xt7hx34mm364 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7hx34mm364/data/mets.xml Wright, G. Frederick (George Frederick), 1838-1921. 1884 books b92-105-27901533 English Leader Print Co., : Cleveland : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Glacial epoch. Glacial boundary in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky / by G. Frederick Wright. text Glacial boundary in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky / by G. Frederick Wright. 1884 2002 true xt7hx34mm364 section xt7hx34mm364

PUBLISHED BY
gilte gWirtern Xteorru 'niotorical societti,
CLEVELAND, 0.

THE

GLACIAL BOUNDARY

IN OHIO,

INDIANA AND

K ENTUCKY.

BY
PROF. G. FEDERICK WRIGHT.

CLEVELAND, 01110:
LEADER PRINTING COMPANY, 146 SUPE'RIOR STREET.
vS84.

This page in the original text is blank.

PREFACE.

i-,HEN, ten years ago, I began my investigations con-
cerning the kames of the Merrimac valley, in Eastern
Massachusetts, I little thought to what it would lead;
and, after having traced the boundary of the glaciated area
from the Atlantic Ocean to the southern part of Illinois, I am
equally in doubt as to what the future has in store in this
most interesting line of exploration.
The Detailed Report, occupying the larger part of the
present publication, is little more than a simple recital of
observations, designed to put the reader in my own position,
and to furnish the facts which all scientific men would wish
to know. I have endeavored to be so specific that future
observers may be able to verify my statements, and may intelli-
gently connect their own observations with mine. Whether
I shall publish, in equal detail, my observations already made
upon Indiana, the future must determine. I hope, however,
to continue my investigations across Illinois and Missouri,
and may then give fuller details of what I have already done
in Indiana.
The preliminary lecture (with its map on page 17), gives the
facts concerning Indiana with sufficient clearness to show
their relations to those more minutely described in Ohio.
When the present report was written, I had supposed that t he
joint report of PROFESSOR LEWIS and myself, upon the glacial
boundary in Pennsylvania, would already have appeared; and
some sentences in my remarks upon Columbiana county,
Ohio, presume some degree of familiarity with the views we
had presented concerning what is called the "fringe" of the
boundary in Western Pennsylvania. As that report will soon
appear, it is not necessary to repeat here what will so soon be
accessible to the public. Furthermore, my preliminary lec-
ture puts the reader in possession of the general facts.
Among the satisfactory rewards coming to one who engages
in such unremunerative, but original, investigations as those

here recorded, is the ready appreciation of his work by so
wide a circle of intelligent men whose time is absorbed in
other occupations, but who, when the facts are brought to
light, are quick to see their importance.
I have, also, had special occasion in these investigations to
be thankful for the personal encouragement, appreciation, and
advice of such authorities as Prof. CHARLES H. HITCHCOCK,
Prof. ALPHEUS HYATT, Prof. E. S. MORSE, Prof. J. D. DANA,
Prof. J. P. LESLEY, Prof. EDWARD ORTON, and Col. CHARLES
WHITTLESEY. But it is to the CLEVELAND HISTORICAL SO-
CIETY and its friends that I am specially indebted for the
means to prosecute my work in Ohio and Indiana, and
that the public is indebted for so full and complete a report
of the facts as is here given. The funds directly pro-
vided for my expenses, by the friends of the Society, amount
to 450.00, the most of which was contributed by JARVIS M.
ADAMS, Esq., President of the New York, Pennsylvania and
Ohio Railroad, and Messrs. DAN P. EELLS, JOSEPH PERKINS,
and T. P. HANDY. To Mr. ADAMS I am also indebted, both
for passes on the railroad of which he is President, and for
others secured by his intervention on the Cleveland and Pitts-
burgh Railway; Cleveland, Akron and Columbus; Cincinnati,
Indianapolis, St. Louis and Chicago; Indianapolis and St.
Louis; Ohio and Mississippi; Cleveland, Columbus, Cincin-
nati and Indianapolis; Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis.
The cost of the investigations has, also, been diminished
by various friends, who have accompanied me andl borne their
share of the expense, among whom should be mentioned Mr.
J. H. KEDZIE, of Chicago, C. C. BALDWIN Esq. (Secretary of
this Society, and through whose well-directed efforts the local
interest in the subject is largely due), and finally the late la-
mented Rev. CHARLES TERRY COLLINS, whose sudden death
will inflict a loss upon a multitude of philanthropic and educa-
tional enterprises. The Rev. Mr. COLLINS was first and fore-
most among those who set themselves to interest the Cleveland
public in this matter, and he was with me two weeks' in the
field, entering into every minutiae of the investigation with
unbounded enthusiasm, and with sagacious appreciation ofw
the whole bearing of the discoveries.

