The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1876-10-10
Origin Of the Grelt LAX Is.

Az 2 meeting of the American Ass8-
cis,i0n Of ScIence. a. BuEsjo, y !
] :. Sew',erry of Columbia College
read a paper "a the Origin III the
Great Lake 81 this Conntry Here
are his conclusions
First The isarcGtiAn bs.' forth "a
tAr great lakes. has beeu a lsnd .nrfaoe
-iucs tl4e beginning - tine P3ls-rzo'c
crs, aud wa~ formerly "a no sntsin
r,ag~. the degrsdttioa II ~hich Las
.upplir,t fh~ "a m,, tsuIcasi materials hich
sYir t~s-.s ilss ,hr.t- II Palaoz0ic that
.urrouud n Tue rro-lan ~ the. high
land. ba- continued uptesily
sili th- pr~-est iay aud ~. .perial 3
fapid J-sriDE the Ioc rs,ra0d
>s-,soI4d ~ IrrvI0u- 70 the glac4sl tze-
riOd. he elevation Of this pariiun %
the country AS considerably greater
than now. aud ~ a. drained by "a
nvyr system which flowed at much
lower level than ~ present.. " that
time our cham Of lakes Ontario ErIc
and Huron apparently formed portions
of the valley Of uycr which sub-e-
queIItly became the 81 Lawrence, but
which then flowed between the Adiron-
dsoks aud Appalachians. in the line of
the deeply buried channel of the Mo
hawk. passing through the trough Of
the Hudson. aud emptying into the
ocean eighty miles southeast Of New
York Lake Michigan was apparently
then a par, Of "A river course winch
drained Lake Superior and emptled
into the Mississippi, the Straits of Mac
kinac being not yet opened
Third With the approach OF the
cold period, local glaciers formed OH the
Laurentian mountains, and, as they in
creased in. size, gradually crept down
Oh 90 and began 10 excavate the plate au
which bordered them on the west and
south. The excavation OF our lake
basins was begun, aud, perhaps, Ia -
large part, effected in this epoch.
Fourth--As the cold increased and
reached ats maximum degree. Il great
ice sheet was formed by the enormously
increased and partially Coal-cscaping
local glaciers Of the former epoch. This
many lobed ice sheet. or compound gla-
cier, moved radIstiugly from the south.
southwest and western slopes OF the
Canadian highlands, It's Ohio lobe
reaching Is far south a. Cincinnati.
The effect Of this glacier upon Lake
Ontario would be 10 broaden their ba
sins by impinging against and grinding
away. with incouceivablc power. their
southern margins
Fifth-With the amelioration of the
climate the wide spread ice sheets of the
period of intcnsest cold became again
local glaciers, which completed the al
ready begun work of cutting out the
lake basins At first the glacier which
had before flowed over the watershed of
Ohio was so far reduced "a to be unable
10 overtop its summit, bat DETECTED by
IT. 1t flowed along IFS base, spending its
energies IN cutting the shallow basin IN
which Lake Erie now lies.
Sixth--fhe meeting of the glaciers
was accompanied, perhaps, occasioned
~ the sinking ot the continent, which
progressed until the waters of the At
lantic flowed up the valley of the -.
Lawrence To Kingston. and mp the ct
tawa To Arnprlor The valleys OF the
~, Lawrence and the Hudson were con-
nected by way of Lake Champlain, and
thus the highlands of New England
were left as all island II Is also posi-.
hie that the sea- water penetrated to the
lake basin through the valley Of the
Mohawk and through that of the Mis-
sissippi but of this we have no evidence
III the presence of marine fossils IN the
surface deposits. The great area OF cx-
cayation in which the lakes lie was
probably AT this time filled to the hrim
with ice cold fresh water