ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University Cornell University Library GB 126.W6M38 The physical geography of Wisconsin 3 1924 014 113 363 m Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014113363 THE HIGHEST WATERFALL IN WISCONSIN. One-hundred-and-sixty-foot cascade in the Black River, a tributary of the Nemadji, south of the city of Superior. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey E. A. BIRGE, Director W. O. HOTCHKISS, State Geologist BULLETIN NO. XXXVI EDUCATIONAL SERIES NO. 4 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF WISCONSIN By LAWRENCE MARTIN, A.M., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Physiography and Geography University of Wisconsin MADISON. WIS. Published by the State Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS EMMANUEL L. PHILIPP Governor of the State. CHARLES R. VAN HISE, President President of the University of Wisconsin. CHARLES P. CARY, Vice President State Superintendent of Public Instruction HENRY L. WARD, Secretary President of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. STAFF OF THE SURVEY ADMINISTRATION: Edward A. Birge, Director and Superintendent. In immediate charge of Natural History Division. William 0. Hotchkiss, State Geologist. In immediate charge of Geology Division. Lillian M. Veerhusen, Clerk. GEOLOGY DIVISION: William O. Hotchkiss, In charge. T. C. Chamberlin, Consulting Geologist, Pleistocene Geology. Samuel Weidman, Geologist, Areal Geology. E. F. Bean, Geologist, Chief of Field Parties. Lawrence Martin, Geologist, Physical Geography. R. H. Whitbeck, Geography. Edward Steidtmann, Geologist, Limestones. F. E. Williams, Geologist, Geography and History. O. W. Wheelwright, Geologist, Chief of Field Parties. H. H. Bradt, Assistant in Land Classification. NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION: Edward A. Birge, In charge. Chancey Juday, Lake Survey. H. A. Schuette, Chemist. SOILS DIVISION: A. R. Whitson, In charge. W. J. Geib, Inspector and Editor. Guy Conrey, Chemist. T. J. Dunnewald, Field Assistant and Analyst. Carl Thompson, Field Assistant and Analyst. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I The State of Wisconsin , 1 II The Geographical Provinces of Wisconsin 29 III The Western Upland 39 IV The Driftless Area 73 V The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 93 VI The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 109 VII The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 129 VIII The Rivers within the Western Upland 171 IX The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 197 X The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 221 XI The Drainage of Eastern Wisconsin 257 XII The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 279 XIII The Central Plain 299 XIV The Drainage of the Central Plain 325 XV The Northern or Lake Superior Highland 347 XVI The Lakes and Streams of the Northern Highland 385 XVII The Lake Superior Lowland 401 XVIII The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 415 Appendix. A. Area of Wisconsin 438 B. Boundaries of Wisconsin 439 C. Areas and Populations of Counties in Wisconsin 443 D. Areas of State Parks, Forest Reserve, Indian Reservations, Military Reservations, Public Lands, and Educational Lands in Wisconsin 445 E. Wisconsin Maps 447 F. The Land Survey in Wisconsin 466 G. Chronological List of Federal and State Survey Reports, with a few Other Early Papers, on the Geology and Physical Geography of Wisconsin 477 H. Altitudes of Cities and Villages on and near the Railways in Wiscon- sin with a Few Elevations of Rivers, Lakes, and Hills 493 PREFACE This discussion of the physical geography of Wisconsin is an attempt to describe the surface features of the state in such a way that any man or woman may read and understand, that any gram- mar school teacher may read and select items for verbal presenta- tion to her pupils, and particularly that any high school, normal school, or college instructor may read and assign to students for reading either the whole book, or the chapters dealing with the home region. The author has lived in Wisconsin ten years. During the summers of 1907 and 1908 he devoted nearly all of the college vacation to field work on the physical geography and glacial geology of the state. The expense of the first season's work was met by the United States Geological Survey, the second by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. In subsequent years he has spent many weeks in field work in connection with his teaching at the University of Wisconsin, taking parties of students for half-day, all-day, and longer excursions, including two periods of four weeks each during the summers of 1913 and 1914. In addition three days were spent in the field in 1913 with Samuel Weidman, W. 0. Hotchkiss, and E. F. Bean, five days in 1914 with E. 0. Ulrich, W. 0. Hotchkiss, and F. T. Thwaites, three days the same year with W. 0. Hotchkiss, E. F. Bean, and 0. W. Wheelwright, and two weeks in 1915 with F. T. Thwaites and Walter Schoewe. The writing of this book was undertaken in the winter of 1908-9, resumed during the summer of 1912, and com- pleted during the summer and autumn of 1915. Much of the subject matter has been tried out by presentation to students in a university course on The Geography of Wisconsin, first offered in 1910 and repeated during several semesters and summer sessions by the author and, more recently, by Prof. E. F. Bean. The author has tried to make the book simple. Most of the discussion is without technicality. Nevertheless there are ideas and phenomena which will be new to some. The plan of presen- tation involves the explanation of all unfamiliar terms and phrases vi The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the first time they are used. Accordingly a person who reads the book through from beginning to end should not encounter any terms he cannot understand. Many of the explanations are re- peated, but it has not been possible to do this every time. Hence the reader who takes up a chapter without having read those which precede it may sometimes find it necessary to turn to the index at the end of the book and look up the first page listed under mo- raine, metamorphic rock, cuesta, outwash, peneplain, or whatever the word may be. The book does not aim to discuss all of the features of the geog- raphy of Wisconsin. It deals with the physical geography or physiography of the state. The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey has already published "The Geography and Indus- tries of Wisconsin." This is Bulletin XXVI, now out of print, but republished in the Blue Book for 1915. Bulletins on "The Climate of Wisconsin" and on "The Geography and History of Wisconsin" are planned. Regional studies of "The Geography of the Region about Devils Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin," on "The Lakes of Southeastern Wisconsin," on "The Geology of North Central Wisconsin (Glacial Geology and Physiographic Geology)," on "The Abandoned Shorelines of Eastern Wisconsin," on "The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin," and on "The Geography of the Fox-Winnebago Valley" have already appeared. Although this discussion of the physical geography of Wisconsin deals pri- marily with the surface features of the state it has not seemed advisable to omit all references to human geography. Brief incidents in the history of the state and relations of resources and industries to topographic and hydrographic features have been included here and there. Each item introduced has, however, been carefully considered in order to see whether its inclusion adds interest to the discussion of the purely physiographic features and justifies the space given it. If it were usual to dedicate the publications of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey to individuals the author would be inclined to inscribe this volume to the memory of Dr. Increase A. Lapham — Wisconsin's first geographer. Many workers have contributed to the explanation of the physio- graphic features of Wisconsin. It has not been possible to mention the names of all the geologists, geographers, and other observers who have participated in this work and to tell exactly what each one contributed. The author has omitted all mention of names Preface vii from the text, because of fear of acknowledging this debt imperfectly and because he believes that names in the text and footnotes at the ends of pages distract the reader and interrupt the continuity of presentation. In the bibliographies at the ends of chapters he has included the names of his fellow workers and the full titles of their books and papers. From a great many of these he has gleaned valuable information. Except in the chapter on The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area, the only names mentioned in the text are those of authors quoted. It is hoped that the youth of Wisconsin may receive from these quotations an inspiration to find beauty and charm in the scenic features of the state and to learn to express it in adequate language. Certain schools may wish to use this book as a supplementary reader in a course in physical geography. It is conceivable that some school may even try the experiment of using it in place of a textbook of physical geography. In most states this would be impossible, but Wisconsin has such a variety of features that nearly every important physiographic process and topographic form in connection with the physical geography of the lands is here repre- sented. Thus we have weathering and the work of underground water in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin; we have wind work in the Driftless Area and on the shores of the Great Lakes; the Mississippi River and the other rivers of the state give us nearly all the essential features of stream erosion and stream deposition; in northern and eastern Wisconsin the work of glaciers in erosion and deposition is conspicuously represented; the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and the inland lakes include most phases of wave work; the lakes and swamps bring in the relationships of plants and animals; the lava flows of northwestern Wisconsin represent one type of vulcanism; Wisconsin includes several kinds of plains, an area of low plateaus, and a vast expanse of worn-down mountains. If "The Physical Geography of Wis- consin" were used as the chief text and a small amount of supple- mentary reading were carried on in a reference book, like one of the ordinary textbooks of physical geography — where the ocean, the atmosphere, youthful mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes were studied briefly — Wisconsin boys and girls might profit quite as much as in the usual high school course. Another plan would be to devote a half year to a study of physical geography in an ordinary textbook, followed by a half year's study of this book on the physi- cal geography of the home state. It is hoped that the publication viii The Physical Geography of Wisconsin of the present discussion will result in the introduction of a course on the Geography of Wisconsin in every normal school and college in the state as well as in some of the larger high schools. Such a course might use this book as a text, following it by a consideration of resources and occupations as described in "The Geography and Industries of Wisconsin," or Merrill's "Industrial Geography of Wisconsin" or the United States Census supplements for Wisconsin on Population, Agriculture, Manufactures, Mines and Quarries, or the Wisconsin number of the Journal of Geography. In any case there should be laboratory and field work. The dia- grams and maps in this book, especially the colored contour maps, furnish some of the material for such laboratory work. The maps listed at the ends of chapters include desirable additional material. Appendix E explains where and at what cost these maps may be obtained. The appendices at the end of the book also furnish material for laboratory work. Lantern slides on the physical geography of Wisconsin may be borrowed from the Extension Division of the University of Wisconsin. For field work, there is the great Outdoors. No school in Wiscon- sin, unless possibly in the center of Milwaukee, is so situated that local field work is not possible and profitable. Even if only forty minutes or an hour be available, it is nevertheless distinctly worth while to take students on field excursions. Of course a two-hour or a half-day field trip is better. The teacher who reads this volume will think at once of nearby features similar to those here described. Similarly a study club might possibly consider making this book the basis of a winter's discussion. If this were done without planning to have one or more outdoor meetings in the spring or autumn a great opportunity would be lost. The layman who reads "The Physical Geography of Wisconsin" and fails to look about the home region for evidences of the processes here described * and illustrations of the forms here explained, or who travels about the state without beginning to see and explain for himself has done, only half what he might for his own pleasure and enlightenment. The author has thought it wise to take up the arguments in connection with a few matters that are not yet thoroughly under- stood or agreed upon. It is felt that, this book should be not only informational but disciplinary. It will lead to better habits of thought and reasoning if the readers are taken into the confidence of the author and allowed to realize that by no means every question regarding the physical geography of Wisconsin is to be regarded as settled. One set of facts may favor one interpretation, other facts. Preface ix another, but any person may go into the field and find additional phenomena which support either of the suggested explanations, or lead to an entirely new one. Much time and thought has been given to the preparation of the illustrations in the book and especially the text figures. It is believed that they are as well worth consideration and study as the text itself. The relief map of the state — the large folded map in a pocket at the end of the volume— may be profitably kept in sight during the reading of nearly every page. A small number of extra copies has been printed. These have not been folded but are mounted as rolled maps to hang on the walls of school rooms, libraries, and offices. They may be obtained at cost of mounting and mailing by writing to the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey at Madison. It would ^be well if every high school in the state would take this folded map out of a copy of the book at once and mount it under glass in a wooden frame. The students in manual training might enjoy making and painting the frame. Thus mounted, the Relief Map of Wisconsin would be permanently preserved for daily reference, as well as an ornament to the wall of some class room or corridor in the school. Beside it should be hung the most detailed map of the region near the home town. By looking at the index maps and descriptions in Appendix E the teacher may see what is the best map of the region near the school, and how it may be obtained. It may be one of the topo- graphic maps of the United States Geological Survey, or one of the charts by the Mississippi River Commission, or the United States Lake Survey, or one of the lake maps or soil maps or geological maps issued by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. The cost of the map will be only ten cents, or twenty-five cents at most, the glass for the frame will cost little, and the making of the frame as a permanent piece of school equipment will lend interest to the work. The location of the school building might be added to the map in red ink. The material in the appendices at the end of the book is for general information, but may also be adapted to special uses. Thus a school class in civil government might profitably study part or all of Appendix F — The Land Survey in Wisconsin. A history class might take up Appendix B — The Boundaries of Wis- consin — also reading the paragraphs in the body of the book, referred to there. It will be of interest in any school or any com- munity to look up the elevation of the home region as given in Appendix H. Preface xi figures were drawn by Mr; F. W. Gillis. Others were taken directly from geological reports or modified from published diagrams. The authorship of these text figures has been acknowledged in the legends. Special acknowledgement should be made of two groups of text figures, which are based upon earlier publications of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. The revised and amended maps of river systems (Figures 58, 101, and others) are based upon figures compiled by Prof. L. S. Smith and published in Bulletin XX on "The Water Powers of Wisconsin." Many of the geological cross-sections (such as Figures 12, 14, and others) are taken from the colored structure sections on W. O. Hotchkiss and F. T. Thwaites' "Map of Wisconsin, showing Geology and Roads." If the book helps a little in making clear the nature, variety, and beauty of the surface features of Wisconsin, in leading people to look with interest and inquiry at the immediate localities in which they live, and in encouraging them to try to discover the relation between the geographical environment and the resources, industries, transportation, and history of the state, the author will feel amply repaid. Lawrence Martin. Madison, Dec. 23, 1915. ILLUSTRATIONS Plate Facing page Frontispiece. The highest waterfall in Wisconsin [facing title page] I. Relief Map of Wisconsin (folded colored map) [in pocket] II. A. Transported soil. Glacial till in the Baraboo region B. Residual soil. Weathered limestone in the Driftless Area, grading downward into 'solid rock 10 III. Joint planes in metamorphic rock, northern Wisconsin 11 IV. A dissected cuesta in the Driftless Area near Elroy. Part of the Western Upland underlain by Cambrian sandstone and mantled by loess 42 V. A. Magnesian escarpment west of the Chippewa River near Knapp. B. Cuesta surface north of Prescott. Plain in the foreground is underlain by Lower Magnesian limestone and glacial drift. Flat-topped hill in the background is a mesa of Trenton limestone 43 VI. Colored contour maps of gaps in the Baraboo Range (from Baraboo, Denzer, and Briggsville Quadrangles, U. S. Geol.' Survey) 54 VII. Colored map of the Driftless Area at the Wisconsin stage of glaciation 80 VIII. A crag in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. Five-column Rock near Readstown, Kickapoo valley, due to weathering and wind work 82 IX. A. Monument Rock near Viroqua, a Driftless Area crag. B. Precipice of limestone in the Mississippi bluffs near La Crosse. The gentle slope at the base is due to weak sandstone 83 X. A. The sheer ice cliff at the terminus of Nunatak Glacier, Alaska. There was once a similar cliff at each end of Devils Lake, Wisconsin. B. The terminal moraine at the southeastern end of the Devils Lake gap. It occupies the site of a former ice cliff much like that shown in the upper picture.:. 110 XL A. Talus of weathered quartzite blocks at Devils Lake, in the Driftless Area. Steep slope with numerous crags and pinnacles. B. The Devils Nose, a moderate slope of quartzite from which all the talus and all crags and pinnacles were removed by the continental glacier Ill XIV The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Plate Facing page XII. Colored contour maps of parts of the Driftless Area (from Sparta and Cross Plains Quadrangles, U. S. Geol. Survey) 122 ■XIII. A. The Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien. B. The Mississippi River at Trempealeau 138 XIV. A. Valley of the Wisconsin River, filled with glacial outwash, looking southward from the Baraboo Range. B. Postglacial gorge of the St. Croix River at the Interstate Park 139 XV. A. Driftless Area topography in one of the cuestas of western Wisconsin. Near Black Earth, Dane County. B. Accordant junction of main stream with tributary in the Driftless Area southeast of La Crosse 182 XVI. Model of the Baraboo Range, showing the present course of Wisconsin River and its abandoned valley at Devils Lake and Lower Narrows , 183 XVII. The back slope of the Niagara cuesta near Pewaukee 216 XVIII. A. Longitudinal view of one of the oval hills of glacial drift, or drumlins, in eastern Wisconsin. Drumlin two miles northeast of McFarland, Dane County. It is steepest at the north end. B. Transverse view of drumlin two miles north of Sullivan, Jefferson County 217 XIX. Colored contour maps of parts of the Niagara escarpment (from Neenah and Fond du Lac Quadrangles, U. S. Geol. Survey) 230 XX. Colored contour maps of drumlins (from Sun Prairie and Fond du Lac Quadrangles, U. S. Geol. Survey) 244 XXI. A. Glacial streams depositing outwash gravel near border of Malaspina Glacier, Alaska. B. Plain of outwash gravel in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin 248 XXII. A. Terminal moraine northeast of Whitewater. B. Steep ridges of the kettle moraine near Eagle 249 XXIII. A. Wave-Cut bluff of the Toleston stage of Glacial Lake Chicago north of Milwaukee. B. Cave eroded in the Niagara limestone at Peninsula Park near Ephraim. It was made during the later stages of Glacial Lake Algonquin 296 XXIV. A. Copper Falls on Bad River, south of Ashland. B. High Falls on the Peshtigo River, west of Marinette 297 XXV. A. The level plain northeast of Camp Douglas with mesas and buttes as outliers of an adjacent escarpment. B. A nearer view of one of the castellated arid-land and Driftless Area forms shown in the upper picture 302 XXVI. The glaciated part of the Central Plain, southeast of Hancock, Waushara County 303 XXVII. The even plain of'glacial outwash, west of Grand Rapids 314 Illustrations xv Plate Facing page XXVIII. The sandstone crags of the Neillsville nunatak 315 XXIX. A. Devils Lake State Park in the Baraboo Range. Mature pre- Cambrian topography at left of center and youthful post- Cambrian topography at right. The. lake is a postglacial feature. B. The Dalles of the Wisconsin River, a postglacial gorge cut in cross-bedded Cambrian sandstone. View taken just south of Artists Glen, where the stream now occupies part of the channel of one of its tributaries 326 XXX. At the Dalles of the Wisconsin 327 A. Sugar Bowl. B. Whirlpool Chamber. C. Coldwater Canyon. D. Navy Yard. XXXI. The Narrows, Dalles of the Wisconsin 330 XXXII. Stand Rock, west of the Dalles of the Wisconsin in the Driftless Area 331 XXXIII. A. The city of Black River Falls before the flood in 1911. B. View from the same point as the upper photograph, showing the devastation wrought by the flood 338 XXXIV. The Devils Chair, a pinnacle in the gorge of the St. Croix River at Interstate Park 339 XXXV. The even skyline of the peneplain in the Northern Highland northwest of Wausau 352 XXXVI. A. Model of the Lake Superior region. B. Peneplain of the Northern Highland, showing a terminal moraine east of Stevens Point 353 XXXVII. Colored contour map of Rib Hill and the dissected peneplain of the Northern Highland (from Wausau Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey) 364 XXXVIII. A. Model of the western end of Lake Superior, showing the rift valley in relation to the peneplain and escarpments. B. Waterfall where the Amnicon River crosses the fault line escarpment southeast of Superior. Sandstone in fore- ground, cascade on trap rock 404 XXXIX. The gorge and waterfall at the junction of Tylers Fork with the Bad River 405 XL. A. Wave-cut arch at Squaw Bay, Bayfield County. B. Beach on the coast of Lake Superior 426 XLI. Valleys cut in the lake clay on the south shore of Lake Superior. . . . 427 xy i The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHS. The author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the following persons for photographs used as illustrations in this book. The photographs were either taken by these authors or reproduced in their publications. Others were purchased from commercial photographers. A few photographs have been published in earlier bulletins of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Many appear here for the first time. The authorship of one or two photographs could not be ascertained. The numbers refer to the plates in this volume. Alden, W. C— Plates XVIII; XXII, A; XXIII, A. Bennett, H. H.— Plate XXX. Christie, photographer. — Plate XI, B. Detroit Photographic Co.— Plate XXV, B. Fish, J.— Plate VIII. Haines Photo Co.— Plate XXIX. Hotchkiss, W. O.— Plates V, A; IX, A. Johnson, D. W.— Plate XXV, A. Kerschner, H. M.— Plates X, B; XI, A. Salisbury, R. D., and Atwood, W. W.— Plate II, A. Smith, L. S— Plates XXIV; XXXIX; Frontispiece. Steidtmann, Edward.— Plate V, B; XIII, B. Thwaites, F. T.— Plates XIV, A; XXXVIII, B; XL. Underwood & Underwood.— Plates XXXI; XXXII. U. S. Geological Survey— Plates XVIII; XXII, A; XXIII, A. Weidman, Samuel— Plates III; XXVII; XXVIII; XXXV; XXXVI, B. Whitbeck, R. H.— Plates II, B; XIII, A; XV, A. WMtson, A. R„ and Others.— Plates IV, XVII, XXI, B; XXII, B; XXVI; XLI. LIST OF TEXT FIGURES. Figure Page 1. Map of the United States, showing the location of Wisconsin 2 2. The geological column for Wisconsin 4 3. Geological map of Wisconsin 13 4. Mean annual temperatures in Wisconsin 15 5. Rainfall in Wisconsin 16 6. Forest map of Wisconsin 17 7. Contour map of Wisconsin 18 8. The main drainage basins in Wisconsin 20 9. The five geographical provinces of Wisconsin 30 10. The peneplain of the Northern Highland and its buried extension 32 11. The three cuestas in Wisconsin 34 12. North-south section showing relationships of Western Upland to underlying rock 38 13. A series of cuestas and escarpments 42 Illustrations xvii Figure Page 14. Cross-section of Western Upland in Richland County 42 15. Contour map of Western Upland, from Sparta Quadrangle 44 16. Young and old ridges, from Wilton Quadrangle 48 17. Cross-section of Western Upland in Vernon County 49 18. Magnesian escarpment and outliers near Camp Douglas 50 19. Davis's block diagram of the Baraboo Range 51 20. North-south section of the Baraboo syncline 52 21. Contour map of Military Ridge, from Mineral Point Quadrangle.... 57 22. Cross-secti'on of Blue Mound., 60 23. Contour map of Trenton cuesta, from Lancaster Quadrangle 65 24. Unconformity at the surface of the Lower Magnesian 66 25. Cross-section of Trenton escarpment and cuesta 67 26. Map of the Driftless Area 75 27. The continental glacier, with location of Driftless Area 77 28. The glacial lobes in Wisconsin 79 29. Drawing of Stand Rock 83 30. A cave and sink hole in the Driftless Area 84 31. Outline maps of four caves in southwestern Wisconsin 86 32. Two levels of John Gray cave 88 33. Lobes of the continental glacier near Devils Lake Ill 34. Lobate margin of ice sheet on Barron Hills and Baraboo Range 113 35. Preglacial and present drainage near Devils Lake 114 36. Contour map of older drift, from Brodhead Quadrangle 117 37. Glacial deposits near the Baraboo Range 120 38. Distribution of prairies in the Western Upland 126 39. Cross-sections to show variations in width of Mississippi gorge and in height of bluffs 132 40. Contour map of broad Mississippi gorge, from Waukon Quadrangle.... 134 41. Contour map of narrow Mississippi gorge, from Elkader Quadrangle.... 135 42. Rock hill at Trempealeau when the Mississippi still flowed in the bottomlands to the northeast 136 43. Rock hill at Trempealeau with the Mississippi in its present channel.. 137 44. Hachure map of Mississippi gorge at La Crosse and Onalaska 140 45. Variations in depth of main channel of the Mississippi near Alma 142 46. Distribution. of terraces in the Mississippi bottomlands near La Crosse.. 144 47. Cross-section of terraces near Onalaska 145 48. Distribution of terraces in the Mississippi bottomlands of the south- western portion of Wisconsin 146 49. Contour map of three terraces at the junction of the Chippewa and Mississippi Rivers 148 50. Distribution of terraces in the Mississippi bottomlands of the north- western portion of Wisconsin 150 51. Cross-section of channel and bottomlands within the gorge of the Mississippi 154 52. Lake Pepin and the delta of Chippewa River 156 53. Contour map of Waumandee Lake 159 54. Channels and backwater sloughs of the Mississippi River 160 55. Hachure map of Mississippi bluffs, terraces, and floodplain at the head of Lake Pepin ,< 162 xv iii The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Figure • Page 56. The Mississippi and Wisconsin gorges narrowing downstream 164 57. The Mississippi gorge narrowing upstream from Trempealeau 165 58. The Wisconsin River and its tributaries in the Western Upland 172 59. Contour map of broad Wisconsin gorge, from Richland Quadrangle.... 174 60. Contour map of narrow Wisconsin gorge, from Waukon and Elkader Quadrangles 175 61. Sand bars in the Wisconsin River 176 62. Capture and diversion of the Wisconsin River by a branch of the Mississippi ! ." 179 63. Contour map of the great bend of Fever River near Benton 184 64. The Black River upon the Mississippi floodplain... : 186 65. The capture and diversion of the Buffalo River 187 66. Lake St. Croix, dammed back by deposits of the Mississippi 191 67. Contour map of Mississippi bluffs and floodplain at Marquette State Park 193 68. The density of population in Wisconsin 196 69. Cross-section of the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 198 70. General map of the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 199 71. Cross-section of the Magnesian cuesta north of Madison 203 72. Cross-section of the Rock River lowland 205 73. Contour maps of region near Madison, on the surface of the rock and on the surface of the glacial drift 208 74. Cross-section of the Yahara valley 209 75. Geological map of the region near Madison 210 76. Cross-section of Niagara escarpment near Fond du Lac 214 77. Three cross-sections of the Niagara cuesta 215 78. Cross-section to show back slope of Niagara cuesta 217 79. Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes of the continental glacier 220 80. Lobes and moraines of the continental glacier near the Great Lakes.... 222 81. Cross-section from the gorge of the Mississippi to Lake Michigan 224 82. Cross-section of the Lake Michigan basin 224 83. The submerged hanging valley of Green Bay 226 84. Niagara cuesta east of Lake Winnebago 228 85. Niagara cuesta in Driftless Area of northern Illinois 229 86. Magnesian and Trenton escarpments near Ripon and Green Lake 232 87. Niagara escarpment inside and outside the Driftless Area 233 88. Variations in outlines of the escarpments of eastern Wisconsin com- pared to directions of glacial movement 235 89. Diagram showing how absence of caves in eastern Wisconsin may be due to glacial erosion 237 90. The Waterloo bowlde* train 240 91. Places where diamonds have been found in the glacial drift 241 92. Distribution of drumlins in southeastern Wisconsin 243 93. Contour maps of drumlins and eskers in southeastern Wisconsin 244 94. Cross-section showing that drumlins do not have rock cores 245 95. Terminal and recessional moraines and drumlins near Madison 246 96. Kettle moraine between Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes 247 97. Four maps to'show glaciardrainage'in'southeastern Wisconsin 248 98. Outwash deposits near Janesville and Beloit 249 Illustrations xix Figure Page 99. * Glacial deposits in southeastern Wisconsin 251 100. Map to show approximate distribution of the red clay 253 101. The Rock River system 259 102. Contour map showing drift of two ages, from Evansville Quadrangle.... 260 103. Preglacial and present drainage near Madison 261 104. Preglacial and present drainage in southeastern Wisconsin 263 105. Contour map of moraine and outwash with lakes, from Oconomowoc Quadrangle 264 106. Horican Marsh 265 107. Contour map of kettle moraine, from Eagle Quadrangle 266 108. The Fox River system 268 109. The long, narrow farms of the French claims 270 110. Preglacial and present drainage in eastern Wisconsin 271 111. The site of Milwaukee in 1836 272 112. Pike River and its abandoned valley 273 113. Sheboygan Marsh 275 114. The swamps of Wisconsin 276 115. Distribution of prairies in southeastern Wisconsin 277 116. Three stages in the early history of the Glacial Great Lakes 280 117. Three stages in the later history of the Glacial Great Lakes 281 118. Contour map showing areas submerged by Glacial Lake Chicago near Racine and Kenosha 283 119. Positions of the several hinge lines in the Great Lakes region 284 1 20. The tilted water-planes in northeastern Wisconsin 285 121. Two stages of the Glacial Great Lakes in northeastern Wisconsin 286 122. The sand spits at Green Bay 288 123. Map of the reef at Racine 290 124. Fluctuations in the level of Lake Michigan, with rainfall and sun spots 295 125. Abandoned beaches at Fish Creek, Peninsula Park 296 126. Outliers left behind in the recession of the irregular escarpment west of Kilbourn :. 301 127. Diagram to show recession of an escarpment 305 128. Contour map of Sheep Pasture Bluff, a mesa in the Central Plain 309 129. Distribution of outliers in glaciated Central Plain and in Driftless Area 312 130. Contour map of terminal moraine, from St. Croix Dalles Quadrangle... 316 131. Contour map of outwash plain, from Briggsville and Dells Quad- rangles 317 132. Sketch map of Glacial Lake Wisconsin 319 133. Sketch map showing the Dalles of the Wisconsin River .' 326 134. Three stages in the development of drainage at the Dalles of the Wisconsin 329 135. Drawing of the Hornets Nest, produced by weathering and wind work at the Dalles of the Wisconsin 332 136. The portage between the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers 335 137. The area devastated by the flood at Black River Falls T 337 138. The Black River, showing similarity of drainage patterns in area of older drift and Driftless Area 339 xx The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Figure Page 139. Terraces along the Chippewa River at Eau Claire , * 340 140. The great swamp of central Wisconsin 342 141 . Glacial deposits near the Interstate Park at the Dalles of the St. Croix.. 344 142. Weidman's block diagrams showing part of the ancient mountain region of northern Wisconsin 348 143. Contour map of the peneplain, from Marathon Quadrangle 351 144. Cross-section of the Northern Highland near Rib Hill 352 145. Cross-section of tilted lava flows of trap rock 353 146. Cross-section of the Rib Hill monadnock 354 147. Contour map of the Penokee Range and its water gaps 355 148. Cross-section showing relation of Penokee monadnock to the pene- plain ; 356 149. Contour map of broad subsequent valley north of Penokee Range 357 150. Contour map of Bad River in Penokee Gap, showing fault line 359 151. Cross-section of the Barron Hills 361 152. Horizontal deposits of Cambrian sandstone lying upon truncated pre- Cambrian layers 364 153. A valley strip or inlier of the pre-Cambrian 365 154. The Baraboo Range and other exhumed monadnocks of the pre- Cambrian peneplain 367 155. A partly exhumed monadnock at Necedah 368 156. Cross-sections showing the partly exhumed monadnock at Berlin and the monadnock at Hartford, riot yet uncovered 368 157. The southward inclination of the buried peneplain 369 158. Sandstone outliers resting upon the surface of the pre-Cambrian peneplain 372 159. Cross-section showing the peneplain and its buried extension 373 160. Weidman's block diagrams showing part of the Northern Highland before and after the Glacial Period 375 161. Map showing the distribution of the deposits of glacial drift in part of the Northern Highland _. 378 162. Drawing of lake and marsh district in northern Wisconsin 384 163. The St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers 386 164. The Highland Lake district 388 165. Map showing lakes near Minocqua 389 166. Swamps in the Highland Lake District of northern Wisconsin 391 167. Percentages of improved land in Wisconsin 392 168. The Wisconsin River in the Northern Highland 394 169. A portage around rapids at Sturgeon Falls 395 170. The Menominee River 397 171. Thwaites' block diagram of the Lake Superior Lowland in Wisconsin.... 402 172. Cross-section of rift valley at the western end of Lake Superior. 403 173. Cross-section of the escarpment which separates the Lake Superior Lowland from the Northern Highland 404 174. Cross-section of the Bayfield Peninsula 407 175. The St. Louis River in Wisconsin and Minnesota 409 176. The St. Louis River before and after preglacial stream capture 410 177. The Nemadji, Bois Brule, Bad, and Montreal Rivers 411 178. Trellis drainage among the trap ridges southeast of Ashland 412 Illustrations xxi Figure p age 179. Glacial Lake Nemadji and the Kettle River outlet : 417 180. Glacial Lake Duluth and the Bois Brule— St. Croix outlet 418 181. Glacial Lake Duluth at an intermediate stage during glaciation 418 182. Glacial Lake Algonquin in the Lake Superior Lowland 419 183. Nipissing Great Lakes in the Lake Superior Lowland 420 184. Special map of Glacial Lake Duluth and the Bois Brule — St. Croix outlet 422 185. The drowned valley of the St. Louis River at Superior 425 186. The sand spits at the head of Lake Superior 427 187. Currents at the western end of Lake Superior 429 188. The sand spits at Port Wing 431 189. Submerged bar or tombolo at Sand Island 432 190. Chequamegon Point and the great deposit of sand in the bay at Ashland 433 191. Five stages in the formation of Chequamegon Point 434 192. Index map of U. S. Geological Survey quadrangles 450 193. Perspective sketch of hills, valleys, cape, bay, and cliffs; map showing the same features by contour lines 452 194. Index map of hydrographic maps 453 195. Index map showing geological atlas sheets of Wisconsin Geological Survey of 1873-1879 458 196. Index map of geological maps of southwestern Wisconsin 460 197. Index map of geological maps of northern Wisconsin 4.61 198. Index map of sheets showing glacial geology in Wisconsin 462 199. Index map of glacial geology maps in southeastern Wisconsin 463 200. Index map of soils maps 464 201. Map showing the location of the 4th principal meridian and its re- lation to government lands in Wisconsin 467 202. Map of Wisconsin, showing the principal meridian, base line, cor- rection lines, and numbering of ranges and townships 468 203. Map of Dane County and its civil towns 469 204. Map of Sawyer County and its civil towns and government town- ships 470 205. Vaughn, the most irregular civil town in Wisconsin 472 206. A section of government land and the way its quarter-sections and forties are designated 473 TABLES IN TEXT. Table showing — ■ Page The Geological Column 3 The Geological Column for Wisconsin 4 Soil Series in Relation to Physiographic Processes 10 Elevations in the Northern Part of the Western Upland 43 Elevation of Gaps in Baraboo Range 53 Summit Elevations in Southwestern Wisconsin 56 xxii The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Table showing — Page Southward Slope of Trenton Upland 59 Elevations of the Mounds in Southwestern Wisconsin 61 Facts about the Chief River Valleys in Southwestern Wisconsin 62 Elevations in the Driftless Area 76 List of a Few of the Wisconsin Caves 85 Facts about Certain Caves in Wisconsin 87 Comparison of Driftless and Glaciated Land 127 Facts about the Gorge of the Mississippi in Wisconsin 133 Facts about the Mississippi River in Wisconsin 141 Dimensions of the Mississippi River Terraces 151 Dimensions of the Mississippi River Terraces (continued) 152 Rock Floor of Mississippi River in Wisconsin 155 Elevation of Magnesian cuesta 201 Elevation of the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago-Rock River Lowland 204 Approximate Altitude of the Rock Surface in the Niagara Upland 212 Length and Elevation of Rock River ,.. 262 Grades of Wolf and Fox Rivers 267 Fluctuations in the Level of Lake Michigan 294 Percentage of Wet Lands in Three Counties of the Central Plain 343 Elevation of Different Parts of the Northern Highland 349 Elevations of the Eastern Gaps in the Penokee Range 358 East-West Arching of the Peneplain 363 Southward Inclination of the Peneplain 363 Depths at which Buried Peneplain Surface is Now Found 370 Slopes of Buried Peneplain to the Southeast and Southwest 370 Developed and Undeveloped Water Power on Wisconsin Rivers 396 Elevations of the Highest Abandoned Shorelines of Glacial Lake Duluth 423 Area of Wisconsin and of Rivers, Inland-Lakes, and Great Lakes 438 Areas and Populations of Counties 443 Areas and Populations of Counties (continued) 444 Areas of State Parks 445 Areas and Populations of Indian Reservations 446 General Maps of Wisconsin — Scale, Size, Cost, and Source 447 Geological Maps of Wisconsin, with Authors, Dates, and Scales 447 Special Wisconsin Maps — Date, Scale, Size, and Source 448 List of U. S. Geological Survey Quadrangles 449 List of Profile River Maps 451 List of U. S. Lake Survey Charts 455 List of Wisconsin Cities on Mississippi River Commission Maps 456 List of Hydrographic Maps of Wisconsin Lakes 457 List of Additional Hydrographic Maps of Wisconsin Lakes 459 List of Special Maps of Lead and Zinc District 459 Key to Abbreviations in Dictionary of Altitudes 495 THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF WISCONSIN CHAPTER I THE STATE OF WISCONSIN General Geography Wisconsin is larger than England, yet it contains only about one-fourteenth as many people. This is clearly because of the more favorable position of England and its longer period of settlement, since the topography, soil, and climate of the two regions are not widely dissimilar. The greater mineral resources of England and her trade advantages in relation to Europe and to the British Empire also help to account for the difference. On the other hand, Wisconsin is only about half as large as Colo- rado, yet it supports nearly three times as many people as Colorado. This difference is partly explained by topography and climate. About half of Colorado is' too mountainous to support a dense population. The other half of Colorado is a high plain or plateau. Its climate is too dry for agriculture without irrigation. Wisconsin is largely a plain (Fig. 1). Very little of it is too hilly for cultivation, and its soil and climate are everywhere favorable to a successful agricultural and dairying industry. Wisconsin's general position may be somewhat more advantageous than that of Colorado, but Colorado's present mineral output is greater. The position of Wisconsin as one of the states on the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River is its chief geographical asset, for, as was well said by Theodore Roosevelt, these states are "destined to be the greatest, the richest, the most prosperous of all the great, rich, and prosperous commonwealths which go to make up the mightiest republic the world has ever seen." The capacity of this state for population depends chiefly upon topography, soil, and climate, so that it will be of advantage to The Physical Geography of Wi sconsm sludy the nature of the surface features of Wisconsin and their origin. The state of Wisconsin is located about a third of the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, near the northern boundary of the United States (Fig. 1). It lies in what is commonly called the Middle West, between Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and the Mississippi River. Its greatest length is 320 miles, its greatest width about 295 miles, and its area 56,066 square miles. Fig. 1. Map of the United States, showing the location of Wisconsin. Geology The Geological Column. Wisconsin includes a large area of the oldest of rocks, called pre-Cambrian, and a still larger area of rocks of later, though very ancient, formation, called Paleozoic. The rocks of middle age, called Mesozoic, are not represented here but the state includes rocks of Cenozoic age. The latter is repre- sented by widespread, unconsolidated surface deposits made (a) by the decay, or weathering, of older rocks, (b) by river, wind, and wave deposition, and (c) by the ice sheet of the Glacial Period. The following tables, which in order of time read upward from the bottom, show the whole geological column and the part of it represented in Wisconsin. The first table gives the eras and periods The Stale of Wisconsin 3 of geological time, essentially as now accepted by the United States Geological Survey, together with the probable duration and char- acteristic life of each period. The second table gives the local names of the geological systems and series as now proposed by the State Geological Survey, and the character and thickness of the several rock formations in Wisconsin (Fig. 2). The first table is copied, with minor modifications, from Bulletin 612 of the United States Geological Survey. Table Showing the Geological Column Era Period or Epoch a Characteristic Life Duration, in millions of years, according to various estimates Cenozoic (recent life). Ouarternary b Recent Pleistocene or Glacial Period or Great Ice Age. Age of man. Animals and plants of modern types. 1 to 5 Tertiary Pliocene. Miocene. Oligocene. Eocene. Age of mammals. Possible first appearance of man. Rise and development of highest orders of plants. Mesozoic (inter- mediate life) Cretaceous. Jurassic. Triassic. Age of reptiles. Rise and culmination of huge land reptiles (dinosaurs), of shell-fish with complexly partitioned coiled shells (ammonites), and of great flying reptiles. First ap- pearance (in Jurassic) of birds and mammals; of cycads, an order of palmlike plants (in Triassic); and of angiospermous plants, among which are palms and hardwood trees (in Cre- taceous). 4 to 10 Paleozoic (old life) Carboniferous. Permian. Pennsylvanian. Mississippian. Age of amphibians. Dominance of club mosses (lycopodB) and plants of horsetail and fern types. Primitive flowering plants and earliest cone-bearing trees. Beginnings of backboned land animals (land vertebrates). Insects. Animals with nautilus-like coiled shells (ammonites) and sharks abundant. Devonian. Age of fishes. Shellfish (mollusks) also abundant. Rise of amphibians and land plants. Silurian. Shell-forming sea animals dominant, especially those related to the nautilus (cephalopoda). Rise and culmination of the marine animals sometimes known as sea lilies (crinoids) and of giant scorpionlike crustaceans (eurypterids). Rise of fishes and of reef-building corals. 17 to 25 Ordovician. SheU-forming sea animals, especially cephalopoda and mollusk- like brachiopods. Culmination of the bug-like marine crus- taceans known as trilobites. First trace of insect life. Cambrian. Trilobites and brachiopods most characterististic animals. Sea- weeds (algae) abundant. No trace of land animals found. Algonkian. First life that has left distinct record. Crustaceans, brachiopods, and seaweeds. Pfe-Cam- brian Archean b No fossils found. 50+ a The geological record consists mainly of sedimentary beds — beds deposited in water. Over large areas, long periods of uplift and erosion intervened between periods of deposition. Every such interruption in deposition in any area produces there what geologists term an unconformity. Many of the time divisions shown above are separated by such unconformi- ties—that is, the dividing lines in the table represent local or widespread uplifts or depressions of the earth's surface. b The geological periods represented by the rocks in Wisconsin are italicized. Geological Names Now in Use. Quaternary Recent Pleistocene or Glacial Devonian Milwaukee formation or Hamilton cement rock Silurian Waubakee or Salina lime- stone Niagara limestone Clinton iron ore Ordovician Cincinnati or Hudson River or Maquoketa shale Galena limestone Trenton or Platteville limestone St. Peter sandstone IiOwer Magnesian lime- stone or Prairie du Cbien group Cambrian Potsdam or St. Croixan sandstone Geological Names Proposed Recent Pleistocene Milwaukee formation Waubakee dolomite Niagara group: Guelph, Racine, Coral, Byron, Mayville Iron Ridge iron ore Richmond shale, Maquo- keta shale Galena dolomite Black River group. Prosser, Decorah, Beloit, Platte- ville it. Peter sandstone Shakopee dolomite, New Richmond sandstone, Oneota dolomite Madison sandstone, Men- dota dolomite, Jordan sandstone, St. Lawrence dolomite, Franconia sand- stone, Dresbach sand- stone, Eau Claire sand- stone and shale, Mt. Simon sandstone Algonkian Keweenawan Lake Superior sandstone, including (a) Bayfield ' group: Chequamegon sandstone; Devils Island sandstone; Orienta sandstone; (b) Oronto group: Amnicon formation; Eileen sandstone; Freda sandstone; Nonesuch shale; Outer conglomerate; Trap rock and associated sedimentary strata; Red clastic series; Barron quartzite. Huronian Baraboo, Freedom, Seeley, Palms, Ironwood, Tyler, Bad River, Waterloo, North Mound, Arpin, Mosinee, Marshall Hill, Marathon, Rib Hill, Powers Bluff, Hamburg, Wausau, and other formations. Archean Laurentian granite, gneis«, rhyolite, and other igneous rocks. Keewatin gneiss, schist, greenstone, and other igneous and metamorphic rocks. » ■ i ■ i . I ill. . c=z 1,1 i i a Character and Thickness Till, clay, sand, gravel, and bowlders, of glacial, fluvial, and lacustrine origin, maxi- mum thickness about 600 feet Bluish shales and shaly mag- nesian limestones, maximum known thickness 138 feet. Thin-bedded, gray or brown magnesiaD limestone, 30 feet or more in thickness. Mag- nesian limestone is often called dolomite. Hard, dense, gray to blue and yellowish magnesian lime- stone, usually quite pure but with some beds containing chert and shaly impurities, Clinton iron ore and red beds locally at base. Thick- ness 450 to 800 feet. Blue or greenish-gray shale with shaly magnesian limestone layers, thickness 165 to 550 feet. The Galena is coarse-grained, magnesian limestone, locally cherty, .shaly at base, 125 to 250 feet thick. The Trenton is a buff to blue limestone, usually magnesian except in southwestern part of state, rarely cherty, sandy at base, thickness 40 to 120 feet. Soft sandstone of various colors, usually yellow, hardened 'at surface, iron nodules common, maximum thickness about 250 feet. irregularly — bedded, sandy, cherty, gray, magnesian limestone, thick- ness 5 to 250 feet. shales, and mag- nesian limestones, sandstones usually soft and light yellow- ish in color, thickness 700 to 1,000 fept. f Shales, sandstones, conglome- rates, traps, granites, green- stones, and other intrusive and effusive igneous rocks, quartzites, limestones, slates, iron formations, gneisses, and schists. Estimated thickness of Lake Superior sandstone, 22,000 feet; of trap rock and associated sedimentary strata, 38,000 feet. The relative ages of several of the Ke- weenawan and Huronian formations are not known. The Archean and Algonkian are spoken of collectively as pre-Cambrian. (See Fig. 3, p. 13 and table, p. 3.) The State of Wisconsin 5 Minerals and Rocks. The table showing the geological column for Wisconsin indicates in the right-hand column the kind of rock deposited in each period. Most rocks are aggregates of minerals. The composition and form of crystallization of the minerals helps to determine the nature of the rock, as is explained in the description of the three main classes of rock. Igneous Rocks. The granite and greenstone of the Archean and the trap rock of the Keweenawan are igneous rocks, formed by the cooling of masses of molten material. The individual minerals in the rapidly-cooled trap are not always distinguishable to the naked eye. In granite and some of the coarser greenstones, made by slow cooling, the minerals can often be seen plainly. Depending on the minerals which may be present, igneous rocks are weak or resistant. In respect to durability of different rocks, some knowledge of the geology of Wisconsin is of great importance in our study of the physical geography, or physiography, of the state. Sedimentary Rocks. The rocks from the Keweenawan sand- stone to the Niagara limestone and Milwaukee shale are of an entirely different origin. They are known as sedimentary rocks. The sandstone and shale are made up of fragments of other rocks, worn and transported by rivers, waves, or the wind. Most sandstones and shales are assorted and deposited in the sea, as we know from the fossil shells of marine animals, preserved in them. Another type of sedimentary rock is conglomerate. This consists of cemented bowlders, cobblestones, and pebbles, like those in a gravel bank. Conglomerate occurs near the bases of certain of the Wisconsin sandstones and altered sandstones or quartzites. In sandstones the chief mineral is quartz, the commonest and one of the most durable or resistant of minerals. The cementing of the loose sand into sandstone, by the deposition of quartz or lime or iron between the quartz grains, does not produce as resistant a rock as granite. Sand grains are more easily broken apart than mineral crystals. The latter interlock during the cooling of an igneous mass like granite or trap. On the other hand, all of the ma- terial in sandstone is resistant and fairly uniform, while the different minerals in granite are of varying durability. Some minerals decay more rapidly than others when exposed to the weather. Chert or flint, consisting chiefly of silica, like the mineral quartz, is exceed- ingly resistant. It occurs in certain of the limestone formations and in the soils derived from their decay. 6 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Shale, as in the Cincinnati or the Milwaukee formation, is a rela- tively weak rock, being made from clay or mud. It contains tiny fragments of minerals like feldspar, mica, and quartz. Limestone may be a chemical precipitate of the mineral calcite — calcium carbonate — or dolomite — calcium magnesium carbonate. It may also be made up of the shells of sea animals. Limestone is sometimes weak, sometimes resistant. It is weak in the sense of being easily dissolved by underground water. The sedimentary rocks of this type in Wisconsin, however, are more durable than in some other parts of the United States. Most of them are dolomite rather than pure limestone, and, hence, are less easily dissolved. Part of the Galena-Trenton limestone is more soluble and more porous, so that it is weaker than the Niagara limestone. Metamorphic Rocks. The rocks of the Pre-Cambrian, aside from the granite, greenstone, and trap, are metamorphic rocks. They have been cemented and recrystallized by water action and pressure, sometimes with heat. Shale has been made into slate or into schist, sandstone into quartzite, limestone into marble, and granite, greenstone, or conglomerate into gneiss or schist. This process of change, or metamorphism, may have produced banding. It may have developed new minerals. It has nearly always made the rock more resistant. Another type of metamorphism, however, weakens and destroys the rocks (p. 7). All the igneous and most of the metamorphic rocks, being made up of crystals, are spoken of as crystalline rocks. Geological Structures. An exceedingly important geological feature is the arrangement of the rocks. Igneous rocks may be deposited originally in lava flows, as in northwestern Wisconsin and at Berlin and other points in the valley of the Fox River. Other igneous rocks occur in great underground masses. This was the case with the granites of northern Wisconsin, now exposed at the surface by the wearing away of the overlying rocks. Sedimentary beds or strata are originally flat-lying. Either one may be folded into arches and troughs, or broken by faults or joints. Faults are breaks along which there is movement and displacement. They are not very common in Wisconsin. Joints are similar breaks along which there is no displacement. They are to be seen in nearly all our rocks, as closely-spaced, vertical cracks, often in two sets at right angles (PL III). In Wisconsin some of the metamorphic rocks, originally flat-lying sediments, have been folded in the most complex manner. Subse- quently erosion has cut off the folds, so that now we have the bases The State of Wisconsin 7 of arches or anticlines, troughs or synclines, or faulted portions of either one. The ledges reveal rock layers in every position from vertical to horizontal. On the other hand, the flat-lying sedi- mentary rocks of Wisconsin have merely been warped or arched into an extremely-broad, anticlinal fold. The axis of this fold trends north and south; it is inclined, or pitches, southward. Con- sequently the sedimentary rock layers in central Wisconsin slope, or dip, southward. Those near Lake Michigan and near the Mis- sissippi River, dip southeastward and southwestward respectively, in each case at a very low angle. This slight angle of inclination, however, has been a factor of vast importance in determining the topographic features of Wisconsin. Physical Geography or Physiography Physiographic Processes. The rocks of the earth's crust, no matter what may be their composition or structure, are being attacked by two dominant processes — weathering and erosion. The first of these is a process of disintegration, partly chemical, partly mechanical. It weakens the rocks, causing them to crumble and decay. The second is largely a mechanical process, accompanying the transportation of weathered materials by gravity, streams, waves, glaciers, and the wind. The most important result of weathering and erosion is the modification of the land by disin- tegration and stream cutting, so that the upper layers of rock are removed and lower layers exposed. This laying bare of rock layers originally concealed is called denudation. Weathering. The decomposition and disintegration, or weath- ering, of rocks is accompanied chiefly by (a) the oxidation — some- times rusting — of minerals exposed to air and water, (b) by hydra- tion and other chemical action, (c) by expansion of freezing water in joint cracks — frost action — ,(d) by expansion and contraction of rocks alternately heated and cooled, and (e) by the work of plants and animals. The removal of soluble parts of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks by underground water results in the de- struction of the earth's surface. This is, in one sense, a part of the process of weathering; and weathering, indeed, is one type of metamorphism. Weathering breaks down the strongest of rocks, so that gravity may cause them to fall or slide or creep, and streams, wind, waves, and glaciers may easily erode and carry them away. The surface of the land becomes mantled by the rock waste or soil, upon which 8 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin our forests and orchards, and our agricultural and dairying industry depend. Soil, subsoil, and weathered material mantle the surface of the earth, because weathering goes on rapidly there. At some depth beneath the soil, however, there is always solid rock. Underground Circulation in Relation to Hard Water and Ore Deposits. Underground water carries dissolved material, partly from weathered, surface rock and partly from deeper within the earth. A familiar evidence of this is the hardness of our drink- ing water and the deposit of lime in tea kettles and boiler tubes. In southern Wisconsin, there is abundant, soluble limestone in rock ledges, in glacial bowlders, and in the soil. Accordingly the solid content of drinking water — largely lime — is 300 to 550 parts per million. In northern Wisconsin, where there is not much limestone or limy soil, it is often as little as 22 to 41 parts per million. The deposition of this dissolved material modifies all rocks. Sand is cemented to sandstone by this process. Layers or veins of minerals are deposited in crevices in the rock. The lead and zinc deposits of southwestern Wisconsin were made through solution and deposition by underground water. The iron ores of northern and eastern Wisconsin have been enriched and modified by the work of underground water, though the rocks containing these ores al- ready had a large iron content. The value of the mineral resources of Wisconsin in 1913 was 12J million dollars, including zinc and lead, iron, limestone and granite, clay products, mineral water, and sand and gravel. Erosion, Transportation, and Deposition. The process of transporting weathered materials by streams results also in the erosion of valleys. Since the land is cut up by valley erosion, the process is sometimes called dissection. The valleys cut by streams are classified as young, mature, and old. The age is not measured in years, however, but in the stage of erosion in relation to what remains to be done. Thus a valley in solid rock may still be steep- sided, while a valley in unconsolidated surface materials may have gently-sloping sides, though both have existed the same number of years. The steep-sided valley or gorge is young. The valley with gently-sloping sides is mature or old. In young, mature, and old valleys there may be stream deposits temporarily laid down on their way to the sea. The ultimate level toward which all streams are cutting their valleys is that of the sea. It is spoken of as baselevel. The sea level is the baselevel for the Mississippi and its tributaries in Wisconsin. The State of Wisconsin 9 Lake Superior and Lake Michigan are the local baselevels for streams in northern and eastern Wisconsin. Other physiographic processes, which have eroded the surface in Wisconsin, are the waves in lakes, the wind in sandy and dry regions, and the former glaciers. The ice of glaciers differs from the water of streams in being able to erode below baselevel, as in the basins of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, which descend below sea level. The ice which formerly existed in Wisconsin was part of an ice sheet or continental glacier which overrode all of northeastern North America (Fig. 27). It made vast changes in Wisconsin, both by erosion and by deposition. The deposits left by the former ice sheets are called glacial drift. They covered all but about a fourth of the state, — the Driftless Area. The glacial drift, and the contemporaneous deposits of the Driftless Area, occasionally yield the bones and tusks of the huge mammoth and mastodon, which inhabited Wisconsin before the Glacial Period. Soils, — the Product of Weathering, Erosion, and Deposi- tion. The soils of Wisconsin are of the two main classes: (1) residual, (2) transported (PI. II). Residual soils are largely confined to the Driftless Area, being made by the weathering of limestone, sandstone, and crystalline rocks (p. 7). The Driftless Area also con- tains a little transported soil, such as (a) dune sand and wind- blown silt, or. loess, (b) stream-laid sand and gravel, and (c) hill- side wash which creeps down the slopes under the influence of gravity. The soil throughout the larger part of Wisconsin is transported material, brought to its present position by the former ice sheet. The glacial soils include (a) till or unassorted clay and bowldery sand deposited directly by the ice, (b) assorted glacial gravel and sand, laid down by ice-born rivers, (c) stratified clay and sand of the borders and the bottom of former glacial lakes, (d) loess, and (e) deposits made by weathering since glaciation. Both driftless and glaciated areas also have (a) deposits of modern alluvium laid down by rivers, (b) deposits due to vegetable accumula- tion, including peat, muck, and meadow, (c) marl deposits, made up of the shells of small animals, and of plant secretions, and (d) modern beach deposits and sand dunes on the shores of Lake Michi- gan, Lake Superior, and some of the inland lakes. The table (p. 10) shows the chief soil series mapped by'the' Divi- sion of Soils of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 10 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Table Showing Soil Series in Relation to Physiographic Processes Physiographic Process. Names of loams, silts, clays, sands, and other soils! Derived from — Weathering Dodgeville Baxter Boone Marathon Mosinee Rough, stony land Limestone. Sandstone Crystalline rocks. Granite. Sedimentary, igneous, or metambrphic rocks. Wind work Knox Marshall Hartland Dunesand Loess Dunes Glacial ice deposition Miami Coloma VUas Rodman Rolling-phase Superior Mellen Chelsea Kennan Webster Bancroft Cushing Amherst Harrison Carrington Ground moraine or terminal moraine. Glacial stream deposition Plainfield Fox Waukesha Clyde Rice Lake Thornapple Chetek Meridean Sterling Wisconsin River Mill town Antigo Out wash plains and valley tr ains. Subglacial stream work Rodman Eskers Weathering since glaciation Baldwin Colby Auburn Cary Mentor Ackley Older drift. Glacial lake deposition Superior Poygan Clyde Deposits of the glacial Great Lakes and inland lakes. Wave work Superior Clyde Dunkirk Beach sand Beaches of glacial lakes. Beaches of present lakes. Stream and wave work Dunkirk Delta in glacial lake Modern stream deposition River wash Meadow Wabash Genesee Dunning La Crosse Alluvium Floodplains Valley wash and alluvial fans . Valley waah from uplands. Creep Lintonia Hillside wash and slipping. Plant accumulation Peat Muck Meadow Swamps, marshes, muskegs, bogs. Overflow lands and floodplains. Animal or plant accumulation Marl Shal ow lakes. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. II. A. TRANSPORTED SOIL. Glacial lill in the Baraboo region B. RESIDUAL SOIL. Weathered limestone in the Driftless Area, grading downward into solid rock. X y y pq > M 2 'S. Q z < o /-• o ■'J z (S w H « o Z c The State of Wisconsin 11 in cooperation with the Bureau of Soils of the United States De- partment of Agriculture and the College of Agriculture of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. The names in this table are those of the soil series, except in the Viroqua, Janesville, Racine County, and Porlage County areas. These series are named because of unity of origin. Within these soil series are classes of soils, determined by texture, i. e., size of soil grains. There are (1) sands, containing more than 80% sand and less than 20% silt and clay, (2) sandy loams and sandy clays, containing 20% to 50% silt and clay, and (3) loams, silts, and clays, containing over 50% silt and clay. The loams and clays exceed the sandy soils in fertility and water-holding capacity; and Wisconsin has much loam and clay. For agricultural purposes these classes and series of soils are grouped into types having agricultural unity. They are adapted to the same crops and require the same treatment. In our study of the physical geography of Wisconsin we are especially interested in the distribution of the soil series and their relations to specific physiographic processes. Figure 200 shows the distribu- tion of the twenty soils maps published up to 1915. The Soil as a Resource. In what follows in other chapters of this book it should be recognized that all soil is produced by natural agencies, such as have made the physiographic features of Wiscon- sin, that hillside-gullying and creep are continually at work carry- ing the upland soils to the valley bottoms; that, even though the subsoil is fresh and unaltered, weathering and underground water have leached away a notable portion of the lime from the glacially- transported soils — the youngest of our widespread surface accumula- tions. Least of all should we overlook the soil of Wisconsin as our greatest natural resource. Wisconsin annually produces 250 or 300 million dollars worth of crops, dairy products, fruit, lumber, and. other commodities, directly or indirectly dependent upon the soil. Hens' eggs are actu- ally worth more money than mineral resources in Wisconsin, though not as essential to the prosperity of the state. We value the farm land itself at almost a billion dollars, exclusive of buildings, imple- ments, and domestic animals worth half as much again. We have village and city property whose value has never been adequately estimated. Thus far only 60 % of the land in Wisconsin is cultivated. But farm land nearly doubled in value during the first decade of the present century. Two centuries and a half ago Wisconsin's great resource was its fur-bearing animals. A quarter of a century ago the pine forests 12 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin were our greatest asset. Indeed raw lumber and farm produce then approached equality. Each was worth 70 million dollars a year. Wheat raising came and went. Hay, oats, and corn are now the most valuable crops; and dairying is the dominant business of today. Yet even now, the manufacturing industries employ over 200,000 wage earners, and the value added to raw materials by manufac- turing is substantially equal to the value of farm products. Throughout our progress from the fur trade to agriculture, from agriculture to dairying, and from the agricultural-dairying stage to the industrial stage, we have been dependent upon the soil. The most valuable of our manufactured articles are the products of the wood-working industry, which come from the soil. Water power for use in our future industries seems available in abundance (see Chapter XVI), thanks to the effects of glaciation upon drainage. The utility of the fertile soil depends on (a) favorable topography, (b) favorable climate, (c) markets. The productivity of these soils results from the operation of three physiographic processes, — weathering, erosion, and deposition, for long periods of time. Stages in the Erosion Cycle. An erosion cycle is the period of time during which a block of the earth's crust remains stationary with respect to sea level. During a cycle the streams pass suc- cessively through the stages of youth, maturity, and old age; and the land mass is denuded till it lies nearly at baselevel. In Wis- consin few of the streams are yet in the stage of old age. Some of those in the Driftless Area are in late youth or maturity. Nearly all the rivers and creeks in the glaciated parts of the state are in the stage of extreme youth. The shorelines, likewise, are mostly youthful. Present Occurrence of Rock Formations. The geological map of Wisconsin (Fig. 3) shows the portions of the state where the different rock layers now come to the surface, or outcrop. Where the pre-Cambrian is shown, its igneous and metamorphic rocks ex- tend an unknown distance downward. The pre-Cambrian underlies the whole state, however, even where the map shows. Cambrian sandstone or Silurian limestone on the surface. Likewise, the Cam- brian lies below the Ordovician and Silurian. Although the whole series of Paleozoic rock layers seem to overlap each other like shingles on a roof, they are not at all the same length, as shingles are. They resemble a pile of boards laying one above the other, with the edges of the lowest ones projecting farthest. The Quaternary formations — Pleistocene and Recent — cover the whole state, but to avoid confusion are not shown on the geological The Stale of Wisconsin 13 map. Of these, the glacial drift is of vast importance because it completely mantles a large area. In many places the underlying rocks are deeply buried. The stream deposits, or alluvium, cover GEOLOGICAL MAP WISCONSIN I imstu UMisronc | CINCINNATI MALI | Gunik-TKum UHcsrma. j ^j ST. tCTCK 3AND3T0NZ. rsHsg sr. atoixAN ok. nmi»M v0l "SjJot? ISSa SAIUDTOIIt. V *■** ' »!&»§££. ntC-CIMtU/l R0CH3. \m Fig. 3. The areas where the several rock formations are exposed at the surface in Wis- consin. The St. Croixan or Potsdam formation (see table p. 4) is usually spoken of in this book as the Cambrian sandstone. The Lower Magncsian, St. Peter, Galena-Trenton and Cincinnati formations are of Ordovician age. The Niagara limestone is Silurian. The Mil- waukee shale is Devonian. less of this state. Still less important in Wisconsin are the wind- blown deposits — dunes and loess — and the wave-worn deposits — beaches. The largest, modern, lake deposits are hidden beneath the waters of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and the inland lakes of Wisconsin. In some places, however, are deposits of extinct lakes. 14 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin History of Physiographic Features. The geological history of the state has included the following. — (1) all Wisconsin was mountainous, after the pre-Cambrian rocks were deposited and folded ; (2) the whole state was a low plain, or peneplain, with a few isolated hills rising above the general level; (3) all of the state may have been alternately submerged beneath the waters of the ocean and slightly elevated, while the sedimentary rocks of the lower Paleozoic were being deposited; ' (4) Wisconsin was again dry land, and was being fashioned into something similar to its present form; (5) all but the southwestern corner of the state was buried be- neath an ice sheet like those now found in Greenland and Antarctica; (6) the ice sheet has melted away, leaving Wisconsin somewhat as before the Glacial Period, but with notable modification of topo- graphy, soil, and drainage. The Glacial Period may have lasted nearly a million years. It ended in the geological yesterday, perhaps only 35,000 to 50,000 years ago. Climate General Position. The climatic features, essential to an under- standing of the physical geography of the state, may be stated briefly. Weather and climate are to be treated in detail in a later publication "of this Survey. The state lies between 42° 30' and 47° north latitude. It is, therefore, never heated by the vertical rays of the sun. Although free, from the extreme conditions of the tropics, the state is far enough south to escape the polar extremes and to have a year divided into four seasons. It receives sufficient heat from the sun to give a temperate climate. The position of the state, 900 to 1000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, results in its having a continental climate, — that is, in having very cold winters and rather hot summers. Modifying this is the influence of the water in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. This makes the range of temperature in Wisconsin somewhat less than in the states away from the Great Lakes, like Minnesota and North Dakota. Wisconsin lies in the belt of prevailing westerly winds. It has the variable climate incidental to the passing of a succession of cyclonic storms, determined by areas of high barometric pressure and low barometric pressure. Tempera lure. The mean annual temperature of Wisconsin is about 43° Fahrenheit. The average temperature ranges from 47°, in The State of Wisconsin 15 the southwestern part of the state, to 39°, in the northern portion (Fig. 4). The extreme range is from about 110° above to 50° below zero. There is a slight difference of temperature with alti- tude, as from La Crosse to Viroqua. The latter place is Ijq colder, because it is. 730 feet higher. The daily range of temperature is JtiL$ MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE Fig. 4. *7* 47" 47° Mean annual temperatures in Wisconsin. (Whitson and Baker.) about 18° in summer and 14° in winter. The state has a summer temperature similar to that of France, Germany, and southeastern England, and a winter temperature comparable to that of northern Sweden and central Russia. Temperature may be thought of as important in relation to the physical geography of the lands, — first, in regard to daily extremes of heat and cold, which bring about weathering of rocks by expansion and contraction; and secondly, in the limitation of such work to the spring, summer, and autumn, for in the winter of a snowy 16 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin region much weathering, and, indeed, not a little stream erosion and wave work are at a standstill. Rainfall. The mean annual precipitation, or rainfall and snow- fall, in Wisconsin is about 36 inches (Fig. 5), ranging from 28 to Fig. 5. Rainfall in Wisconsin. (I.. S. Smith.) 44 inches in various parts of the state. The wettest season is in May, June and July. The portions of Wisconsin receiving the most rainfall are, in general, the higher northern and southwestern por- tions. Most of the winter precipitation comes in the form of snow. Applied Climatology. The important points about the Wis- consin precipitation are (1) that the region is humid and has the topographic development characteristic of a humid region. There is The State of Wisconsin 17 enough precipitation so that all but the smallest streams have water the year round. (2) The rainfall supports such vegetation that run- off is well regulated; at least it probably was before the conditions were modified by settlement, the forest land in northern Wisconsin Conifers, with some mixed hard woods. Dwarf oak and pine, including pine bam Oak group, includ in swamps and prair Fig. 6. Forest map of Wisconsin. (After Wisconsin Geological Survey, 1882.) denuded, many swamps drained, and many of the fields ploughed. (3) The heaviest rainfall comes after the cessation of spring floods due to the melting of the winter's snow, so that stream erosion and transportation are fairly well distributed in spring, summer and autumn. It may be assumed that, with the exception of the Glacial Period, Wisconsin has had much the same temperature and rainfall condi- 18 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin tions ever since this land was uplifted above the sea during Paleozoic time. Thus it is probable that the land has been sculptured into its present form by processes in every way comparable to those now in operation. O 20 40 00 80 IO0 MILES Fig. 7. Map of Wisconsin showing its general topographic form. Contour interval 250 .' eet. (Based on contour maps of the U. S. Geological Survey, Mississippi River Commission and U. S. Lake Survey, and upon railway profiles. Compiled by F. T. Thwaites.) Topography General Form. The general topographic form of Wisconsin is indicated in the relief map of the state (Plate I). The larger part of the state lies between 700 or 800 feet in the southeast and 1600 or The State of Wisconsin 19 1800 feet above sea level in the north (Fig. 7). The highest point, 1940 feet, is Rib Hill, Marathon County, near Wausau. The lowest elevation, 581 feet, is the eastern coast at the level of Lake Michigan. The northern coast at the level of Lake Superior, 602 feet, is nearly as low, as is the western border along the Mississippi River, where the elevation ranges from 670 feet : at Lake St. Croix, near Prescott and Hudson, to 600 feet at the extreme southwestern corner of the state in Grant County, opposite Dubuque, Iowa. Hydrography Relation to Topography, Geology, and Climate. The hydrography, or description of the rivers and lakes and coast, is involved with the features previously discussed as follows. The topography controls the slopes down which water shall flow. This itself, however, is originally determined by the geology, for (a) the dip of the surface of the sedimentary rocks provides original slopes for drainage, (b) the resistance or weakness of rock textures de- termines where uplands shall be left and lowlands sculptured by stream erosion, (c) the ice invasion, by its erosion and deposition, modifies preglacial drainage, causes waterfalls and rapids, and provides basins for lakes. The humid climate, also, is of importance, determining the steady water supply of the streams and the main- tenance of the lakes. Rivers. The drainage of Wisconsin is treated in detail in the chapters on the several uplands and lowlands. It may be briefly summarized as follows. The state is divided by a major water- shed (Fig. 8), which determines (a) that some of the streams shall flow east into the Atlantic Ocean by way of Lake Superior or Lake Michigan, and (b) that the remaining streams — the larger number — shall flow south into the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi River. The largest river of the state is the Mississippi, on the western border. Its chief affluents are the St. Croix, Chippewa, Black, and Wisconsin Rivers, which unite with it in Wisconsin, and the Rock River and several smaller streams which flow through Illinois to the Mississippi. In the St. Lawrence drainage are the Fox-Wolf- Lake Winnebago system, the Menominee on the northeastern boundary be tween Wisconsin and Michigan and many smaller streams which flow directly into Green Bay, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. The Lake Michigan streams include the Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Milwaukee Rivers. The chief streams that enter into Lake 20 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Superior are the St. Louis, Nemadji, Bois Brule, Bad, and Montreal. Although smaller than the Mississippi, the Wisconsin River is really the master stream of the state. It rises in Lac Vieux Desert on the Michigan boundary and flows south through the center of Fig. 8. The main drainage basins in Wisconsin. the state for four-fifths of its length, before turning westward to the Mississippi. Lakes. Lake Michigan and Lake Superior are the largest of the Wisconsin lakes, being shared, of course, with the adjacent states. Except in the Driftless Area, there are great numbers of The State of Wisconsin 21 lakes within the boundaries of the state. The total number is not known, but it reaches into the thousands. Of these the largest 'is Lake Winnebago. The other lakes fall in four groups. The first group includes the scattered, moderate-sized lakes in eastern and southeastern Wisconsin. These include the four-lake group of the Yahara River near Madison — Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa — as well as Lakes Koshkonong, Geneva, Beaver, Puckaway, Poygan, and Shawano, the Oconomowoc and Waupaca groups, and many others. The second group, including many hundreds of small lakes, lies in the highland lake district of northern Wisconsin, chiefly in Vilas, Oneida and Iron Counties. All these lakes are small, but there are few parts of the world where so large a portion of the total area is occupied by lakes. The third group is in northwestern Wisconsin, especially in Wash- burn, Burnett, Polk, Barron, and Sawyer Counties. These, like the second group, are small lakes, very close together. Lastly, we have Lake St. Croix and Lake Pepin — long narrow bodies of water — interrupting respectively the courses of the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. Allied to them are the hundreds of small floodplain lakes of the Mississippi bottomlands. Coasts. The coast of Wisconsin is over 500 miles long without counting islands and minor indentations. Between a third and a half of Wisconsin fronts on the water of Lakes Superior and Michi- gan. Off the coasts are two large promontories, two great bays, and two archipelagos of islands. In Lake Michigan are the Door Penin- sula, Green Bay, and Washington and adjacent islands. In Lake Superior the corresponding features are Bayfield Peninsula, Chequa- megon Bay, and the Apostle Islands. The remainder of the coast is characterized by great simplicity. There are no large natural harbors on Lake Michigan. The ports of Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Algbma, Two Rivers, and Port Washington, as well as Green Bay and Marinette on Green Bay, are merely the improved mouths of rivers. These have been made into very satisfactory harbors. The harbors of Superior, Ashland, and Port Wing on Lake Superior are larger and better, lying as they do behind sand spits. The lake frontage is, of course, a great resource of Wisconsin in relation to transportation. The depth of water in Green Bay is from 50 to 120 feet; in the Wisconsin portion of Lake Michigan it is from 280 to 870 feet. The boundary between the states of Wisconsin and Michigan Js in 22 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the middle of the lake, whose surface is 581 feet above sea level. This means that some of the submerged, eastern portion of the state is 300 feet below the level of the ocean. The same is true of northern • Wisconsin, where the deepest part of the bottom of western Lake Superior is about at sea level. Relations of Topography and Hydrography to History The Fox- Wisconsin Waterway. By all odds the most im- portant topographic feature of Wisconsin in relation to its history is the diagonal valley which extends from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. This is occupied by the waters of Green Bay, the Fox River and Lake Winnebago, and the lower Wisconsin River. On the east coast of Green Bay the Indians had a large village, so it was probably here tiat Jean Nicolet, the first white man known to have visited Wisconsin, negotiated a treaty with the Indians in 1634. By way of Fox and Wisconsin, Radisson and Groseilliers, coureurs de bois, probably reached the Mississippi in 1655. The Indians had, of course, used this route for centuries before the com- ing of the French. The Mississippi Waterway. The valley of the Mississippi along the western border of Wisconsin was an important highway from the earliest days of Caucasian exploration. Thus Marquette and Joliet, in 1673, explored it southward from the mouth of the Wisconsin. Hennepin, in 1680, followed it from Dubuque to St. Paul. Le Seuer went down the Wisconsin and up the Mississippi in 1683. Perrot spent the winter at Trempealeau in 1685, having ex- plored some of the Wisconsin tributaries of the Mississippi twenty years earlier. The Bois Brulc-St. Croix and Adjacent Routes. Between the Mississippi and Lake Superior are the valleys of the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers, flowing into the Mississippi, and the Bois Brule River, Bad River, and other streams flowing into Lake Su- perior. These were well known to the Indians as convenient portage routes and, hence, were followed by Radisson and Groseilliers in 1661, by Perrot soon after 1665, by Du Luth in 1680, and by a host of others. Lake Superior, St. Louis River, and Chequamegon Bay. The Indians likewise led the first French explorers westward from Sault Ste. Marie along the south shore of Lake Superior, so that the Wisconsin coast from Montreal River to Superior and the St. Louis River, was early explored. Father Allouez's establishment The Stale of Wisconsin 23 of the Mission of La Pointe du St. Esprit on Chequamegon Bay in 1665 was four years after the adventurous journey of Radisson and Groseilliers to the vicinity of Ashland. The repeated trips of- other explorers to the foot of the lake, where they soon established what is now the village of Fond du Lac, Minnesota, were an in- evitable result of the natural highway which led from the Maritime Provinces of Canada by way of the Great Lakes to the end of Lake Superior and thence up the St. Louis River to the Mississippi and Red River headwaters. Du Luth went up the St. Louis River from Lake Superior in 1679. Thus it was throughout all the early explorations in Wisconsin; the routes of fur traders, missionaries, and soldiers followed the Indian highways. These routes were always directly related to topography and hydrography, controlled ever by the river, the portage, the point, the bay. La Pointe and La Baye. Two geographical features — a point and a bay — furnished the names most commonly used in the seven- teenth century for the leading centers of population in Wisconsin. These names La Pointe — the region near Chequamegon Point — and La Baye, or La Baie — the region near Green Bay — were familiar in eastern Canada, and possibly also in France and England. Settlement of the Hills and Prairies. Wisconsin has a large foreign-born population, now largely of American citizenship. Geography had less to do with their routes of travel and places of settlement than in early days. The Germans, though well dis- tributed, live in greatest numbers near Lake Michigan. Many of the Scandinavians are near the Mississippi. The Swiss form a com- pact colony south of Madison. The other European nationalities and the native-born Americans from other states are in every part of Wisconsin. The Place of Wisconsin in the Physical Geography of the United States On the basis of various geographical features, especially the geology, topography, climate and vegetation, it it customary to divide the United States into a series of natural regions, known as physiographic provinces. The state of Wisconsin lies in two of these provinces — (a) the Lake Superior Highland, of Wisconsin- Michigan Uplands, or Lake Plains, or Lake Region, and (b) the Prairie Plains or Central Low Plains. In this book the state will 24 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin be divided into five provinces, appropriate to this more detailed study in regional geography. USEFUL GENERAL WORKS ON WISCONSIN Physical Geography Laphiim, I. A. A Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin; with Brief Sketches of its History, Geology, Mineralogy, Natural History, Population, Soil, Productions, Government, Antiquities, &c. &c, Milwaukee, 1844, 256 pp; second edition, with the title: Wisconsin, Its Geography and Topography, Milwaukee, 1846, 202 pp. Norwood, J. G. General Observations on the Topography and Climate of Wisconsin, — in Owen's Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Document 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, pp. 110-121. Whitney, J. D. Division of the State of Wisconsin into Districts on Geological and Topographical Grounds, Sketch of their Physical Geography, — in Hall and Whitney's Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, Chapter on Physical Geography and Surface Geology, pp. 97-139. Hall, James. Physical' Geography (of Wisconsin), Report on the Geological Sur- vey of the State of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, pp. 1-7. Davis, W. M. (On the physiographic features of Wisconsin), Physical Geography, Boston, 1898, pp. 136-137, 197-198, 274; Erklarende Beschreibung der Land- formen, Leipzig, 1912, pp. 222-223. Collie, G. L. Physiography of Wisconsin, Bulletin American Bureau of Geogra- phy, Vol. 2, 1901, pp. 270-287. Case. E. C. Wisconsin, Its Geology and Physical Geography, Milwaukee, 1907, 190 pp. Martin, Lawrence. The Physical Geography and Pleistocene of the Lake Superior Region, (a discussion of the topography and glacial geology of the northern two-thirds of Wisconsin), Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 85-117, 427-459; The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Journal of Geography, Vol. 12, 1914, pp. 226-232. Geological History Hall, James. General Geology (of Wisconsin), Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, pp. 8-72. Lapham, I. A. Geology (of Wisconsin — an account of the historical geology of the State), in Waiting's Atlas of the State of Wisconsin, 1876, pp. 16-19. Irving, R. D. Sketch of the Geological Structure of Wisconsin, Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers, Vol. 8, 1880, pp. 479-491. Chamberlin, T. C. Historical Geology, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 45-300; see also Geological History of Wisconsin in Snyder, Van Vechten & Co's Atlas, Milwaukee, 1878, pp. 148-151. Hotchkiss, W. O., and Thwaites, F. T. Outline of the Geological History of Wisconsin, border printing on Map of Wisconsin Showing Geology and Roads, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1911; see also border printing on Geological Model of Wisconsin, 1910. Ulrich, E. O. The Stratigraphy of Wisconsin, Ibid., (bulletin in preparation). The. State of Wisconsin 25 Rocks, Minerals, and Soils Whitney, J. D. Mineralogy (of Wisconsin) in Hall and Whitney's Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, pp. 193-220. Chamberlin, T. C. Chemical Geology and Lithological Geology, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 3-44. Irving, R. D. Lithology of Wisconsin, Ibid., pp. 340-361. Buckley, E. R. Building and Ornamental Stones of Wisconsin, Bull. 4, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1898, 500 pp; The Clays and Clay Industries of Wisconsin, Bull. 7, Ibid., 1901, 283 pp; Highway Construction in Wisconsin. Ibid., Bull. 10, 1903, 313 pp. Ries, Heinrich. The Clays of Wisconsin, Bull. 15, Ibid., 1906, 247 pp. Lawson, P. V. Story of the Rocks and Minerals of Wisconsin, Appleton, 1906, 202 pp. Hotchkiss, W. O., and Steidtmann, Edward. Limestone Road Materials of Wisconsin, Bull. 34, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914, 137 pp. Huels, F. W. The Peat Resources of Wisconsin, Bull. 45, Ibidl, 1915, 266 pp. Chamberlin, T. C. Soils and Subsoils of Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 678-688. Weidman, S., Whitson, A. R., and Others. Soils Bulletins 11, 23, 24, 28-32, 37-40, 43, Wis, Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survpy, 1903 to 1915. Climate United States Weather Bureau. Meteorological observations beginning with those of U. S. Surgeon General's Office in 1820 and 1822 at Fort Howard (Green Bay), Fort Crawford (Prairie du Chien), and Fort Winnebago (Portage); continued by the Smithsonian Institution, U. S. Signal Service, and U. S. Weather Bureau; A. J. Henry (on the Climate of Wisconsin), Bull. Q., U. S. Weather Bureau, Washington, 1906, pp. 526-534; see also Wisconsin Weather and Crop Journal, Official Publication, Wis. Weather Service, 4 vols., 1892- 1895; Wis. Section, Climate and Crop Service, 13 vols., 1896-1908; annual summaries, sectional summaries, monthly bulletins, and daily weather maps. Lapham, I. A. (On the climate of Wisconsin), A Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1844, pp. 84-92; Ibid, 1846, pp. 75-80; Climate of Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, Vol. 1, 1851, pp. 305-324; Ibid, Vol. 2, 1852, pp. 445-455; Meteorology, Northwestern Journal of Edu- cation, Science, and General Literature, Vol. 1, 1850, pp. 117-122; On the Climate of the Country Bordering upon the Great North American Lakes, Trans. Chicago Acad. Sci., Vol. 1, 1867, pp. 58-60, and Isothermal Map of Wisconsin; the same map, reproduced earlier, -as A Geological and Climat- ologicaUMap of Wisconsin, Showing the Geological Formations and the Effect of LakeJVIichigan in Elevating the Mean Temperature of January and De- pressing that of July, 36 miles to 1 inch — Inset on G. A. Randall's New Sectional and Township Map of the State of Wisconsin; Rainfall, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 35-44. \ Norwood, J. G. General Observations on the Topography and Climate of Wis- consin, in Owen's Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Doc. 