Preface.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

GLACIAL PERIOD IN AMERICA: PAOE.
INTRODUCTION.................................. .... ,
SwIOrS OF GbACIATION ............................... ......................... 9
1. Scratches upon the Rocks 9..9
2. Till, or Boulder Clay . .10
3. Transported Boulders and the Terminal Moraine . .11
a. Irregularity of the Boundary Line .11
b. Irregular Elevation of the Boundary Line .IS
c. Character and Amount of the Debris .21
SOMP, GENERAL CONsIDBRATIONS ............................... 23
1. Relation of the Glacial Period . ".3
a. To Agriculture and Health ..............2.................... ........ 23
b. To Archology. .24
2. Date of the Glacial Period ........... ................. ..,.,,,,,,, .a
3. Centers of Glacial Dispersion .................-.I........ 29
CNCLUsION . . .31

I)ETAilEI) REPORT FOR OHIO:
ColuUNIBIANA COUNTY .................., 35
The Fringe... 35
The Moraint Proper...,....... 37
STARK COUNTY. ... ....... ...... 38
The Fringe................. , 38
The Moraine Proper. ................. 38
IIOLNMES COUNTY................. 43
13erlin Township................. 44
Hardy Township. ................. 44
Monroe......................4..................... 47
Knox. . 48
KNOX OOVNTY................. , , ,., 491
Jefferson Township, . ........I....... ,.,.,.,.,, ........... 50
Union ..0 - . FQ
Butler atnd Jackson ............... .1.
LItKI o COUNTY ....51................ ...........
Eden Township. .......... ... .2
Mary Ann .........n... ',
Newark................. , . ,., . s3
ILickirig and Franklin. 53
P'tRRY COUNTY. 54
Thorn Township. 54
Ieading .55
FAMFIRl1 0 COUNTY .............5 5
Richland and Rush Creek Townships .............................. .., .56
Pleasant. .... I..... 56
Bern and Hocking. .6
Madison.... I 59
PICKAWAY AND HOCKING COUNTIES........................... 59

6 Contents.

Ross COUNTY .................... 60
Colerain Township .............................,,,,,,.,,,,,,......... 60
Green......... ,.... 62
Springfield.6 3
Union........... . . . .. . ..........,. ...... 63
Concord and Tw in..64.,,,, ..... ,4
Buckskin and Paint ...............66.... 66
Paxton.,
PnIK COUNTY.............8.., ............................ .8
HIGHILAND COUNTY........ . ... ............68.....,... . .
Marshall Township.6................ 9............,,,.,, 69
Jackson.69
ADAMIS C'OU'NTY .70.................. ,, .,, ., ...... , . O
BROWN BOUNTY ..70................... 70
HAMILTON COUNTY.7 , , , ,2
BROWN BOUN Y ............... .............................................. ..... .................. 70.
H AM LTONbl COUNlTY ............... -.......................................... . . 723
Campbell County .73........ ..
Kenton County ........................................................ 73
Boone County ................,,.......................................... 74

