Vol. 6 J No.6
PROCEEDINGS OF" THE ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF" SCIENCE
VOL, 6, PP. 19S-21!!, PLATES 76-61
THE ~mXDOX KA)'lE AREA
BY
HERMAN L, FAIRCHILD
ROCHESTER, N, y,
Pl'BT,TSHJW BY THE SOCnn'Y
ArGI'ST, 1926
PROCEEDINGS O F THE ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE VOL 6 . PP . 195- 215 PLATES 76-8 1 AU G U ST , 1926
T HE ~ I El\D()1'\ Ki\i\IE ARG: \
Ih I-h R.\I.\ N L. FAIR ']IILD
CONTEI TS 1'.\ (;E5 l"o rclI' ord ...... 1')5 Locati on ; .\rea ...... )98 Origin ; Lake 11 istory ...... 199 Relations ...... 202 Topography ...... 203 Composition ; Structure ...... 204 Features ...... 206 D rumlin s ...... 206 Eskers ...... 206 Kettles ...... 208 Lakes ...... 209 Botanical Interest ...... 210 Aboriginal Occupation 2 11 List of \Vritings . ... 2 14
]70 1 ~E \\" OIW
T he nUl1l erous and striking g lacial features of western "t\ew York have been the subject of many scienti fic papers, and the re ma rkable g rol1p o f g ravel hills in the to\\"n o f l\Iendon, 10 miles south or l~oc h este r , has not been overlooked. B ut the hills a re deserving of special cl escri ption, because they have n6 superior in their display of the peculiar cha racters o f morainal deposits. T he pi ctorial record is made in a nticipation of the possible defacement by the g rO\\"th of population ;\lld the march o f improve l11 ent(!) The destrl1 ction o f some of the most beautiful portions of the P innacle l~a n ge is a w ~lrnin g of the danger to other features o f our fin est scenery. In the varied and beautiful topograplw o f western Kew York there is nothing 1110 re l1111I SUal a nd attractive than the lVle ndon kame, wi th their included phenomena. T he area is not appreciated because the features are not reall y seen from the high ways. ]7e w 195
I·· 1% ROCl IESTEl< J\ Ci\DE~ [ \" OF SelENC!:: people today see anything that is invisibl e from their automobile. T he three roads which li e alongside the ranges of hills afford mere ly a suggestion of their singular cha racters. But a little climb up
Fi gllre I. MENDON KAME AREA AND SURRO U NDING TERRITORY From th e Hochester topographic sheet almost a ny of the higher roadsid e knoll s will give a vi ew of hills and holl ows with surprising form and relief. T he four most singul a r and romantic geologic products of the continental ice sheet are foulld here in excellent di srlay. T hese a re the drumlins, which surround the kame a rea (figure 1) , and 11 . L . F A [J~ CJ I(L1 )-TnE ~r EN Il():,\ .K !\ .\IE AI~I '. \ 197
the kames and eskers which constitute the g roups o f hills, with their included basin s, or kettles. A ccntury ago these objects were in soluble puzzles. A nd even with the rise o f the new science o f
F i gure 2. MENDON KAME AREA Enlarged from th e Rochester sheet. O ll e and olle-half inches eq ual oll e mile g laciology these phenomena \\' ere 11 0t read i Iy unel erstood, beca lise they are not produced by mOllntain or strcam glaciers, \\'hich \\'ere the early subject o f O" lacial study. T hese feat1..lres a re the work 198 HOC Jl ESTER ACADEM Y OF SClE NC E only of extensiv e ice sheets or continental glaciers, and probably uncl er temperature conditions not found in the ice caps of Green land and A nta rcti ca. Concerning the ori"in of drumlins, ka1l1 es and kettles 1 there i no longe1' any doubt. A nd the only question rela ting to eskers is whether they were sO lll etimes built in open trenches, ice-walled canyons of the glacier, or \\' ere ah\'ays laid in tunnels beneath the ice sheet, subglaciall y. The few published references to or brief descriptions of the l\ fen clon morain e a re in the papers li sted at the cl ose of this writing. The Mendon kame a rea, with its unusual di splay of glacial topog raphy and phenomena; its group of lakes, '0 rare in this region ; its peculiar botanical interest; its elevation above the surrounding country; its definite and limited area ; its Indian trails and camp sites and its high educational value in the study of nature, should be preserved inviola te as either a State or a County park.
