LAKES. 
409 
seasons has been considered a sufficient reason for explaining this increased elevation of the 
lakes. If after such a season, a summer follows when there is a small proportional degree of 
sunshine, the amount of evaporation being thus diminished, the lakes remain at a higher point. 
These causes, though perhaps satisfactory, and without doubt true, at least to a certain extent, 
do not always appear sufficient to account for the fluctuations which have been noticed. 
Twenty-five and thirty years ago the beach of Lake Erie was a travelled highway beyond 
Buffalo, but at this time it would be quite impossible to travel along the same. 
Though the removal of beaches of sand and pebbles may in some degree have modified 
this line of coast, yet it is evident that the water now reaches several feet high upon rocky 
bluffs, which at that time were beyond the reach of the waves. From the united testimony 
of persons residing along the margins of all the lakes, and from other demonstrative proof, it 
appears, that for many years previous to 1838, all the lakes had been rising; that about this 
period they attained their maximum, and have since been subsiding. 
Mr. Hiram Burton, who has resided at the mouth of Slippery-rock creek for twenty-three 
years, informed me, in 1840, that the water of Lake Erie was then four feet higher than when 
he came to that place ; that in 1838 it was still higher, but he had made no accurate measure¬ 
ments. This was estimated from the original position of a mill, which from the rise of water 
had become useless. Several other persons who reside along this lake testify to the same 
facts; and others, who travelled there many years since, agree in stating that the road from 
Buffalo to Dunkirk was along the beach. 
I have no means for determining the time or degree of the minimum depression of these 
lakes. Mr. Higgins, topographer to the geological survey of Michigan, has given the rise of 
the lakes as five feet three inches from 1819 to 1838 ; he regards it as probable that the 
minimum period continues for a considerable length of time, while the maximum continues 
only for a single year. In the absence of authentic observations, we can only rely on the 
testimony before mentioned. This goes to prove that the lakes were at a low stage for twenty 
years previous to 1819. 
A single individual has informed me, that about the year 1788 or 1790, the lakes were 
nearly as high as in 1838; and we have everywhere sufficient evidence that the water of the 
lakes has, at some former period, been at a higher elevation than in 1838, and that subse¬ 
quently it has been lower for a long period, previous to its last ascent. This evidence consists 
in raised beaches along the lake shore, which have been left by the receding water, and upon 
which trees have grown, and subsequently been undermined by the rise in the water. An 
example of this kind, and perhaps the most satisfactory, is near Van Buren Harbor, on Lake 
Erie. The water has encroached upon a line of beach, which borders a low ground, and 
exposes a section of the same, which is composed of pebbles and lake sand, presenting in all 
its characters and appearance the proof of its origin. After its formation the water subsided, 
and it became covered with trees, which the water at the present time is undermining. 
Numerous similar examples might be mentioned as occurring both on Lake Erie and Lake 
Ontario; and after making all allowances for the fluctuating nature of the modern beaches, 
[Geol. 4th Dist.] 52 