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, pp. 121-129. 26 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Winchell, Alexander. Map of Wisconsin showing Climate, Walling's Atla the State of "Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1876 (with isotherms for Summer, Wii and the Year). Oldenhage, H. H. Climatology of Wisconsin, in Snyder, Van Vechten & Atlas, Milwaukee, 1878, pp. 18, 151-153, (including a Climatological fl showing average rainfall and temperature for Summer, Winter, and the Yi Greeley, A. W., and Schott, C. A. General Map of Rainfall and Tempera of Wisconsin, Atlas Plate II C, Geology of Wisconsin, 1882. King, F. H. Physical Features and Climatic Conditions of Northern Wisconsi in W. A. Henry's Northern Wisconsin — A Handbook for the' Homesei Madison, 1896, pp. 24-40. Smith, L. S. Climatic Conditions (of Northern Wisconsin), Water Su Paper 156, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, pp. 15-19, including a rainfall ma Wisconsin (see also other Water Supply Papers of the U. S. Geological Sun. Climatic Conditions (in Wisconsin), Bull. 20,,Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Sui 1908, pp. 14-21, et. seq., including 12 separate maps showing rainfall oi state for 1895 to 1905. Whitson, A. R., and Baker, O. E. -The Climate of Wisconsin and Its Rels to Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 223, Universit Wisconsin, 1912, 65 pp; see also climatic summaries in soils bulletins, Wis. ( and Nat. Hist. Survey. Williams, F. E. The Climate of Wisconsin, Journ. Geog., Vol. 12, 1914, 232-234. Miller, Eric. The Climate of Wisconsin, Bulletin Wis. Geol. and Nat. 1 Survey (in preparation). Hydrography Lap ham, I. A. Geological map published in 1869 shows by 100-foot contour: "Probable depth in feet below the level of Lake Michigan at which the : or primary rocks may be reached by artesian Wells." Chamber! in, T. C. Artesian Wells, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1883 689-701. Kirchoflfer, W. G. The Sources of Water Supply in Wisconsin, Bull. 106, versity of Wisconsin, 1905, pp. 165-245. VCeidman, S., and Schultz, A. R. Underground and Surface Water Suppli Wisconsin, Bull. 35, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1915, (accompanie geological map of Wisconsin, with 250 foot contours on the surface of the Cambrian, and 100 foot contours showing artesian head). Mead, D. W. The Geology of Wisconsin Water Supplies, author's edi Rockford, 1893; The Hydro-Geology of the Upper Mississippi Valley, J( Assoc. Eng. Societies, Vol. 13, 1894, 68 pp; The Flow of Streams anc Factors that Modify It, with Special Reference to Wisconsin Conditions, 425, University of Wisconsin, 1911, 192 pp; see also Exhibit 29 in repoi H. P. Bird and others, pp. 737-779. Smith, L. S. The Water Powers of Wisconsin, Bull. 20, Wis. Geol. and Hist. Survey, 1908, 354 pp; Wisconsin's Water Power Resources, Wisct Engineer, Vol. 13, 1909, pp. 273-285; see also Water Supply Paper 156, 1 Geol. Survey, 1906, and Water Supply Papers 207, 285, 324, 325, and 354. Bird, H. P., and Others. Report of the Committee on Water Powers, Fore and Drainage of the Wisconsin Legislature, 1910, Madison, 1911, 779 pp. The State of Wisconsin 27 Devereaux, W. C. Relation of Deforestation to Precipitation and Run-off in Wisconsin, Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 38, 1910, pp. 720-723. Griffith, E. M. The Intimate Relation of Forest Cover to Stream Flow, Report of the Committee on Water Powers, Forestry, and Drainage of the Wisconsin Legislature, 1910, Part 2, 1911, pp. 723-736. Blaisdell, J. J. Forest and Tree Culture in Wisconsin, Madison, 1893, 46 pp., (including a discussion of forests in relation to rainfall, freshets, etc.). Birge, E. A., and Juday, C. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, — The Dissolved Gases of the Water and Their Biological Significance, Bull. 22, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1911, 259 pp. Juday, C. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, — The Hydrography and Morphometry of the Lakes, Bull. 27, Ibid., 1914, 137 pp., (including 29 colored maps). Wisconsin Railroad Commission. Gazetteer of Streams, Report of the Rail- road Commission to the Legislature on Water Powers, Madison, 1915, pp. 489-540; the 1912 edition of the Official Railroad Map of Wisconsin contains a list of rivers and lakes of the state, whose location may be determined by refer- ring to the numbers and letters printed on the border of the map. Applied Geography. A Few of the Earliest and of the Latest ' Contributions Lapham, Increase A. Descriptions of each of the Wisconsin counties and their topography, drainage, resources, industries, population, etc., A Geographical and Topographical Description of. Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1844, pp. 95-252; Wisconsin, Its Geography and Topography, Milwaukee, 1846, pp. 82-202; Report on the Commerce of the Town of Milwaukee, and Navigation of Lake Michigan, pamphlet, 1842; Wisconsin, Her Topographical Features, and General Adaptation to Agriculture, Northwestern Journal of Education, Science, and General Literature, Vol. 1, 1850, pp. 46-49; Statistics Exhibiting the History, Climate, and Productions of the State of Wisconsin, Published by order of the legislature, Madison, 1867, 32 pp. and map; Qn the Relations of the Wisconsin Geological Survey to Agriculture, Trans. Wis. Agr. Soc, Vol. 12, 1874, pp. 207-210. Lapham, I. A., Knapp, J. G., and Crocker, H. Report on the Disastrous Effects of the Destruction of Forest Trees, Madison, 1867, 101 pp. Gregory, John. Industrial Resources of Wisconsin, Chicago, 1853, 318 pp; Ibid., 1S70, 320 pp. Hunt, J. W. Wisconsin Gazetteer, Madison, 1853, 255 pp. Ritchie, J. S. Wisconsin and Its Resources, with Lake Superior, its Com- merce and Navigation, Philadelphia, 1857, 312 pp. Irving, R. D. Mineral Resources of Wisconsin, Snyder, Van Vechten & Co's Atlas, Milwaukee, 1878, pp. 163-165; The Mineral Resources of Wisconsin, Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers, Vol. 8, 1880, pp. 478-508. Hobbins, Joseph. Health of Wisconsin, in Relation to Physical Features, Geology, Climate, etc., Snyder, Van Vechten & Co's Atlas, Milwaukee, 1878, pp. 182-187; also in Descriptive America, Vol. 1, 1884, pp. 110-111. Salisbury, R. D. Geology, Soil, Vegetation, Zoology, Mines, Quarries, and Mineral Springs (of Wisconsin), Descriptive America, Vol. 1, 1884, pp. 109-116. Turner, Lura A., and J. M. Handbook of Wisconsin, Its History and Geography, 28 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Merrill, J. A. Industrial Geography of Wisconsin, Chicago, 1911, 175 pp. Martin, Lawrence. The Progressive Development of Resources in the Lake Superior Region, Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc, Vol. 43, 1911, pp. 561-572, 659-669. Whitbeck, R. H. Industries of Wisconsin and their Geographic Basis, Annals Assoc. Amer. Geographers, Vol. 2, 1912, pp. 55-64; Geography and Industries of Wisconsin, Bull. 26, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1913, 90 pp; Geogra- phy of the Fox- Winnebago Valley, Bull. 42, Ibid., 1915, 102 pp. Dopp, Mary. Geographical Influences in the Development of Wisconsin, Bull. Amer. Geog. Soc, Vol. 45, 1913, pp. 401-412, 490-499, 585-609, 653-663, 736-749, 831-846, 902-920. United States Census. Supplements for Wisconsin oh Population, Agriculture, Manufactures, Mines and Quarries, Thirteenth Census of the United Stales, Taken in the Year 1910, Abstract of the Census, Washington, 1913, pp. 565-705. The Wisconsin Number of the Journal of Geography, Vol. 12, 1914, pp. 225-300, by Lawrence Martin, F. E. Williams, C. F. Watson, E. G. Lange, W. S. Welles, Lilla Brabant, R. H. Whitbeck, W. R. McConnell, C. E. Sloth- ower, B. A. Stickle, L. T. Gould, J. A. Merrill, and E. F. Bean. Williams, F. E. The Geography and History of Wisconsin, Bulletin Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey (in preparation). The most convenient, short history of the state is R. G. Thwaites' "Wisconsin, the Americanization of a French Settlement," Boston, 1908, 432 pp. See also con- temporary documents on the French and the British regimes in Wisconsin, Vols. 16-20, Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, 1902-11; earlier volumes of the State Historical Society's Collections and Proceedings; and the Jesuit Relations. For origins of geographical names in Wisconsin see references in Appendix H, Maps General Maps and Index Maps. For general maps of the whole state, geological maps, and glacial maps see Appendix E. Figure 192 and Figures 194 to 200 are index maps. Appendix E explains where and how all these maps may be obtained. U. S. Geological Survey. Standard quadrangles covering parts of the state and referred to in Appendix E and by regions in the bibliographies of ensuing chapters; special river maps; for special geological and glacial maps see refer- ences in Appendix G; for altitudes at railway stations see Appendix H. U. S. Lake Survey. (As above). U. S. Mississippi River Commission. (As above). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Special lake maps; soil maps; lead and zinc district maps; mineral land classification maps; model of Wisconsin, etc. (see Appendices E and G). CHAPTER II. THE GEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCES OF WISCONSIN The Nature of the Provinces Driftless Area and Glaciated Region. One simple way to de- scribe the state of Wisconsin is to divide it into two parts, — (a) the Driftless Area and (b) the Glaciated Region. The Glaciated Area is mostly a plain. A large part of the Driftless Area is hilly. The Driftless Area and the Glaciated Region are natural regions, or, as we shall say in this book, geographical provinces. Plains, Plateaus, and Mountains. From another point of view the state may be said to consist of three natural regions. These are (a) a large area of plains, (b) a smaller area of low plateaus, and (c) a large area of worn-down mountains. The plains are not all of the same level. The plateaus are so cut up by streams as to retain no flat-topped uplands. The former mountains are now worn down so low as to constitute a rather simple plain, although it includes the highest land in the state. The Five Geographical Provinces. It seems best, however, to divide the state into five rather than two or three natural regions. These are related in certain ways to the driftless and glaciated areas, and to the plains, plateaus, and worn-down mountains. Three of these geographical provinces are uplands and two are lowlands. The northernmost of the five geographical provinces is the Lake Superior Lowland (Chapter XVH), a part of the Lake Superior basin. The central province, called the Northern Highland (Chapter XV), is an upland, — part of the Lake Superior highland. A third division of the state is the large belted plain with curved strips of alternating lowland and upland. This plain is subdivided into three geographical provinces, (a) the Central Plain (Chapter XIII), (b) the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands (Chapter IX), and (c) the Western Upland (Chapter III). 30 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Boundaries of the Geographical Provinces The boundaries of all five of these geographical provinces are determined largely by the variations of texture and structure in the underlying rocks. The fundamental differences of topography in ill. I N O / -S Fig. 9. The five geographical provinces of Wisconsin. the five divisions are due to this, and the minor topography in each area shows this relationship clearly. The boundaries of these provinces are shown in Figure 9. They do not follow contours on the topographic map (Fig 7), they are not determined by climate (Figs. 4, 5), or by vegetation (Fig. 6), or any other single The Geographical Provinces of Wisconsin 31 geographical feature. They resemble, but do not exactly correspond to the boundaries on the geological map (Fig 3). This shows that neither the relative weakness and resistance involved in rock tex- ture, nor the control involved in rock structure, is entirely re- sponsible for the difference in conditions between provinces. Nor is it only the process of wearing down that has determined the con- trasting topographies of the provinces. It is true that Wisconsin might be divided into two provinces on the basis of process alone, — weathering and stream erosion in one, the Driftless Area, having produced markedly different forms from the glacial erosion and depo- sition, following weathering and stream erosion, in the glaciated area (Fig. 28). The author has relegated process to a secondary place, however, in drawing the boundaries of the provinces (Fig. 9), making rock characters — texture and structure — a major criterion of classification, with physiographic process and stage for aid in sub- division. The Northern Highland The Highland is a Peneplain. A plain made by the wearing down of ancient mountains is usually spoken of as a peneplain, — that is, a region worn down nearly to a plain in a place where, formerly, there was rougher topography. The wearing down has been accomplished in a long period of time by the erosive action of streams and the weather. This peneplain is underlain by pre-Cam- brian rocks, including igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks of Archean and Algonkian age. Throughout the highland of northern Wisconsin, the low plain like . topography truncates highly-folded and complexly-faulted, ancient, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks (Fig. 142). The peneplain surface bevels across granites and associated igneous masses, which must have been originally intruded deep below the surface. This state of affairs is interpreted as indicating that the peneplain was formerly a mountainous region. That the granites and some of the other igneous rocks were intruded deep below the present surface is proved by their character. In order to have cooled slowly enough to have their present coarsely-crystalline character they must have been deeply buried when intruded. The restoration of the folds in the sedimentary rocks, now planed across by erosion, shows that when the folding was completed the region must have risen much higher above sea level than at present, and must have had a mountainous topography. In other words, the topography 32 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin and rock structure found at present in northern Wisconsin are exactly the same kind that would be revealed if the Alps or Rocky Mountains were planed across so that their basement portions were exposed. RACINE KENOSHA Fig. 10. The peneplain of the Northern Highland of Wisconsin with monadnocks and inliers. Contour lines to show the elevation of the buried peneplain and its monadnocks. There is probably still another buried monadnock east of Osnkosh. (Contours based chiefly upon data compiled by Weidman and by Thwaites.) Above this peneplain surface rise knobs and ridges of resistant rock. These are monadnocks. It was formerly thought that northern Wisconsin was at one time an island in the sea. The name Isle Wisconsin was applied to it. The Geographical Provinces of Wisconsin 33 The Barron Hills, Baraboo Range, and certain hills near Waterloo, and in the present Fox River valley were thought of as offlying islands. It does not now seem probable, however, that the Northern Highland was ever an island. If there ever was an Isle Wisconsin it must have included the whole state (p. 373), rather than merely the present northern portion where the ancient peneplain is now visible. After the peneplain was formed it seems to have been completely buried beneath the younger sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic. The northern part of it has only recently been exhumed. The basin of Lake Superior lies within the Northern Highland. Here the peneplain has been downfaulted, buried, and partly un- covered again. The Belted Plain of Wisconsin Relation to Rock Texture. The portion of Wisconsin south of the Lake Superior Lowland and the Northern Highland is a belted plain. It consists of two lowland areas and three upland areas, related directly to the texture and structure of the underlying rocks. These are the Paleozoic rocks which overlie the pre-Cambrian of the Northern Highland. As one goes to the southeast or southwest from the Northern Highland there are found in the following order: (a) The Cambrian or Potsdam sandstone lowland. (b) The Lower Magnesian limestone upland. (c) The Galena-Trenton limestone lowland. (d) or, elsewhere in the state, the upland on the Galena-Trenton. (e) The Niagara limestone upland. These upland and lowland subdivisions of central and southern Wisconsin, which result in its being a belted plain, are determined by relative weakness or resistance of the underlying rocks. Two rock formations in the state, however, the St. Peter sandstone and the Cincinnati shale are weak and are usually found only in narrow strips at the bases of the resistant limestones which overlie them. The two chief lowlands (a) on the Cambrian sandstone and (b) on the Galena-Trenton limestone were formed because these sedi- mentary rocks are relatively weak in their resistance to denudation. The three upland areas, cuestas (p. 42), (a) on the Lower Magnesian limestone, (b) on another portion of the Galena-Trenton limestone, and (c) on the Niagara limestone, stand up above the adjacent lowlands because of the superior resistance of these limestone forma- tions, just as the durable character of the resistant, igneous and 34 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin metamorphic rocks of the Lake Superior peneplain makes it stand higher than the adjacent Cambrian sandstone lowland. Relation to Peneplain of Northern Highland. The present distribution of the uplands and lowlands of the belted plain is not S ' V ^ ^ y /«,<■»"■ ^0 CAMP DOUGLAS / V* X /ri pom \l,ACR09SK O * ' ^ Q ) ^sV -\ MADISON,/ v* ^3 / Qmilwaukcc \f^ce ' i T o 1 \ BELOIT / V 1 Fig. 11. The three cuestas in Wisconsin and the inner lowland which separates them from the oldland of the exhumed peneplain. The first cuesta is formed by the Lower Magnesian limestone and part of the Cambrian sandstone; the second cuesta "by the Galena-Trenton limestone; the third cuesta by the Niagara limestone; the inner lowland by the lower beds in the Cambrian sandstone; and the oldland by the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the pre-Cambrian. A second lowland, occupied by Green Bay, the lower Fox River, Lake Winnebago, and Rock River, lies on the Galena-Trenton limestone just west of the third cuesta. Lake Michigan occupies a third lowland underlain by weak Devonian shnles, a permanent but a temporary one, considered from a physiographic standpoint. This is because these sedimentary rocks are being slowly removed from the surface of the pre-Cambrian peneplain of northern Wisconsin. As already stated (p. 33), it seems quite likely that the Cambrian sandstone and some of the overlying Paleozoic rocks formerly covered most, if not all, of the Lake Superior High- land. The Geographical Provinces of Wisconsin 35 • That these Paleozoic rocks were more extensive than at present is clearly indicated by the presence of outliers. The outliers are isolated sandstone mounds in the Northern Highland, at some dis- tance from the area of continuous sandstone with which they were formerly connected. These outliers show clearly that the sandstone is wasting away under the attack of stream erosion and weathering. In Wisconsin the highest elevation, is now stripped of its sandstone covering and the overlying mantle still lies on the lowland. A similar relationship is found with regard to the edges of the overlying limestone formations. The driftless portion of the escarpment near the edge of the Lower Magnesian limestone is an exceedingly irregular one. Every here and there, an outlier of limestone is isolated upon the sandstone upland, rising above it as a hill or mound. The Niagara limestone bears a similar relationship to the surface of the Galena-Trenton limestone. Another indication that the lowlands of the belted plain are being extended is found in the fact that here and there in central and southern Wisconsin portions of the peneplain of northern Wisconsin have been uncovered. The Baraboo Range of south-central Wis- consin, for example, and similar masses of quartzite and igneous rocks near Waterloo, near Necedah, in the Fox River valley, and at other localities, will be described (p. 366) as former monadnocks upon the pre-Cambrian peneplain. The monadnocks were buried by the Cambrian sandstone and the overlying sedimentary rocks. They are now being exposed as the sandstone and limestone are carried away by erosion. Their superior height results in their being uncovered sooner than the low portion of the peneplain around them. Narrow strips of the peneplain surface have also been exhumed. These are inliers (Fig. 10). They are low and lie along stream courses. Relation to Geological Structure. The outlines of these zones of lowland and upland in the belted plain do not extend east and west across the state. They curve around the eastern, southern, and western portions of the peneplain of northern Wisconsin, which now projects like a shield. The crescentic form of the several belts of lowland and upland is explained by the relationship of erosion to the structure of the alternating layers of weak and resistant rock. As explained in Chapter I, there is a broad anticlinal fold in Wis- consin. Its main axis extends in a general north and south direc- tion, and it pitches gently southward. The Lake Superior peneplain, originally nearly horizontal, was probably warped into this position after the sedimentary rocks were laid down over it. As a result of 36 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the warping, it, therefore, happened that northern Wisconsin be- came the highest part of the area. It is natural, accordingly, that denudation has first cut through to the older rocks in the northern part of the state. The several sandstone and limestone formations have been worn back in orderly succession, to their present positions, all around the flanks of the pitching fold. The crescentic form of the Cambrian sandstone lowland is well de- veloped in Wisconsin. The crescentic extent of upland topography in the areas of Lower Magnesian limestone and Galena-Trenton limestone is also complete in this state. The parallel curve of the Niagara limestone upland, however, is not wholly developed, part of it being present in the eastern portion of the state, from the Door Peninsula and the upland east of Lake Winnebago southward into Illinois. To the south the Niagara limestone is buried beneath the coal measures and only reappears in northwestern Illinois and to the west in Iowa (Fig. 87), a short distance outside the borders of Wisconsin. The Belts of Lowland and Upland. Southern Wisconsin may, therefore, be thought of as a belted plain, similar to the belted plains of eastern England and the Paris basin in France. The Northern Highland of Wisconsin was part of the oldland or ancient land surface, upon which the sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic were deposited. Some of these sediments were derived from the Northern Highland. On this basis Wisconsin has been described as an ancient coastal plain (Fig. 11). The Northern Highland is not known to be the chief or only source of the younger sedimentary rocks, but the analogy is satisfactory in all other respects. The only abnormal feature in the belted plain of Wisconsin is the different character of the topography on the Galena-Trenton limestone (a) in the vicinity of Green Bay, Lake Winnebago, and the Rock River valley, and (b) in southwestern Wisconsin. In the former locality the limestone forms a lowland 580 to 800 feet above sea level, in the latter an upland at an elevation of 900 to 1200 feet. This difference affects so large an area that it has made it desirable to discuss the belted plain, not along the division lines suggested by the geological formations (p. 33), but in the three following geo- graphical provinces: (a) The Central Plain [the plain of Cambrian sandstone]. (b) The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands [(1) the eastern cuesta of Lower Magnesian limestone, (2) the eastern lowland of Galena-Trenton limestone, and (3) the cuesta of Niagara limestone]. The Geographical Provinces of Wisconsin 37 (c) The Western Upland [(1) the cuesta of Galena-Trenton limestone in southwestern Wisconsin, (2) the cuesta of Lower Magnesian limestone, with smaller areas of Galena- Trenton limestone and of Cambrian sandstone along the western border of the stale]. The Order of Discussion of the Provinces In this book the five geographical provinces will be described in order from south to north. The reason for adopting this order is that it seems most logical to begin with the Western Upland because it lies in the Driftless Area. The Driftless Area preserves most of the types of topography that formerly existed throughout Wiscon- sin. Its topography was made chiefly by weathering, wind work, underground water, and stream erosion. Thus we may study these physiographic processes and the topographic forms they produce before we consider the forms that exist in eastern, central, and northern Wisconsin. Outside the Driftless Area, glacial erosion and glacial deposition, wave work, postglacial stream erosion, and other processes have greatly modified the topography originally made by the weathering and preglacial stream work. The five geographical provinces of Wisconsin will be discussed in the following chapters, which will explain the origin of the topo- graphic forms and discuss the rivers, lakes, and coasts of Wisconsin, together with a few relationships to man. BIBLIOGRAPHY See Chapter I, pp. 24-28, and lists of articles and maps at the ends of Chapters III, IX, XIII, XV, XVII, and in Appendix G. WITT I I NORTHERN 1 a TAYLOR CO.? HIGHLAND >■% 1-0 zz 00 5 lOMilea MARATHON CO I COO. Spt. Zcnl T32N NORTHERN HIGHLAND 31 30 29 C E n It r a l 28 PLAIN .JLp WOOD CO. O'.'/tW,' !..,'..,','^ ,',,,','.,.,, 1 ,,,.',' <.t'.«,',t»> 27 26 it >< i-o zz 33 °2 00 25 24 23 22 CENTRAL PLAIN _«fL, .rUTSTEACJjS CO. §• •+;»* •"»«'' ->;■>:}!$*. ^VT: i >4- ,> WES RICHLAND CO WESTERN |1uPLA||D I IOWA CO. Fig, 12. A north-south section showing the relationships of the Western Upland to the underlying rock. PC — igneous and metamorphic rock of pre-Cambrian age; Cp — Potsdam sandstone of Cambrian age; 01m — Lower Magnesian limestone of Ordovician age; Osp, Otg. and Oc — St. Peter sandstone, Trenton-Galena limestone, and Cincinnati shale, all of Ordovician age; P — glacial deposits and river deposits of Pleistocene age. CHAPTER III. THE WESTERN UPLAND. Nature of the Country Scenery of the Western Upland. The landscape in western Wisconsin makes this the most attractive part of the state. Owen, the first geologist to do detailed work in Wisconsin, said in 1847: "The constant theme of remark, whilst travelling in the regions of the upper Mississippi occupied by the lower magnesian lime- stone, was the picturesque character of the landscape, and especially the striking similarity which the rock exposure presents to that of ruined structures. '.'The scenery on the Rhine; with its castellated heights, has been the frequent theme of remark and admiration by European travellers. Yet it is doubtful whether, in actual beauty of land- scape, it is not equalled by that of some of the streams that water this region of the far west. It is certain that though the rock formations essentially differ, nature has here fashioned, on an extensive scale, and in advance of all civilization, remarkable and curious counterparts to the artificial landscape which has given celebrity to that part of the European continent. "The features of the scenery are not, indeed, of the loftiest and most impressive character. There are no elevated peaks, rising in majestic grandeur; no mountain torrents, shrouded in foam and chafing in their rocky channels; no deep and narrow valleys hemmed in on every side and forming, as it were, a little world of their own; no narrow and precipitous passes, winding through circuitous defiles; no cavernous gorges giving exit to pent up waters; no contorted and twisted strata, affording evidence of gigantic up- lift and violent throes. But the features of the scene, though less grand and bold than those of mountainous regions, are yet impressive and strongly marked. We find the luxuriant sward, clothing even down to the water's edge the hill slope. We have the steep cliff shooting up through it, in mural escarpments. We have the stream, clear as crystal, now quiet and smooth and glassy, then ruffled by 40 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin a temporary rapid, or when a terrace of rock abruptly crosses it, broken up into a small romantic cascade. We have clumps of trees, disposed with an effect that might baffle the landscape gardener, now crowning the grassy height, now dotting the green slope with partial and isolated shade. From the hill tops the intervening valleys wear the aspect of cultivated meadows and rich pasture grounds, irrigated by frequent rivulets that wend their way through fields of wild hay, fringed with flourishing willows. Here and there occupying its nook, on the bank of the stream, at some favourable spot, occurs the solitary wigwam, with its scanty appurtenances. On the summit levels spreads the wide prairie, decked with flowers of the gayest hue; its long undulating waves stretching away till sky and meadow mingle in the distant horizon. The whole com- bination suggests the idea, not of an aboriginal wilderness, inhabited by savage tribes, but of a country lately under a high state of culti- vation and suddenly deserted by its inhabitants; their dwellings indeed gone, but the castle-homes of their chieftains only partially destroyed, and showing, in ruins, on the rocky summits around. This latter feature especially aids the delusion; for the peculiar aspect of the exposed limestone and its manner of weathering cause it to assume a resemblance somewhat fantastic indeed, but yet wonderfully close and faithful, to the dilapidated wall, with its crowning parapet and its projecting buttresses and its flanking towers, and even the lesser details that mark the fortress of the olden time." Location and General Geography. The region with such scenery as Owen describes occupies the western and southwestern portion of the state, comprising part or all of the counties adjacent to the Mississippi River (Fig. 9). The Western Upland contains about 13,250 square miles. This is a highland region, as the name Western Upland indicates. Most of it is a thoroughly-dissected upland, not a flat-topped or sloping surface as in northern Wisconsin or the region near Lake Michigan. The average elevation of the hilltops above sea level is about 1100 feet in St. Croix and Pierce Counties in northwestern Wisconsin, 1280 feet in Vernon County, and 900 to 1200 feet in Grant County in the southwestern part of the state. The uplands thus stand 100 to 200 feet above the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands to the southeast, and 200 to 350 feet above the Central Plain to the northeast. The Western Upland 41 In certain ways the Western Upland is similar to the Allegheny and Cumberland Plateaus in the Appalachians. Northwestern Wisconsin near Hudson and River Falls is much like the plateau of western New York. Western and southwestern Wisconsin near La Crosse, Prairie du Chien, and Platteville resemble the rugged plateau of West Virginia or Kentucky. Aside from the upland itself the strongest topographic features of the region are the great trenches or gorges of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers and their numerous branches. The gorge of the Mississippi is incised more than 500 feet below the level of the upland ridges. State Boundaries in Relation to Topography. The western boundary of Wisconsin is a natural one, following the gorge of the Mississippi. The states of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota have never failed to agree as to their limits, except in a small stretch in Lake Pepin (p. 157), for the main channel of the Mississippi furnishes a definite, natural boundary. In contrast with this we have the Wisconsin-Illinois boundary, which extends east and west without any natural feature to determine it. The surface features of southwestern and southeastern Wisconsin are just like the adja- cent parts of Illinois. Accordingly there was long discussion as to whether the 14 northern counties of what is now Illinois should be in Wisconsin or not. These counties cover 8500 square miles, an area larger than Massachusetts. They include the site of the present city of Chicago and exceedingly valuable coal mines, lead mines, and agricultural lands. The people in several of these counties voted almost unanimously to join Wisconsin; but, rather curiously, the people of Wisconsin voted not to accept them. The Wisconsin-Illinois boundary was finally fixed at the parallel of 42° 30', or about where it is now; and thus we lost Chicago. A mistake was made in actually marking the boundary, however, and it is about half a mile too far north on the Mississippi River in Grant County, and a similar distance too far south on Lake Michigan in Kenosha County. It does not extend due east, as provided by the law (p. 441); but it is marked by boundary posts, and is fixed for all time. The boundary between Wisconsin and Iowa, and between Wis- consin and Minnesota is, in one way, less satisfactory, for it is not actually marked. It follows the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi. Fortunately this main channel has not shifted to any great extent in recent years. 42 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The Two Cuestas. Thejupland or plateau region of western Wisconsin consists of two cuestas and one monadnock. A cuesta is an upland with a short_Vteep descent, or escarpment, on one side imenti Vale Fig. 13. A series of cuestas and escarpments. (Veatch.) and a long, gentle slope on the other. The gentle slope usually corresponds to the inclination or dip of slightly-inclined sedimentary rocks. One resistant layer, as of limestone, may determine the whole dip slope. The escarpment often discloses a basal layer of weak rock, perhaps shale or sandstone. This weak rock usually forms a sloping surface, leading up to a steep cliff, where the resistant over- lying stratum comes to the surface in the face of the escarpment. The cuestas in the Western Upland are similar to the cuestas in eastern Wisconsin (p. 198), but differ from them in three significant respects. The first is the dip of the rock, which is somewhat less in western Wisconsin. The second is the presence of large outliers of Galena-Trenton on the Lower Magnesian limestone. The third and most important contrast is in the topography, for a large part Fig. 14. Cross-section of part of the Western Upland, showing the Lower Magnesian limestone (01m) and St. Peter sandstone (Osp) resting upon the Cambrian sandstone. The cuesta is thoroughly cut up by streams and all the ridges are narrow. of the Western Upland is in the never-glaciated or Driftless Area. These contrasts will be amplified in the subsequent pages. Suffice it here to state that most of the province is not a flat-topped upland or plateau, but a thoroughly-dissected cuesta. With the exception of the area northwest of the Chippewa River, it has no smooth Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, F"l. V. •".»*, '*%&*§&. ?- ,!r *"fK3f.l-\ -$«*': ,,-•«*• A. T) MAGNESIAN ESCARPMENT WEST OF THE CHIPPEWA RIVER NEAR KNAPP. B. CUESTA SURFACE NORTH OF PRESCOTT. Plain in the foreground is underlain by Lower Magnesian limestone and glaeial drifl. Flat- topped hill in (he background is a mesa of Trenton limestone. The Western Upland 43 upland areas of notable extent. It is a region of high, narrow ridges and deep, steep-sided valleys. The northern four-fifths of the Western Upland lies in the belt of Lower Magnesian limestone, and to a smaller extent in the area of the Cambrian sandstone. The southern fifth of the province lies in the belt of Galena-Trenton limestone. A small portion of the West- ern Upland is the Baraboo Range. This is not a cuesla, but an exhumed monadnock made up of pre-Cambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks. The Upland North of the Wisconsin River Extent and Topography. The part of the Western Upland north of the Wisconsin River, is 180 miles long and 35 to 75 miles wide. The topography is controlled largely by the Lower Mag- nesian limestone. The Magnesian cuesta in eastern Wisconsin is only 2 to 7 miles wide, while in western Wisconsin it is 10 to 17 times as wide. This is due to the flatter dip and greater thickness of the rocks in the Western Upland. The general topography of this part of the Western Upland is indicated by the following table, which presents a north-south section, the places listed being 20 to 40 miles apart. Table Showing Elevations in the Northern Part of the Western Upland Locality County Elevation in feet East Farmington Polk 103S Hammond St. Croix 1103 Ellsworth Pierce 1070 East of Alma Buffalo 1240 North of Bangor La Crosse 1340 Northwest of Norwalk Monroe 1440 Viroqua Vernon Richland 1274 Near Richland Center 1160 The elevations, given above, show the general altitude of the hilltops, which the table shows to have an extreme range of only two or three hundred feet. In the southern counties listed there is considerable relief, the valleys being incised three or four hundred feet below the general level, as is indicated specifically in the follow- ing pages. 44 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The Highland between the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers. In this area the cuesta-making formation is the Lower Magnesian limestone. The highland is a flat-topped region, whose surface relief is slight. All of it has been glaciated and the relief has no doubt been decreased by the glacial deposition. The rocks in this upland dip southwest and south at a low angle. There are minor Fig. 15. Topographic map of part of the Western Upland of Wisconsin, showing the deep valleys and rounded ridges. Elevations in feet above sea level. Contour interval 20 feet. For explanation of contours, see Appendix E, p. 452. (From Sparta Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) folds and occasional faults. The action of erosion upon the nearly- horizontal rock structures has produced a cuesta with a. low escarp- ment on the east, but no definite escarpment on the north, on ac- count of the thick mantle of glacial deposits. The Escarpment West of the Chippewa. The eastern escarp- ment, facing the Central Plain of Cambrian' sandstone trends north and south for 20 to 25 miles in St. Croix, Dunn, and Pepin The Western Upland 45 Counties. It is a moderately-irregular escarpment with salients extending forward from 3 to 5 miles between stream valley embay- ments. There are a few detached hills capped by the cuesta- making formation close to the cuesta. One outlying mass of Lower Magnesian limestone, northwest of the city of Menomonie, lies 7 miles east of the escarpment. The height of the escarpment is about 200 feet — 221 feet at Knapp and 167 feet west of Downing — and the descent to the sandstone plain is everywhere abrupt. The Cuesta Surface. The surface of the cuesta slopes rather uniformly westward and southwestward, at the rate of about 9 feet to the mile. The divide is 5 or 6 miles west of the escarpment. The irregularities are due to stream erosion and to glacial deposition. The former are especially well-marked in the hilly, marginal belt near the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers, and in the east-facing escarpment near the Chippewa valley. A large part of the upland is a smooth plain or low plateau. Hills on the Cuesta. Rising above the surface of the upland of Lower Magnesian limestone are higher areas capped by the Galena- Trenton limestone. They occupy a comparatively small portion of the northwestern upland, but are surrounded by considerable areas of St. Peter sandstone, which has slight relief above the Mag- nesian limestone upland. The western part of Pierce County, near and to the north of Ellsworth and the southwestern part of St. Croix County, east of Hudson, are made distinctly irregular by the presence of the isolated hills and long ridges of the Galena-Trenton limestone. Between these buttes and mesas the Magnesian upland is very smooth, as between Prescott and River Falls. At the borders of the hills of Galena-Trenton limestone there is nearly always a steep limestone escarpment, succeeded by a gentle slope of St. Peter sandstone and then by the even Magnesian limestone upland below. Ridges and Coulees Between Chippewa and La Crosse Rivers. The portion of the Western Upland between the Chippewa and La Crosse Rivers is distinctly different from the portion just de- scribed. Between the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers is a fairly broad and not very hilly upland, while the higher region between the Chippewa and the La Crosse has been dissected into a system of ridges and valleys, with practically no upland area remaining. The hilltops do not exceed 1 100 to 1300 feet above sea level. The French name coulee is the designation for valley which is prevalent in the region discussed. This region of ridges and coulees 46 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin occupies all of Buffalo and Trempealeau Counties and parts of La Crosse, Monroe, Jackson, Eau Claire, and Pepin Counties. The east-facing escarpment is not at the edge of the Lower Mag- nesian limestone. It lies 20 to 30 miles farther east. Here erosion has cut down through the calcareous and somewhat resistant upper layers of the Cambrian sandstone. In the weak lower beds this sandstone ceases to be a ridge-maker and the smoother surface of the Central Plain begins. In the upland northwest of the Chippewa River practically all the topography is controlled by the Lower Magnesian limestone, while in the ridge-and-coulee area under discussion this limestone determines the topography of less than a fifth of the region and the Cambrian sandstone is the important rock formation. The reason for this difference seems to be the positions of sand- stone and limestone beds in western Wisconsin through folding. The Mississippi, the master stream of the area, has cut completely through the resistant Lower Magnesian limestone and intrenched itself in the weaker Cambrian sandstone, while in the region north of the Chippewa the Mississippi is still engaged in cutting through the Lower Magnesian limestone. Its tributaries in the northwestern upland have, therefore, been unable to dissect that upland as deeply as have the tributary streams in the region between the Chippewa and the La Crosse. This has resulted in an earlier disappearance of the protecting cap of Galena-Trenton limestone, the removal of a large proportion of the Lower Magnesian limestone, and the opening out of broad valleys in the weak Cambrian sandstone, particularly in Trempealeau and La Crosse Counties. Moreover only a narrow strip of the area of ridges and coulees has been glaciated, a belt 3 to 6 miles wide southeast of the Chippewa River. The lack of simplification by glacial erosion and by glacial deposition, therefore, adds to the contrast of these strikingly- different areas northwest and southeast of the Chippewa. The Escarpment Southeast of Eau Claire. The eastern margin of the region of ridges and coulees is an east-facing escarp- ment. It extends northwest and southeast for 75 miles, between Eau Claire and Tomah. It is an escarpment underlain by the Cambrian sandstone, which makes an irregular country of marked contrast with the smooth plain of the Cambrian in the Central Plain to the east. This escarpment is 150 to 300 feet in height. That the sandstone, generally a weak formation, should form an escarpment at all is clear evidence of greater resistance in the upper The Western Upland 47 layers. It suggests also the very recent removal of the more resist- ant Lower Magnesian limestone, whose edge has now retreated a score or more of miles to the southwest through weathering and stream erosion. That the escarpment is retreating is evidenced by its marked irregularity, for it is deeply embayed and has numerous projecting salients and hundreds of detached outlying masses (Figs. 18, 126). The Dissected Cuesta. West and southwest of this escarpment we find, not a smoothly-sloping cuesta, but a hilly country, a maze of ridges and coulees. It is a cuesta, but the cuesta has been thoroughly dissected by stream erosion. This has been made possible, as already stated, by the position of the master stream and its tributaries in the weak Cambrian sandstone. The ridges rise 400 feet or more above the valley bottoms. The sandstone-floored valleys or coulees are a mile or so in width, in contrast to valleys a quarter to a half mile wide in the more resistant Lower Magnesian limestone. Such ridges as are still capped by the limestone have narrow, craggy, castellated tops, while the lower, sandstone-capped ridges have broad, well-rounded crests. The extent of removal of the Lower Magnesian limestone from this maturely-dissected cuesta is due in part to the nearness of the Mississippi River and the low baselevel of the streams in the coulees, and also to another factor. The escarpment and cuesta are crossed by two large stream valleys,-cf the Chippewa and Black Rivers. They rise far to the northeast, have great volumes, and well-graded valleys. These streams and their tributaries have, therefore, dis- sected the cuesta thoroughly, for they cut through its high eastern part near the escarpment. If the Niagara cuesta in eastern Wis- consin (p. 216) were crossed by a similar stream, and we could eliminate the later smoothing by glaciation, it would be as greatly dissected as the cuesta in the Driftless Area between the Chippewa and La Crosse Rivers. The latter is now reduced to a hilly area of ridges and coulees. Dissected Upland Between La Crosse and Wisconsin Rivers The highland between the Wisconsin and La Crosse Rivers is also distinctly different from the area just discussed. Its topography is intermediate in character between the little-dissected upland north of the Chippewa and the thoroughly-dissected upland between the Chippewa and La Crosse Rivers. It is underlain by the Lower 48 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 16. Two ridges in the Western Upland of Wisconsin south of the La Crosse River. Upper map shows a youthful ridge, capped by resistant limestone. Lower map shows a ridge in old age, made up of weak sandstone. These ridges are only 2 or 3 miles apart. (From Wilton Quadrangle, U. S. Geo). Survey.) The Western^ Upland 49 Magnesian limestone, but all the valleys have cut through this formation into the Cambrian sandstone. The South-Sloping Cuesta. The summits of the ridges north of the Wisconsin River slope southward, with the dip of the rocks. The uplands southwest of Sparta, near La Crosse River, stand 1300 to 1440 feet above sea level (Fig. 15), while those in the vicinity of Richland Center, just north of the Wisconsin River, stand at 1100 to 1160 feet (Fig. 59). This southward descent in a dis- tance of 45 miles is at the rate of 4| to 6 feet to the mile. Some of the ridges are continuous for a long distance, as from Sparta to Prairie du Chien by way of Viroqua. This ridge is over 50 miles long. It was probably the route of the St. Paul-Galena Road, a winter highway built in 1850 by way of Black River Falls. Fig. 17. East-west section of the Western Upland, showing the Cambrian sandstone overlain by Lower Magnesian, St. Peter, and Trenton-Galena formations (Olm. Osp. and Otg.) Valleys in the Cuesta. In this highland the valleys are cut 300 to 400 feet below the upland level. The ridge crests, which are distinctly round-topped, are ^ to ^ of a mile wide, while the valley bottoms are ^ of a mile to If miles in width. There is, however, a distinct increase in widths of valley bottoms and a diminution in width of ridge crests from the northern to the southern portion of the area. The region is in late youth or very early maturity of the erosion cycle, in contrast with the distinct maturity of the ridge-and-coulee district north of La Crosse. This is because of the control of stream erosion by the rock structure of the region, and particularly because of the influence of the resistant Lower Magnesian limestone. Between the Chippewa and La Crosse Rivers the base of the limestone is 360 to 500 feet above the floodplain of the Mississippi River. From the La Crosse to the Wisconsin River the limestone descends still further. Just above the mouth of the Wisconsin, in the Mississippi valley 3 \ miles north of Prairie du Chien, it dips under the present grade of the Mississippi. The Mississippi and Wisconsin have, therefore, been 50 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin retarded in their downcutting by this resistant rock, and their tributaries have likewise been retarded in their dissection of the upland. This is why the upland between the La Crosse and Wis- consin Rivers has only reached the stage of late youth, while the region north of La Crosse is in the stage of early maturity of stream dissection. Hills Rising Above the Cuesta. Rising above the upland are outlying masses of Galena-Trenton limestone, which are separated from the cuesta of southwestern Wisconsin by the lower Wisconsin ®c> <& Fig. 18. The Magncsian escarpment near Camp Douglas and the outliers left behind in its recession to the southwest. River. Their area is small, the chief outlier of this sort being in the southwestern part of Crawford County. That the outlying masses of this sort were recently much more extensive is indicated by the presence of considerable areas of weak St. Peter sandstone, as on the ridge west of the Rickapoo River, between Viroqua and Prairie du Chien. The Escarpment near Camp Douglas. The southern portion of the Magnesian escarpment of western Wisconsin extends south- eastward for 50 miles from Tomah to the Baraboo Range in Sauk County. A typical portion of it in the region near Camp Douglas (PI. XXV) is shown in Figure 18, where United States Army officers have mapped the irregular escarpment with its castellated outliers. All of this portion of the escarpment is in the Driftless Area, so that The Western Upland 51 its great irregularity forms a striking contrast with the simpler con- tinuation of the same escarpment northeast of the Baraboo Range in the glaciated region. A remarkable feature of this irregular escarp- ment is the fact that, as in the area to the northwest, it is not capped at the very front by the Lower Magnesian limestone, which ter- minates a few miles west of the edge of the escarpment. The escarpment and its outliers are- capped by the resistant, upper layers of the Cambrian sandstone. These outliers have been alluded to as monadnocks on a peneplain. For reasons stated later (p. 306) it seems preferable to speak of them, not as monadnocks at all, but outliers of a retreating escarpment. The plain above which they Fig. 19. The Baraboo Range as it will appear after the Magnesian cuesta has retreated a iittle farther to the west and south. (Davis.) rise will be described in this book as the inner lowland of a stripped, belted plain, overlain by level stream deposits. These outliers and the escarpment itself have been carved by weathering, rain- born rills, and wind work into a picturesque, castellated landscape of great irregularity, such as can persist in a never-glaciated, or driftless, area. At the southeast this escarpment joins the upland of the Baraboo Range. The Baraboo Range Size and Height. The Baraboo Range extends east and west in Sauk and Columbia Counties, having a length of 25 miles and an average width of from 5 to 10 miles. It contains the Devils Lake State Park. The range is a monadnock, similar to those in northern Wisconsin (p. 354). It differs from them in having been com- pletely buried and now being only partially exhumed. As a matter of fact, only the eastern half of this monadnock stands very high above the adjacent country. The western half of the Baraboo 52 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Range is still buried in the Western Upland. The range is rather flat-topped, and its surface is at the same level as, or slightly above, the ridges of the dissected cuesta to the west. The summit altitude of the Baraboo Range varies from 1 140 to 1620 feet. The greater part of it is from 1200 to 1400 feet above sea level. The western portion of the range rises only one or two hundred feet above the upland of Lower Magnesran limestone, while the eastern half of the range stands 400 to 800 feet above the plain of Cambrian sandstone. Geology and Structure. The Baraboo Range is quite different from the rest of the Western Upland in geology and structure. The cuesta is a simple mass of rather weak, Paleozoic sediments, Fig. 20. North-south section of the Baraboo Range. Ah — Baraboo quartzite, etc. of Algon- kian (Huronian) age; PC — igneous and metamorphic rocks of pre-Cambrian age; Cp — Potsdam sandstone of Cambrian age; Olm— Lower Magnesian limestone of Ordovician age; P — glacial drift of Pleistocene age. dipping gently to the southwest. The Baraboo Range is a complex mass of resistant, pre-Cambrian, metamorphic rock, with sub- ordinate amounts of igneous rock. The metamorphic rock is quartzite and slate, with a little iron formation. This is folded into a great trough, or syncline, which trends approximately east and west, its strata standing at all angles from vertical to hori- zontal (Fig. 20). Topography and Drainage. Erosion has fashioned this syn- cline into three topographic features : (1) a broad, flat-topped South Range, sometimes spoken of as the Baraboo Bluffs, (2) a narrow, interrupted North Range, lower than that to the south and con- nected with it at both the eastern and western ends, and (3) a canoe- shaped intermediate lowland, 400 to 800 feet lower than the North and South Ranges. These ranges are made up of the resistant Baraboo quartzite. The intermediate lowland has been excavated in the weak Seeley slate and Freedom iron formation. The lowland is partly floored by the Cambrian sandstone. At one time this sandstone completely filled the lowland, and only part of it has been removed. The Western Upland 53 The North Range is interrupted by five stream gaps, the South Range by only one. Of these northern gaps, three are now occupied by stream valleys. Two. gaps are drift-filled and not used by any river. This is also the case with the one large gap of the South Range, now occupied by Devils Lake (Pis. VI, X, XI, XVI, XXIX). Elevation of Gaps in Baraboo Range 1. Narrows Creek Gap 2. Upper Narrows (Ablemans Gap) 3. Broad abandoned gap northwest of Baraboo... 4. Narrow abandoned gap northeast of Baraboo.. 5. Lower Narrows (Baraboo River) 6. Devils Lake Gap In feet above sea level 880 860 960 960 800 955 The heights given above are on the surface of the glacial deposits and do not represent the elevation of bedrock. In the Devils Lake gap the present surface is at a level of 955 to 1160 feet. A well discloses drift filling of at least 283 feet, so that bedrock is certainly less than 672 feet above sea level. It is probably no more than 500 feet. The Lower Narrows are filled to a depth of over 260 feet, so that bedrock is less than 540 feet above sea level. Each of these gaps is clearly the work of stream erosion. All except the third and fourth in the foregoing table still have precipitous walls. Besides these six transverse gaps, the North and South Ranges are notched on either side by short, deep gorges. These include Fox Glen in the North Range, and Otter, Durwards, and Parfreys Glens, Baxters Hollow — Meyers Mill, — and several other gorges in the South Range. Preglacial History. The preglacial history of the Baraboo Range may be summarized as follows: 1. The Baraboo Range was a monadnock on a peneplain, 2. It was completely buried by the Paleozoic sandstone and limestone, 3. It has been partly exhumed. The episode of long-continued erosion which resulted in the production of the Baraboo monadnock on the pre-Cambrian pene- plain has already outlined (pp. 31, 35). The present relief of the 54 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin range above the Central Plain of Cambrian sandstone is only about half as much as the original relief. The Baraboo monadnock rose to a height of 900 to 1300 feet above the pre-Cambrian pene- plain. It seems clear that in pre-Cambrian time some of the glens in the quartzite had been cut, for these stream valleys were filled with the Cambrian sandstone. This is true for example of Parfreys Glen and Baxters Hollow. It has not been demonstrated as yet for the large gaps at Devils Lake, Lower Narrows, and Ablemans. That the range was completely buried beneath the Paleozoic sediments is proved by the sandstone, the preglacial gravel, and the residual limestone soil at the highest points on the quartzite ranges. The retreating Magnesian cuesta, a few miles to the west and south, has, of course, occupied the site of the whole Baraboo Range, just as it now covers the western extension of the range. The partial exhumation of the Baraboo Range has proceeded to the point where it is half as high as the original monadnock on the pre-Cambrian peneplain, the present relief being only 400 to 800 feet. The canoe-shaped interior lowland, floored by the Cambrian sandstone, will decrease in area as the level of the sandstone is lowered. The occasional hills of sandstone which now rise as high as the quartzite ridges will be removed by erosion, leaving the North and South Ranges broader, and standing in greater and greater relief above the surrounding plain and the interior lowland of Cambrian sandstone. The pre-Cambrian floor of this interior lowland near Baraboo is at an elevation of 310 to 500 feet above sea level. As a buried and exhumed feature of topography, the Bara- boo Range has been called a geographical fossil. In connection with the preglacial and pre-Cambrian history of the Baraboo Range there has been a complicated series of changes in drainage. All the details of this are not yet known, but the general sequence is explained in connection with the glaciation and drainage of this region (pp. 113, 177). For the present it is enough to say that the stream gaps of the North and South Ranges are not all due merely to post-Cambrian cutting, through superposition on the buried quartzite monadnock. Some of them were originally cut by pre- Cambrian rivers, otherwise the Cambrian sandstone and con- glomerate could not lie within the stream gaps, as in gaps 3 and 4 (p. 53) north of Baraboo. Subsequently, some river, comparable in size to the Wisconsin, entered the Baraboo Range at either the Lower Narrows or the broad abandoned gap northwest of the city of Baraboo (No. 3, table on p. 53), flowing south through the interior Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. VI. GAPS IN THE BARABOO RANGE. Three water gaps and one wind gap in resistant quartzite. The Wisconsin River formerly flowed south- ward in the Lower Narrows and Devils Lake gaps. Elevations in feet above sea level. Contour interval, 20 feet. (From Baraboo, Denzer, and Briggsville Quadrangles, IT. S. Geological Survey.) The Western Upland 55 lowland and out through the Devils Lake gap. It doubtless received tributaries which crossed the North Range by the Ablemans gap, the Narrows Creek gap, and other breaches in the quartzite. It is certain that the gaps were cut by running water. That they have been worn downward from the top of the quartzite ranges is attested by (a) the presence of stream-eroded pot holes near the top of the bluff east of Devils Lake and (b> the rounded chert and quartz pebbles there in ancient river deposits. Whether this cutting was chiefly before or after the burial and exhuming of the monadnock cannot be stated at present. It is certain that, if it was done before the Cambrian burial, it was all done over again after the burial in Paleozoic time. In the latter case the erosion would be rapid, because the material to be removed was weak sandstone instead of resistant quartzite. It seems im- probable, however, that any gap clear through the quartzite monad- nock was made in pre-Cambrian time. Gorges were cut in the edges of the North and South Ranges, but there is no proof that any gap was cut clear through the South Range in pre-Cambrian time. The conglomerate and sandstone at the Ablemans gap rest on top of and at both sides of the present gorge in the quartzite. Con- clusive evidence that it lies within the quartzite portion of this gorge is not yet available. The sandstone west of Devils Lake may have been deposited in a pre-Cambrian valley which headed thereabouts and extended out to the east and southeast. We have no evidence as yet to show that this valley continued northward past the present site of Devils Lake. The valley west of Devils Lake has gently-sloping walls and a thoroughly-mature aspect. The gorge in which Devils Lake lies is steep-sided and youthful. Both are cut in the same resistant quartzite. If the mature slopes to the west of the lake represent exhumed pre-Cambrian topo- graphy, and the youthful gorge walls are post-Cambrian in origin, these contrasting valleys (PI. XXIX, A) are perfectly in accord. The Southwestern Upland Topography and Geology. The Southwestern Upland occupies part or all of Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, Crawford, Dane, Green and Rock Counties. It is the southernmost of the two cuestas referred to on page 42. It lies between the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers in the area west of the outermost terminal moraine of the Wisconsin glaciation. The region is entirely unglaciated, except for a small area of older drift on the southeast. The Southwestern 56 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Upland includes the Military Ridge and the slanting upland to the south. Its topography is suggested by the following table, where the figures show heights above sea level at points on the upland 10 to 25 miles apart. The table is arranged to facilitate the direct comparison of the east-west and north-south sections. Table Showing Summit Elevations in. Southwestern Wisconsin North of Wyalus- ing 1180 feet Fennimore 1220 feet North of Dodge- ville 1300 feet Mount Horeb 1226 feet Near Glen Haven 1040 feet Lancaster 1100 feet Mineral Point 1134 feet West of New Glarus 1150 feet Near Cassville 980 feet Platteville 1000 feet East of Cala- mine 1020 feet East of Argyle 1000 feet West of Janes- ville 1000 feet Hazel Green 960 feet West of Gratiot 1060 feet Near Clarno 950 feet Near Beloit 960 feet The predominant rock formation in this area is the Galena- Trenton group (including the Galena and Platteville limestones). Of subordinate importance are the Cincinnati shale and Niagara limestone, above the Galena-Trenton, and below it the St. Peter sandstone, Lower Magnesian limestone and Cambrian sandstone. These rocks all dip southward at a low angle, but there are minor, east-west folds. The latter are topographically unimportant. The rocks are strongly jointed, and thereby may have been somewhat unusually effective in guiding stream erosion. The Military Ridge. A well-known topographic feature in southwestern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa is popularly known as the Military Ridge. In this state it constitutes the divide between the north-flowing tributaries of the Wisconsin River and the south- flowing streams tributary to the Rock and Mississippi. Its crest was followed by the Military Road, built in 1835 from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, by way of Fond du Lac, Portage, and Blue Mounds. This highway gave the Military Ridge its name. Doubtless the existence of the Military Road was responsible for the location of the territorial road between Milwaukee and the lead and zinc district soon after 1837. It came by way of Madison and j oined the Military Road southeast of Mt. Horeb. The Military Ridge is now traversed by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway from Mount Horeb, to Fennimore. The railway was not built until 1881. This is the The Western Upland 57 longest stretch of railway in the state without a bridge over a stream. West of Fennimore the Military Ridge continues to the Mississippi River just south of its junction with the Wisconsin at Marquette State Park. One reason for the early use of this ridge as a highway was that it was largely treeless. Fig. 21. Topographic map of a portion of the Military Ridge. Contour interval 20 feet. (From Mineral Point Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) The Military Ridge is not a symmetrical ridge with even slopes on either side. It is an exceedingly unsymmetrical feature, with a short, steep, northern slope toward the Wisconsin and a long, gentle descent southward to the Illinois line. The position of the Military Ridge is determined entirely by the drainage, which in turn is con- trolled in part by the geological features. Near the Mississippi River, for example, the crest of the Military Ridge lies 1 to 4 miles south of the Wisconsin River. This is because the north-flowing tributaries of the Wisconsin are short. They are kept from rapid 58 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin downcutting and extensive headwater erosion by the resistant character of the Lower Magnesian limestone, in which the bottoms of their valleys are cut. On the other hand, the Military Ridge lies fully 30 miles south of the Wisconsin River near Montfort Junction and Dodgeville. In this region the north-flowing streams are long. They have extended their headwaters a great distance because of the weakness of the Cambrian sandstone in which their lower courses lie. These facts perhaps make it clear that the Military Ridge is a name applied to a divide on a cuesta. The name is very convenient, for the ridge separates the two parts of the cuesta next to be dis- cussed: (a) the narrow, north-facing escarpment, and (b) the broad, south-sloping upland. The Trenton Escarpment. The irregular Trenton escarp- ment in southwestern Wisconsin differs decidedly from the simple feature of the same name in the eastern part of the state (Chapter IX). Between the eastern and western parts, in Columbia and Dane Counties, lies a belt where the escarpment is discontinuous, through dissection by stream erosion and burial beneath glacial drift. The Trenton escarpment again becomes a conspicuous feature in the western part of Dane County. It trends .east and west for over 60 miles and then turns northwestward, crossing the Wisconsin River between its mouth and the Kickapoo, and continuing northwestward into the state of Iowa. The Wisconsin River flows parallel to this escarpment for a long distance and then crosses it, so that a portion of the Trenton upland is isolated, 'standing as a narrow outlier on the Magnesian cuesta to the north (p. .50). The depth of the gorge or trench of the Wisconsin River — 300 to 400 feet — should be kept quite dis- tinct from the height of the Trenton escarpment, which is only 100 or 200 feet. The irregularity of the Trenton escarpment is notable. Den- dritic valleys indent its front, extending back 4 to 8 miles. Branch- ing ridges between these valleys project forward an equal distance in front of the general line of the escarpment. At the ends of these ridges are isolated limestone outliers. The summits of these lime- stone-capped hills rise to the level of the Trenton puesta. The St. Peter sandstone sometimes makes prominent low cliffs. It is a weak rock, varies in thickness, and lies upon an irregular surface of Lower Magnesian limestone, so that its topographic relationships vary greatly. This is well shown in the valley of The Western Upland 59 Sugar River which is narrow where the St. Peter sandstone is thick, as near Rileys, Paoli, and Belleville, and broad where the sandstone is thin, as at Pine Bluff and between the places listed above. The Sloping Trenton Upland. The upland of Trenton lime- stone slopes southward at the rate of 6 to 8 feet to the mile, as is shown in the following table, which should be read from left to right rather than vertically. This table also shows that the western part of the upland is lower than the eastern, — that is, the slope of the upland is south-southwest rather than south. Table Showing Southward Slope of Trenton Upland Locality Elevation above sea level in feet Locality Elevation above sea level, in feet Distance in miles Slope in feet to the mile Preston 1105 Near Fair Play 900 33 6 Montfort Jet 1132 Near Buncombe 880 32 8 Near Dodgeville.. 1260 NearDunbarton 1060 30 6% This upland is not a smooth plain. It has (a) great valleys, (b) broad, round-shouldered ridges, and (c) small mounds that rise above the general level of the ridges. As the chief streams all flow southward, the ridges trend north and south. The whole upland of southwestern Wisconsin consists of a main east-west ridge — the Military Ridge — from which half a dozen subordinate ridges extend southward. These north-south ridges are broad, varying from a mile to 8 and even 12 miles, for the stream valleys are not as wide as in the Magnesian cuesta north of the Wisconsin River. They are distinctly not flat-topped ridges, but descend gently from a central divide. They slope eastward and westward toward the stream valleys, and their crests slant southward. The crest of one of these ridges is followed by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway from Montfort, through Platteville, to Cuba. Relation to Niagara Escarpment. The southern edge of the Trenton upland abuts sharply against the Niagara escarpment, which trends northwest-southeast in northwestern Illinois and northeastern Iowa, roughly parallel to the Trenton escarpment. This portion of the Niagara escarpment does not enter Wisconsin. It is exceedingly irregular (Fig. 87), being in the Driftless Area, 60 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin and has numerous salients and many outliers, some of which are in Wisconsin. These outliers include Sinsinawa Mound, White Oak Mound, the Platte Mounds, and the Blue Mounds. Blue Mounds and other Niagara Outliers. The Blue Mounds outliers of the Niagara escarpment are 45 to 55 miles north- east of the nearest portions of the Niagara cuesta in Illinois and Iowa, and 69 miles west of the Niagara cuesta of eastern Wisconsin. They may be regarded as having been left behind by the recession of either the escarpment to the east or that to the southwest. Be- tween Blue Mounds and the front of the cuesta near Dubuque are (a) Platte Mounds and (b) Sinsinawa Mound, 25 and 10 miles //oc/son fZ/Ver .Sha/e Zoiver Afapnes/a/? A/iagai-a Limestone /'«w«Awe-. Trenron /./meafone / /S eo W/es Fig. 22. Cross-section to show the detached mass of Niagara limestone which caps the higher of the Blue Mounds. The underlying shale has been called Hudson River shale as well as Cincinnati and Maquoketa. respectively from the escarpment in Iowa, and (c) the mound near White Oak, Lafayette County, 5 miles from the escarpment in Illinois. Sherrill Mound, northwest of Dubuque, Iowa, and Scales Mound, Charles Mound, and several others, northeast of Galena, Illinois, are all Niagara outliers of the same origin as Blue Mounds. The reason for the lack of similar mounds to the east between Blue Mounds and the Niagara escarpment will be discussed in connection with the glaciation of eastern Wisconsin and the destruc- tion of such outliers by glacial erosion. The general topographic relationships of these mounds is indicated in the table on the following page. Their summits rise to various levels, standing from 180 to 415 feet above the surrounding upland. Their sizes vary also. Each of these mounds is capped by the Niagara limestone. The sides of each one have an abrupt upper portion, which gives place to a gentle slope on the underlying Cincinnati shale. The top of Blue Mound is so flat that an oval race track was laid out upon it long The Western Upland 61 Table Showing Elevations of the Mounds in Southwestern Wisconsin Name of Mound Height above sea level Local relief West Blue Mound Platte Mound 1716 feet 1420 " 1380 " 1185 " 1200 " 415 feet 300 " East Platte Mound Sinsinawa Mound: 180 " 285 " Mound near White Oak 200 " ago when the capital of Wisconsin was Belmont (Leslie). In places the rimming wall of Niagara limestone is a genuine precipice, as on portions of the border of Platte Mound. Elsewhere the lime- stone does not form a precipice, and fragments have rolled and crept a great distance down the shale slope, as on Blue Mound. The mound includes the shale as well as the limestone, and the area of shale at the base of the limestone cap increases southward as the Niagara cuesta is approached. The shale forms a rim about half a mile wide at Blue Mound, while at Sinsinawa Mound it sur- rounds the limestone-capped summit in a belt 3| miles wide, except on the sides where there are deep stream valleys. The summit area of Blue Mound is greater than that of Sin- sinawa Mound and some of the other outliers near the Niagara escarpment. This is due to the more resistant character of the rock. In all of the mounds the limestone is somewhat cherty but at Blue Mound nearly all of the limestone has been replaced by quartz. In some ledges over 99% of the rock is silica instead of calcite or dolomite. This renders it exceedingly resistant. This reason for the preservation of Blue Mounds was recognized in 1839 by Owen, who said: "These isolated and towering mounds, so conspicuous a feature in the landscape of Wisconsin, are evidence of the denuding action to which, under the crumbling hand of time, the surface of our globe is continually subjected, and which the more durable siliceous masses of these hills of flint have been enabled partially to resist." A gradation form, directly related in origin to the limestone- capped mounds, is the round-topped eminence capped by Cincinnati shale. Although the shale is exceedingly weak in comparison with the Niagara limestone, the knob or ridge still stands higher than the surrounding area of Trenton limestone. Sometimes the shale con- 62 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin tains thin beds of limestone, making it a somewhat resistant forma- tion. The following hills (a) the East Blue Mound, (b) the hill south of Platte Mound and east of Platteville, (c) the long, narrow ridge upon which Hazel Green stands, west of Fever River, and (d) the broad, hilly area south of Shullsburg and Gratiot, are all uplands of weak Cincinnati shale, from which the Niagara limestone has recently been removed. Indeed, the fact that these shale-capped hills have not been worn away but still stand above the sloping Trenton upland is proof in itself that the resistant limestone cap has recently been removed from the hilltops. Valleys in the Southwestern Upland. The valleys in the upland of southwestern Wisconsin are cut rather deeply into the Trenton upland. Table Showing Facts about the Chief River Valleys Name of river Elevation at source, in feet above sea level Elevation at mouth, in feet above sea level Grant 1100 feet 1100 " 1200 " 1200 " 600 feet Platte 600 " West Pecatonica 800 " Pecatonica 779 " The grades are steeper than the slope of the upland, so that the valleys increase in depth to the southward. Midway in their courses, and near their mouths, the main valley bottoms are 200 to 300 feet below the ridge tops. These valleys are narrow, compared with the ridges between, because the resistant Galena-Trenton and Lower Magnesian limestones prevent rapid widening and deepening by stream erosion. The whole region has a different aspect from the Magnesian cuesta north of the Wisconsin. There the valley bottoms are wide and the upland is reduced to skeleton form because the streams are cutting in the weak Cambrian sandstone. The valleys south of the Wisconsin in the Trenton cuesta are at a disadvantage, and "the upland here is still the dominant feature. The river system is of the regular dendritic pattern, characteristic of stream erosion in homogeneous rocks in a driftless area. Few geologists or students of physical geography would ascribe valleys in rock to anything but stream erosion. Yet Locke, writing 75 years ago, seems to have been somewhat hesistant about stating The Western Upland 63 the matter. He called the sentences quoted below "a geological speculation." "It appears evident that the south fork of the Little Makoqueta (a stream barely large enough to turn a mill) has, by abrading its channel for countless ages, worn its bed to the depth of four hundred, feet in solid limestone. Is it not probable, then, that the rocks once extended nearly in an uninterrupted level from the heights of the Little Makoqueta to the top of Sinsinawa; and that the mighty Mississippi has rolled its tide long enough to have worn the chasm, the centre of which it is shown to occupy in the section? Is it not probable that the whole surface of the country in that region is now many feet — many hundred feet, indeed — lower than when it first became dry land? Rocks have turned to dust, and the dust been washed away; stones have dissolved, and the solutions have been poured into the sea. The springs of Iowa show that they have levied tribute from the solid rock, and the waters of the Mississippi tell that they are transporting it to ocean depths. The lead ore piled loosely on the top of corroded limestone shows that the matrix of its vein, into which it was originally cast, has abandoned it, to fall down like a ruined wall; a few points, covered by harder materials, remained; gathered the sloping tablets of strata about their shoul- ders; reared their heads in defiance to a million of storms; and now, in form of conic mountains, point out a few landmarks of earth's olden boundary." Many of the valleys and slopes of southwestern Wisconsin have been gullied notably in recent years. Some of the stream gullies are 6 to 8 feet deep. There seems to be no reason that this should be interpreted as evidence that anything unusual is taking place in the volume or load of the main streams. It is more probable that gullying has been induced by man's activities in cutting down forests, ploughing fields, excavating mines, or otherwise disturbing nature's balance in the surface drainage or the underground cir- culation. These gullies lie wholly in unconsolidated materials, never in the rock. The Upland is a Cuesta Rather than a Peneplain. There are possibly two ways of explaining the slanting upland south of the Wis- consin River. Either hypothesis must account for the valleys lying below its level and the mounds rising above it. One is to regard it as a peneplain, with the mounds as monadnocks and the valleys as features produced after the region had been baselevelled and an uplift had taken place. The other is to explain it as a cuesta, with 64 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the mounds as outliers of the retreating escarpment at the front of another cuesta on the Niagara limestone to the southwest and the valleys as features that have always been present since the Niagara limestone was removed from the Galena-Trenton surface. On many accounts the latter hypothesis seems open to least objection. What is to be said applies to the whole Western Upland of Wisconsin and to parts of the surrounding region (Pis. IV, V, XIII, B, XV, XXV, A), as well as to the upland south of the Wisconsin River. A^broad general view in some parts of the upland of western Wisconsin gives the impression of a nearly uniform height of ridge tops. As one looks out over the surrounding country from one of the mounds he sees a rather even sky-line in all directions. When one examines the rock layers in any given locality he may find them dipping a trifle more steeply than the surface inclination of the ridges. When he goes down into the valleys and up to the tops of other ridges, especially if he goes northward or southward, he finds rock layers of different age. He, therefore, may be tempted to conclude that the ridge tops do actually rise to a uniform height, that the apparently-even sky-line is really even, and that a single topographic surface bevels across the several Paleozoic formations. What he may overlook, however, is that the contour maps show no uniform ridge tops and no even sky-line. They do show steps- — escarpments — between the several sets of sloping ridges. Moreover, the features observed are quite as characteristic of cuestas as of peneplains. One may see just such a landscape on the coastal plain cuesta in Alabama or on the Niagara cuesta in eastern Wisconsin. Other Suggested Peneplains in Wisconsin. It has been suggested at various times and by various geologists, that there are one to four peneplains in southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent por- tions of Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota. The author is not convinced that any of these are correctly interpreted as peneplains. He applies the name cuesta, therefore, (a) to the upland north of the Wisconsin River, where the Lower Magnesian limestone caps the ridges, (b) to the upland of Galena-Trenton limestone in south- western Wisconsin, and (c) to the upland of Niagara limestone in Iowa and Illinois, as well as to the continuation of all these features in eastern Wisconsin. The plain at Camp Douglas (p. 306) is a lowland of weak sandstone, with a veneer of sand which makes the plain very level. There is one plain determined in position by rock structure on the basal layers of the Cambrian sandstone, another The Western Upland 65 on the Lower Magnesian limestone, a third on the Galena-Tren- ton, and a fourth on the Niagara. The author believes there is no thoroughly-convincing proof that there ever was any peneplain in Wisconsin except the one on the pre-Cambrian in the Northern Highland. The author has carefully weighed the evidence presented by others and has carried on field studies in Wisconsin throughout Fig. 23. Part of the Trenton cuesta in southwestern Wisconsin. Contour interval 20 feet. (From Lancaster Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) a period of ten years. He has concluded that only one of the larger unconformities in Wisconsin and the adjacent states is represented by a peneplain. These unconformities are (1) the pre- Potsdam in pre-Cambrian time, (2) the pre-St. Peter in Ordovician time, (3) the pre-Devonian, (4) the pre-Carboniferous and (5) the Cretaceous, each nearby to the west and south in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois, and (6) the preglacial unconformity. The one baselevelled surface related to an unconformity seems to be the "exhumed pre-Cambrian peneplain of the Northern Highland, 66 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin and the buried extension of the same surface.