till plain sloping westward to the Tippecanoe River. This ridge runs westward in continuous line to the Tippecanoe Valley at Monticello. This is a lateral moraine between the Saginaw lobe on the north and the Erie lobe on the south. The ridge continue westward and becomes hard to distinguish as it passes west of Kentland, Indiana. Outlet Lake Kankakee was over higher than the current river. It topped the western divide near Morris, Illinois, where a lake had formed as the glacier retreated from the Marseilles moraine. Initially, this water body, drained through numerous gaps in the moraine at the to above sea level, until the gap on the present Illinois River dropped lower than the rest, becoming the outlet for this lake. This outlet crosses exposed bedrock implying that it was a long slow process. Thus, this lake and Lake Kankakee were held in check. The terraces and beaches in the Morris Basin are above sea level or above the present head of the Illinois River. This shows that this lake existed during the Valparaiso Moraine stage. The lakes level extended up the Kankakee River Valley about as far as Braidwood, where the sand dunes set in. Once this breach in the Marseilles moraine was created, it became the discharged for Lake Chicago . Combined with Lake Wauponsee's waters, the outlet deepened. Lake Kankakee at this time was draining much of the St. Joseph Rivers watershed, which was fed by the Saginaw lobe. The erosion by this quantity of water created many of the features along the Illinois River and the lower Kankakee River. The rock barrier at Momence halted erosion further upriver. The various lakes formed by the glacial retreats and its moraines were at their maximum levels at this time. The outlet was at or above above sea level. See also Kankakee River Kankakee Outwash Plain Kankakee Torrent Grand Kankakee Marsh Kankakee, Illinois Proglacial lake Great Lakes List of prehistoric lakes References Sources Dunes of Northwestern Indiana; Edward Barrett; Forty First Annual Report of Department of Geology and Natural Resources, Indiana; pg 11-22; Fort Wayne Printing Company; 1916 The Glacial Lakes Around Michigan; William R. Farrand, Bulletin 4, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Geological Survey Division; Lansing, Michigan; revised 1988 Chapter VI. The Saginaw Lobe; Frank Leverett; Monographs of the United States Geological Survey, Volume LIII, Government Printing Office, Washington; 1915 The Illinois Glacial Lobe; Frank Leverett;