LOCATION ; AREA
This g roup of mounds and basins, knobs and kettles, piled abollt two large eskers, li es in the towns o f Pitts ford and Mendon some ten miles south of the City of Rochester. The a rea is bounded on the west by the Clover Road and on the east by the P itts ford Road. It covers about two miles east and west by two and one-half miles north a nd south. The features with high reli ef, sharp knoll s and deep kettles, form two north and south belts \\' ith a low and smoother inter ven ing tract. This rniddle tract hold s four lakes, and is traversed along the east side by the Douglas Road. T wo roads cross the a rea, the Canfi eld Road north of the large ( iVIendon) lake, and the Pond Road in the southern part of the area. T hese geo graphic features a re shown in the maps, figures 1 and 2. These l\ Iendon lakes, locally call ed "ponds," a re the only nat ural bodies of standing water in Monroe County, excepting three lakelets nea r Bushnell Basin, in the Irondequoit Vall ey, and DI ue Pond, three miles west of Scottsville. A fair imitation of the l\Jendon kames and kettles is seen in the higher g round of l\'fount Hope Cemetery, with suggestion s in other parts of the P innacle range o f morainic hills (see paper 9 of the
1 For a glossary of technica l terms in glacial science see pages 144-148 of this volume. (Paper lIl1lnb er 9 o f the appended li st o f writings.) 11 . I.. F.\ 1I
O RIG I N; L A KE H IST ORY
T he ka mes a re a product o f the constructi onal (depositional ) work of the ma rginal ice during the melting phase o f th e ice sheet. They were built by streams Rowing from the ice front, and emerg ing frolll beneath the ice ( subglacial ), and perhaps under hydrauli c pressure. During it s long jourlley from the north the glacier had gathered great quantity o f rock-rubbish from the land over which it rubbed. i\ lost o f this load o f drift was held in the basal portion o f the ice sheet. D uring the waning and disappearance o f the ice cap, by ma rgin al melting and recession ( northwa rd ) o f the ice front, the burden 0 f d ri ft was dropped on the la nd. ( See fi gure 1, page 1.;0 o f thi s volume, paper i\'o. 9.) C Il c1e r ullusual combination o f mechani cal concli tions the basal, or subglacial, load of c1 ri ft was piled as clrumlins by the overriding act ion o f the ice sheet. I n the Rochester-Syracuse region we have the fin est displ ay o f drumlins in the world. T he il Ienclo n ka mes li e in the southern ma rgin o f the heavier drumlin a rea. Another la rge pa rt of the drift load fell within the grasp o f water, Rowing beneath the ice sheet, and some part of thi s, the coarser materi al, was deposited in the beel s o f the subglacial streams, as eskers. (Plates 80, 8 1. ) T he remaincler o f the glacier's drift load, which had escaped deposition beneath the ice as drumlin and eskel-, was bound to be 200 ROCJT ESTER ACADE.\IY or SCI I': NCr:: clropped at the melting ice margin . \11 the ma rginal drift falls in the class termed moraine, whet her left directly by the mechanical work of the ice itself, as till, or indirectly by the draining water. Hence the knoll s or mounds of g ravel and sand built at the mouths (debouchures) o f the streams are, in the general classification, morainal. but a re given th e special name of kame. T he following table sholl's the nature a nd genetic relationship o f four forms of glacial deposits.
1- OrillS of Cfac ial Drift
M .\:-INER OF DEPOS ITI OK P L.\CE OF DEI'OS IT IOX kE- LA In \ V_\TER-LA 111 fl eneath the ice sheet; and extended III directio n of the ice movement, D rullllin Esker At the margin of the ice sheet, a nd trans verse to the ice lll ovement ; F rontal l\ lo ra in e, Ti ll -moraine Kame The l\ lendon kames were not only built at the edge of the ice sheet but were pil ed in the deep water o f a rr lacial lake whi ch faced and lavecl the ice front. It appears probable that all kame a reas and typical kames II-e re built in sta nding water. The comparison may he the coni cal heaping of sand when poured through a funnel. O n the open land, with free run-off o f the glacial drainage, it is sup posed that the detritus in the g rasp 0 f the streams \\'ould be spread out as plains. instead of being piled as cones o r mounds, or else would be di stributed down the stream valley as "valley train" drift. Essentially, the kames are incipi ent deltas, c1l1d if the ice front would remain stationery for sufficient time, and the water not too deep, the detritus