History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

16

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

it soon rises to the level of the upper beach. The lowering of the lake
to the level of the second beach seems to have followed closely the withdrawal of the ice from this till ridge and the opening of the Imlay outlet. Indeed, it is probable that the opening of this outlet is the main
cause for the lowering of the lake.
"The second beach from Birmingham northward to the Imlay outlet is usually a gravelly ridge. It is exceptionally strong at Romeo and
in the vicinity of Almont. It lies along the inner face of the till ridge,
just noted, from near Birmingham to Romeo."
A peculiar feature of this upper Maumee beach is the fact that as it
extends north it rises. At Birmingham, Leverett says, it is nineteen feet
higher than at Ypsilanti, and that it is eleven feet higher at Rochester
than at Birmingham. That may be due to the gradual tilting of the surVTIEW ox NiEELY's FLATs NEAxR ROCHESTER
face of this state. The very eminent United States Geologist, Gilbert,
claims to have determined that the north part of the state is now very
slowly rising and the southern part as slowly settling.
Leverett says that at Birmingham the second Maumee beach is
twenty-nine feet lower than the upper one. He also traces the shore of
Lake Whittlesey (the Belmore Beach), through this county as follows:
"From two miles northeast of Romeo it swings southward and leads
through Washington township to Clinton river, just below Rochester.
The village of Rochester stands upon a delta which was formed in connection with this beach. The beach continues in a course west of south
for about twelve miles from Rochester, passing one and one-half miles
southeast of Birmingham. It there curves abruptly westward, forming
an interesting series of hooks, in its curving portion, and crosses to the
west side of East Rouge river, about two miles southwest of Birming