234 
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters. 
cessive positions of the ice front in its northeastward retreat across the 
Lake Erie basin, but has held that the complete verification of this 
theory depends upon the occurrence of moraines which are the demon¬ 
strable correlatives of the beaches. It is believed that such moraines 
have now been discovered and traced into connection with the three 
beaches which terminate in Ohio. Two other beaches terminate in 
southwestern New York, but since the glacial phenomena of that region 
have not received critical attention, it is not known whether moraines 
occur there which can be correlated with the beaches. The limitations 
of the several stages of the lake, on its north shore, have not been de¬ 
termined. The study is, therefore, far from complete and the present 
paper furnishes but a brief introduction to the interesting history 
which further investigations promise to reveal. 
The facts to be presented are naturally grouped under three heads: 
(I) The Van Wert or Upper beach and its correlative moraine, the 
Blanchard ridge; (II) The Leipsic or second beach and its correlative 
moraine; (III) The Belmore, or third beach and its correlative moraine. 
The names here adopted are those suggested by Prof. N. H. Winchell * 
I. THE VAN WERT OR UPPER BEACH AND ITS CORRELATIVE MORAINE. 
(a) The Van Wert or Upper Beach .—The distribution of this beach in 
Ohio and Indiana, and the southwestward outlet of the lake which it 
bordered, are well shown in maps published many years ago by Mr Gil¬ 
bert.! It was supposed by Mr. Gilbert, at that time, that the beach con¬ 
tinued further east than Findlay, and his maps accordingly contain a 
hypothetical continuation along the north slope of the Blanchard mo¬ 
raine to the Sandusky river at Tiffin. It is now found that there is a 
beach line having about the position conjectured by Mr. Gilbert, but it 
is the Leipsic or second beach, while the Van Wert or upper beach ap¬ 
parently terminates at Findlay, there being in the district east from 
the uieridian of Findlay no beach line outside (south) of the Leipsic 
beach. At its eastern terminus, the beach is in the midst of a plain that 
rises gradually toward the north, the east, and the south, so that the 
lake terminated in a mere point whose waters were quite shallow. 
Along the Blanchard moraine, on the north side of of the river, there is 
no beach line of corresponding age with the Van Wert ridge, though 
sand sets in on the outer slope a short distance west from Findlay and 
reaches altitudes as great as on the beach south of the river. The phe¬ 
nomena along the moraine, as shown below, seem to indicate that the 
ice-sheet overhung it while the lake was still occupying the Van Wert 
beach, and thus prevented the waves of the glacial lake from making 
their impress on the moraine. 
*Proc. Am. Ass. Aclv. Sci. 1872, pp. 171-179. Geol. of Ohio, Vol. II., p. 56. 
1Am. Journ. of Science, May 1871, p. 341. Geol. of Ohio, Vol. I. 1873, p. 540. 
