356 
GEOLOGY OF THE FOURTH DISTRICT. 
entirely closed, and a long beach of sand and pebbles extended to b, the present outlet, and 
continued beyond it for some distance. The outlet of Long pond, as marked in the map, did 
not then exist.* The channel at b being the passage for the accumulated waters of all these 
ponds, was very deep and rapid, being impassable for a horse. At the same time, from near 
the point a there extended a sand-bar, obliquely, into the lake, crossing the line of the channel, 
and beyond it turning toward the other shore. The water on this bar was comparatively 
shallow, being generally less than two feet, and never exceeding three feet. By following 
the course of this, I was able to drive safely across the outlet and gain the shore on the 
opposite side, which would have been impossible by any other course. 
The following diagram of the bar and beach will serve to shew its situation : 
171; 
This bar is formed by the influence of two forces: the waves washing in, which carry for¬ 
ward the sand and deposit it in long beaches ; and the opposing power of the steady current, 
which neutralizes that of the waves, and the sand thus falls down in a broad curve. The 
force of the current is principally expended in opposing the waves of the lake, and becoming 
diffused, it flows quietly out over the bar. This continues while there is no more than ordi¬ 
nary force in the waves ; but on the occurrence of a violent northeast wind, the whole of this 
bar, with perhaps ten times as great an amount of matter, is driven upon the beach, closing 
the outlet. This remains so long as the wind continues, but as soon as it subsides, and the 
water in the ponds is able to force a passage through the beach, the old order of things is 
resumed, to be again subverted and again renewed. Such, simply, is the operation of one 
stream, as it has existed for the last four or five years; and such would be the history of 
hundreds of large and small streams along the lake shore.f 
* This map is copied from Burr’s county maps, published in 1829, which was probably correct at that time, 
t By comparing this sandbar with the illustration page 350, we find that it bears the same relation to the beach that the “ little 
ndge” does to the main ridge. If we suppose the Niagara to have been flowing into the lake at the period when it stood at the 
elevation of the Ridge road, may not the little ridge have been a bar, formed in the same manner as this miniature representation, 
by the opposing force of the river current and the advancing waves of the lake ? That ridge, several miles in extent, bears no 
greater proportion to the power of the stream than does this insignificant sandbar to the outlet of these ponds. In reasoning a 
priori, we should infer that the beach would be destroyed under such circumstances; but such is not true, in fact, as we see by 
this instance and numerous others. These ridges are not always curved so much as represented in the drawing, and are often 
nearly parallel with the beach. 