^ The Ordovician un- conformity clearly accompanies a hilly topography. The others have had no effect in Wisconsin, so far as the present topography shows. It seems probable that the topography of the Western Upland has all been produced by the action of just such weathering, wind work, and stream erosion as is taking place today. The region need not, necessarily, have ever been less hilly than at the present time. Arguments Against the Existence of Four Peneplains. Among the reasons for considering that there is no series of four peneplains are the following: (a) Since a dissected peneplain indi- cates a long stand of the land at one level, followed by an uplift, it would be a remarkable coincidence if four such uplifts happened to have followed one another at regular intervals, and if the upland sur- Fig. 24. The hilly, buried topography of the surface of the Ordovician. Lower Magne- sian (Op) limestone at its contact with the St. Peter (Osp) sandstone. (Grant.) faces then chanced to be determined by such rock layers as (1) the Niagara, (2) the Galena-Trenton, (3) the Lower Magnesian — all of them resistant limestones — and (4) the more resistant layers in the Cambrian sandstone. (b) If there really is such a series of four peneplains, then the oldest — the one on the Niagara — should be most cut up by streams, the next in age should not be quite so irregular, the third should be still less dissected, and the fourth should be least hilly of all. Now the fourth — the one on the Cambrian sandstone — is partly masked by sandy deposits, as at Camp Douglas, but the first, second and third upland surfaces are equally hilly, showing no progression or gradation whatever. (c) If there really are three dissected peneplains and a fourth still being made, then some of the ridges should still be flat-topped, for a perfected peneplain contains many areas of unappreciable slope. If such peneplains were cut by erosion, following uplift, there should be broader, flat-topped remnants in the area of Lower Magnesian limestone — a more recent peneplain — than in the areas of (a) Galena-Trenton and (b) Niagara limestone — the two oldest peneplains. As a matter of fact, every slope in western and south- The Western Upland 67 western Wisconsin is perfectly drained, excepL where Ihere arc glacial deposits or sink holes. There are absolutely no flat-topped ridges in any one of the three limestone areas. Moreover the Galena-Trenton ridges are somewhat broader than the Lower Mag- nesian limestone ridges, showing that width of ridges is determined by other factors than the ages of the supposed peneplains. (d) The upland on the Galena-Trenton limestone — for which the name Lancaster Peneplain has been proposed — dips down under the Niagara limestone and Cincinnati shale at the southern border. Its northern border projects out into the air above the SI. Peter sandstone and Lower Magnesian limestone. The other N+- Trenf-on /.//nesZ-one' .5/r feter Sane/stone Z. o tve/~ A/apn es/crn L/'mesto/ie ■f?6f;s'c/crn7. ■'■ 'Sari&srdne /O /s- zo A///es Kig. 25. Cross-section of the Trenton cuesta, showing the escarpment at the northern edge of the so-called peneplain. supposed peneplains have similar relationships. In other words, each of these surfaces for which the name peneplain has been proposed has border features related to existing escarpments, where a step up or a step down brings one to the next upland surface. To assume warping or faulting exactly at each escarpment seems out of the question, and- the dip of the rocks fails to show it. Thus the escarpment borders are hard to explain if a peneplain is sug- gested, but are perfectly natural accompaniments of a series of upland surfaces, with cuestas determined by rock structure. The Suggeslion of One Peneplain Rather than Four. Another possibility is that there was long ago one peneplain upon the Paleozoic sediments of Wisconsin, and that, in its dissection, the four existing steps have been etched out, forming three cuestas and one lowland. This view necessarily involves the existence of the remnants of this peneplain at only such places as (a) the surfaces of Niagara limestone in Illinois and Iowa, (b) the crest of the Military Ridge of Galena-Trenton limestone in Wisconsin between 68 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Mt. Horeb and the Mississippi River, (c) the crests of certain of the ridges capped by the Lower Magnesian limestone, as in the region south of Sparta and Tomah. Perhaps we should add to this the few, flat-topped areas in the Baraboo Range. There, however, the quartzite folds seem to have been truncated in pre-Cambrian rather than in post-Paleozoic time, and to be still in process of exhumation. These are the only places where it can be argued that remnants of a peneplain are now preserved. The author, however, does not find that the topography at these places suggests a peneplain to him. It would be quite proper also to consider the hy- pothesis that the pre-Cambrian rocks of northern Wisconsin, although baselevelled before the Cambrian, were subsequently bevelled across by a later peneplain. Such a peneplain as this might be thought of as due to either pre-Devonian, pre-Carboni- ferous, Cretaceous, or Tertiary baselevelling. Objections to Even a Single Peneplain. The following considerations might be thought to allow or to favor the existence of a single peneplain: there are serious objections to each one. (a) There is time enough available. The youngest Paleozoic rocks included in the upland are of Silurian age. Surely any surfacje which was uplifted during the Silurian might long ago have been reduced to baselevel. The history of a region of similar character — the Appalachian Highland — shows that the Allegheny Plateau and the Appalachian ridges, which were uplifted during the late Paleozoic, were certainly reduced to baselevel by Cretaceous time and probably by Jurassic time, being afterwards uplifted, warped, and etched into the present relief. The objection to this argument is that there has also been ample time to destroy such a peneplain. (b) There may be appropriate sediments in the adjacent regions. The Devonian and Carboniferous rocks of Michigan and Illinois are made up of just such fine materials — limestone, shale, and sandstone — as might be derived from a region in process of being peneplained. The difficulty is that the sediments do not tell us whether the adjacent lands were nearly-baselevelled or were as .hilly as the present Western Upland of Wisconsin, lor the material now being carried away by streams is fine sand, silt, and clay. (c) The Devonian rocks of eastern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and eastern Iowa are nowhere seen to rest upon a surface of such relief as the present Driftless Area, suggesting that the rocks from the Cambrian to the Silurian were reduced to slight relief before the Devonian sediments were deposited. The same thing applies to The Western Upland 69 the base of the Upper Carboniferous, where there is a marked un- conformity. This argument is not known to be valid in the Western Upland of Wisconsin, for there may never have been notable relief in the localities where the Devonian and Carboniferous are now found. (d) The Cretaceous rocks of Iowa and Minnesota are likewise laid down upon surfaces of less relief than the present Driftless Area, making it possible that the supposed peneplain is of pre- Cretaceous age. No Cretaceous deposits are known to rest upon the upland surfaces within the state of Wisconsin. There are small deposits of siliceous pebbles in such places as the ridge at Seneca, Crawford County, and the East Bluff of the Baraboo Range, which may turn out to belong to the Cretaceous or the Tertiary. (e) The ridge tops in southwestern Wisconsin are not known to rise with all the minor anticlines and fall with all the synclines. The ridges are actually higher near certain of these anticlines, however, as at Shullsburg and Gratiot. These rock folds are all low. (f) A few rivers in southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent states have curves suggestive of intrenched meanders (Fig. 63). These are not thought to be inherited from a previous condition of base- levelling, because the larger streams show no such curves, and meandering might be induced by local resistant layers. The Lack of Preservation of Such a Peneplain. It seems to the author that no remnants of such a Devonian, Carboniferous, or Cretaceous peneplain are now preserved in any part of Wisconsin. No one has ventured to suggest it in eastern Wisconsin, where the upland of Niagara limestone preserves larger, smoothly-sloping areas than in the Western Upland. Nor has anyone suggested the baselevelling of the Trenton or the Lower Magnesian limestone of eastern Wisconsin. Near the Mississippi and lower Wisconsin Rivers there are only slight areas which could possibly be remnants of this ancient peneplain, as on the Military Ridge and Niagara escarpment. These, however, are apparently parts of the etched surfaces which coincide with the resistant limestone layers. Any previous episodes of baselevelling which bevels across in- clined layers must have left wedge-shaped bodies of weak sediments overlying each resistant limestone. These wedges should be thickest near the escarpments. Subsequent etching, by weathering and erosion, might remove absolutely all of these wedges of weak rock. If any of them were preserved they would be close to the 70 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin escarpments. They would furnish excellent evidence of previous baselevelling, but no such remnants are known to exist. Conclusion as to Cuestas. It seems reasonable to hold that the burden of proof lies distinctly with those who believe in the preser- vation of remnants of earlier peneplains. The chief evidence against them and in favor of the cuesta explanation , may be summarized under four heads : (a) There are no demonstrated remnants of any Paleozoic or later peneplain. The author has failed to discover any ridges suffi- ciently flat-topped to even suggest a peneplain to him. (b) There has been more than ample time since the Cretaceous or early Tertiary to destroy all remnants of previous peneplains except in the resistant, crystalline rocks of the pre-Cambrian. Even here the older peneplain seems to have been preserved because it was buried. (c) If it is argued that the process of etching after baselevelling could produce the existing, slanting surfaces that coincide with resistant limestones, and could remove the weak shale and sand- stone, except at the base of escarpments, then the same etching processes could cut out similar surfaces in a series of gently-dipping beds, without peneplanation. (d) The author, therefore, inclines toward the simpler explana- tion, that of cuestas, unless some conclusive evidence of peneplanation can be found. All the features of the topography of western and southwestern Wisconsin are easily explained as parts of a system of cuestas in a series of gently-dipping, alternate weak and resistant, sedimentary rocks. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bain, H. F. Zinc and Lead Deposits of the Upper Mississippi Valley,. Bull. 294, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, 148 pp; reprinted as Bull. 19, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1907, (see especially pp. 11-16). Chamberlin, T. C. Quartzites of Sauk and Columbia Counties, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 2, 1874, pp. 129-138; Ore Deposits of Southwestern Wiscon- sin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 367-571. Eaton, J. H. Geology of the Region about Devils Lake, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 1, 1872, pp. 124-128; On the Relation of the Sandstone, Conglomerate, and Limestone of the Baraboo Valley to Each Other and to the Azoic Quartz- ites, Ibid., Vol. 2, 1874, pp. 123-127. Grant, U. S. Lead and Zinc Deposits of Southwestern Wisconsin, Bull. 9, Wis, Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1903, 103 pp; Ibid., Bull. 14, 1906, 94 pp. The Western Upland 71 Grant, U. S., and Bain, H. F. A Pre-glacial Peneplain in the Driftless Area, Science, new series, Vol. 19, 1904, p. 528. Grant, U. S., and Burchard, E. F. Lancaster-Mineral Point Folio, Folio 145, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1907. Hershey, O. H. Preglacial Erosion Cycles in Northwestern Illinois, Amer. Geol. Vol. 18, 1896, pp. 72-100; The Physiographic Development of the Upper Mis- sissippi Valley, Ibid., Vol. 20, 1897, pp. 246-268. Hubbard, G. D. The Blue Mound Quartzite, Amer. Geol., Vol. 25, 1900, pp. 163-168. Irving, R. D. The Age of the Quartzites, Schists, and Conglomerates of Sauk Co. Wis., Trans, Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 1, 1872, pp. 129-137; Ibid., Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 3, 1872, pp. 93-99; Geology of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 409-636, (on the Baraboo Range, pp. 504-519). Kiimmel, H. B. Some Meandering Rivers of Wisconsin, Science, new series, Vol. 1, 1895, pp. 714-716. Martin, Lawrence. The Western Uplands, Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Journ. Geog., Vol. 12, 1913, pp. 231-232. Martin, Lawrence, Williams, F. E., and Bean, E. F. A Manual of Physical Geography Excursions, Madison, 1913, (on Blue Mounds, pp. 122-148; on the Baraboo Range, pp. 149-169). Owen, D. D. Report of a Geological Exploration of Part of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, House Ex. Doc. 239, 26th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1840, 161 pp., — (see Soils pp. 48-53); Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Doc. 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, 134 pp; Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, 634 pp., and Atlas. Park, E. S. Geology of an Area in Green County, Unpublished thesis, Univer- sity of Wisconsin, 1897. Salisbury, R. D. On the Northward and Eastward Extension of the Pre-Pleis- tocene Gravels in the Basin of the Mississippi, Amer. Geol., Vol. 8, 1891, p. 238; Preglacial Gravels on the Quartzite Range near Baraboo, Wis., Journ. Geol., Vol. 3, 1895, pp. 655-667. Salisbury, R. D., and Atwood, W. W. The Geography of the Region about Devils Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin, Bull. 5, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1900, 151 pp. Smith, W. D. Geology of the Blue Mounds and the Physiography of the Region Adjacent, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1902. Strong, Moses. Geology and Topography of the Lead Region, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 643-752; Geology of the Mississippi Region North of the Wisconsin River, Ibid., Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 3-98; Lead and Zinc Ores, Ibid., Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 637-655. Swezey,, G. D. On Some Points in the Geology of the Region about Beloit, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, 1882, pp. 194-204. Thwaites, F. T. Geology of Southern Part of Cross Plains Quadrangle, Dane County, Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1908. Trowbridge, A. Some Partly Dissected Plains in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, Journ. Geol., Vol. 21, 1913, pp. 731-742; Physiographic Studies in the Driftless Area, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 26, 1915, p. 76. Van Hise, C. R. Some Dynamic Phenomena Shown by the Baraboo Quartzite Ranges of Central Wisconsin, Journ. Geol., Vol. 1, 1893, pp. 347 T 355. 72 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Weidman, S. The Baraboo Iron-Bearing District of Wisconsin, Bull. 13, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1904, 171 pp; Pleistocene Succession in Wisconsin, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 24, 1913, pp. 697-698. Whitney, J. D. Report on the Lead Region, in Hall and Whitney's Report on the Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, pp. 73-420 (including a chapter on "Physical Geography and Surface Geology," pp. 93-139). Wooster, L. C. Geology of the Lower St. Croix District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 101-159. See also bibliographies at ends of Chapters I, VII, and VIII, pp. 24, 168, 194. MAPS U. S. Geol. Survey. Elkader, Lancaster, Mineral Point, Waukon, Richland ^ 1 Center, Janesville, Brodhead, Evansville, Cross Plains, Denzer, Baraboo, i Poynette, Portage, Briggsville, the Dells, Wilton, and Sparta Quadrangles (Fig. 192), scales 1:62,500 and 1:125,000. (J. S. Mississippi River Commission. Sheets 161 (Dubuque) to 185 (Prescott) on the scale of 1 :20,000 (see Fig. 194). Sheets 125 (Dubuque) to 135 (Prescott) on the scale of 1 :63,360; see also atlas of maps accompanying report of G. K. Warren (p. 456). University of Wisconsin. Model of the Baraboo Range, showing topography and geology, see Plate XVI, facing page 183. Wisconsin Geological Survey. Atlas Sheets 5 to 9, 1876, scale 1 :63,360, contour interval 50 feet. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Nine large scale topographic maps of the lead and zinc district, in atlas accompanying Bulletin 14, 1906; six additional large scale topographic maps of same series, issued in 1909. For areas covered see Fig. 196 in Appendix E. Soil survey maps of Iowa, La Crosse, Juneau, Polk, St. Croix, Pierce, Pepin, Dunn, and Eau Claire Counties. For areas covered see Fig. 200 in Appendix E. CHAPTER IV. THE DRIFTLESS AREA. The Painted Stone Nearly a century ago Professor Keating, a geologist from the University of Pennsylvania, travelled overland from Chicago to Prairie du Chien, and then went up the Mississippi. In south- western Wisconsin he noted the absence of the granite bowlders that we now know to have been brought by the continental ice sheet to glaciated areas. He thought of them as erratics of very old, or "primitive" rock, transported during the Flood. He commented upon this change (see p. 93), and he did so at the southern border of the district we now call the Driftless Area. After crossing the Driftless Area in 1823 Keating observed the resumption of the erratics. He saw them at the first place along the Mississippi where one could possibly do so, unless he were to climb the bluffs. This was at Red Rock, Minnesota, near the northwestern boundary of Wisconsin. Just after he passed Lake St. Croix, Keating tells us that they "landed, for a few minutes, to examine a stone which is held in high veneration by the Indians; on account of the red pigment with which it is bedaubed, it is generally called the painted stone. They remarked that this was the first bowlder of primitive rock, which they had seen to the west of Rock river, and this place corresponds well with that at which these bowlders were first observed by Mr. Colhoun (p. 94) while travelling by land. It is a fragment of sienite, which is about four and a half feet in diameter. It is not surprising that the Indians should have viewed this rock with some curiosity, and deemed it wonderful, considering that its characters differ so materially from those of the rocks which are found in the neighbourhood. A man who lives in a country where the highest hills are wholly formed of sandstone and secondary limestone, will necessarily be struck with the peculiar characters of the first specimen of granite that comes under his notice, and it is not to be wondered at, that one who 'sees God in all things', should have made of such a stone an object 74 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin of worship. The Indians frequently offer presents to the Great Spirit near this stone; among the offerings of their superstition, the party found the feather of an eagle, two roots of the "Pomme de Prairie," (psoralea esculenta, Nuttall,) painted with vermilion; a willow branch whose stem was painted red, had been stuck into the ground on one side, etc. The gentlemen broke off a fragment of this idol, to add to the mineralog'ical collections, taking care, how- ever, not to leave any chips, the sight of which would wound the feelings of the devotee, by convincing him that the object of his worship had been violated." Thus we see that Keating, who was almost the first geologist to visit the Driftless Area, clearly recognized its contrast with the surrounding area at both borders. His only geological predecessor, Schoolcraft, also identified its boundary (see p. 95), but at a later time and in another place. Schoolcraft mentions nothing of this sort in his first journey, three years before Keating's. Lieutenant Pike landed at the Painted Stone in 1805, but he did not know its significance. Keating even collected a specimen from the Painted Stone — the first erratic he saw after leaving the Driftless Area. But he was not the real pioneer, for the naked aborigines had painted the stone red, and worshipped it! Nature of the Driftless Area In thinking of this driftless area it should be recalled that the region is not unusual except in the absence of features of the erosion and deposition brought about by the continental glacier. Much of the United States is also driftless, as in the southern states and a large part of the West, outside the relatively small areas of glaciated mountains. These regions are not spoken of as driftless areas or thought of as exceptional in any essential respect. The Driftless Area of Wisconsin, however, is famous the world over because it is completely surrounded by glaciated territory. It preserves a large sample of what the rest of Wisconsin, as well as northern and eastern United States, were like before the Glacial Period. Within the belts covered by the gigantic continental ice sheets of north- eastern North America and northwestern Europe there is no similar region left bare of glacial ice. H Although it has been suggested that there were tiny glaciers in the Driftless Area, their existence has not yet been agreed to by all geologists. The Driftless Area 75 The Driftless Area is mostly in the Western Upland, but it also extends into the Central Plain and the Northern* Highland. It covers an area of nearly 15,000 square miles, roughly 210 miles north and south by 120 miles east and west. This is twice as large as the state of New Jersey, or about as large as Denmark. The 10 20 40 60 80 100 120 MILES. Fig. 26. The Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent states. For photo- graphs of the Driftless Area see Plates VII, VIII, IX, XII, XV, XXV. portion of this in Wisconsin is 180 by 120 miles, or 13,360 square miles. The remainder of the Driftless Area is in southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and northwestern Illinois. The Mississippi River flows through the western edge of the Driftless Area, which extends up the Wisconsin River to a point north of Wausau, terminates on the Black River between Neillsville and Black River Falls, and on the Mississippi between the Trem- pealeau and Chippewa Rivers. 76 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Topography of the Driftless Area The Driftless Area is one of the most beautiful parts of the state. Writing in 1854, Edward Daniels, the first state geologist, described the portion in southwestern Wisconsin as follows: "About one-third of the surface is prairie, dotted and belted with beautiful groves and oak-openings. The scenery combines every element of beauty and grandeur — giving us the sunlit prairie, with its soft swell, waving grass and thousand flowers, the sombre depths of primeval forests; and castellated cliffs, rising hundreds of feet, with beetling crags which a Titan might have piled for his fortress." This region is not, as a whole, higher than the surrounding region, but the hill tops are distinctly not lower than the adjacent lands. In relation to the encircling glaciated areas it is higher than the Central Plain to the east and northeast; a little lower than the Northern Highland; at about the same level as the Magnesian, Trenton, and Niagara cuestas to the west in Minnesota and Iowa; higher than Illinois to the south; and slightly higher than the glaciated portion of the Western Upland to the southeast. Specific altitudes in the Driftless Area are shown in the following table: Table Showing Elevations in the Driftless Area Locality Northern Highland, near Wausau Central Plain, near Necedah Magnesian cuesta, near Alma Magnesian cuesta, near Richland Center Baraboo Range, west of Devils Lake Military Ridge in Trenton cuesta near Mt. Horeb.. Elevation in feet 1400 900 1200 1160 1400 1200 Cause of the Driftless Area The Driftless Area is not a Nunatak. The cause of the Drift- less Area is not the simple one which might at first suggest itself. On the borders of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets of the present time there are small driftless areas. It was so at the max- imum of past glaciation. Similar areas never overridden by ice are found in all glaciated mountains, as in Alaska, the Alps, the Himalayas, New Zealand, and Patagonia. In Greenland peaks The Dr if Hess Area 77 WILLIAMS (HfiRAVIHQ CO-.N.Y. Fig. 27. North America during the Glacial Period, showing the DriCtless Area — in black — and the Labrador and Keewatin centers ofglaciation. 78 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin which rise up like islands through a sea of ice are called nunataks. They are free from glaciation because of their height. The Driftless Area of Wisconsin is not a nunatak area. The Driftless Area is Neither an Island nor a Lake Bed. About the middle of the last century, when the drift deposits were thought of as laid down in the ocean, the Driftless Area was con- sidered to have been an island. Its lack of height above the sur- rounding areas, and our modern knowledge of drift deposits as glacial and not marine, render this explanation untenable. It was also once thought to represent a lake bed. The deposits of fine silt or loess in Wisconsin, then thought to be lacustrine, are now known to be chiefly wind-laid (p. 123). The Elements of Topography and Time. Instead, it is drift- less because of three factors: (a) The highland to the north furnished temporary protection from ice invasion; (b) The more rapid movement of glacial lobes in the lowland to the east and the region to the west resulted in the final joining of these ice lobes south of the Driftless Area, so that it was completely surrounded by the continental glacier; (c) The termination of the forward movement and the beginning of retreat came before there was time for the ice from the north, east, and west to cover the driftless remnant. Such was the relation of the Driftless Area to (a) the topography of the adjacent region and (b) the element of time. It is assumed that the advances of the glacial lobes east, north, and west of the Driftless Area took place at the same time. There is no direct evidence of this, but no facts are known that disprove it. Topographic Influences Outside. The upland which lent temporary protection to the Driftless Area was the Northern High- land. The lowland which rapidly led the eastern lobe southward past the Driftless Area was the river valley now occupied by Lake Michi- gan. The similar feature to the west was not so low, being the valley of the Red and Minnesota Rivers in Minnesota and the valley of the Des Moines River in central Iowa. Glacial Lobes. The ice which covered nearly all of northern and eastern Wisconsin during the Glacial Period is thought to have come chiefly from the Labrador ice sheet, east of Hudson Bay (Fig. 27). It has also been suggested that at least one advance in northern Wisconsin came from the northwest, as a part of either the Kee- The Driftless Area 79 watin, or the Patrician, ice sheet west of Hudson Bay. The ice which covered northwestern Wisconsin and Minnesota and Iowa came chiefly from the Keewatin center (Fig. 27). 20 AO SO 8O IOOMILES Fig. 28._i_The glacial lobes in Wisconsin and their relation to the Driftless Area. In advancing over Wisconsin the ice sheet or continental glacier, was divided into several lobes (Fig. 28), determined in position by the preglacial configuration of the land. These were the Lake Michi- gan and Green Bay lobes on the east and the Lake Superior and Minnesota lobes on the west. On the north two minor branches of the Lake Superior lobe, one from the bay at Ashland, the other from the bay east of Keweenaw Point in upper Michigan united to form 80 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the Chippewa lobe. The movement of these ice lobes is known by the glacial scratches, or striae, upon the rock ledges and by the trans- ported rocks, or erratics, which have been traced to their sources, often in Michigan, Minnesota, or Canada. These lobes advanced until they completely coalesced. There may have been several advances, the latest being called the Wisconsin stage of glaciation. The earlier advances are known as the Illinoian, Iowan, Kansan,.and pre-Kansan. Their deposits are spoken of collectively as older drift. It is not yet decisively established that we do not now live in an interglacial period or that the ice may not advance again. The most recent glacial de- posits in the United States are called Wisconsin drift, whether found in the state of Wisconsin or elsewhere. The Ice East of the Driftless Area. To the east of the Drift- less Area, the lobe from the Labrador center advanced down the pre- glacial river valleys now occupied by Lake Michigan, Green Bay, and Lake Winnebago. By the time it had advanced farthest in southern Illinois, about 300 miles south of Wisconsin, it had spread westward in this state nearly as far as Wausau and Madison. It covered the rather-low southeastern part of the Northern Highland, the eastern part of the Central Plain, and the low eastern region of Galena- Trenton limestone. Thus it had expanded where ice movement was relatively easy. No doubt its later rate of broadening and west- ward expansion over those parts of the Driftless Area which are higher would have been slower. We know that such was the case with the expansion across the high eastern part of the Baraboo Range (p. 110). The Ice North of the Driftless Area. In the meantime the lobe of the Labrador glacier in the lowland now occupied by Lake Superior, was advancing more slowly. It was retarded on the high- land between western Lake Superior and the northern portion of the Driftless Area. Therefore the time necessary for the rapid south- ward movement of the Lake Michigan ice past practically the whole length of Wisconsin and Illinois, was only long enough for the Lake Superior ice to ascend to the crest of the Northern Highland and advance down its southern slope and across part of the Central Plain to the vicinity of Eau Claire, Neillsville, Grand Rapids and Merrill. The later expansion of this ice across the Driftless Area would have been more rapid. Except in the high Western Upland, it would have been almost as fast as that of the ice of the Green Bay- Lake Michigan lobe on the east. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. VTI. THb DRIFTJJBSS AREA AT THE WISCONSIN STAGE OF GLACIATJON. The relations of the border of the continental glacier to topography; the extent of Glacial Lake Wisconsin; the positions of some of the glacial streams which laid down deposits of gravel and sand in out wash plains and valley trains many of which are now dissected into terraces. The Drift less Area 81 The Ice West of the Driftless Area. During this same period of time it seems likely that the ice from the Keewatin center of glaciation was advancing rapidly southward, down what are now the valleys of the Red River of the North, the western part of the Minnesota River, the Des Moines River in Iowa, and part of the Mississippi valley. It finally reached the vicinity of the St. Louis, nearly as far south as the Lake Michigan ice in southern Illinois. This lobe also expanded laterally with southward extension. At its maximum it was probably confluent with the Lake Michigan lobe in northwestern Illinois. These ice tongues on either side of the Driftless Area, therefore, joined each other at a point only 50 miles south of the Wisconsin line. The Keewatin ice in Minnesota and Iowa was reinforced by a little ice from the Lake Superior glacier, This resulted in the over- riding of the upland in Wisconsin northwest of the Chippewa River. The later expansion of this ice would doubtless have been as rapid as that for some time before. Results of a Longer Time of Glaciation. Topography has played the major role in the formation of such a Driftless Area as we have, but now the element of time comes in. If the Glacial Period had lasted a little longer, there should have been the follow- ing consequences: (a) the Labrador and Keewatin ice sheets would have advanced still farther south across Missouri and from Illinois into Kentucky; (b) there would have been further lateral expansion of these glaciers, covering more of the eastern and western edges of the Driftless Area and encroaching more on the south ; (c) the ice from the north would have moved southward from the Northern Highland, whose retarding influence was then decidedly lessened; (d) these lobes acting together would have completely covered the Driftless Area. However, time did not permit this. Forward movement decreased in rate and the ice borders melted back. This was all in one of the periods of early glaciation. We do not know that the Driftless Area was completely surrounded more than once. Indeed it was never completely encircled by ice unless, as already stated, the Labrador and Keewatin lobes advanced at the same time. In the latest, or Wisconsin, stage of glaciation the ice fell far short of the borders of the Driftless Area, except where the Green Bay lobe spread a little 82 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin farther westward than any of its predecessors. Thus we have all the borders of the Driftless Area made up of older drift (Fig. 26), except in eastern Wisconsin between Wausau and Madison. The Work of Weathering and Underground Water in the Driftless Area. Weathering and the Residual Soils. Throughout the Drift- less Area the work of weathering has continued since long before the Glacial Period and has produced a deep mantle of residual soil or geest. This forms a notable contrast with the remainder of the state, where the continental glacier scraped away nearly all the residual soil and left a sheet of transported soil. The latter is essentially unaltered, except in the areas of older drift. The Dodgeville and Baxter silt loams of the Wisconsin Soil Survey represent the residual soil of limestone. The Boone fine sandy loam is that of sandstone. The Marathon and Mosinee loams are residual from granite, greenstone, and crystalline rocks. The residual material in the limestone belts is chiefly a fine brown or reddish clay, representing the more or less insoluble residue from the decay of the limestone. It also contains numerous fragments of flint or chert, made of silica and therefore relatively insoluble and not much weathered. It grades downward into solid rock, passing through successive zones of larger and larger limestone fragments (Fig. 32). The thickness of the residual soil in the Driftless Area varies con- siderably. The average thickness may be a little over 7 feet. This is based upon about 1800 measurements. The average thickness of residual soil on slopes is about 4f feet, on ridges 8 feet, on broad uplands 13^ feet, in valleys 7 to 18 feet, and the maximum recorded thickness is 70 feet or more. The latter is on an upland. It has been computed that the removal of about 100 feet of limestone by weath- ering leaves 10 feet of residual soil. The limestone regions have thicker residual soil than the sandstone areas, but the latter, includ- ing rock fragments as well as soil, may have a thicker residual cover- ing than the limestone. Crags and Pinnacles. As a result of the process of weathering and of erosion by the wind the Western Upland abounds in pic- turesque rocky crags and pinnacles. There are also crags of this sort east of the Western Upland near the Wisconsin River. Such rocks and crags are present in the Driftless Area, but generally absent in glaciated regions. Some of these are columns recently Wisconsin G il. and Nat. I li Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. VIII. A CRAG IN THE DRIFTLESS AREA OF WISCONSIN. Five-column rock near Readstuwn, Kickapoo valley, due to weathering and wind work. The columns are sandstone; the cup is limestone. Such fragile forms us (Ins are entirely absent in the glaciated northern and eastern parts of the'state. Crags of (his type are more common in the arid western part of (he United States than in the humid Middle West. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. IX. A. MONUMENT ROCK NEAR VIROQUA. A Driftlcss Area rrag. B. PRECIPICE OF LIMESTONE IN THE MISSISSIPPI BLUFFS NEAR LA CROSSE. The gentle slope at the base is due to weak sandstone. The_DriftlessJArea 83 separated from adjacent precipices, as at Stand Rock in the Dalles of the Wisconsin (p. 331), the Turks Head and the Devils Door at Devils Lake, and many others. Other crags rise above the level of the surrounding country as solitary rocky towers. They are especially abundant in the St. Peter sandstone. Monument Rock, in Vernon County, 7 miles south of Viroqua, is a conspicuous crag of this sort (PI. IX, A). It is 35 or 40 feet high and twice as wide at the top as at the base. The Fig. 29. Stand Rock, a Driftless Area crag at the Dalles of the Wisconsin, after Salisbury and Atwood.) (Hobbs, Devils Chimney and Picture Rock in Dane County are similar, precipitous towers of sandstone. There are also large hills with crags, chimneys, and towers at their borders. Among such hills is Roche a Cris in Adams County. It rises to a height of 225 feet. Friendship Mound is 85 feet higher. Mosquito Mound in Portage County, Pilot Knob, Rattlesnake Rock, and Petenwell Peak, the latter 230 feet high, all in Adams and Juneau Counties, are picturesque hills and crags of the Cambrian sandstone. Necedah Mound is a quartzite hill. Gibraltar Rock in Columbia County is a glaciated crag of the same type as Roche a Cris, but capped by St. Peter sandstone, and somewhat rounded on the eastern side by the ice. 84 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Natural Bridges. Another result of the operation of weather- ing has been to make natural bridges. In the Driftless Area two of these are of fair size and there are numerous smaller arches of the same nature. The arch at Rockbridge spans a stream which has cut under a rock bridge. Nearby the abandoned lower valley joins that of a larger stream. As the bridge is in sandstone it is not due to solu- tion. It is due to weathering along a vertical joint plane. The main stream seems to have swung against the spur on one side and the trib- utary on the other, undercutting the cliff at this point. Thus the trib- utary was diverted and passes through an arch about 10 or 12 feet S//VA7/C/.£- Fig. 30. A cave and sink hole in the Driftless Area. high, with a span of 15 or 20 feet. It is 8 miles north of Richland Center and is well shown on the Richland Center Quadrangle. A second natural bridge is \\ miles northeast of Leland in Sauk County. The bridge is an arch with a 35 foot span. It is 25 to 35 feet high. The rock ledge which spans the opening is less than four feet wide at the top. This bridge is also in sandstone. It is not related to any stream, but apparently results from weathering and the removal of grains of sand by the wind and of blocks of sand- stone by gravity. Below the arch of the bridge is a cave 7| feet high and 25 feet long. There is a small natural bridge southwest of Madison near the Devils Chimney in the Town of Primrose. The arch is about 6 feet high and has a span of 8 feet. The shallow caves in the Mississippi bluffs near La Crosse seem also to be due to weathering. Solution. While the chemical action of underground water goes on near the surface, there is much dissolving of soluble portions The Driftless Area 85 of the rock deep below the surface. The water which soaks into the ground penetrates to considerable depths. It dissolves little of the quartz in the sandstone belts, of the Driftless Area, but in the limestone areas it takes away much of the lime. Sink Holes. Parts of the Driftless Area abound in sink holes and caves and these have been produced chiefly by the solvent action of the underground water, aided by the abundant joints in the rock. The sink holes are sometimes at the entrance of caves. They are circular or elliptical depressions, some dry, others containing ponds. Some of them are 60 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep. One sink hole near Blue Mound is 100 by 200 feet, and 20 feet deep. They average over 5 feet in depth and the greatest number are seldom over 10 or 15 feet in diameter. That they are. still being formed by solution and by falling in of cavern roofs and entrances is shown by the recent killing of trees adjacent to some sink holes, as near Blue Mound. There are at least 70 sink holes in Vernon, Crawford, and Richland Counties alone. Caves. Some of the caves of Wisconsin are listed below. List of a Few of the Wisconsin Caves Name or location of cave Cave near Blue Mound" John Gray Cave near Rockbridge b Eagle Cave, northeast of Blue River Bear Cave near Boscobel d Richardson Cave near Verona" Cave near Wauzeka 1 Highland Shullsburg Mazomanie* Viroqua Wilson Castle Rock Platte Mound north of Eagle County Dane Richland Richland Crawford Dane Crawford Iowa Lafayette Iowa Vernon St. Croix Grant Grant Richland ft One mile northwest of Blue Mounds railway station, on the N. W. M of section 6, T. . 6 N., R. 6 E., Township Blue Mounds. bi Seven miles northwest of Richland Center, on the S. E. Vi of the N. W. H of Section 25, T. 11 N., R. 1 E., Township Rockbridge. o Six miles northeast of Blue River, on the N. W. K of Section 19, T. 9 N., R. 1 W., Town- ship Eagle. d Six and one-half miles northeast of Boscobel, on the N. W. Ji of the N. E. M. of Section 28, T. 9 N., R. 3 W., Township Scott. o Three and one-half miles north of Verona, on the N. E. Ji of the N. E. Ji of Section 5, T. 6 N., R. 8 E., Township Verona. ' Northwest of Wauzeka near Little Kickapoo lead mine in the N. W. V of Section 10, T. 7 N., R. 5 W. B Five miles north of Blue Mound. Entrance blocked. Fig. 31. Outline maps of four caves in southwestern Wisconsin. (Lange.1 The Driftless Area 87 There are doubtless scores of other caves and they are prac- tically all within the Driftless Area. The lead and zinc district abounds in natural caves. Indeed the mining in early days consisted in some cases only of the removal of lead deposits thai lined caverns and cavities. Many of these were small, but certain of them con- tained chambers as much as 35 feet long and 6 or 8 feet wide. The cavern just cited was 60 feet below the surface. Some facts about the dimensions of caves in the Western Upland are summarized in the table below. Their forms are indicated by the maps reproduced in Figure 31. Table Showing Facts about Certain Caves in Wisconsin Name Location Total length in feet Width in feet Height in feet Depth below surface Geological formation Blue Mound Cave John Gray Cave... Near Blue Mound, Dane County.... Rockbridge, Richland County Near Boecobel, CTawford County.... Near Eagle, Richland County... North of Verona, Dane County 250 710 800 960 Over 500 5i 2-14 7-60 70 3-25 5 3-5 5-40 7i 3-10 25 40 75 50 40 Galena limestone Lower Magnesian limestone it ii ti Richardson Cave.. The table shows that these Wisconsin caves are relatively small affairs, compared with the mammoth caverns of Kentucky, Tenn- essee, Indiana, Virginia, and some other parts of United States. They are not insignificant features, however, and there may be still larger ones within the Driftless Area. The Bear Cave has two levels, the upper one containing one room 60 feet wide, 65 feet long, and 40 to 60 feet high, while the Eagle Cave has one room 100 feet wide and 30 or 40 feet high. There are many other caves, whose entrances have recently been blocked by falling in of rock, as is well known to farmers on the limestone uplands of the Driftless Area. There are probably still other hidden caves in the localities where well drillers report that their bits suddenly fell 4 or 5 feet, after penetrating through solid rock. Several of these caves contain stalactites and all are more or less filled with mud. Enlarged fissures extend below the bottoms of some caves. On the whole there seem to be more caves in the Lower Mag- nesian than in the Galena-Trenton or the Niagara limestone of the Driftless Area. No caves are known in the Trenton or Lower Mag- nesian limestone in the glaciated, eastern part of the state. Caves Limited to Driftless Area. So far as now known, only one of the caves in eastern Wisconsin due to the solvent ac- 88 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin tion of underground water is in the area of Wisconsin drift. This is the Richardson Cave in Dane County. Its entrance lies within a quarter of a mile of the outermost terminal moraine. There are enlarged fissures and tiny caves near Wilson (p. 237) in northwestern Wisconsin. These are in the region of older drift. It is infinitely improbable that there are caves in the eastern part of the state but that every one happens to be covered by glacial drift, and that not a single one was ever accidentally uncovered by streams or by man in connection with all the work of railway grading, highway building, and artificial excavation. \._\L, -.•*.,',!>- /200 ^^ m //So- Fig. 32. Two levels of the same cave in the Driftless Area. Varying thickness of residual soil. The absence of caves in eastern Wisconsin seems to be due to sculpture by ice during the Glacial Period. The continental glacier nearly everywhere eroded down to a level below the bottoms of the preglacial caves, as will be explained in a later chapter (p. 236 and Fig. 89). Since the end of the Glacial Period there has not been time enough for underground water to make new caves in the glaciated territory, for solution and weathering perform their work so slowly that the delicate glacial scratches are not yet removed from the rock ledges. This suggests that the caves of the Driftless Area are chiefly the work of underground solution in preglacial time and that they have been exceedingly long in process of formation. As with numerous other phenomena, we should not know of this were it not for the preservation of the physiographic features of preglacial time in the Driftless Area. The Driftless Area 89 BIBLIOGRAPHY Udrich, Mildred. A Comparison of Agricultural Conditions in the Driftless and Glaciated Portions of Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1912. Alden, W. C. Criteria for the Discrimination of the Age of Glacial Drift Sheets, Journ. Geol., Vol. 17, 1909, pp. 694-709. Bowman, Isaiah. (On plants in the Driftless Area), Forest Physiography, New York, 1911, p. 497. Chamberlin, T. C. (An early explanation of the Driftless Area, see also R. D. Irving, and N. H. Winchell), in Snyder, Van Vechten & Co's Atlas of Wis- consin, Milwaukee, 1878, p. 151; Annual Report, Wis. Geol. Survey for the Year 1878, Madison, 1879, pp. 21-32; Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 5, 1882, pp. 268-270; Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 269-270; Maps of Driftless Area, Atlas Plate II, Geol. of Wis., 1881; 3rd Ann. Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, Plates 28, 29, 31, and 35; 7th Ann. Rept., Ibid. 1888, Plate 8; (on soils) Ibid., pp. 678-688. Chamberlin, T. C. and Salisbury, R. D. The Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley, 6th Annual Report, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, pp. 199-322, with maps, (the most complete discussion of the Driftless Area, and of the residual soil and loess within it). Dana, J. D. (On the Driftless Area), Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 15, 1878, pp. 62-64, 254-255. Davis, W. M. (On the Driftless Area), Guidebook for the Transcontinental Excursion of 1912, American Geographical Society of New York, Boston, 1912, pp. 16, 87-89. Daniels, Edward. (On the Driftless Area), First Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Madison, 1854, pp. 11-12; (on caves) Ibid., pp. 15, 26; Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 4, 1854, p. 387. Folsom, W. H. C. (On Driftless Area phenomena), Fifty Years in the North- west, St. Paul, 1888, pp. 383-384. Gilbert, G. K. (On the Driftless Area), Geological Guidebook of the Rocky Mountain Excursion, Compte Rendu de la 5 m e- Session, Washington 1891, Congres Geologique International, Washington, 1893, pp. 289-290; see also S. F. Emmons, Ibid., pp. 298-301. Grant, U. S. (On the Driftless Area), Bull. 14, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1906, pp. 12-14. Grant, U. S. and Burchard, E. F. Geological Atlas of the United States, Lancaster-Mineral Point Folio, No. 145, 1907. Hall, James. (On the Driftless Area), Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, pp. 6-7. Hodge, J. T. (On the Driftless Area), On the Wisconsin and Missouri Lead Region, Amer. Journ. Sci., Vol. 43, 1842, p. 36. Irving, R. D. (The first correct explanation of the Driftless Area, see also N. H. Winchell), The Quaternary Deposits of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wis- consin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 608-611, 632-635, and Plate XXV A; Annual Report, Wis. Geol. Survey for 1876, Madison, 1877, p. 15; Origin of the Driftless Area of the Northwest, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 15, 1878, pp. 313- 90 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 314; Driftless Region of Wisconsin, op. cit., pp. 406-407; Trans. Am. Inst. Mining Engineers, Vol. 8, 1880, pp. 491, 504; see also boundaries of Driftless Area on map facing p. 506; see boundaries of Driftless Area on Map of Quater- nary Formations of Wisconsin, Atlas Plate II, Geology of Wisconsin, 1881 ; (on crags and pinnacles), Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 428, 523, 564, 567-568, 572-574, 606-607. Keating, W. H. (The first observation of the Driftless Area phenomena), Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, etc. etc., Performed in the Year 1823, Philadelphia, 1824, Vol. 1, pp. 200, 263, 287-288. Lange, E. G. Caves of the Driftless Area of Southwestern Wisconsin, Unpub- lished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1909. Lapham, I. A. (On the Driftless Area), A Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1844, p. 59; Wisconsin, Its Geography and Topography, Milwaukee, 1846, p. 57; Geological Formations of Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, Vol. 1, 1851, pp. 125-126; Geology, in Walling's Atlas of the State of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1876, p. 19; also some time before 1862, see Lapham quoted by Whitney in Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, p. 119, and Geol. Survey of Illinois, Vol. 1, 1866, p. 161; Report for 1874, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, p. 57. Long, S. H. (On Driftless Area phenomena), Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of Saint Anthony in 1817, Collections Historical Society of Minnesota, Vol. 2, Part 1, 1860, pp. 27, 29, 50. Martin, Lawrence. (On the Driftless Area), Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 429, 438, 454; The Discovery of the Painted Stone— An Early Ob- servation of the Driftless Area, Journ. Geog., Vol. 14, 1915, pp. 58-59. McGee, W J (On the Driftless Area), On the Relative Position of the Forest Bed and Associated Drift Formations in Northeastern Iowa, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 15, 1878, p. 341; On the Complete Series of Superficial Deposits in Northeastern Iowa, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 27th Meeting, 1878, Salem, 1879, pp. 198-201; The Drainage System and the Distribution of the Loess in Eastern Iowa, Bull. Philos. Soc. Wash., Vol. 6, 1884, pp. 93-97; The Pleistocene History of Northeastern Iowa, 11th Annual Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, Part 1, 1891, pp. 202-206, 277, 295-303, 353-354, 357, 435-450, 548, 566, 571-572. Map showing Lake Hennepin, facing p. 577. Plate 44 shows the border of Driftless Area, distribution of residual soil, of loess, etc., in northeastern Iowa. Mansfield, G. R. The Baraboo Region of Wisconsin, Journ. Geog., Vol. 6, 1908, pp. 286-292; Glacial and Normal Erosion in Montana and Wisconsin, Ibid., pp. 309-312. Murrish, John. (On the Driftless Area), State of Wisconsin, Report on the Geological Survey of the Lead Regions, 1871, pp. 13-14, 16; (on sink holes), pp. 21-22. Norwood, J. G. (On the Driftless Area), — in Owen's Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Document 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, p. 105. Orr, E. Exposures of Iowan and Kansan (?) Drift, East of the Usually Accepted West Boundary Line of the Driftless Area, Proceedings Iowa Acad, of Science, Vol. 14, 1907, pp. 231-236. The Driftless Area 91 Owen, D. D. (The third mention of the Driftless Area phenomena) — in Geological Exploration of Part of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, House Ex. Document 239, 26th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1840, second footnote on page 46; (on occurrence of erratics at borders of Driftless Area), — in Wisconsin, pp. 65, 109, 111, 112,— In Iowa, pp. 70, 71, 72, 75, etc; (on soils) Ibid., pp. 48-53; (on prairies) Ibid., see township descriptions, pp. 70-115; (on the loess) in Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wis- consin, Senate Ex. Document 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, p. 57; (on drift deposits near the Driftless Area), Ibid., pp. 68-70. Park, E. S. Map showing part of border of Driftless Area and location of boulder finds, — Geology of an Area in Green County, Wis., PL 9, p. 80, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1897. Percival, J. G. (On the Driftless Area), Annual Rept. Geol. Surv. Wis., 1855, pp. 30-31; Ibid., 1856, pp. 17-18. Pike, Z. M. (On the Driftless Area phenomena), An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, etc., During the Years 1805, 1806, and 1807, Philadelphia, 1810, p. 23. Salisbury, R. D. (On the Driftless Area), Descriptive America, Vol. 1, 1884, p. 109; Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 6, 1885, p. 48; Loess in Wisconsin Drift Formation, Journ. Geol., Vol. 4, 1896, pp. 929-937. Salisbury, K. D. and Atwood, W. W. Drift Phenomena in the Vicinity of Devils Lake and Baraboo, Wisconsin, Journ. Geol., Vol. 5, 1897, pp. 131-147; Devils Lake and the Dalles, Bull. 5, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1900, pp. 78-79, 142-146. Sardeson, F. W. On Glacial Deposits in the Driftless Area, Amer. Geol., Vol. 20, 1897, pp. 392-403. Shaw, James. (On the Driftless Area), Geol. Survey of Illinois, Vol. 5, 1873, pp. 4-5, 30-33; Ibid., Economical Geology of Illinois, Vol. 3, 1882, pp. 25-28. Schoolcraft, H. R. (The second mention of the Driftless Area phenomena), Remarks on the Lead Mine Country on the Upper Mississippi (Addressed to the Editors of the New York Mirror) pp. 294-307, especially p. 306, in Schoolcraft's Narrative of an Expedition through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake, etc., in 1832, New York, 1834; Not signed or dated in original report, but re- printed verbatim in Schoolcraft's "Summary Narrative" (1855, pp. 560-572) as "Brief Notes of a Tour in 1831, from Galena, in Illinois, to Fort Winnebago, on the Source of the Fox River, Wisconsin. By Henry R. Schoolcraft." Addressed to George P. Morris, Esq., New York. Squier, G. H. Depth of the Glacial Submergence on the Upper Mississippi, Science, Vol. 4, 1884, p. 160; Studies in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, Journ. Geol., Vol. 5, 1897, pp. 825-836; Ibid., Vol. 6, 1898, pp. 182-192; Ibid., Vol. 7, 1899, pp. 79-82; Peculiar Local Deposits on Bluffs Adjacent to the Mississippi, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 16, 1908, pp. 258-274. Strong, Moses. (On the Driftless Area), Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 665-667; Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 88, 92-94; Annual Rept., Wis. Geol. Survey for 1876, Madison, 1877, p. 10; Atlas Plate II, Geology of Wisconsin, 1881; (on caves and sink holes), Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 661-662; Ibid., Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 75-76, 96-98; (on prairies), Ibid., Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 660-661, and PI. 27; map showing prairies, Ibid., Atlas Plate Ha. Tenney, H. A. (On the Driftless Area) in Daniels' First Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Madison, 1854, pp. 69-74. 92 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Thwaites, F. T. Mysteries of Devils Lake, Madison Democrat, Feb. 18, 1908. Weidman, S. (On the Driftless Area), Geology of North Central Wisconsin, Bull. 16, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1907, pp. 548-565; (on residual soil), Ibid., pp. 552-554, 560-562, 680; see also other pages in Bull. 16 and discussion of soils in northwestern Wisconsin in Bulls. 11 and 23; (on Driftless Area deposits), Ibid., Bull. 13, 1904, pp. 101-102; Pleistocene Succession in Wisconsin, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 24, 1913, pp. 697-698. Whitbeck, R. H. Contrasts between the Glaciated and Driftless Portions of Wisconsin, Bull. Philadelphia Geog. Soc, Vol. 9, 1911, pp. 114-123; Economic Aspects of the Glaciation of Wisconsin, Annals Assoc. Amer. Geographers, Vol. 3, 1913, pp. 62-87. White, C A. (On the Driftless Area), Geological Survey of the State of Iowa, Vol. 1, 1870, p. 87. Whitney, J. D. (The first description of the Driftless Area), Surface Geology of the Lead Region, in Hall and Whitney's Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, pp. 114-139, with a map of the Driftless Area, Fig. 2, facing p. 118; Geol. Survey of Illinois, Vol. 1, 1866, pp. 160-162; Economical Geology of Illinois, Vol. 1, 1882, pp. 123-124. Whitson, A. R., Weidman, S., and Others, (on loess and on residual soil in the Driftless Area), Soil Surveys of Iowa, Juneau and La Crosse Counties, North Central Wisconsin, and the South Part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Bulls. 11, 23, 30, 38, and 40, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1903 to 1914. See also Soil Survey of Viroqua Area, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture; and D. D. Owen's soils report of 1840, with analyses and township descriptions. Whittlesey, Charles. (On the Driftless Area), Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. 15, 1867, p. 20 and map facing title page; Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. 15, 1867, p. 49. Winchell, N. H. (The first correct explanation of the Driftless Area, see also R. D. Irving), Fifth Annual Report, Minn. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1877, pp. 9, 34-38; see also First Annual Rept., Ibid., 1873, pp. 46, 61; Fourth Annual Rept., Ibid., 1870, pp. 5, 21, 59-62; Geology of Minnesota, Vol. 1, 1884, pp. 117, 213, 227, 245, 260, 275, 278, 311-312, 317, 406; Ibid., Vol. 2, 1888, pp. 2, 14-15; (on Red Rock), Ibid., p. 398. Worthen, A. H. (On the Driftless Area), Geol. Survey of Illinois, Vol. 1, 1866, pp. 27-33; Ibid., Economical Geology of Illinois, Vol. 1, 1882, pp. 22-26. See also the bibliographies at the ends of Chapters I and III and in Appendix G. MAPS For maps showing the borders of the Driftless Area in Wisconsin, see the publi- cations listed above, and especially: J. D. Whitney, 1862. R. D. Irving, 1877, 1879, 1881. Moses Strong, 1881. T. C. Chamberlin, 1881, 1883, 1888. T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury, 1885. W J McGee, 1891. E. S. Park, 1897. R. D. Salisbury and W. W. Atwood, 1900. U. S. Grant and E. F. Burchard, 1906. Samuel Weidman, 1907. For topographic maps within the Driftless Area, see end of Chapter III, p. 72. CHAPTER V. THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLANATION OF THE DRIFT- LESS AREA. Observations and Their Interpretation Discovery by the Indians. We do not know the time and place of the first recognition of the absence of erratic bowlders in what we now call the Driftless Area. It was known to the Indians: they actually worshipped an erratic bowlder near its border (p. 95). It was probably observed by some of the first white men who came to the Upper Mississippi. The following geologists are among those who have discussed it from first-hand knowledge and specu- lated upon its origin. 1823 — W. H. Keating. The first recognition and understanding of the Driftless Area phenomena, of which we know, was made by the geologist, Keating, whose observations were published in 1824. He traveled overland from Chicago in 1823, as already stated (p. 73), accompanying Major Long's Second Expedition. He entered what is now the state of Wisconsin about where the border of the Driftless Area crosses from Wisconsin into Illinois, southwest of Monroe. He then crossed the Military Ridge some distance west of Blue Mound and went to Prairie du Chien. The party travelled up the Mississippi valley to Minneapolis, some of the members going over- land through Iowa and Minnesota, and others, including Keating, by boat. They observed the absence of erratic bowlders almost at once on entering the Driftless Area. They also noticed when they left the bowlderless region, though not until they had passed through the loess-covered region of thin, older drift and reached the latest drift, with abundant erratics, west of Lake St. Croix. After describing the abundant bowlders of hornblendic granite between the Rock and Pecatonica Rivers in northern Illinois, Keat- ing speaks of crossing the latter stream and coming within sight of the Platte Mounds. He then says: 94 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin "No granitic blocks are to be seen; this is accounted for by the fact that we are no longer upon the alluvial formation, but upon the magnesian limestone which rises to a greater height, constituting the dividing ridge between the Mississippi, Rock River, and the Wis- consan, and perhaps connecting itself with what have been termed the Wisconsan hills." Later Keating records: "The first boulders which had been seen from Rock river, were observed by Mr. Colhoun at about seven miles from Fort St. An- thony; they consisted of granite." This is clearly the border of the Wisconsin drift sheet near Min- neapolis and St. Paul. Though not observing any erratics in the older drift, as indeed is none too easy today, Colhoun and the land party did see the difference in topography close to the very border of the Driftless Area which lies a short distance south of Lake Pepin, for Keating says: "A very great change in the country above Lake Pepin was visible. The bluffs were not so high, they were more frequently interrupted, and gave a new character to the scenery of the river." In the meantime the river party, with Keating himself, had been on the Mississippi, where the border of the Driftless Area cannot be easily detected. Within a short distance of the mouth of the St. Croix, Keating and his party landed and examined the Painted Stone, as described at the beginning of Chapter IV, identifying one of the first erratics west of the Driftless Area that can be seen without leaving the Mississippi River. This Painted Stone was likewise visited in 1805 by Lieut. Z. M. Pike. From his description we may determine just where it was situated. He was ascending the Mississippi and "encamped on a prairie on the east side, on which is a large painted stone, about 8 miles below the Sioux village." It appears from Pike's map that Sioux village was on the site of the present city of St. Paul. The Painted Stone seems to have given the name to the modern village of Red Rock, Minnesota. Prof. N. H. Winchell says: "At Red Rock, the rock itself is a bowlder of granite, originally light-colored, but stained with the Indian's *red paint,' and more re- cently girdled by successive belts of bright vermilion with oil and lead. On the end lying away from the river is a representation of an Indian's head surmounted by eagle's feathers. W. H. C. Folsom says: "The peculiarity of the painted boulder from which Red Rock took its name is that it was a shrine, to The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 95 which from generation to generation pilgrimages were made, and offerings and sacrifices presented. Its Indian name was 'Eyah Shah,' or 'Red Rock.' The stone is not naturally red, but painted with vermillion, or, as some say, with the blood of slaughtered victims. The Indians call the stone also 'Waukan,' or 'mystery/ It lies on a weathered stratum of limestone, and seems to be a fragment from some distant granite ledge. The Dakotahs say it walked or rolled to its present position, and they point to the path over which it traveled. They visited it occasionally every year until 1862, each time painting it and bringing offerings. It is painted in stripes, twelve in number, two inches wide and from two to six inches apart. The north end has a rudely drawn picture of the sun, and a rude face with fifteen rays." After passing Lake St. Croix in 1817 S. H. Long says: "The bluffs are more regular both in their height and direction than they are below Lake Pepin, and the valley of the river more uniform in its width. The stratifications of the bluffs are almost entirely sandstone, containing clay or lime in greater or less propor- tions. The pebbles are a mixture of primitive and secondary stones of various kinds. Blue clay or chalk is frequently to be found." At a place called the Crevasse, between Lake Pepin and Prescott Long found what he considered "agates of various hues, calcedony, flint, serpentine, ruby, and rock crystal, etc." These minerals were probably agate and calcedony, garnet, and other fragments of igneous rock from the trap and granite rocks to the northwest. On a high hill on the Iowa side between Trempealeau and La Crosse he found only "crystals of iron ore, silicious crystallizations, beautifully tinged with iron, some of them purple, others reddish, yellow, white, etc., crusts of sandstone strongly cemented with iron, and I think set with solid crystals of quartz, etc." These are all minerals such as occur in the local sandstone and limestone. The "primitive stones" found west, of Lake St. Croix and the "serpentine," "rubies" and agates, north of Lake Pepin, as well as the change in the character of the bluffs, would have told a geologist that he was in a drift-covered rather than a driftless area, especially in contrast with the presence of nothing but local materials on the bluff south of Trempealeau, which is in the Driftless Area. It is no injustice to this army officer, however, to give priority to Keating who saw such things and knew their significance. 1831 — H. R. Schoolcraft. During a journey overland from Galena to Portage via Blue Mound and Madison, Schoolcraft notes : 96 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin "And the occurrence of lost rocks (primitive boulders) as Mr. B. happily termed them, which are first observed after passing the Blue Mound, becomes more frequent in this portion of the country, denoting our approach to the boulders of the northwestern primitive formation." Published in 1834. 1839 — D. D. Owen. In connection with the possible use of "erratic boulders" of "granite, greenstone, porphyry, and other primitive rocks" for millstones. Owen says: "They are much more frequent towards the heads of the streams, than they are near the Mississippi river. In crossing the line between ranges seven and eight of the fourth principal meridian, they commence very abruptly, and are found in great numbers, and sometimes of very large dimensions." Published in 1840. This is interpreted as a location of the eastern border of what we now call the Driftless Area somewheie between Cross Plains and Verona, and probably on the Mineral Point Road west of Madison. In his descriptions of individual townships Owen speaks in many places of the occurrence of "boulders, detached and worn masses of transported granite, and other crystalline rocks." He mentions all the erratics that he and his parties saw; and they examined every quarter section of every township. He describes the rock ledges and soil of all the townships in which no erratic bowlders were observed. These bowlderless townships are all in what we now call the Driftless Area. Among the occurrences mentioned in Wisconsin are the following: Northwest of Madison, R. 8 E., Towns 8 and 9,— "numerous boulders of hornblende rock, some of them very large (say 10 or 12 feet high)." West of Madison, R. 8 E., Town 7, — "in the north are num- erous ponds; the middle and south not well watered." Southeast of Monroe, R. 8 E., Town 1, — "a few boulders are to be seen now and then," South of Monroe, R. 7 E., Town 1, — "gome boulders," and reference to granite specimen in his collections. There are similar descriptions for the glaciated territory just west of the Driftless Area in Iowa. Thus we see that, just as Keating determined the southern and approximate northern borders of the Driftless Area in 1823, so Owen made observations from which he could have determined its eastern and western boundaries even more accurately in 1839. So' far as known, however, he made no specific mention of the lack of erratics in the Driftless Area. The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 97 1841 — J. T. Hodge. While studying the lead and zinc district of southwestern Wisconsin Hodge made the first attempted ex- planation of the Driftless Area, as far as known. It is the fourth known mention of the phenomena. He says: "In the western part of Wisconsin, there are no primary bowlders, no loose rocks but those which once evidently formed a part of the formations on which they now repose; in the eastern part of the territory, however, and to the west in Iowa, such bowlders are not wanting. Whether this region may have been in part protected by the high lands to the north of it, and the progress of the bowlders been thus intercepted and turned aside, must be determined by more extended observations. This supposition is rendered more plausible by the unusual course of the Wisconsin river, it suddenly turning from a south to a west direction. In its valley, however, where it flows towards the west, no bowlders are found except the small pebbles brought down by the river itself." Published in 1842. 1844 — I. A. Lapham. In a description of the "Mineral Country" (south of the Wisconsin River and west of Madison) Lapham says: "The theoretical geologist will find a hard problem to solve in his endeavor to account for the' almost total absence of those boulders of primitive rock in the mineral district, which are so abundant elsewhere in the Territory." Lapham himself evidently kept on trying to solve this problem, though he published little upon it. In 1861 he said: "A portion of the limestone district of Wisconsin, lying west of Sugar River, and south of the great dividing ridge running parallel with, and a few miles south of the Wisco'nsin River, is known as 'the mineral region', and is destitute of drift materials." In a discussion of the Driftless Area published in 1862, Whitney says that the boundary of the bowlderless district has been con- tinued to the north of the Wisconsin River "chiefly on the authority of Mr. Lapham, who has not, however, made any minute exploration for the purpose of defining the bound- ary of the drift, so that it must be accepted as only approximately correct." Whitney also quotes Lapham on the Driftless Area in his Illinois report published in 1866. In 1874 Lapham wrote: "It still remains to be accounted for that in the lead region in this state there is almost a total absence of the Drift phenomena." 98 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin In his annual report written in 1874, and published in 1877, Lapham says: "Though the lead region is supposed to have been exempt from the influence of the glaciers which have distributed so much drift material over adjacent districts, there are some facts still requiring explanation, particularly the one first noticed by Prof. Whitney, of the occurrence of blocks of St. Peters sandstone resting upon formations of later age. The boundary of the glacial drift through Green county has now been accurately traced. The occurrence of drift material in the valleys of the Mississippi and lower Wisconsin is rightly attributed to river transportation from above." 1847 — J. G. Norwood. On his way from Lake Superior to the Mississippi, by way of the Montreal and Wisconsin Rivers, Norwood observed that: "Not a boulder, nor scarcely a pebble, is to be seen after passing the first ten miles below Whitney's rapids; showing, conclusively, that the forces which transported the immense numbers of erratic blocks, met with in other sections of the territory, did not tend in this direction." The place of observation is probably not far south of Nekoosa on the Wisconsin Riyer. 1854 — Edward Daniels. In a description of the Geology of the Lead Mines, Daniels says: "A remarkable fact in the superficial deposits of this region is the entire absence of the drift so abundantly represented over the north-west generally, by boulders, gravel, sands, and clay. So far as my observation extends, not a single boulder or gravel stone can be found over the whole district. The surface material bears no evidence of distant origin, and unless some of the clays shall be proven diluvial we have here no traces of transported drift. What- ever then may have been the agency which dispersed the huge masses of rock, fragments of native copper, beds of sand and gravel, so lavishly over the surrounding country, we know, that by some peculiarity of position the lead region was above its reach. Widely removed as this circumstance may seem from practical matters, it has nevertheless a most important bearing upon the economic value of the district to which it relates. For had it been otherwise the whole surface would have been covered with loose deposits, often of great thickness, burying all indications of the presence of lead veins, rendering discovery exceedingly doubtful, and profitable The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 99 mining a practical impossibility. The precise boundary of the district thus destitute of drift, is not yet ascertained." 1885 — J. G. Percival. The most serious early attempt to ex- plain the Driftless Area was made by Percival, who was also one of the first to describe the loess. "The mineral district does not appear to have been invaded to any extent by the gravel and bowlder drift, which has covered so extensively other parts of the surface in this and the adjoining states. Apparently the bold escarpment, backed by the high ridges and prairies, along the south side of the Wisconsin river from a point not far east of the Blue Mounds, has obstructed the course of the drift current, and turned it east and south around the east point of the ridge at those mounds. An open- ing near the source of Sugar river seems to have given passage to thai current, by which large accumulations of gravel drift have been formed along the west side of the valley of that river, near Exeter, and of bowlder and gravel drift farther east, while scattered bowlders, usually of no great size, are found in the side valleys, and on the slopes of the adjoining ridges and prairies, towards the west, as far south at least as the vicinity of Monroe. In the tract of country occupied by the blue limestone and upper sandstone, between the high prairie, west of Janesville, and the ridge of the lower magnesian, south of Madison, accumulations of such diluvial drift are compara- tively small and unfrequent, but with occasional exceptions, while on the north of that ridge they are large and extensive; that ridge hav- ing also acted apparently as an obstruction to their progress. My observations in that part of the country, covered more or less by this diluvial drift, have been very limited, and a farther consideration of its extent must be deferred to a future occasion. The bowlders and smaller rock fragments, composing this drift, are chiefly derived from primary and trap rocks, though partly from the flints (horn- stones and quartz) accompanying the limestones, particularly the lower magnesian. Small nodules of hematite, and of iron pyrites partly converted into hematite, such as occur at the junction of the blue limestone and upper sandstone, are frequently found in this drift and scattered on the adjoining surface. In the immediate vicinity of the Mississippi, on the surface of the higher ridges and prairies adjacent, accumulations of drift are occa- sionally found, in some instances quite extensive, composed of a fine sand, usually yellow or light brown, as if formed from the sand- stone adjoining that river towards the north. These are generally arranged in hillocks, with intervening round hollows or basins, such 100 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin as are common in drift districts. This sand, on the surface, is mixed more or less with mould, forming a light soil but at a small depth is sufficiently pure for mortar. A tract of 2-3 square miles, covered with such drift, and remarkable for its hillocks and hollows, extends from the bluffs of the Mississippi to the valley of the Great Menom- inee, S. W. of Jamestown village, and similar accumulations are met with on the high lands, adjoining the Mississippi, between Potosi and Cassville. On the summits of the river bluffs, particularly in the vicinity of Cassville, small rolled fragments of the same materials as those composing the gravel drift, above noticed, are often pro- fusely scattered. These facts indicate the passage of a peculiar drift current along the course of the Mississippi, and it is worthy of re- mark, that the points where those accumulations are most remark- able are a little below two large bends in that river, namely, that from south to southeast just above Cassville, and that to the south between Dubuque and Potosi. Such a deflection would naturally cause an eddy, and thus lead to those accumulations." 1862 — J. D. Whitney. In this year Whitney published a rather full discussion of the Driftless Area, accompanied by the first Driftless Area map ("Diagram of the Region Destitute of Drift and Boulders in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota"). He had worked in parts of the Driftless Area since 1858 or earlier. He is quoted below only in part: "If we consider the magnitude and universality of the drift de- posits in the northern United States, and especially in northern Wisconsin, we shall be the more astonished to learn that through- out nearly the whole Lead Region, and over a considerable extent of territory to the north of it, no trace of transported materials, boulders, or drift can be found; and, what is more curious, to the east, south, and west, the limit of the productive Lead Region is almost exactly the limit of the area thus marked by the absence of the drift. The conclusions to which we have been led by the study of this driftless region are as follows: 1st. That there has existed, ever since the period of the deposi- tion of the Upper Silurian, a considerable area, chiefly in Wisconsin and near the Mississippi river, which has never been sunk below the level of the ocean, or covered by any extensive and permanent body of water, and which, consequently, has not only not received any newer deposit than the Upper Silurian, but has also entirely The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 101 escaped the invasion of the drift, which took place over so vast an extent of the northern hemisphere. 2nd. That the extensive denudation which can be shown to have taken place in this region, as witnessed by the outliers of rock still remaining, and the general outline of the surface, has not been occa- sioned by any currents of water sweeping over the surface, under some great general cause, but that it has all been quietly and silently effected by the simple agency of rain and frost, acting un- interruptedly through a vast period of time. 3rd. That during a long period this island, as it may be called, remained uninhabited by animals, but that at the close of the drift epoch, when the surrounding region itself became peopled with numerous animals and plants, it was the residence of a variety of species, some of which are now extinct, while others still exist. 4th. That a large portion of the superficial detritus of the West, even in those regions where drift boulders are met with, must have had its origin in the subaerial destruction of the rocks, the soluble portion of them having been gradually removed by the percolating water, while that which remains represents the insoluble residuum, the sand and clay, which was originally present in smaller quantity in the strata thus acted on." 1864 — Charles Whittlesey. It seems probable that Whittlesey was unconvinced as to the existence of an isolated Driftless Area and thought that erratic bowlders might sometime be found within it, for he seems to have never mentioned the phenomena. He was the ablest observer and interpreter of the drift phenomena in Wis- consin in early days. He worked in various parts of the state for 20 years, beginning about 1844. He visited Dubuque as early as 1848 or 1851. In 1864 he stated: "Between the northern limits of the Mississippi tertiary and the southern edge of the glacial drift, there is in Ohio, Kentucky, In- diana, and Illinois a belt of debatable ground, the outlines of which are not easily denned." In another paper, written at the same time, he says: "Judging by the boulders, the southern edge of the ice- field on the west, extended from near Dayton, Ohio, in a north- westerly course, to and past Dubuque in Iowa." Thus he recognized the absence of erratics in parts of Illinois and Iowa close to southwestern Wisconsin, but did not mention the glacial country to the south which isolates the Driftless Area. His map, published in 1867, agrees with his description, drawing the glacial boundary between Dubuque and Prairie du Chien. It is odd 102 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin that he does not mention the erratics to the south in Illinois, for as early as 1848 he knew of the correct southern boundary of the drift near the junction of the Kaskaskia and Mississippi Rivers. 