would build a plain, a true delta. \"'ith lowering waters the plain might have a seri es of terraces. TIut in western New York the glacier was melting too rapidly, and the depth of the facing water was too deep, for the production of plains. The in conspicuous plains or level tracts which may be seen on the Men clon kames were produced by the leveling action of waves after the kames were built, and while the waters were falling away. T he building o f the [endon kames is closely involved in the glacial lake history of western New York. T he remarkable series of ice-dammed waters which occupied the Genesee Valley and the O nta rio lowland have been the subject of numerous published arti ]f. L. FAIRel1 rLO.-TlTE MENDON :KA ME AREA 201 cl es, some titles of which are li sted in the bibliographies 111 the papers 8, 10 and 11 of the appended li st of writings. For present purpose it is sufficient to say that the kames were built in one of Ihe later lakes of the glacial succession ; in the waters of the great Lake \IVarren. This water body covered much of the basins of E ri e and H uron, and had outlet westward across the state of ).[ichigan into the glacial Lake Chi cago. T he lake ex tended as a narrow belt of water in central and western New York between the south front of the ice sheet and the highland on the south, and reached eastward to the meridian of Otisco Lake. O ver the Men don area its 'urface elevation was about 900 feet above ocean (pres ent upraised elevation), and it overtopped the highest Mendon hill, which is contoured as 840 feet. The kames were buil t in submer gence. As indicated above, if the g reat mass o f drift in the kames had been piled at the surface o f the lake it would have formed a wide and splendid delta plain, in stead of be ing heaped into the "eggs-in-a-basket" form which we find today. (Plates 78, 79.) W hcn the ice front in the Syracuse di strict weakened so as to opcn escape for the \lVa rren waters eastward, toward the II'Iohawk }-Iudson, the lake fell away into the long-lived Lake Dana, which had its outlet at l\T arcellus village. T he erosional work of the wa ves o f Lake Dana is found through western I\ew York at about 700 fee t elevati on. T he higher kames at l\l'endon stood as islands in the Dana waters. From favorable points of view some incon spi cuous leveled or smoothed tracts may be seen on the east and the west side of the kame area, where the waves had greater force. Perhaps the best vi ew point is on the Canfield Road about one fourth mile east of its j unction with the Clover Road. This is the ' hi gh point in the road, and by the topographic map is precisely 700 feet. Looking north the perfectly smooth and horizontal lines, due to the leveling work of waves, are cl ea rly seen ; along with the wave-cut cliff curving around a knoll , some 40 feet in height. Look ing southward the leveling is ev ident, as all the summits li e in the same plane. T he Dana leveling is also seen, l ooking eastward, from the knoll west of the Big and Deep ponds. T his knoll is the south ern end of the path regarded as an Indian trail (see below). \,Vave-work of Lake \IVan-en appears as erosional plains on the southern Hank s of the Baker Hill, north of V ictor, at 920 feet ele vati on (see plate 2 of this volume of Proceedings, in paper N o.8). 202 RO C III·sr ER i\C.\IlF~ I Y IJF. SCI ENCE T he shore cliffs and gravel spits by Take Dana a ppear on many drumlins west and northwest that ri se to o r above 700 feet. Apparentl y the \\'aters of Lake Dana fe ll away so prol1lptly that they left no evident erosion features below the SUl1ll1lit plane o f 700 feet, of strength sufficient to sur\,i\'e the atmospheri c agencies of ma ny thousands of years.
RELAT I ONS
A n exall1ina ti on of the I~ oc h e s t e r sheet o f the topographi c map will give an idea of the geographi c features of the country sur rounding the ka me a rea. 1\ porti on is reproduced here as fi g ures I and 2. 