THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XXVII. JUNE, 1901. No. 6. 
THE ONTARIO COAST BETWEEN FAIRHAVEN 
AND SODUS BAYS, NEW YORK. 
By J. O. Maktix, Cornell University, Ithaca, X. V. 
PLATES XXVI and XXVII. 
During the summer of 1900, while engag-ecl in a study of the 
New York state drumhn area, I became interested in the pecu- 
liar shore phenomena of that part of the Ontario coast lying 
between Fairhaven and Sodus bays. The drumlins which so 
thickly beset the south-lying plain are here brought to an al)- 
rupt termination by the erosive action of the lake. The re- 
sulting coast line, being of an unusual type, has seemed to mc 
worthy of a brief description. 
Viewed from a boat passing along shore, this coast presents 
a series of semi-elliptical bluffs which are wave-cut drumlin sec- 
tions and these bluffs are connected, one to another, by low-ly- 
ing beaches. A closer inspection of these drumlin cuts show.s 
them to be composed of the usual stiff boulder clay, which, in 
this case, contains a very large percentage bf Medina sand- 
stone. The intervening beaches are composed of the coarser 
gravel and boulders of this drumlin till with little or no sand. 
Between the drumlins and behind their connecting beaches, 
lies a series of more or less extensive ponds and swamps. The 
above features are well shown on the accompanying map, 
(])1. XX\T), which is a part of the "Oswego Sheet" of the 
United States Geological Survey map and may be taken as t}'p- 
ical of the whole stretch of coast under consideration. 
At the close of the Glacial period when lake Ontario had 
assumed its present level, the drumlins extended out into the 
lake, forming a quite continuous series of islands. The gener- 
al northeast and southwest trend of this coast exposed it to the 