1874 — Moses Strong. The tracing of the boundary of the Drift- less Area in Green County, as alluded to above by Lapham in 1874, was the work of Moses Strong. In 1877 Strong said; "The northern boundary of the driftless region lies far to the north of the Lead region. The eastern line was found in Green county, and traced out with all possible accuracy. For a particular descrip- tion of it, reference is made to the geological maps ; in brief, however, it is as follows: It commences on the west side of the Pecatonica river, crossing the state line at the southwest corner of the town of Cadiz. From here it proceeds almost in a straight line to the city of Monroe. Thence north, it runs along the divide between the Pecatonica and Sugar rivers, until about two miles south of New Glarus, where it takes a northeasterly course, and passes out of the county about a mile west of Belleville. The course thus indicated is its present line as shown by erratic bowlders lying upon the sur- face. If the drift deposits originally extended farther westward, no trace thereof now remains. East of the line described, bowlders are found in all Darts of the county, with more or less frequency. The boundary line, where boulders are now found, does not appear to conform at all to the surface features, but crosses the valleys of the streams, and the ridges between them, with equal impartiality." Strong also mapped the northern border of the Driftless Area near the Mississippi River, his descriptions being published in 1877 and 1882. The boundary of the Driftless Area on the map of Quaternary Formations of Wisconsin, 1881, is apparently based chiefly upon the detailed mapping of Moses Strong and R. D. Irving. living's map, 1879, and the present geological maps of the state place the boundary on the Mississippi near Alma rather than farther south at Fountain City, where Strong drew it some time before 1881. 1877 — R. D. Irving. The first correct explanation of the origin of the Driftless Area seems to have been made by R. D. Irving, upon the basis of field work which began in 1874. N. H. Winchell and T. C. Chamberlin independently reached similar conclusions at about the same time (see below). Irving spoke of the Driftless Area in 1876 and published his explanation in 1877. How much earlier he reached this conclusion is not known. He said, in part: "The first and most striking fact that presents itself t o the in- vestigator of the drift phenomena of Wisconsin is the existence of The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 103 an extensive driftless region, the remainder of the state at the same time displaying an altogether extraordinary development of the drift materials. In the driftless region, which occupies 12,000 square miles of the southwestern part of Wisconsin, or nearly one-fourth the entire area of the state, the drift is not merely insignificant, but absolutely wanting. Except in the valleys of the largest streams, like the Wisconsin and Mississippi, not a single erratic bowlder, nor even a rounded stone, is to be seen throughout the district; whilst the exception named is not really an exception, the small gravel deposits that occur on these streams having evidently been brought by the rivers themselves, during their former greatly expanded con- dition, from those portions of their courses that lie within the drift- bearing regions." He then discussed the outline of the driftless area, its topography and altitude, and gives an excellent map of its borders in central and southern Wisconsin. His explanation was as follows (the italics are Irving's): "The Driftless Region of Wisconsin owes its existence, not to superior altitude, but to the fact that the glaciers were deflected from it by the influence of the valleys of Green Bay and Lake Superior. Some writers have thrown out the idea that the driftless area is one of present great altitude compared with the regions around it, and that by virtue of this altitude during the Glacial period it caused a splitting of the general ice. sheet, itself escaping glaciation. This idea may have arisen from the fact that in the southern part of the area the district known as the "Lead Region" has a considerable elevation; but the facts heretofore given have shown that in reality the driftless area is for the most part lower than the drift-covered country immediately around; the greatest development, for instance, of the western lateral moraine of the glacier of the Green Bay valley, having been on the very crown of the watershed between the Lake Michigan and Mississippi river slopes, whilst the driftless region is altogether on the last named slope. Moreover, to the north, towards Lake Superior, and to the west, in Minnesota, the whole country covered with drift materials lies at a much greater altitude." * * * "That it was not invaded from the north is evidently due to the fact that the glacier or glaciers of that region were deflected to the westward by the influence of the valley of Lake Superior." "Future investigations will undoubtedly bring out a close con- nection between the structure of the Lake Superior valley and the glacial movements south of it." * * * "The main ice sheet coming from the north met, in the great trough of Lake Superior, 104 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin over 2,000 feet in depth, an obstacle which it was never able to entirely overcome, and so reached further southward in small tongues composed perhaps of only the upper portions of the ice. These tongues being deflected westward by the rock structure of the country, and having their force mainly spent on climbing over the watershed, left the region further south untouched. The eastern part of the Lake Superior trough is not nearly so deep as the western, and the divide between Lake Superior and the two lakes south of it never attains any great altitude, so that here the ice mass, having at the same time perhaps a greater force on account of its nearness to the head of the ice movement on the Laurentian highlands of Canada, was able to extend southward on a large scale, producing the glaciers of the Green Bay valley and of Lake Michigan. "Although quite crude in its details, I am convinced that the main points of the explanation thus offered for the existence of the driftless region in the northwest will prove to be correct. To obtain a full elucidation of the subject, much must yet be done in the way of investigation, not only in Wisconsin, but over all of Minnesota and the state south, in order that the details of the ice movement for the whole northwest may be fully understood." Irving shows the extent of the Driftless Area in his geological map of Wisconsin made in 1879. See also map of Quaternary Forma- tions of Wisconsin, 1881. 1877 — N. H. Winchell. In a discussion of Houston County, Minnesota, published in 1877, Winchell says: "There being no foreign drift in this county, these streams run in their ancient channels and several hundred feet below the general upland level." "The true northern drift is not spread over this county. It con- tains no drift clay, nor boulders of foreign origin. There is a thin deposit of foreign gravel at Riceford, in the extreme southwestern part of the county, and there is a terrace along the Mississippi river that is made up of gravel and sand of northern origin^ but this county wholly escaped the operation of those forces which spread the well-known drift clay and boulders over the most of the state. Whether any former glacial era caused it to be covered with the ice of the northern glaciers cannot be determined, since the materials left by that era, if any there were, may have been decomposed, and may have entered into the stratified clays and the soils of the Miss- issippi valley further south under the combined influence of time, The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 105 and the intense activity of the destructive forces of the latest glacial era." "As to the cause of this exemption of a part of southwestern Minnesota, and portions of Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois adjacent, from the forces of the northern drift epoch, there has been but one opinion advanced so far as the writer is aware. It is that of Prof. J. D. Whitney, who attributes it to the non-submergence of this region since the deposit of the Silurian rocks and their elevation above the ocean. If it were demonstrated or generally believed that the prevalence of the drift in other parts of the Northwest, in the same latitude, is due to the submergence of the continent beneath the ocean since the Tertiary age, this assumed cause would be apropos. But on the contrary it is pretty generally agreed by geologists, both in America and Europe, that the drift is due to the former existence of glaciers that covered the surface of the country, and, moving generally southward, not only brought from the northern regions the foreign substances that constitute the drift, but required, for their existence, that the land surface should be raised several hundred feet at least above the ocean during their prevalence. Again there is every reason to suppose this region has been submerged since the age of the Silurian. It is difficult to conceive what could have pro- duced the horizontal lamination of the loess loam, unless it be at- tributed to the action of standing, or but slightly agitated water. This loam not only exists along the immediate river valley, but is spread widely over the highlands of the whole district. It is true there is no evidence of its having been the product of marine deposi- tions, on the contrary it is evidently of fresh water origin, but that the country has been deeply submerged and remained so for a long period within recent geological time can hardly be questioned. There is also reason to believe that some portions of it were buried beneath the waters of the Cretaceous ocean." "In examining the topography and the geological structure of the country lying to the north of this so-called driftless tract, it is evident that the great valley of the Lake Superior region, once occupied by glacial ice, would overflow, both first and last, along the lines of the lowest outlet, and that perhaps the higher and less passable parts along its southern barrier-shore would never be entirely sur- mounted. The continental glacier, in this region, would flow toward the southwest or south, guided by the main topographical features. In north-central Wisconsin is an isolated area of granitic and meta- morphic rock, which not only extends to the shore of Lake Superior, 106 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin but wedges out northeastwardly in the form of a long, high and persistent point or spur, in the southern part of Lake Superior, known as Kewenaw Point, in the State of Michigan. It is plain to see that this point would act on a crowding but some- what flexible mass of ice as an entering wedge to split it into two main masses, and that the widening of the wedge, in the granitic region of northern Wisconsin, would perpetuate the division so as to cause, if other topography were favorable, a constant flow along the northwest side, and another in a more southerly direction, that would spread over northern Michigan and find its easiest exit through the valleys of lakes Michigan and Huron. According to Prof. R. Irving, and Messrs. Foster and Whitney, the western end of Lake Superior lies in an Archaean synclinal trough running south- westerly. This again would divert the flowing ice over the north- eastern portions of Minnesota to the expense ,of northern Wisconsin. Glacial scratches on the rocks at Duluth, at the western extremity of the lake, have a west-southwesterly direction. "Now it is a striking coincidence that this driftless tract lies nearly south and in the lee of this wedge-like area of metamorphic rock, and would be protected from the ice-flow by it. It is hence reason- able to infer that the absence of the drift in this region is due to the existence of this protecting barrier lying to the north of it in Wis- consin, while further to the south the two main branches of the ice- flow again united and spread, before their final retirement, a con- tinuous sheet of drift over central Illinois, and southern Iowa." Winchell previously mentioned the Driftless Area in 1873 and 1876, but without explanation. 1878 — T. C. Chamberlin. In 1878 Chamberlin said: "One prodigious tongue of ice ploughed along the bed of Lake Michigan, and a smaller one pushed through the valley of Green Bay and Rock River, while another immense ice stream flowed southwestward through the trough of Lake Superior and onward into Minnesota. The diversion of the glacier through these great chan- nels seems to have left the southwestern portion of the state intact, and over it we find no drift accumulations." In 1879 Chamberlin reviews the explanations by Irving and by Winchell, and then says: "My own view, entertained some two years previous to the pub- lication of those sketched above, involves a combination of these views, and some supplementary elements that seem essential to any- thing like adequacy; for when we have combined the above views, The Discovery and Explanation of the Driftless Area 107 and given full emphasis to the agency of the highlands in crowding the ice aside, and to that of the great lake troughs in leading it away, we still have a troublesome residuum to explain ; for, as previ- ously stated, the ice, nevertheless, mounted the heights in sufficient massiveness to maintain its onward flow for 100 miles. It cannot be said to have spent its force, for the momentum of a glacier is insignificant, on account of the slowness of its motion. "The disappearance of this stream on the southern slope, I have attributed to the wasting to which it was subjected.*" See also the boundaries of the Driftless Area in the map of Quater- nary Formations of Wisconsin, published in 1881, and probably com- piled by Chamberlin from the detailed mapping by Irving and by Strong. 1878 — W J McGee. The first mention of the Drif Lless Area by McGee is in a paper published in 1878 in which he calls attention to erratics in an Iowa area previously thought to be driftless. In 1884 he described the drainage of the driftless portion of Iowa. In that great classic of American physiography — McGee's "Pleistocene History of Northeastern Iowa," — the Driftless Area is discussed in as great detail for Iowa as in that other classic which covers the whole area— Chamberlin and Salisbury's "Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley." The latter was published in 1885, the former in 1891; but McGee's field work was chiefly between 1876 and 1881 and most of the report was written in the latter year. McGee did additional field work in 1888 and published his report 3 years later. His descriptions of the Driftless Area topography, of the residual soil or geest, and of the loess are excellent. All may well be read today for application to the corresponding features in Wisconsin. McGee believed, however, that the deposits of fine silt, or loess, of the Driftless Area "represent the mud of a Pleistocene Glacier, and that they were accumulated either within ice-bound lakes or in canons excavated in the ice sheet." This conclusion he published in 1879 and again in 1882 and 1891. In the latter year he published his map of Lake Hennepin, which he thought to have covered the whole Driftless Area of Iowa, Wis- consin, Illinois, and Minnesota. He correlated it with one of the pre-Wisconsin glacial advances. Because of the topography of the Driftless Area and because of lack of evidence of subsequent earth movements such as would be necessary if there were a glacial lake *Original footnote. Discussion attending the reading of Prof. Irving's paper before Wis- consin Academy of Science, December, 1877. 108 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin here, it is now thought that no such lake ever existed and that the loess in Wisconsin is wind-blown. Except for this one error of interpretation, McGee's great mono- graph on a representative part of the Driftless Area still stands as when written, — a notable contribution by one of the masters of American physiography, thoroughly observed, well reasoned, and delightfully described. 1885— T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury. The most complete discussion of the Driftless Area is Chamberlin and Salis- bury's "Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley," published in 1885. It was based upon much additional field work, beginning in 1883 and chiefly by the junior author. There are numerous ex- cellent maps. The gist of the explanation is contained in the clos- ing, happily-phrased paragraph, as follows: "Diverted by highlands, led away by valleys, consumed by wast- age where weak, self-perpetuated where strong, the fingers of the mer de glace closed around the ancient Jardin of the Upper Miss- issiDpi Valley, but failed to close upon it." In the maps accompanying this report the border of the Driftless Area is drawn much farther to the northwest and west than is now the practise. 1907 — Samuel Weidman. The chief addition to our knowledge of the Driftless Area since 1885 is based upon the work of Weidman, who has mapped a large northeastern extension of the area in the Wisconsin valley near Wausau. Other geologists have relocated parts of the borders of the Drift- less Area in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois in recent years, with slight modifications in detail. BIBLIOGRAPHY See Chapters III and IV, pp. 70-72, 89-92, and Appendix G. CHAPTER VI. THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN THE WESTERN UPLAND. Three Scenes at Devils Lake Park Those who visit the state park at Devils Lake (p. 51) may picture three strikingly-different scenes. The first is the region as a stream valley. The river is the Wisconsin, flowing into the Devils Lake gap from the north, turning abruptly eastward near the present site of the Kirkland Hotel and its cottages, and then flowing around the Devils Nose and southwestward toward Prairie du Sac. If you had climbed the bluffs at that time you might have found the Devils Door, or Turks Head, or some of the other picturesque crags and pinnacles of today. If they were not there it is certain there were others equally bizarre. You would have looked down, however, on a different scene. The surface of the present lake lies 600 feet below the East Bluff, but the waters of the preglacial Wisconsin River flowed along at a level at least 280 feet lower. The gorge was then 900 or 1000 feet deep. The scene must have been even more picturesque than that in the present gorge below Niagara Falls. The river had less volume than the Niagara, but the gorge was deeper and more beautiful. At that time there was no lake. There was no hill at the railway cut east of the station. There was no hill where the wooded ridge now extends across the valley north of Devils Lake. There was no level land where the various groups of cottages now stand. The tumbled blocks in the talus slopes looked as they do now. The bluffs were much as today, except that they overlooked a deeper valley and, therefore, appeared much higher. The second scene is that of Devils Lake during the Glacial Period. East of the site of Devils Lake railway station was an ice tongue, a lobe of the continental glacier. Since its terminus lay in a narrow valley it looked much like the larger glaciers in Alaska or in the Alps, No present-day ice tongue of Glacier National Park, of Mt. Rainier, or of the Canadian Selkirks, equals it in size HO The Physical Geography of Wisconsin or impressiveness. North of the lake was another ice^lobe of equal beauty. They ended in sheer ice cliffs one or two hundred feet high, like the glacier in Plate X, A. Between them was the glacial lake, dotted with icebergs, and at a much higher level than the present lake. This was at least 35,000 years ago, perhaps 80,000 years, perhaps more. The third scene is that of today, with the lake, the moraines, the bluffs, the fields, and the forests, a gem of true mountain scenery, such as cannot be seen elsewhere east of the Rockies. Ice Invasions in the Western Upland Devils Lake is at one of the three parts of the Western Upland ever invaded by the continental glacier. These three areas are (a) the eastern part of the Baraboo Range, (b) the northwestern high- land, near the St. Croix and Chippewa Rivers, and (c) the south- eastern part of the upland near Beloit and Monroe. Indirectly glaciation wrought minor changes in the uplands of the Driftless Area and in most of its valleys. Glaciation of the Baraboo Range The Advancing Glacier. The glaciation of the eastern half of the Baraboo Range was accomplished by the Green Bay lobe of the Lake Michigan glacier. The ice was moving westward across the Central Plain of Cambrian sandstone. On reaching the Baraboo Range, its forward movement was retarded by the high quartzite hills. The ice north and south of the range accordingly moved forward more rapidly than the ice which had to rise up over this obstacle. Lobes therefore developed, one north and one south of the Baraboo Range. The lobe to the north quickly over-topped the low North Range and filled the interior valley east of the city of Baraboo, while the lobe to the south was advancing to about the position of the present city of Merrimac, in the lowland between the Magnesian escarpment and the South Range. In the meantime the ice between these lobes was slowly ascending the high South Range and advancing westward across its summit. By the time this ice on the upland had reached a point a little over 4 miles east of where Devils Lake is now (Fig. 33) the northern and. southern lobes had moved into the Devils Lake gorge, from the north and south respectively, and were less than two miles apart. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. X. A. THE SHEER ICE CLIFF AT THE TERMINUS OF NUNATAK GLACIER. ALASKA There was once a similar clilT at each end of Devils Lake, Wisconsin. B. THE TERMINAL MORAINE AT THE SOUTHEASTERN END OF THE DEVILS LAKE GAP. It occupies the site of a former ice cliff much like that shown in the upper picture. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XI. A. TALUS OF WEATHERED QUARTZITE BLOCKS AT DEVIL'S LAKE, IN THE DRIFTLESS AREA. Stoop slopo with numerous crags and pinnacles. THE DEVILS NOSE. A moderate slope of quartzite from which all the talus and all crags and pinnacles were removed by the continental glacier. This is about a mile from the bluff shown in the upper picture. The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 111 Just then the strong forward movement ceased and all the ice fronts began to melt back. If the forward movement had lasted a very little longer these valley lobes would have come together •and the unglaciated portion of the upland east of Devils Lake would have been a detached driftless area. If it had lasted still longer the upland ice would have covered these few, square miles and there would have been no unglaciated territory east of Devils Fig. 33. The lobes of the continental glacier in the Baraboo Range near Devils Lake. (Hobbs, after Salisbury, and Atwood.) Lake. As it is, the cessation of rapid forward movement, at the time when it did end, resulted in the formation of an eastward-pro- jecting portion of the main Driftless Area, which includes the former stream valley at Devils Lake and the upland east of it for a little over 4 miles. Thus the peculiar shape of the glacial boundary at the Baraboo Range (Fig. 33) was determined by (a) the topog- raphy of this quartzite upland and (b) by the time of cessation of strong forward movement at the margin of the continental glacier. f Removal of Talus. The extent to which glacial erosion modified the Baraboo Range is not kRown exactly, though one fact is clear. The ice carried away the huge blocks of quartzite in the extensive talus slopes which bordered the steeper slopes of the Baraboo 112 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Bluffs. We know this from the talus slopes of quartzite now present in the never-glaciated Devils Lake gap, in contrast with the absence of such talus at the glaciated Lower Narrows gap northeast of Baraboo, and on the Devils Nose (PI. XI, B), and in the region to the east of Devils Lake. Terminal Moraines. At the ice fronts, strong terminal moraines were formed, especially at the ends of the valley lobes north and south of Devils Lake. These are ridges of glacial drift, built at a former terminus of the glacier. They are made up partly of unassorted bowlders, sand, and clay, a deposit called till, and partly of stratified gravel, sand, and clay. From the ice fronts, streams flowed away, leaving a sloping deposit called an outwash plain or valley train and made up of rounded gravel and fine sand. Where there was a continuous southward-sloping valley before the Glacial Period, there is now a much shallower valley, interrupted by two terminal moraines, outwash and lake deposits, and the present lake. Devils Lake is only 43 feet deep, but the thickness of the lake clay and glacial outwash between the lake bottom and the rock floor of the valley may be estimated at not less than 300 or 350 feet. A well at the north end of Devils Lake passed through 283 feet of glacial drift without reaching bedrock. Devils Lake with Icebergs. Between the two ice fronts in the Devils Lake water gap there eventually came to be a temporary glacial lake, at a level much higher than the present body of water. The lake extended nearly a third of the way up the bluffs. It covered all the low ground east and west of the present lake. Icebergs floated about in this larger lake, and rafted erratics of granite, greenstone, and other foreign bowlders out into the small valley of the Driftless Area to the west, where they may be found today. The outlet of this body of water may have been in or at the edge of the ice northwest of the present lake. A thick mantle of clay was spread over the till which had been deposited directly by the glacial lobes and over the outwash gravels laid down by the glacial streams. Glacial Lake Baraboo. There was a much larger glacial lake west of the site of the city of Baraboo in the lowland or valley be- tween the quartzite ranges. This has been called Glacial Lake Baraboo (Fig. 34). It was a bay on the western side of Glacial Lake Wisconsin (Fig. 132), with which it was connected by narrow straits at Ablemans and a broader strait east of Reedsburg. Beach deposits and ice-rafted erratics are found within the limits of this lake between Baraboo and Ablemans. It was at least 120 feet deep. The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 113 There is lake clay below the outwash gravels at the border of the terminal moraine. In the extension of this lake basin up the Bara- boo valley, northwest of Ablemans, erratic bowlders are found at Reedsburg. There were similar streams and temporary lakes in front of various parts of the continental glacier, as in the valleys northeast of Devils Lake. Because of these lakes and glacial rivers the in- terior valley of the Baraboo Range and the region north and south of it were built up by deposits of glacial outwash and lake clay, . BARABOO \ v St -T^ \ L_ Fig. 34. The continental glacier covering the eastern portions of the Baraboo Range and the Barron Hills, with lobate margin due to topography. Glacial streams flowing away from the melting ice and depositing outwash gravels. Glacial Lake Baraboo and Glacial Devils Lake in right-hand map. giving the Baraboo Range a little less relief above the surrounding region than before the glacial invasion. Changes in Drainage. The drainage of the Baraboo Range was modified tremendously by glaciation. The Wisconsin River was diverted during the Glacial Period. Before the Ice Age the river crossed the Baraboo Range by way of the Lower Narrows and the Devils Lake watergap. Now it makes a great bend to the east, pass- ing near Portage and returning to its former valley a short distance west of Merrimac. Even here it is not exactly in its old channel. The precise time and mechanism of this diversion is not yet known. The drainage at the Lower Narrows was reversed in direction (Fig. 35). Skillet Creek was diverted by the building of a terminal moraine and outwash plain across its lower course. It now turns at right angles and flows northwestward, having an extremely-pic- 114 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin turesque, postglacial, rock gorge at Pewits Nest. In the Lower Narrows the glacial deposits fill the watergap to a depth of more than 260 feet, and at Baraboo in the interior valley to 250 feet. Wisconsin Drift Near the St. Croix River The Thick Glacial Deposits. A small portion of the north- western upland was glaciated during the latest advance of the con- tinental ice sheet into Wisconsin, when all of the eastern and nor- thern parts of the state were ice-covered. At this time glacial drift was deposited in the northwestern part of St. Croix County and most Fig. 35. Preglacial and present drainage in the Baraboo Range near Devils Lake State Park. Skillet Creek is at S. of Polk County. This drift is very thick. It is not weathered, and has a rougher topography than that of the region to the southeast. A Drift-Mantled Escarpment. The escarpment at the nor- thern border of the Magnesian cuesta extends east and west for 35 miles in Polk and Barron Counties. Nearly all of it is so mantled in the glacial deposits that it is inconspicuous. We do not know how much it was modified by glacial sculpture. Older Drift in the Northwestern Upland The earlier glaciation of northwestern Wisconsin was by ice which advanced into the state from the northwest and covered the area north and northwest of Alma on the Mississippi River. The proportions of this ice which came from (a) the Lake Superior lobe of the Labrador ice sheet, and (b) the Minnesota lobe of the Keewatin ice sheet, has not yet been worked out in detail. The drift is weathered (see p. 116), has few lakes or other undrained depres- sions, scarcity of hilly morainic tepography, and differs in other re- The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 115 spects from the younger or Wisconsin drift. In the parts of Buffalo, Pepin, Pierce and St. Croix Counties where it is found, this drift has probably levelled up preglacial inequalities and made the region less rugged than it was before the Glacial Period. Glacial Erosion in Northwestern Wisconsin The Topography of the Upland. The exact extent to which the northwestern upland was sculptured by the continental glacier is not yet known. It has been stated that the cuesta surface north- west of Chippewa River (p. 44) is much less irregular than the region of ridges and coulees between the Chippewa and the La Crosse Rivers (p. 45). One region is glaciated, the other driftless. It, therefore, seems probable that the difference is due to glaciation, for the rocks in the two regions are similar. The difference is akin to that between the glaciated cuesta of west central New York in the Allegheny Plateau and the driftless continuation of the same region to the south in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In north- western Wisconsin, however, we are not ready to state as yet whether the change "was brought about chiefly by glacial erosion or by glacial deposition. Moreover the preglacial topography of the regions north and south of the Chippewa River may not have been exactly the same, because of certain relations of the limestone (p. 46). It seems likely that glacial deposition may have been more important than glacial erosion in producing the rather even upland near the Chippewa and St. Croix. This does not deny that glacial sculpture may also have been effective. An Ice-Sculptured Escarpment. In one respect we have the suggestion of considerable glacial erosion in the northwestern up- land. The Magnesian escarpment, which extends north and south in St. Croix, Pierce, and Pepin Counties, is much less irregular than the continuation of the same escarpment to the southeast in the portion of the Driftless Area between the Trempealeau River in Buffalo County and the Baraboo Range in Sauk County. That this north-south escarpment was not simplified quite as much by glacial abrasion as the Niagara escarpment (p. 231) seems to be due to the fact that the ice advanced eastward over it from the back slope of the Magnesian cuesta, instead of moving parallel to it, as was the case in eastern Wisconsin. There are small caves near the edge of the escarpment in the region of older drift near Wilson, so that it is clear that glacial erosion was less effective than in eastern Wis- consin (p. 236). This was because the ice was thin and weak, since 116 • The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the escarpment lies not far from the extreme limit of glaciation and may not have been subject to glacial abrasion as long as those in eastern Wisconsin. It should not be thought, however, that the glacier did no work. A great amount of erosion was necessary in removing all the outliers from the escarpment and making its out- line as simple as it is. Older Drift West of the Rock River Extent and Character. An area of older drift extends into the Western Upland from the Rock River at Janesville and Beloit to a line running west of Martintown, Monroe, Paoli and Verona. The ice which overrode this area was the Lake Michigan-Green Bay Glacier. Near Beloit glacial striae point east and west. In Green County they even trend northwestward. The characteristics of this area are, on the whole, more like those of the driftless than of the glaciated part of Wisconsin. The drift border is very difficult to locate, being determined in many localities upon the basis of rare, single erratics. Lakes and upland swamps are lacking. The drainage upon the surface of glacial deposits is mature. Ground moraine and terminal moraine are usually indistinguishable, but there are a few, weak, discontinuous moraines. The Weathered Drift. The drift mantle is thin and deeply weathered. Originally this drift was probably thick, and not weathered at all. The limestone pebbles and limey clay are leached away from the upper 2 or 3 feet of drift, which are often red. Below is brownish drift, with limestone pebbles so weathered that they crumble in the hand, or pitted and etched by solution till they have lost all glacial form and striation. The body of the drift below this weathered material is blue, pink, gray, or buff. It is not weathered, and 80 or 90% of the pebbles are subangular, striated limestones. It has been estimated that 15 or 20 feet of the surface of the older drift may have been carried away by solution in order to leave the 2 or 3 feet of residual red clay at the surface. In this clay are insoluble pebbles of chert, quartz, quartzite, and fine- grained crystalline rocks. There are some till deposits and some gravel deposits that are not weathered so much, either because of (a) position, where erosion has recently removed the overlying weathered drift, or (b) nature of material, as in a sandy deposit through which the underground water moves rapidly and has some- times been thought to dissolve relatively little. The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 117 Stream Diversions. Within this belt of older drift most of the streams are in their preglacial rock valleys. There are exceptions, where part of the course of a stream has been diverted by the glacier. At Albany, Green County, the Sugar River has a narrow rock gorge west of the broad abandoned valley followed by the Fig. 36. Stream diversion within the area of older drift. The Sugar River formerly flowed in the broad abandoned valley northeast of Albany. It now has a narrow rock gorge west of the cit'y where it was superimposed by the glacial drift. (From Brodhead Quad- rangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) railway. There are also diversions due to drift dams across the mouths of valleys. An illustration of this is the small creek northwest of Dayton, Green County. It abruptly leaves a broad, upper valley and flows through a narrow, rock-walled valley near Belleville, because of a drift dam across the mouth of its lower valley. Other examples are found near Verona, Brodhead, and Monroe. In these drift dams the glacial deposits are still thick. 118 The. Physical Geography of Wisconsin r The valley of the Sugar River, which crosses this area of older drift, is floored with a valley train of gravel and sand, chiefly and perhaps entirely of Wisconsin age. Transitional Topography. This region of older drift is in- cluded in the Western Upland rather than in the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands because of its transitional topography. It is more like the Western Upland, even though once glaciated. The bedrock and the glacial features result in making the topography partake of the characteristics of both provinces, with broader valleys and gentler slopes than the Driftless Area to the west, but, on the whole, systematic erosion topography rather than aimless glacial features. Deposits of Glacial Age Within the Driftless Area Nature of Deposits. The boundary of the Driftless Area is taken as the outermost of the terminal moraines, or the line of outermost erratic material carried to its present resting place directly by the ice. Thus the boundary marks the farthest place at which the glacier actually stood and, when melting, deposited its unstrati- fied till or bowlder clay. In front of the glacial lobes, however, deposits were made during the Glacial Period, which lie within the territory over which the ice never advanced and which is otherwise driftless. Not all these deposits are of foreign glacial material. There are three kinds: — (a) lake deposits, (b) river deposits, and (c) wind deposits. For the sake of convenience reference will be made here to some of the Driftless Area deposits in the Central Plain and Northern Highland, as well as in the Western Upland. Glacial Lake Deposits Relation to Slopes. The topography of the land at the border of an ice sheet results in the deposition of (a) river deposits, if a slope leads away from the glacier, and (b) lake deposits, if the slope is toward the ice. Glacial Lake Wisconsin. An extensive deposit in a temporary body of water at the glacier margin was laid down in Glacial Lake Wisconsin (see p. 318), which lay in the Driftless Area north of the Baraboo Range, between the Wisconsin and Black Rivers. Lake clay and sand, and erratic bowlders, rafted out into the Drift- less Area from the glacier front by floating icebergs, are the chief deposits of this glacial lake. It probably covered at least 1825 square miles, being larger than Green Bay or three-fourths the The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 119 size of Great Salt Lake. It rose to a height of 960 to 1000 feet above sea level, being 70 to 150 feet deep. It existed so short a time that the shorelines and deltas at its borders are in most places too faint for recognition. Some of the lake deposit was subsequently covered by sandy, glacial stream deposits, and by dunes and loess. The waters of this lake probably escaped to the west over the Black River divide in Wood County. The Mississippi Lake. The presence of rare erratic bowlders on the Mississippi bluffs in the Driftless Area is best explained by the possibility that the glacial Mississippi was temporarily dammed at the south. Such a damming would form a long, narrow, valley- lake. Erratics might be rafted out by floating ice to positions high above the present floodplain, and into the mouths of tributary, non-glacial valleys, as in Grant River where such erratics of granite, diorite, porphyry, and quartzite have been found. On the other hand, the small pebbles of granite, trap, porphyry, jasper, quartzite, and quartz, found near the Mississippi at several localities east of Trempealeau, La Crosse, and De Soto, at elevations of 380 to 480 feet above the river, may very well be older drift, rather than berg-rafted lake deposits, since the boundary of the Driftless Area a short distance to the northwest at Alma is by no means certain. The isolated patch of quartz pebbles near Seneca, Crawford County, appears to be of preglacial origin. Deposits of Glacial Streams Outwash Plains and Valley Trains. The streams from the melting glacier also flowed out into and across the Driftless Area, where they made great deposits of erratic bowlders, gravel, and sand. The parts of the Driftless Area covered by these stream de- posits is shown in Plate VII. Another map (Fig. 161) represents the same thing in the region near Stevens Point and Wausau. These deposits are of two sorts: — (a) broad outwash gravel plains, made up of coalescing alluvial fans, as in Adams, Wood, and Portage Counties, between the Wisconsin River and the terminal moraine of the Green Bay lobe; (b) long, narrow, valley trains, as in the Wisconsin River between Sauk City and Prairie du Chien, in the Mississippi valley between Lake Pepin and Dubuque, and in the Black River between Hatfield and Trempealeau. Subsequent down- cutting "of the streams has separated these valley trains into de- tached terraces (p 143), 120 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The broad outwash plains are frequently of great area. The glacial gravel and sand in Adams County covers nearly 400 square miles of the Driftless Area. The narrow valley trains in the Drift- less Area are often of great thickness, the outwash gravel deposits Fig. 37. The glacial deposits near the Baraboo Range, the terminal moraine near Prairie du Sac and the head of the valley train of outwash gravels which extends down the Wis- consin River. (Alden). in the Mississippi and Wisconsin valleys being 100 to 200 feet thick. Often these outwash gravels are partly or wholly covered by later deposits, such as the postglacial river bottom silts of the Mississippi, or by wind-blown sand and loess. Most of these outwash gravel deposits were probably built by glacial streams during the latest advance of the ice sheet. Thus they are of Wisconsin age. The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 121 Older Outwash in the Wisconsin Valley. Glacial waters also flowed down the Mississippi, Wisconsin, Black, and other stream valleys of the Western Upland, during the earlier periods of glacia- tion. They undoubtedly deposited outwash gravels. Most of these accumulations of older outwash were subsequently buried or eroded away. There are thin, scattered deposits of thoroughly-weathered drift east and west of Wauzeka and on the rock terrace at Bridgeport, near the mouth of the Wisconsin River. These are reddish, in- soluble clays with rounded pebbles of quartzite, quartz, chert, and resistant igneous rocks. The clay is leached of all its soluble ma- terial, but there are rare limestone pebbles in the deposit. The nature of this drift seems to indicate that it represents outwash rather than till. Its relationships favor the view that it is not western drift from Iowa, but an ancient outwash deposit from an ice front somewhere east of Prairie du Sac. There are also weathered gravels near Sauk City. The lime is entirely leached from the upper layers, though limestone pebbles are abundant below. As the same thing occurs in some deposits of undoubted Wisconsin age, as in Waushara County, it does not appear necessary that the outwash near Sauk City. is of Illinoian age. It seems more probable that this is Wisconsin outwash. Valley Fill in the Driftless Area. The most recent outwash deposits of the Western Upland are discussed more fully in the following chapters (pp. 143, 176, 188). There are valley train gravels of glacial origin, now represented by terraces. Many stream valleys are deeply filled with deposits of glacial time but not of glacial material. In general the valleys of the Driftless Area in the Western Upland are flat floored. Hardly any of these streams are now cutting in rock. Deposits of Driftless Area Streams Within the Driftless Area the deposits of glacial time which do not contain any glacial material are found in the Kickapoo, Grant, Pecatonica, La Crosse, and many other rivers. Nearly all streams of any size, built up, or aggraded, their courses so that they kept pace with the glacier-fed streams which crossed the Driftless Area. Certain smaller streams failed to keep up and were dammed at the mouth, where temporary lakes (p. 158) or small swamps were formed. Extensive alluvial fans were built. 122 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin One reason for up-building or aggradation by these non-glacial streams during glacial time was that the precipitation over the whole Driftless Area was undoubtedly increased by the presence of the surrounding continental glacier and the cold that it brought. The preglacial vegetation of the Driftless Area may have all been killed, for botanists tell us that the plant forms there now are not significantly different from those of the surrounding glaciated ter- ritory. One author states, however, that the Driftless Area is in- teresting ecologically because it contains many plants, such as mosses and other low forms, peculiar to it alone. Frost action in the Driftless Area was probably deeper and more effective during the Glacial Period than at present. These three factors, (a) in- creased water supply, (b) barren surface, and (c) increased weather- ing through frost action, all tended to allow the Driftless Area streams and their tributaries to erode rapidly at their headwaters and, therefore, to transport more material. The deposition by the heavily-laden glacier-fed streams, to which these non-glacial, Drift- less Area streams were tributary, caused the latter to deposit also. Wind Work During and Since the Glacial Period Conditions Favoring Transportation by the Wind. The work of the' wind during and immediately after the Glacial Period was much different from the present and the preglacial wind work. The outwash gravel plains and the valley trains contained great quantities of finely-comminuted material. This included (a) the milky sediment ground fine by erosion of the rock beneath the glacier and carried by ice-born streams, (b) fragments of rock due to erosion of the gravel and sand of the glacial streams, and (c) finely-weathered material from the hills of the Driftless Area. The first two kinds of material were continually being deposited by the glacial streams, which constantly shifted over the outwash plains and valley trains as they built up their beds. As soon as such deposits dried in the sun, the dust and finer sand were picked up and transported by the wind, a process frequently observed near glacial streams in Alaska. Dunes. The sandstone ledges of the Driftless Area were barren of vegetation during the Glacial Period. This gave the wind an oppor- tunity to carry away the finer portions of the weathered sandstone. The barrenness of driftless ridges and valley trains gave the wind free opportunity to transport fine sandy material, both glacial and weathered, and to accumulate sand in dunes. Dunes are found in the Wisconsin valley east of Necedah, and between Lone Rock and Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XII. THE DRIFTLESS AREA. Upper map — Driftless Area on left, glaciated region on right; terminal moraine passes through road corner marked 1164. (From Cross Plains Quadrangle, U. S. Geological Survey.) Lower map — Driftless Area ridges and valleys; sandstone valley at north, limestone ridges at south. Elevations in feet above sea level. Contour interval, 20 feet. (From Sparta Quadrangle, TJ S. Geological Survey.) The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 123 Sauk City, in the Mississippi valley near Trempealeau and Onalaska, and at various other points on the terraces. They are apt to be covered with grass and trees, so that only a few of them are still in motion. Man's activities in cutting timber and ploughing has set the dunes to moving again here and there. During the Glacial Period, then, (a) the supply of fine, transported material carried and deposited by the glacial streams and (b) the release of fine, weathered material previously held down by vege- tation, gave the winds an opportunity to transport and deposit very fine sand and dust to which it could not have had access before the Glacial Period. This condition lasted during the melting of the glaciers and subsequently up to the time when vegetation encroached upon and once more covered the Driftless Area. The glacial de- posits near the Driftless Area also supplied much material to the wind before vegetation began to cover them. The Loess. The finer deposits resulting from this increased wind work are called loess, a silt intermediate in fineness between clay and sand. There was a long period during which the origin of the loess was in dispute. Some held that it was a wind deposit; others, that it was laid down in lakes and by rivers. There are surely some water-laid deposits of loess, chiefly to the south of Wisconsin, but it is now practically agreed that most, if not all, of the Wisconsin loess of the uplands is wind-deposited. Nature of Loess. The loess deposits are commonly: (a) fine, homogeneous, without stratification ; (b) friable, soft enough to be easily removed with a spade; (c) in cliffs, with vertical faces or with steeper erosion slopes than any other unconsolidated material; (d) made up largely of quartz, but so full of lime as to effervesce freely in acid; (e) light brown, buff, or yellow in color. Loess may have nodules or tubular masses of lime; it may contain freshwater shells. A glacial deposit of similar appearance has sometimes been mistaken for loess. This is a lake clay without laminae or layers. It is found, among other places, in the upper parts of railway cuts in the terminal moraines east of Devils Lake and east of Kilbourn, as well as the region near Madison. The presence of large ice-rafted bowlders in this lake clay is often the only thing distinguishing it from loess, especially as it is similar in color and often stands up with vertical cliffs. 124 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Distribution of Loess. The chief loess deposits in this state are located in the Driftless Area and in the portion of it just east of the Mississippi River. The thicker loess deposits are usually within 10 to 20 miles of the river, and rarely more than 30 or 40 miles. Thinner deposits of loess are found 50 to 80 miles from the Mississippi. There is loess in the region of older drift in north- western Wisconsin, and doubtless in many other areas as yet un- mapped. It is not confined to the region of older drift or to the Driftless Area, but overlies the latest drift as well. The loess deposits extend high upon the upland above the bottomlands of the Mississippi, being found more than 300 feet above the present floodplain near Cassville and Dubuque, and over 600 feet above the Mississippi near Viroqua. The Knox silt loam and Marshall silt loam, as classified by the Division of Soils of the Wisconsin Geological Survey, are made up largely of loess. This wind-blown soil covers 350 square miles of Iowa County and probably even more of Grant County nearer the Mississippi. In La Crosse County the loess covers about 200 square miles. It is known to occupy 870 square miles near the Mississippi River in the region of older drift and the driftless area of Pierce, Pepin, Dunn, and Eau Claire Counties. Thus it includes over 1400 square miles of 6 counties in western Wisconsin where the soils are mapped. Thickness of the Loess. The 'thickness of the loess averages from 10 to 15 feet, running up to 60 feet near the Mississippi and down to a foot or less at a considerable distance. The undecayed, angular, rock fragments, which make up this deposit, are .05 to .005 millimeters or less than 1-500 of an inch in diameter. These fragments grade from fine sand near the river to impalpable dust at a distance of a few miles. Reason for Distribution of Loess. The general character of this material, capable of being carried in suspension by the wind, its coarseness and thickness near the Mississippi River, with gra- dation eastward, and its existence at variable heights above river level, all seem to point to its transportation by the wind. Much of that in Wisconsin originated on the great valley train of the Mississippi and the valley trains of the tributary rivers which flowed from the ice sheet to the west across the portion of the Driftless Area in Minnesota and Iowa. The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 125 The absence of thick loess deposits adjacent to the great outwash deposits of the middle Wisconsin River, in Adams and adjacent counties, may be due to the following: (a) The glacial material here is coarse, the fine silt generally being carried much farther from the glacier before deposition. (b) The local glacial climate may have been wetter, resulting in less dry material for wind transportation. (c) The Cambrian sandstone may have yielded less fine material by preglacial weathering than the Ordovician limestones to the west near the Mississippi. (d) There is less upland area on which wind-blown loess could be deposited and exempted from later burial by stream and lake deposits. (e) The wind-blown loess, from the weathered limestone and sandstone of central Wisconsin, carried eastward by the prevailing westerly winds, would fall on the slumping border of the stagnant, retreating glacier. Here it might become mixed with the till, sand and gravel, so that it made no thick deposits, as it did on the hills of the Driftless Area near the Mississippi. Accordingly it is not surprising to find the loess absent in Clark, Marathon and adjacent counties of the Northern Highland and Cen- tral Plain. There is a little in Juneau County, but none to the east in Waushara County. Of course the loess was deposited here and there in central Wisconsin, but it is thinner than that near the Missis- sippi. Nevertheless at least a part of the finer glacial material near the surface and much of the clayey soil in eastern Wisconsin is due to wind work during and just after the Glacial Period. Prairies in the Driftless Area The extent of country which was treeless when white men first came to Wisconsin is indicated in Figure 38. The proportion of prairie land is much less than in Iowa and Illinois. It is larger, how- ever, in western and southwestern Wisconsin than in the northern and eastern parts of the state (Fig. 115). Most of the prairies were in the oak forest. The maple forest and the woodland of conifers, or mixed conifers and hardwoods, had few open spaces. The location of certain of these prairies is indicated by the names still current, as Prairie du Chien, Prairie du Sac, Prairie La Crosse — the last now shortened to La Crosse — and Muscoda. Muscoda is an Indian name, meaning "land destitute of trees," the present form being a corruption of Maskoute or Mashkodeng. 126 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The cause of the treeless condition has not been settled. Among the suggestions are peculiarities of soil, dampness, dryness, excessive Fig. 38. The distribution of prairies — shown in white — in the Western Upland of Wis- consin. evaporation, fires, underlying rock, and local topography. In the Western Upland the prairies are in both driftless and glaciated terri- tory, on ridges, and in valleys. Many of them are in loess-covered i The Glacial Period in the Western Upland 127 areas where the soil is exceedingly fine-grained, but only a small proportion of the area of loess is treeless. In Iowa and Illinois, how- ever, where there is more loess, there are larger areas of prairie. Relative Value of Driftless and Glaciated Land A study of the percentage of improved land and the value of crops in Wisconsin shows that the Driftless Area is inferior to the glaciated portion of the state. Through the addition of the drift materials to the soil and, even more, through the smoothing of topog- raphy, it appears likely that the glaciated area has benefited to such an extent that the increased valuation to agriculture in the southern part of Wisconsin may be estimated at about thirty million dollars a year. Whitbeck's summary follows: "Comparison of Per cent of Improved Lands. — Twelve typical coun- ties, 6 sandstone and 6 limestone, excess in favor of drift, 10^%. Comparison of Crop Values per Square Mile of Total Area. — Excess in favor of drift, in sandstone belt, 10%; in limestone belt, 31 %. Comparison in Per cent of Uncleared Land (southern half of state.) — In driftless area, 27%; in drift area, 11%. Comparison of Crop Values per Square Mile in Four Counties Crossed by the Terminal Moraine. — Sandstone, average value all crops per square mile, drift, $2,776; driftless, $1,968. Limestone, average value all crops per square mile, drift, $3,828; driftless, $2,690. Excess in favor of drift of 40%. Comparison of Crop Values in Two Chains of Townships, one on each side of the terminal moraine. — Excess in favor of drift, in sand- stone belt, 11%; in limestone belt, 36%. Comparison of Crop Values per Square Mile in Forty Townships Chosen at Random. — Excess in favor of drift, in sandstone belt, 23%; in limestone belt, 38%. Productivity of the Soil. — Average of four principal crops, (corn, oats, barley, potatoes) : Bushels Per Acre Sandstone Limestone Drift 47.8 bu. 52.0 bu. Driftless 35.5 bu. 51.1 bu. Excess 12.3 bu. =33% .9 bu. =2—% Comparisons in Dairying and Stock Raising. — Of the leading ten counties in the production of cheese, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10 in rank 128 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin are drift-covered; Nos. 5, 6, 8 are driftless; No. 3 is half drift- covered. Average production of cheese per county, drift, 10,000,000 lbs.; driftless, 7,000,000 lbs. Of the leading ten counties in the production of butter, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 in rank are drift-covered; Nos. 6, 7, 8, 10 are driftless. Average production of butter per county, drift, 4f million lbs.; driftless, 3| million lbs. Excess in favor of drift, cheese, 40%; butter, 25%. In the number of all farm animals, excess in favor of drift counties, 14 %". BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MAPS See Chapters III and IV, pp. 70, 89, and Appendix G. CHAPTER VII. THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN WISCONSIN. Pere Marquette and the Father of Waters In the year 1673 Pere Marquette and the Sieur Joliet first saw the Father of Waters. They reached the Mississippi at its junction with the Wisconsin, between Prairie du Chien and the Marquette State Park of today. Marquette says that he "entered Missisippi on The 17th day of June, with a Joy that I cannot Express." The only white me'n to see the river, previously were Radisson and Groseilliers in 1655. The great river then discovered was spoken of by Radisson as having "2 branches, the one toward the west, the other toward the South, W ch we believe runns towards Mexico, by the tokens they gave us." Marquette described the river as follows: "The Missisippi takes its rise in various lakes in the country of the Northern nations. It is narrow at the place where Miskous [Wisconsin River] empties; its Current, which flows southward, is slow and gentle. To the right is a large Chain of very high Moun- tains, and to the left are beautiful lands ; in various Places the stream is Divided by Islands. On sounding, we found ten brasses of water. Its Width is very unequal; sometimes it is three-quarters of a league, and sometimes it narrows to three arpents." Thus the early observers tell us of the source and mouth of the Mississippi, of the high bluffs on either side, the islands, and the gentle current. The width of the channel, 3 arpents to three-quarters of a league, or 576 to 9,500 feet, was merely an estimate. The depth of 10 brasses, or about 53 feet, seems much greater than that of today. Now, as then, the uplands adjacent to the Mississippi are "beautiful lands." The Scenery of the Mississippi The gorge or trench of the Mississippi along the western border of the state furnishes the most rugged topography and picturesque 130 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin scenery to be found in "Wisconsin. Indeed, it seems certain that, for travellers, it is destined to be one of the most attractive regions be- tween the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. It may be seen comfortably from a river steamer, or from the Chicago; Burlington and Quincy Railway on the eastern bank, or the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul on the west. In many respects it is similar and not in- ferior to the gorge of the Rhine in Germany. Even the ruined castles of the Rhine are simulated in the rocky cliffs along the Mississippi. The geologist Owen described this ef- fectively in 1839, when he spoke of the limestone cliffs of Wisconsin and Iowa as follows: "Sometimes they may be seen in the distance, rising from out the rolling hills of the prairie, like ruined castles, moss-grown under the hand of time. "Sometimes they present even when more closely inspected, a curious resemblance to turrets, and bastions, and battlements, and even to the loopholes and embrasures of a regular fortification. Sometimes single blocks are seen jutting forth, not unlike dormer windows rising through the turf-clad roof of an old cottage; and again, at times, especially along the descending spurs of the hills, isolated masses emerge in a thousand fanciful shapes, in which the imagination readily recognizes the appearance of giants, sphinxes, lions, and innumerable fantastic resemblances." Even the historical associations of the Rhine are not entirely wanting, for the Mississippi had a long history of Indian occupa- tion, even before the coming of white explorers. The effigy mounds of the aborigines are very abundant along the Mississippi bluffs, and the two centuries and a half of Caucasion travel along the Father of Waters are replete with interesting events. Many of the early travellers looked upon the Mississippi with keen appreciation. In 1821 the geologist Schoolcraft, viewing the Mississippi at its confluence with the St. Croix near Prescott, said : "There is an island in the Mississippi opposite its junction. At this place, the river bluffs assume an increased height, and more im- posing aspect, and in the course of the succeeding fifty miles, we are presented with some of the most majestic and pleasing scenery which adorns the banks of the upper Mississippi. In many places the calcareous bluffs terminate in pyramids of naked rocks, which resemble the crumbling ruins of antique towers, and aspire to such a giddy height above the level of the water, that the scattered oaks which cling around their rugged summits seem dwindled to the The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 131 most diminutive size; at others, the river is contracted between two perpendicular walls of opposing rock, which appear to have been sundered to allow it an undisturbed passage to the ocean, and not unfrequently, these walls are half buried in their own ruins, and present a striking example of the wasting effects of time upon the calcareous strata of our planet. Sometimes, there is a rock bluff on one bank, and an extensive plain of alluvion on the other, contrast- ing with the finest effect, the barrenness of the mineral, with the luxuriant herbage, and the rural beauty, of the vegetable kingdom. Again, the hills recede from either shore, and are veiled in the azure tint of the distant landscape, while the river assumes an amazing width, and is beautified with innumerable islands, and we find our- selves at once bewildered between the infinity of its channels, and the attractive imagery of its banks. Nor is the presence of animated nature wanting, to enrich and beautify the scene. The deer is fre- quently seen standing in the cool current of the stream, gathering the moss from the hidden rocks below, or surveying our approach from the grassy summit of the impending cliff, with an unconcern, which tells us how little it is acquainted with the sight of man. The whole tribe of water-fowl are found upon the river, and by the variety of their plumage, and their shapes — the wildness of their notes — and the flapping of their wings, serve to diversify the scene, while the well known notes of the robin, and other singing birds upon the shores, which are the same that we have listened to in childhood, recall a train of the most pleasing reflections. Nor is the red man, the lord of the forest, wanting. His cottage is disclosed by the curl- ing smoke upon the distant hills, where he surveys with a satisfied eye the varied creation upon the plains below; — the deer — the elk — the water fowl — the river which floats his canoe — the trees which overshadow the grassy hills upon which he reposes during the heats of noon — the thickets, where he arouses the sleeping bear — the prairie, which gives vigour to his constitution." Stream Erosion for Comparison with Glacial Erosion We, who live in Wisconsin, are favored with an especial oppor- tunity to compare and contrast the work of glaciers with the work of rivers. The features of the Western Upland due to river erosion and river deposits are not less striking than the glacial features of this pro- vince (Chapter VI) and of the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands (Chapter X). Most of the Western Upland lies in the Driftless 132 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Area. Therefore the phenomena of stream work are shown clearly and without significant complication. As this is river erosion and river deposition by the main stream and- tributaries of the largest river in the United States — the Mississippi — it displays the features 900 1300 Fig. 39. Cross-sections to show the variations in the width of the Mississippi gorge and the height of the bluffs, from Prescott (upper), to Trempealeau (middle), and Grant County near Dubuque (lower). t Brick pattern, limestone; dots between horizontal lines, sandstone: dots without lines, glacial gravel and sand and floodplain alluvium. of stream work on an unusually effective scale. These features may very well be compared and contrasted with the topographic forms and physiographic phenomena to be described in eastern Wisconsin, especially as that more populous portion of the state is underlain by the same rocks and, before the Glacial Period doubtless was much like the Western Upland. The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 133 Valley, Gorge, and Channel The Mississippi has a valley, a gorge, and a channel. The Miss- issippi Valley includes the valleys of its tributaries. Its limits are the divides which separate it from the neighboring streams. Thus the valley of the Mississippi extends from the watershed of the Lake Michigan-St. Lawrence drainage in eastern Wisconsin to the water parting of the Red River-Hudson Bay system in Minnesota and the Columbia River in western Montana. The gorge of the Miss- issippi is the youthful, steep-sided trench which follows the western boundary of Wisconsin. Between its bluffs this gorge contains the still narrower channel actually occupied by the waters of the Miss- issippi. The Mississippi gorge is deeper than that of Niagara but not so narrow. It is not so deep as many mountain gorges, such as the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas • River in Colorado or the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona. The name trench per- haps describes it better than the name gorge, though the latter is preferred because it helps emphasize the youthful character of the upper Mississippi. The Gorge or Trench of the Mississippi General Description. This gorge has a length of over 200 miles in Wisconsin, extending from Prescott, at the mouth of the St. Croix River, to southwestern Grant County opposite Dubuque, Iowa. In the gorge or trench are bottomlands 1 to 6| miles wide, bordered by steep bluffs 230 to 650 feet high. The places listed below are 20 to 50 miles apart. Facts about the Gorge of the Mississippi in Wisconsin Locality Width of gorge in miles Height of bluffs above floodplain in feet Elevation of floodplain in feet above sea level Prescott H 3 4| 6* 3 2* 1* 1 230 400 500 650 500 500 300 260 677 Pepin 668 Buffalo City 657 Trempealeau 642 De Soto 617 Prairie du Chien 612 Cassville 602 Dubuque 592 134 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The Mississippi Bluffs. These bluffs are exceedingly steep, descending more than 500 feet near Trempealeau, for example, within a horizontal distance of 800 feet. In fact a portion of each bluff is likely to be a precipice. It is this retention of steep cliffs and precipices on the walls of the gorge that lead us to call it a gorge Fig. 40. The bluffs of the Mississippi where the rock is chiefly weak sandstone and the gorge is broad. Contour interval 20 feet. (From Waukon Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) and to classify it as young. In most places the gorge wall consists of steep slopes on the weaker rocks and precipices where the more resistant layers of sandstone or limestone come to the surface. The bluffs in the Iowa-Wisconsin portion of the river were well described in 1891 by McGee, who said: "The most prominent geographic feature of the driftless area is the Mississippi canon — a steep-sided, flat-bottomed gorge ranging from a mile to 7 or 8 miles in width, and gradually diminishing in depth southward from nearly 500 feet at the north line of the State to less The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 135 than 200 feet at the tip of 'Cromwell's Nose.' Yet, although a veritable rock-bound canon, similar in genesis to that of the Colo- rado and in depth approaching that of the Hudson, this gorge is not confined between continuous palisades, but rather guarded by lines of isolated or nearly isolated bluffs stretching along either side of Fig. 41. The bluffs of the Mississippi where the rock is chiefly resistant limestone and the gorge is narrow. This is 50 miles downstream from the area shown in Figure 40. Contour interval 20 feet . (From Elkader Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) the great river like lines of giant sentinels. Sometimes, indeed, the bluffs are closely crowded, and for a score of miles the cliff wall may be broken only by narrow ravines or the constricted gorges of petty streams; but again the interspaces widen and the bluffs con- tract until the canon wall, as seen from the river, becomes but a line of isolated buttes, now round-topped, again crowded with a fillet of precipitous rock, and always forest clad on the north slopes but grassed toward the sun. Yet viewed from one of their own.. 136 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin summits, the sentry-like bluffs are seen not as buttes but as salients — the extremities of divides stretching and rising far into the in- terior of the strongly undulating plain forming the driftless area. At the same time, too, the interspaces are found to be but broad Fig. 42. The rock hill at Trempealeau when the Mississippi still flowed in the bottom- lands to the northeast. reentrants or amphitheaters, bounded by the converging sides of the salients, themselves sculptured into lines of bluffs as high and steep as those overlooking the river channel. Yet now and then there may be seen mural precipices nearly as steep as the Palisades of the Hudson, and continuous perhaps for two, three, or even five miles." The Mississippi River in Wisconsin. 137 The Rock Hill at Trempealeau. One exceptional feature of the Mississippi gorge is related to the bluffs. This is the high rock hill south of the middle of the gorge at the village of Trempealeau. This main hill, usually called Trempealeau Bluffs, terminates at Fig. 43. The rock hill at Trempealeau with the Mississippi in its present channel on the southwest of La Montagne qui trempe a Veau, or the hill in the river. the north in an isolated knob, known as Trempealeau Mountain. The Winnebago Indians are said to have called this whole rocky eminence Hay-nee-ah-chah, or soaking mountain, the Dakota In- dians Min-nay-chon-ka-hah, or bluff in the water, and the Sioux Pah-hah-dah, or mountain separated by water. Accordingly the French continued the same name in the form La Montagne qui trempe a Veau, or the hill which soaks in the water. Our modern 138 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin name Trempealeau is made up of the last four words of the French phrase. It has also been translated Mountain Island, the mountain that is steeped in the water, the bluff rising out of the water, the mountain which sinks, or inclines, or dips in the water. It might well be called the hill with its base in the water, or, simply, the hill in the river. The whole rock island at Trempealeau is a precipitous, isolated series of knobs, rising 530 feet above the bottomlands. Between the Minnesota upland and Trempealeau Bluffs is a channel less than a mile wide, occupied by the Mississippi River. A broad ex- panse of bottomland stretches eastward 3| miles from the Trem- pealeau Bluffs to the cliffs of the Wisconsin upland. It is not now occupied by any river. In one sense Trempealeau Bluffs do not now constitute a real island, laved by waters on all sides, but a hill on the eastern border of the river. The explanation of this high isolated rock hill in the Mississippi bottomland is this. The Trempealeau Bluffs were originally a part of the Minnesota upland. The Mississippi River used to flow in the broad, abandoned trench east of Trempealeau Mountain. It received tributaries from the west (Fig. 42), including Cedar Creek, which seems to have isolated the northern end of Trempealeau Mountain from the main hill, or Trempealeau Bluffs. Another tributary, Big Trout Creek, flowed southward where the Mississippi is now. The glacial floods in the Mississippi deposited sand and gravel up to a higher level than at present. In flowing upon this filling, the Mississippi got into the valleys of Cedar and Big. Trout Creeks (Fig. 43) where it has flowed ever since. As the Mississippi River is the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota, a bit of the latter has been given this state by this prehistoric stream diversion. There is a similar group of three, large, detached, rock hills in Minnesota (Fig. 52) at the northwestern end of Lake Pepin, but here the main river has returned to its valley, and the lateral gorges are abandoned. They are followed by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway between Red Wing and a point west of Lake City, Minnesota, opposite Stockholm, Wisconsin. The Mississippi Floodplain. The gorge walls along the Miss- issippi are youthful, but the bottomland and the river itself have a more mature aspect. The floor of the gorge shows two conspicuous features: (a) the floodplain of the river, which occupies most of the bottomland, and (b) the terraces, which are narrow and discon- tinuous (Figs. 46, 48, 50). Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XIII. A. THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. LB. THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT TREMPEALEAU. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XIV. A. VALLEY OF THE WISCONSIN RIVER FILLED WITH GLACIAL OUTWASH. Looking southward Irom the Baraboo Range. B. POSTGLACIAL GORGE OF ST. CROIX RIVER AT INTERSTATE PARK. The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 139 The floodplain slopes southward from an elevation of about 677 feet at Prescott to 592 feet at Dubuque. Thus it descends only 85 feet in Wisconsin. The distance between these points is 213 miles, but the river curves back and forth from one side of the floodplain to the other, so that the water actually flows 259 miles. The grade of the river, therefore, is a little less than 4 inches to the mile. The floodplain material is clay, silt and loam, sometimes sandy and often dark with organic matter. It may be 10 to 30 inches thick and is underlain by several feet of sand, which often grades into coarse gravel 3 to 6 feet below the surface. There are sometimes low knolls, rising 5 to 10 feet above the adjacent basins. Many of these knolls are made up of 1| to 3 feet of fine sand, beneath which is coarser sand. The basins contain pools or lakes or swamps, where fine silt and decayed vegetation constitute the floodplain ma- terial. There are also bayous, and abandoned channels upon the floodplain (p. 161). In places the peat deposits are 10 feet or more in thickness. Always, however, the floodplain material is a surface film compared with the great thickness of glacial outwash below. It has sometimes been remarked that the precipitous bluffs of the Mississippi are out of harmony with the gentler slopes of some of its tributary valleys. Another observation of apparent incon- gruity has to do with the relative sizes of stream channel and gorge. The explanation of the two points is a common one. It does not appear that the Mississippi is too small for its gorge. The gorge was occupied by larger streams during the Glacial Period. They may have deepened it somewhat. They probably eroded the ends of the spurs. They certainly deposited a great thickness of gravel and sand (p. 143). This deposit has hoisted the river up to a level where the bluffs are farther apart than if the stream was flowing on the rock floor below. The Mississippi River. One of the most impressive features of a great river is the volume of water, flowing away to the sea. This was well described by the geologist, Keating, in 1823, when he went up the Mississippi from Prairie du Chien: "The first day's voyage on the Mississsippi was delightful to those who had never been on that river before; the magnificence of the scenery is such, its characters differ so widely from those of the landscapes which we are accustomed to behold in our tame regions, its features are so bold, so wild, so majestic, that they im- part new sensations to the mind; the very rapidity of the stream, although it opposes our ascent, delights us: it conveys such an idea 140 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin of the extensive volume of water which this river ceaselessly rolls toward the ocean. The immense number of islands which it im- 1*5"™ ^ Fig. 44. The gorge of the Mississippi at La Crosse and Onalaska, showing the bluffs, several terraces, the floodplain with sloughs and lakes, and the channels of the Mississippi Black, and La Crosse Rivers with their sand bars. (Mississippi River Commission.) bosoms, also contributes to the variety of the scenery by presenting it constantly under a new aspect." The Mississippi RitSI'' 1ft ^«V^%kiMA zvMBito fi/reB^r ^N^^i^ E^LOQO%J>^^SK^^^&^ I?' WxaZsmfe \ •"'^E*^sJ"iSL\.. '^ ; \ ft K ^H^^^Ik" ■** ,|', ^MBr|\$s3Bif* '"^jW ^Mp^>yMy l^^v" ' A^S? dpi /J'" V .i' ■ uBr*' ^^^^^^PSfe- ■WEA '^ti? 'A-'^WV^^I^^Bk^' vara wars* fl ^ £fi 'sJi§^^^^^^^^B^§':>>iik i -• J ^-^W5v -v^feUw^BftS.ViTU^w ' ^^feT^^^ira^ *^^^^^s *"^^^^o5>^5 **?V*^S^£ ^___^^^_ &<**& 12 4- 6 8 10 MILES ^VK Fig. 50. The terraces — in black — in the Mississippi bottomlands of the northwestern portion of Wisconsin. The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 151 Table Showing Dimensions of the Mississippi River Terraces Locality Average elevation of surface above flood- plain, in feet Maximum length and width of terrace, in miles Romarks Prescott, Wis. 95 4* by i Gravel terrace, possibly on rock bench. Prescott, Wis. 155 33 by J Perhaps chiefly a rock bench. 235 80 West of Smith's Landing and Diamond Bluff, Wis. 45 7iby j Gravel terrace in middle of bottomlands. Diamond Bluff, Wis. 40 2iby I Diamond Bluff-Trenton, Wis. 65 . 