APPENDIX:
I. Abstract of the Bearings of Glacial Strite and Grooves in Ohio (Compilel by
Col. Charles Whittlesey).7 ........ ...... ...... 77
2. The Glacial Dam at Cincinnati ........81..... ...... ,
a. Its Effects Along the Upper Basin of the Ohio (A Paper by Prof. 1. C.
White)....1 ,....,. S1
b. Its Effects in lloyd County, KY.. 85
c. M1r. G. 11. Squier on its effects in Bath County, Ky .8
d Prof Lesley on the Glacial Dan. .86

PLATES:
I. Glaciated Region of North America ......................................8.. ,
I1. Glaciated Region of the Delaware Valley .12
111. Glaciated Area of Pennsylvania ................................. , ... 13
IV. Same of Ohio ............................ , , . ..... 14
V. Glacial Boundary in Indiana .17
VI. Palwolith from France .............................,,.............. 24
VIl. Palwolith from -New Jersey .25
VIII. Columbiana Couhty .34
IX. Stark Connty .............................. , . ....... . 34
X. Holmes County .45
Xl. Knox and Licking Counties.. 4.
XlIl Licking, Perry, and Fairfield Counties ...................................... 57
XIIl. Fairfield, Iloeking, Pickaway, and Ross Counties .57
XIV. Ross, P'ike, arid lighland Counties ........................................ 67
XV. Highland, Adams, and Thrown Counties .67
XVI. Brown, Clermont, and Hlamilton Counties .71
XVII. Kentucky ............. 71

A LECTURE
ON T7ll
GLACIAL PHENOMENA IN THE UNITED STATES,
BY
PROF. G. FREDERICK WRIGHT,
GIVEN BEFORE THE WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
IN CASE HALL, CLEVELAND, OHIO,
NOVEMBER 27, 1882.

Nomr.-WThen this lecture was delivered my investigations had reached only the Indiana
line. During the present summer (1883), I have continued the exploration to the Illinois
line, and hence have thought it best to make such changes in the lecture as will give the
latest results.

I HAVE been led by the circumstances in which I have been
placed, and which I need not here rehearse, to study some-
what extensively the glacial phenomena of the Atlantic States
and of the Mississippi basin. By reason of some special famili-
arity with the subject, acquired by a long residence in New En-
gland, I was invited two years ago, in company with Professo-i
H. 0. Lewis, of Philadelphia, to trace the southern limits of
glacial action for the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. A full
report of our work will soon appear. It is through the thought-
ful generosity of several friends of this Society that I have been
permitted to continue these investigations in Ohio; and I will
take this occasion to return thanks to these gentlemen and to
the railroad companies who have facilitated my work. I should
also say that both in this State and Pennsylvania our work has
been simply supplementary to that of previous surveys. No,
one can appreciate more fully than myself the value of the gla-
cial observations made by Colonel Whittlesey, Professor New-
berry, Professor Orton, Professor Andrews, Mr. MI. C. Read,
and others of the Ohio Geological Survey. But unity could
not well be given to the subject, except one person should go
over the whole line, and be able to compare the phenomena of
one section with those in another.
GENERAL SURVEY OF THE SUBJECT.
To understand the significance of the glacial phenomena of
the State, it is necessary to take a brief survey of the general
facts concerning the glacial period. A study of the phenom-
ena of the glacial period gives one an impression of the irre-
sistible power and grandeur of nature's operations, second only

Glacial Period in America.

to the study of the geological forces which elevated the conti-
nents, and to that of the astronomical forces whose effects are
seen in the motions of the heavenly bodies. During the glacial
period more than 4,000,000 square miles of the land surface of
the Northern Hemisphere was enveloped in glacial ice. In
North America this ice sheet extended, upon the Atlantic
coast, as far south as Long Island and New York City, and on
the Pacific coast to the southern border of British Columbia;

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Glacial Period in America.