1t is noted that the kames li e in a drumlin area of high a ltitude, and a little west o f south o f the Irondeq uoit depression. :\orthward, toward P itts ford the drumlins a re stroWT. \ 'Vestward the surface is also drumlinal but not so strongly ridged. T he twenty-feet con:ours of the map do not fully indicate the drum linal character of the surface. Soutl1\\, esl\\'arcl the drumlins reach to the Corniferous escarpment, but the glacial over wash partiall y buries the minor in equalities. Drumlins li e il1lm ediately south o f the ka me area at the village o f T\ lendon Center. East\\'arcl ane! southeastward the country is less hill y for several miles, to th e Vi c tor kal1le area. The dra inage from the lakes and the enclosed vall ey is imme diately sout h \\'ard, forming the source of Irondequoit Creek. \fter passing Iendon Center the creek swin as eastward to F ishers, and then northward to Irondequoit Hay. F rOI1l the border. of the kame a rea the drainage is radial in a ll directions. I n very sharp contrast with th e :\ Lendon kame-moraine is the range of the P innacle H ill s, in the ity of Rochester. (O, figure 2, page I~l. ) T he latter is o f later origin than the Mendon deposit. and with ral:l ically di fferent (orm, being extended east and west, in linea r form, a nd definitely a part o f: t he fronta l 11l0rain e extend ing west to and beyond Albi on. nut the ;'\ [endon kame-moraine is not a portion of an extended, defin ite belt of frontal moraine. O n the contrary it is notable as a 'detached and isolated area, rising out o f a pl ain, and surrounded by drumlins. It is ev ident that the mass is frontal 11l0raine deposit, but the character and behavior of the icc front during the phase of the kame construction \\'as very unlike that when the r'innacie range was built. P H:OC. R OC II ..\ c.o\!). ~C I I ~ N CE \ ' O L. 6. l'L,\ TE 79
KAME-MORAINE TOPOGRAPHY \ 'ic\\'s ill t ile ea~t r J,lIg"C - .r------~ 11. L. FAlI{CI-lILO-TIlE ~IEN O O:'\ KA~IE AIU:.\ 203
However, the i\fencIon area may be co rrelated with other morainal deposits on the east and west. I n a belt west\\'ard heavy drift is found on and among the drl1mlins north of Rush village and either side of the Rush Reservoir. Eastward , the heavy drift -on the southern Aalik of the Daker Hill. north of Victor, is doubtless con temporary. Farther east the glacial rivers have removed the morainal dri ft, or prevented its accun1l1lati on. l TOI'OGIL\ t' II Y The best available map of the kame area IS the l~ ochester topo graphic sheet, with its imperfect contouring in 20-feet interval. This is 'reproduced in black and white in figures 1 and 2. The t\\'o remarka ble eskers which constitute the core or hea rt o f each seri es of kames are strikingly shown in plates 80 and 8 1, reproduced from Gil es' paper (12). The figures for altitudes are from the I{oches ter sheet. . The '\lendon kames a re the third hi ghest g round in ".\Ionroe County. The highest point of th e County is the extreme southeast corner, on the west border of th e Hopper I-lills, one mile northeast o j Ionia. The altitude, as ShOW 11 on t he Canandaigua sheet-, is 1.020 fe et. The second highest ground is the l:aker Hill which ri ses to over 930 feet. The l i. S. Lake S urvey station. by the Baker resi dence, is 928 feet: shO\\"I1 on the Macedon sheet. Two o f the ".\len clo n kames in the east range ri se to 840 feet. This altitude of the kame group is a' notable character. T he surrounding plain is only 660 to 680 fe et, and even the surrounding drumlins are onl y 700 to 720 feet. except one close east, at 740 feet. It is seen tha t the crests of the highest karnes are 120 feet over the drumlins, and 170 feet above the surrounding surface. In this element of excessive heigh! the ".\ fendon kames resemble the l:aker-Turk Hill mass, six l1Iiles east : which was doubtless contemporary in time of construc tion and simila r in partial origin. The forl11 of the ka mes is shown in plates 78. 79. Of pronounced knob and basin type, it is in strong contrast with the near-by drum lins, which are sl1l ooth. oval hills or ridges. T he kames a re mam milla ry or conical, encl osing numerous deep basin s or kettles. Their billowy aspect has suggested comparison with " eggs in a basket." 204 HOC ll ES T ER AC.\J)E M Y UF SC IEN CE T he altitude fig ures for the la kes on the topographic map a re questi oned. T he 1\ I endon 1'o nd is marked GG2 feet. and Deep Pond, a short di stance sout h, and connected by a channel with no current, is l11 a rked three fee t lower. U nfortunately it is not easy to determine precise el evations in the area. T he R ochester sheet is one of the earlier maps of the Geologica l S urvey. No " benches" a re give n on the map nor a ny alti tudes for road intersections and sali ent points, as in recent and 111 0rc perfect ma ppi ng. To check the el evations in the di strict it may be necessa ry to run lines 0 f accu rate level f rom the Barge Canal benches at P itts ford. CO ~ [J'OS J'1' lON ; S TRUCT U RE Kames