erie County, N. Y. They rise to 
maximum elevations of 150 feet above the adjacent lowlands and 
will probably average an altitude of 75 to 100 feet in elevation along 
their crests. They consist of glacial till and are merely surrounded 
in the majority of instances by the sedimentary deposits of the sev- 
eral glacial lake occupations of the general territory. 
The lower lying land areas, lake sediments in the main, consist 
of very similar materials reworked by glacial waters and redeposited. 
The surface of the majority of areas of this character is remarkably 
flat or uniform in slope in the area which was covered by the glacial 
Lake Iroquois. The greater part of the sediments of this body of 
water lie in such positions as to be fairly drained, except in the ex- 