while in the central portion of the continent the glacier every-
where advanced nearly to the Ohio River, and in two plaees
crossed it. The depth of this ice-sheet in America we know
to have been at least several hundred feet at its margin, while
in the interior it was several thousand feet in depth, or deep
enough to cover the highest mountains in New England.
In Europe the land is less continuous than in America, and
hence the glacial phenomena are more difficult to interpret.
But nearly all of Ireland, the whole of Scotland, and the north-
ern part of England and Wales show marks of long-continued
and extensive glaciation. In Switzerland the glaciers foi nierly
extended till they filled the whole valley between the Alps and
the Juras, and upon one side flowed down the valley of the
Rhone as far as Lyons, which is in a straight line 130 miles
from Geneva. The whole distance traversed by that portion
of the Swiss glacier was 270 miles. On the other side of the
Juras, in the valley of the Rhine, the Swiss ice-current prob-
ably met, upon the plains of Germany, the counter current
coming down from the Scandinavian peninsula; while in Italy
glaciers extended to within a short distance of the river Po, or
more than a hundred miles south or the summit of the Alps.
The Scandinavian peninsula was completely enveloped with
glacial ice, moving southerly, easterly, and westerly, in lines
of the least resistance. Upon the shores of the White Seat the
motion was nearly cast and west. In Finland and in the neigh-
borhood of Stockholm the motion was south, while upon the
west coast the motion was towards the Atlantic Ocean.
SIGNS OF GLACIATION.
The signs of glaciation are three-fold, and are unnmistakable
in their meaning. These are: first, the scratches ulpon the
rocks ; second, the till or boulder clay ; third, the transported
boulders and terminal moraines.
FIRST. Scratches upon the Rocks.-All over the regions
which we have mentioned the harder and freshly uncovered
rocks show abrasion; they are polished. This, however, might
halve been done by the action of water in rolling plebbles and
gravel over them. But thsis not all. They are scratched and
grooved as if the sand, gravel and pebbles, which abraded them,

10 Glacial Period in America.

had been held in a firm grasp. These strise and furrows are,
in the main, parallel with each other, and they continue across
the hard portions of the rock as well as the softer. There are
places upon the shores, and among the Islands near the west
end of Lake Erie, where many acres together of rocks, thus
scratched and furrowed, are exposed, and where frequently the
furrows may be traced in a continuous line for a long distance.
These are effects which water alone could not produce. Water,
by giving motion to pebbles, may polish the rocks over which
they are moved, yet it does not give the rocks an even surface,
but wears down the softer portions faster than the harder.
Only moving ice is competent to produce such polishing andl
scratching as we have described; and so extensive and uniform
is this striation that the theory of icebergs-majestic as they
are-is entirely inadequate to account for the facts.
SECOND. Till, or Boulder Clay.-The competency of water
for the production of the phenomena ascribed to glaciation is
excluded also by the character of the superficial deposit which
is everywhere found over the area indicated. This deposit was
formerly called " boulder-clay," but, in scientific circles, now
goes by the name of "till," and its character is un i:istakable.
Till is an unstratified accumulation, and in this respect dif-
fers from all deposits which take place in water. Water is a
more perfect sieve than any of man's invention. It carefully
sorts whatever it transports, carrying along the finer material
farther than the coarse, and depositing it by itself. Now in
the till there is no such separation of the fine from the coarse
as water would secure. Fine clay, gravel, fragments of stone
of various sizes, sometimes several feet through, are mingled
in one indiscriminate mass. The larger part of the material
composing till is usually derived from the rocks of the vicinity;
but with this there are also mingled fragments that have been
brought from a longer distance, sometimes from localities hun-
dreds of miles away. A noticeable peculiarity of the pebbles
and fragments of rock which occur in till is that they too, like
the rock beneath, are scratched, and usually the direction of
the scratches on thene is that of the longest diameter of the
fragments.

Glacial Period in America.