and e~ ke r s a rc water-laid materi a \, sa ncl a nd g rave l. The fragments o f rock had been held in the g rip o f the ice sheet. and so nI C o f thcm \ve re scored and pl aned by rough treatment. F in all y. II·ith the waning o f the glacier , the streams from the In elting ice gain ed possession o f the stones and gave them " water treat ment." l{,o ll ed and tumbl ed a nd shoved for long di stances t he stones \\'e re wo rn in to smoothed and rounded fo rms, as hOldders, cobble. g ravel a nd sand (figure 3). r\ mi no r part o f the esker ridges is till, or unassorted rock-rubbish contri buted directly by the ice without water in terference. Some times the \\'a ll s of the stream channels, or the roofs of the sub glacial tunnels, fe ll in and carried ice-dri ft into the stream deposits . .\nd sometimes a li ttle advance o f the ice pushed its dri ft into the g ra ve ls. and even mashed and crumpled the layers. destroying the bedding a nd structure of the water deposits. \ Ve can I'eadily imagin e ho\\' , in va ri ous ways, the glacial ,tuff was le ft on, or 111 , the streal1l -borne deposits, T he hills a rc partly pasture land, with many cul tivated fie ld s. Excavations or exposures a re few, but suffi cient to show composi ti on (figure 3) . T he most a uunda nt rock is :\ Icel ina sandstone, whi ch is estim ated at one- half the total mass in observed secti ons, and al so o f the piles and fe nces of cobble a nel bowl ders in the mid dl e va ll ey, Il,here culti vation is prevalent. T he explanati on is that Medin a sandstone is the onl y very ha rd near-by terrane on the north. :\ fany bowlders of crystalli ne rocks occur, which have been hrought frol11 the Adirondacks or from Canada, Some bl oc ks o f I I . L. F.\fl{ C LJIU) - T lll·: :llENJ)();.J KA M E J\ I{ E.\ 205 Lockport (::\ iagara) limestone a re fo und; two la rge blocks lying on a summit at 720 feet. T he varied a nd in teresting structures a nd cO Jll position cha rac teri stic of kames i.. excell ently di splayed in the g ravel pit on the fa rm of J. R. Hopkins, on the east side of the Clover Road. T he tops and slopes of the hills a re f requently o f ma:eri al so li ne and aelh esive as to be cl ayey. Evidently thi s was deposited fro l11 the lake waters \\'hich covered the hill s during, and subse quent to, their constructi on. Fi,t:(llrc 3. KAME GRAV EL Excavalion cast siue o f the J) ou~ l as Hoad T he rock Aoor of the d istrict is deeply bu ried under the glacial deposits. T he underl yi ng rocks are the Salin a shales, and they \\' ere deeply eroded before the ice sheet overs!lread the country. O n the Howard farm, on the extreme western edge of the a rea, it was said tha t a well sta rti ng on the 700 foot con tour was c1 ri \'en 130- 140 feet wi thout reaching beel- rock. O n one of the knoll s in the south ern part of the east ra nge a well at the 680 contour was said to penetrate 130 feet of clean set nd without rock. South of the ka Jll es, on the sanclpla in, fa rm o f J udson F. S heldon, rock was reported at depth of 69 feet, the a ltitude o f the plain being about 600 feet. 206 RO C.H ESTE R .\ C. \DE~I Y O F SC I ENCE l Drumlins. These \\-c n ; bl1ilt beneath the ice :-; heet by the pil ing-on and rl1bbing-down action o f the ice during a pha"e \\·hen it was no longer abl e to carryall of its load o f drift. (The New York drumlins have been described and the mechanics of their huilding di scussed in Hul letin :':0. III of the :.: . Y. State l\ Jl1 seul11. ) T he depth of the icc sheet in which the ~ r e nd o n drumlins were erected is unknown, but is estilllated at perhaps 500 feet. At that time the edge o f the ice sheet was miles southwa rd. A diminutive drumlin stauds in the vall ey ncar Deep Pond. Fig ure 4. E AST RANGE ES KER ' "ie w look in g ~o llthw L: s t. Call ie- path s 0 11 th e cast slope T he :'\[ endon ka mes \\' ere pil ed at the ice margin, long subs.equenl to the bl1ilding of the neighbo ring drumlins. It is possibl e that some d rull1lin s a re buried in the ka me hills. The massive glacial deposit o f the Turk- I:aker hills quile certa inl y has a drumlin base. Eskers. The bro north a nd sO l1th ranges of ka lll e hills con tain two eskers o f l1nu sual size and forlll. They have been described by 1\. \IV. C iles in a Illasterly paper which is part o f: voll1me 5 of the Academy Proceeding ( 12. pages 217-223) . .plates 80, 81 arc reproductions o f his maps. Eskers arc ridges o f g ravel. o ft en very coarse and pood y as