6iby } Red Wing, Minn. 40 5 by I Extends south to Frontenac behind rock hills. Red Wing, Minn. 120 fby i Hager-Bay City, Wis. 90 i by If Bay City, Wis. 75 2 by | Bay City, Wis. 60 Jby A Bay City, Wis. 20 Jby i Wacouta, Minn. 70 Hby i Frontenac village, Minn. 105 liby i Frontenac station-Lake City, Minn. 105 4fby i Lake City, Minn. 105 liby i Florence-Lake City, Minn. 85 3 by A Frontenac-Lake City, Minn. 65 7} by | Lake City, Minn. 40 H by 11 Stockholm, Wis. 45 liby i Bogus Creek, Wis. 105 Pepin, Wis. 45 6 byl Pepin-Chippewa River 105 5 by J Near Chippewa River 225 fby A Possibly a drift remnant or rock hill. Near Chippewa River 30 IJby | Nelson, Wis. 45 3iby J Wabasha, Minn. 30 4; by i Kellogg, Minn. 30 liby I Teepeeota Point terrace, opposite Alma, Wis. 30 9} by I Large terrace in middle of bottomlands. Cochrane-Waumaudee Lake, Wis. 20 11 byll Waumandee River, Wis. 80 Uby I Minnesota City, Minn. 35" 2 by } Winona, Minn. 20 3! by I 152 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Table Showing Dimensions of the Mississippi River Terraces — Continued Locality Average elevation of surface above flood- plain, in feet Maximum length and width of terrace, in miles Remarks Bluff Siding, Wis. 45 IbyA Northwest of Trempealeau Mountain, Wis. 30 East of Trempealeau Bluffs, Wis. 60 101 by 3} Partly alluvial fan of Black River East of Trempealeau Bluffs, Wis. 90 East of Trempealeau, Wis. 35 2 by } Lytle-Briees Prairie, Wis. 35 5 byl New Amsterdam-Onalaaka, Wis. 80 15 by 3 French Island- West La Crosse, Wis. 25 i\ by li West of French Island, Wis. 25 J by J 100 South of Onalaska, Wis. 25 2 by V North La Crosse, Wis. 25 15 by | East of North La Crosse 50 Jby } La Crescent, Minn. 50 If by f La Crosse, Wis. 40 5} by 2i 65 Stoddard, Wis. 30 liby i 30 30 35 40 Harpers Ferry, Iowa 40 3* by } McGregor and North McGregor, Iowa 40 Two small remnants in side valleys. Prairie du Chien, Wis. 25 7i by 1? A large alluvial fan of Wisconsin River. Bagley, Wis. 20 2ibyf Jung, Iowa 20 liby \ Buck Creek, Iowa 20 liby i Guttenberg, Iowa 20 2iby i Cassville, Wis. 55 If by J Possibly rock bench in Galena-Trenton limestone. Cassville, Wis. 20 4 by A South of Potosi, Wis. 20 Hby J Leisure Creek, Iowa 40 iby i Platte River, Wis. 40 Edmore, Iowa 40 liby t Rutledge Siding, Wis. 40 liby i Dubuque, Iowa 40 liby i The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 153 races in southwestern Wisconsin seem to split into two or more ter- races in northwestern Wisconsin. The Mississippi terraces in Wisconsin south of La Crosse appear to be in two systems. These are (a) the 20 foot terraces and (b) the 40 to 50 foot terraces, as may be seen by inspecting the table on page 152. North of La Crosse, however, there are at least three ter- race levels. They rapidly increase in height to more than 100 feet. The intermediate terraces appear at such levels as to suggest (a) that the 40 foot terrace south of La Crosse may split and- form both the 60 and the 105 foot levels as it increases in height to the north, (b) that the 20 foot terrace south of La Crosse may be similarly related to both the 30 and the 45 foot levels farther north, and (c) that the 20 foot level north of La Crosse is entirely independent of the 20 foot level to the south. All this must be regarded as tentative rather than final. Likeness of Terrace History to that of Glacial Lake Beaches. It will be shown later (Chapters XII, XVIII) that the abandoned beaches of the Glacial Great Lakes are similar to the Mississippi River terraces in number and degree of inclination. The beaches in southern Lake Michigan are essentially horizontal, while those to the north (a) increase in altitude and (b) split into separate strand lines. Of course the beaches were originally horizontal, while the river terraces slanted southward. In the table (pp. 151-152) the ter- race levels have been stated in relation to the gently-sloping sur- face of the present Mississippi floodplain. The reason for the northward inclination of the Lake Michigan beaches is that the land has been rising toward the north during and since the Glacial Period (pp. 285, 421). The beaches in southern Lake Michigan are essentially horizontal because they are south of what is known as a hinge line (Figs. 116, 117, 119). One of these hinge lines may cross the Mississippi at or near La Crosse. If this is the case, it furnishes a simple and rational explanation of the few and low terraces to the south and the many and high terraces to the north. It is, of course, recognized that there are other controls for ter- races, besides the tilting of the land. They may be related to rock ledges, as seems to be the case on the St. Croix River at the Inter- state Park. They may be related to the volume of water and the load of gravel, sand, and mud which was carried by the Mississippi. It may turn out that a few of the terrace remnants — all of which now seem to be of latest-glacial or Wisconsin age — are related to one or another of the earlier drift sheets (p. 80). Certainly a system of 154 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin similar terraces was formed during each of the earlier stages of glaciation; but all or nearly all of these, like the pre- Wisconsin glacial lake beaches, were subsequently destroyed. The terraces were made by glacial streams. These streams, originally deposited the sand and gravel. Subsequently they cut away the larger part of it. What remains constitutes the terraces. The effect of tilting, during the existence of the glacial streams which made the terraces, would be to make just such a terrace system as we have. If there were more tilting north of a hinge line at La Crosse, then the terraces should rise to higher and higher levels, as is the case. There should be more terrace levels north of La Crosse than to the south. This also appears to be the case. Fin- ally, the tributaries of the Mississippi north of the hinge line should Horizontal Scale Fig. 51. The channel and .bottomlands within the gorge of the Mississippi, showing the buried portion of the gorge. Op, Lower Magnesian limestone or Prairie du Chien for- mation; Osp, St. Peter sandstone; Opv, Platteville limestone; Og, Galena limestone; Om, Cincinnati or Maquoketa shale; Sn, Niagara limestone; Ql, loess; Qot. outwash terrace deposits and alluvium. (Grant.) have more terraces than the tributaries to the south. This also appears to be the case, as witnessed by the Chippewa River with five or more terraces in contrast with the Wisconsin which has only two or three. Thickness of Terrace Material. The thickness of the terrace material is remarkable. Close to the bluffs it may be (a) 75 to 80 feet, as at Fountain City and Maiden Rock, or (b) 103 feet, as at Alma, or (c) 148 feet, as at Onalaska, or (d) 172 feet, as at Cassville. Farther out in the middle of the bottomland it may be (e) 170 feet, as at La Crosse, or (f) only 147 feet, as at Prairie du Chien. Origin and Age of Terraces. The terrace material is sand and gravel, sometimes with a little silty material, and frequently with dune sand on the surface. Where the terrace material is pebbly or gravelly it contains a variety of igneous and metambrphic crystal- line rocks, as well as the local sandstone, and flint, and sometimes limestone. The crystalline rocks show that the terrace material is glacial outwash. The presence of limestone and the lack of weather- The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 155 ing in most of the crystalline pebbles indicate that it is valley train outwash of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation. Buried Portion of the Mississippi Gorge The gorge of the Mississippi was formerly cut down to a lower level, as is shown by the following table, based upon well records in the Mississippi gorge of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The figures in the right hand column, printed in heavy face type, represent wells near the middle of the valley, the others are at or near the bluffs and do not show the maximum depth of the gorge. Rock Floor of Mississippi River in Wisconsin Locality Depth to rock in feet Elevation of sur- face, in feet above sea level Elevation of rock floor, in feet above sea level 200 about 720 520° 160 708 548 207 710 503 165 700 535 103 662 559 Opposite East Winona, Trempealeau Co., at Winona, Minn 150 662 512° 170 674 504 130 650 520 147 639 492 172 630 458 Opposite Rutledge Siding, Grant Co., near Eagle Point, Iowa 160 600 440 210 615 405 "Or less. The level near St. Paul may be slightly below 500 feet. The table shows that the gorge has been buried to a depth of 100 to 200 feet. The rock floor of the Mississippi slopes southward, in- dicating that the river flowed southward before the Glacial Period as it does now. Its grade is a little steeper than that of the present river, and may be as steep as six inches to the mile. Lakes of. the Mississippi Lake Pepin. In the gorge of the Mississippi, just west of the Chippewa River in Pierce and Pepin Counties, is Lake Pepin. It is 1 to 2§ miles wide and nearly 22 miles long, covering 38| square miles. The maximum depth of the lake is 56 feet, but most of it 156 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin is 20 to 35 feet deep. Father Hennepin observed in 1680 that "its Waters are almost standing, the Stream being hardly perceptible in the middle." Hennepin called Lake Pepin "the Lake of Tears." The cause of this lake is the delta of the Chippewa River, which lies in the gorge of the Mississippi at the southeastern end of the lake. This delta is covered by modern floodplain deposits. The reason that the small Chippewa River was able to bring more Fig. Lake Pepin in the Mississippi bottomlands, showing the delta of Chippewa River which causes the lake. Contour interval 10 feet. material than the larger Mississippi could carry away is thai the grade of the Chippewa is much steeper than that of the Mississippi. The tributary . stream carried more and coarser debris than the master stream could remove. Accordingly a lake was dammed back in the gorge of the Mississippi. The gorge has been filled by the main stream to a depth of at least 30 to 50 feet since the dam was built, as we know from the depth of Lake Pepin. The Mis- sissippi has built out a delta in the northern end of the lake and this is still growing. The lake must originally have extended much farther upstream toward Prescott. Certainly the head of the lake was not long ago at least five miles farther upstream at Hagar, Wis., and Red Wing, Minn. The Sioux Indians are said to have traditions regarding this. Below Red Wing three large and several The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 157 small lakes lie between the distributary channels of the Missis- sippi. The water in the northwestern end of Lake Pepin has been shoaled to less than half the depth it must have had originally, indicating the process by which the lake will eventually be de- stroyed. It has been stated that Lake Pepin has varied notably in level within historic times. This is upon the basis of stumps of trees in the channel of the Mississippi at Red Wing, Minn. These stumps are possibly to be interpreted as evidence that the channels are shifting and being built up. It is thought that the French ex- plorers found the main Chippewa flowing in what is now called the Beef River Slough below Wabasha, Minn. The change from this to the present channel, opposite Reads Landing, Minn., would cause the level of Lake Pepin to rise slightly. The shores of Lake Pepin are partly the high rock bluffs of the Mississippi gorge, partly the Mississippi terraces, and partly the very low modern deposits made by streams and waves. The larger stream deposits are the deltas of the Mississippi and the Chippewa at the head and foot of the lake respectively, and the smaller deltas of Rush River near Maiden Rock and of Isabel Creek at Bay City. Other notable features of the low shorelines are the spits, made by waves and currents. Pairs of these spits converge in V-shaped points, or cusps, enclosing triangular swampy areas. There are cusps at Stockholm and Maiden Rock on the Wisconsin shore, and even better ones at the Point Au Sable, Central Point, and Lake City cusps on the Minnesota shore. Conditions at Prairie du Chien. The question naturally arises as to why the Wisconsin River has not made an enlargement of the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. The fact is that the waters of the Mississippi are backed up somewhat at Prairie du Chien, though not enough to make a second Lake Pepin. There may have been such a lake there in the past, however; but, if so, it has been completely filled by the deposits of the Mississippi. The terrace at Prairie du Chien constricts the Mississippi somewhat, so that it should be able to carry away the Wisconsin River detritus more effectively than it can that of the Chippewa. Lake St. Croix (p. 190) is of the same type as Lake Pepin. State Boundary in Lake Pepin. An interesting matter of political geography has to do with the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota in Lake Pepin. The law provides that the boundary shall follow the main channel of the Mississippi River along the 158 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin western border of this state (p. 441). In Lake Pepin there is no accepted channel. The steamboats may go almost anywhere, except at the inlet and outlet. There has been difficulty in ad- ministering the fish and game laws because, until recently, the open season differed in the two states. Accordingly there has been controversy, the state of Minnesota claiming the boundary should be in the middle of the lake half way between the shores, while the state of Wisconsin contended that it should follow the usual route traversed by steamboats. This route happens to be much nearer the Minnesota shore, because the larger boats call only at Lake City on the Minnesota side. Accordingly Wisconsin claims nearly three- fourths of Lake Pepin, while Minnesota contends that we are entitled to only half. From the point of view of geography there certainly is no main channel. Moreover, the line of deepest water — if it were held that that constituted a main channel — does not coincide with the route usually followed by steamboats. Figure 52 shows that the line of deepest water is in many places on a broad, flat-floored portion of the lake bottom, much of it occupying half or a third the width of the lake. Where it is narrower it is even closer to the Minnesota shore than the steamboat route. The whole controversy really turns on the question as to whether the body of water at Lake Pepin is river or lake. Geographers can have no hesitancy in calling it lake, just as is the case in Lakes Ontario, Erie, or Huron, which are broad stretches of water in the St. Lawrence River system. Waumandee Lake. A small body of water of exactly the same type as Lake Pepin and Lake St. Croix is Waumandee Lake, north- west of Fountain City in Buffalo County. Here a small stream was able to cut down through the Mississippi terraces of outwash gravel at the mouth 6f Waumandee Creek, where the valley is separated from that of the Mississippi by a high gravel barrier. When the period of terrace-cutting ceased, however, the Mississippi floodplain deposits accumulated faster, than the tributary could remove them, so that the lake was formed. It is 1\ miles long and f of a mile wide. The lake is so shallow that the northern half of it has been converted into a swamp through the work of aqueous plants, suggesting that the whole lake will soon be extin- guished by filling. Many other valley mouths along the Mississippi have contained lakes of the Waumandee type, but most of them have now been destroyed. There are two small lakes of this type in the mouth : ' IvJ'i-l , .' \ V _'i>.>*.V ■> / 'i i'V A\\ J ' ■•\-\' ; :-i|f,'. Fig. 53. Waumandee Lake, where the Mississippi has dammed the mouth of a tributary. Terrace west and southwest of the lake. Contour interval on the floodplain and terrace 5 feet, on the bluffs 20 feet. (Mississippi River Commission.) 160 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin of the Platte River in Grant County. A remnant of such a lake still remains at the mouth of Copper Creek south of Ferryville in Craw- ford County. The swamp representative of a similar lake, now extinct, lies at the mouth of Wind Creek north of Diamond Bluff in w V/VA //lansingCP^^C^ y"£ CjaFERHYVILLEy/// / / / / / Ft-wt/jpjri /Mr^Y/ V, 6 12 Mite AhraYs Fig. 54. Channels and backwater sloughs of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin. Pierce County. There are swamps in the mouths of other tributaries, where the water has never been deep enough to form a lake. Small Lakes of the Mississippi Floodplain. One of the regions of most abundant lakes in Wisconsin is the present flood- plain of the Mississippi. These lakes are all small and all shallow. Few of them are more than 5 or 6 feet deep. They are relatively inaccessible because of the swampy bottomlands surrounding them. Only a few of them have names. Yet their total number is very The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 161 great. This may be judged from the fact that in an area of about 20 square miles of the floodplain there are over 200 lakes and ponds. This was in the Wisconsin portion of the Mississippi bottomland in Crawford County between Lynxville and De Soto. The number was counted on one of the detailed maps of the Mississippi River Com- mission, and sloughs and bayous still connected with the river were not included. The lakes range in size from bodies of water half a mile long and an eighth of a mile wide to pools only one or two hundred feet in diameter. There may be as many as a thousand of these floodplain lakes in the Mississippi floodplain of Wisconsin. Not all of these lakes are as small as those just mentioned. Rice Lake north of La Crosse and the upper and lower lakes north of the head of Lake Pepin are each a mile and a half long and a mile wide. McGregor Lake at Prairie du Chien is four-fifths of a mile long and nearly half a mile wide. There are still larger ones west of the main channel of the Mississippi in the Minnesota portion of the flood- plain. These large bodies of water are exceptional, however, and the small lakes are more common. The floodplain contains not only a main broad channel of the Mississippi, sometimes divided into two or more channels, but also numerous narrow sloughs or bayous. Some of these sloughs are the outlets of tributary streams in which the water flows rapidly. Others are cross sloughs which leave the main channel and join it again. Still others are abandoned channels of the Mississippi, and contain long, narrow, crooked, bodies of stagnant water without perceptible current. These backwater sloughs are more closely allied to the floodplain lakes than to the channels of the river and its tributaries. At times of high water the Mississippi spreads over a large part of the bottomland, covering sloughs, lakes, and flood- plain. Besides Lake Pepin and the St. Croix-Waumandee type there are lake basins (a) In portions of abandoned channels now cut off from the main stream by deposits of detritus or accumulations due to plants, (b) in low portions of the floodplain between the deposits at the borders of existing channels or bayous and the rock bluffs or the edges of terraces, and (c) in hollows formed by the growth of a delta into a lake. There are hundreds of illustrations of the first or abandoned- channel type of floodplain lake, for example Long Lake near Trem- pealeau, Round Lake near La Crosse and the Marais de St. Friol at Prairie du Chien. The last is partly due to an artificial dam. 162 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin McGregor Lake is not of exactly the same type, being held in between two main channels of the river on the island at Prairie du Chien. The lower Mississippi flows in great ox-bow curves, but as there are none of these curves, or meanders, in the main channel of the Mississippi in Wisconsin there areno ox-bow lakes among the abandoned channels. The lakes between floodplain deposits and the rock bluffs or terrace scarps are illustrated by Rice Lake (Fig. 44), which lies close Fie. 55. The small lakes in the Mississippi floodplain at the head of Lake Pepin. (Mis- sissippi River Commission.) to Black River north of Onalaska. It is a good-sized lake, but much of it is only one or two feet deep and the western two-thirds is filled with growing plants. This lake is fast being converted into a swamp. There is a similar body of water in the .main floodplain north of Waumandee Creek, and another is being made at Goose Bay near the head of Lake Pepin. The lakes between distributaries of a delta are exemplified by Upper Lake and Lower Lake at the head of Lake Pepin. ~A third lake of this type is in process of formation near Bay City between Lower Lake and Lake Pepin. It is now nearly enclosed and is already partly filled with marsh plants. A fourth lake will soon be formed between the Main and South Channels at the head of Lake Pepin. Upper Lake and Lower Lake were 5 to 7 feet deep in 1897. West of the former in Minnesota is another lake of the same origin The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 163 which has been almost entirely filled by vegetable accumulation. Only a little open water remains at the eastern edge of the lake basin, the remainder being a level marsh. Swamps of the Mississippi Floodplain. It has already been shown that many lakes of the Mississippi floodplain are in process of extinction by filling and that others have been completely filled and converted into swamps. There are also vast areas of swamp land which have never been in lakes or abandoned channels. These marshes cover hundreds of square miles. Some of them are too wet for utilization. Others are dry enough during portions of the year so that they form meadow land of good quality. Many meadows and areas underlain by peat support marsh grass but cannot be utilized because they are so swampy. Because they are inundated several times a year, they' are too soft to support horses and wagons, so that the wild marsh grass remains uncut. The detailed maps of the Mississippi River Commission distinguish the marshes from the meadows. The forested areas of the floodplain, where elm, birch, maple, oak, and basswood trees grow profusely, are often on the higher lands. Willows grow on lower portions of the floodplain. As the natural levees, which border parts of the main channel, are higher, drier, and more favorable to tree growth than the swamps and meadows away from the river, the traveller who merely sees the floodplain from a steamboat in the main channel is likely to get an impression that there is less swamp land than is really the case. History of the Mississippi River Preglacial Origin of Gorge. The recent history of the Miss- issippi may be summarized as follows. We do not know just when the river came into existence; but at some time before the Glacial Period the existing gorge or trench was cut. We know this from the presence of glacial till within the gorge at points west of Lake St. Croix and others south of Dubuque. We do not know whether much of the deepening of the gorge is due to glacial streams or not. In fact the early history of the gorge is not at all well understood. The gorge may be antecedent to the warping and folding of the Paleozoic rocks. It might even be superimposed from overlying strata, now removed. Lack of Halts in Down-cutting. If there had been one or more peneplain stages at the elevation of the Niagara, Galena- Trenton, or Lower Magnesian limestones, the Mississippi could not 164 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 56. The Mississippi and Wisconsin gorges narrowing downstream in relation to resistant limestone at A and B. Broad portions of gorge in weak sandstone. The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 165 fail to record it by possessing intrenched meanders or by having left old river gravels at the upper limits of the gorge. But there are no such features preserved in Wisconsin or the adjacent states, so that we assume that there was no halt in the down-cutting which formed the gorge. MPRESCOTT //// Fig. 57. The Mississippi in its broad gorge at Trempealeau in sandstone, and its narrow gorge at Prescott in limestone. Persistence of Direction. The river never flowed northward, as has been thought by some authors on the basis of the widening of the gorge upstream from Dubuque to Trempealeau. If it had, the place of beginning of the greatest constriction should not so exactly coincide with the dipping of the resistant Lower Magnesian limestone beneath the grade of the river at Prairie du Chien (see A, Fig. 56). The Wisconsin River also widens upstream, though rivers usually widen downstream. It would be necessary to assume that the Wisconsin formerly flowed eastward, were it not for the fact that the narrowest place is exactly where the same resistant limestone dips beneath the river grade (B, Fig. 56). Again, the theory of former northward flow meets an insurmountable obstacle 166 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin in the narrowing upstream in the Mississippi from Trempealeau, where the broad gorge lies entirely in the weak Cambrian sand- stone, to Prescott, where the narrow gorge again has the resistant Lower Magnesian limestone below river grade (C, Fig. 57). Finally, the rock floor of the Mississippi gorge slopes southward. Period of Filling with Outwash. During the Glacial Period the Mississippi gorge was partly filled with outwash gravel and sand, the highest terraces being over 100 feet above the present flood- plain and the total filling being more than 250 feet in some places. Period of Terrace Cutting. An episode of erosion and terrace- cutting followed this enormous filling. It is evident that the terraces formerly extended clear across the gorge bottom, for one terrace still does so at Trempealeau. Moreover there are terrace remnants not only near the bluffs but also in the very middle of the bottomland, as in the great terrace that extends southward from Teepeeota Point past Alma and Buffalo City. The tributary streams as well as the Mississippi itself have participated in the gigantic task of removing this terrace material, as is shown by numerous terrace remnants now cut off from the base of the bluffs by small creeks from side valleys. Reason for Terrace Cutting. The change from deposition to erosion may have been related to the large volume of water from the southward outflow of Glacial Lake Agassiz. The Glacial River Warren, as this stream was called, was large, and flowed for a long time. It flowed out of a lake, and, therefore, had relatively little sediment compared with the earlier glacial streams in the Miss- issippi valley which came directly from the ice. The outlets of other glacial lakes, as the Kettle-St. Croix outlet of Glacial Lake Nemadji (p. 417), the Upper St. Croix Lake outlet of Glacial Lake Duluth (p. 418), the Black River outlet of Glacial Lake Wisconsin (p. 321), and the Portage outlet of Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet (p. 287) likewise delivered great volumes of water to various parts of the Mississippi valley. As these waters were less heavily laden with sediment than their predecessors which came directly from the melting ice, we might perhaps assume that the change from deposi- tion to erosion came as a result of the floods from the glacial lakes. Another possibility is that the change came as a result of uplift. If the hinge lines which cross Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee cross the Mississippi valley in Wisconsin, then we have terraces on the Mississippi responding to the same conditions as the beaches along Lake Michigan (p. 285). The terraces appear to be split The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 167 into several levels north of the hinge line, for there are fewer ter- races to the south (p. 154). A third possible cause of the change from deposition to erosion is merely the recession of the ice. This resulted in the Mississippi's laying down its coarser load farther north and having only fine detritus at this time, and eventually no coarse sand and gravel at all. This decrease of load would, likewise, enable it to erode terraces in the valley train gravels previously deposited. Its tributaries would keep pace with it in the downcutting, especially such tributaries as the Wisconsin and Chippewa which came directly from the glacier. In the Wisconsin and Chippewa valleys there has likewise been a change from deposition to terrace cutting. As the Wisconsin never had very much water from the small and short- lived Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet, and the Chippewa carried no water from a glacial lake, it seems probable that this third explanation is the true one, or that it is some combination of the second and third explanations here outlined. It appears as if the tilting as well as the decreased stream load were necessary to explain the change from deposition to terrace cutting. Period of Floodplain Deposition. There has been a third change in the history of the Mississippi. The present floodplain is floored chiefly with clay and silt, beneath which is sand and then gravel. This fine floodplain material is still being deposited. The change from the terrace-cutting back to the modern era of floodplain deposition, seems to have taken place because the volume of the Mississippi was suddenly decreased. It had had the water from the melting ice and from glacial lakes. Its volume decreased to that dependent upon the rainfall of its own drainage basin. It could not carry all the load delivered by its headwaters and tribu- taries, so it resumed deposition, as is shown by the formation of Lake Pepin and the other lakes. Summary. Such is the known history of the Mississippi. We may say that there are four episodes: (1) the preglacial and possibly glacial gorge-cutting, (2) the period of deposition, (a) by glaciers, (b) by glacial streams, and (c) by non-glacial tributary streams of the Driftless Area during the Glacial Period, (3) the period of terrace cutting during the late stages of the Glacial Period, and (4) the period of floodplain deposition and lake formation still in progress. Each of. the Mississippi tributaries in the Western Upland, even those lying wholly in the Driftless Area, has had essentially the same episodes in its history. 168 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin BIBLIOGRAPHY Calvin, Samuel. Some Features of the Channels of the Mississippi River between Lansing and Dubuque and their Probable History, Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci;, Vol. 14, 1907, pp. 213-220; Geology of Allamakee County, Iowa Geol. Survey; Vol. 4, 1895, pp. 44-54; Geology of Dubuque County, Ibid., Vol. 10, 1900, pp. 473-475. Chamberlin, T. C. and Salisbury, R. D. Driftless Area of the Upper Miss-* issippi River, 6th Annual Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, (Erosion and the Results), pp. 221-239; (Terraces of the Glacial Flood Deposits), pp. 308-311. Featherstonhaugh, G. W. Report of a Geological Reconnaissance Made in 1835 from the Seat of Government by the way of Green Bay and the Wis- consin Territory to the Coteau de Prairie, Senate Document 333, Washington, 1836, (on the origin of Lake Pepin), pp. 132-133; A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor, 2 volumes, London, 1847, (on Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers), Vol. 1, pp. 191-258, 270-273; Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 15-22, 28-33, 113. Gingnass, Michael. (Description of Fox, Wisconsin, and Mississippi Rivers and Lake Pepin), — in Collections State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Vol. 17, 1906, pp. 24-25. Hennepin, Louis. A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, 1679-1682, two parts, London, 1698, 355, 178 pp., (on Mississippi River and Lake Pepin, Vol. 1, pp. 180-1823. Hershey, O. H. The Physiographic Development of the Upper Mississippi Valley, Amer. Geol., Vol. 20, 1897, pp. 246-268. Keating, W. H. Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peters River, etc., Philadelphia, 1824, (on Mississippi River features), pp. 236-237, 265-266. 271-272, 278-280, 293-294. Lees, J. H.' Earth Movements and Drainage Lines in Iowa, Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci., Vol. 21, 1914, pp. 173-180. Leonard, A. G. (On terraces) Geology of Clayton County, Iowa Geol. Survey, Vol. 16, 1906, pp. 287-289. Leverett, Frank. The Preglacial Valleys of the Mississippi and its Tributaries, Journ. Geol., Vol. 3, 1895; pp. 740-763; The Lower Rapids of the Mississippi River, Ibid., Vol. 7, 1899, pp. 1-22. McGee, W J. (On the gorge of the Mississippi), 11th Annual Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, Part 1, 1891, pp. 367-372; (on Mississippi River terraces), Ibid., pp. 425-426. Marquette, Jacques. (On the Mississippi River), Jesuit Relations, 1673-77, Thwaites' edition, Vol. 59, Cleveland, 1900, p. 109; Hennepin's translation in "A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," Part 1, London, 1698, pp. 325-327; see also Joliet's map, 1674, reproduced in Revue de Geographie, February, 1880, and in the Jesuit Relations, op. cit., Vol. 59, 1900, facing p. 86. Martin, Lawrence. Valley Lakes Due to Variation in Stream Load, Mono- graph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, p. 438. . Merrick, G. B. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi, Cleveland, 1909, 303 pp. Nicollet, J. N. Report Intended to Illustrate A Map of the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River, Senate Doc. 237, 26th Congress, 2nd session, Washington, 1843, 170 pp. The Mississippi River in Wisconsin 169 Pike, Z. M. An Account of Expeditions to the Sources of the Mississippi, etc., during the Years 1805, 1806, and 1807, Philadelphia, 1810, 277 pp., (on Mississippi River in Wisconsin), pp. 10-23, 94-102, Appendix to Part I, pp. 2-4, 43-50. Schoolcraft, H. R. Narrative Journal of Travels, etc., Albany, 1821, (on Trem- pealeau Mountain), pp. 334-335; (on Lake Pepin), pp. 324, 327-331; (on gravel deposits), pp. 169, 170, 179. Warren, G. K. Bridging the Mississippi River between St. Paul, Minn, and St. Louis, Mo., Senate Ex. Document 69, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, Washing- ton, 1878; also published in Appendix X3 of the Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1878; Valley of the Minnesota River and of the Mississippi River to the Junction of the Ohio, — Its Origin Considered, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd series, Vol. 16, 1878, pp. 417-131. Whitney, J. D. (On Prairie du Chien terrace), Geol. Survey of Iowa, Vol. 1, 1858, pp. 15-16. Winchell, N. H. Alluvial Terraces of Houston Co., Fifth Annual Rept. Minn. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1877, pp. 38-41; Geology of Minnesota, Vol. 1, 1884, pp. 227-230 (see also other Minnesota county reports, on Winona, Wabasha, Goodhue, Dakota, and Washington Counties) ; Changes of Level in Lake Pepin, Geology of Minnesota, Vol. 2, 1888, pp. 3-6, 25-26. For other literature see Chapter III and Appendix G. MAPS See end of Chapter III, p. 72. 170 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin f%LA CK HA WK, the Sac leader, sat upon his white horse and directed the Battle of Wisconsin Heights on July 21, 1832. Forty Indians held back about 4000 Wisconsin and Illinois soldiers while Indian women and children, wounded braves, and the larger part of the Sac band crossed the Wisconsin. The success of this rear-guard engagement was made possible by the topographic situation, for Black Hawk had a rare sense of the value of geography in warfare. The fight took place just east of the Wisconsin River, on or near the craggy hill now known as 'Black Hawk.' It was formerly a nunatak in the con- tinental glacier, rising like an island in the edge of the ice sheet. Black Hawk hill stands out as a conspicuous, cliff-girt eminence. The great ice sheet surrounded it, but its preglacial relief was never subdued. So with the Indian, Black Hawk. He was eminent among the aborigines. He resisted the sub- duing white civilization. He was eventually defeated by overwhelming numbers, by treacherous Indian neighbors, by white men's unscrupulous methods in warfare, and by the geography of the region. Black Hawk retreated northwestward, into the valleys of Honey Creek, Pine River, and Kickapoo River, over the intervening 400 foot ridges, through 80 miles of difficult country north of Richland Center, past the sites of the modern villages of 'Black Hawk,' 'Retreat,' and ' Victory.' Many of Black Hawk's braves had lost their horses, many were wounded, all were half-starved. With a. spirit that would have done credit to the whites, Black Hawk conducted this final campaign with scrupulous regard for his non-combatants, including women, children, and old men. Hence he was delayed 11 days in his journey across the hilly Driftless Area, where stream erosion by tributaries of the Wis- consin and Mississippi had fashioned a rugged topography. Had the line of retreat been across a more level region, Black Hawk's Sacs would undoubtedly have crossed the Mississippi in safety long before the white troops overtook them. Another unfavorable geographical factor was the Wisconsin waterway, which enabled the whites to send word quickly to Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. A second force of soldiers attacked the Sacs near the mouth of the Bad Axe River, 40 miles north of Prairie du Chien. They refused Black Hawk's offer of surrender and slaughtered braves and non-combatants, who were trying to cross the Mississippi in two or three small canoes. They used a cannon mounted on a steamboat and incited the Sioux to attack those Sacs who had crossed the river. The final battle took place Aug. 2, on the Mississippi bluffs, in a topographic situation skillfully chosen by Black Hawk. The bold cliffs and the deep-cut tributary valley — now called Battle Creek — would have enabled him to make a bold stand and a successful escape, if he had had well-nourished men and more canoes for the crossing. As it was he gave up the fight, after planning a characteristic diversion by 20 Indians which deceived the main body of whites for several hours. His leaderless force of 300 braves was overcome and slaughtered. Only 150 of the 1000 Sacs finally escaped. CHAPTER VIII. THE RIVERS WITHIN THE WESTERN UPLAND. A Barrier and Its Passes The Western Upland is a topographic barrier between the low plains of eastern Wisconsin and the Mississippi waterway. This barrier may be crossed with ease: (1) in southwestern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, where it is low; (2) along the lower Wisconsin River; (3) along the Black River; (4) along the Chippewa River; (5) in St. Croix and Polk Counties, where it is low. The valley of the Lower Wisconsin River furnishes the best of these passes. It is the only natural highway in the 100 miles between the Black River and northern Illinois. Thus it is similar in position to the Cumberland Gap of the Appalachian Highland, though more like the gap of the Great Kanawha River in furnishing a water grade across the whole plateau. The latter is a narrow, steep-sided gorge, and hence the Indians used Cumberland Gap when they established the trail which came to be known as the Warriors Path. Daniel Boone laid out the famous Wilderness Road to Kentucky in 1755, crossing the Appalachian Barrier at Cumberland Gap. Nearly a century earlier, however, the Wisconsin River route across the Western Upland was utilized by Radisson and Groseilliers, followed by Marquette and Joliet, and many others. The heavy travel of today does not follow the Wisconsin River pass, for it does not form a direct part of the route between Chicago and St. Paul. No railway with heavy traffic uses the second, third, or fourth passes listed above. The most important railway routes across the Western Upland barrier are (a) the Omaha Line through St. Croix County, and (b) the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul and the Chicago and Northwestern along a sixth route which follows the La Crosse River after tunneling from the head- 172 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin waters of the Baraboo River and the Lemonweir branch of the Upper Wisconsin. The route of the Northwestern Railway along the Military Ridge, the Green Bay and Western Railway along Trempealeau River, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul o & so &o so 'roM/ies Fig. 58. The Wisconsin River and its tributaries in the Western Upland. In the Drift- less Area the drainage pattern is dendritic, in contrast with the simpler drainage in the Central Plain between Kilbourn and Grand Rapids near the border of the Wisconsin drift. along the Wisconsin River and the Chippewa River also cross the Western Upland, but not with important trunk lines. These passes across the Western Upland are of decided importance in our early history, and control all local travel today. All but one are directly determined by one of the rivers within the Western Upland. The lower Wisconsin is the largest and most important of these rivers. The Rivers within the Western Upland 173 The Lower Wisconsin River The Gorge of the Wisconsin. The valley of the Wisconsin River in the Western Upland is strikingly different from the middle and upper sections of the same river in the Central Plain (p. 333) and the Northern Highland (p. 393). It is a great gorge or trench, extending westward from the terminal moraine at Prairie du Sac to the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. This gorge is over 4 miles wide at Prairie du Sac, narrowing to 2 miles at Muscoda, 40 miles downstream to the west, and to half a mile at Bridgeport, 35 miles farther west near Prairie du Chien. The walls of the gorge rise abruptly 300 to 400 feet. The river descends from 740 feet at Prairie du Sac to 615 feet near Prairie du Chien, or at the average rate of about 1% feet to the mile. Accordingly the current of the river is gentle. The water surface has flat reaches and steeper pitches, however, the detailed surveys showing grades as gentle as y m of a foot per mile, interrupted by descents of as much as 3 %, feet per mile. There are no genuine rapids in this part of the stream, for it lies in the Driftless Area. It furnished an ideal canoe route in early days. The river is shallow, however, so that canalization would have been necessary if heavy transportation had ever come this way. The valley is broad enough so that roads and railways were easily built; though the roads are sandy and the swamps are extensive in some places. Nevertheless the Wisconsin River route is not an important highway today. It resembles the Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap as a geographical feature which was taken advantage of in early times and has subsequently suffered a period of decline. An Unused Highway. The lower Wisconsin was relatively as important in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as any valley route in the world. It was part of the diagonal highway from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi by way of Green Bay, and the Fox River. The only rival canoe route to the Mississippi was that by the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers. If one had been asked to pick out sites for great cities he might well have chosen : (a) Green Bay, on the Green Bay of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Fox; (b) Portage, at the Fox-Wisconsin divide; (c) Prairie du Chien, on the Mississippi at the mouth of the Wisconsin; or (d) Chicago, on Lake Michigan, close to the Desplaines-Ulinois divide; and (e) St. Louis, close to the junction of the Illinois, Mississippi, and Mis- 174 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin souri. The Fox-Wisconsin route would seem to have had the advantage, for it is as natural a highway as the Mohawk Valley in New York. A Chicago might have grown up at Green Bay or a St. Louis at Prairie du Chien. The canal at Portage was completed at about the same time as the canal at Chicago and the federal Fig. 59. The broad portion of the Wisconsin gorge cut chiefly in weak sandstone. Com- pare with Figure 60, which represents an area sixty-five miles downstream. Contour interval 20 feet. (From Richland Center Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) government spent half a million dollars in improving the lower Wisconsin River; but the invention of the railway put an end to canal and river traffic. Neither Chicago nor St. Louis owes its present preeminence exclusively to the Great Lakes and the Miss- issippi. Nor could the natural highway of the Wisconsin, although traversed by the Milwaukee-Madison-Prairie du Chien railway route, save the lower Wisconsin from becoming an unused highway. The Western Upland can be crossed farther north by the railways The Rivers within the Western Upland 175 from Chicago to St. Paul-Minneapolis. Thus the greatest and most promising natural highway in Wisconsin two centuries ago is one of the least used now. Wisconsin River Bottomland. The broad floor of the Wis- consin gorge has a floodplain, in the midst of which the shallow Fig. 60. The narrow portion of the Wisconsin gorge, cut chiefly in resistant limestone. The map also shows the rock terrace at Bridgeport. Contour, interval 20 feet. (From Waukon and Elkader Quadrangles, U. S. Geol. Survey.) modern river flows with shifting sand bars. Some of these bars have been observed to move down stream as much as 800 feet in a year. Father Marquette said in 1673 that the "Meskousing" River "is very wide; it has a sandy bottom, which forms various shoals that render its navigation very difficult. It is full of Islands covered with vines. On the banks one sees fertile land, diversified with woods, prairies, and hills." 176 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Above this floodplain rises a series of terraces made by the erosion of the valley train of outwash sand and gravel which the streams from the ice front at and east of Prairie du Sac built up during the Glacial Period. Upon those terraces are sand dunes, heaped up by the wind. Wells show that the filling of glacial sand and gravel has a depth of 125 to 150ieet. Fig. 61. Sand bars in the Wisconsin River (Warren). Wisconsin River Bluffs. The steeply-rising bluffs are much like those of the Mississippi. The cliffs are likely to be near the top of the bluff where a resistant sandstone stratum outcrops beneath a capping of limestone. The lower slopes are gentler because they are masked by talus. They often contain great, angular blocks of limestone which have slid down from above, and deposits of residual clay which have crept down from the limestone. As on the Mississippi, the south-facing bluff is likely to be grassy. This was commented upon by Owen in 1847, before much timber had been cut away by man. Owen said : "Bold exposures of rock, with a grassy bank beneath * * * are, for the 'most part, only on the south and western sides of the The Rivers within the Western Upland 177 hills; the north and eastern declivities are more rounded and most generally overgrown with trees and shrubbery * * * It seems as if the alternate thawing and freezing on the sunny side has caused a more rapid decay of the rock, which scaling and slipping off, sometimes in large masses, slips down the side of the hill; this together with the rapid transition from heat to cold on the southern exposure, probably prevents trees from coming to maturity on that side." Another important factor is the retention of moisture on the north-facing slope, which does not receive the direct rays of the sun. Rock Terrace at Bridgeport. Near the mouth of the Wisconsin there is a rock terrace on the northern side of the river. It is 100 to 160 feet above the stream channel north of Bridgeport. It has a width of half a mile to a mile and a length of about 6 miles. Thus the Wisconsin valley is here a double feature, a narrow gorge within a broader trench (Fig. 60). This terrace is not interpreted as indicat- ing a halt in the down-cutting by the stream, but merely a difference in the resistance of the rocks in which the valley is cut. The broader, upper part of the valley is in the weak St. Peter sandstone and the Galena-Trenton limestone, while the narrow inner gorge lies in the more resistant Lower Magnesian limestone. Farther to the north and east the dip of the rocks carries the Lower Magnesian to a higher level than that of the present stream and so the valley has been widened out in the weak Cambrian sandstone. It grows wider upstream in a manner abnormal to streams in homogeneous rocks, but this is perfectly natural in view of the weakness of the Cambrian sandstone to the northeast. A thin limestone member of the Cam- brian series sometimes forms narrow rock terraces east of Bridgeport. The Wisconsin as a Superposed River at the Baraboo Range. The Wisconsin River formerly flowed across the Baraboo Range, as is shown by the abandoned water gaps at Devils Lake and the Lower Narrows (p. 113). These gaps show, by their steepness and fresh- ness, the recency of occupation by a large river. The way in which it crossed the high Baraboo ridges seems to be that it had this course at a time when the Baraboo quartzite was completely buried beneath the Cambrian sandstone and overlying formations up to the Niagara limestone. As the stream cut down and discovered the quartzite in its bed, it eroded into the top of the Baraboo Range and gradually produced the water gaps. Such a stream, let down upon underlying resistant beds, is termed a superposed river. 178 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin "While the river was slowly cutting the water gaps in the quartzite, which are narrow because the quartzite is exceedingly resistant, the tributary streams were making wider valleys in the weak Cambrian sandstone. The whole process of opening out the interior valley of the Baraboo Range and making the adjacent portion of the lowland of the Central Plain to the north, south, and east took little if any longer than the cutting of the water gaps. Thus the exhuming of the buried quartzite and the restoration of the Baraboo Range to its former topographic prominence came, not before, but while the Wisconsin was carving the Devils Lake water gap. The Wisconsin as a Diverted Stream. One interesting possi- bility as to the still earlier history of the Wisconsin River is that it once flowed through Madison and Janesville (Fig. 62), though at a far higher level than the present stream. The Yahara, now a branch of the Rock River, may be the beheaded remnant of the Wisconsin. When the original Wisconsin first began to flow, after the region had been uplifted from the ocean, it acquired its course as a consequence of the southward dip of the sedimentary rocks. It would have been distinctly abnormal for the river to have turned abruptly to the west near Merrimac and flowed to the Mississippi nearly at right angles to its present course. The dip of the rocks made a topographic surface upon which a southward course past Madison was much more natural, especially as the axis of the arch lay west of Merrimac. The diversion of the Wisconsin to its present westward course may, then, have been accomplished by headwater erosion on the part of the short stream along the lower Wisconsin valley, which we may call the Kickapoo-Wisconsin since it was originally a short eastern branch of the Kickapoo River. The Kickapoo- Wisconsin extended its headwaters eastward, beheading the several streams which now rise on the Military Ridge. It finally tapped the south-flowing Yahara-Wisconsin, beheading it at a point just north of the Magnesian cuesta. This west-flowing Kickapoo- Wisconsin had an advantage over the south-flowing Yahara- Wisconsin (a) because the former was cut low, on account of being tributary to the large Mississippi, and (b) because the Yahara- Wisconsin had to cut through the resistant Lower Magnesian lime- stone. Of course such a hypothetical diversion as this was long ago and any direct evidence of it, as for example quartzite pebbles in the Yahara valley, would have been destroyed by the subsequent glaciation. Fig. 62. The capture and diversion of the Wisconsin River by a branch of the Mississippi. 180 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The Baraboo River Of the numerous tributaries of the Wisconsin in the Western Upland may be mentioned the Baraboo River, Dell Creek, west of Kilbourn, Pine River near Richland Center, the Kickapoo River near Wauzeka, and Black Earth Creek. The Baraboo River rises northwest of Elroy near Kendall and flows parallel to and inside the east-facing escarpment of the Western Upland to Reedsburg. At Ablemans, a short distance south of Reedsburg, it enters the Baraboo Range by a water gap in the quartzite, flowing eastward through the interior valley past the city of Baraboo. It then turns northward and leaves the Baraboo Range by the Lower Narrows water gap, where the Wisconsin River formerly flowed in the opposite direction. It joins the present Wisconsin River in the Central Plain near Portage. The present grade of the stream descends from over 1000 feet near Kendall to 960 feet at Elroy, 860 feet at Reedsburg, 840 feet at Baraboo, and 780 feet at the mouth near Portage, or at the rate of about 3| feet to the mile. Formerly the Baraboo was tributary to the Wisconsin near the city of Baraboo where both streams flowed at a level about 250 feet lower than at present (Fig. 35). The glacial diversion and filling have also resulted in the filling of the Baraboo valley up- stream from the terminal moraine, as at Reedsburg in the Driftless Area where the river deposits are about 125 feet thick. All of this course west of the city of Baraboo is in the Driftless Area and the pattern of the stream and its tributaries is tree-like or dendritic. The interlocking ridges and valleys very well illustrate the character of the eastern portion of the upland. There is little limestone left on the ridges, and the skeleton pattern of this geo- graphical province is well developed. The Chicago and Northwestern Railway has taken advantage of the Baraboo valley; and, as the valley trends in the right direction, one of the trunk lines across Wisconsin was built through the border of the Western Upland. Some of the grades between Reedsburg and Camp Douglas, and between Merrimac and Madison, are heavy. Much of the line is crooked, adding to the expense of double- tracking in a narrow valley. It is expensive to double-track through the ridges, as in the tunnels north of Elroy and west of Kendall. All these factors have recently made it necessary to divert the faster The Rivers within the Western Upland 181 trains and most of the freight traffic from this route through the Western Upland to a new line which traverses the Central Plain north of Portage and Camp Douglas, thus avoiding the rough high- land. Dell Creek East of the Baraboo River is a smaller stream called Dell Creek. It rises in the Western Upland and flows southeastward across the Central Plain, finally turning at right angles west of Mirror Lake to enter the Wisconsin in the Lower Dalles near Kilbourn. Thus it consists of a dendritic, preglacial, headwater portion in the Western Upland, where the valley slopes are gentle, and a more youthful, lower course, which is postglacial and contains rock-walled gorges (p. 331). Although wholly in the Driftless Area, Dell Creek has been subject to glacial diversion. It appears probable that before the Glacial Period it entered the Baraboo Range by a water gap north of Baraboo, joining the Wisconsin River near the city of Baraboo. Thus the diversion at the right-angled turn in Dell Creek is due to the terminal moraine and the deposits of glacial outwash and lake sediment northwest of Baraboo. Contrast of Pine River and Otter Creek The tributaries of the Wisconsin on the north are long and have gentle grades, while those on the south are short and slope more steeply. Thus Otter Creek of Iowa County, Blue Mound Creek, Fennimore Creek, and other streams flowing northward from the Military Ridge form a striking contrast with Pine River, Kickapoo River, Honey Creek, and other south-flowing tributaries of the Wisconsin. Otter Creek rises west of Dodgeville at an elevation of 1200 feet and descends 500 feet to the Wisconsin in 7 miles. Nearly opposite it is Pine River which rises at about the same elevation but is 33 miles long and, therefore, has not nearly so steep a grade. The south-flowing streams follow the dip of the rocks. The north- flowing streams flow against the dip on the Trenton escarpment. All these tributaries of the lower Wisconsin have the dendritic, drainage pattern, lack of lakes, and accordant relationship of main and side streams that is typical of the Driftless Area. 182 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Black Earth Creek One of the southern tributaries of the Wisconsin River is notable because it furnishes an important part of the low-grade railway route across the state. This is Black Earth Creek, which rises a short distance west of Madison and enters the Wisconsin valley at Mazomanie. The divide is only 80 feet above Madison and 150 feet above Mazomanie. This low pass is crossed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway which follows the Wisconsin valley to Prairie du Chien. It was the first railway built across Wisconsin from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, being completed from Madison to Prairie du Chien in 1857. Two isolated hills stand in the middle of the Black Earth valley near its head. They seem to be related to the topography developed before the St. Peter sandstone was deposited as well as to that of the present. The present divide is several miles east of the pre- glacial divide, and the low col has been produced by the coming together of streams which were eating back by headwater erosion. The outlet of extinct Lake Middleton, just west of Lake Mendota, was to the westward down the Black Earth valley, for the Yahara valley at Madison was blocked by the ice sheet during the existence of this lake. The Kickapoo River The largest and simplest Driftless Area stream in Wisconsin is the Kickapoo River. It rises in Monroe County near Summit and Wilton, entering the Wisconsin about 65 miles to the south at Wauzeka. Its grade from 992 feet at Wilton to 644 feet at Wauzeka is about 5 feet to the mile, but at the headwaters the grade is steeper. The dendritic pattern of this river valley is characteristic of a valley in flat-lying rocks in a region never glaciated. The cross- section of its headwaters along the line of the Chicago and North- western Railway shows the general character of the Western Upland, which is here a hilly region with narrow ridges rather than a sloping highland as in the Niagara cuesta of eastern Wisconsin. The railway, which follows the Baraboo valley from Reedsburg to Elroy (p. 180), plunges into a tunnel just west of Kendall, emerging in the eastern headwaters of the Kickapoo River. It crosses a spur west of Wilton by a second tunnel, traverses part of the western headwaters of the Kickapoo, and leaves the valley by a third tunnel west of Summit (Fig. 16). Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XV. DRIFTLESS AREA TOPOGRAPI I V IN ONE OF THE CUESTAS OF WESTERN WISCONSIN. NEAR BLACK EARTH, DANE COUNTY. ' 09. 1 ' mw x ft ,,r ?*&&)$( B. ACCORDANT JUNCTION OF MAIN STREAM WITH TRIBUTARY IN THE DRIFTLESS AREA SOUTHEAST OF LA CROSSE. 'A A On v. x H a _ P pq z c Q /. < < Q Z X c/3 z r ^ - K r- IS ft '" Sz o c, — £ b. W £ o m o r*l w J ~ n C -■ c z rl < ~ H H (11 Z t*3 -C u < c/j J w e "J — . n _i c — - w > '-' I a , ; f- n _z o H t- z < 1' * ^ ^ w 23 * j ^ J < a > c z Sandstone I 1 Trenton limes fane I ^t Peter Sandstone | i-Oirer Maf/ns/an limestone Fig. 75. Geological map of the region near Madison (Tbwaites). The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 211 seen to cap the highest hills, the weak St. Peter sandstone forms steep, short slopes, the resistant Lower Magnesian limestone caps lower hills (Fig. 74), and the weak Cambrian sandstone forms the broad valley bottoms. The geological map (Fig. 75) shows that the valley is exception- ally wide, because the Cambrian sandstone is so weak that the nor- mal erosion agencies were able to open out a great lowland after they had cut through the more resistant Lower Magnesian limestone. The remnants of Trenton limestone are far apart and cap only the highest hills. The region is at the very edge of this formation. In the northern part of the area the Trenton is entirely lacking on the back slope df the Magnesian cuesta. The ice, which came into this region from the northeast, did not modify the amount of relief of the Madison region to a revolution- ary extent by sculpture, for it probably eroded somewhat equally from the hilltops and the valley bottoms. It did erode many feet of rock from the hilltops, however, and it probably widened the valley a great deal and deepened it in the lake basins. By deposi- tion, however, it altered the topography tremendously, making it much less hilly than it was before being glaciated. It also greatly altered the drainage. The topography in late youth of a region of alternate, weak and resistant, horizontal formations was doubtless characterized by well-developed dendritic drainage. The present extreme youth of the postglacial drainage, however, has the Four- Lake system of the Yahara headwaters, the many swamps and smaller lakes, and the aimless pattern of streams and lakes and swamps on the glacial drift (Fig. 73), although the main streams seldom diverge far from their former courses. This type of topography is characteristic of the southwestern por- tion of the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago lowland. Farther east, in eastern Dane and western Jefferson Counties, there are moderate- sized lowlands of St. Peter sandstone on the eastern headwaters of Rock River. This sandstone determines the topography in larger areas here than anywhere else in the state. Isolated masses of Tren- ton limestone rise above it, but the region is much less hilly than near Madison, being covered deeply by glacial deposits. In hilliness this portion of the Galena-Trenton limestone belongs quite as much with the upland of southwestern Wisconsin as with the lowland near Green Bay and Lake Winnebago. Since it forms a convenient gradation zone, the recently glaciated part of it has been discussed with the lowland. The boundary between two geographi- 212 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin cal provinces grading into each other has to be an arbitrary one, and the border of the Wisconsin drift seems to be as satisfactory a boundary as can be chosen. The Niagara Cuesta. Topography. The upland between Lake Michigan and the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago-Rock River lowland is underlain by the Niagara limestone, with an exceedingly narrow strip of Cincin- nati shale at the western border, and a still smaller area of Devonian shale and shaly limestone near Lake Michigan. This upland is un- symmetrical. The eastern border is everywhere lower than the western. The middle portion is over 300 feet higher than the north- ern and southern portions. The significant altitudes are shown in the table on this page, all altitudes being given in feet above sea level. The figures are arranged in order from north to south, the several east-west sections being 40 to 45 miles apart. The figures in the table represent the approximate height of the rock beneath the Table Showing the Approximate Altitude of the Rock Surface in the Niagara Upland WESTERN PORTION EASTERN PORTION Locality Altitude Locality Altitude Rock Island 890 Washington Island 740 Eagle Bluff near Peninsula Park 780 Near Sturgeon Bay, Door Co 820 Near New Franken, Brown Co 809 Algoma, Kewaunee Co 590 Near Quinney, Calumet Co.. 1120 Manitowoc, Manitowoc Co... 500 Near Iron Mountain, Dodge Co 1200 Port Washington, Ozaukee Co 600 Waukesha, Waukesha Co.... 820 Cudahy, Milwaukee Co 565 West of Genoa Junction, Walworth Co 870 Near Pleasant Prairie, Ke- nosha Co 530 The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 213 glacial drift, which is over 100 feet thick near the Illinois boundary. The drift covering in northeastern Wisconsin is everywhere thin. Geological Relationships. The Niagara cuesta is an upland 7 to 20 miles wide at the north on Washington Island and the Door Peninsula, and 25 to 45 miles wide at the south between Milwaukee and the Illinois line. The Niagara limestone is 450 to 800 feet thick and the Cincinnati shale at its base has a thickness of 200 to 500 feet. The dip is steepest in the northern part of the state, but no- where exceeds 2 to 5 degrees. The formation makes a topographic feature only a little wider than the adjacent lowland of Galena- Trenton limestone, although the Niagara limestone is between twice and three times as thick. The Niagara limestone upland appears in its characteristic topo- graphic expression in the upland of eastern Wisconsin. This thick, continuous, and hard formation is everywhere a cuesta-maker. Over 500 miles to the east, in northern New York, the Niagara lime- stone also appears as a cuesta-maker. It forms an upland or ridge in practically all of the 900 miles of its circuitous course from Niagara Falls to Wisconsin. It trends westward and northward through the Province of Ontario, to the peninsulas and islands between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, westward through the upper peninsula of Michigan, and southward through eastern Wisconsin. After passing out of Wisconsin it is again a cuesta-maker in northwestern Illinois and eastern Iowa. It is not a topographic feature in northeastern Illinois where buried by drift and by the Coal Measures. It is again a cuesta-maker part of the way northwestward through Canada to the Arctic Circle, except where buried by drift or by younger rocks. The Niagara Escarpment. The west-facing escarpment of the Niagara upland overlooks the Green Bay- Winnebago -Rock River lowland and is characteristically developed east of Lake Winne- bago, where it is known locally as The Ledge. There the es- carpment descends abruptly to the lake (Plate XIX). At High Cliff, south of Clifton in Calumet County, it falls 223 feet, or from 970 to 747 feet above sea level, in less than 700 feet horizontally. South of Stockbridge the crest of the escarpment is at an elevation of 1060 feet above sea level and is 313 feet higher than the base. It continues southward into Fond du Lac County with about the same altitude. This escarpment extends across the state of Wisconsin for over 230 miles, but is nowhere so conspicuous a topographic feature as 214 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin it is east of Lake Winnebago. To the north its height diminishes slightly. In Door Peninsula and Washington Island it rises only 160 to 220 feet above Green Bay, which, however, is 100 to 144 feet deep. It also decreases in height to the southward, mainly because of the covering of glacial drift, but perhaps also because of local folds in the rock, or thinning of the limestone, or greater glacial erosion in places. Well records show that the escarpment stands over 400 feet above the adjacent lowland at Horicon. The escarp- ment near Waukesha and Oconomowoc is inconspicuous as a pres- 1000' Lake Winnebago 400" above sea leve o 3 Miles Fig. 76. 1 Cross-section of the Niagara escarpment near Fond du Lac. ent-day topographic feature, but well records show that it is fully 120 feet high. In outline the Niagara escarpment is even simpler than the Mag- nesian escarpment (p. 202). Its salients and embayments, so far as we know the geology beneath the glacial drift, break the line of the escarpment relatively little. There are no spurs, pinnacles, or out- lying masses along 99% of its front. One exception occurs at the small islands in Green Bay, including Chambers Island, which lies seven miles in front of the escarpment. This abnormal simplicity of the Niagara escarpment in eastern Wisconsin (Fig. 84) is best appreciated by comparing it with the Niagara escarpment in Iowa a few miles west of the Wisconsin boundary, or in Illinois (Fig. 85) just south of the Wisconsin boundary, where there is a maze of pro- jecting spurs and detached outliers up to a distance of 40 miles from the escarpment. Yet the topography in the two areas was initially determined by (a) identical processes, acting upon (b) the same texture and structure of rock formation, for (c)*the same length of time. The operation of the process of glaciation (p. 231) in eastern Wisconsin but not in Illinois and Iowa has produced fundamentally different forms. The extent of irregularity depends upon a number of the factors, as is explained in the next chapter. The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 215 The influence of the Cincinnati shale upon the Niagara escarp- ment may be illustrated by comparison with its influence at the cataract of Niagara. There the removal of the weak shale by the river in the plunge pool at the base of the falls undermines the resist- ant Niagara limestone, causing the falls to recede. There is no similarly powerful and rapid-working agency to remove the Cin- Lake Michi Sea Level ■==— — n*£=. Fig. 77. Three cross-sections of the Niagara cuesta, showing variations in height and in' relation to the covering of glacial drift. cinnati shale at the base of the Niagara escarpment in eastern Wis- consin, but the shale is so weak that it has been worn back nearly as fast as the limestone and forms only a narrow strip in the gentler slope at the base of the limestone (Fig. 76), which almost everywhere descends abruptly, and, often, in nearly vertical precipices. Gaps in the Niagara Cuesta. In contrast with the Magnesian and Trenton escarpments the Niagara escarpment ,and cuesta are remarkable for the absence of transverse gaps. The southern two- thirds of the cuesta is crossed by only one stream flowing from the 216 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Galena-Trenton lowland to Lake Michigan. The single exception is the Manitowoc River, northeast of Lake Winnebago. Quite in contrast, the Magnesian cuesta in the northern 100 miles is crossed by the Menominee, Peshtigo, Oconto, and Fox Rivers, and several smaller streams flowing from the inner lowland of Cambrian sand- stone. The Trenton escarpment is crossed in 180 miles by the four larger streams mentioned above and by the PensaUkee and the western headwaters of the Rock River. Although the Niagara escarpment is unbroken by stream gaps for the southern 170 miles, the northern portion of the Niagara cuesta is breached by several gaps. The widest of these lies between the end of Door Peninsula and the Garden Peninsula of upper Michigan. It is 30 miles wide and is interrupted by Washington Island, 8 miles long, another smaller island in Wisconsin, and three large and several small islands in Michigan. Thus the broadest ' actual gap in this thirty miles is only about five miles in width. Another gap is found 65 miles to the south at Sturgeon Bay (Fig. 121). This gap is less than a mile wide at the east, increasing to two miles at the western side of the cuesta. All these northern gaps are now occupied by the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Whether these gaps are preglacial stream courses or due to the work of glacial erosion (p. 289) is not quite settled, but it seems likely that they are due to a combination of the two. The gap occupied by the Manitowoc River, is filled with glacial drift. It is not certain that this was occupied by a stream which went through in preglacial time, for its headwaters are at a higher level than the floor of the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago lowland. The Niagara Upland. The upland on the back slope of the Niagara cuesta is a region of very moderate relief, with glacial de- posits forming the greatest irregularities. This is partly because of glacial erosion (pp. 236, 238) and partly because a dip slope of homogeneous limestone does not have as rough topography if no streams cross it as it would have if it were crossed by several streams from an adjacent lowland. The short streams of the cuesta in the high western part of the upland are of small volume. They have, therefore, been unable to cut deeply and to make the region hilly, as large streams in a water gap would do. In the eastern part, the upland itself has descended to a height of 700 feet, or only 120 feet above the level of Lake Michigan. The erosion by the largest streams, like the Milwaukee River near its mouth, results in a maximum relief of only 100 to 120 feet by cutting into the glacial X v. - r X > hi X x x H K a 'P 'j-j z p* 5 o H b Q j Eh O a H (C o z w z 3 % e c o a z <; e H The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 217 drift and the rock. The greatest relief resulting from the glacial deposits lying upon the rock surface is 100 to 200 feet. The slope of the drift-covered upland from the crest to the wave- cut cliffs of Lake Michigan is at an average rate of about 12 feet to the mile. The upland descends from 1050 feet at the crest east of Lake Winnebago to 638 feet at Mosel near Lake Michigan. This is 32 J miles. It descends from 1100 feet at the escarpment near Hartland, Waukesha County, to 700 feet near Lake Michigan. The Pishtaka or Fox River of Waukesha, Racine, and Kenosha Counties and several smaller streams have a longitudinal trend. WASHINGTON CO. « •gj ,.$!• OZAUKEE CO.? j£B 8" 0O| 3* « .LAKE > * CI OgJ< p C O MICHIGAN 18 IS 20 21 R.2EE. Fig. 78. Cross-section to show the back slope of the Niagara cuesta. The Milwaukee River flows eastward down the dip slope to within 7 miles of Lake Michigan. At Fredonia, Ozaukee County, it turns southward at right angles and flows parallel to the coast for 32 miles before entering the lake at Milwaukee. There are several similar cases. Whether these are due to minor cuestas on the back slope of the Niagara upland in the alternating weak and resistant portions of the Niagara limestone formation, or, as seems more likely, to the lateral moraines of the Lake Michigan glacier, has not yet been established. The drainage is discussed more fully in Chapter XI. The eastern termination of the Niagara upland is masked by the waters of Lake Michigan, the origin of whose basin is so related to the events of the Glacial Period that it is postponed for later treatment (p. 223). BIBLIOGRAPHY Alden, W. C. Milwaukee Special Folio, Geologic Atlas of the United States, No. 140, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906. Buell, I. M. Geology of the Waterloo Quartzite Area, Transactions Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 9, 1893, pp. 255-274. Case, E. C. Description of Models Illustrating the Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Bull. 3, Milwaukee State Normal School, 1907, p. 1-19. 218 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Chamberlin, T. "C. Geology of Eastern Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 95-405; Historical Geology, — Lower "Magnesian limestone, St. Peter Sandstone, Trenton limestone, Galena limestone, Hudson River or Cincinnati shale, Niagara limestone — Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1883, pp. 138-260. Cleland, H. F. The Fossils and S'tratigraphy of the Middle Devonic of Wis- consin, Bull. 21, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1911, 217 pp. Cramer, Frank. On a Recent Rock-Flexure, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 39, 1890, pp. 220-225. Daniels, E. The Mines of Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, Vol. 4, 1857, pp. 356-362; (on the Niagara and the Potsdam), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 6, 1859, pp. 309-310. Irving, R. D. Note on the Age of the Metamorphic Rocks of Portland, Dodge County, Wis., Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 5, 1873, pp. 282-286; Geology of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 409-636. Jackson, C. T. (On the Clinton iron ore), Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 6, 1859, p. 341. Lapham, I. A. On the Geology of the South-eastern Portion of the State of Wisconsin, — in Foster and Whitney's Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Senate Ex. Document 4, Special Session, 1851, Washington, 1851, pp. 167-173; Geological Formation of Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. State Agr. Soc, Vol. 1, 1851, pp. 122-128; Discovery of Devonian Rocks and Fossils in Wis- consin, Amer. Journ. Sci., 2nd Series, Vol. 29, 1860, p. 145. Martin, Lawrence. The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands, Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Journ. Geog., Vol. 12, 1914, pp. 228-230. Martin, Lawrence, Williams, F. E., and Bean, E. F. A Manual of Physical Geography Excursions, Madison, 1913, — maps and descriptions of physio- graphic features near Madison. Percival, J. G. General Reconnoissance (of Wisconsin) and the Quartz Rock of the Baraboo and of Portland, Annual Rept. of the Geol. Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Madison, 1856, pp. 64-103; Report on the Iron of Dodge and Washington Counties, State of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1855, 13 pp. Stromme, O. U. Geology of Madison and Parts of Adjacent Townships, Dane County, Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1907. Suydam, V. A. Geography of Ripon and Vicinity, 9 pp. Thwaites, F. T. Map of Preglacial Topography near Madison, In Bull. 8, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 2nd edition, 1910; Geology of the Vicinity of Lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa, Dane County, Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1906; Geology of the Southeast Quarter of the Cross Plains Quadrangle, Dane County, Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1908. Warner, J. H. The Waterloo Quartzite Area of Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1904. Note: The publications dealing with the glacial geology, soils, and hydrography of eastern Wisconsin are listed at the ends of Chapters X, XI, and XII. Some of these also contain geological and physiographic data. The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands 219 MAPS U. S. Geol. Survey. Topographic maps as follows: Neenah, Fond du Lac, Hartford, West Bend, Port Washington, Baraboo, Poynette, Cross Plains, Madison, Sun Prairie, Waterloo, Watertown, Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Special, Evansville, Stoughton, Koshkonong, White- water, Eagle, Muskego, Bay View, Brodhead, Janesville, Shopiere, Delavan, Lake Geneva, Silver Lake, Racine, Geneva, Waukegan, Ripon, and Nesh- koro Quadrangles, (see Fig. 192). See also generalized topographic map of eastern Wisconsin (PI. II A) in the atlas accompanying the Geology of Wisconsin. U. S. Lake Surrey. Corps of Engineers, Survey of Northern and Northwestern Lakes: Lake Survey Charts 7, 70, 71N, 72N, 73, 74, 81, 82, 715, 723, 725, 728, 737, 743, 745, 747, 1475, various scales from 1:8,000 to 1:5,000,000, (see Fig. 194). 220 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 10 20 30 40 50 Miles Fig. 79. The Green Bay lobe and Lake Michigan lobe of the continental glacier, with arrows indicating the direction of glacial striae. (Modified from map by Alden.) CHAPTER X. THE GLACIATION OF EASTERN WISCONSIN The Oval Hills of Glacial Drift In southeastern Wisconsin there are more than 1400 oval hills of glacial drift in an area of 4200 square miles. There are fully as many of these oval hills in the northeastern part of the state. They are called drumlins and they were made by the continental glacier. Wisconsin is famous in the world outside for two of its geographical features. One of these is the Driftless Area (Chapter V), the other is the drumlins (p. 242). These oval drumlins have one peculiarity. Their longer axes are always parallel to the direction of ice movement. Therefore they tell us the directions in which various parts of the continental glacier moved in eastern Wisconsin. Lobes of the Advancing Ice Sheet The Eastern Ridges and Lowlands were entirely covered by the Labrador ice sheet of the continental glacier (Fig. 27). This ice sheet was lobate near the borders, the lobes being determined by broad valleys and lowlands. In these lowlands the ice moved faster than on the intervening ridges and uplands. The Lake Michi- gan and Green Bay lobes had the extent shown in Figure 79. The arrows on this map indicate the directions of ice movement, revealed by glacial striae on the rock ledges, as well as by the drumlins. From this it is seen that the Lake Michigan lobe advanced southward down the shallow river valley which occupied the site of the present deep lake and westward across the Niagara upland. The Green Bay lobe was a branch of the Lake Michigan glacier. Its size and position suggest a thumb on a mitten (Fig. 80). This smaller lobe advanced down the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago-Rock River lowland. The Green Bay lobe was unsymmetrical. It spread further to the west than to the east of the axis of the lowland, because it was opposed on the east by the Niagara upland and the Lake 222 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Michigan glacier. It had a free opportunity to expand to the west over the Magnesian cuesta and into the portions of the Northern Highland and Central Plain which now lie next the Driftless Area. Fig. 80. Lobes and moraines of the continental glacier in the Great Lakes region, and Leverett.) (Taylor Glacial Erosion The sculpturing of eastern Wisconsin by this ice greatly modified the preglacial topography. The ice moved across Wisconsin for long ages. The continental glacier advanced not once, but several times. Each glacial period was probably of greater duration than the time since the last ice sheet melted away. If it is granted that moving ice, carrying a load of rock in the basal layers, can abrade The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 223 the surfaces over which it moves, then the assumption of great glacial erosion rests only upon the question of time. The scratched, striated, and polished rock surfaces prove that continental glaciers can erode, and of time there is more than sufficient. The proofs of unusually-effective glacial erosion in eastern Wisconsin are to be found in the following: (a) the rock basin character of Lake Michigan; (b) the similar form of Green Bay; (c) the submerged hanging valley relationship of Green Bay and Lake Michigan; (d) the absence of the Cincinnati shale from the floor of the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago-Rock River lowland; (e) the amount of quartzite derived from certain small ledges; (f) the simple outlines of the limestone escarpments; (g) the absence of residual soil on the surfaces of the cuestas; (h) the lack of caves and sink holes; (i) the absence of marked ridges and valleys upon the cuesta surfaces ; (j) the topographic contrast between the glaciated and driftless portions of Wisconsin, and the gradation from one to the other in the border region. Topographic Features Due to Glacial Erosion Rock Basin Character of Lake Michigan. One part of east- ern Wisconsin where a great amount of glacial erosion took place was the basin of Lake Michigan. Fifty years ago the basins of the Great Lakes were correctly ascribed to glacial erosion. Later there was a long time when the erosive power of glaciers was questioned. Indeed it was said about thirty years ago that the basins of the Great Lakes were due to the joint action of "preglacial erosion, gla- cial corrosion, glacial accumulation blocking up outlets, depression due to ice occupancy, and general crust movements, together with possible unascertained agencies." Now that even greater, glacial sculpture is known to have taken place in Alaska, Greenland, Nor- way, the Alps, and elsewhere, many geologists have less hesitancy in ascribing the sculpture of the whole basin of Lake Michigan to glacial erosion. The other factors enumerated in the quotation given above may be easily eliminated as not of significant applica- tion or of adequate amount to explain the excavation of this basin below the present lake level. 224 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The cross-section of Lake Michigan bears the characteristics of a basin excavated by ice and not of a valley eroded by a river. It has a broad, flat bottom and abrupt walls, descending to a depth of 500 to 800 feet. Figure 82 gives a cross-section of the lake basin southeast of Sturgeon Bay. The longitudinal profile of the lake bot- tom, with enclosed basins and intervening swells, is also suggestive •II 'Sea Level Fig. 81. Cross-section of the basin of Lake Michigan, broadened and deepened by glacial erosion, in contrast with the gorge of the Mississippi, — a stream-eroded valley in the Driftless Area. i of glacial scooping, such as produces rock basins in all glaciated valleys. The maximum possible amount of preglacial stream erosion is inadequate to explain the present lake basin. The weak, Devonian shales underlying Lake Michigan must have formed a lowland in preglacial time. The lowland was doubtless occupied by a master stream (Fig. 110). This stream probably flowed southward. The buried channel from the Lake Huron basin to the Lake Michigan Fig. 82. Cross-section of the basin of Lake Michigan, showing the flat floor and steeper walls produced by glacial sculpture. basin by way of Saginaw Bay slopes southwestward, as if the stream in this channel had been a tributary of the Lake Michigan river. The known rock ledges at the southern end of Lake Michigan in Illinois and Indiana suggest that the Lake Michigan river flowed at a level no more than one to two hundred feet below the present sur- face of Lake Michigan or 581 feet, if indeed it was below 581 feet at all. This conclusion is corroborated by an examination of records of deep wells adjacent to Lake Michigan in Michigan and Wiscon- sin, as well as those in Illinois and Indiana. They show no deep The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 225 buried valleys. Bedrock in a small part of southeastern Wisconsin and in much of the lower peninsula of Michigan lies slightly below lake level; but it is not certain that this is due to preglacial stream erosion rather than glacial sculpture. The rock floor of the Mississippi River between Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and Dubuque, Iowa, is between 405 and 492 feet above sea level, or only about 175 feet below the present surface of Lake Michigan. As the preglacial river of the Lake Michigan basin was doubtless tributary to the Mississippi, the former stream could not possibly have eroded to a depth of 323 feet below sea level — 904 feet below the present surface of the lake. The amount of deepening of the Mississippi by glacial streams is not known. If glacial deepen- ing of Lake Michigan be denied,, then an improbable amount of subsequent warping must be assumed. There is no evidence even suggesting such an amount of warping. The relationship of the bot- tom of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, therefore, suggests that in northeastern Wisconsin the preglacial Lake Michigan river flowed at or within 100 feet above or below the present lake level. It is concluded that the preglacial stream course in the Lake Michigan basin was near present lake level at the southern boundary of Wisconsin. The bottoms of the preglacial valleys in what are now Lake Michigan and Green Bay were, accordingly, higher than 581 feet above sea level. As the bottom of the lake is (a) at a level of only 5 to 80 feet above sea level east of Door Peninsula, (b) 323 feet below sea level in the deepest portion, southeast of Sturgeon Bay, and (c) just about at sea level east of Racine in southern Wis- consin, the amount of glacial deepening, vertically, was from 500 to nearly 900 feet. Basin of Green Bay. There are good reasons for supposing that, before the Glacial Period, the site of Green Bay was occupied by a river rather than a lake. The preglacial valley was probably at a slightly higher level than the present surface of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. If so, the glacier eroded many cubic miles of rock from the portion of Green Bay west of the Niagara upland in Door Peninsula, for it lowered the bottom of Green Bay at least 120 to 144 feet west of Washington Island and 60 to 90 feet near Sturgeon Bay. The bottom of Green Bay descends northward, as does the lowland from Lake Winnebago to the bay. The descent toward Green Bay may be partly due to structural conditions, but it may also have been caused by weakness of the Green Bay lobe toward 226 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 83. The submerged hanging valley of Green Bay. The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 227 the south, for this glacial lobe terminated near the southern boundary of the state. A Submerged Hanging Valley. An excellent way of demon- strating that the continental glacier carved out the basins of Green Bay and Lake Michigan is to consider the junction of the floor of Green Bay with the bottom of the main lake (Fig. 83). The depth of the bay here is 100 to 144 feet and the depth in the straits north of Washington Island is 156 feet. To the east the water deepens rap- idly to 576 feet (Fig. 82). This assumes that any deposits at the bottoms of Green Bay and Lake Michigan are of about the same thickness. Junctions of main and side streams are normally even (PI. XV, B), or accordant, in regions where there have never been glaciers. This is true of the junction of the rock floors of the Wisconsin and Miss- issippi Rivers at Prairie du Chien in the Driftless Area. The junc- tions of main and side valleys in glaciated regions are almost always discordant, and the side valley hangs above the main valley. This is spoken of as a hanging valley. Such discordance is produced be- cause the larger glacier in the main valley erodes its bed more deeply than the smaller ice tongue in the side valley. Both valleys are sculptured, but the main valley is eroded the most. Thus Green Bay was lowered by glacial erosion from above 581 feet to the present bottom, 100 to 144 feet lower, while the adjacent part of Lake Michigan was lowered over 500 feet. Since this dis- cordant valley junction lies below lake level it is spoken of as a sub- merged hanging valley. Submerged hanging valleys showing dis- cordant junctions with main fiords are well known in Alaska, as at Port Fidalgo and Orca Bay, Prince William Sound. The discord- ance of these two tributary fiords, with relation to a submerged channel one quarter as wide as Lake Michigan, is 600 to 700 feet and 900 to 1000 feet respectively. This is twice to three times as much as the discordance at the lip of the submerged hanging valley of Green Bay. There is no evidence of faulting to account for this discordance in northeastern Wisconsin and the known warping is absolutely inadequate in amount, but differential glacial erosion explains the facts perfectly. The study of the glacial deposits of Wisconsin has long been on an adequate basis, but the recognition of the vast amount of glacial erosion has been cautiously delayed. No doubt there were marked preglacial valleys to guide the lobes of the continental ice sheet; but the basins of Green Bay and Lake Michigan, and the submerged Fig. 85. The Niagara cuesta in the Driftless Area of northern Illinois, where the irregular escarpment and numerous outliers suggest the type of topography which probably existed in eastern Wisconsin before the Glacial Period. (From Elizabeth Quadrangle U. S. Geol. Survey.) 