1 1 6 Tlic Auicricaii Geologist. February, i898 
deformation recorded in the deserted shore at the eastern 
end of the lake;* while the writer surveyed the old water 
margins across Michigan, and on the Canadian sides of lakes 
Ontario, Erie and Huron, and in portions of New York.f 
After this, very little work was done upon the deserted shores 
for several years, when Mr. F. B. Taylor commenced his re- 
searches about the northeast portion of Georgian bay, lake 
Michigan, etc.;J and Dr. A. C. Lawson carried on similar ob- 
servations north of lake Superior,§ and Prof. H. L. Fairchild 
in New York. The deserted beaches show but little terres- 
trial oscillation about the western end of lake Erie, but it in- 
creases towards the northeast and amounts to four to seven 
feet per mile. 
With the surveys of the deserted beaches, new questions 
arose concerning the history of the lakes and of Niagara river, 
which forms an inseparable chapter. At the same time, op- 
posing hypotheses presented themselves. 
None of the beaches have been fully surveyed. They oc- 
cur at various altitudes from near the greatest elevation of the 
land down to the levels of the lakes, and they have not always 
been separated from other Pleistocene deposits. While there 
are questions as to the higher forms, those from lower levels 
have undoubtedly been accumulated about extensive bodies 
of water — the character of which is the subject of disagree- 
ment. The writer has regarded them as accumulations at 
sea-level, and other observers as margins of glacial lakes, 
irrespective of their elevation. The theoretical aspect is not 
one likely to be settled speedily. Those who advocate the 
glacial character of the lakes have sought to terminate the 
beaches against morain ic deposits to the northeast, but their 
*The History of the Niagara River. 6th Rept. Com. State Res. 
Niag., Albany, 1890, pp. 61-84. 
tThe Iroquois Beach, etc., cited before. Deformation of the Iro- 
(juois Beach and Birth of Lake Ontario, Am. Jour. Sci.. vol. XL, 1890, 
pp. 443-451; Deformation of the Algonquin Beach and Birtli of Lake 
Huron. lb., vol. XLL 1891, pp. 11-21; High Level Shores in the Re- 
gion of the Great Lakes, and their Deformation, lb., vol. XLL 1891, 
pp.'20i-2ii: Deformation of Lundy Beach and Birth of Lake Erie, lb., 
vol. XLVHL 1894. pp. 207-212. 
t Numerous papers recently pubHshed in Am. Jour. Sci., American 
Geologist, and Bui. Geol. Soc. Am. 
§Sketch of the Coastal Topography of the North Side of Lake Su- 
perior. 20th Report of the Geol. Sur. Minnesota, for 1891, pp. 181-289. 