sorted, which were accullll11 ated in the beds o f overl oaded streams. T he \\' eight of obser vati on, as well as of theory, favor their sub glacial origin, especiall y o f the typical forllls, with g reat length in PROC. Rocll. A CAD. SCIEN CE VOL. 6, P LATE 80 /(Qmes /fames k a mes fe ntl'f Tolliar s/ope, we STwa rd "'/0 :-Oe '-() ",'I 01 Cl times Fe e" jef1t1e rollin! slop e~ e a stwarq o ~oo 100 0 1$002.000 S un.'cy (Iud IIlO/' b)' A. II ", Gill'S ESKER E AST O F M ENDON POND I N THE MENDON KAM E AREA VOL. 6, PLATE 81 Paoc. ROCH. ACAD. SCIENCE ~~ "'" ~ '\ ~ rallinr rollinf/ fa rm d 'f ~ \' ~~\- farm 10"tI Ion \- 'f- ~ ,1, 'V~~ 'y~ ~ \" 'v:c't:: 't '\ ~ ~ 'fi-~ 6,-. \ ~ ~ ~ o~ '\=:-" \ ~. 0 ....~, ""-' q-J / \" ~~ \ tS..-o ">9/ o~ \~ 't 't ": ,' ..,,0.;- "'> ,_ '- '\ \"~ .., Q' - - '" ' y ? 4. < '$ 'i' lake ~ \~ ~9~~ ~"-9_ \ " \' ~~~ - ~ 't ~ ~ 't- '\c Q' \, 't ' "" Y.. ~ ~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~ - ,'f \ -.::r-..~ \ ~ ~ 't \' ~ '\' ~ '\ ~ \ -'~ re~ til <::) 0;:.. -=--== --==; \ - \\ ~<;:I.'>:I...CI\ ~ 't ~\\ ' 't~ ~'~~~ ,,~\ \ ~ \\~ ~ -;\\,\ ~~~ ~~ '<-f \"-\\ ~ ~~ ' ./ ~= lake \,'\ ?s-~./ ~~ ~ I'M I. Contour interval S feef ~s.- \ _\ \ ertdon fond ¥. feef 't'~\~ ~ \: ~'\' .. o ';-00 1000 I:SCo ~o oo ~ \~, 'f ESKER W EST O F MENDON POND I N THE MENDO N KAME AREA SII ,.,i CY alld map b.\' .4. W. Gile", I:I. L. FAIRCHIL D-THE ) 1 ENUON KA~lE ARE.\ 207 compari son with the c r oss ~ ·ection. The streams which drain alpine glaciers. and the l\ Jalaspina ice sheet in \Iaska, emerge (1'0 111 sub glacial tunnels. \Vater from the melting o( the ice surface (abla tion) finds its way downward by. fis sures (crevasse) or by melting its own passage. The eskers in the two ranges of kames a re so irregular in form and so confused with or surrounded by the kames that they a re not readily recognized. T he one in the east range has greater length, but the other has higher reli ef and steeper slopes. There is intimate genetic relati on bet\\'een kame a nd esker, and both may be product of the same stream. T he kame knolls a re outwash of detritus piled at the emergencc of the glacial stream, at the fluctuating and ragged edge of the icc. The esker is the coarse material dropped by the stream in its bed \Vh ell the volume and velocity of the Howing water is incompetent to carryall the load. The stream in it .. course lays the esker and at its terminus piles the kall1 e. The "feeding esker" lI1ay somet imes be found upstream from a kame. During the rescession o f the ice front kames a re often uuilt n or against the esker. producing an irregular and knobby ridge. The eskers in the :\rendon kames have been thus confused or ob scured by the suusequent kame construction. Like drumlins, eskers indicate the general di rection of the local ice movement, for the reason that a stream under the ice sheet could not persist with a direction of How transvcrse to th e ice movell1 ent. T hey co uld live only in accord \\'ith the ice Aow, which in western :\ew York was south to southwest. Eskers should be sought in south-leading vall eys. where th ~ suu glacial drainage would tend to concentrate. A seri es of interrupted ridges and knolls li e along the L ehi gh ' -alley railroad, on the west side, between Cedar S wa mp station and Rochester ,lunction, which can be seen from the car window, especiall y when the trees a re bare. These a re mapped and described in Gil es' paper. A mile south of the :\ lenc1 oll kames is a conspicuous chain of knolls that is regarded as an imperfect esker, or eskerine. This surmounts a drul11lin, cl ose east of the road to Honeoye :fall s. T he four connected knoll s are locall y knO\\'l1 as the "Dumpling IIills. " The altitude, 7-10 feet, a nd height above the p lain , \\·ith a lone tree on the bold north end, l11 akes the little esker very prominent. 208 I{(JClII':S TI':I{ .\ c'\ JlE .