Letter to Taylor from Leverett, October 8, 1916

Item — Box: 2, Folder: 9

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Series:

The correspondence series includes approximately 1100 letters written between 1892-1939. The majority of the collection are letters between Frank Leverett and Frank Bursley Taylor; they discuss their field work, Monograph 53, other publications and various related problems. There is also other correspondence with other geologists, including T.C. Chamberlin, Grove K. Gilbert, J.W. Goldthwait, H.L. Fairchild, et alia. There is extensive correspondence with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the Michigan Geological Survey. The primary subject of this series is the surficial glacial geology of the midwestern U.S. and Canada. Leverett & Taylor's work was essential for understanding how the Great Lakes were formed as the Pleistocene glaciers advanced and retreated from the midwestern states. The letters describe the 30 year process of gathering data, mapping the data and constructing the picture of glacial processes during the last Ice Age.

Dates

Creation: October 8, 1916

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

The material is stored offsite in Remote Storage. Please contact Special Collections 3 working days in advance if you wish to use it.

Extent

From the Collection: 1 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

General

Had good weather for the week I spent covering the ground near McMillan, that N of Seney, and that in the Marquette topo. sheet, and also took the Munising RR to Skandia to check the limit of wave action there. At McMillan I hand-leveled up to the the highest Algonquin shore at 875-880', lower than expected. I also found a larger area S of McMillan standing above lake level. I think I can outline its approximate extent. The hill S of McMillan is over 1000'; my aneroid made it about 1015'. I found wave-washed area over 900' at Grand Marais. I arranged with a highway engineer I met at Seney to send me data from a road survey running from Seney to the N line of Schoolcraft County, so I will soon know the height of the Algonquin there. The upper limit of wave work on the Munising RR near Skandia is 920-925', which is lower than at Munising as determined in 1912, where the highest Algonquin was just over 950'. At Marquette I was surprised to find a notch cut in the east slope of a moraine at 50-60' higher altitude than the heavily wave-washed Algonquin surface waters. It seems to be the work of a narrow strip of water fringing the retreating ice edge. Its precise height is 986' at S side, Sec. 21 two miles W of Marquette where I found a 980' bench mark. About 4 miles NW in Sec. 7 the notch seems to be close to the 1000' contour. The highest Algonquin beach in SW part of Marquette Quadrangle is 935-940', and the highest beach is weaker than the one at 920'. There are step-like rises W of Marquette that seem to be ice contact and border drainage features at various heights up to 1400'. I found delta-like structures with beds dipping sharply southward in the direction of flow of the border drainage in the "treads" of two of these steps. It was fine sand and silt and seems to have been built out into pools on the edge of the ice. One of these places just N of Bagdad has an altitude of 1260' at top of a sand deposit. Mr. Barrett and I were to go on a trip today NE from L'Anse but it has rained steadily since I woke up; it is now 330 PM. I will make Hotel Superior, Superior, WI, my mail point until Oct. 15. I will be glad to hear what you found near Sebewaing.