230 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin hanging valley north of Washington Island are topographic evi- dences of notable glacial sculpture during the several glacial ad- vances. This produced basins much deeper and wider than the pre- glacial valleys. The vast volumes of glacial drift in this and adjoin- ing states, aside from all that was carried away by streams, furnish concrete proof of the same thing. Absence of Cincinnati Shale from Lake Winnebago-Rock River Lowland. The Cincinnati shale in eastern Wisconsin also furnishes evidence of notable glacial sculpture. In the driftless portion of Iowa and in southwestern Wisconsin, it projects in front of the Niagara escarpment for 3 to 6 miles. In eastern Wisconsin, where it has similar thickness and is no weaker, it lies only on the slope at the base of the Niagara escarpment. The shale is 200 feet thick. This implies not only the planing back of tfye Cincinnati shale border for several miles laterally, but also vertical glacial abrasion of one or two hundred feet, even before the ice cut into the underlying Galena-Trenton limestone. Amount of Quartzite Derived from Certain Small Ledges. The quartzite blocks in the glacial drift east and south of Madison are chiefly derived from ledges near Waterloo and Portland in Jef- ferson County (Fig. 90). The amount of quartzite in the drift has been roughly calculated. This was compared with the area of the known ledges. As the ledges are small, and any undiscovered ledges are doubtless still smaller, it is fairly safe to accept the conclusion that 50 to 75 feet of rock were removed from these ledges by the ice sheet. The planing away of 75 feet vertically in such resistant rock as quartzite might be regarded as remarkable, were it not for the fact that the ice moved over these ledges for an exceedingly long time. Furthermore, the quartzite is well-jointed, so that the glacier was able to pluck out great blocks even before abrading them not- ably. Simple Outlines of Limestone Escarpments. A considera- tion of the forms of the escarpments gives another line of evidence as to the great amount of glacial sculpture in eastern Wisconsin. Em- phasis has been placed in the previous chapter on the unusual and abnormal simplicity of the Magnesian escarpment (p. 202), the Trenton escarpment (p. 206), and the Niagara escarpment (p. 214). This was done in order to point out now that this simplicity is due almost wholly to glacial erosion. It seems reasonable to assume that the glacial agencies have pro- duced the difference between the two contrasted portions of these Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XIX. THE NIAGARA ESCARPMENT. Two portions of the escarpment at the western edge of the Niagara cuesta; where it was greatly eroded by the continental glacier. Elevations in feet above sea level. Contour interval, ro feet. (From Neenah and Fond da Lac Quadrangles, U. S. Geological Survey.) The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 231 escarpments, one glaciatejd and the other driftless, for we have rock textures and structures of identical character and an equal time for identical agencies to work before the glacial invasion. Of the glacial agencies the rasping and plucking quality is the one to which we ap- peal. Even if the outline of the rock ledges beneath the drift is not known with the strictest accuracy, the maximum amount of pos- sible error could not account for the difference in the glaciated and the driftless topographic forms. Lateral Erosion of the Niagara Escarpment. In the case of the Niagara escarpment, to take a specific case, it is possible that glacial erosion wore back portions of the ledge as much as five or ten miles, in converting an irregular cliff (Fig. 85) into a simple one (Fig. 84). The Magnesian and Trenton escarpments were also worn back a long distance by glacial erosion. A cliff like that at the western edge of the Niagara cuesta. on Lake Winnebago, shown in Figure 76, is a perfectly normal result of glacial erosion and pluck- ing, especially as the ice moved parallel to the escarpment. It is not a normal result of preglacial weathering and stream work. It is, of course, recognized that the greatest amounts of lateral sculpture by the ice took place only in the most favorable locations. Where the ice moved parallel to the escarpment it planed back the ends of the salients and removed all the outliers. This was the case between the northern end of Lake Winnebago and Oakfield, Fond du Lac County. To the south, near Oconomowoc, there are a few limestone outliers. Here the ice did not move parallel to the escarpment but ascended it obliquely. The direction of striae, the axes of drumlins, and the position of the moraines tell us this, but it is expressed even more clearly in the lessened, glacial erosion of this part of the escarpment. Comparison with the Magnesian Escarpment. Again in the Magnesian escarpment west of Ripon (Fig. 86) we have the deep valley of Green Lake indenting the line of limestone cliffs. A broad salient and several small limestone hills project north of Green Lake, and there is a small outlier called Mt. Tom. This is because the ice moved across the escarpment instead of parallel to it. Niagara Escarpment Inside and Outside the Driftless Area. The whole Niagara escarpment of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa (Fig. 87) shows the effectiveness of glacial sculpture in relation to parallelism of movement and length of time. The escarpment is simple and without outliers from A to B. Here the direction of ice movement was parallel. It is slightly irregular from B to C. Here 232 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 86. The Magnesian escarpment and Trenton escarpment near Ripon and Green Lake. Oblique lines, Lower Magnesian limestone; oblique dashes, Trenton limestone; white, Cambrian sandstone; black, pre-Cambrian igneous rocks. The ice moved southwestward, eroding the deep valley of Green Lake, accentuating the salients in the escarpments, removing nearly all the outliers, and producing topographic forms intermediate between those shown in Figure 84 and Figure 85. Before the Glacial Period this escarpment doubtless had numerous outliers similar to those in Figure 18 and Figure 126. The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 233 the direction was oblique. From C to D and from E to F the escarp- ment is deeply buried in glacial drift. It may be a little more ir- regular than is shown. In any event the ice moved at right angles to it, and may have, accentuated the salients somewhat. DRUFTLESS \ NOLA CROSSE li » Til 'I KILBOURN INNESOTA__S, S V rovwT ( % AREA Blue Mounds \ Platte Mounds iP>-^ ft.ATTEVH.LE GlacUC 5TT*IA£ DIXON Fig. 87. The Niagara escarpment inside and outside the Driftless Area. Outliers of Niagara cuesta in the Driftless Area are abundant as at Blue Mounds, Platte Mounds, and Sinsinawa Mound, but there are practically none in the glaciated area, where the escarpment is abnormally simple * From F to G the escarpment is tremendously irregular. There are great numbers of outliers, even at distances of 60 miles. This is in the Driftless Area. There is little reason for doubting that be- fore the Glacial Period the escarpment from A to B may have been as irregular and may have had as many outliers as are now 234 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin found in the Driftless Area between F and G. From G to H the escarpment lies in the region of older drift. It is not quite as ir- regular as in the Driftless Area, but it is far from simple. There are four reasons for its irregularity of outline. (1) It was overridden by ice moving nearly at right angles. (2) It was close to the edge of the Driftless Area where the ice was thin and weak. (3) It was probably not glaciated more than once. (4) The glaciation took place so long ago that the escarpment may have had its ir- regularity renewed somewhat by the tributaries of the Mississippi. Thus we see that the extent of irregularity or simplicity of an escarpment varies with local conditions. The simplest portion of the Niagara escarpment is east of Lake Winnebago — (a) where the ice moved parallel to the ledge, (b) where the glacier was thick and powerful, (c) where it eroded during several glacial epochs, (d) where there are no streams to cut it up subsequently, and (e) where there has not been time enough since the Glacial Period for appreci- able modification. For such . a favorably-situated escarpment as this, a retreat of 5 or 10 miles by glacial sculpture is subject to little doubt. Rejection of Other Possible Explanations of Simple Es- carpments. It might be argued that the very fact of existing cuestas with escarpments suggests that the glacial- erosion was slight, since forms of this type characterized the region before it was glaciated. As a matter of fact the alternate, weak and resistant, sedimentary formations would retain the escarpments at the borders of its cuestas no matter how great or how little glacial erosion there might be. Waye work, as on the Niagara escarpment in Green Bay, might produce a steep, simple cliff. It would be a low cliff and there would be a wave-cut bench of rock at its base. No wave work could affect all three of the cuestas of eastern Wisconsin. A longi- tudinal river in the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago-Rock River lowland would not produce a straight, simple escarpment, for the tributaries of the master stream would carve the escarpment even more deeply than now and would thus increase its irregularity. As simple an outline as that of the Niagara escarpment might have been produced by faulting, but this can be definitely proved not to have taken place in the three escarpments of eastern Wisconsin, which are identical in topographic characteristics and must have had a common origin. Simple Escarpments Due to Glaciation. The crux of the situation is found in the comparison of the Magnesian escarpment The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 235 in (a) the region of rapid movement and strong ice action, (b) the area of thin, weak ice near the limit of glaciation, and (c) the Drift- less Area. In Marinette, Green Lake, and the intervening counties, the escarpment is abnormally simple; in Columbia County there ' Co *S,\ 30 MILES o>. -J ' *'>■ BEUJIT q i Fig. 88. Variations in the outlines of the escarpments of eastern Wisconsin in relation to the direction of glacial movement. are a few projecting spurs and outlying limestone-capped hills (see p. 203) ; in Sauk, Vernon and Monroe Counties, the escarpment is most irregular. The same thing is true of the Trenton and Niagara escarpments. This marked difference within the general type of cuestas points clearly to great glacial modification of parts of the escarpments of eastern Wisconsin. 236 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Absence of Residual Soil on Cuesta Surfaces. The forego- ing discussion shows the author's reasons for believing that glacial erosion caused the lateral retreat of the fronts of escarpments for distances of several miles. The amount of reduction of the surfaces of the cuestas may also be discussed in the quantitative manner. In the Driftless Area the average thickness of the residual soil is seven feet. Upon ridges and uplands the thickness is 8 to 13 § feet. This does not include the partly disintegrated rock below the resid- ual clay. Eastern Wisconsin has no residual soil or weathered rock to speak of. The places where weathered material occurs in glaciated ter- ritory are rare and easily explained. The slightly-weathered rock in small areas west of Madison show that the thin, weak ice near the border of the Driftless Area did not remove quite all the residual material. It certainly removed nearly all. We do not know how much weathered material existed above the little patches that were left. There is weathered bedrock in the older drift area east of Monroe in Green and Rock Counties. This is near the border of glaciation where the ice was thin and weak, and where glaciation may not have operated more than once. Not only was all the residual soil removed from the limestones in eastern Wisconsin, but the gradation zone of slightly-weathered limestone was nearly everywhere planed away, leaving the firm, unaltered rock beneath. The ice often planed down to the same re- sistant bed, as at Duck Creek near Green Bay. The most conserva- tive estimate gives a minimum amount of vertical glacial erosion of 8 to 14 feet. Lack of Caves and Sink Holes. That the ice abraded even more deeply than the amount just mentioned is indicated by the absence of caves and sink holes in glaciated eastern Wisconsin. Caves are abundant in the Galena-Trenton and Lower Magnesian limestone of the driftless portions of Iowa and Minnesota, but there seem to be no caves in the Niagara there. The residual soil of the Niagara however, is heavier than that on the Galena-Trenton. Consequently we may safely assume that in preglacial time there were many caves in the Galena-Trenton and the Lower Magnesian limestone of eastern Wisconsin, and that the Niagara limestone there had thick residual soil. In the Driftless Area, caves and disintegration seem to be abundant down to the limit of ground water. This is 10 to 100 feet in some places, and 100 to 300 feet in others. Sink holes in the driftless portion of the state are from 5 to 20 feet deep. Caves The Glacialion of Eastern Wisconsin 237 penetrate to a depth of 50 to 75 feet in driftless southwestern Wis- consin (p. 87). It seems logical to conclude from the relationships of residual soil and of caves that one or two hundred feet of weathered and cavernous rock have been eroded by the ice in eastern Wisconsin. The apparent exceptions help to prove the rule regarding absence of caves in glaciated territory. There is an arch in the Silurian limestone of Mackinac Island, Mich., which has been interpreted as part of an unroofed cavern, although it may conceivably be due •SV/wr HOl£ Fig. 89. Diagram to show how the absence of caves and sink holes in eastern Wisconsin may be due to glacial erosion. In the left-hand section there are features produced by weathering and solution, while in the right-hand section the surface has been eroded below the level of the deepest caverns. to wave work. The cave near Ephraim was made by wave work after the ice had retreated from the Door Peninsula. The small caves or enlarged joint planes near Wilson in northwestern Wiscon- sin (p. 115) were near the border of the Driftless Area where the ice was thin and weak. Moreover, they are situated in the belt of older drift where the ice may not have come more than once. Small caves and solution channels along joints are found in glacial territory in northern and central Illinois, but they have similar relationships. That there should be one cavern — the Richardson cave — in the area of Wisconsin drift near Verona, a quarter of a mile from the terminal moraine, and that the few small caves in the older drift near Wilson are only about 25 miles from the Driftless Area supports the theory of glacial removal of all caves in eastern Wisconsin (Fig. 89). It shows a gradation from the region of abundant caves in the Drift- 238 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin less Area to the region of no caves in the belt of active ice move- ment and repeated advances by the thick glacial lobes in eastern Wisconsin. Absence of Marked Ridges and Valleys upon Cuesta Sur- faces. The Magnesian and Trenton cuestas near Madison have notably hilly surfaces (p. 209). This hilly region is near the western edge of the glaciated area, where the ice was thinner and glacial erosion was weaker than to the northeast. The continuation of these cuesta uplands in northeastern Wisconsin is much less hilly (p. 207). The upland of the Niagara cuesta is a rather smooth sur- face. It seems fair to raise the question as to whether the whole of each of these cuesta surfaces was not much more hilly in preglacial time. A similar cuesta in Alabama is so cut up by streams as to form a rather hilly region. This is far south of the belt of glaciation. The Magnesian cuesta in western Wisconsin is rut up by streams until it is a hilly region of ridges and valleys, with no flat-topped inter- stream areas. This is in the Driftless Area. The Allegheny Plateau in glaciated New York is decidedly less hilly than in driftless Penn- sylvania and West Virginia. Glacial erosion wears down hills until the surfaces of glaciated cuestas are less irregular than the corre- sponding surfaces of cuestas which have never been covered by ice. For these reasons the cuesta surfaces on the Niagara, Galena- Trenton, and Lower Magnesian limestones of eastern Wisconsin seem to be abnormally simple in topography, just as their escarp- ments seem abnormally simple in outline. On all these accounts the author is convinced that glacial erosion has planed down the Lower Magnesian, Galena-Trenton, and Niagara limestones in eastern Wisconsin to depths at least one or two hundred feet below the preglacial surface. It may be even more. Topographic Contrast Between Glaciated and Driftless Areas. The Mississippi River and its tributaries have produced a distinctive topography in the Driftless Area. There is no reason for doubting that there was topography of the same sort in eastern Wis- consin before the Glacial Period, and that the change was brought about by the continental glacier. This is known by the absence of the residual soil, which must have mantled the whole region before the first glacial invasion. It is made more emphatic by the great amount of undecayed, local limestone which we find in the glacial drift of eastern Wisconsin. It is shown especially by the character of the existing topography, which is entirely different from the pre- The Glaciaiion of Eastern Wisconsin 239 glacial topography. The evidence from the topography in eastern Wisconsin is very specific, as we fortunately have samples of the preglacial landscape preserved in the Driftless Area, where the under- lying rock is similar to that of the drift-covered area farther east. The gradation in topography near and north of Madison and west of Janesville and Beloit may be partly due to structural causes. The chief cause, however, is the intermediate character of the glacial erosion. It was less than in the belt of rapidly-moving ice and long- continued, repeated glaciation. It was more than in the Driftless Area. Thus the gradation of topography helps to prove the rule. Surface Features Due to Glacial Deposition The Glacial Drift. The deposits left by the ice sheet are unas- sorted till, or bowlder clay, and stratified gravel, sand, and clay. They contain not only fragments of the local limestene, shale, and sandstone, but also igneous and metamorphic rocks imported into the region by the ice sheet. The source of this material is partly in the Lake Superior Highland in northern Wisconsin and partly in Canada. A small amount comes from the exhumed monadnocks like the quartzites and igneous rocks of the Fox River valley and the Waterloo quartzite of Jefferson County. Bowlder Trains. Extending southwestward from Waterloo (Fig. 90) are abundant bowlders of quartzite (p. 230) scattered by the glacier in the lee of the ledges. This is known as a bowlder train. It is recognizable because the quartzite is a unique rock in this region of limestone and sandstone. The Waterloo bowlder train is more than 60 miles long. It is fan-shaped, increasing in width from a nar- row band to 20 miles near Sun Prairie and Lake Mills, and 50 miles near Whitewater and Madison. The bowlders near the ledges are large and numerous, while those near the borders are small and in- frequent. Smaller bowlder trains are found in the lee of the knobs of igneous rock in the valley of Fox River in the Central Plain and in the lee of the Powers Bluff monadnock of the Northern Highland in Wood County (Fig. 161). Drift Copper. The drift in eastern Wisconsin contains frag- ments of native copper from the north. Masses up to 487 pounds in weight have been found in southeastern Wisconsin. Elsewhere (p. 408) there are glacial bowlders of copper up to 800 and even 3000 pounds in weight. Diamonds in the Glacial Deposits. A few diamonds are also found in the glacial drift. Such diamonds have been found near 240 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Eagle in Waukesha County, southwest of Oregon in Dane County, near Saukville in Ozaukee County, Burlington in Racine County, and Kohlsville in Washington County. The largest of these weighed Fig! 90. The Waterloo bowlder train. Quartzite ledges shown in black, bowlder trains by circles, and directions of glacial movement iy arrows. (After Buell.) 15b-j carats. Their source is as yet unknown, but it is supposed to be somewhere in Canada (Fig. 91). These glacially-transported gems have long been known. Indeed as long ago as 1670 the Jesuit fathers related a story of diamonds on some of the islands at the entrance to Green Bay. GLACIAL MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES REGION. X>vv£fc1ts» Ar* as Old e l- Dvt.it Moi-iLna» GlacUl Stria.* *T*\*».c"k o£ ~Di amoiidt Diamond Localities ° C ( Xagle O.Orefton Fig. 91. Places where diamonds have been found in the glacial drift. (Hobbs.) 242 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Proportion of Local Material. Crystalline rocks form only about 13 per cent of the pebbly portion of the drift in southeastern Wisconsin, where the most careful mechanical analyses have been made, the remaining 87 per cent of the material being local lime- stone and sandstone. The crystalline rocks come largely from Can- ada and from the Lake Superior region. Older Drift. The belt of older drift in eastern Wisconsin is con- fined to parts of Rock and Walworth Counties. The glacial topog- raphy is less rugged than in the rest of eastern Wisconsin because of stream erosion. The surface drift is so weathered that the lime- stone pebbles are leached away to masses that can be picked apart with the fingers. In this respect the older drift is quite different from that of the latest or Wisconsin stage where the limestone is entirely unaltered and only a few of the basic igneous rocks are suf- ficiently weathered to fall apart. Ground Moraine of the Latest Glaciation. The ground moraine which covers nearly all of eastern Wisconsin has the variable, slightly rolling topography of drift-mantled plains. The ground moraine is made up largely of till, but may contain small areas of stratified sand and gravel. The till is deposited in the broad sheet by the melting ice, so that it is apt to be unstratified. The ground moraine covers a much larger area than the terminal moraines, which are in long narrow belts. The way in which the similar ground moraine of Iowa was deposited has been happily stated by McGee: "The whole mass (of ice), indeed, must have lain in majestic in- activity until devoured by the hungry sun and thirsty wind. The bowlder-dotted surface * * * is its epitaph." The thickness of the ground moraine in southeastern Wisconsin varies from a few feet on the hilltops to over 400 feet in the bottoms of the preglacial valleys. The surfaces mantled by the ground mo- raine have local relief of 50 to 200 feet, except where the topographic forms like terminal moraines and drumlins'rise above the ground moraine. Most of the ground moraine is covered by a rather fertile clay soil, but parts of it are stony. Large areas in the ground moraine are too swampy for agriculture, or are covered by the waters of lakes. The ground moraine and terminal moraines of eastern Wisconsin appear on the soil maps as the Miami and Coloma loams. Drumlins. A special relief feature within the ground moraine area is the class of oval hills, or drumlins, alluded to at the beginning The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 243 M m L^ ^ Olacial drift of pre- Termmat moraine Terminer/ moraines Terminer/ moraines Wisconsin glaciation. possibly of an ear/y of the Late Michigan of the Oreen Bay Wisconsin glacier G/acier. 0/acier '/*'* Inter/obafe nvrerine Ground moraine arras, 6f the Lake Michigan outwash i etc and SreenSay Glaciers 5 10 15 Drum/ins * to O/aciat Striae 25 Miles Fig. 92. The drumlins in southeastern Wisconsin. (Alden.) 244 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin of this chapter. There are only three portions of the United States where these specialized forms are abundant (1) eastern Wisconsin, (2) northwestern New York, and (3) eastern Massachusetts. Fig- ure 92 shows the distribution of some of the Wisconsin drumlins. It is seen that they are confined mostly to the limestone belt and lie within 5 to 35 miles of the outermost terminal moraine. This limi- tation to the border region suggests that there may be a minimum possible thickness of ice which was capable of carving or building drumlins. The ice in this belt is thought to have been at least 450 Fig. 93. Topographic maps of drumlins in southeastern Wisconsin, showing their slopes erossed by eskers (black) and a terminal moraine (dots). Contour interval 20 feet. Area C shows a moraine crossing drumlins uear Jefferson. Area P shows an esker near Waterloo (Alden.) to 1450 feet thick. The 1400 drumlins previously mentioned do not include anywhere near all of the oval hills of this sort in eastern Wisconsin. In Plate XX are shown some of the drumlins of the region near Sun Prairie, Dane County. Some of the drumlins rise as much as 140 feet above the adjacent plain. A few are as low as 5 feet. Their average width is about a quarter mile, and their length varies from a few rods to two miles. The material is chiefly unstratified glacial drift, but a few drumlins contain a little water-deposited material (Fig. 94). Numerous well sections show that they do not have rock cores. Their trend is north-northeast in the Sun Prairie region (Fig. 92), but in different parts of eastern Wisconsin they trend Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XX. DRUMLINS IN EASTERN WISCONSIN. Upper map — Long narrow drumlins northeast of Madison. Elevations in feet above sea level. Contour interval, 20 feet. (From Sun Prairie Quadrangle, U. S. Geological Survey.) Lower map— Short wide drumlins east of Lake Winnebago. Contour interval. 10 feet. (From Fond du Lac Quadrangle, U. S. Geological Survey.) The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 245 north-south, northeast-southwest, and northwest-southeast. They always have their longer axes parallel to the direction of ice flow revealed by the striae on the rock ledges. East of Fond du Lac the drumlins are of short, oval type like those near Boston, Massachu- setts, while near Waterloo the drumlins are long, attenuated forms, similar to those west of Syracuse, New York. The hills at the State University, once described as "the Madison type of drumlins," are not drumlins at all, but parts of recessional moraine. There are drumlins at Madison, however, for example the hill near Lake Men- dota traversed by Langdon and Gilman Streets. There are also drumlins in the area of older drift southeast of Janesville. They have a northeast-southwest trend, in contrast with the general north-south trend of the younger drumlins a few miles to the north. Fig. 94. Cross-sectionsJshowing that drumlins do not have rock cores and that they occasionally contain small lenses of stratified drift, the prevailing material being unstratified till or bowlder clay. (Alden.) Recessional Moraines. The distribution of the moraines built at the edge of the retreating ice sheet in southeastern Wisconsin is shown in Figures 92 and 99. Those near the Driftless Area are found at intervals which suggest a halt of the ice every 5 miles. The terminal moraine at the border of the Driftless Area varies in width from three-fourths of a mile to three or four miles. It stands 40 to 140 feet above the adjacent area and the local relief of its ridges and knobs above its valleys and kettles is 20 to 40 feet. It forms a striking contrast to some of the recessional moraines, for example at Madison, where the narrow, single ridges between Lakes Monona and Wingra and at the head of University Bay on Lake Mendota are less than an eighth of a mile wide. Some of the recessional mo- raines are discontinuous, but the great majority of them form strong upland belts of rough, wooded country. East of Janesville near the Niagara escarpment there was a minor tongue of the Green Bay glacier called the Delavan lobe. There 246 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the preglacial Troy valley in Walworth County caused a separate ice movement between the Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes. The terminal moraines of the Delavan and Green Bay lobes form crescentic belts. The Kettle Moraine. Between the Green Bay and Lake Michi- gan lobes was formed an interlobate deposit of unusual height and irregularity, as is shown in Figure 107. This is a part of the Kettle Fig. 95. Terminal and recessional moraines and drumlins near Madison. (Alden and Thwaites.) Moraine of Wisconsin, so called because of the deep hollows, or kettles. It rises 200 feet above the region southeast of Whitewater and is especially well seen near Eagle, Waukesha County. The ket- tles or pits are due. to the melting of buried ice blocks, or to the build- ing of irregular morainic ridges which enclose undrained depres- sions. Outwash Deposits. Deposits made by streams which issued from the edge of the melting ice are found in many parts of eastern Wisconsin. They are typically developed near Janesville and Be- loit (Fig. 98). Outwash plains consist of low, coalescing, alluvial fans which head up against a moraine. This moraine is the outer- most one which marks the edge of the ice at the time of its latest expansion, but outwash may be built at the border of any recessional The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 247 moraine. Near Janesville the outwash plain slopes southward at the rate of nearly 10 feet to the mile. It has a smooth surface /V/ra,\\! v ^ V ; ' ' i '4 /Watertown SCALE OF MILES 10 20 30 Fig. 96. The kettle moraine, an interlobate accumulation between the Green Bay lobe and the Lake Michigan lobe of the continental glacier. (Alden.) with slight irregularities. These are caused by projecting masses of ground moraine, by kettles, by abandoned glacial stream chan- pGREE/VBAY^ o / J / yGLAC/ER\>\~\ l GREEN B 7f ^— * -^WUJKESHAj „ . \ °M111M*UKEE 20 30 Miles. DELAVAN / / LAKE^ ^M/CH/GAM RAWNI \GLAC/Eft^ \r^\ \ r Jv WH °milwalikee: 'fkLA^I^LAKE ^i^/alym/gh/gan\\ ^GLAG/ER a* / / ' V , Jv >| I ',> Jlv IS^ , o MILWAUKEE _- V— / /- /„ JEFFERSON \ ^> {U. 1 > rf --Y WAUKESH A \__ . \ GREEN /BAY^Mm^ VN^rJU- -'LAG/ALt ^--mJchj^n^ °™^^cglac/er V \ 2ff AMA/\\, y\ GL%o4LKr-:-\ tLQ3E^-\ VVT j^MES^\ Fig 97. Four maps to show the drainage associated with the successive stages in the retreat of the ice from southeastern Wisconsin. These streams laid down outwash deposits of glacial sand and gravel. (Based upon maps by Ald«n.) Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXI. A. GLACIAL STREAMS DEPOSITING OUTWASH GRAVEL NEAR BORDER OF MALASPINA GLACIER, ALASKA. ggjg^JfelMlMr****** B. PLAIN OF OUTWASH GRAVEL IN KEWAUNEE COUNTY. WISCONSIN. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXII. A. TERMINAL MORAINE NORTHEAST OF WHITEWATER. B. STEEP RIDGES OF THE KETTLE MORAINE NEAR EAGLE. The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 249 nels, and by the deeper ravines of postglacial streams, such as the Rock River. The latter now flows in a valley 40 to 60 feet below the level of the outwash plain. The thickness of the outwash at Janes- ville is 450 feet. The coarse rounded material makes stony fields at certain localities, while the finer deposits produce sandy soil in other \a&*% Fig. 98. Outwash deposits near Janesville and Beloit. (Alden.) places. A thin coating of loess and soil covers most of the out- wash plain. Outwash deposits appear on the soil maps as the Plainfield, Fox, and Waukesha series. Eskers. Allied to the outwash plains in origin are the eskers, built by glacial streams flowing beneath the ice. These are narrow, winding ridges of stratified gravel. They are not numerous. Eskers as much as six miles long are known in eastern Wisconsin. Con- spicuous ones are to be seen near Waterloo in Jefferson County (Fig. 93), west of Cottage Grove in Dane County, in the south- eastern part of Dodge County, the eastern part of Columbia County, 250 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin and the southeastern part of Marinette County. Parts of the Rodman series of soils are upon eskers. Gravel Seam at Ripon. A limestone quarry on the rock hill west of Ripon reveals a thin horizontal seam of glacial gravels in the solid rock. It lies beneath ten feet or more of Trenton lime- stone, and has been seen continuously throughout an area two or three hundred feet square. The gravel seam is only an inch or two in thickness. It consists of rounded pebbles of granite, green- stone, quartzite, and limestone. Because of the lack of consoli- dation of this deposit of erratics it does not seem at all likely that it represents a glacial deposit of Ordovician rather than Quater- nary age. The surface upon which it rests discloses no glacial striae, but is slightly weathered. One way of explaining this deposit would be to assume that the continental ice sheet of the latest Glacial Period had slid a great slab of rock over the top of the hill, leaving it there in a hori- zontal position, resting upon the glacial gravels. One objection to this is that the vertical joint planes in the Trenton limestone above and below the gravel seam appear to be continuous. These joint planes are usually thought to be of preglacial origin. Moreover there also appear to be glacial gravels within the St. Peter sandstone at another level on this same hill. Another hypothesis for the explanation of the gravel seam is that the pressure of glacial ice lifted the rock layers slightly, so that glacial waters were able to force the erratic gravels into one stratum of the limestone and into certain fissures in the sandstone. It may be objected that the gravel seam is nearly everywhere of fairly uniform thickness and that there are many other layers into which the waters might equally well have forced glacial gravels. It may be felt that this second hypothesis is favored by the presence of a fold in the limestone and sandstone layers at the eastern edge of the quarry. The axis of the fold makes a considerable angle with the glacial striae at the top of the hill. Thus the fold has the right trend for a feature made by glacial pressure, though it is hard to believe that brittle limestone may be folded under such conditions. Glacial folding of solid rock has been suggested in a case near Burlington, Racine County. Near Ripon there are other minor folds which seem to be preglacial. Elsewhere in the quarry at Ripon the St. Peter sandstone fails to appear in its normal place between the Galena-Trenton limestone and the Lower Mag- nesian limestone. This, however, is below the level of the gravel The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 251 seam, and may not have anything to do with the origin of these uncemented glacial gravels in the midst of solid rock layers. The origin of the gravel seam is not yet known. Lake Deposits. At the borders of the retreating ice sheet were temporary lakes, many of them held in between the higher Fig. 99. Glacial deposits in southeastern Wisconsin, including the broad low morainic ridges near Lake Michigan and the red clay north of Milwaukee. (Alden.) drift deposits and the retreating ice. There were large bodies of water of this type in the basins of Lake Michigan and Green Bay, (Chapter XII), and small, ephemeral lakes in various parts of east- ern Wisconsin. In these lakes were accumulated deposits which now form swampy tracts in some parts of the state, though there are many swamps not due to the filling of lakes. Of the lake deposits special mention will be made of two which cover large areas. In the Niagara upland, south of Milwaukee and 252 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin extending nearly parallel to the shore of Lake Michigan, are low, weak, recessional moraines which have been, thought to be partly or wholly accumulated under water (Fig. 99). North of Milwaukee is a belt of red clay which seems to be a modified lake deposit. The upper portion is unstratified. The de- posit broadens northward, and in Calumet and Manitowoc Counties extends westward across the Niagara upland and down into the Green Bay- Lake Winnebago lowland, to a point just south of Fond du Lac. It forms a gently-sloping plain west of Green Bay and Lake Winnebago. Its western border also extends over the Magnesian cuesta into the present Fox- Wolf valley. The lake clay runs from a few feet to over a hundred. feet in thickness. It is clear that the red- ness is not due to weathering after the clay was deposited. It may be derived from the ferruginous, red clay of the Lake Superior basin (pp. 408, 422). Beneath this red clay is blue till of earlier glacial deposition. Extensive lake deposits are doubtless hidden beneath the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan. There are also narrow strips of lake deposits of the higher stages of the Great Lakes, as on the coast south of Milwaukee and west of Marinette and Green Bay. The soils maps use the names Superior clay loam, Superior fine sandy loam, and Poygan fine sandy loam for these lake deposits of eastern Wisconsin. In addition to the lake clays there are ancient and modern beach deposits, described later (p. 282) in connection with the coasts of Wisconsin. The Latest Readvance of the Ice. There is evidence that the glacier readvanced in eastern Wisconsin, after retreating far enough for the accumulation of some of the red clay just described. Part of the red clay is ridged up into terminal moraines which cross the older moraines at a low angle, as in Manitowoc County near Kiel and in Fond du Lac County east of Lake Winnebago. The southern limit of this advance seems to have been near Cudahy, south of Milwaukee, in the Lake Michigan basin, and about five miles south of the city of Fond du Lac, in the Green Bay-Lake Winnebago low- land. The crescentic terminal moraine south of Fond du Lac is made up of this reworked lake clay. In the moraines the material is red clay filled with smail pebbles, so that we have here a red till. The red till and red clay make a stiff, clayey soil much disliked by farmers. If ploughed just before a rain, it makes great lumps so hard they havs to be broken with a sledge hammer or axe. This soil is similar to the red clay soils of the Lake Superior lowland The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 253 (p. 408). Because these red clay moraines are at an angle with older moraines, which disappear beneath them, and because the drift must have been formed in a marginal lake in front of the ad- vancing or retreating glacier, it is clear that there was a readvance of SCALE OF MILES Fig. 100. Map to show the approximate distribution of the red clay related to the latest readvance of the ice in eastern Wisconsin. Red clay areas shown by horizontal dashed lines. (Alden.) a considerable amount during the general retreat of the glacier from eastern Wisconsin. A Forest Bed. At Two Greeks, between Kewaunee and Mani- towoc, the wave-cut cliffs of the lake shore reveal an ancient forest bed, buried beneath red till and resting on stratified red clay. It 254 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin consists of logs, branches, and upright stumps. This forest bed proves that there was a period long enough for forest growth be- tween the retreat of the ice and accumulation of the red clay and the readvance during which the red till was deposited. Similar vegetable accumulations are found in wells in the Fox River valley. BIBLIOGRAPHY Alden, W. C. Delavan Lobe of the Lake Michigan Glacier, Prof. Paper 34, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, 99 pp; Drumlins of Southeastern Wisconsin, Ibid., Bull. 273, 1905, 46 pp; Quaternary Geology of Southeastern Wisconsin, Ibid., Professional Paper (in preparation); Radiation of Glacial Flow as a Factor in Drumlin Formation, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 22, 1911, pp. 733-734; Geological History of Green Lake County, Wisconsin, Green Lake County Training School Quarterly, Vol. 3, 1912, pp. 2-14; Criteria for Discrimination of Age of Glacial Drift Sheets, Journ. Geol. Vol. 17, 1909, pp. 694-709. Andrews, E. On Some Remarkable Relations and Characters of the Western Bowlder Drift, Amer. Journ. Sci., 2nd Series, Vol. 48, 1869, pp. 172-179. Bliss, J. S. Notes on Wisconsin Drift, Amer. Journ. Sci., 2nd Series, Vol. 41, 1866, p. 255. Buell, I. M. Bowlder Trains from the Outcrops of the Waterloo Quartzite Area, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 10, 1895, pp. 485-509. Bruncken, E. Physiographical Field Notes in the Town of Wauwatosa, Wis- consin, Bull. 1, Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, 1900, pp. 95-99. Chamberlin, T. C. On the Extent and Significance of the Wisconsin Kettle Moraine, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 4, 1879, pp. 201-234; Quaternary Forma- tions of Eastern Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1878, pp. 199-246; Ibid., Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 261-298; The Terminal Moraine of the Second Glacial Epoch, Third Ann. Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, pp. 315-326. Hobbs, W. H. On a Recent Diamond Find in Wisconsin and on the Probable Source of this and other Wisconsin Diamonds, Amer. Geol., Vol. 14, 1894, pp. 31-37; The Diamond Field of the Great Lakes, Journ. Geol., Vol. 7, 1899, pp. 375-388; Emigrant Diamonds in America, Smithsonian Annual Rept. for 1901, pp. 359-366. Irving, R. D. The Quaternary Deposits of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wis- consin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 608-636. Kirch, A. B. Geography of Dane County, Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, Uni- versity of Wisconsin, 1911. Lapham, I. A. On the Existence of Certain Lacustrine Deposits in the Vicinity of the Great Lakes Usually Confounded with the Drift, Amer. Journ. Sci., 2nd Series, Vol. 3, 1847, pp. 90-94. Lawson, P. V. Preliminary Notice of the Forest Beds of the Lower Fox River, Wisconsin, Bull. 2, Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc, 1902, pp. 170-173. Leverett, Frank. Preglacial Valleys of the Mississippi, Journ. Geol., Vol. 3, 1895, pp. 744-745, 758-759; Profiles Across the Bed of Lake Michigan, Mono- graph 38, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1899, PI. 5 facing p. 12; Outline of History of the Great Lakes, 12th Report Mich. Acad. Sci., 1910, pp. 28-30. The Glaciation of Eastern Wisconsin 255 Martin, Lawrence, Williams, F. E., and Bean, E. F. A Manual of Physical Geography Excursions, Madison, 1913, — descriptions of glacial features near Madison. Russell, I. C. The Influence of Caverns on Topography, Science, new series, Vol. 21, 1905, pp. 30-32; A Geological Reconnoissance along the North Shore of Lakes Huron and Michigan, Annual Rept. Mich. Geol. Survey, 1905, pp. 39-150; Surface Geology of Portions of Menominee, Dickinson, and Iron Counties, Michigan, Ibid., 1907, pp. 7-82. Salisbury, R. D. Notes on the Dispersion of Drift Copper, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Vol. 6, 1886, pp. 42-50. Smith, H. E. Escarpments, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1913. Spencer, J. W. Origin of the Basins of the Great Lakes of America, Amer. Geol., Vol. 7, 1891, pp. 86-97; Review of the History of the Great Lakes, Ibid., Vol. 14, 1894, pp. 289-301. Upham, W. The Madison Type of Drumlins, Amer. Geol., Vol. 14, 1894, pp. 69-83. Weidman, S., and Wood, P. O. Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Marinette County, Bull. 24, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1911, 44 pp. Whitson, A. R., and Others. Soil Survey of Waukesha, Fond du Lac, and Kewau- nee Counties, Wisconsin, Bulls. 29, 37, 39, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914; see also Racine County Area and Janesville Area, Bureau of Soils, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Whittlesey, Charles. On the "Superficial Deposits" of the Northwestern Part of the United States, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. 5, 1851, pp. 54-59; On the Drift Cavities or "Potash Kettles" of Wisconsin, Ibid., Vol. 13, 1860, pp. 297-301; On the Ice Movements of the Glacial Era in the Valley of the St. Lawrence, (including directions of striae in eastern Wisconsin), Ibid., Vol. 15, 1867, pp. 43-54; On the Fresh- Water Glacial Drift of the Northwestern States, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. 15, 1867, 32 pp. Winchell, N. H. The Glacial Features of Green Bay of Lake Michigan, With Some Observations on a Probable Former Outlet of Lake Superior, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 2, 1871, pp. 15-19. MAPS U. S. Geol. Survey. See quadrangles listed on p. 219. U.«S. Lake Survey. Charts of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, and Lake Winnebago, listed on p. 219. Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. See special lake maps in Bulletin 27; also published separately (Fig. 194); maps in soils bulletins referred to in this chapter. 256 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin URSUING OUR JOURNEY, * * we passed the military road, leading to Fort Winnebago and Navarino [Portage and Green Bay), and soon afterwards got into one of the most ex- quisitely beautiful regions I have ever seen in any pari of the world. The prairie that had hitherto been distinguished by a regular rolling surface, here changed its character, and took the form of ridges somewhat elevated, which frequently resolved themselves into masses of gracefully-rounded hills, separated by gentle depressions, that occasion- ally became deepened valleys. In these, some of the heads of a stream called Sugar River, a tributary of Rock River, took their rise. In whatever direction our eyes were turned, the most pleasing irregularities of surface presented themselves. But that which crowned the perfection of the view, and imparted an indescribable charm to the whole scene, from the knoll where we stood to the most distant point where the alternate hills and vales blended with the horizon, was the inimitable grace with which the picturesque clumps of trees, that sometimes enlarged themselves into woods, embellished this rural landscape from the hand of Nature. "Here a thick grove hanging upon the slope of a hill, distinguished by its symmetry from its numerous companions, impended over the amenity of the valley beneath; whilst, further on, a more robust line of dense foliage betrayed the ample volume of some pellucid stream whence it was nourished. Turn where we would, every object within the ample range concurred to cherish and to establish more indelibly the pleasing impression caused by the whole; whilst the softness of these attractions contrasted here and there so strikingly with the noble rock escarpments peering out from the bluffs, that Nature might be said to speak to you in a voice that must be listened to, and to tell you that she had here surpassed the most polished efforts of English park scenery, the most difficult of all her achievements. America will justly boast of this unrivalled spectacle when it becomes known, for certainly it is formed of elements that no magic could enable all Europe to bring together upon so great a scale." * * % * * * * * "Four noble lakes in the centre of a region of such unrivalled beauty must constitute perfection itself." G. W. Featherstonhaugh in 1837. CHAPTER XI. THE DRAINAGE. OF EASTERN WISCONSIN A Youthful System of Drainage The poet Longfellow described the four lakes of Madison as : "Four limpid lakes, — four Naiades Or sylvan deities are these, In flowing robes of azure dressed ; Four lovely handmaids, that uphold Their shining mirrors, rimmed with gold, To the fair city in the West." It is difficult to realize that these lakes are ephemeral features of the landscape, that they were not here some scores of thousand years ago, and that in a few thousand years more they will no longer exist. Originally there were more than four lakes near Madison. Lake Wingra is approaching extinction, although it was once twice as large. Hook Lake, east of Oregon, is now entirely swamp. The same is true of the lake of Nine Springs valley, which formerly ex- tended east of the State Fish Hatchery for 4 miles. Nearly half of the original Lake Kegonsa is a marsh. Lake Mendota doubtless once stretched 4 or 5 miles to the northeast, with Maple Bluff, Darwin, and Mendota on a large island. Indeed the whole drainage system of eastern Wisconsin, with its crooked streams and buried valleys, is a very modern and short-lived affair, as the earth views time. The venerable streams of the state are those in the Driftless Area. The rivers, lakes, and swamps of eastern Wisconsin have all been established since the Glacial Period. In the course of time the lakes will be filled, the swamps drained, the rapids and waterfalls extinguished, and the buried valleys cleared out. Then the drainage system will return to a condition similar to that in the southeastern part of the Western Upland. Indeed the streams in the region west of Beloit and Janesville have already gone back to essentially the preglacial condition through long-continued weathering and stream erosion. 258 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin General Hydrography The drainage of the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands is chiefly de- pendent upon the larger features of rock topography, partly upon the minor topographic features due to glaciation. The chief drain- age basins of eastern Wisconsin are (a) the Rock River system in the south, (b) the Fox River system in the north, and (c) minor independent streams that flow into Green Ray or Lake Michigan. The waters of the Rock flow into the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico, while the Fox and the independent streams send their waters to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ocean. The Rock River System Driftless and Glacial Drainage. The chief streams of the Rock River system are the Yahara, the Crawfish, and the main Rock River on the east, and the Pecatonica and Sugar Rivers in the Western Upland. Thus the drainage system is about equally di- vided between glaciated and driftless territory. As may be seen on the map (Fig. 101) these two parts of the system are strikingly different. Since the eastern tributaries were once like those on the west in all essential respects the conditions in the whole drainage system are summarized here. The Pecatonica River. The Pecatonica River and its tribu- taries form a symmetrical, branching system (Fig. 101). No lakes interrupt its course. Its tributaries are close-set, and thoroughly drain the country through which they flow. There are no undrained interstream areas and no swamps, except in the floodplain of the main stream. The pattern of master stream and affluents simulates the form of a tree and its branches so well that the name — dendritic — is particularly applicable. The Pecatonica rises on the southern slope of the Military Ridge west of Dodgeville at an elevation of about 1200 feet. It is a graded stream, with slope steepest at the headwaters where the conditions are those of late youth. It has no rapids and furnishes little water power. In the first ten miles it descends about 30 feet to the mile. In the next thirty miles its grade flattens to about 3 feet to the mile. The Sugar River. The Sugar River is similar in some respects to the Pecatonica, though the drainage pattern of the Sugar is less systematically dendritic, because it drains a region in large part glaciated and because it is in a lower and less hilly area. More- over, its valley was occupied by vast floods of water from the melt- The Drainage of Eastern Wisconsin 259 ing continental glacier. These streams carried and deposited great quantities of sand and gravel. The deposits form a floodplain, abnormally wide for so small a stream. The grade of Sugar River is a ^ ^V 6 15 !4 13 W Ie [-' 17^ C\w BELL EVUE ) 20 21 Zt 23 2+ DEfERE 4-2 Fig. 109. The French land system, with long narrow farms fronting on the Fox River, and the American land system with square farms. (See Appendix F.) the mouth of Fox River has been associated with three of the earliest settlements in the state, under the French, the British, and the American flags. The long, narrow farms, running back from Fox River, recall the French regime, since most of Wisconsin has the square farms of the township-and-range system. Only at such places as the upper Mississippi near Prairie du Chien, the lower Mississippi near New Orleans, and the lower St. Lawrence River in eastern Canada are these long, narrow farms preserved. They serve to recall the days when rivers, not railways, controlled travel as well as methods of living, the days of the far-flung colonial realm of New France. Preglacial Valleys of the Fox- Winnebago Region. It seems possible that before the Glacial Period the waters of Wolf River flowed southward through what is now the upper Fox River and joined the Wisconsin near Merrimac, or perhaps west of Portage (Fig. 62). The Drainage of Eastern Wisconsin 271 The preglacial Fox River, lacking the Wolf River tributary, was thus a stream of much less volume than at present. It probably flowed in the middle of the lowland of Trenton limestone west of the Niagara escarpment, perhaps heading north of Lake Winnebago and flowing northward to Green Bay (Fig. 110). The preglacial Manitowoc River may have drained part of the Winnebago lowland eastward through the low ground near Brillion. There was no Lake Fig. 110. Sketch map showing preglacial and present drainage in eastern Wisconsin. Winnebago (Fig. 110, left-hand figure) in preglacial time, but the position of Rock River was similar to the present, except for minor differences as shown in Figure 104. The most important economic result of the glacial invasion in the Fox River valley was (a) the addition of the Wolf River system to the upper Fox, giving it more than three times its former volume, (b) the formation of Lake Winnebago, and (c) the change from the preglacial course to the present course of the lower Fox with its eight rapids. These three things have made the lower Fox River more valuable for water power by adding (a) volume, (b) steadiness of flow, and (c) places of steep descent over rock. This has resulted in the development of the most important industrial district in Wisconsin. 272 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Streams Flowing into Lake Michigan Streams Entering Green Bay. The Menominee, Peshtigo, Oconto, and other streams flowing into Green Bay lie mostly in the SCALE OF MILES '/& 'A Fig. 111. The site of Milwaukee in 1836, showing a sand bar across the mouth of the Milwaukee River. (U. S. Army Engineers.) Northern Highland and will be described later (Chapter XVI). All the waters entering Lake Michigan from Wisconsin flow down the eastern slopes of the Niagara cuesta. Milwaukee River and Its Neighbors. The Milwaukee River, whose general course is described on page 217, rises southeast of Lake Winnebago at an elevation of about 1018 feet. Its head waters The Drainage of Eastern Wisconsin A. 273 *LM u — r iMile Fig 112. Pike River, which formerly flowed from A to E. The waves cut into the side of the valley from C to D, leaving an abandoned valley from D to E. They have cut into it again at B, but the river is not yet diverted at that point. (Goldthwait.) 274 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin include the Cedar Lakes of Washington County. The river has a length of about 75 miles, and empties into Lake Michigan at the city of Milwaukee. Its grade averages 5 feet to the mile. The mouth is converted by the waters of the lake into an estuary, across the mouth of which is a sand bar. This makes the best and most important harbor in eastern Wisconsin, a harbor from which the tonnage shipped annually exceeds that at such ports as Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. The form of Milwaukee Harbor in 1836 is shown in Figure 111. The lower valley of the Milwaukee, and its tributary the Menominee River, have been partly converted into made-land. The Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Sheboygan Rivers are similar to the Milwaukee in most respects. The Manitowoc (p. 271) is the only stream completely crossing the Niagara cuesta. Its channel may have been the outlet of one of the early glacial lakes in Green Bay and the lower Fox River. The Niagara escarpment in southern Wisconsin is so low that a canal from the Rock River to Milwaukee was planned about 1836. It was to go via the Oconomowoc Lakes to the Rock River near Jefferson. The cost was estimated at nearly a million dollars, and some construction was actually undertaken before the project was finally abandoned. The Federal government donated 200,000 acres of land and the territory of Wisconsin sold some of these lands to help finance the canal. A Stream Diverted by Wave Work. Pike River near Racine and Kenosha flows parallel to the shore of Lake Michigan. The waves have cut into the side of the valley in two places (Fig. 112). Thus it now empties into Lake Michigan north of Kenosha, the portion of the valley near that city being without a stream. The headwaters of Pike River flow in a general north-south direction between the recessional- moraines of the Lake Michigan glacier (Fig. 99). Swamps of the Niagara Cuesta. The Sheboygan River has among its reservoirs, Cedar or Crystal Lake, Elkhart Lake, and a large swamp near Plymouth and Glen Beulah, known as Sheboygan Marsh. The latter was formerly a lake, for it has beach ridges, wave-cut cliffs, and ice ramparts. The swamp (Fig. 113) covers 15 % square miles. It was originally occupied by a body of water a little larger than Lake Mendota at Madison. Borings show that it was at least 45 feet deep. It has 9 feet of peat at the surface, underlain by marl and clay. Elkhart Lake is a part of the original The Drainage of Eastern Wisconsin 275 Sheboygan Lake and there was also a shallow lake in the middle of the present marsh before 1868. In that year $50,000 was ex- pended in attempting to drain the marsh, half of this sum being provided by the state. The Manitowoc Swamp, east of Chilton, covers 15 2-3 square miles, representing another extinct lake. Swamps occupy a smaller proportion of the Niagara cuesta than of the Rock River-Lake Winnebago lowland to the west (p. 265). Fig. 113. Sheboygan Marsh, a filled lake. (After Sinz and Peterson.) Peat, muck, and related marshy soils cover nearly 30,000 acres in Kewaunee County, or 13 per cent of the area. Peat Resources of Eastern Wisconsin Many of the swamps alluded to in this chapter can be drained and cultivated. They are also potential sources of peat for fuel, either directly or in the form of producer gas. Other possible uses of peat include the production of chemical by-products, alcohol, fertilizers, paper, woven fabrics, artificial wood, mattresses, packing material, and dyestuffs. In 50 peat deposits of the state which have been examined and tested, it is estimated that there were 121,000 acres, containing 151 276 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin million tons of peat, worth 455 million dollars. There may be as much as 2 or 3 billion tons of peat in Wisconsin. A large proportion of it is in the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands and the Northern High- (&-S ,i3l ba/ |k ,^#^ O 25 50 100 Miles w PEP of* • i' T&M (Isy/GROIlJ^ L • 1 « BUFFALOI U f^y^T^^ ^IM^I^*^^* "fi t .Driftless 4R^*r£l5Sfe& r^^&r'RMfirT ^ =Si=:::::;:! ^ IvIm*t»\ yawyg w\^ "^^j^^^ff^f^^rT^JH KUKCC Fig. 114. The swamps of Wisconsin — dotted areas. The Driftless Area and regions of older drift are largely without swamps. (After Huels and Gillis.) land. A striking feature of the map showing distribution of swamp lands (Fig. 114) is their limitation to the area of latest glacial drift. Accordingly, we may say that the introduction of the drainage conditions that result in the making of swamps has furnished Wis- consin with a natural resource of great value. The peat resource is The Drainage of Eastern Wisconsin 277 not yet utilized, the briquetting plants at Fond du Lac and White- water being no longer in operation. Prairies of Eastern Wisconsin There were two sorts of areas which were treeless when eastern Wisconsin was first settled. These were (a) the swamps (Fig. 114) and (b) the prairies (Fig. 115). The swamps are, of course, Fig. 115. The original areas of prairie — white — in southeastern Wisconsin. low lands, but many of the prairies were on the drier uplands. The treeless areas did not cover a very large proportion of eastern Wis- consin. One of the larger prairies was north of Madison (Fig. 115) near Waunakee, Poynette, and Sun Prairie. Another was south- west of Ripon, and a third was near Janesville. The cause of the 278 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin prairies has not been determined (see p. 126). The name of the principal Indian tribe encountered by the French explorers in the seventeenth century was the Mascoutin, or people of the prairies. The names of certain modern villages, such as Sun Prairie, recall the original treeless condition. BIBLIOGRAPHY Buckley, E. R. Ice Ramparts, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 13, 1901, pp. 141-157- Cram, T. J. Internal Improvements in the Territory of Wisconsin, Senate Doc. 140, 26th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1840, 26 pp., and large map; Survey of Neenah and Wisconsin Rivers, Senate Doc. 318, 26th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1840, 29 pp., and 16 maps. Fcnneman, N. M. The Lakes of Southeastern Wisconsin, Bull. 8, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1910, 188 pp. Huels, F. W. The Peat Resources of Wisconsin, Bull. 45, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1915, 266 pp. Juday, C. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin — Hydrography and Morphometry of the Lakes, Bull. 27, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914, 137 pp. Lapham, I. A. (On erosion of coast along Lake Michigan), Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 231-232; Documentary History of the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal, Milwaukee, 1840, 151 pp. Marsh, C. D. The Plankton of Lake Winnebago and Green Lake, Bull. 12, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1903, 89 pp. Martin, Lawrence, Williams, F. E. and Bean, E. F. A Manual of Physical Geography Excursions, Madison, 1913, — on features of the lakes and streams near Madison. Schwarz, G. F. The Diminished Flow of the Rock River in Wisconsin and Illinois, and Its Relation to the Surrounding Forests, Bull. 44, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1903, 27 pp. Sinz, E. F. and Peterson, H. W. Plans for the Draining of the Sheboygan Marsh, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1905, with map. Smith, L. S. The Water Powers of Wisconsin, Bull. 20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1908, 354 pp. Thwaites, F. T. Preglacial streams and contour map of bedrock topography near Madison, in Bull. 8, Ibid., 1910. Thwaites, R. G. Down Historic Waterways, Chicago, 1890, 1902, pp. 17-234. Turner, F. J. The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Vol. 9, 1891, 75 pp., also in Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 36, 1889, pp. 52-98. Warren, G. K. Report on the Transportation Route Along the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers in the State of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Document 28, 44th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1876, 114 pp., including the first map of the lake in the Fox- Winnebago valley. Whitbeck, R. H. The Geography of the Fox-Winnebago Valley, Bull. 42, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1915, 105 pp. MAPS See Chapters LX and X. CHAPTER XII. THE WISCONSIN COAST OF LAKE MICHIGAN The Predecessors of Lake Michigan The eastern border of what is now Wisconsin has had a varied and interesting history. There was a time when no lake existed, and when the present lake basin was occupied by a great river, flowing southward to the Gulf of Mexico. This was before the Glacial Period. It may have been over a million years ago, certainly not less than 200,000 years. There was a time when the region was completely buried by the continental glacier. Doubtless this condition was repeated several times. Each time the Lake Michigan glacier was retreating there was a lake at its borders. Each time the ice moved forward, after the very first advance, there was likewise a marginal lake. The waves of these lakes cut cliffs and built beaches, but every set of these shorelines, except the latest, was subsequently overridden and destroyed. Finally the predecessors of Lake Michigan came into existence. The several stages of Lake Michigan differed decidedly from the present. The lake stood at a higher level, so that the sites of our modern cities of Racine, Kenosha, and several other lake ports, were deeply submerged (Fig. 118). The lake drained successively (a) southward into the Mississippi and Gulf of Mexico, (b) east- ward into the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers and New York harbor, and (c) into the Ottawa River and Gulf of St. Lawrence north of the present St. Lawrence outlet (Figs. 116, 117). The time when the later of these glacial lakes existed is not less than 20,000 to 35,000 years ago. The Lake Michigan of today, with its present outlet and level, should not be thought of as the original lake, or one that has existed very long. The preglacial river and the iceberg-dotted lakes of the Ice Age were features of much greater duration. Fig. 116. Three stages in the early history of the Glacial Great Lakes. (Taylor and Leverett.) Fig. 117. Three stages in the later history of the Glacial Great Lakes. (Taylor and Leverett.) 282 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The Glacial Great Lakes Ancient Shorelines. Our knowledge of the Glacial Great Lakes comes from the study of the abandoned shorelines which represent many different stages of these ancestors of Lake Michigan. They are at various levels and tell us of times when the waters were not only deeper, but spread over a strip near the coast of Wisconsin which is now dry land. Causes for Changes of Level. These glacial lakes were held in by ice dams at the north, they outflowed through other outlets than the present St. Lawrence, and they fluctuated in level. The changes of level of the lake surfaces were due to two chief factors. The first of these was retreat of the continental ice sheet, resulting in changes in the positions of the ice dams from time to time and in the uncovering of outlets that were blocked by ice at earlier stages. The second factor was tilting of the land in the Great Lakes region, resulting in inclination of some of the shorelines and in the raising of certain outlets and their abandonment. A minor cause for fluc- tuation of the lake levels was the cutting down of the outlets. Sometimes the ice readvanced, causing the lake to rise and form a slightly-higher shoreline than the one just before. Usually the lake levels kept falling from one stage to the next. A Short History of the Great Lakes. Three of the chief stages in the history of Glacial Lake Michigan are known as Lake Chicago, Lake Algonquin, and the Nipissing Great Lakes. Glacial Lake Chicago was confined to the southern part of the basin of Lake Michigan and drained into the Mississippi by an outlet at Chicago (Fig. 116 and upper map in Fig. 117). Lake Algonquin in- cluded most of Lakes Superior and Huron as well as Lake Michigan and drained into New York harbor by the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers (middle map, Fig. 117). Part of the time its waters seem to have used the Chicago outlet. Its eastward drainage reached the Mohawk outlet partly by way of Detroit and Lake Erie and partly by a now-abandoned outlet from Kirkfield, Ontario, into Glacial Lake Iroquois, which was in the basin of Lake Ontario. The Nipissing Great Lakes occupied the basins of the three upper Great Lakes (lower map, Fig. 117), with a minor outlet past Detroit into Lake Erie and a chief outlet, now abandoned, from North Bay, Ontario, down the Ottawa River to the lower St. Lawrence. Abandoned Shorelines of Glacial Lake Chicago. The Lake Chicago shorelines are rather well preserved in Racine and Kenosha The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 283 Counties and in parts of Ozaukee and Sheboygan Counties. Else- where they seem (a) never to have been formed because the ice sheet was still present, as to the north of Sheboygan, or (b) to have Fig. 118. Map showing the old shoreline of Glacial Lake Chicago at the Glenwood stage when the sites of the cities of Racine and Kenosha were submerged. Area of lake shown by horizontal ruling. been destroyed by a readvance of the Lake Michigan lobe of the ice sheet, or (c) to have been cut away by the waves of later lakes, as is certainly the case in Milwaukee and southern Ozaukee Counties. The remnants of these ancient shorelines are gravel and sand beaches or wave-cut cliffs and terraces. Those associated with Glacial Lake Chicago are usually at one of three levels, respectively 284 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin about 55, 38 and 23 feet above the present lake. The beaches and cliffs of these three stages are called Glenwood (highest), Calumet (middle) and Toleston (lowest). South of Milwaukee the shorelines of Lake Chicago are horizontal, but north of this point they are tilted slightly. The readvance of the glacier already alluded to (p. 252) may possibly have taken place between the Glenwood and |""t-| |2"J V^-\ »y«»X« Fig. 119. Diagram to show the positions of the several hinge lines, where the beaches cease to be horizontal, in the basins of the Great Lakes. See also Figures 116 and 117. (Tay- lor and Leverett.) Calumet stages of Glacial Lake Chicago, at the time when it re- ceived the drainage of Glacial Lake Whittlesey (middle map, Fig. 116). Abandoned Shorelines of Glacial Lake Algonquin. The ex- isting beaches and cliffs in Wisconsin which represent Lake Al- gonquin are limited to the coast of Lake Michigan north of Two Rivers and to the shores of Green Bay. To the south of Two Rivers they seem either to have been cut away during the Nipissing and Lake Michigan stages, or else to coincide with the Nipissing shore- lines. Near Two Rivers, the highest Algonquin shoreline is 26 feet above present lake level: If it is still preserved to the south it must be essentially horizontal. It is 29 feet above Lake Michigan at The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 285 Cormier, and 39 and 40 feet at Oconto and Sturgeon Bay. Along both coasts of the Door Peninsula and on the western shore of Green Bay the Algonquin beach is found at higher and higher levels as it is traced northward (Fig. 121). Thus it is about 40 feet above present lake level at Sturgeon Bay, and nearly 100 feet at Washington Island, the extreme northeastern corner of the state. The rate of inclination of these originally-horizontal shorelines of Lake Algon- quin increases toward the north, being 8 inches to the mile from Two Rivers to Sturgeon Bay and about 18 inches to the mile between Sturgeon Bay and Washington Island. Some of the shorelines split into two or more strands as they rise to the north (Fig. 120), due to Fig. 120. The tilted water-planes in northeastern Wisconsin. Plane A passes through the highest beaches of Glacial Lake Algonquin: A', the lowest level of the same lake; B, the Battlefield beaches; C, the Fort Brady beaches; D, the beaches of the Nipissing Great Lakes. Washington Island is near the right of the diagram, Ephraim, at the middle, and Sturgeon Bay at the left. The circles and triangles indicate different types of beach ridges, and wave-cut terraces. (Alter Goldthwait.) the increase in rate of tilting toward the north. The shorelines of two of the later stages of Lake Algonquin are called the Battlefield and Fort Brady beaches. Among the soils near Marinette and Peshtigo is the Dunkirk fine sand, which probably represents an abandoned delta of Lake Al- gonquin. Abandoned Shorelines of Nipissing Great Lakes. The beaches and cliffs of the Nipissing stage are similar to the earlier strand lines. The abandoned shorelines of the Nipissing stage are about 14 feet above the present level of Lake Michigan throughout most of its basin. They are nearly horizontal at the south, rising to about 18 feet at Two Rivers and 22 feet on Washington Island. They rise still higher to the north in the Lake Superior and Lake Huron basins. Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet. During the earlier stages of Lake Chicago there was a small independent glacial lake in the Fox River valley. First there were two small lakes, which later united to form y CANAL Fig. 121. Two stages of the Glacial.Greal Lakes in northeasternJWisconsin. Coast of Lake Michigan shown by dashed lines. Figures show heights of abandoned beaehes in feet above present lake level. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 287 Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet. It was held in by the Green Bay lobe on the north and by the hills south, east, and west of Lake Winne- bago. Its outlet was first, down the Rock River from near Fond du Lac and, later, down the Fox River valley to the Wisconsin at Portage. In its latest stage it existed too short a time to leave con- tinuous shorelines, though there is a beach about 53 feet above Lake Winnebago. The state soil survey has mapped this beach of Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet as the Superior gravelly loam. An aban- doned beach 7 or 8 feet above Lake Winnebago is mapped as the Clyde fine sand. There may also be an 84 foot beach. The lake clays which accumulated in the basin of this lake before the readvance which built the terminal moraine at Fond du Lac are probably the basis of the red till already described (p. 252) in the Fox River valley. Present Shoreline of Lake Michigan and Green Bay Regularity of the Coast. Most of the coast of Lake Michigan, at its present level, is regular in outline, the chief exception being Door Peninsula and the contiguous islands. The length of the Wis- consin coast of Lake Michigan is nearly 380 miles. From the end of Door Peninsula to the Illinois boundary there are a few capes, — all broad — but no bays or harbors except the mouths of small rivers. The coast is still undergoing modification by wave work. This tends to cut back headlands and fill up bays, making the coast still more regular in outline. The Coast of Green Bay. The west coast of Green Bay is low, and the adjacent country ascends gently to the westward. The deltas of Menominee, Oconto, and Peshtigo Rivers form broad, low points, and the mouths of these rivers are the only harbors. Cliffs are rare and beaches predominate. The east coast of Green Bay and the shores of Washington Island are bold and rugged. This is because of the Niagara escarpment, for the waves have had little time to cut cliffs in the rock. Some of the cliffs are cut in the glacial drift and red lake clay, as at Red Banks, northeast of the city of Green Bay (Fig. 122), where there is a hundred foot bluff. It seems probable that it was here that Jean Nicolet, the first white man to visit Wisconsin, landed and made his treaty with the Indians in 1634. Sand Spits at Green Bay. There are three sand spits at the head of Green Bay (Fig. 122). They are not completed yet, like those at Superior (Fig. 185) and Ashland (Fig. 190), but are partly below lake level. The southernmost spit curves southeastward for 288 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 2| miles including Grassy Island, a mile and a half off shore from the mouth of Fox River. The shoals east of the steamboat channel _ 30 Feef- N Imiifa Fig. 122. Map showing the sand spits at Green Bay. (Based upon chart by U. S. Lake Survey.) mark its continuation. The second spit is 9 miles long. It extends nearly across Green Bay, including a spit on the west coast of the The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 289 bay, then Long Tail Island, and finally a submerged sand bar which terminates in Sable Point on the east coast. This submerged bar rises within 3 to 5 feet of the surface. The third spit is only started as yet, extending southward from the west coast of Green Bay at Little Tail Point. The Coast of Lake Michigan. The west coast of Lake Mich- igan has cliffs rather than beaches throughout much of the distance. Nearly all of them are sloping drift bluffs, rather than steep rock cliffs. Coastal Lakes. The waves and currents have built bars of gravel and sand across the mouths of several deep indentations, con- verting bays into lakes. These coastal lakes in Door County include Kangaroo Lake south of Bailey Harbor, Clark Lake north of White- fish Bay, and Europe Lake near the end of Door Peninsula. Sturgeon Bay. The Sturgeon Bay gap across the Door Penin- sula seems to represent the preglacial course of the Menominee River (Fig. 110), deepened somewhat by glacial sculpture, and submerged beneath the waters of Lake Michigan. It furnishes an ideal harbor and a short cut into Green Bay, now that its eastern end is connected with Lake Michigan by the government canal 1% miles long. Recession of Wave-cut Cliffs. The bluffs along Lake Michigan are still being cut back. This rapid recession has destroyed some of the older shorelines. It is well shown at Pike River (p. 274) and at various places between Milwaukee and Racine, where the wave-cut cliffs retreated one to six feet a year along the. whole coast lines of two counties between 1836 and 1874. At exposed points the bluffs recede even faster, for example at Racine, where the recession averaged nearly 10 feet a year for 24 years following 1840, and at Manitowoc in 1905, where the rate was 40 or 50 feet a year. This cutting helps keep the bluffs steep. The beaches at the cliff base are narrow, for the lake currents carry the eroded material away. Reefs in Lake Michigan. There are conspicuous reefs near the shore of Lake Michigan, as at Racine, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Whitefish Point, and Fisherman Shoal east of Washington Island. There are also minor shoals in Green Bay. The Racine Reef (Figs. 118, 123) may be described as typical of the group. It is half a mile broad by a mile and a quarter long. On the shallower part the water is 6| to 11 feet deep. It is surrounded by depths of 25 to 30 feet. The inner edge lies more than a mile offshore and the outer extremity 290 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin is 2% miles from the mainland. There is a lighthouse near the eastern border of the reef and an abandoned light pier near the center. Whether these shoals are rock reefs, original glacial deposits, or deposits planed down below lake level by the work of waves and cur- rents has not been determined. It does not seem certain that the original coast in the glacial deposits was as far offshore as the outer edge of the Racine Reef and other shoals. In that case there should be a continuous, wave-planed platform along the whole shore. It Fig. 123. Map of the reef at Racine. Depths in feet. (Based upon'chart by U. S. Lake Survey.) was once estimated that the coast from Manitowoc to Chicago had been cut back an average of 2.72 miles. The average annual rate of cutting was estimated at 5.28 feet a year. This gives 2720 years as the time of erosion of this coast by waves. The soundings on the detailed, recent charts do not reveal a well-developed wave-planed bench, so that this estimate is not generally accepted as a measure of the number of years since the Glacial Period. Lake Michigan Harbors. As already stated, the harbors along Lake Michigan owe their existence to the estuary-like mouths of rivers. The artificially-deepened mouths of the rivers at Milwaukee (p. 274), Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Port Washington, Two Rivers, and Algoma furnish lake ports which The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan '2,91 could not otherwise exist, on account of the regular character of the shoreline. Winter Ice in Lake Michigan. The time during which the harbors of lake ports in Wisconsin are closed by winter ice varies with the local climate and local situation. Thus the harbor of Green Bay is frozen about 130 days in the year, usually from the latter part of December to the middle of April. Marinette, Sturgeon Bay, and Porte des Morts, between Door Peninsula and Washington Island, are usually closed only 107 days. Milwaukee Harbor, 130 miles farther south, is rarely ice-bound more than 14 days in the year, sometimes from Feb. 24 to March 10. Ice breakers usually keep this port and Lake Michigan open in winter, so that the extensive car- ferry commerce from Milwaukee, Manitowoc, and other lake ports in Wisconsin is little interrupted. Fluctuations in Present Lake Level Description by Andre. That there are periodic fluctuations in the level of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, and Lake Superior has been long a matter of observation. It was noticed at Green Bay by Father Andre in 1671 and Father Marquette in 1673. Father Andre said : "Hitherto I have not shared the opinion of those that believe that Lake Huron is subject to an ebb and flow, in common with the Sea; because I had observed no fixed movement of the sort during the time of my sojourn on the shores of that Lake. But, after passing the so-called 'wild-oats river', 8 I began to suspect that there might really be a tide in the bay des Puans. b We had left our canoe in the water, in very calm weather; and the next morning were greatly surprised to find it high and dry. I was more astonished than the rest, because I bore in mind that for a long time the Lake had been perfectly calm. Thereupon, I determined to study this tide, and at the outset reflected that the contrary, but very moderate, wind did not prevent the flow or ebb, as the case might be. I also became aware that, in the river emptying into the bay at its head, the tide rises and falls twice in a little more than 24 hours, — rising usually a foot; while the highest tide I have seen made the river rise three feet, but it was aided by a violent Northeast wind. Unless the Southwest wind is very strong, it does not check the river's course; so that ordinarily the middle flows constantly downward to the Lake, although at each end the water rises with the fixed periods of » Menominee River. It is referred to more often as the wild-rice river, or the fole avoine. b Green Bay. 292 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the tide. As there are but two winds prevailing on that river and on the Lake, one might easily ascribe to them these tides, were it not that the latter follow the Moon's course, a fact which cannot be doubted ; for I have ascertained beyond a question that at full Moon the tides are at their highest, then they fall, and they continue to diminish as the Moon wanes. It is not surprising that this flow and ebb is more appreciable at the head of the bay than in Lake Huron, or in that of the Ilinois 8 ; for were the tide to rise even but an inch in these Lakes, it would necessarily be very noticeable in the bay, which is about 15 or 20 leagues long -by five or six, or more, wide at its mouth, and narrows constantly. Consequently the water, being contracted within a small space at the head of the bay, must of necessity rise much higher there than in the Lake, where it is less confined." In 1672, Father Andre continued as follows: "The Small quantity of Paper that I have left reminds me of The promise that T made to Your Reverence last year, at The end of one of my Letters, to tell You what might seem to me (I must not forget to tell what seems to me) to be worthy of note in connection with The ebb and flow of our river. b It is quite certain that it has its tides like those of the seas, — or, more properly speaking, of the riyers that fall into them. The unusual severity of The winter this year caused me to make an observation that hitherto could not be made. During The month of march I remarked that The highest winter tide is lower than The lowest of all The tides of the other seasons, when neither The bay nor The river is frozen. It was necessary to ad- vance a considerable distance on The river to find water under The ice, which was a foot and a half thick; and The surface of The ice was not higher than The low tides of summer, or The average of both The highest and lowest tides. "I also observed that The volume of water increased in our river during that month, in proportion as The ice in The bay of saint Xavier b diminished and broke up. This cannot be attributed to The greater abundance of water flowing from above, because The tide extended only as far as the foot of the rapid, — which is easily seen at present, but not in summer, when one does not observe (perceive) that there is a rapid, because The lowest tide is generally higher than it. These two observations have troubled me, for I formerly believed that The winds were not the Cause of The tide. Were I permitted to Philosophize, I would argue against those who s Lake Michigan. b Fox River at Depere or Green Bay. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 293 attribute The formal Cause thereof to rarefaction, special or general. For if The water rarefies and then Condenses, all that great mass of water of the Lake of the Ilinois* rises in its vast basin when it rarefies, and falls when it condenses. And, as water always rises as much as it falls, it would follow that, however thick The ice of The bay and of The river might be, they would offer no more re- sistance than a pipe, — which, however thick it may be, never pre- vents The water from rising as much as it has fallen, for it does not press against it. And, although it may be said that The ice presses on The water, still it cannot be said that it prevents The water from rising; for, while pressing on The water, it floats on it; and The Ice should be higher than The highest tides of summer and of autumn, or of spring, — or, at least, than The mean tides, which is not the case. Opposite the fole avoine, h The ice was three feet thick, — That is, where The bay Begins. But twelve leagues from there, as one ap- proaches the bottom of it and our river, The ice was about a foot and a half thick. Your Reverence knows better than I The Length and Width of The bay, so I shall not speak to You of them. If The cause of the ebb and flow be attributed to the winds, there will not be much difficulty in explaining how it happens that The lowest tides at the periods when there is no ice are higher than The highest tides of winter. For it will be said that The water, impelled by a violent motion, loses its force in proportion as it strikes against ice be- neath Which it Flows, and consequently less water runs into The bay. I conclude by informing Your Reverence that the ice in The bay has commenced to break up toward the bottom, and not on the side of The entrance toward The Open water of Lake ilinois, where The ice was three feet thick." Description by Marquette. "The Bay d is about thirty leagues in depth and eight in width at its Mouth; it narrows gradually to the bottom, where it is easy to observe a tide which has its regular ebb and flow, almost Like That of the Sea. This is not the place to inquire whether these are real tides; whether they are Due to the wind, or to some other cause; whether there are winds, The pre- cursors of the Moon and -attached to her suite, which consequently agitate the lake and give it an apparent ebb and flow whenever the Moon ascends above the horizon. What I can Positively state is, that, when the water is very Calm, it is easy to observe it rising and falling according to the Course of the moon; although I do not deny • Lake Michigan. b Menominee River. o Lake Michigan, d Green Bay. 294 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin that This movement may be Caused by very Remote Winds, which, pressing on the middle of the lake, cause the edges to Rise and fall in the manner which is visible to our eyes." The Seiches. The fluctuation described by Andre and Mar- quette is not a variation from month to month or from season to season with the rainfall and the volume of water supplied by rivers, or a variation in relation- to the prevailing winds, but a tide-like rise and fall once or twice during the same day. It was noticed in the Great Lakes as early as 1636. The amount of fluctuation at Green Bay was carefully measured nearly a century ago and was found to be from a few inches to about a foot. The phenomenon is not a tide, however, like that on the sea coast and due to the moon, but a response to varying pressure of the atmosphere. It is called seiches. The Tides. There are also actual lunar tides on the Great Lakes. Where measured at the south end of Lake Michigan and the west end of Lake Superior their range is about 3 inches. Seasonal Fluctuations. Another type of fluctuation in lake level is the variation of a foot to eighteen inches from low water in January to high water in July or August. This is explained by melt- ing ice and snow, spring rains, fluctuation in river volume and in evaporation. Twelve Year Fluctuations. There are also groups of years when the lake is rising and others when it is falling. At Milwaukee and other points on Michigan the water surface has varied from 1 to 4f feet (Fig. 124) in relation to sea level. Table Showing Fluctuations in the Level of Lake Michigan High 1800 1814 1826 !