\IY OF se ll:: TC E Kettles. The basins o r bo wls, termed kettles In glacial par lance. are singular features. They are not normal products of sL ream wo rk, and before the ri se o f glacial geology they. like drum lins a nd eskers, were mysteri ous phenomena. :\mong the :\1cndon kames arc numerous, large a nd splendid ex amples. (Fig ure :i.) T hey a rc not vi sibl e from the highways, but may readily be seen by cl imbing the knoll s cl ose to the roads, espe cia ll y o n the cast of the Douglas road. They are difficult subjects ,0 photogra ph with a small camera. The \\'alls o f the basin s co nl111 only ri se as steeply as the material, Fig-ure 5. KETTLE IN THE EAST RANGE I. ook ill g' no rth g ravel or sand, \rill rest. or at the "angle o f repose." In S0 1l1 e cases the heig ht is 100 feet. Kettl es a re not erosional ; that ]:-;, they were not mari e hy removal o f materials. or by excavation. They are construct io nal, in a pecu li ar \\·ay. S011le of the more irregular, larger and sha ll o\\' basin s, like tho:-;e holding the larger lakes, may be due to ddicienc)' o f fdl ing at the time of the Innraine dep o~ ition. Ilut the deeper, sym 11l etrical or subcircul a r kettles \\' en : originally occupied by bl ocks o f ice, detached by the unequal melting o f the ragged ice marg in. I'robahl y most of the ice bl ocks \\'en: entirely buried in the detrital Ollt wash, a nd never l11 el ted unt il the lake waters \\' ere d ra in ed a way and the a rea exposed to the air and .the leaching rains. Then the dri ft cover and walls slulllped in, Iea\'ing the steep-\\'alled bowls. II. [ .. 1 :.\ lI~ l' III1 .Il -TIH : .\1 E 1\IJO:\ I'A .\(E AIlE.\ 209 Perhaps some la rger ice bl ocks lV ere onl y surrounded by the ice and stream drift, and were not entirely buried. Such basin s stand intell1l ediate in their ori g in bellreen th e typical kettles and the broad basin s o f unfilled spaces. The persistence of buried ice until the s:andilw waters were re moved was due to the greater density and weight o f the colder water . The temperature o f the drift about the ice Illust have been quite 32° F. /\ s any portion of the surrounding Ir ateI' became wanner. up to 3<) ° F. its density increased and it rel11 ain ecl in the depths. thus insulating the ice and inhibiting the rapid melling. It F i gure 6. MENDON POND Looking west f ro l11 th e cast range esker may be noted that the bottom waters of ve ry deep la kes. like O n tario and Seneca, are perl11an ently at 39 deO' rees. Lakes. In geologic terminology the names pond and pooi are used onl y for artificial bodies o f water, while natural Irater bodies are called lakes, lakele: s and tarns. The location, siz e and outA ow of only four of the lakes in the kame area a re shown in the maps, fig ure 1 and 2. .I \ut other lakelets exi st, hidden in the deep kettles. O ne lI'est o f the :-Iendon Pond, in a great well-like kettle, is call ed iliad; P oml. Several lake lets li e north of the Harris Pond. at least in wet sea ons, and a rc indicated in Giles esker map, plate 80. The "Dig Pond," the most northerl y, a nd the head o f drainage, has an area of about 100 ac,:eS; and a depth o f about eight feet. 210 ROCI ) T':S T)7R , \ C.\J) E ~) Y O F SCIr::NCE T hc H a rris P ond li es nearly surrounded by the kames on the east sidc of thc va llc\·. I t is only a few acres in cxtent, but is sa id to havc a depth o f 24 fcet. D eep P ond is 111 0stl y shallow but is said to be 3-+ feet dccp in one place. -:-ruc1 Pond is shall ow, as it s name il11pli es. The marg ins o f the lakes arc mostly swampy. T herc are all g radati ons in size and positi on o f the kettles, fro l11 the lowcst, with or \\'ithout lakes or s wamps, and those of great dcpth, to the shallo\\cr dcpressions high in the hills \\'hich can ncver hold any water. Naturally the only basins \\'hich can hold lal.; es a re those with impervious bottoms, probably compact, sub g lacial dri [t. J\ elo\\' t he lake sur faccs t hc surrounding sands and F igur e 7. MENDON POND Loo kin g north east f rOIll K ll ull at sO \1th end o f th e "I nd ian Trail g ravels must bc ah\'ays 'atura tecl with watcr. Hcnce thc lake levcls a rc not very scnsitive to the cha i1 ging seasons. Tl o TA:\Trc.\ L I N TT':R r::sT D uring many years the Scction o f :C otany of this Society has explo red the l\ Jendon district in the intensive stuely o f the Aora o f M onroe County and surrounding territory. A n early collector and stuelent o f the Iendon plant Ii fe was George T. Fish. S ubsequently :'I lilton S . Ba xter, Warren A . l\ rathews, Douglas 1\ 1. White and E llsworth P . K illi p took up the work, continuing to the present time. The special botanical feature of the l\ [endon di strict IS thc swamp Aora, found in the boers of thc kcttlc basins a nd In the IT. L. FATR C IIILD-Tnr. :\[ ENn(l:-< K A~\(E ARE.