From this description of till it will be recognized, by those
who have visited the glaciers of Switzerland, as similar to the
accumulation taking place beneath the glacier, and which is
called the "ground moraine." In short, the fine material of
the till may be compared to the dust with which a lapidary
polishes his gems, and the larger fragments to the tools with
which he engraves them.
THIRD. Transported Boulders and the Terminal Moraine.-
A third evidence of the reality of the great ice movement of
which we are speaking, is to be found in the character, position
and limits of the transported material. This introduces us to
the particular field of my own observations. There is a well-
defined southern limit to the marks of glacial action in the
United States. I have now followed that boundarv line nearly
all the way from the Atlantic Ocean to the State of Illinois,
and can mark it upon the map with nearly as much confidence
and accuracy as I can that of the shores of Lake Erie.
a. Th-ere are some peculiarities in this line which it is worth
while to note, the first of which is the irregularity. As shown
upon the maps, the boundary of the glaciated region in North
America runs, opposite New England, through Nantucket and
Martha's Vineyard, and forms the backbone of Long Island, en-
tcring New Jersey at Perth Amboy, just below New York.
It was my privilege, several years ago, in a more definite
manner than had been done before, to call public attention to
the nature of these accumulations in Southern New England.
I was enabled to do this through information furnished me by
Mr. Clarence King who gave me the facts in 1876, to be pub-
lished in a communication to the Boston Society of Natural
History upon the Glacial Phenomena of Eastern Massachusetts.
(See Proceedings, Vol. 19, p. 62, 1877.) When this clew had
once been furnished, it was a short matter to trace the line
along the southern shore of New England and through Long
Island. This work was done by Mr. Warren Upham.
By independent investigations Professors Cook and Smock,
of the New Jersey Geological Survey, discovered the signifi-
cance of certain glacial accumulations in that State, and a little
later published (Report on the Geology of New Jersey for 1878)

Glacial Period in America.

a map of the Terminal Moraine in New Jersey. This runs by
an irregular course from Perth Amboy to Belvidere, on the
Delaware River, a few miles above Easton.

PLATE II. (taken from "Studies in Science and Religion") shows, in addition to the
glaciated area of New Jersey, the glacial terraces of gravel along the Lehigh and Delaware
Rivers, and also the "Delta Terrace" at Trenton, fifty feet above the river, in which Dr. C.
C. Abbott has found pabeolithic implements. (For cuts, see Plates VI. ad VII., pp. S4, 25)

Glacial Period in America. 13

r
T

dieto tot_,vciit f Salamana N. Y, adtbencpound;
ser into Boone county Ky., across t riverfrom

Cincinnati. - Tecby iru tousoueereftrtbc
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g W fo t pls' t+ _ ,\ o

Frmta ont th,, in run in a geeal nrhe sterlyt+

direction to e vicinity of Saaaa N. Y. an thnce

southwesterly into Boone county, Kiy., across thle river from
Cincinnati. Thence, by a circuitous route, hereafter to be de-

14 Glacial Period in America.

scribed, it passes to the southwest corner of Indiana. So far
it has been accurately traced. From geological reports we
suppose it to trend across Illinois into Missouri, and thence in
a more northerly course into the States and Territories beyond.
Taken in their full extent, the curves in this boundary line
are both graceful and majestic, and may yet furnish to the
mathematician some clew as to the depth of the ice and the
distance of the centers from which it was dispersed. Various
minor curves in the line are also worthy of notice, one of which
appears in New Jersey, where near Rockaway the line makes
a right angle. One or two graceful curves are also noticeable
between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Near Sala-

PLATE IV. Map showing Southern Boundary of Glaciated Area of Southern Ohio.

Glacial Period in America.

LIST OF COUNTIES WITH NUMBERS CORRESPONDING TO THOSE IN MAP.

1. Williams.
2. Deflance.
3. Paulding.
4. Van Wert.
5. Mercer.
6. Darke.
7. Preble.
8. Butler.
9. Hamilton.
10. Fulton.
11. Henry.
12. Putnam.
13. Allen.
14. Auglaize.
15. Shelby.
16. Miami.
17. Montgomery.
18. Warren.
19. Clermont.
20. Lues.
21. Wood.
22. Hancock.

23. Hardin.
24. Logan.
25. Champaign.
26. Clarke.
27. Greene.
28. Clinton.
29. Brown.
30. Ottawa.
31. Sandusky.
32. Seneca.
33. Wyandot.
34. Crawford.
35. Marion.
36. Morrow.
37. Union.
38. Delaware.
39. Madison.
40. Franklin.
41. Fayette.
42. Pickaway.
43. Ross.
44. Highland.

