THE 
AMERICAN GEOLOGIST. 
Vol. XXXIII. MAY, 1904. No. 5. 
HANGING VALLEYS IN THE FINGER LAKE 
REGION OF CENTRAL NEW YORK.* 
By Ralph S. Takr, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 
PLATES XI— XV. 
Reason for this Paper: Ten years ago I published a 
paperf stating evidence that seemed to me to prove an origin 
by glacial erosion for the basin occupied by Lake Cayuga. Two 
years earlier Dr. Lincoln had published the same conclusion, t 
It is in these two papers, so far as I know, that the first distinct 
use was made of hanging valleys in interpretation of glacial 
erosion, although the name hanging valley was not then used. 
During the ten years that have elapsed since the publication 
of my first paper I have been obtaining facts bearing upon the 
physiographic problems presented in the Finger Lake region. 
Among these facts are a number which oppose the interpreta- 
tion first placed on the phenomena. It had been my intention 
not to publish these facts until it was possible to definitely 
settle the questions raised ; but the recent revival of the glacial 
erosion theory § made it seem to me desirable to state these facts 
in order that other workers might have them for use in further 
consideration of the physiography of the Finger Lake region. 
The immediate reason for this paper, however, is the publica- 
* Published by permission of the Director of the U. S. Geological Survey. 
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my colleague Prof A. C. Gill with 
whom 1 have frequently discussed the question of the origin of Cayuga valley, 
and from whose stand in opposition to the glacial erosion theory I have in no 
small degree been led to consider, and reconsider, alternate hypotheses even 
when their reconsideration seemed to me needless. 
t Lake Cayuga a Rock Basin, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., vol. v, 1894. pp. 339- 
356. A full bibliography of the region up to ISOA appears in this paper. 
t Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. xliv, 1892, pp. 290-301. 
§ Papers presented by Drykr and by Campbell before the St. Louis 
meeting of the Geological Societ3' of America. 
