Getting a Feel for the Finger Lakes and Champlain, Part 3

STEVE EMBER: In central New York state, there are five lakes that look like fingers on a map. Their names come from American Indian culture. Seneca. Cayuga (ky-YOU-gah). Keuka (KYOO-ka). Canandaigua (can-an-DAY-gwa), and Skaneateles (skan-ee-AT-lis). These are the five major Finger Lakes. Cayuga Lake is the longest among them. But Seneca Lake is the biggest and the deepest, at almost two hundred meters. Compare that to the nine-meter depth of Honeoye (HUN-ee-oy) Lake. Honeoye is among what are considered the six minor Finger Lakes in central and western New York. The others are Owasco, Otisco, Canadice, (KAN-ah-dice), Hemlock and Conesus (kon-EE-sus). BARBARA KLEIN: Most of the eleven lakes contain cold water fisheries like trout as well as bass and other warm water fishing. The Finger Lakes area is home to industries and large cities like Syracuse and Rochester. But there are still many farms. And the area has a large number of grape vineyards and wine producers. STEVE EMBER:Several colleges and universities are in the Finger Lakes area. They include Ithaca College, Colgate University and Cornell University. Cornell honors Cayuga Lake in its school song, which begins: "Far above Cayuga's waters / With its waves of blue / Stands our noble alma mater / Glorious to view." BARBARA KLEIN: The first people to view the beauty of the Finger Lakes were the Indians. The Iroquois believed that the Great Spirit formed the lakes. The Great Spirit was closely linked with nature. STEVE EMBER:Science tells us that a large body of ice moved across the land. The last glacier covered large areas of what is now the northeastern United States about twenty thousand years ago. The glacier moved south and then north again. In doing so, it moved through many river valleys. It made the valleys deeper and wider than they were before. Then the ice started melting and moved north again. The glacier left huge amounts of soil and rocks in what scientists call the Valley Heads Moraine. A moraine is a landform created by all the material carried and left by a glacier. BARBARA KLEIN: The Valley Heads Moraine prevented old rivers from flowing south, as they had before. This left the valleys filled with water. And this is how scientists say the Finger Lakes came to be. STEVE EMBER: Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember. BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Source: Voice of America