In 1863 Logan, Murray, Hunt, and Billings reported buried organic detritus near Goulais Bay, Ontario. Several exposures located along the Goulais River were examined in 1976. Radiocarbon analyses of wood from three sites gave dates of 6490 ± 100 (BGS-373); 6550 ± 100 (BGS-417); 7310 ± 110 (BGS-416), and 5430 ± 100 (BGS-498) (BGS:Brock University Geological Sciences). The wood was derived from silts and sands interpreted as overbank alluvium; these are overlain by deltaic sediments of the Nipissing Great Lakes. The alluvial sediments were deposited by a meandering river graded to lake levels in the Superior basin, which were initially about 15 m below the Nipissing shore (197 m at Sault Ste. Marie). This initial level was apparently controlled by the St. Marys River sill (now 181 ± m). Similar organic materials obtained from Garden River sections (Huron basin) were dated at 7260 ± 110 (BGS-413) and 5120 ± 100 (BGS-414); these occupy a similar stratigraphic position to those of Goulais River except they are 18–20 m below the Nipissing shoreline, i.e., related to a Huron basin outlet. A date of 4610 ± 90 (BGS-374) was obtained on a wood sample from the base of the Nipissing bluff at Sault Ste. Marie. The dates represent alluviation in meandering river systems from 7400–5000 years BP followed by burial as lake levels rose to the Nipissing level.