Secondary Glaciation In Lewiston

THE LEWISTON MORAINE

The ridge upon which Ridge Road in Lewiston, NY lies is known as Bell's Terrace, after the scientist who noticed it's significance (The Geology of our Romantic Niagara). However after careful investigation, I must disagree with the idea that it was formed as a beach long ago when the lake extended to the escarpment. I had believed this without further question and I found it caused me to come to the wrong conclusion concerning the landscape of Lewiston.

I believe the ridge is actually a moraine rather than a former beach. It was dropped there when the oncoming glacier met the escarpment. Thus, I am going to describe it as an "obstacle moraine". The moraine continues far eastward.

Since we know that the high ground by the falls on the Canadian side is a moraine, the Niagara Falls Moraine, meaning that it was deposited by a glacier, doesn't it make sense that some of the vast amount of dirt and rock carried by the glacier would not make it over the escarpment when the glacier encountered it? This ridge in Lewiston up against the escarpment must be the part of the Niagara Falls Moraine that did not make it over the escarpment when carried by the glacier. Let's call it the "Lewiston Moraine".

I do not see how it could be anything but a moraine. The position of this Lewiston Moraine fits with what we see near the falls. The Lewiston Moraine is mostly on the American side of the river. But the Niagara Falls Moraine is on the Canadian side. However, remember that vast masses of ice sliding westward across the underlying rock strata and indenting the moraine, making it's edge steep as it was pushed westward. This is just what we see on the Canadian side above the falls, including Clifton Hill.

After closely examining this ridge in Lewiston, my conclusion is that it cannot possibly be a beach, as previously believed. The waves on beaches gradually pulverize rock into sand. Yet, I did not see slightest hint of sandiness in the soil.

There is a considerable amount of clay visible in the soil. Clay is relatively heavy, making it unlikely to be deposited on a beach. But clay is a material that could be readily scraped off the ground and deposited by a glacier.

Waves on a beach also give stones rounded edges and where round stones are found in the ground, it means that water was previously flowing, but I saw not the slightest sign of this.

The ridge upon which Center St. in Lewiston is built is a smaller version of the ridge upon which Lundy's Lane in Niagara Falls, Canada is built. This Center St. Ridge was formed in exactly the same way as that of Lundy's Lane.

As the last ice age came to an end, huge icebergs broke free and slid across the ground. Icebergs could slide side by side forming a wall of ice. Their tremendous weight would cause them to plow dirt and rock in front of them until they melted too much to push the moraine any further. And there it would remain today.

There is a drop in the level of Center St. just west of Portage Road, this represents the point where the secondary glacier impacted the Lewiston Moraine, causing it to stop sliding and thus deposit the Center St. Moraine, which is the ridge upon which Center St. is now built.

To make the geography of Lewiston even more puzzling and interesting, 5th st. is built on a low ridge that runs perpendicular to and intersects with, the Center St. ridge. It is easy to see that there is a mound, a concentration of moraine deposit, where the two ridges meet at 5th St. and Center St.

This is enough to make Lewiston into a virtual miniature version of the landscape of Niagara Falls, Canada. This meeting of the two ridges in Lewiston to form a kind of T-ridge is reminiscent of the Lundy's Lane and Portage Road Ridges in Niagara Falls, Canada. Both were formed by secondary glaciation.

The 5th St. Ridge must have been formed at the end of the last ice age when an iceberg broke free and slid off the high ground going westward about where Frontier Lanes is now located. This plowed up the rock and dirt which now forms the 5th St. Ridge. This must have happened before the wall of sliding ice formed the Center St. Ridge because the 5th St. Ridge ends at that ridge.

The sliding wall of ice pushed back the 5th St. Ridge from it's northern end until it met the Lewiston Moraine and came to a halt. The Center St. Ridge could not have continued very far westward because it gets lower toward the river and there is no sign that it continues on the Canadian side.

There are two significant culverts indicating that this scenario is correct. The sliding iceberg that created the 5th St. Ridge left the valley in which Tuscarora St. is built as a culvert when it melted. There is a further culvert at Seneca St. showing how the waters from the melting glacier drained away from the ice that formed the moraine.

It is easy to see that water once poured over the escarpment where Lewiston Rd. meets Mountainview Dr., but that wider version of the present Niagara River emptied into the lake when it extended to the escarpment following the end of the last ice age and did not contribute to shaping the land in the village below.