\ 211 s\\'amps surrounding the several ponds. The flora here is co 111 ,Parable to that of the Dergen swal1lp. In Cenesee CO llllty. In the latter area the predominant flora is that which is cha racteri stic of marl bogs, or calcareous waters; while in the 1\ renclon area the sphagnum bog plants predominate. The 1\ lenclon flora is especiall y rich in orchid s ancl in sectivorous plants. The heath falllily abouilds. Several ra re species of care ....: occur, among them E lcoeharis illtcrstilleta, (Vahl) R. & S., not re ported else\\'here in :.: e\\' York state. The following two species are found in Oll\' botanical district onl y in :\ Iendon: the Dwarf Mis tl etoe Arecn/hobillJII. /,lIsilllllll, Peck, parasitic upon the l:lack Figure 8. DEEP POND Looking so uth east h om Kn oll at south end o f th e Indian Trai l Spruce. Picca lila ria IIG, (Mill ) DS P., and U/riel/laria reslI pi lIata, n. D . Greene. The plants of the !'. Iendon di strict a re li sted in the published P la nt List of l\ fonroe Coun ty, in these Proceedings. volume 3 ( 1896), pages l- LiO; with particular noti ce on pages 8, 9. Addi tional species are recorcled in the S upplel11enta ry Plant Lists, volul11e S, pages 1-38, 59-121. AUORIG LNA L O CC · I'.\TION The 1\1elldon POlld Trail By A RTH U R C. PARKER \t\f hen Lewis H . 1\ [organ was preparing the manuscript of hi s now justly fal1lous "League of the Iroquois" he paid special aUen :?12 IWU IIs n :R . \ C. \DE~IY 01: SC I ENel, tion to thc subject of Indian trails. Indced hi s " S kenandoah L et ters" in the ," lI/('riW JI R e', i e',e' conta in much o f inte rest about trails. g le Aboriginal Sites on th e Mendon Ponds Many of the slopes about the ]\Iendon Ponds have traces of ab original occupa ti on upon them in the way o f fire-broken stones, net sinkers, a rrow points and now and then a celt. O ne considerable site is to be found on the east sid e o f Dig Pond and at about its middle point. In general the culture seems to be Algonkian, though there a re traces o f the Iroquoian. The Algonkian peoples came long before the I roquoia n, and probably fished in the ponds for many centuries until driven Ollt by the IroCJuois at some period between 1200 and 1300 of our era. T he later Iroquois explain the g ravel hill s, such as are seen 0 11 both sides o f the ponds, as the spew of monster li zards that plowed into the earth and endeavored to devour it. I n anger the Thunder god shot them with the gleaming a rrows that flew from his eyes 21-1- ROClIEST E R . \ CA DE~IY O F SC IE N E when he caught the culprits, whereupon the monsters disgorged the sand and g ra vel and then died. The shapes o f their bodi es may still be seen. J-! istorical Evid ellc e of OcClt/,ntioJl. i\lr. J. H. H opkins, who owns part o f the land upon which the esker trail is situa ted, stated to the writer that hi s grand father cl eared the farm a nd found the Indian trail over the ridge. leading to the ponds. He stated that originally it was much longer and ran over the ridges to the north. The older settlers, he said, never doubted that the trail had been made by the departed red men. Just no rth of hi s present hOll se, in plowing, he found the ruins of an old ca bin and some shards o f blue china. \ Vhether this was an Indian hut or one occupied by a settler he cannot tell, but since the Seneca Indians lived in the Genesee va ll ey as late as 1838, and had free access to their old haunts, the chance: are about equal as to the nationality o f the cabin's occupants. At that time the Indians had E uropean di shes and lived in log cabins. The fact that the Indians left at a relatively late time,- less than a century ago, strengthens the arguments in favor of the Indian o rigin of the trail. Lr T OF \VRLTl 1\V The published papers li sted below contain references in the pres ent article and some mention or brief de 'criptioll o f the i\lendon kames and related features. A fuller li st o f papers 011 the glacial geology of western -:\ ew York is gi\'en in papers 8, 10 a nd 11. 1. C. R. DRYER. The glacial geology 0 f the I rondeql1 oit region. A lII erican Geologist, Vol. 5, 1890, pp. 202-207. 2. H. L. r-.\IRC HILD. T he kame-moraine at H.ochester, N . Y . . 8. - ---The Rochester canyon and the Genesee River base levels. Pro c., Noch. Acad. Science, Vol. 6, 1919, pp. 1-55. 9. --- - The Pinnacle Hills, 'or the Rochester kame-morai nc. Pro c., Ro ell. Acad. Sc icllcc, Vol. 6, 1923, pp. 141-194. 10. Geolog ic hi story of the Genesee Country; 111 HiSlory of Ih e CCIl i!sec COll lllry, Vol. I, 1925, pp. 15-110. 11. Geology of western New York. Rochester, November 1925. 62 pages, 37 plates. 12. \. W. GILES. Eskers in vicinity of Rochester, N. Y. Proc., Roell. A cad. Seiellce, Vol. 5, 19 18, pp. 217-223, platcs 13, 14.