 The natural rise in the otherwise flat plains of northern Western New York was formed when sand and gravel were deposited at the shore of Glacial Lake Iroquois.This precursor to Lake Ontario, formed while the St. Lawrence River outlet was blocked by glacial ice, had a level about higher than the modern lake, which meant its southern shoreline was approximately south of the modern shore.This ridge became the site of a pre-19th century trail carved out and used by the Algonquian and Iroquois.