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.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

17

ham. From this point its course is southwestward through Farmington
to Plymouth where it crosses West Rouge river."
While I have not personally traced this beach I think the chances are
very great that the well marked low, gravelly ridge crossing the south
end of the Beekman farm south of Birmingham is the Belmore Beach.
At Rochester one can easily imagine the Paint creek and Clinton river
emptying into Lake Whittlesey at substantially the same place and together forming the delta plain on which that beautiful village stands.
I have no accurate information as to the altitude of the highest shore
of Lake Warren, but it was about fifty feet lower than the shore of Lake
Whittlesey and entered Oakland county from the northeast about straight
east of Troy Corners and passed southwesterly through the vicinity of
Big Beaver and Royal Oak village until it reached a point near the south
line of Royal Oak township where it turned abruptly west and kept that
main direction until it approached to or near the Belmore Beach, at which
place it passed southwesterly with it into Wayne county. Wide, low,
sandy ridges are stated by the geologists to be characteristic of this
beach for much of its length, and probably for a part, at least, of the
portion thereof in this county.
Beneath the drift in this county is the bed-rock extending, as far as
geologists know, to the melted interior of the earth. In all probability
all of Oakland county had risen above the ocean before the close of the
Carboniferous age. and no rocks more recent than the Carboniferous
appear beneath the drift here. The first rock underlying the drift in
the southeast corner of the county and under the township of Royal Oak
and parts of Southfield and Troy is of the Devonian age, while under all
the remainder of the county the first rock is of the next later age, the
Carboniferous. The coal basin of the state, which covers the central
part of the lower peninsula, only touches the extreme northwest corner
of Oakland county if at all, and no coal is likely to be found in the
county. It is quite possible that oil may exist in the Trenton rock, but
to reach that stratum wells would have to be bored several thousand
feet deep. Salt-bearing strata probably underlie all of the county at considerable depths below the first bed-rock, as well as strata impregnated
with sulphur and other minerals. Where the sloping shores of Lake
Maumee dip and trend away from the westerly Maumee glacial moraine
crossing the southeast part of the county porous strata overlaid by impervious strata having been occasionally so deposited and formed by the
waters of Lake Maumee as to make artesian wells possible. They are
found in Avon, Troy, Bloomfield, Southfield and Farmington townships.
Artesian wells are also found in the vicinity of Ortonville and in some
other parts of the county, and natural springs are quite common.
Most of thie county lies on the easterly slope of the easterly moraine
of the Saginaw glacier, but a small part of the county is drained westerly.
The relative elevation of different parts of the county is a matter of some
interest. As stated above, Detroit river at the foot of Woodward avenue
is 575 feet above the level of the ocean. Lake Huron is five feet higher
and Lake Erie is two feet lower than the surface of Detroit river at that
point. Passing from the river at the foot of Woodward avenue northwesterly along the Detroit and Pontiac electric railway the elevations
fol. 1-2