• 1838 a Low 1811 1820 1835 1841 »' a High 1861 1871 1876 1886 1908 Low 1868 1872 1879 1896 1915 • No record from 1843 to 1855. These fluctuations in water level touch man's activities in build- ing houses and piers, especially in the days of early settlement. Solomon Juneau, the first settler at Milwaukee, remarked in 1838 that the water had never been as high as in that year, when the old The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 295 Indian race-course was 6 feet under water, and that he had never seen it as low as in 1820. It should not be thought that lake level is persistently falling or rising. It rises and falls with the fluctuations of rainfall for periods of 10 to 14 years. LLVtL Or LAKE MICHIGAN' etd I 1 a k » So w so W m oi to ito tm-J- _ _ . - _ _ »E»"'!«« 31 -"3 ^«^ = 2l ^ ^s. = = = : J.--*- •... - _~-zz^ ~ -.z—r- :..._:.:-: .— ._ .-'■ '/ - ;'.;Y i-,-r . .--.-_.- - ± jJlj ____________ = 3affi3i = a , E0 , „„_____„___ RAINfALL AT MILWAUKEE- Mc «70T3eoiaswMinio(iow * ^-^ V^ >-■= * "2 ^. ■•-"■■■:>"£- -'-"v ^"^ a, /"•••'"■■''"Va _,'* - r / 1 ' - ' * ' * 9 \' SU/13P0T5- « 65 70 75 W M W « * Of W m a hK _ "^ ] ""^ Z S^ /~ "V~ 2 "v^ - 7 ""V ! -■■ ^ _^ --„„„; "■-,._. -' ^ <, Fig. 124. The fluctuations in the level of Lake Michigan from 1860 to 1915. The varia- tions in rainfall at Milwaukee during the same period. The periodic recurrence of abundant sun spots. It is not certain whether the variations in rainfall are related to the sun spots or not. Peninsula Park General Description. The State Park in Door County is an especially good place to observe shorelines, — present and abandoned. Peninsula Park, the largest of the state playgrounds, covers about 5f square miles. It is situated on Door Peninsula east of Chambers Island, between the villages of Ephraim and Fish Creek. The park includes the whole peninsula west of Eagle Bay, as well as Horse- shoe Island. The region includes the higher, western part of the Niagara cuesta. The escarpment rises abruptly above the waters of Green Bay with a bluff 150 feet high on the west coast. Eagle Bluff, on the east coast of the peninsula, has a height of 200 feet. The Niagara 296 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin limestone underlies the peninsula. Corals are sometimes to be found in the higher ledges. Shorelines. The present shorelines are (a) rock cliffs on the headlands and (b) beaches within the bays. The latter are well developed in the bay at Fish Creek, inside the park, and at the head of Eagle Harbor which lies to the east, near Ephraim. The abandoned strand lines, likewise, include cliffs and beaches. At Fish Creek there are 8 beaches above the present one. They are made up of sand and rounded gravel or cobblestones or shingle. The highest beach is nearly 60 feet above Green Bay (Fig. 125). It was made by the waves of Glacial Lake Algonquin (p. 284). Below it are 4 other beaches, associated with the falling levels of Lake Algonquin. The main beach^of Glacial Lake Nipissing is about 21 feet above present lake level, and there are 2 lower beaches. Lake Algonquin -Lake Nipissing — — 16 _^^ >- — Green I Fig. 125. Abandoned beaches at Fish Creek, Peninsula Park. (After Goldthwait.) The peninsula west of Shanty Bay at Eagle Point lighthouse was probably an island in Lake Nipissing (Fig. 121). The tilting of the Algonquin beaches is shown between Fish Creek and Ephraim, for the highest strand line is 3 feet higher near the latter village. The upper beach of Lake Nipissing is at the same level in the two places. The wave-cut cliffs of the headlands in Lake Algonquin and Lake Nipissing are to be seen (a) as independent precipices back of Fish Creek, (b) merged with the present cliffs on the peninsula of the state park between Fish Creek and Ephraim. At one point the waves of the glacial lake eroded a cave in the cliff (PI. XXIII, B). It is about 30 feet above the waters of Eagle Harbor. Scenic Features. The charming scenery of the Peninsula Park, with its evergreen and hardwood forests, its open dales and wood- land roads, its abandoned beaches and cliffs, its bathing beaches along the indented shoreline and islands of Green Bay, and the de- lightful summer climate, all make this a region that vies in attrac- tion with the coast of Maine and the Adirondack and Canadian lakes. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXIII. A. WAVE-CUT BLUFF OF THE TOLESTON STAGE OF GLACIAL LAKE CHICAGO NORTH OF MILWAUKEE. B. CAVE ERODED IN THE NIAGARA LIMESTONE AT PENINSULA PARK NEAR EPHRAIM. It was made during the later stages of Glacial Lake Algonquin. A. COPPER FALLS ON HAD RIVER, SOUTH OF ASHLAND. B. HIGH FALLS ON THE PESHTIGO RIVER, WEST OF MARINETTE. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Michigan 297 BIBLIOGRAPHY Andre, Louis. The Tide in the Bay des Puans (Green Bay), Jesuit Relations, 1671-72, Thwaites edition, Vol. 56, Cleveland, 1899, pp. 137-139; Remarkable Facts Concerning the River (that Discharges into the Bay des Puans at the Bottom of the Cove), Jesuit Relations, 1672-73, Ibid., Vol., 57, 1899, pp. 301-303. Andrews, E. The North American Lakes, Considered as Chronometers of Post- Glacial Time, Trans. Chicago Acad. Sci., Vol. 2, 1870, 23 pp. Case, E. C: A Peculiar Form of Shore Ice, Journ. Geol., Vol. 14, 1906, pp. 134-137. Dearborn, H. A. S. On the Variations of Level in the Great North American Lakes, with Documents, Amer. Journ. Sci., Vol. 16, 1829, pp. 78-94. Desor, E. On the Superficial Deposits (including present and ancient beaches), Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Part 2, Washington, 1851, pp. 232-273. Flint, A. R. Water Levels (in Lakes Michigan and Superior), Rept. Chief Eng., U. S. Army, 1882, Appendix 4 to Appendix SS, House Ex. Doc. 1, Part 2, 47th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1882, pp. 2818-2819 and Plates 3 and 4; see also annual reports of U. S. Lake Survey. Gilbert, G. K. Changes of Level of the Great Lakes, The Forum, Vol. 5, 1888, pp. 417-428. Goldtbwait, J. W. The Abandoned Shore-lines of Eastern Wisconsin, Bull. 17, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1907, 134 pp; Correlation of the Raised Beaches on the West Side of Lake Michigan, Journ. Geol., Vol. 14, 1906, pp. 411-424; Ibid., Vol. 16, 1908, pp. 459^76; Ibid., Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 21, 1910, pp. 227-248. Hattery, O. C. Survey of Northern and Northwestern Lakes, Bull. 24, U. S. Lake Survey, War Dept., Corps of Engineers, Detroit, 1915, 455 pp. This is an annual publication, with corrections and additions in monthly supplements. Henry, A. J. Variations in Lake Levels and Atmospheric Precipitation, Nat. Geog. Mag., Vol. 10, 1899, pp. 403^06. Hobbs, W. H. The Late Glacial and Post Glacial Uplift of the Michigan Basin, Publication 5, Mich. Geol. and Biol. Survey, 1911, pp. 45-46. Lane, A. C. Level of Lake Huron, Geol. Survey of Michigan, Vol. 7, 1900, pp. 35-39 and Plate 5. Marquette, Jacques. (On fluctuation in lake level), Jesuit Relations, 1673-77, Thwaites edition, Vol. 59, Cleveland, 1900, p. 99; Ibid.', Hennepin's trans- lation in "A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," Part 1, London, 1698, p. 321. Martin, Lawrence. Marginal Lakes (of the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan basins), Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 441-452. Taylor, F. B. A Reconnaissance of the Abandoned Shore Lines of Green Bay, Amer. Geol., Vol. 13, 1894, pp. 316-327; Glacial and Postglacial Lakes of the Great Lakes Region, Smithsonian Report for 1912, No. 2201, pp. 291-327; History of the Great Lakes, Monograph 53, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1915, pp. 321, 326-328, 431, 459, etc., Pis. XIV, XVI, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXIV. Upham, Warren. Glacial Lake Nicolet and the Portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, Amer. Geol., Vol- 32, 1903, pp. 105-115; Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet, Ibid., pp. 330-331. 298 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Weidman, S. The Glacial Lake of the Fox River Valley and Green Bay and its Outlets, Science, new series, Vol. 33, 1911, p. 467. Whittlesey, Charles. On the Observed Fluctuations of the Surfaces of the Lakes, Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Part 2, 1851, pp. 319-331. Whiting, H. Remarks on the Supposed Tides, and Periodic Rise and Fall of the North American Lakes, Amer. Journ. Sci., Vol. 20, 1831, pp. 205-219. MAPS See Chapter IX, p. 219. CHAPTER XIII. THE CENTRAL PLAIN The Camp Douglas Country A Frontier of the West. If a traveler, on his way from eastern United States to the Pacific coast, be fortunate enough to cross central Wisconsin by daylight he will pass through the village of Camp Douglas or the village of Merrillan. At Camp Douglas and Merrillan, and for many miles nearby, he may see landscape fea- tures totally unlike those anywhere else in the United States east of the Mississippi River. The hills of the region near Camp Douglas are buttes and mesas. They have the straight lines, steep cliffs, and sharp angles of an arid country rather than the soft curves of a humid region. This is the very frontier of the true West. Camp Douglas is on the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway and at its junction with the Omaha Line, a part of the Chicago and Northwestern system. It is just south of the trunk line of the Chicago and Northwestern, which passes through Wyeville and Merrillan, where it crosses the Green Bay and Western Railway. Thus a journey across Wisconsin, by any one of the three railways which carry the heaviest passenger traffic, takes one into what has been termed the Camp Douglas Country. It extends from Kilbourn through Mauston and Camp Douglas to Tomah, and from Adams or Camp Douglas through Wyeville and Black River Falls to Merrillan and Humbird. Castellated Hills, an Escarpment, and a Level Plain. The features to be seen near Camp Douglas and Merrillan are (a) isolated, rocky hills which resemble ruined castles, (b) grotesque towers and crags of sandstone along a line of bold, irregular bluffs, and (c) an unusually-flat plain, which stretches away beyond the northern and eastern horizons. The bluffs and steep slopes on the west and south form the escarpment at the border of the Western Upland. The level country is the Central Plain of Wisconsin. Not all of the Central Plain is exactly like the Camp Douglas Country. 300 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin This, however is a representative part, and one of the most beau- tiful and striking. Origin of Topographic Forms. The irregular bluffs are part of an escarpment capped by resistant rock. Sometimes the escarp- ment is steep and densely-wooded, sometimes it slopes more gently and supports fields and farms. The isolated castles and crags are outliers of the escarpment, left behind in its recession to the south and west under the attack of weather, wind, and streams. The flat plain has been made by the wearing down of weak and nearly- horizontal sedimentary rocks, and by deposition of unconsolidated materials upon the surface. Arid-Land and Driftless Area Forms. The work of the wind and of the weather have played an exceedingly important part in the production of the landscape near Camp Douglas and Merrillan, because this is part of the Driftless Area. Absence of glacial erosion and of direct glacial deposition make it possible for the rather fragile rock forms produced by weathering and wind work to persist and to dominate the landscape. Hence the west-bound traveler, who has been in glaciated territory all the way from New York or Chicago to the vicinity of Baraboo or Kilbourn or Adams, Wisconsin, has seen nothing of this sort before. Moreover he is getting -into the edge of the belt of lessened rainfall, where the work of the wind and weather assume larger proportions. Continuing westward he will leave the Driftless Area and again pass into glaciated territory. Ac- cordingly the arid-land and Driftless Area forms near Camp Douglas and Merrillan are not repeated short of the Great Plains in the Dakotas and Montana. Even these are partly in glaciated terri- tory. Coniferae and Cacti. The evergreen trees, clinging in precarious positions on the rocky buttes and mesas of the Camp Douglas Coun- try, and the tamaracks, on the swampy, level plain, are among the first forerunners of the northern forest. They furnish a notable con- trast to the open prairies near the Great Lakes, and to the deciduous trees of the East and South. With these conifers are many scrub oaks. The evergreen trees show definitely, however, that the region near Camp Douglas is not arid. The sandy soil makes the precipita- tion less effective, because much of the rainfall sinks into the ground at once. Wind work is dominant, not because we are in the arid lands but because we are in a sandy part of the Driftless Area. The smaller plants on the hills at Camp Douglas, and at other places in the Driftless Area, nevertheless, include several types of dwarf The Central Plain 301 Fig. 126. O u tlieraf left behind in the recession of the irregular escarpment at the western border of the Central Plain in the Oriftless Area. 302 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin cacti, such as the prickly pear. Thus the evergreens, suggesting the North, and the spiny plants, suggesting the West, mark this as a frontier region for the traveler from some parts of the East or South. Contrast with Other Parts of the Central Plain. Large parts of the Central Plain are decidedly unlike the Camp Douglas Country. Where there is less alluvial filling, the Central Plain is more hilly. Where there has been glaciation, the buttes and mesas are few or wanting. The swamp which stretches northeastward from Camp Douglas is two-fifths as large as the state of Rhode Island (Fig. 140), but only a small proportion of the Central Plain is swampy. The soil near Camp Douglas and Merrillan is sandy so that farms are poor and settlement therefore sparse, but parts of the Central Plain are densely populated. Instead of corn or wheat, the crops are apt to be potatoes, buckwheat, oats, rye, barley, and cranberries. The roughness of the bluffs and buttes may appeal to some travel- ers as grotesque rather than beautiful. The flatness of the plain, with its Pine Barrens and its swamps, may give an impression of dreariness and monotony, similar to that of the Great Plains west of the Mississippi. Other portions of the Central Plain of Wiscon- sin, however, have the soft swells of glacial topography and the homelike aspect that goes with waving fields of grain, prosperous farm houses, and thriving villages. In the eastern part of the Cen- tral Plain the Indians lived long before white men came to Wiscon- sin. Of this region the Jesuit priest Allouez wrote in 1670: "These people are settled in a very attractive place, where beau- tiful Plains and Fields meet the eye as far as one can see." Shortly afterward Father Marquette said: "I took pleasure in observing the situation of this village. It is beautiful and very pleasing; for, from an Eminence upon which it is placed, one beholds .on every side prairies, extending farther than the eye can see, interspersed with groves or with lofty trees. The soil is very fertile and yields much Indian corn." General Description of the Central Plain Area and Altitude. The Central Plain of Wisconsin is a cres- centic belt, covering about 13,000 square miles. All of it is floored by the weak Cambrian sandstone, except in the northwest, where the removal of the sandstone has exposed the underlying Keweena- wan lavas for a small area. The surface elevation ranges from 1242 feet at Cumberland, Barron County, in the western part of the Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI. Pl. XXV.] A. THE LEVEL PLAIN NORTHEAST OF CAMP DOUGLAS WITH MESAS AND BUTTES AS OUTLIERS OF AN' ADJACENT ESCARPMENT. (Photograph by I). W. Johnson.) B. A NEARER VIEW OF ONE OF THE CASTELLATED ARID-LAND AND DRIFT- LESS AREA FORMS SHOWN IN THE UPPER PICTURE. X X J z - CQ w > - - ■s. a 2; < -i c c H 7, c o < c u Z o The Central Plain 303 c r ascent, to 785 feet at Portage, Columbia County, in the central part of the plain, and 685 feet at Ellis Junction, Marinette County, iivar the eastern end of the lowland. The general slope from place to place is very gradual indeed; for example in the 65 miles from the northern to the southern edge of the plain the grade is only 4 1-3 feet to the mile. The local relief varies considerably, but except for a few isolated hills it is nowhere great. It rarely exceeds a few score or a hundred feet, even where one of the larger rivers, like the Wisconsin, Black, and Chippewa, has incised its valley in the plain. It is not all a continuous plain, but in many places is a region of low hills, as north- west of Kilbourn, north of Tomah, south of Pray, and southeast of Black River Falls. Parts of the plain are due to (a) smooth river de- posits, (b) lake-bottom accumulations, (c) vegetation in swamps, or (d) glacial drift. In fact there is very little of the present surface due directly to the erosion of the flat-lying Cambrian sandstone. An excellent place to see the variety of features of the Central Plain is from Saddle Mound south of Pray — Tremont — in Jackson County. This hill rises more than 400 feet above the surrounding lowland, its crest being over 1400 feet above sea level. To the south- east lies a vast, monotonously-even plain of lake deposits. To the southwest is an equally level plain of non-glacial alluvium, stretching away till it terminates at the blue wall of the Western Upland. In the immediate foreground are low, rounded hills of sandstone. Such resistant layers as cap Saddle Mound have been removed from the adjacent hills by weathering and erosion, so that these hills have been reduced to the stage of old age in their erosion cycle. The nearer landscape has a marked western aspect. One might perfectly well be in Wyoming rather than Wisconsin. The scrub timber grows in bunchy groups. There is no grass, and the white sand appears between the shrubs. The hill slopes disclose vertical cliffs, angular profiles, flat-topped ridges, teepee buttes, much as on parts of the Great Plains. Side by side are vast, swampy plains, which need ditches to drain away the water, and sandy plains and low slopes which need water. The group of hills east of Millston, Jackson County, preserves a large sample of the topography that characterized the Central Plain before the Glacial Period. They are high enough to rise above the alluvial and lacustrine plain. They have moderate slopes, oc- casionally with steep cliffs. At one point 6 miles east of Millston there is an extensive deposit of rounded, preglacial gravels. Here 304 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin all the pebbles are local sandstone and chert. Little, if any, of the Central Plain had level topography before it was smothered in the glacial outwash, lake clay, and alluvium. It was everywhere a region of slight relief, however. Boundaries. In drawing the boundaries of this geographical province (Figs. 3, 7, 9) the author has followed the contact of the Cambrian sandstone with the pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks on the north and with the Lower Magnesian limestone on the south- east, south, and southwest, excepting in one or two areas. In west central Wisconsin the Lower Magnesian limestone has been so re- cently removed from the Cambrian sandstone that a considerable sandstone area has the hilly topography of the Western Upland rather than the smooth surface of the Central Plain. It has, there- fore, been included in the former province. Another way of stating the matter is to say that the northeastern boundary of the Western Upland is sometimes the Ordovician, Lower Magnesian limestone, sometimes the Cambrian, Dresbach formation. It seems to be really the Dresbach cuesta that terminates the Central Plain between the Baraboo Range and the Chippewa River. Because of uncertainty as to whether the escarpment is everywhere determined by the Dresbach formation, or is sometimes due to a cuesta-maker in the Mt. Simon formation, it has seemed best to refer to the whole es- carpment as the Magnesian escarpment (p. 51). The author would have named it the Sandstone escarpment hadjhe not desired to indicate its identity, as the continuation of the' Magnesian escarp- ment of eastern Wisconsin. Often the escarpment contains a double-step — one on the Dresbach sandstone, the other on the Lower Magnesian limestone. This is probably true, for example, southwest of Mauston, Juneau County, where the whole escarpment is 430 feet high. The boundary of the Central Plain is by no means well defined at all points. It should be noted that, owing to lack of topographic maps, the model of Wisconsin (Plate I) does not show all of the hills of this district. The Wisconsin, Mississippi, and several other rivers have cut through the Lower Magnesian limestone to the Cam- brian sandstone, but of course these river strips have not been included in the Central Plain. Northeast of St. Croix Falls, in Burnett and Polk Counties, a low part of the Keweenawan lavas would have been included in the Northern Highland had it not seemed desirable to attach the isolated western area of Cambrian sandstone to the rest of the Central Plain. This is an area of trap ridges, totally unlike the sandstone hills of the Central Plain. The ridges are obscured by glacial drift. The Central Plain 305 Topography and Origin of the Plain The Plain is an Inner Lowland. All the characteristics of the sandstone plain (Fig. 9) are normal to an inner lowland of a belted plain. The name inner lowland is used in connection with slightly-dissected coastal plains. Where uplift takes place in a coastal plain, made up of alternate layers of weak and resistant rock which dip gently toward the ocean, it will be carved by streams and the weather into such a form as is shown in Figure 127. An asymet- rical ridge underlain by resistant rock, if of small dimensions and steep dip, is referred to as a monoclinal ridge. These large mono- clinal ridges are called cuestas. Cuestas'have been discussed in -— - -^ '. >^T~r- B^^^ ^/ i-' * . . , - - Fig. 127. Diagram to show the recession of an escarpment from B to C and its former position at A. Chapters III and IX, in connection with the Western Upland and the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands. The belt of weak rock between the inner cuesta and the partly exhumed oldland (Fig. 11) is the inner lowland. The belted plain of Wisconsin is much like a belted coastal plain, for example that in Alabama and adjacent states of the South, ex- cept in the greater distance from the ocean, the height above sea level, and, to some extent, the resulting degree of stream dissec- tion. The inner lowland of Figure 11 corresponds to the Central Plain of Wisconsin. Maintenance of Size while Changing Position. The northern edge of the Cambrian sandstone is retreating southward, under the attack of streams and the weather. We have already noted the presence of sandstone outliers on the surface of the peneplain to the north (pp. 34-35) and of inliers of crystalline rock in the deeper valleys of the Central Plain (Fig. 10). As the stripped area of the Northern Highland peneplain increases in size, the width of the inner lowland would be decreased, were it not for the fact that the edge of the upland of Lower Magnesian limestone to the south is also being worn back. This increases the area of the inner lowland on that side. That this is going on is well shown in the ragged, retreating es- 306 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin carpment (Figs. 18, 126) in Sauk, Juneau, Monroe, and adjacent counties. Because of this shifting of the inner lowland down the dip of the rocks, the position, the shape, and the elevation of the inner lowland above the sea is constantly changing. Its size has remained, and will doubtless continue, fairly constant. Difference between Inner Lowlands and Peneplains. A part of the inner lowland of Wisconsin near Camp Douglas, Juneau County, has sometimes been referred to as a peneplain or a base- levelled plain. It is exceedingly level and it is a plain, but to refer to it as a peneplain involves unnecessary complications, (see page 51). It is a plain, and it is a normal thing for an interior lowland of mod- erate age in weak rocks- to be a plain. Moreover there will be an equally perfect plain in the inner lowland of a lower level after it has shifted southward far beyond the site of Camp Douglas; but neither that plain nor the present one is a peneplain. As a matter of fact, that particular locality owes its extreme levelness to valley-fill of glacial outwash, associated lake deposits, and some preglacial alluvium. This is true superficially of much of Adams, Monroe, Juneau, and Jackson Counties. The lowland it- self is due to the weak sandstone, rather than to the surface veneer of sand and gravel which makes it level. Variations of Width and Elevation. There is a notable dif- ference of width and elevation in various portions of the Central Plain. In eastern Wisconsin the Cambrian sandstone dips rather steeply and is thinner than in the central part of the state. Accordingly the inner lowland is narrow. Its width in Marinette County is only a little over five miles, but in Clark, Jackson, and Monroe Counties, where the sandstone dips less steeply and is thicker, the width of the inner lowland is 50 miles. The width of the lowland seems to be chiefly determined by the erosion surface as related to the dip of the sandstone. The elevation of the Central Plain, as already stated, varies con- siderably. In Marinette and Oconto Counties heights of 801 feet above sea level at Gillett and 685 feet at Ellis Junction constitute the lowest part of the sandstone plain. The lowness is not wholly due to greater activity by streams and glaciers in removing the sandstone here than at Plainfield, Waushara County, where the level of the plain is 1108 feet, or Camp Douglas, Juneau County, where it is 935 feet, or Cumberland, Barron County, where it is 1,242 feet. The inclination of the surface of the peneplain, and of the Cam- The Central Plain 307 brian sandstone which rests upon it, is chiefly responsible for these differences, especially for the lowness of the narrow plain in Oconto and Marinette Counties. As a result of greater warping of the buried peneplain there and the steeper dip of the sandstone, the inner lowland stands at a different level from the continuation of the same plain, which is 400 to 600 feet higher in central and northwestern Wisconsin. On divides near the edge of the pre-Cambrian peneplain the Cen- tral Plain is high, while in river valleys near the edge of the lime- stone upland on the other side it is low. These differences are due to variations of rate of weathering and stream erosion, but the differences of elevation cited in the last paragraph are due largely to structural control preceding the erosion. The Buttes and Mesas. Rising above the sandstone plain in places are numerous, usually flat-topped ridges and hills, often bear- ing the name mound. Since the lowland is not a peneplain, the name monadnock is not appropriate in describing these buttes and mesas. They are very abundant in the region north and west of Kilbourn, in the vicinity of Camp Douglas, and in many other portions of the Central Plain. Most of them lie within the Driftless Area. The name mound is, however, inappropriate for forms whose outlines are rarely rounded. These so-called mounds have flat tops and cliffed sides. They are exactly like those hills of the Great Plains and arid southwestern part of the United States which are called mesa — Spanish for table — if they are large, and butte, if small. A few of these so-called mounds in Wisconsin are conical, but the overwhelm- ing majority of them are flat-topped. Their craggy sides often look, from a distance, like ruined castles and towers, as at Roche a Cris in Adams County north of Friendship. Roche a Cris stands about 300 feet above the adjacent plain, its crest being about 1185 feet above sea level. It is a long, narrow, flat-topped ridge bordered by sheer precipices. Thus it is prob- ably the steepest hill in Wisconsin. It is also one of the most con- spicuous and beautiful. Friendship Mound, its southern neighbor, rises 85 feet higher, but is a much less striking topographic feature. Looking north, east, south, or west from Roche a Cris, one sees scores of sandstone crags and towers, such as Pilot Knob, Mosquito Mound, Bald Bluff, Long Mound, Bear Bluff, Rattlesnake Mound, and Dorro Couche. Their white battlements punctuate the monotonously-even, green plain which stretches eastward to the terminal moraine of the Green Bay lobe and westward to the es- 308 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin carpment of the Western Upland. One may well imagine that he is upon an island in Glacial Lake Wisconsin (p. 318) and that the waters of this vast inland sea still cover the expanse of tree-clad plains and swampy clearings at his feet. A dozen miles to the west are Petenwell Peak and Necedah Mound. The former is a craggy ridge of sandstone, its summit well-nigh in- accessible. The latter is a rounded knob of quartzite, easily as- cended. Necedah Mound is a partly-exhumed monadnock of the pre-Cambrian peneplain (p. 35). It is a mound rather than a bluff or butte. Petenwell Peak is a more modern hill. Three stages in the erosion cycle are well represented by Friend- ship Mound, Roche a Cris, and Petenwell Peak. The first will eventually be reduced to the stages represented by the other two, but not until Petenwell Peak has been completely destroyed by weathering and erosion. The Elephants Back near Kilbourn is much like Friendship Mound. The crags west of New Lisbon and near Camp Douglas (PI. XXV) represent the same stage as Peten- well Peak. Allied to these forms are the still smaller, isolated crags and pin- nacles like Stand Rock at the Dalles of the Wisconsin, and many others (p. 331). Unfortunately, little of this interesting area has been mapped topographically. The crags and castellated hills at Camp Douglas (Fig. 18) are isolated remnants, left by the retreat of the escarpment to the southwest. The height of these buttes and mesas above the adjacent sandstone plain is 100 to 300 feet. The walls are everywhere steep and portions of them are precipices. The smaller buttes and mesas have flat tops of fair size. Sheep Pasture Bluff, in Juneau County, southeast of Mauston, is a typical mesa. Its dimensions are one-half to one mile by one and five-eighths miles. It rises, as the topographic map (Fig. 128) shows, to an elevation of 300 feet above the surrounding plain. The lower portion of its wall is a 100 foot cliff, probably in the Cam- brian, Dresbach sandstone. Other mesas and buttes are Bruce Mound at Merrillan, the mesa at Humbird, and the castellated hills to the east of Black River Falls, south of Wyeville, west of New Lisbon, south of Mauston, and near Camp Douglas. The sandstone outliers extend a long distance east and north- east of the Magnesian escarpment. The buttes east of Roche a Cris include Mosquito Mound at Bancroft, south of Stevens Point, Bald or Liberty Bluff north of Westfield, and many others. Lib- The Central Plain 309 erty Bluff is about 25 miles from the Magnesian escarpment to east and that to the west. It may equally well have been left be- hind by the recession of either one. Mosquito Mound, however, is 50 miles from the escarpment to the southwest and only 35 miles from the escarpment to the southeast. It is doubtless related to the Magnesian cuesta of Winnebago or Green Lake County (Fig. 129). Cause of Mesas and Teepee-Buttes. The capping material which forms the flat tops of these buttes and mesas is one of several resistant sandstone layers, which is better cemented than the aver- Fig. 128. Sheep Pasture Bluff, a mesa in the Central Plain, Contour interval 20 feet. (From The Dells Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) age. In the Cambrian sandstone the Dresbach formation is often a cliff -maker because heavy-bedded and soft. That certain layers in such a soft and relatively-weak rock as the Cambrian sandstone should stand up in places in precipitous cliffs, irregular crags, and lowers is due partly to the porosity of the rock, partly to its lack of limy and shaly beds, and its thick-bedded character. Weathering and wind work are going on rapidly around the borders of many of these tabular hills. The sandstone breaks down along vertical joints, the rock falls to pieces, and is blown and washed away. The rim- ming cliffs are retreating, so that large mesas are being made smaller, and small mesas are being converted into buttes. When the resistant cap is removed by weathering and the preva- lent wind work, the buttes soon wear down to conical hills. These are well seen in the hills south of Pray (p. 303), as well as in Mon- roe County east of Sparta, in a valley of the Western Upland, where there, are many teepee-buttes, rising 100 to 150 feet above the ad- jacent plain. They are apparently produced in weak sandstone after 310 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the wearing away of the protective cap of more resistant sandstone or limestone. The next stage is the complete destruction of the hill, and this is soon reached after the removal of the capping layer. The Changes Due to Glaciation Area Glaciated. The ice of the continental glacier advanced over the Central Plain of Wisconsin from both the northeast and the northwest; but an intermediate portion of the inner lowland in Wood, Portage, Adams, Juneau, Monroe, and Jackson Counties was not overridden by the glacier. In this portion of the Driftless Area, except for the low areas mantled by stream and lake deposits, are found the topographic forms which must have characterized the whole geographical province before the Glacial Period. These en- able us to tell something regarding the measure of glacial modifica- tion which has taken place elsewhere by erosion and deposition. Glacial Erosion. Except in the sandstone counties west of Green Bay, the depth to which the continental glacier eroded the surface of the Central Plain was relatively less than in many other parts of Wisconsin. This is because the glaciated part of the Central Plain was mostly outside the regions of rapid glacial movement and near the edges of the Green Bay, Chippewa, Superior, and Minnesota lobes, where their erosive power was comparatively weak. If this inner lowland had been in a path of rapid ice movement the weak sandstone would doubtless have been eroded to a great depth, as was the sandstone of the Lake Superior basin (p. 406). Though slight compared with the profound glacial sculpture of the Lake Michigan basin, the ice erosion in the Central Plain was by no means negligible. We know, for example, that the continental glacier must have removed hundreds of outlying mesas and buttes, and thousands of smaller pinnacles similar to Stand Rock, for these forms are now virtually limited to the Driftless Area. Before the Glacial Period they must have existed in vast numbers throughout the whole Central Plain. Likewise, we may be certain that alongthe Magnesian escarpment of eastern Wisconsin thousands of project- ing spurs and isolated crags of sandstone capped by limestone were removed by glacial erosion. These ephemeral forms are plentiful in the Driftless Area (p. 83), as in the borders of the Western Up- land near Camp Douglas. A markedly smaller number of outliers is found where the edge of the glacier was thin and weak, as in south- western Columbia County near Okee and Lodi and at the border of the older drift near Neillsville. They are almost wanting in the The Central Plain 311 regions of more active ice movement, for example near Knapp, Dunn County, west of Ripon, Green Lake County, or near Shawano, Shawano County. Where the weak sandstone lay in the direct path of a rapid cur- rent of the glacier, the ice eroded deeply and scoured out lake basins. Green Lake, for example, is partly in the sandstone plain and partly in the limestone cuesta. Its valley was eroded to a depth of 300 to 450 feet by. glacial erosion. The lake is 237 feet in depth, being the deepest inland lake in Wisconsin. How much of this erosion was ac- complished by streams in preglacial time is not known, but it is certainly a small proportion of the whole. The effect of glaciation upon the Central Plain was suggested in 1891 by G. K. Gilbert, who said: "At Kilbourn City, Wis., the line of travel leaves glaciated terri- tory and enters the Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Basin. Thence to La Crosse the topography and the constitution of the sur- face material stand in sharp contrast to the corresponding features of the region farther east. Rock exposures, which have been rare east- ward, and altogether wanting over considerable areas, are here of almost constant occurrence wherever the surface has any consider- able relief. Frequently, too, butte-like hills or fantastically carved, castellated towers of sandstone give some indications of the extent of the subaerial erosion the region has suffered. From the presence of these bold eminences within the Driftless Area, rising 200 or 300 feet above the more or less completely base-leveled plain on which they rest, and from their absence in the area covered by ice, instruc- tive inferences may be drawn as to the work effected by the ice in the country over which it passed." This is well proven by the numerous castellated hills and crags in the 50 miles of Driftless Area between Mosquito Mound, Portage County, and the Magnesian escarpment at Camp Douglas (Fig. 129), in contrast with the almost total absence of such outliers in the 35 miles of glaciated territory between Mosquito Mound and the Magnesian escarpment of Winnebago County. A view from the summit of Mt. Morris, Waushara County, fur- nishes a striking contrast to the prospect from Roche a Cris. The latter is in the Driftless Area, and, as already stated (p. 307) overlooks a monotonously-even plain with scores of castellated mounds. Mt. Morris is in the midst of glaciated territory. Its flat top is bestrewn with granite boulders, carried there by the ice. 'Its moderately-sloping sides reveal ledges of sandstone, but there are 312 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin none of the crags and pinnacles that must have characterized the hill before the Glacial Period. Mt. Morris rises 250 feet or so above the adjacent plain. The plain is not smooth, however, but slightly irregular, with gently-undulating ground moraine, rougher terminal moraines, and outwash plains containing deep kettles and many valleys eroded since the outwash was deposited. The most striking contrast with the view from Roche a Cris is that almost no rock hills are to be seen from Mt. Morris. There is an exceedingly small num- Fig. 129. Map showing — in black — some of the numerous outlying mounds in the Driftless Area in contrast with the small number in the glaciated region of central Wisconsin where they have been removed by glacial erosion. ber of limestone hills, as at the group near Liberty Bluff in the edge of the terminal moraine. There are a very few -exhumed monad- nocks of pre-Cambrian rock, as near Spring Lake and Red Granite. There is Mt. Tom near Princeton, close to the Magnesian escarp- ment (Fig. 86). Where the driftless, Magnesian escarpment of Juneau County has scores and scores, and perhaps hundreds, of out- liers, the glaciated continuation of the same escarpment in Green Lake County has outliers by ones and twos. Mt. Morris lies mid- way in the 35 miles from the Magnesian escarpment on the east to the terminal moraine on the west. In this distance it is the only outlier. From the terminal moraine westward to the driftless por- The Central Plain 313 tion of the Magnesian escarpment the outliers are exceedingly abundant, proving that it is glacial erosion which has removed the outliers in the eastern portion of the Central Plain. Liberty Bluff and the adjacent hills repeat the same story. They overlook a vast expanse of country devoid of rock hills. The rare exceptions, like Liberty Bluff, were left because they lay at the thin, weak edge of the ice. If these outliers reveal any rock ledges what- ever, as on the hill northeast of Liberty Bluff, the ledges are con- fined to the southern or western slopes, where glacial plucking has produced them. Crags and pinnacles are entirely lacking. Glacial Deposits. The drift deposits of the Central Plain are similar to those in the Western Upland (p. 110) and the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands (p. 239), except that the glacial deposits of the plain are decidedly more sandy. Such of the features of preglacial topography as escaped destruction by ice erosion, are often entirely extinguished beneath the ground moraine and terminal moraines, though in some places the preexisting topography has not been greatly altered. The linear development of the sandstone bluffs often suggests that they represent divides between the preglacial stream valleys. In contrast with the numerous glacial lakes in eastern Wisconsin, there are relatively few lakes in the Central Plain. This is chiefly be- cause the depressions produced by glacial erosion and by irregulari- ties in the drift are sandy-bottomed, and, therefore, do not generally hold water. It is also partly due to the lack of moraines. Where moraines are more abundant, lakes do occur, however, as in Burnett, Polk, Barron, and adjacent counties, in the northwestern part of the province, and parts of Waushara County in the east. Older Drift. The older drift now preserved in the Central Plain was deposited chiefly by the ice of the Chippewa, Superior, and Min- nesota lobes. There is no older drift along the borders of the Green Bay lobe. In many places the older drift is thin and weathered. Much of its surface bears a mature, erosion topography, rather than an irregular, glacial topography. It is much like the older drift of the Western Upland (p. 114) and the Northern Highland (p. 380). It seems certain that the continental glacier covered little, if any, more territory in the Central Plain than is shown in Figure 28. At Necedah, Juneau County, there are linear markings on the quart- zite of the mound. These resemble glacial striae but really are grooves called slickensides. They extend down into the solid rock ledges, and are not of glacial origin. Near Kilbourn there are un- 314 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin questionable glacial striae between the outermost terminal moraine and the Wisconsin River. It is not yet certain, however, that the granites which bear the striae are parts of a ledge rather than large, iceberg-rafted erratics. The widespread deposits of outwash, lake clay, and peat in the Driftless Area may possibly conceal patches of older drift in parts of the Central Plain which we now consider never to have been overridden by ice. Lack of glacial removal of the castellated bluffs, mounds, buttes, and pinnacles prove, however, that the Juneau, Adams, Monroe, and Jackson County portions of the Central Plain were never glaciated. Ground Moraine of the Latest Glaciation. The till sheet of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation in the eastern portion of the Central Plain is thick, concealing nearly all the rock ledges. Its surface features are similar to those in the adjacent Fox- Winnebago valley (p. 242). Parts of Outagamie, Waupaca, Waushara, and Winnebago Counties contain deposits of red clay. These are similar to those already described (p. 252) as having been laid down in a glacial lake and subsequently ridged up into ground moraine or terminal moraine by the readvance of the Green Bay lobe. This clay is mapped by the soil survey as the Superior series. The sandy till of ground moraine and terminal moraines appears on the soils maps as the Coloma sand and loam. The limestone pebbles are often en- tirely leached away in the surface layers, although limestone may be abundant at greater depths. This makes it clear that the presence of chert, quartz, and other insoluble silicious materials and the absence of limestone is not of itself an absolute proof that a deposit is older drift, rather than of Wisconsin age. The Humbird and Neillsville Nunataks. A few castellated hills rise through the morainic deposits as nunataks. These are hills which were once completely surrounded by the ice, though never overridden. They are limited to the border of the glaciated region where the ice was thin. The castellated bluff or mesa of iron-stained sandstone at Hum- bird, Jackson County, is one of the most accessible of these nuna- taks. The Chicago and Northwestern Railway passes close by its base. The ice of the continental glacier wrapped completely around the foot of this nunatak. The ice sheet terminated less than a mile to the southwest. Hence it was so thin at this point that it never rose to any considerable height on the slopes of the mesa. This is dem- onstrated also by the castellated and craggy character of the nuna- tak. B r o > > r o d H B H O B o o O M O J" > z D in c V < Pi a 2 X < > X X Oh > x x X n V. - J c w c 2 c H Q Z The Central Plain 315 The Neillsville nunatak (PI. XXVIII) in Clark County is of the same character as the one at Humbird. Both are exactly like the mesas and buttes of the Driftless Area, except that they are sur- rounded by glacial debris. At Neillsville a long, narrow ridge is made up of a series of castellated, sandstone crags and.towers. On its lower slopes are glacial bowlders, but none are found on top. The question has been raised as to whether the Neillsville ridge might not have been glaciated and subsequently restored to its preglacial form by weathering. It seems certain that there has been far too little time for this. A period long enough for such profound weathering would also be more than ample time for the destruction of all the glacial drift in the surrounding region, or its burial beneath a thick covering of sandstone talus. As a matter of fact the sand- stone detritus nearby is very slight in amount and the erratics are exceedingly well preserved, even for older drift. On the northern slope of the mound is a marked, terminal moraine. No hesitancy is felt in asserting that the Neillsville ridge is a true nunatak. This nunatak furnishes a rough measure of the slope of the con- tinental glacier in central Wisconsin. This castellated ridge is about 10 miles from the outermost stand of the ice. Its crest is between 1400 and 1500 feet above sea level. No erratics are found within 200 feet of the top. The elevation of the terminal moraine to the south- west is between 900 and 1000 feet. If we assume that the. ice rose steeply to a height of 50 or 100 feet at the border of the Driftless Area and then sloped gradually northeastward to the Neillsville nunatak, its surface gradient was not more than 15 or 20 feet to the mile. Terminal Moraines. The terminal and recessional moraines in the Central Plain are of the normal sort. The kettle moraine at the eastern border of the Driftless Area is an exceptionally broad, irreg- ular accumulation, well seen (a) north of Baraboo and Kilbourn, (Fig. 131), (b) east of Hancock, and (c) near Amherst Junction east of Stevens Point. South of Waupaca the recessional moraines of the Green Bay lobe form conspicuous ridges. John Muir described the kettles in one of the recessional moraines, northeast of Portage, as "formed by the melting of large detached blocks of ice that had been buried in moraine material." Near the St. Croix Dalles, Polk County, there are two sets of terminal moraines (Fig. 141). The outer, or eastern, moraines are made up of red drift from the Superior lobe of the Labrador ice sheet. The western moraines consist of younger, gray drift from the Min- nesota lobe of the Keewatin ice sheet. 316 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin . 92°3S 92°35' Fig. 130. Terminal moraine topography, on the left, and pitted outwash on the right. Contour interval 20 feet. (From St. Croix Dalles Quadrangle, U. S. Geol. Survey.) Outwash Deposits. The deposits made by streams from the melting ice sheet cover large areas in the Central Plain (p. 119). The Central Plain 317 The streams laid down sand and gravel, not only in the actually glaciated region, but in the otherwise drift'less area as well. Some of these glacial outwash deposits have been described as interglacial alluvium, but this conclusion appears doubtful. These gravel, sand and clay deposits attain thicknesses of 100 to 200 feet or more, as Fig. 131. Outwash plain built by glacial streams from the terminal moraine between Baraboo and Kilbourn Contour interval 20 feet. (From Briggsville and Dells Quadrangles, U. S. Geol. Survey.) at Necedah. They often have smooth, gently-sloping surfaces, as in the region between Grand Rapids and Kilbourn and to the north- west of Baraboo. Opposite certain gaps in the terminal moraines are broad alluvial fans of outwash gravels. These indicate some of the later stream channels occupied by the glacial rivers which de- posited the outwash. Near some of the rivers the outwash has been gullied by ravines and cut into great terraces, as in the valley of the Wisconsin River 318 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin south of Grand Rapids and east of Necedah, along the Chippewa River in Eau Claire and Dunn Counties southwest of Eau Claire, in parts of Waushara County, and in Marinette County along the Menominee River. Near the St. Croix Dalles there are pitted out- wash plains adjacent to the red moraines (Fig. 130), and terraced valley train gravels along the St. Croix River. Lake Deposits. The deposits of former glacial lakes cover parts of the Central Plain, in the driftless as well as the glaciated area. These lakes were apparently short-lived, for they produced few well- defined shorelines. No deltas were built in these lakes, so far as we now know. The existence of these bodies of water is proved by the finding of lake-bottom sediments, as near Grantsburg, Burnett County, and Menomonie, Dunn County, where the clays are used in making brick. In the eastern part of the Central Plain there are extensive de- posits of lake clay — Superior series and Poygan series on the soils maps. Deposits on the Floor of Glacial Lake Wisconsin. The largest area of lake deposits is on the bed of Glacial Lake Wisconsin. This former body of water, already described in general, (Fig. 132 and p. 118), left lake deposits over an area of more than 1,825 square miles. In the southern part of its basin are reddish silts and sandy clays — Superior series of soils. These lake deposits are cov- ered in many places by glacial outwash, by dune sand, by peat and muck, or by alluvium. In the northern and northwestern part of the basin, the lake deposit is white quartz sand. This is well seen in the embankments bordering the extensive drainage ditches of Wood, Juneau, and Jackson Counties. The presence of sand rather than clay as the dominant lake deposit is due to the nearness to the lake shore and to the large area of crystalline rocks on the north. The glacial streams flowing into Glacial Lake Wisconsin from the north deposited their coarsest detritus near shore. The sand was carried offshore in suspension and deposited evenly over the bottom of the glacial lake. The clay was deposited still farther to the south. Similarly the glacial torrents flowing into this lake from the east de- posited their coarse materials in the outwash plains east of the lake, as in the great gravel pit southeast of the village of Grand Marsh, Adams County. The finer detritus was carried offshore and spread over the lake bottom as a mantle of limy clay. Ice-Rafted Erratics. The deposits of this glacial lake include isolated, erratic bowlders of granite, greenstone, and other crystal- The Central Plain 319 line rocks, for example in Juneau County west of Kilbourn, and in Sauk County west of Baraboo (pp. 112, 118). Our best evidence of the height of the lake surface comes from these ice-rafted erratics. Near Baraboo and Kilbourn they do not occur above a level of about PO/fTAGS Fig. 132. Sketch map of Glacial Lake Wisconsin. 960 feet. At favorable localities at or below that elevation they are rather abundant. This is true, for example, on the quartzite and sandstone slopes of the Baraboo Range near North Freedom, north- west of Baraboo, south of Delton, and west of Kilbourn. Beach Deposits. To the northwest, rounded sandstone and chert bowlders are found in a beach deposit on Mile Bluff south of 320 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Mauston. No erratic bowlders have been found here. The deposit is less than 980 feet above sea level. Erratics have been found to the southwest near Reedsburg, where there was a bay of the glacial lake (Fig. 132). To the northeast, erratics occur on the slopes of a mound 5 miles south of Friendship, Adams County. They are at an elevation of about 980 feet above sea level. There are erratics in the gravel deposit at the northern end of Necedah Mound, and perhaps also on Petenwell Peak. The highest are more than 960 feet above sea level. There are numerous erratics on the quartzite mound 4 miles north- west of Babcock, Wood County. These are at an elevation of nearly 1000 feet. Some of the best beach deposits of Glacial Lake Wis- consin, are on islands, as in the cases just cited. Lake Deposits, in Relation to Tilting. The levels at which er- ratics and beach gravels are found, show that the shorelines of Glacial Lake Wisconsin are not horizontal at present, but rise to- ward the north. They increase in altitude from 960 feet near Bara- boo and Kilbourn to almost 1000 feet, 55 miles to the north, near Babcock and City Point. If the elevations cited were maxima and the tilting uniform, the rate of inclination of the deformed lake surface would be about 8 inches to the mile. Before this can be stated positively, however, it will be necessary to find many more occur- rences of erratics on the shores and islands of Glacial Lake Wiscon- sin and to determine their elevations not barometrically but by levelling. It seems possible that the shorelines in the southern half of the lake basin are horizontal. In this case the rate of tilting in the half of the basin north of the hinge line may be as much as one and one-third feet per mile. Erratics and beach gravels are lacking on many of the shores and islands, doubtless being covered by talus and dune sand, as well as by the lake clay and sand. Foreign bowlders are not usually to be found on the surface of the lake clay and lake sand, except near the southwestern part of the basin. This is interpreted as meaning that icebergs did not float out into the lake at its later stages because the earlier ice cliffs north and northeast of the lake were masked by outwash gravels. Near Kilbourn and Baraboo, however, icebergs seem to have been discharged up to the very end of the lake's existence. Lake Deposits, in Relation to Outlets. The deposits of Glacial Lake Wisconsin also extend out into the part of the Central The Central Plain 321 Plain west of the Black River divide. The outlet of this body of water was westward down the East Fork of Black River from Scran- ton, Wood County, to Hatfield, Jackson County, and thence south- ward down the Black River. That this was the outlet was deter- mined by visiting the headwaters and lower courses of three eastern tributaries of Black River — Robinson Creek, Morrison Creek, and the East Fork of Black River. The first two were eliminated as pos- sible outlets because (a) their headwaters were at too high a level, (b) their valleys were no wider than could be made by the present streams,. and (c) these valleys contain no erratic material. The headwaters of the East Fork of Black River, on the other hand, are lower than the headwaters of Morrison and Robinson Creeks. The divide region south of Scranton and City Point — 1000 feet — retains no sign of a glacial outflow channel. It is a level swamp with thick deposits of peat. Westward near Pray, however, and still farther west near Hatfield, this stream has an extremely broad val- ley, now occupied by a very small stream. The valley contains abandoned channels. More important, it contains erratic material in the form of granite and greenstone bowlders, as well as extensive sand deposits. The erratics might be thought to have come from the older drift to the north, but they are not weathered. Thus it appears likely that they came from Glacial Lake Wisconsin to the east. This conclusion appears necessary because there are no er- ratic bowlders whatever in the valleys of Robinson and Morrison Creeks, which are the only other streams heading on low divides. At the southeast the valleys near Baraboo and Kilbourn were blocked by glacial ice; but, when the ice melted back from the lat- ter, the waters of Glacial Lake Wisconsin rapidly cut through the terminal moraine until the lake was drained out to the southeast and ceased to exist. Deposits Made Since the Lake was Drained. The swamps shown in Figures 1 14 and 140 were formed as a result of the accumu- lation of the more impervious deposits of this glacial lake. After it was drained, outwash gravels and other stream deposits were spread over some areas within the lake basin. Wind Deposits. The wind-blown deposits of glacial time are discussed in Chapter VI. They are found in both drift-covered and driftless areas in part of the Central Plain. In Juneau County the finer loess predominates. In Adams County the dune sand covers wide areas. 322 Tye Physical Geography of Wisconsin Improvement of Soils. On the whole, the soil of the glaciated portion of the Central Plain was improved by the importation of the drift with limy rock flour, limestone bowlders, and various crystal- line rocks from the region outside. The sandy soil of the driftless portion of the plain and the areas covered with outwash or dune sand are far less productive than the part of the plain with limy, sandy, and stony glacial till, or with loess and lake clay. BIBLIOGRAPHY Allouez, Claude. (On the eastern part of the Central Plain) Jesuit Relations, Vol. 54, 1669-71, Thwaites edition, Cleveland, 1899, p. 231. Berkey, Charles. Geology of the St. Croix Dalles, Amer. Geol., Vol. 20, 1897, pp. 345-383; Ibid., Vol. 21, 1898, pp. 139-155, 270-294; A Guide to the St. Croix Dalles for Excursionists and Students, Minneapolis, 1898, 40 pp; Laminated Interglacial Clays of Grantsburg, Wis., Journ. Geol. Vol. 13, 1905, pp. 35-44. Chamberlin, R. T. Glacial Features of the St. Croix Dalles Region, Journ. Geol., Vol. 13, 1905, pp. 238-256; Older Drifts in the St. Croix Region, Ibid., Vol. 18, 1910, pp. 542-548. Chamberlin, T. C. Geology of Eastern Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 98-405; Historical Geology— Cambrian Age, Ibid., Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 119-137; (on Glacial Lake Wisconsin) Ibid., pp. 284-285; The Terminal Moraine of the Second Glacial Epoch, 3rd Annual Report, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, pp. 315-322, 381-388. Chamberlin, T. C, and Salisbury, R. D. The Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley, 6th Annual Report, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, pp. 20-322. Clark, V. B. Geography of the Potsdam Sandstone Area in Wisconsin, Un- published thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1910. Coapman, Lillian. Geography of Columbia County, Wisconsin, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1913. Davis, W. M. Physical Geography, Boston, 1898, pp. 136-137, 197-198, and Figs. 85 and 123. Ellis, R. W. Glacial and Post-Glacial Phenomena of the Portage Region, with Special Reference to their Bearing on the Southwestward Drainage of Lake Winnebago, Unpublished thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1910. Fenneman, N. M. (On the Camp Douglas Country), Annals Assoc. Amer. Geographers, Vol. 4, 1914, p. 106. Gilbert, G. K. (On glacial erosion in the Central Plain), Geological Excursion k fc to the Rocky Mountains, Compte Rendu de la 5«ne. Session, Washington, 1891, Congres Geologique International, Washington, 1891, p. 290. Hobbs, W. H., and Leith, C. K. The Pre-Cambrian Volcanic and Intrusive Rocks of the Fox River Valley, Wisconsin, Bull. 158, University of Wisconsin, 1907, pp. 247-277. Irving, R. D. Geology of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 413-636; On the Nature of the Induration in the St. Peters and Potsdam The Central Plain 323 Sandstones, and in Certain Archaean Quartzites in Wisconsin, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 25, 1883, pp. 401-411. Marquette, Jacques. (On the eastern part of the Central Plain), Jesuit Relations, Vol. 59, 1673-77, Thwaites edition, Cleveland, 1900, p. 103. Martin, Lawrence. The Lowland Plains of the Lake Superior Region, Mono- graph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 108-110; The Pleistocene of the Lake Superior Region, Ibid., pp. 427-459; The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Journ. Geog., Vol. 12, 1914, pp. 229-231. Muir, John. (On kettles and glacial lakes), The Story of my Boyhood and Youth, Boston, 1913, pp. 98, 117-118. Ruggles, D. Geological and Miscellaneous Notice of the Region around Fort Winnebago, Michigan Territory, Amer. Journ. Sci., Vol. 30, 1836, pp. 1-8. Salisbury, R. D., and Atwood, W. W. (On the Central Plain near Baraboo and Camp Douglas), Bull. 5, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1900, pp. 6-13, 71-72, 129-130. Shumard, B. F. (On the Central Plain near the Wisconsin River), Owen's Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 517-520. Strong, Moses. Geology of Ihe Mississippi Region, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 7-98. Thomas, K. Glacial Gold in Wisconsin, Eng. and Mining Journ., Vol. 74, 1902, p. 248. Upham, Warren. Age of the St. Croix Dalles, Amer. Geol., Vol. 35, 1905, pp. 347-355. Weidman, S. A Contribution to the Geology of the Pre-Cambrian Igneous Rocks of the Fox River Valley, Wisconsin, Bull. 3, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1898, 63 pp; Preliminary Report on the Soils and Agricultural Condi- tions of North Central Wisconsin, Bull. 11, Ibid., 1903, 64 pp; Reconnoissance Soil Survey of Part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Bull. 23, Ibid., 1911, 100 pp; Reconnoissance Soil Survey of Marinette County, Ibid., 1911, 44 pp; Geology of North Central Wisconsin, Bull. 16, Ibid., 1907, pp. 396-681. Whitson, A. R., and Others. Soils bulletins on Juneau, Waushara, Columbia, and Portage Counties, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, and Bureau of Soils, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1906 to 1914. Wooster, L. C. Geology of the Lower St. Croix District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 101-159. MAPS U. S. Geological Survey. The Dells, Briggsville, PortagG, Denzer, Baraboo, Poynette, St. Croix Dalles, Neshkoro, Ripon, and Wilton Quadrangles (Fig. 192); river maps (Fig. 194). Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Lake maps (Fig. 194); soils maps, see references in this chapter and Fig. 200. 324 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin URING THE CIVIL WAR the Red River campaign in Louisiana in 1864 was saved from disaster by a Wisconsin soldier, who made use of the knowledge of rivers which he had gained in the lumbering industry on the rivers of Wisconsin. "The special honors of the Red River expedition were * * won by Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Bailey of the Fourth Wisconsin. While the fleet was above the rapids at Alexandria, the stage of water fell, making it impossible for the vessels to descend, a perilous situation which encouraged the enemy to swarm upon the banks and seriously to threaten the little navy with destruction. Bailey was serving * * * as chief engineer, and proposed the construction of a huge dam, by which the water in the river should be raised to a sufficient height; then, the obstruction being suddenly broken in the centre, the entrapped vessels might escape upon the outrushing flood. The scheme was familiar enough to Wisconsin lumbermen, who in this manner still artificially 'lift' stranded rafts of logs; but his army colleagues laughed at Bailey, although he was given three thousand men for the purpose, and told to amuse himself with this visionary experiment. His first requisition was for the 'lumber boys' of the Twenty-third and Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, who appreciated what was needed in this backwoods engineering scheme, and soon trained their fellows to the task. Bailey's sappers worked unwearyingly through the first eight days of May, and on the morning of the twelfth the great gun-boats plunged through the boiling chute, thus triumphantly escaping the clutches of the discomfited Confederates, who had thought the expedition an easy prey. Admiral Porter frankly acknowledged that the fleet owed its safety entirely to the Wisconsin engineer's 'indomitable perseverance and skill.' " R. G. Thwaites. CHAPTER XIV. THE DRAINAGE OF THE CENTRAL PLAIN The Dalles of the Wisconsin A Youthful, Postglacial Gorge. Near Kilbourn the Wis- consin River flows through a narrow, steep-sided gorge known as the Dalles, or, less properly, the Dells. The original form — Dalles — is the French word for flagstones. This is one of the most attractive, small, scenic features of the state, for the banks of the river are clothed in picturesque, coniferous forest, the course of the river is cut deeply in solid sandstone, diversified by unusually well-developed cross-bedding and conspicuous joint planes. Weathering and stream erosion have carved the river banks into bold cliffs, sharp chasms, and striking, isolated rock pillars. One may observe, as the geologist, Norwood, did in 1847 "singular and beautiful effects. Architraves, sculptured cornices, moulded capitals, scrolls, and fluted columns are seen on every hand; presenting, altogether, a mixture of the grand, the beautiful, and the fantastic." This is not yet a state park. It is so different from the adjacent Devils Lake Park, so remarkable in its natural features, so beautiful and so accessible to the densely-settled part of the state, that it would be wise to have it set aside for the public (Plates XXIX-XXXII). The Dalles of the Wisconsin represent an exceptional phase of river development in the Central Plain. The wider and less beauti- ful river above and below the Dalles is described later (p. 333). This section of the Wisconsin is a youthful, postglacial gorge. General Description. The gorge of the Wisconsin is seven and one-fifth miles in length, the portion below the town of Kilbourn be- ing one-third of the total length and known as the Lower Dalles. The gorge above Kilbourn is usually spoken of merely as The Dalles. In the Dalles the river is 52 to 1000 feet wide, in contrast to 1500 or 2000 feet in the valley of the Wisconsin above and below the gorge. With this constriction the river becomes both deeper and swifter. The grade of the stream in the Dalles is not very steep, however, the 326 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 133. Sketch map showing the Dalles of the Wisconsin River and the location ot the tributary gorges. r > s > ■ 2 on > 2 v< O X M jH X Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXX. H?*-M %W i* ARE • •& PI :■;* W& : ^-^T^ ^^E^%v v^ik^i^ J- " mbp /«fc > /Jftifc i ? . * i d^l Wa-t F P\\ A. SUGAR BOWL. B. WHIRLPOOL CHAMBER. C. COLDWATER CANYON. D. NAVY Y'ARD. AT THE DALLES OF THE WISCONSIN The Drainage of the Central Plain 327 water descending only 10 feet. The gorge walls rise 80 to 100 feet above the river. The Dalles probably did not exist till the end of the last glacial epoch. There is no evidence to show that it is either an interglacial gorge or a rejuvenated preglacial gorge. On the western side of the Dalles are two abandoned stream chan- nels (Figs. 133, 134). Their origin is to be explained in connection with the early history of Artists Glen and the loop which extends west opposite the hotel at Coldwater Canyon (p. 329). On the eastern side are four, prominent, tributary gorges and several smaller ones. These four are Witches Gulch, Roodes Glen, Cold- water Canyon, and Artists Glen. Witches Gulch and Coldwater Canyon. The northernmost of the tributaries to the Wisconsin at the Dalles is called Witches Gulch. It is a narrow, steep-sided gorge of the same sort as Watkins Glen in New York. Coldwater Canyon is like Witches Gulch in all respects. Three things are mainly responsible for the pleasing vari- ations in the forms of these gorges — (a) relative weakness or resis- tance of rock layers, (b) the joint planes, (c) the work of running water, acting upon these two. Variations in Width of Gorges. The most striking illustration of the first of these is the variation in width of the gorges. Witches Gulch is about 100 feet wide near the mouth, and 40 or 50 feet wide near the head. At points between, it is constricted to less than 2 feet. There are places where it is the shape of an hour-glass, be- ing 10 to 20 feet wide at the top and bottom and only 2 or 3 feet in the middle. All this seems to be due to the presence of alternate weak and resistant sandstone layers. The narrow, upper part of this gorge is 20 or 30 feet higher than the mouth, so that the stream pro- file cuts across a series of unequally-resistant beds, with resulting variations in the form of the gorge. Influence of Joint Planes. The influence of the joint planes is shown in the trend of the gorges. They are not straight, but ex- tend east and west with a series of right-angled turns. It is clear in many places that these angular turns are due to the control of the stream course by joint planes, of which there are two systems at right angles. Pot Holes and Cascades. The work of running water in cut- ting the gorges is especially manifested by the cascades or water- falls and by the pot holes. The latter are circular or oval in form. Some of them are in the present stream course and their origin is 328 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin shown by the eddies which swirl around in them, often at the bases of little waterfalls. Within the pot holes are masses of sand and rounded pebbles. These are slowly swirled around by the eddy- ing water, more, of course, in the high water of the spring months than during the summer when the stream is nearly dry. They erode the bottom and sides of the pot hole. By such erosion all pot holes have been made. Among the pot holes in Coldwater Canyon, the one called the Devils Jug is especially large and perfect. There are also remnants of pot holes at various levels on the sides of the gorges, proving beyond the possibility of doubt that Witches Gulch, Cold- water Canyon, and the other tributaries of the Wisconsin have been produced by the erosion of running water and are not gaping cracks due to faulting, or to any other violent cause. The waterfalls are. tiny affairs, but at their bases stream erosion is very effective. The crests of the falls are also worn down by the at- trition of sediment-laden running water. Joint planes aid in the recession of these cascades. The work of running water is effectual not only in pot holes and cascades but also in the reaches between falls. In such sections of the gorges, the stream undercuts the rock and widens its channel. It is chiefly by these three types of stream work that Witches Gulch and the other gorges have been cut out in the solid rock. They are being widened above by frost action and other weathering, but these are, thus far, relatively ineffective. Effect of the Dam at Kilbourn. The latest episode in the his- tory of Witches Gulch, Coldwater Canyon, and Roodes Glen has been a submergence of the mouths of the gorges, due to the building of the dam at Kilbourn. This has raised the level of the water several feet in Witches Gulch and the adjacent gorges. The level was in- creased about 16 feet in the main Dalles near the dam. By this sub- mergence the erosion of the lower portions of all these tributary gorges has been decreased or stopped entirely. The author has visited the Dalles repeatedly, both before and since the building of the dam. It is his opinion that the scenery has not been impaired in any respect by the raising of water level in the main stream or tributary gorges. He misses certain familiar features. He regrets the leaving of dead trees in the mouths of the gorges and in the new lake near Stand Rock. These should be removed by the power company that built the dam. For every detail lost, as the lower cascades of Witches Gulch or the bases of rocks at the Navy Yard, something new and equally interesting and beautiful has been The Drainage of the Central Plain 329 created. These include the deepening of the water that makes pos- sible the launch trip into the mouth of Roodes Glen, and many- other features. Stream Diversions. Artists Glen seems to be subject to less active, present deepening than the other gorges. Its mouth is above the level of Wisconsin River, even since the dam was built. Because of this discordance of stream grade Artists Glen is one sort of hang- ing valley. This brings up two problems. Fig. 134. Three stages in the development of drainage at the Dalles of the Wisconsin. The first has to do with the question as to whether the presence of tributary gorges almost exclusively on the eastern side of the Dalles does not mean that Witches Gulch, Roodes Glen, Coldwater Can- yon, Artists Glen, Chapel Gorge, Glen Eyrie, and the smaller gorges were excavated chiefly by glacial waters. There is relatively little water in some of them today, but when the edge of the continental glacier stood at the terminal moraine only 4 miles to the east, there was ample water for cutting these gorges. Of course we know that Glacial Lake Wisconsin (p. 318) must have submerged the site of the Dalles for a time; but both before and after this lake existed there may still have been good-sized glacier-fed streams at work here. The other question raised by the discordant or hanging junction of Artists Glen with the main Wisconsin has to do with the origin of the abandoned channel west of the Larks Hotel or Dells Inn. It is clear that the Wisconsin used to turn westward just below the mouth 330 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin of Coldwater Canyon (at B, middle map, Fig. 134), looping back to the present channel about three-quarters of a mile down, stream at Allen's Landing where the old hotel stood. The stream in Artists Glen is then supposed to have flowed southward through what is now the narrowest portion of the Dalles just above the Navy Yard. Sub- sequently the Artists Glen stream cut into its north bank and the Wisconsin cut into its own south bank so that the. narrow strip of rock betw,een the two streams was eventually cut through, presum- ably in a period of high water in the spring. As soon as the main Wisconsin River was diverted into the nar- row channel of Artists Glen it quickly cut down, for it gained veloc- ity because of the constriction and steeper grade. It cut down more rapidly than the earlier stream in Artists Glen could erode. Per- haps also the loss of the glacial waters diminished the latter stream's erosive power. For these two reasons the mouth of the Artists Glen stream was left hanging above the main channel of the Dalles. From this it is clear that the old channel west of Coldwater Can- yon is not the incised meander of a river in old age, as is sometimes suggested, but an exceedingly youthful form due to stream capture. Moreover, this is the second time that the Wisconsin has been thus diverted. In the left-hand map of Figure 134 it appears that the river formerly had the course AEG. West of Allen's Landing at the old hotel a tributary headed at C. It cut back at the head- waters till it tapped the Wisconsin, diverting it to the course CF. Before the Artists Glen diversion, while it was still flowing through the channel from C to Allen's Landing, one of its small tributaries cut back into the abandoned channel DE, reversing the direction of flow for a short distance. Features of the Main Gorge in the Dalles. The main gorge is like its tributaries in most respects. Thus it shows the influence of rock texture, as where High Rock and Romance Cliff at The Jaws form a constriction in a resistant portion of the sandstone. The re- sult of jointing is illustrated in the section called the Navy Yard, at the Giant's Hand, and the several boat caves. It appears on a small scale at Chimney Rock in connection with weathering, and on a large scale at Steamboat Rock above Coldwater Canyon and at the Inkstand and Sugarbowl in the Lower Dalles in association with river erosion as well as weathering. The constriction at the Narrows, or Black Hawk's Leap, does not appear to be due to resistant rock there, but rather to the recency of the stream diversion (Fig. 134). Here the channel is only 52 feet Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXI. THE NARROWS, DALLES OF THE WISCONSIN. {Copyright by Underwood & LTnderwood, N. Y.) Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXII. STAND ROCK. WEST OF THE DALLES OF THE WISCONSIN IN THE DRIFTLESS AREA. (Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.) The Drainage of the Central Plain 331 wide. It is said to be 40 to 80 feet deep, and the river is often spoken of as running on edge. Because of this narrowness it was possible to build the toll bridge which spanned the Narrows from 1848 to 1866. It was the first bridge across the Wisconsin River in this part of the state. Gorges near the Dalles. The picturesque gorges near Delton and Kilbourn are also postglacial -stream channels, similar to the eastern tributaries of the Wisconsin in the Dalles. Among these are the Mirror Lake Gorge, the Congress Hall Gorge, and Taylors Glen. They are in the region which was not reached by the continental glacier, but are surrounded by deposits of Glacial Lake Wisconsin and of glacial streams. It seems probable that they were not cut by glacial waters and have been eroded chiefly in postglacial time. They are directly related to glaciation, however; Dell Creek, for example, was diverted from a quite different preglacial course (p. 181) by the building of the terminal moraine. Mirror Lake is artificial, being held up by a dam. Stand Rock and Vicinity. On the western side of the Dalles are Louis Bluff, Stand Rock, and several other interesting, natural fea- tures (Fig. 29). These are in the Driftless Area and seem to be chiefly due to preglacial weathering and wind work. Here the gorge of the Wisconsin broadens out into a wide valley, containing isolated rock hills such as Louis Bluff and the sandstone mounds to the north. These mounds and the Elephants Back mound east of the Wiscon- sin are outliers, left behind in the recession of the Magnesian es- carpment (Fig. 126). Stand Rock is an isolated column of sandstone, situated close to a sandstone cliff just north of the Dalles. The column of Stand Rock is about 45 feet high and 6 or 8 feet in diameter. It is capped by a layer of resistant sandstone, some 20 feet in diameter. As the cap- ping layer is at just the same height as the adjacent cliff and within 6 feet of it, and as the uppermost sandstone layer projects in a cor- nice-like ledge, it is clear that the projecting ledge and the isolated slab-capped column of Stand Rock are due to the same cause. This is the action of frost, of alternate contraction and expansion with heat and cold, the wedging action of roots, and the other agencies which we usually speak of as weathering. Gravity causes the weath- ered rock on the face of the cliff to fall. The swirling action of the wind transports grains of sand away. Thus the resistant, upper layer of sandstone is undermined and left projecting. Visor Ledge is of this origin. Such projecting ledges occasionally fall and lie at 332 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 135. The Hornets Nest, a rock pillar produced by weathering and wind work at the Dalles of the Wisconsin. (Drawing by Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway.) The Drainage of the Central Plain 333 the base of the cliff. As the cliff slowly recedes, however, some parts are removed faster than others. Accordingly the cliff has an irregular outline, with salients projecting and reentrants indenting the valley wall. Some of the larger indentations are gullies made by small wet-weather streams. Stand Rock is the isolated end of such a salient, and there are other columns in various stages of formation. The Hornets Nest (Fig. 135) and the feature called Luncheon Hall are archways where the capping rock layer is still connected with the main cliff. The rock known as The Anvil, situated at the end of the salient between the Hornets Nest and Stand Rock, is a feature of the same sort, only the capping rock layer has fallen from the column. Thus we have the Hornets Nest, Stand Rock, and The Anvil — three features illustrating progressive stages in the destruction of a receding Driftless Area cliff. Just west of Stand Rock is Squaws Bed-Chamber, a narrow cave which extends back into the cliff for 50 feet or more. It has a tiny branch cavern on the left side. Both cave and branch have been made by weathering along well-developed joint planes in the weak sandstone. All of these features in the neighborhood of Stand Rock are of the sort that can exist only in the Driftless Area. They are relatively fragile and would certainly have been eroded away or buried in glacial deposits if the continental ice sheet had advanced west of the present tourse of the Wisconsin River. The Wisconsin River Outside the Dalles The Middle Section of the Wisconsin River. The lower course of the Wisconsin has already been described (p. 173). The upper course will be discussed in Chapter XVI. The river leaves the Northern Highland at Grand Rapids and flows for a short distance in a valley whose sides are Cambrian sandstone and whose floor is pre- Cambrian crystalline rock. The stream then begins its course across the Central Plain and here the valley is relatively shallow. Sand- stone ledges are rarely present in the stream bed except in a few rapids and postglacial gorges, such as the Dalles of the Wisconsin. There are narrows near Dekorra, but no ledges in the stream course. It is clear from Figure 58 that this middle portion of the Wisconsin has had a different history from those to the north (Fig. 168) and to the southwest. From Grand Rapids to Portage and Prairie du Sac the river has few tributaries, the dendritic pattern is replaced by an aimless pattern, and there are large, undrained, interstream 334 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin areas. In 181 miles the river descends 138§ feet or at the rate of only lf feet to the mile. The cause of this flattening of the river grade, which is only half as steep as in the Northern Highland, is in a measure related to the normal grading of a stream. The middle and lower courses are al- ways less steep than the tumultuous headwaters. The change of grade is also partly due to the complications of glaciation. Before the Glacial Period the Wisconsin had a more direct southward course from Stevens Point to«Portage. Well borings reveal a buried pre- glacial Wisconsin valley extending north and south in the region be- tween Portage and Kilbourn (Fig. 62). Part of the flattening of the stream grade is due to lengthening of this middle portion of the Wisconsin by its being diverted westward in the great bend (Fig. 58) between Stevens Point and Portage, where crowded west by the moraine. The absence of tributaries and of a well-defined valley may also be due to the short time during which the Wisconsin has occupied this course. The undrained interstream areas are also related to the residual soil of the Cambrian sandstone and the sandy outwash, dune sand, and lake deposits west of the terminal moraine. The levelness of this region is also a factor. The lack of eastern tribu- taries of any length is explained by the nearness of the divide on the terminal moraine. The present course of the Wisconsin across the Central Plain, therefore, is in large part a postglacial course. The river occupies the place in the Driftless Area to which it was diverted by the outwash deposits of the streams from the melting ice. Roche a Cris Creek and the other eastern tributaries between Stevens Point and Port- age are shrunken descendants of these glacial rivers. The grade of the Wisconsin descends less steeply than that of the plain of outwash gravels through which it flows. Consequently the river is in a shallow trench near Grand Rapids but flows almost on the surface of the plain north of Kilbourn. At Stevens Point and Grand Rapids there are several terraces. At Nekoosa the present floodplain is separated from the glacial outwash plain by a steep bluff 55 feet high. At Petenwell Peak, near Necedah, there are two low terraces. The increase in number of terraces toward the north may be related to the tilting already described (pp. 153, 282, 285). It is not yet known where the hinge line crosses the Wisconsin River. Lemonweir and Yellow Rivers. Some of the western tribu- taries of the Wisconsin, like Yellow River, are also diminished rep- The Drainage of the Central Plain 335 resentatives of greater glacial streams. Others, like the Lemonweir, have never had glacial complications in their history, except in the lake or outwash deposits over which they flow. Fig. 136. The portage between the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. The Relationships of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. At the city of Portage occurs an unusual relationship of two rivers. The Fox River, which flows northeastward to Green Bay and the St. Lawrence drainage, is only about a mile and a half from the Wis- 336 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin consin River (Fig. 136). Both streams are on a flat, swampy plain, where the Indians and the early explorers, either portaged their canoes or floated them across at high water. A little ditch which would float canoes across the portage was dug in early days, per- haps as early as 1766. The present canal was started in 1849 by the United States government. The Fox- Wisconsin waterway was soon completed, so that a steamboat was able to go from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes in 1856 through the Fox-Wisconsin canal at Portage. Floods sometimes inundate the plain at Portage, so that a very little of the water of the Wisconsin flows into the Fox. It is feared that the whole Wisconsin may sometime be diverted into the channel of the Fox. As the latter is 3 feet lower and descends northward with a steeper grade than the Wisconsin, there is basis for believing that if the Wisconsin were given this steeper grade it would quickly incise a deep channel in the unconsolidated swamp accumulations and glacial deposits, not only below but above Portage as well. Such a stream diversion would then be permanent, unless the state or some private companies went to the great expense of turning the Wisconsin back into its channel. If the diversion took place it would give the paper mills and other power plants of the Fox too much water, resulting in serious damage to the factories in such places as Oshkosh, Neenah-Menasha, and Appleton on Lake Winnebago and the Lower Fox. The towns of the lower Wisconsin, on the other hand, would be deprived of nearly all their river water, resulting in such hardships as the abandonment of the new $5,000,000 hydro- electric power plant at Prairie du Sac, and possibly to future prob- lems regarding disposal of sewage^at Sauk City, Spring Green, Boscobel, and other cities. Fox River System Preglacial Wolf River. The reversal in direction of drainage in the upper valley of Fox River has already been indicated (Fig. 62 and p. 271). Where the Fox now flows northward, it seems probable that the Wolf River flowed southward. This reversal is due to the accident of glacial deposition and to the establishment of a southward flow by one of the outlets of Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet (p. 285). Present Wolf River. Lake Shawano, in the upper course of the Wolf River, and Lake Poygan, near its junction with the Fox in Winnebago County, are among the largest lakes in the Central Plain. The Drainage of the Central Plain 337 The attractive, small bodies of water include the Waupaca Chain O'Lakes. All these are entirely postglacial, though related in some l//tf* s< 7 /* D scHoai a /u*0 f. SO/* s r\ k <0 Af*S' V •ST (0 r/*rtt yfi ST i ! /=•* * ■*?C£- ^ o I u JW0 Fig. 137. The city of Black River Falls and the area devastated by the flood in 1911. (After Pence.) cases to preglacial stream valleys. The Rat River Marsh near Lake Poygan covers 310 square miles. 