Adams ............. 46
Allen........ ..... 13
Ashland(l122 ft. ab. sea levelm 52
Ashtabula ............. 79
Athens............. 69
Auglaize. ............. 14
Belmont (1170) ... . ..... 86
Brown .................. 29
Butler... 8
Carroll (1011) . .......... 83
Champaign (1158) ........ 25
Clarke............. 26
Clermont....1......19
Clinton (1095) ...... ...... 28
Columbiana (1419) ........ 82
Coshocton (1326) ......... 66
Crawfcrd (1175) .......... 34
Cuyahoga (1032).. ..61
PSarke (1107) ...... 6...... 6
Defiance ... ......... 2
l)elaware ............ 38
Erie .. ............ 48
Fairfield ............. 55
Fayette............ 41
Franklin............ 40
Fulton . .............. 10
Gallia............ 71
Geauga(12 82) ............ 73
Greene. ............ 27

No. I.
45. Pike.
46. Adams.
47. Scioto.
48. Erie.
49. Huron.
50. Lorain.
51. Richland.
52. Ashland.
53. Knox.
54. Licking.
55. Fairfield.
56. Perry.
57. Hocking.
58. Vinton.
59. Jackson.
60. Lawrence.
61. Cuyahoga.
62. Me-lina.
63. Surnnlit.
64. Wayne.
65. Holmes.
66. Coshocton.

No. 11.
Hamilton ............. 9
Hancock .. 22
Hardin (1371) . 23
Harrison (1180) . 84
Henry .. 11
Highland (1135) . 44
Hocking .. 57
Holmes (1235). 66
Huron (160) . 49
Jackson .6
Jefferson (1065) . 85
Knox (195) .. 53
Lake (1175) .. 72
Lawrence .. 60
Licking (1316) . 54
Logan (1550). 24
Lorain .................. 50
Lucas .. 20
Madison ..39
Mahoning (1208) . 81
Marion ......... 35
Medina (1117) ..........f62
Meigs ......... 70
Mercer ......... 5
Miami ....... . f16
Monroe ...... 87
Montgomery .......... 17
Morgan .......... 68
Morrow (1148) .......... 36

67. Muskingum.
68. Morgan.
69. Athens.
70. Meim
71. Gallia.
72. Lake.
73. Geauga.
74. Portage.
75. Stark.
76. Tuscarawas.
77. Guernsey.
7S. Noble.
79. Ashtabula.
80. Trumbull.
81. Mahoning.
82. Colunbiana.
83. Carroll.
84. Harrison.
85. Jefferaon.
86. Belmont.
87. Monroe.
88. Washington.

Nohe .... ........ 78
Ottawa ........... ....... 30
Paulding............ 3
Perry (1156) ........... 56
Pickaway........... 42
Pike k1285) ........... 45
Portage (120) . ... 74
Preble (1044) ........... 7
Putnam .................... 12
Richland (1400) ........... 51
Ross ...... ................ 43
Sandusky...... 31
Scioto. ..... 47
Seneca.... .... 32
Shelby (105S) ............. 15
Stark (1261) ............. 75
Summit (1175) ............. 63
Trumbull (1165) ............ 80
Tuscarawas (1491) .......... 76
Union............. 37
Van Wert ..............4
Vinton............. 58
Warren. ............. 18
Washington ............. 88
Wayne (1275) ............. 64
Williams ................1I
Wood ............. 21
Wyandot ........ ..... 33

Guernsey ........... 77 Muskingum (1161) ....... 67

16 Glacial Period in America.

manca, in New York, the change of direction is such Us to
make an acute angle. Omitting various other deflections in
Pennsylvania, you will notice several of a very marked charac-
ter in Ohio.
The boundary line enters Ohio near Palestine, in Colum-
biana county, and crosses the county in a direction a little
south of west, and as it enters Stark county, trends a little
to the north as far as Canton. Here it makes a sharp turn,
and runs almost south to the edge of Tuscarawas county,
entering Holmes county near its northeast corner, and contin-
uingg in a south westerly course to Millersburg, whence it trends
northwesterly to the southern township of Ashland county,
where it again takes a very sudden and decided turn to the
south, passing through the eastern edge of Knox county;
thence through Newark, in Licking county, to the reservoir
in the northwestern part of Perry county, continuing in its
southerly course to Rushville in Fairfield county. Thmnce it
bends rapidly westward to Lancaster, and again, after crossing
the Hocking Valley, turns southward and runs along the boun-
dary betveen Pickaway and Hocking counties to Adelphi, in
the northeast corner of Ross county. Here again it bends
westward, crossing the Scioto Valley a few miles above Chilli-
cothe, turning again southward, near Frankfort, and bending
around so as to just graze the northwest corner of Pike county,
and cross the southeastern of Highland and the northwestern
of Adams, entering Brown county near Decatur, and run-
ning westward across the southern townships of Brown and
Clermont counties, and crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky
about two miles north of the line between Campbell and Pen-
dleton counties, whence it bends northward, keeping nearly
parallel with the river, and from three to eight miles south of
it, re-crossing the river near Woolpers Creek, five miles south
of Petersburg, and entering Indiana a little below Aurora.
In Indiana, the line still continues to bear in a southerly
direction through Ohio and Jefferson counties, grazing the edge
of Kentucky again opposite Madison and reaching its s6uthern-
most point near Charleston in Clarke county, Indiana. From
here it bears again to the north through Scott and Jackson

II r

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PLATE V. Map of Southern Indiana, showing Glacial Boundary.

I -- u.1 -
r , I ' ;':, " "l, 114,

Glacial Period in Anerica.

counties to the line between Bartholomew and Brown, and fol-
lowvs this to the northeast corner of Brown. There again
it turns to the southwest, touching the northeast corner of
Monroe, where it again bears north for ten miles, to near Mar-
tinsville in Morgan county. Here again the line turns west
and south, passing diagonally through Owen, Greene, Knox,
anid Gibson counties, and into Posey county as far as New
Harmony, where, for the present, I have left it.
To account for these curves is a problem to wh ich we will
return a little later.
b. A second class of peculiarities to be noted in this bound-
ary line is its irregularity as to elevation. Nowhere is there
manifest any barrier such as would limit a body of water, and
the line rises over mountains and descends into the valleys with
apparent indifference. South of New England the accumnula-
tions forming the terminal moraine are often below the level
of the sea,-the Elizabeth Islands and Block Island being
merely the surface of the moraine where it is partly buried in
the ocean; so on across Long Island, Staten Island, and a good
part of New Jersey, the moraine is not far above the level of the
sea. West of the Delaware the line mounts the summit of the
Blue Ridge, 1,500 feet above the sea, and descends in crossing
a transverse valley, a few miles to the north, 1,000 feet. It
ascends again, in a few more miles, the summit of Pocono
Mountain, which forms the watershed between the Delaware
and the Lehigh, and is 2,000 feet above the sea. Upon reach-
ing the east branch of the Susquehanna at Beech Haven, it has
again descended 1,500 feet, and it keeps on in a nearly uniform
course until it mounts the escarpment of the Alleghanies north
of Williamsport. From this point on to Salamanca the eleva-
vation varies from 2,000 to 2,500 feet. Once across the Alle-
glianies the line works gradually to a lower level until it
reaches the southern part of Ohio, where it is still nearly 1,000
feet above the sea.
These facts by themselves clearly show that the boundary
line which we have traced, does not, as Dr. Dawson supposes,
mark the shores of an ancient sea, for if that were the case,

Glacial Period in America. 19

there would have been a barrier to limit the sea, and that bar-
rier must have been upon the same general level, which, as we
have seen, is not the case.
Nor have there been any physical changes since the glacial
period sufficient to produce these (liversities of elevation. The
Alleghanies were