338 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Near Waupaca a railway grade has been built across a peat bog. The deposition of the gravel has caused the peat to rise each side of the railway till now the track seems to be in a low cut. Lakes in the Course of the Upper Fox. The present gentle grade of the Upper Fox, with its slope of less than 6 inches to the mile, is interrupted by two stretches where the river widens and the current slackens. These are Lakes Buffalo and Puckaway (Fig. 108). The former is a shallow, crescent-shaped lake about 12 miles in length and three-fourths of a mile or less in width. Lake Puck- away is about 7 miles in length and a mile and a half in width. It is separated from Green Lake (p. 311) by a terminal moraine. The rock floor of the preglacial valley at Lake Puckaway is buried to a depth of over 330 feet. Along the lower Fox are extensive swamps in a well-developed floodplain. The swamps and lakes regulate the flow of the lower Fox River, so that its floods ajre diminished. The volume of water available in summer at the mills below Lake Winne- bago is greatly increased by the lakes and swamps in the Upper Fox and Wolf Rivers. Black River The Black River in the Central Plain is almost entirely in the region of older drift (Fig. 138). Consequently it has few lakes and swamps and is subject to severe floods. At Black River Falls, near the border between the Central Plain and the Western Upland, the Black River flows through a shallow, steep-sided trench, at the bot- tom of which the city is located. During a severe flood in October, 1911, the river left its channel and inundated the business portion of the city, destroying houses and streets (Fig. 137), eroding one bank of the river to a notable extent (PI. XXXIII), and doing about $2,000,000 worth of damage. Forty-two acres of land in the business district were washed away. Chippewa River The Chippewa River within this geographical province is chiefly notable for the gentle grade of the river, the moderate slopes of its valley, and the series of terraces carved in the outwash gravels (Fig. 139). The paper mills and furniture factories at the city of Eau Claire are made possible by the water power developed at rapids there. This is one of the few extensive water powers of the Central Plain that is situated away from the Fall Line at its northern border (p. 341). Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXIII. A. THE CITY OF BLACK RIVER FALLS BEFORE THE FLOOD IN 1911. B. VIEW FROM THE SAME POINT AS THE UPPER PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING THE DEVASTATION WROUGHT BY THE FLOOD. Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXIV. Wt THE DEVILS CHAIR, A PINNACLE IN THE GORGE OF THE ST. CROIX RIVER AT INTERSTATE PARK. Fig. 138. The Black River, showing the similarity of drainage patterns in the area of older drift and in the Driftless Area. 340 The^Physical Geography of Wisconsin St. Croix River Most of the St. Croix valley in the Central Plain is rather broad, but at one point the river flows through a deep, steep-sided, post- glacial gorge, known as the Dalles of the St. Croix. This is near the city of St. Croix Falls, Polk County. The Dalles are cut in the well- jointed lavas of the Keweenawan, exposed by the removal of the weaker Cambrian sandstone. The features here are summarized in the description of the Interstate Park (pp. 343-345). 10 Miles Fig. 139. Terraces along the Chippewa River. (After Chamberlin and Salisbury.) Other Streams in the Central Plain The drainage of the Central Plain by smaller streams is similar to that along the rivers just described. Some of the drainage is simple, some of it is complicated by lakes which interrupt the river course, as at Noquebay Lake, Marinette County, and the lake region of Polk, Barron, and Burnett Counties. The crescentic sandstone lowland of the Central Plain is not drained by any single master stream and its tributaries, nor is the drainage within it longitudinal. It is crossed by a series of trans- verse streams, of which the Wisconsin River is the largest and most important. The others include the Black and Chippewa and part of the St. Croix on the west, and the Wolf-Fox, Oconto, Peshtigo, Menominee, and smaller streams on the east. This transverse drain- The Drainage of the Central Plain 341 age is characteristic of the inner lowland of a belted plain. If the sandstone lowland were really a peneplain (p. 306) it would prob- ably be drained to a greater extent by longitudinal streams as a result of readjustment. Fall Line Cities of the Central Plain There is a line of cities in central Wisconsin whose situation was determined by water power at one type of locality. The larger cities in this group are St. Croix Falls, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Grand Rapids, Stevens Point, and Waupaca. The locality where water power occurs is at or near the northern edge of the Central Plain. Water power is present here because the streams are leaving the resistant rocks of the Northern Highland and hence have rapids or low cascades. Accordingly these were places where there were great sawmills in the heyday of Wisconsin lumbering. These are places where pulp mills, paper mills, and furniture factories are situated today. A line drawn between these cities is a Fall Line. In most respects it is identical with the Fall Line that separates the Piedmont Plateau from the Atlantic Coastal Plain, passing Tren- ton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Petersburg, Columbia, Augusta, Macon, and Montgomery. Our Fall Line marked the head of steamboat navigation in Wisconsin in the day when the St. Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, and Wolf Rivers were . counted navigable streams. Swamps of the Central Plain Causes of Swamps. There are vast areas of swamp in the Central Plain. As the area is underlain by the Cambrian sandstone there should be a few swamps, for porous sandstone usually allows water to percolate freely. The glaciation of the eastern and north- western portions of this geographical province, however, has re- sulted in the bringing of quantities of less permeable soil, the till of the ground moraine being sometimes clayey, sometimes sandy, but always less porous than the original residual soil of a never-glaciated sandstone lowland. West of the terminal moraine the clayey de- posits of Glacial Lake Wisconsin form less porous soils than those originally there. Outwash deposits are often made up of porous sand and gravel, but they are sometimes so deposited as to help make the undrained or poorly-drained swamp areas. Lake bottom sand un- derlies vast areas of swamp in Wood, Juneau, and Jackson Coun- 342 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ties, but it is underlain in turn by finer and less porous sand and by impervious clay. Fig. 140. The Great Swamp of central Wisconsin. The Great Swamp of Central Wisconsin. Alth.ough the marshes, bogs, and other swamps of Wisconsin are chiefly in the area of latest glaciation (Fig. 114), the largest swamp in the state The Drainage of the Central Plain 343 happens to be in the Driftless Area. This is the Great Swamp of central Wisconsin (Fig. 140). It lies in the area between Grand Rapids, Camp Douglas, and Black River Falls, covering about 300,000 acres, exclusive of strips of swamp along three rivers to the southeast. It is more than twice as large as Milwaukee County, and 38 per cent as large as the whole state of Rhode Island (see inset, Fig. 140). There are other good sized swamps nearby. The scarcity of roads in parts of Jackson and Juneau Counties is a good index of the sparsity of population that goes with this swampy con- dition. Swamp Reclamation. The whole state contains 2| million acres of undrained swamps and overflow lands, plus 4% million square miles of marsh and other poorly-drained land. It has been estimated that this land could be drained at a cost of less than 67 million dollars, resulting in a profit above cost amounting to 114 million dollars. A large amount of this swampy land lies in the Central Plain, perhaps £ of a million acres. The amount in 3 counties is shown in the following table: Table Showing Percentage of Wet Lands in 3 Counties of the Central Plain County Acres of peat, muck, etc. Percentage of county Juneau 176,320 68,480 59,712 35 Waushara 16 12 Such swamps are a source of peat. They may be ditched or drained and made into grazing or farm land. Some of them are so situated as to make excellent cranberry bogs. An unusual industry, found in parts of this swampy area, is the gathering of sphagnum moss, used by florists. Twenty or thirty carloads a year are shipped from the village of Mather, Juneau County. Peat has not yet come into use in Wisconsin for fuel. Experiments along this line were once conducted at Tomah, as well as in eastern Wisconsin (p. 275). Interstate Park at the St. Croix Dalles The commonwealths of Wisconsin and Minnesota have set aside an Interstate Park at the Dalles of the St. Croix, It covers a little 344 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin TOPOGRAPHIC SHEET WISCONSIN -MimfESQXA. ST CRDDC DALLEa OTUIDRAHOI^ MB Ten mi vai. MenAiire loSol an oi/ md QVTWA&M Xfj> enQv*B ManAitr K£w€E #awah Out chots I -^^ • — ■ - — ■ — *■! l^^^HM CXAY T£RMl HAL Me-KMirt |S$ * $ I *» QVTWA&M PLAIM S7H£AM WOTtK 6*AY OVTU/AiH THAI** Fig. 141. Glacial deposits near the Interstate Park at the Dalles of the St. Croix (R. T. Chamberlin.) The Drainage of the Central Plain 345 less than a square mile near St. Croix Falls, Wis., and Taylor Falls, Minn. ' The rock ledges here are ancient lava flows, of which seven may be identified, rising like giant steps above the river. The lava, or trap, is well-jointed, so that there are vertical precipices (PL XIV, B) and isolated crags (PI. XXXIV) along the St. Croix River. The river is in a postglacial gorge from a short distance north of the Interstate Park nearly to Osceola. Before the Glacial Period the St. Croix River probably lay to the west and followed a different course all the way to the Mississippi (p. 189). In cutting the gorge it has swirled about and produced exceptionally fine pot holes, now to be seen high above the river. On the rock ledges glacial striae may be found. The glacial de- posits from (a) the Labrador and (b) the Keewatin ice sheets (p. 315) may be distinguished because the former are red, the latter gray. The outwash gravels laid down by glacial streams were subsequently partly removed. This leaves a system of terraces, of which five may be distinguished. Some of them are determined in position by rock ledges. The main street of the city of St. Croix Falls is on the next to the highest of these terraces. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cox, H. J. Frost and Temperature Conditions in the Cranberry Marshes of Wisconsin, Bull. T., U. S. Weather Bureau, 1910, 121 pp. Fenneman, N. M. The Lakes of Southeastern Wisconsin, Bull. 8, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1910, pp. 148-174. Huels, F. W. The Peat Resources of Wisconsin, Bull. 45, Ibid., 1915, 263 pp. Irving, R. D. Geology of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 413^24, 570. Jones, E. R. The Larsen Marsh, 3rd Biennial Report of the Conservation Commission of the State of Wisconsin, Madison, 1912, pp. 68-70. Juday, C. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, Bull. 27, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914, pp. 92-96, 100-112. Lapham, I. A. An Early Journey through Sauk County (describing the Dalles and Devils Lake in 1849), Baraboo News, Jan. 4, 1912. Martin, Lawrence, Williams, F. E. and Bean, E. F. Dalles of the Wisconsin, A Manual\>£Physical Geography Excursions, Madison, 1913, pp. 170-188. Norwood, J. G. (On the Dalles of the Wisconsin), Owen's Geological Recon- noissance of the Chippewa Land District, Senate Ex. Doc. 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, p. 108. Pence, W. D. Failure of the Dells and Hatfield Dams and the Devastation of Black River Falls, Engineering News, Vol. 66, 1911; pp. 482-489., 346 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Salisbury, R. D. and Atwood, W. W. (On the Dalles of the Wisconsin), Bull. 5, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1900, pp. 69-71. Smith, L. S. The Water Powers of Wisconsin, Bull. 20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1908, 341 pp. Van Hise, C. R. The Origin of the Dells of the Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 10, 1895, pp. 556-560. Warren, G. K. Report on the Transportation Route along the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers in the State of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Doc. 28, 44th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1876, 114 pp., accompanying atlas, Plates 8 and 9. Whitson, A. R., and Jones, E. R. Drainage Conditions of Wisconsin, Bull. 146, Wis. Agricultural Experiment Station, 1907, 47 pp. MAPS. See Chapter XIII, p. 323. CHAPTER XV THE NORTHERN, OR LAKE SUPERIOR, HIGHLAND The Lost Mountains of Wisconsin Far back in the geological pagt, probably 25 to 100 million years ago, Wisconsin was part of a mountainous region which covered all this state and much territory outside. It had peaks and ridges similar to those in the Alps. We know this from a study of the rocks and the topography of today (p. 31). A tree may be cut down, but the size of the stump, the number of annual rings, the kind of bark, the spread of the roots, the slash from its branches, and the nature of adjacent trees, tell a definite story as to the kind and size of tree that once grew there. So remnants of rock folds reveal the fact that there were once lofty ridges and deep valleys in northern Wisconsin. The types of folds tell us that the ridges were parts of a mountain range more like the Alps or Rockies than the Appalachians. The granites show that erosion has cut down to igneous rocks such as are formed only by deep-seated cooling of molten intrusives, often beneath the arch of a lofty mountain range. The gneisses and schists suggest the former presence of tremendous pressure and some heat. The trap rocks indicate that lava flows emerged at the surface in the later stages of the mountain history. The fossils in the overlying sedi- mentary rocks show that these mountains are among the oldest in the world. These lofty mountains were attacked by weather, wind, and streams, by solution underground, by plants and animals at the surface, as mountains are being attacked today. They were gradu- ally worn down, till nothing remained but a low, undulating plain with occasional hills. This we call a peneplain. The destruction of the mountains took a long time, of course; but time enough was available. The rivers carried sand and mud and dissolved mineral matter from the mountains into the sea. There it was deposited as sandstone, shale, and limestone. The mountains were uplifted again and worn down again, repeating this history several times. Fig. 142. Block diagrams showing part of the ancient mountain region of northern Wisconsin Worn down to a peneplain, with the Rib Hill and Powers Bluff monadnocks rising above it. After it sank beneath the sea anil was uplifted again the peneplain lay buried be- neath sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age. (After Weidman.) The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 349 Eventually Wisconsin and the adjacent region sank beneath the ocean, probably remaining submerged for long ages. While it was sinking, the hills that rose above the surface of the peneplain may have been little islands in the sea for a short time. Waves may have beaten against their shores, making beaches. There seems to be no good reason for doubting that the whole of Wisconsin was finally submerged. Subsequently it was uplifted and submerged several times. Fifteen million years or so ago this part of the United States was uplifted for the last time, and has since remained dry land. It was then a low plateau or plain similar to the coastal plain of Alabama or Texas. The peneplain on the site of the ancient lofty mountains of Wisconsin was completely hidden beneath the limestones and sandstones. The work of weather and streams recommenced, and continued till the state was fashioned into something similar to its present form. In the northern part of Wisconsin the worn down mountains have again been revealed. Throughout the rest of the state they lie deep beneath the present surface. We know the visible portion of these worn-down, buried, and exhumed mountains as the pene- plain of the Lake Superior Highland, or, within this state, as the Northern Highland of Wisconsin. Topography of the Northern Highland Position and Altitude. The Lake Superior Highland belongs to a great upland area that stretches northward in Canada to Lab- rador and Hudson Bay. The part of it south of Lake Superior is the Northern Highland of Wisconsin and Michigan. In this state it covers about 15,000 square miles. Its altitudes are somewhat as follows, all elevations being given in feet above sea level. Table Showing Elevation of Different Parts of the Northern Highland Northwestern border 1100-1200 feet Northern border 1500-1700 feet Northeastern border 700-800 feet Southwestern border 900-1000 feet Southern border 1000 feet Southeastern border 850-950 feet This table shows that the area has a strong southward slope, and, as the highland is shield-shaped and is gently arched, it also has 350 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin east and west components of slope. The slant of a medial line from the northern to the southern border is at the rate of less than six feet to the mile. Typical Portion. A portion of this highland in Marathon County, near the village of Marathon, may be described as typical of the whole. It is shown in Figure 143. It lies in the Driftless Area and, therefore, represents a portion of the highland not at all modi- fied by glacial erosion and deposition, but shaped entirely by weath- ering and stream erosion. As the topographic map shows, this is a moderately hilly region, the tops of the hills reaching a general elevation of 1,300 to 1,400 feet. The deepest valleys are cut down to 1,100 or 1,200 feet, so that the local relief is only about 200 feet. The hills are so moderate in slope that practically all roads are laid out in the rectangular system of the township and section lines. The valleys branch in dendritic or tree-like fashion. There are no lakes and practically no swamps. The area of this map is underlain by granite, with subordinate amounts of syenite, schist, gneiss, and quartzite. An examination of the whole Marathon Quadrangle, from which Figure 143 was made, shows that the surface of this part of the upland slants southward at the rate of 5% feet to the mile. A view from a hill- top in this highland area shows an even skyline in every direction. Vast Area of the Peneplain. In the peneplain of northern Wisconsin there are two distinctive kinds of topography, related directly to the underlying rocks. These are (a) the upland plains and (b) several types of ridges. The plain covers a vast expanse in northern "Wisconsin. It is rather smooth upland where homo- geneous rocks, like granite, reach the surface. In some places other homogeneous rocks, besides granite, have been worn down to this smooth condition. The great extent of the smooth upland plain is very well indicated by the trend of railways in the Northern Highland. In most min- ing regions the transportation problem is complicated by the ex- pense of railway construction. This is true of nearly all mining, except that of coal and some lead and zinc. Much of our iron, copper, gold, silver, and other precious metals are found in youth- ful, rugged mountains. The iron and copper of the Lake Superior region also occurs in mountains, but they are old mountains, now worn down to a peneplain. Accordingly the railways leading from the mines to the lake-ports and to the markets are constructed with- out great expense. The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 351 69°45 461 From Marathon (Wis.) special iheet 89°S0' * s ' Fig. 143. A typical portion of the pre-Cambrian peneplain in the Driftless Area. Con- tour interval 20 feet. (U. S. Geol. Survey.) 352 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin All railways in the Northern Highland, whether leading to mines or merely crossing the upland, are predominantly straight. Thus the new Soo Line between Chicago and Duluth-Superior crosses the Northern Highland from northwest to southeast with an exceed- ingly straight course, made possible by the low relief of the pene- plain. It is 172 miles in a straight line from Marshfield, at the southern border of the peneplain, to the city of Superior. The distance by rail, 180 miles, is only eight miles longer than a bee line. Another division of the Soo Line — Minneapolis, St. Paul, and . iMARftTHON CO. \i it •Ss 3 i Rib Hill 1*000 jsoo-Ahg II 31 30 29 28 27 k»» Fig. 141. Cross-section of part of the Northern Highland where the even surface of the peneplain truncates folded metamorphic rocks (Ah) and reveals igneous masses of pre- Cambrian rock (PC) which were originally deeply buried. Area overlain by glacial drift (P). Rib Hill monadnock underlain by resistant quartzite. Sault Ste. Marie Railway — crosses the peneplain from east to west. Its length in the Northern Highland is 205 miles. This is only ten miles longer than a perfectly straight line. The same thing is true of practically all the railways.^-witness, among others (a) the Northwestern Line between Hurley and Rhinelander, or the Eagle River line of the same road between Eland Junction and the Michi- gan boundary, (b) the Soo Line — old Wisconsin Central— between Abbotsford and Penokee Gap, (c) the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul between Grand Rapids, Woodruff Junction, and the state line, and (d) the- Omaha lines of the Northwestern System between Chippewa Falls and Superior, or between Ashland and Spooner. These railways are crooked only for short distances. These are where there are (a) high morainic hills or numerous bodies of water, — as near Lac Court Oreilles on the Soo Line — or (b) deep river valleys, — as on the Wisconsin Valley Division of the St. Paul be- tween Merrill, Wausau, and Knowlton. The smoothness of the upland plain of the Northern Highland is also evidenced by the route. that was planned for the old Fort Wilkins and Fort Howard wagon road. It was straight for 33 miles from Fort Howard, near Green Bay, to Shawano. Then it turned and ran across the Northern Highland through Crandon to < H Z in X "J r Z M 3 - 13 W z - r Z -. z o - X - r. Z C a c r > B > GO C < W x: z '* »"-< 3) j — <'. ■.. ■■*_- „- ,«»££> W '" , ' g&M 00 H : "• M '. r r M H -1 r 9 < Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXVI. A MODEL OFJiTHE LAKE SUPERIOR REGION. (Copyright, 1909, by[the University of Wisconsin.) B. PENEPLAIN OF THE NORTHERN HIGHLAND, SHOWING A TERMINAL MORAINE EAST OF STEVEN'S POINT. The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 353 State Line, Vilas County, a distance of 100 miles, straighter than the flight of Arctic water fowl. Ridges and Hills of the Insequent Pattern. Where the pene- plain is cut up by streams the hills are of an insequent or incon- sequent pattern. This is because the underlying rocks are homo- geneous in their resistance to erosion. The hills of granite and other igneous rocks, and the hills underlain by certain kinds of meta- morphic rocks present this insequent pattern. This is also true of the ridges in parts of the Western Upland, where the sedimentary rocks are nearly horizontal. The topographic features are without marked trend. Their forms are not a consequence of any marked difference in resistance of the rock, hence the name inconsequent or insequent. The ridges of one neighborhood all rise to about the same level. They branch irregularly with the branching of the Fig. 145. Cross-section of tilted lava flows ol trap rock. (After Strong.) streams. This condition is well shown in Plate XXXVII and Figure 143, where the drainage pattern is of the tree-like, or dendritic, pattern. Trap Ridges. In other parts of the peneplain the hills are chiefly related to underlying rocks which are not homogeneous over large areas, but along narrow belts. For example, in northwestern Wisconsin, the Keweenawan lava flows have been acted upon by weathering and erosion and so that they form' parallel ridges (Fig. 145), usually with a steep slope on one side and a gentle slope on the other. Where the rocks dip in only one direction the structure is referred to as a monocline. In northwestern Wisconsin the lava flows and intervening sedimentary layers are usually inclined at angles of less than 30°. These low flat monoclines are often made up of alternating weak and resistant layers, the resistant layers forming the crests and back slopes of the ridges, the weak layers forming the bases of the escarpments and the intervening lowlands, as in the Douglas, St. Croix, and Minong copper ranges of Douglas, Bayfield, Washburn, Burnett, Polk, and adjacent counties. Neigh- boring ridges usually rise to about the same level. Figure 178 shows the angular, trellis-pattern of drainage in a re- gion of inclined, alternate weak and resistant trap layers. The longi- tudinal Sections of the streams are on the weak layers and here the 354 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin valleys are broad. The transverse sections are where the streams pass through narrow water gaps in trap or conglomerate. The longitudinal branches in a system of trellis drainage are spoken of as subsequent streams. They are so called because they develop after the consequent streams, which are determined by original slopes on various rock structures. Monadnock Ridges Rising Above the Peneplain. The ridges in the Northern Highland are of two different kinds. One has crests rising to about the same level and to about the level of the gently- sloping peneplain, as in the trap ridges and ridges of the insequent pattern. The other has ridge crests rising distinctly above the pene- plain level. These are known as monadnocks. The monadnocks stand up above the level of the Lake Superior Highland because the rocks were much more resistant than those in the surrounding ,V.vViv ■,;,'<; jivi^i s* t V V - - -I V- v Quartz Syenite Quartr'tte Quartzire Quartz Syenite Rhyolite. 6ranitf Fig. 146. Cross-section of the Rib Hill monadnock, showing its relation to resistant quartzite and weaker igneous rocks. (Weidman.) areas. The Penokee Range is a good example of a monadnock ridge of this character. The Flambeau Ridge and other quartzite hills of Barron and Chippewa Counties also illustrate this condi- tion well. Other monadnocks (Fig. 10) scattered throughout the area include Silver or McCaslin Mountain and Thunder Mountain, Marinette County, and Powers Bluff, Wood County. There are few, if any, monadnocks, among the trap ridges. Rib Hill, 1940 feet, the highest point in Wisconsin, is one of the most prominent of these monadnocks. It is a quartzite ridge 550 to 650 feet above the general peneplain level on the adjacent granites and truncated folds of metamorphic rocks. Its top is about 800 feet above the Wisconsin River near Wausau. This monadnock is shown in Plate XXXVII. It is about three miles long and over a mile wide. Its slopes rise at the rate of 1,000 to 1,200 feet to the The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 355 mile, clothed with angular blocks of quartzite talus. Close to it are the Mosinee Hills and Hardwood Hill. These are also quartzite monadnocks. YLERS GAP OR THE GORGE MONTREAL £. GAP Fig. 147. Contour map of the Penokee Range and its water gaps. Contour interval 50 feet. (Compiled from maps by Irving.) The Penokee Range. The Penokee-Gogebic Iron Range of Wisconsin and Michigan is about 80 miles long and half a mile to a mile wide. It is a long, narrow, monadnock, similar to Rib Hill, though of much greater magnitude. 356 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Irving described it in 1880 as follows: — "The Penokee Range is, in general, much higher than the ridge to the northward of it, and, from the few high points where the thick forest does not prevent, Lake Superior can readily be seen; while from the lake, at a distance of from ten to fifteen miles from the shore, the crest of the range shows as a blue line against the sky, coming to an abrupt end towards the west, where it drops down suddenly some 200 to 300 feet. From a point on the Wisconsin Central road about two miles south of Penokee Gap * * * a heavy windfall * * * permits one to see the crest of the Penokee Range to the northward trending a number of miles east and west ./- - v iHv-iv'^l V ! _ V IV, V- I Quarrzite Quartz Syenite Fig. 148. Cross-section showing the relation of the Penokee monadnock to resistant auarlzit e and other rocks and its height above the peneplain. and alternately swelling into high peaks and sinking into gaps. * * * From the top of a mass of rock * * * one sees the range for some eight or ten miles east from Bad river rising abruptly 200 to 500 feet into a narrow serrated crest, whose highest points in sight are nearly 1,200 feet above Lake Superior." The Penokee Range is a monoclinal ridge, with a steep dip to the north. Its crest is formed in some places by the harder por- tions of the Huronian iron formation, in other places by resistant quartzite, quartz slate, slaty schist, gneiss, or other metamorphic rocks. Between the trap ridges and the Penokee Range is a great valley, through which the Soo railway runs between Hurley and Mellen. This is a subsequent lowland, worn down on the site of relatively-weak, slate layers (Fig. 149). The crest of the range rises 100 to 300 feet above the peneplain to the south and 100 to 600 feet above the broad valley to the north. In some places the range is broad and gently rounded; in others, it is narrow, steep-sided and serrated. The highest point on the crest of the range is Mt. The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 357 Whittlesey, nearly 1,800 feet high and the third highest point in Wisconsin. It terminates in a 200 foot cliff of slate. The Penokee Range is a more conspicuous elevation than such monadnocks as Rib Hill, Flambeau Ridge, or Baraboo Range. It is longer than the Barron Hills, but not so wide. II appears like a Fig. 149. The broad lowland north of the Penokee Range. Contour interval 20 feet. (After Irving and Van Hise.) mountain from both sides, whereas the Niagara escarpment and the Military Ridge are steep on only one side. The Penokee Range is similar to the Blue Ridge in the Appalachians, but it is not so high. The western quarter of the range is interrupted and discon- tinuous. The Penokee Water Gaps. The portion of the Penokee Range in Wisconsin is broken by many gaps. In each of these gaps, except three, streams flow northward across the Penokee Range, — the Bad River in Penokee Gap, Tylers Fork in The Gorge, the Potato River in its gap, the Gogogashugun River in Rocking Bridge Gap, and the Montreal River in Montreal Gap. 358 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Table Showing Elevations of the Eastern Gaps in the Penokee Range Name Distance from last-named gap, in miles Elevation of gap, in feet Penokee Gap First wind gap Whittlesey Gap Carries or Devils Creek Gap Second wind gap : Tylers Gap or The Gorge Potato River Gap Hoyt Gap : Third wind gap Rocking Bridge or Gogogashugun Gap.. West Hurley Gap Montreal Gap 1280 1480 1320 1460 1700 1460 1480 1600 1620 1460 1580 1460 The streams are all of moderate size, often with waterfalls and rapids in the narrow gorges where they cross the ^resistant rocks of the Penokee Range. Penokee Gap (Fig. 150) shows very clearly that all these gaps are made by stream erosion. There has been faulting at Penokee Gap, but the faulting has nothing essential to do with the topo- graphic features. To make a gap by faulting would necessitate two parallel breaks in the rocks, but there is only one. It would be essential, also, that there be vertical displacement along the fault, whereas the throw of the fault at Penokee Gap is horizontal or slightly inclined. Finally, the stream gorge should follow the course of the fault, but the river in this case leaves the fault both at the northern and southern ends of the gap. Moreover the gorges at other gaps in the Penokee Range are identical in general topography with the one first described, though faulting is usually absent. There is a fault at the gap of Potato River, but nine other gaps have no faults. Thus we see that, al- though faulting may have provided weak rock along the gaps of the Bad River and the Potato River, and thus facilitated erosion there, the gaps are in no sense due to faulting. Past History of the Water Gaps. The gorges which cross the Penokee Range are preglacial. They are unusually numerous. In the 30 miles between the Montreal and Bad Rivers there are 9 water gaps. In the Blue Ridge of Pennsylvania it is unusual to Fig. 150. The Bad River in Penokee Gap, showing a fault line at A — B. Contour interval 20 feet. (After Irving and Van Hise) 360 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin find half this number of water gaps in an equal distance, and there are many stretches of more than 30 miles with no gaps whatever. For so many streams to cut across the resistant rocks of this monad- nock is inconsistent with the usual history of peneplain drainage. It is perfectly consistent, however, with the history of a monadnock on a peneplain which has been buried and exhumed. Under such conditions, many parallel streams, flowing upon the Paleozoic sedi- ments, might be superimposed upon underlying resistant rocks of this pre-Cambrian monadnock. This, of course, adds another to the many lines of proof that the Northern Highland was completely submerged during the early Paleozoic. The water gaps to the west of Bad River are wider than those to the east, or we may say that the Penokee Range itself is made up of disconnected ridges. It seems probable that pre-Cambrian stream erosion rather than preglacial stream erosion or glacial sculpture, has produced the lower ridges and broader gaps in this region of flatter dip and less-continuous quartzite and iron formation. The Marengo or Maringouin River has a gorge with a depth of 250 feet in places, but Brunsweiler River crosses the Penokee Range by the broadest of the gaps. The Future of the Penokee Water Gaps. As time goes on, streams always adjust themselves to conditions of grade and rock structure. The larger or more favored streams capture and divert the weaker ones. ' A case of this sort has been cited at Buffalo River in the Driftless Area, (Fig. 65 and p. 187). Accordingly we may expect that the Bad River, or Tylers Fork, or the Montreal River, may divert the neighboring streams from their water gaps, as the Potomac River has done along the Blue Ridge in Maryland and Virginia. Each of the three is a fairly large river, and, more important, each has cut its gap down to a low level (see table on p. 358). In time, the Bad River should be able to capture and divert all the streams of the Penokee Range, for its water gap is 180 feet lower than any of the others, except Whittlesey Gap. After such stream diversions, the abandoned water gaps will be spoken of as wind gaps. As the successful streams cut their water gaps lower and as the adjacent peneplain and subsequent valley are •worn lower, these wind gaps will be left at their present levels be- cause they have no streams. This process was already in progress in pre-Cambrian or preglacial time, as is shown by the presence of three wind gaps (p. 358) high up above the surrounding country. The Northern, or Lake Super ior,"\Highland 361 Relation of Gaps to Transportation and Towns. These passes in the barrier formed by the Penokee Range are a great aid in transportation. Just as the Devils Lake Gap in the Baraboo Range determined the position of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway in this monadnock and for many miles to the south, so the Penokee Gap of Bad River controlled the route of the Soo Line for miles to the south. It is not clear why the old Wisconsin Central — now the Soo Line — was built through Penokee Gap rather than the Whittlesey Gap. The latter is directly opposite the city of Mellen where the railway turns northward to Ashland. Probably it was because the floor of the Whittlesey Gap is at least 40 feet higher and has an exceedingly steep descent toward Mellen. Fig. 151. Cross-section of the Barron Hills, a monadnock on the pre-Cambrian pene- plain. (Based upon leveling under the direction of E. F. Bean.) Farther east, at Montreal River the Hurley Gap is traversed by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, and a branch of the same railway goes through the gap at Hoyt. A large number of the iron mining towns are located opposite gaps in the Penokee Range. As the smooth upland of the pene- plain to the south has its forests cleared, its swamps drained, and its soil cultivated, these villages and cities will have a decided ad- vantage because of the highways which will be built through the water gaps. The Barron Hills. The monadnock group of Barron, Rusk and Sawyer Counties is known as the Barron Hills. It is more than 25 miles long and 10 miles or less in width, trending northeast and southwest. It is a rolling upland, 300 to 600 feet above the adjacent peneplain. The highest point, near Meteor, Sawyer County, is 1,770 feet above sea level. This is one of the four highest points in Wisconsin. The quartzite of the Barron Hills has been thought to be some- what younger than the Baraboo, Rib Hill, Flambeau, Waterloo, and several other pre-Cambrian quartzites, but this does not inter- fere with the interpretation of the Barron Hills as a monadnock on the pre-Cambrian peneplain. 362 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Flambeau Ridge and Other Monadnocks. A narrow quartz- ite monadnock near the boundary of Chippewa and Rusk Counties is called Flambeau Ridge. It is about 3| miles long, and rises three to four hundred feet above the surrounding country. Near the eastern end is a wind gap, partly filled with glacial drift. This abandoned valley is probably the preglacial gorge of the Chippewa River. The gap, like those in the Penokee Range (p. 360) and Baraboo Range (p. 53), suggests that the Flambeau Ridge was completely buried beneath the Cambrian sandstone, so that the river was superimposed upon this buried obstacle. . Powers Bluff, Wood County, (Fig. 10) is a quartzite monadnock, rising about 300 feet above the adjacent peneplain. Thunder Mountain and McCaslin Mountain in Forest, Marinette, and Oconto Counties, are similar monadnocks, with 400 to 500 feet of local relief. The Peneplain Cycle. The monadnocks rising above the general level of the peneplain are the most conspicuous eminences in the old mountain mass of which the existing Northern Highland of Wisconsin is a remnant. The upland plain, however, represents the larger part of the former mountains, now worn down to a peneplain. This peneplain was, of course, very long in process of formation. The period of time occupied in the wearing down Of a part of the earth's crust, like the ancient mountains of northern Wisconsin, and making it a nearly plane, or peneplain, surface is alluded to as a cycle. The first erosion cycle in Wisconsin which is represented by a topographic surface of today was completed when the Northern Highland of the state was a perfected peneplain (Fig. 142) . Cutting, filling, warping, and possibly faulting, may have been going on at the same time during the latter part of this erosion cycle. That there were earlier cycles of erosion is shown by the great unconformities of the pre-Cambrian. Several of them represent base-levelled surfaces, or peneplains, which now extend deep be- neath the surface. Warping of the Peneplain. Since the end of the peneplain cycle two important things have taken place. First, the pene- plain has been lowered beneath the sea and partly, and probably wholly, covered with marine sediments, including the Cambrian sandstone (Fig. 142). Secondly, it has been uplifted again. In con- nection with this uplift it has been warped, so that the surface from which the sandstone has been removed is no longer approximately The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 363 level. When the peneplain cycle was completed the surface had inequalities of only a few score and perhaps one or two hundred feet. Now, however, the peneplain surface has such differences of altitude as are shown in the table on page 349, or in the following section, which shows the east-west arching that attended the uplift of the peneplain. The places listed are 35 to 50 miles apart, and all the elevations are given in feet above sea level. Table Showing East-West Arching of the Peneplain WebBter Couderay Fifield Wood- ruff Junction Gagen Arm- strong Creek Girard Junction Wausau- kee 978 1260 1454 1615 1645 1427 1041 746 In connection with this warping the peneplain was also given a southward inclination, as is indicated in the following table. The places listed are 10 to 30 miles apart in a general north-south direc- tion, the elevations given being, as before, in feet above sea level. Table Showing Southward Inclination of the Peneplain Locality Elevation Jf] State Line 1712 1679 Arbor Vitae 1627 Woodruff Junction 1615 Hazelhurst 1592 Goodnow 1513 Irma 1507 Near Merrill 1500 Near Wausau 1400 Junction City 1142 Grand Rapids 1000 Dissection of the Peneplain. As a result" of the uplift and warping of the peneplain and the removal of the sandstone (Fig. 157) from what we now call the, Northern Highland of Wisconsin, the peneplain was further modified by having stream valleys cut into it. In this respect it may be spoken of as a dissected peneplain. But only part of the peneplain is dissected, or cut up by stream valleys, for the highland of northern Wisconsin does not constitute 364 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the whole of the ancient peneplain, as will be explained later. All of the highland of Northern Wisconsin, however, is more or less dissected. The valleys which have been cut in its surface are typically represented by the valley of the Wisconsin River at Wausau. There, as shown in Plate XXXVII, the depth of the valley bottom below the general peneplain level is 250 to 300 feet. The valley is one to two miles wide. If we note carefully all areas on this map which rise to or above 1,300 or 1,400 feet, taking that as the elevation of Iron "Dolomite. Iron Dolomite Formation. Formation Fig. 152. Horizontal deposits of Cambrian sandstone lying upon the truncated pre- Cambrian layers near Iron Mountain, Mich. (Van Hise and Bayley.) the peneplain at Wausau, it is apparent that, close to the river, very little of the original peneplain surface is left. As we go back from the river the interstream areas are broader because the pene- plain remnants are very much larger. The same thing is true as we go up the Wisconsin River toward its headwaters, where the peneplain is much less cut away by stream erosion. At and near Wausau, (PI. XXXVII), the peneplain has not only been cut into by the Wisconsin River, but by small tributaries, shown on the map. The same thing is true in the area near Marathon, shown in Figure 143. The valleys of the Rib River, Black- Creek, the stream near Haider, and their tributaries, have been incised in the peneplain, which is represented only by the hilltop areas at elevations of 1,200 to 1,400 feet. That this stream dissection was not accomplished before the per- fected peneplain was lowered beneath the sea is proved by the ab- Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXVIT. DISSECTED PENEPLAIN WITH MONADNorKS A portion of the Northern Highland of Wisconsin, with (a) the quartzite monadnocks of Rib Hill and the Mosinee Hills, and (b) the stream-eroded valleys of the Wisconsin River and its tributaries. Elevations in feet above sea level. Contour interval, 20 feet. (From Wa*ts;iii Special Quadrangle, U. S. Geological Survey.) 15 Miles Fig. 153. A valley strip or inlier of pre-Cambrian — shown in white — where the buried peneplain has been revealed by stream erosion in the area of Cambrian sandstone — obliaue ruling. (Based upon map by Weidman.) 366 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin sence of the Cambrian sandstone from most of the stream valleys. Close to the borders of Florence and Marinette Counties, for ex- ample, in the Menominee mining district of Michigan (Fig. 152), the sandstone lies upon the peneplain surface at elevations of 940 to 1,300 feet. This is east of the city of Iron Mountain, where the Menominee River has subsequently been incised to depths of at least one or two hundred feet. Even here, however, it is clear that the peneplain was by no means a perfectly level surface originally, for the positions of patches of sandstone on the slopes of hills in- dicate the bluffy character of the peneplain surface. Buried Extension of the Peneplain. After a cycle of erosion has advanced to the peneplain stage it may be terminated in one of two ways. (1) The region may be uplifted* in which case the pene- plain will be dissected and eventually destroyed. (2) The region may be submerged, resulting in the burial and preservation of the peneplain. The buried and preserved peneplain of Wisconsin was again uplifted, however, and it now consists of two quite different parts. One is the Northern Highland, from which the sediments have been stripped away, so that the streams have incised shallow valleys. The other part of the Wisconsin peneplain is'still buried, and this may now be described. It includes all the remainder of the state. Only small portions of it are visible. These visible portions of the peneplain are (a) in- liers or narrow strips along stream valleys, and (b) exhumed monad- nocks. I n 1 ic is. The narrow valley strips are like the one near Neillsville and Black River Falls, (Fig. 153). This appears at.Hemlock, Clark County, about 18 miles north of Neillsville. It is separated from the main peneplain by only about 9 miles of sandstone covering. It extends southward from Neillsville down the Black River valley 22 miles to Black River Falls, Jackson County. Its width is only a mile or two, in contrast to a length of over 40 miles. Its form is that of a tree and its branches, because it has been exposed by the removal of the sandstone from the beds of the main river and its tributaries. The side valley extensions are mostly confined to the northern tributaries, where the sandstone is thinnest. This inlier or peneplain strip extends southward from an elevation of less than 1,200 feet at Hemlock to about 997 at Neillsville, and less than 800 feet at Black River Falls. Its slope is more than 8 feet to the mile. Exhumed Monadnocks. The exhumed monadnocks (Fig. 10) are typified by the Baraboo Range. This is discussed fully The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 367 in Chapter III (pp. 51-55). It may be briefly described here as an east-west ridge, standing 400 to 800 feet higher than the adjacent plain of sandstone to the east, and known by well borings in the Soale of Miles 5 10 20 30 II I g ^=^«saq Fig. 154. The Baraboo Range and other exhumed monadnocks of the pre-Cambrian peneplain. (Weidman.) vicinity to rise 900 to 1,300 feet above the surface of the buried peneplain. Its superior height has resulted in its being revealed by weathering and erosion, while the adjacent portions of the pene- plain are still deeply buried. 368 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Similar, smaller, lower, partly-exhumed monadnocks are (a) the Necedah Mound in Juneau County (Fig. 155), (b) a large number of Necedah Quaff Zlfe N.E 1000* Jam r-ime plain surface* Oranife K ^ " " */ Z • ' ; Pre-Carpbrian Crystalline Rocks < ^ s " * 'J 1000 2000 3000 Sea Level- 4000 Feet. Fig. 155. The partly-exhumed monadnock at Necedah, rising above the buried pene- plain. (Alter Weidman.) knobs in and near the Fox River valley (Fig. 154), including the granite hill at Montello, (c) the low hills of quartzite in Jefferson County, northeast of Waterloo, and (d) the group of hills east of Black River Falls. As such partly-exhumed monadnocks are like WAUSHARA. CO. FONDDULAC CO. WASHINGTON CO I? Fig. 156. Cross-sections showing the partly-exhumed monadnock at Berlin and the monadnock near Hartford which is not yet uncovered. the Baraboo Range in history, it has been proposed that they be called baraboos. Wells in the glacial drift reveal the presence of additional monad- nocks in other parts of Wisconsin. Still other monadnocks are known to project up into the overlying sedimentary rocks, but are The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 369 not yet revealed by erosion, as near Hartford, Washington County (Fig. 156), and near Mt. Calvary east of Lake Winnebago. The Hidden Peneplain. In addition to the small visible por- tions of the peneplain there is a broad area still completely buried. This is known from well borings, which encounter the peneplain at various levels in different parts of the state (Fig. 157). They show (1) that it is a surface of slight relief, except where monad- nocks rise above it, (2) that it is warped, and (3) that it inclines southward, just as it does in the exposed area of the Northern High- land. The slight relief is shown in four wells at Madison, which en- counter the buried peneplain surface at elevations of about 33, 98, Fig. 157. The southward inclination of the buried peneplain. 124, and 194 feet above sea level. Two of these wells show a maxi- mum difference of 91 feet in the elevation of the surface of the pre- Cambrian in a horizontal distance of 900 feet, indicating that the peneplain had slight relief and was by no means a dead-level plain. This is also shown at Necedah (Fig. 155), where four wells en- counter the peneplain surface about 192, 202, 203 and 229 feet respectively below the present surface of Cambrian sandstone. This shows a pre-Cambrian relief of only 37 feet at points 1 to 2 miles apart. A fifth well reaches the pre-Cambrian 310 feet below the present surface, so that the maximum relief is 118 feet. The southward inclination of the buried peneplain (Fig. 157) is revealed in a generally north-south section from the edge of the Northern Highland at Grand Rapids to the southern boundary of the state. The heights (p. 370) are given in feet above sea level. This shows a little steeper southward tilt, for the buried pene- plain, than on the exposed peneplain to the north. The grade, about 9 or 10 feet to the mile, is steeper than that of the present Wiscon- sin River, which itself now has a distinctly steeper grade than is 370 The Physical Geography "of Wisconsin Table Showing Depths at Surface is which the Buried Peneplain Now Found Locality Depth below surface, in feet Elevation above sea level, in feet Grand Rapids 310 385 818 1000 Necedah 595 Kilbourn 515 Madison 98 normal for a river in old age on a peneplain. The southeastward and southwestward slopes of the peneplain are steeper than that to the south. Table Showing Slopes of Buried Peneplain to the Southeast and Southwest Locality Descent in feet Grade, in feet per mile Locality Descent in feet Grade, in feet per mile Shawano to Green Bay 1000 31 Green Bay to Two Rivers.... 1300 38 CityPt. to Rich- land Center.... 970 13 Richland Center to Platteville. 800 19 This is too steep a descent to be the original slope of a stream- eroded peneplain. It shows clearly that the peneplain has been warped. Its surface now lies 814 feet below sea level at Platteville, in southwestern Wisconsin, and more than 1,600 feet below sea level at Two Rivers, on the coast of Lake Michigan. This is one of the reasons for concluding that the pre-Cambrian mountains, and the peneplain made by their wearing down, covered all of Wisconsin as well as parts of adj acent states. The warping suggests that there was no Isle Wisconsin (pp. 372-373) or projecting peninsula in northern Wisconsin, but that the Paleozoic sediments were laid down upon an essentially level surface. Buried Soils of Peneplain Surface. At Madison, where it lies 818 feet below the present surface, the buried peneplain is mantled by weathered rock and perhaps residual soil. This kaolin- The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 371 ized rock is also found, with a thickness of 10 to 12 feet, beneath the edge of the mantle of sandstone where the buried peneplain emerges at Grand Rapids, Stevens Point, Black River Falls, and elsewhere. Borders of the Northern Highland. In drawing the bound- aries of the Northern Highland province it has seemed best to fol- low the edge of the Cambrian sandstone, where it rests upon the pre- Cambrian rocks. This border is an irregular one, being high here and low there, forming a salient point here and an embayment there, as the retreating edge of the thin sandstone mantle determines. The variations in height are only a few hundred feet. The distances be- tween points of salients and heads of embayments run up to 20 or 25 miles. Most of the exposed pre-Cambrian peneplain in the ad- jacent sandstone plain lies along the river valleys, as in the long nar- row tongue which extends southward from Grand Rapids with a width of only three or four miles. Since most of the embayments are along stream valleys, the larger number of the salients rest on divides. In at least one case an embayment is not followed by a single river valley. This is the embayment in Waupaca County. It is 25 miles long, 5 to 6 miles wide, and is followed by a number of small streams. If this embayment exists as mapped it raises an inter- esting question as to whether this is a small local anticline, where erosion has removed the sandstone because of its altitude, as the elevations upon the pre-Cambrian suggest, or a great river formerly flowed southeastward along the Waupaca embayment. The stream would have been even larger than the present Wisconsin River, or at least would have occupied the embayment longer than the Wis- consin has flowed through its embayment. With the exception of the faulted border in Douglas, Bayfield, and Ashland Counties (see Chapter XVII) the borders of the Northern Highland are all in process of modification by the removal of the Cambrian sandstone. The sandstone border does not usually form a retreating escarpment. It is so weak that its edge does not form any significant topographic feature. In places, however, the border is a low sandstone escarpment facing the peneplain, as northeast of Chippewa Falls, west of Grand Rapids, and near the boundary between Barron and Rusk Counties. Sandstone Outliers. Resting upon the surface of the pene- plain, at various distances from the border of the Cambrian sand- stone, are detached sandstone masses, or outliers, usually bearing the name, mound (Fig. 158). Some of these outliers are a mile 372 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin or less, others 15 miles or more from the border. They are usually of small size. Their height varies from 15 or 20 to 200 feet. They often stand up as prominent, flat-topped hills, partly because of the slightly greater resistance of the sandstone. They are conspicuous chiefly because of the monotonously level surface of the peneplain •upon which they rest. 10 20 Miles Fig. 158. Sandstone outliers — ruled areas — resting upon the surface of the pre-Cambrian peneplain. (After Weidman.) Their presence is proof of the former extension of the Cambrian sandstone over the surface of the peneplain. They suggest that the peneplain was originally completely covered by this sandstone and some of the other sedimentary rocks of the Paleozoic. This suggestion is supported by (a) the known occurrence of sandstone within 100 feet of the maximum height of the peneplain, (b) the absence of shoreline features at the borders of the sandstone, (c) The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 373 the absence of adequate erosion features in the high central portion of the peneplain, such as would have been made if the central area had remained unburied, and (d) the natural relationship of the existing embayed border of the main mass to the outliers of sandstone on the surface of the peneplain. In the mind of the writer there is no doubt whatever that the whole Northern Highland of Wisconsin •was formerly buried beneath the sedimentary rocks of at least the lower part of the Paleozoic. The present, exposed peneplain has been exhumed by a process of erosion, whose continuation will eventually add very materially to the area of the geographical province under discussion. Moreover the Paleozoic rock formations have such relations to one another that it seems clear that they do not bevel out, but con- tinue parallel to each other] PEHEfLAUH eELTCO PLAIN ARCHEAH LOWE** PALEOZO'CT ARCHEAH Fig. 159. The peneplain of the Northern Highland (A-B) and its buried extension (B-C) . A reason for the lack of adjustment between many of the streams and the weaker structures in the peneplain, entirely aside from the episode of glaciation, appears to be that these are not the rivers which carved the peneplain from the ancient mountain mass. They are fairly modern streams, superimposed upon the peneplain from original consequent courses on the formerly overlying sedi- mentary rocks of the Paleozoic. Age of the Peneplain. It has already been shown that the peneplain in the Northern Highland province is an ancient feature. It was produced in an earlier cycle, then submerged and buried, then uplifted and partly exhumed in the present cycle, during which it has been slightly dissected by stream erosion. Obviously the peneplain is younger than the pre-Cambrian, since its surface truncates structures of Archean, Huronian, and Keweenawan age. It is also patent that it is older than the Upper Cambrian sandstone, since this formation rests upon the peneplain surface. This places the age of the peneplain in late Keweenawan or early Cambrian time, but it will serve all purposes if we speak of it as the pre- Cambrian peneplain. 374 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Glaciation of the Northern Highland Glacial Lobes and the Areas They Affected. The lobes of the continental ice sheet which affected the Northern Highland of Wisconsin (Fig. 28) were (a) the Green Bay lobe of the Lake Michi- gan Glacier, (b) the Chippewa lobe of the Lake Superior Glacier, possibly with an intermediate Keweenaw lobe, and (c) the western extension of the Lake Superior Glacier. All these came from the Labrador ice sheet east of Hudson Bay (Fig. 27). If ice from the Keewatin ice sheet, or from the Patrician ice sheet, west of Hudson Bay, came into the Northern Highland, it must have been during the earlier stages of the Glacial Period. The Green Bay, Chippewa, and Superior lobes advanced till they covered the whole Northern Highland with the exception of a very small area in the valley of the Wisconsin River near Wausau, Stevens Point, and Grand Rapids. It is thought that there were several partial Or complete with- drawals of the ice sheet from the highland. At the last oscillation, known as the stage of Wisconsin glaciation, an even larger area of the Northern Highland was left unglaciated, comprising many hundred square miles in parts of Marathon, Wood, Clark, Taylor, Lincoln, and Langlade Counties. This area may have been left partly unglaciated in several glacial oscillations earlier than the last or Wisconsin stage. In our discussion it will be spoken of simply as the region of older glacial drift. The remainder and pre- dominating portion of the Northern Highland was completely covered by the continental glacier at all stages of the Glacial Period. In relation to the effepts of these various episodes in the glacial history of the Northern Highland it is possible to divide the province into three contrasting areas. The first, and smallest, is part of the Driftless Area, the second is a region of older drift, and the third, and largest, is a region of latest, or Wisconsin drift. Driftless Area. Within the Driftless Area (see also Chapter IV) the Northern Highland is a normal peneplain, with residual soil produced by the weathering and decay of the underlying rocks. These residual soils are, of course, not the original weathered materials of the peneplain surface. They are new residual soils, largely or wholly produced after the sandstone was removed from the exhumed surface of the previously buried peneplain. The streams drain the area thoroughly, so that there are no swamps or lakes. In general they are well graded in relation to the The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 375 Fig. 160. Block diagrams. showing part of the Northern Highland of Wisconsin after the Paleozoic covering (Fig. 142) had been removed, and again after glacial deposits had buried the preglacial topography, except in th« Qriftless Area, and had given the streams th.eir present courses. (After Weidman.) 376 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin peneplain surface, so that waterfalls and rapids are not commonly found in the stream courses. Most of the rivers and creeks branch and subdivide with the tree-like, or dendritic, pattern characteristic of long-continued stream adjustment (Fig. 143). The only exception to this is found where streams from the glaciated area have brought in deposits and covered the otherwise driftless surface. The rock is almost everywhere near the surface. Area of Latest Glaciation. The portion of the Northern Highland in the area of Wisconsin glaciation forms a striking con- trast with the Driftless Area. There is no residual soil. Instead, there is a transported, glacial soil (Fig. 160). Rapids and waterfalls are abundant in the streams. There are large undrained inter- stream areas. Lakes and swamps • are found everywhere. The drainage pattern is most irregular, resembling nothing systematic, as is perfectly normal for so youthful a drainage system. It is interesting to note that the second highest point in Wisconsin, so far as now known, is not a conspicuous rocky peak but a broad morainic hill. It is about 1850 feet high and is situated west of Crandon, Forest County. The railway from Crandon to Pelican makes a long detour to avoid the morainic country of which this hill forms a part. The fifth among the high points in the state is at a railway station in the terminal moraine of Langlade County. This is Summit Lake Station, 1743 feet. It is higher than Blue Mound or the Baraboo Range. It is possible that the morainic hills of Vilas County may contain a point even higher than Rib Hill. Materials in the Drift. Mechanical analyses of the drift have been made in about 2,500 square miles of the Northern Highland. They show that the igneous rocks — granites, porphyries, gabbros, and fine greenstones — constitute 65 to 70 per cent of the rock ma- terials in the drift. The remainder is schist, quartzite, sandstone, iron formation, other metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, and quartz sand. This forms a striking contrast with the drift of south- eastern Wisconsin. In the region south of Madison and Milwaukee the igneous rocks form a small percentage of the whole (p. 242). Crystalline rocks, including both igneous and metamorphic rocks, make up only 13 per cent of the drift. The remaining 87 per cent consists chiefly of local limestone and sandstone. This contrast is, of course, due to the difference in the bed rock of northern and of southeastern Wisconsin. In northern Wisconsin the pre-Cambrian rocks are chiefly granites, gabbros, traps, gneisses, and schists. Where quartzite ledges outcrop there is abundant The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 377 quartzite in the drift, the amount sometimes being as much as 20 to 70 per cent of the whole. Where iron formation occurs the drift nearby reveals it, even if the ledges are entirely buried. The amount is sometimes 20 or 30 per cent of the drift. By this means, indeed, iron mines may possibly be located by drilling in lands completely mantled by the drift. In the northeastern part of the peneplain the glacier imported some limestone, but the drift of the Northern Highland is usually without limy constituents. One advantage is that spring water and well water throughout the Northern Highland is prevailingly soft. Terminal Moraines. The form of the peneplain surface has been slightly modified by the glacial deposits. Three principal sorts of topographic forms are found, (a) the terminal or recessional moraines, (b) the ground moraine, and (c) the outwash deposits. In various parts of the Northern Highland the thickness of the glacial material in terminal moraines varies from 75 to 100 feet. It has a probable maximum of 350 feet, in the Wisconsin Valley moraine north of Merrill, Lincoln County, and perhaps as much as 500 or 600 feet west of Ashland, Bayfield County. The material is, variably, unassorted till or stratified sand and gravel. The till, or bowlder clay, is made up of fine clay, sand, and subangular, striated bowlders of various sorts, including foreign bowlders from the region around Lake Superior. It is unassorted be- cause deposited directly by the melting ice. The stratified sand and gravel is material carried by streams from the melting glacier and is, therefore, assorted. The glacial scratches have been removed from bowlders in the outwash. Many of them have been rolled along by the streams until they are rounded instead of subangular. The sur- face form of the terminal and recessional moraines is sometimes a smooth, broad-topped ridge, sometimes a hilly mass of knobs and kettles, the latter often containing lakes and small swamps. There are interlobate, kettle moraines in at least two parts of the Northern Highland. One is well developed in Oconto County at the junction of the Green Bay and Keweenaw-Chippewa lobe. The other is in Bayfield County, between the Chippewa and Superior lobes. The terminal and recessional moraines (Figs. 160 and 161) are well represented by the area shown in Figure 130. Much of the terminal moraine at the border of the Wisconsin drift is kettle moraine, with deep pits, high knobs, and strong ridges. 378 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Where the ice rode up over the Barron Hills monadnock the moraine has an irregular border (Fig. 34), similar to that on the Baraboo Range east of Devils Lake. RUSK! • P Fig. 161. Map showing the distribution of the deposits of glacial drift in the Northern Highland near Wausau. The dashed lines showing the bowlder train at Powers Bluff indicate that the ice which deposited the older drift here moved southeastward. The outwash plain south of brand Rapids is made by coalescing valley trains from the north. (After Weidman.) Ground Moraine. The ground moraine covers a wide area, in contrast with the terminal moraine, which is found in narrow strips. Its thickness is from a few inches to 100 feet or more, and The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 379 the material throughout much of the area is unassorted till. The topography of the area of ground moraine varies. In places there is only a thin veneer of ground moraine with abundant bare rock ledges. Elsewhere there may be thick ground moraine which completely buries the rocky surface of the peneplain. There is apt to be a roll- ing surface, sometimes with broad swells and shallow sags, the latter often containing enormous swamps (p. 390). Outwash Deposits. The outwash deposits cover vast areas in the Northern Highland. The thickness of the sand and gravel de- posited by streams from the melting ice often exceeds 30 or 40 feet. In one case in the Namakagon valley in Washburn County it is over 160 feet. Some of these outwash deposits cross the Driftless Area. The stratified gravels form outwash plains of great extent, as (a) in Vilas and Oneida Counties, (b) near Eagle River, (c) in Doug- las and Washburn Counties, where there are extensive pine barrens with dunes, and (d) in Wood and Portage Counties, near Grand Rapids. In other localities the glacial gravels are in valley trains in the bottoms of the stream courses which trench the peneplain, as in Lincoln and Marathon Counties, between Merrill and Wausau. As one looks down upon the barren plains adjacent to Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, one sees scores of braided glacial streams, branching and reuniting in a silvery network (PI. XXI, A). On approaching these streams one sees that they are heavily laden with sediment, which gives them a coffee color, in contrast to which the muddy Missouri River is pale and anemic. When wading across one of the smaller glacial streams — the larger torrents are absolutely in- passable except with a boat or on horseback— one finds that good- sized cobblestones and bowlders are being rolled along the bottom. These stones, and the gravel and coarser sand, fill up the stream channel so that the glacial rivers are constantly shifting in position. Hence a broad area, adjacent to the streams from the melting ice, is being built up with an accumulation of glacial outwash or out- wash gravel. The outwash plains in Wisconsin are usually smooth (PI. XXVII). There are slight irregularities due to channels of the glacial streams which built up the outwash. Other irregularities are the dry or lake-filled pits and kettles, produced by the melting of buried ice blocks during the retreat of the glacier. Kettle lakes are abundant in places. The valley trains are also apt to have irregularities in the form of terraces, cut by the glacial streams as their load was decreasing, and by postglacial erosion of present rivers. Such terraces are well de- 380 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin. veloped (a) in the Wisconsin valley near Wausau, Stevens Point, and Grand Rapids, (b) in the valley of the Brule and Pine Rivers near Florence, and (c) along the Namakagon River between Cable and Trego. The upper terrace levels often have kettles due to slump- ing of buried ice masses, as in the valley of the Menominee River in Florence and Marinette Counties. Eskers. Another type of glacial stream deposits are eskers, formed in tunnels beneath the ice. They are sinuous ridges of round- ed gravel, and may be found, among other places, in northern Florence County. Area of Older Drift. In the region of older drift the conditions are intermediate between those in the Driftless Area and in the area of latest glaciation. The thickness of the older drift varies from 5 to 170 feet. There is no thick residual soil, as in the Driftless Area, but the transported soil is somewhat weathered, some of the minerals being changed to clay 10 or 15 feet below the surface. To cite one instance : buried soil 2 feet in thickness is reported from one well which goes through 58 feet of the younger drift before en- countering the soil layer on the surface of the older drift. The lakes have practically all been filled or drained, but some of the stream systems still show glacial characteristics. In general the surface is one of erosional rather than depositional characteristics. Within the area of older drift is the Powers Bluff bowlder train (Fig. 161), which has a length of over 4 miles. Application of Results of Glacial Occupation. The Northern Highland, on the whole, has been profoundly affected by the glacial occupation. The soil is changed and, in general, is stonier and more sandy. This results in vast areas that are better suited to forest than to crops (pp. 390-393), especially as large areas are swampy. The lakes are a source of steady water supply for the rivers that flow from this highest part of the state, as well as an asset in the lumber- ing industry and an attraction to fishermen and summer visitors. The rapids and waterfalls will furnish invaluable water power in addition to that already utilized (p. 396). The iron deposits of the region, though less eroded during the glacial occupation than the soft ores of the Mesabi region of Minnesota, are more difficult to find than in a region of residual soil, being often deeply buried be- neath the transported glacial soil. It has been asserted that the glaciated part of the Northern Highland has not benefited by glacia- tion, as in southern Wisconsin (p. 127).. Judging by the difference between agriculture in New England and in the never-glaciated Pied- mont Plateau of Pennsylvania and Virginia, this may be the case. The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 381 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bean, E. F. Glacial Geology of Part of Northern Wisconsin (in preparation); Analyses of Glacial Drift in 87 townships, or over 3000 square miles, in Wash- burn, Sawyer, Barron, Rusk, Chippewa, Bayfield, Ashland, Price, and Oneida Counties, — Published in Hotchkiss, Bean, and Wheelwright's Mineral Lands in Part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Bull. 44, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1915, pp. 62-74; Methods of Mapping Glacial Geology in Northern Wisconsin, Annals Assoc. Amer. Geographers, Vol. 5, 1915, p. 144. Brooks, T. B. Geology of the Menominee Iron Region, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 431-663. Chamberlin, T. C Geology of Eastern Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 248-256; Historical Geology— Pre-Laurentian History, Laurentian Age, Huronian Age, Keweenawan Period, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1883, pp. 45-118. Clark, A. C, and Chamberlin, T. C. Superficial Geology of the Upper Wis- consin Valley, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 717-723. Grant, U. S. The Copper-Bearing Rocks of Douglas County, Wisconsin, Bull. 6, Wis. Geol. and Nat: Hist. Survey, 1901, 83 pp. Hotchkiss, W. O., Bean, E. F., and Wheelwright, O. W. Mineral Lands in Part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Bull. 44, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1915, 367 pp. Irving, R. D. On Some Points in the Geology of Northern Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 2, 1874, pp. 107-119; On the Age of the Copper-Bearing Rocks of Lake Superior and on the Westward Continuation of the Lake Superior Synclinal, Amer, Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 8, 1874, pp. 46-56; Kaolin in Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 3, 1876, pp. 3-30; Geology of Central Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp'. 461-524; Note on the Age of the Crystalline Rocks of Wisconsin, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 13, 1877, pp. 307-309; Note on the Stratigraphy of the Huronian Series of Northern Wisconsin, Ibid., Vol. 17, 1879, pp. 393-398; Geological Structure of Northern Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 1-25; Geology of the Eastern Lake Superior District, Ibid., pp. 53-238; The Copper-Bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, Monograph 5, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, 446 pp; Ibid., 3rd Annual Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, pp. 89-188; Archean Formations of the Northwestern States, Ibid., 5th Annual Rept., 1885, pp. 175-242; Classification of Early Cambrian and Pre-Cambrian Formations, Ibid., 7th Annual Rept., 1888, pp. 365-454. Irving, R. D., and Van Hise, C. R. Crystalline Rocks of the Wisconsin Valley, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 627-714; The Penokec Iron-Bearing Series of Michigan and Wisconsin, Monograph 19, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1892, 474 pp; Ibid., 10th Annual Rept., Part 1, 1890, pp. 341-507. Keyes, Charles. Lake Superior Highlands: their Origin and Age, Journ. Geol., Vol. 23, 1915, pp. 569-574. King, F. H. Geology of the Upper Flambeau Valley, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 585-621; Physical Features and Climatic Conditions of Northern Wisconsin, — in W. A. Henry's Northern Wisconsin — A Hand-Book for the Homeseeker, Madison, 1 896, pp. 24-40. 382 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Lapham, Increase A. The Penokee Iron Range, Trans. Wis. State Agricultural Society, Vol. 5, 1859, pp. 391-400. Leverett, Frank. Surface Geology of the Northern Peninsulia of Michigan, Publication 7, Mich. Geol. and Biol. Survey, 1911, 86 pp. Martin, Lawrence. Physical Geography of the Lake Superior Region, Mono- graph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 85-117; The Pleistocene, Ibid., pp. 427-459; The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Journ. Geog., Vol. 12, 1914, pp. 229-230. Percival, J. G. The Primary Rocks, Annual Report of the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Madison, 1856, pp. 103-111. Russell, I. C. The Surface Geology of Portions of Menominee, Dickinson, and Iron Counties, Michigan, Annual Rept., Mich. Geol. Survey, 1907, pp. 7-82. Strong, Moses. Geology of the Upper St. Croix District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 367-428. Strong, Moses, and Others. Quartzites of Barron and Chippewa Counties, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 573-581. Sweet, E. T. Geology of the Western Lake Superior District, Geology of Wis- consin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 310-362; Notes on the Geology of Northern Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 3, 1876, pp. 40-55. Van Hise, C. R. Excursion to Lake Superior, Sketch of Pre-Cambrian Geology South of Lake Superior, with References to Illustrative Localities, Congres Geologique International, Compte Rendu de la 5me. Session, Washington, 1891, pp. 493-512; An Historical Sketch of the Lake Superior Region to Cambrian Time, Journ. Geol., Vol. 1, 1893, pp. 113-128; A Central Wisconsin Baselevel, Science, new series, Vol. 4, 1896, pp. 57-59; Principles of Pre- Cambrian North American Geology, 16th Annual Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, Part 1, 1896, pp. 571-874; Iron Ore Deposits of the Lake Superior Region, Ibid., 21st Annual Rept., Part 3, 1901, pp. 305-434. Van Hise, C.R., and Bayley, W. S. Folio 62, Geologic Atlas of the United States, Menominee Special Folio, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1900. Van Hise, C. R., and Leith, C. K. The Geology of the Lake Superior Region, Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, 626 pp. Weidman, Samuel. The Pre-Potsdam Peneplain of the Pre-Cambrian of North Central Wisconsin, Journ. Geol., Vol. 11, 1903, pp. 289-313; The Geology of North Central Wisconsin, Bull. 16, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1907, 681 pp; Soil Surveys of Marinette County, of North Central Wisconsin, and of part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Ibid., Bulls. 11, 23, and 24, 1903 and 1911. Whitson, A. R., and Others. Soil Surveys of Vilas and adjacent Counties, and the North Part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Bulls. 32 and 43, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914-15.' Whittlesey, Charles. Magnetic Iron Beds of the Penokie Range, — in Owen's Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 44A-4A7; The Penokie Mineral Range, Wisconsin, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 9, 1865, pp. 235-244; On the Ice Movements of the Glacial Era in the Valley of the St. Lawrence (includes direction of striae in northern Wisconsin), Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. 15, 1867, pp. 43-54. Wooster, L. C. Transition from the Copper-Bearing Series to the Potsdam, Amer. Journ. Sci., 3rd Series, Vol. 27, 1884, pp. 463-465. The Northern, or Lake Superior, Highland 383 Wright, C. E. The Huronian Series West of Penokee Gap, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 239-301; Geology of the Menominee Iron Region, Ibid., pp. 667-741. For further references on the stratigraphy and economic geology of the Lake Superior region see Van Hise and Leith's "Pre-Cambrian Geology of North America" (Bull. 360, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1909), and "The Geology of the Lake Superior Region" (Monograph 52, Ibid., 1911). MAPS U. S. Geological Survey. Marathon and Wausau Quadrangles, Wisconsin; See also Iron River and Menominee Special Quadrangles, Michigan (Fig. 192); and 26 sheets of special river profile maps by L. S. Smith (Fig. 194). University of Wisconsin. Model of the Lake Superior region (Plate XXXVI, A). Wisconsin Geological Survey. Contour maps of the Penokee Range (Fig. 197); soils maps of various counties (Fig. 200); profiles on township maps in Bulletin 44 (Fig. 197). 384 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Fig. 162. Lake and marsh district in northern Wisconsin. (Hobbs, after Fairbanks). EARLY ALL OF THESE LAKES, so far as observed, possess the characteristics peculiar to those of broad, morainic belts. They are beautiful sheets of water, clear, soft and deep, encircled by bold, fantastic rims, and dotted with tree-clad island cones of such varied beauty in the autumn season, that as one toils in unexpectedly upon them up the rapids of the narrow shaded rivers, he forgets his fatigue and revels in an exquisite garden of foliage plants. Sometimes a fringe of white cedar lies upon the water's edge; higher up a wreath of white birch, then a belt of poplar, and, capping the rounded hilltops, maple and yellow birch, throughout all of which there is a generous setting of rich green white and Norway pines." F. H. King, in 1879. CHAPTER XVI. THE LAKES AND STREAMS OF THE NORTHERN HIGHLAND. Geography of an Ancient Battlefield A score of years or more before William Perm founded the City of Brotherly Love, a war was in progress just south of Lake Superior. We know how, in one battle at least, the combatants took advantage of the geography of the region. In their strategy they were aided by the vast extent of land covered by lakes and swamps. This was very well indicated by Perrot in 1656-62. It was a fight between the Huron Indians and the Sioux. The battle took place in northwestern Wisconsin or nearby in Minne- sota, in a country that was "nothing but lakes and marshes, full of wild rice; these are separated from one another by narrow tongues of land, which extend from one lake to another not more than thirty or forty paces, and sometimes no more than five or six. These lakes and marshes form a tract more than fifty leagues square." In this battle 3,000 Sioux drove 100 Huron Indians into a swamp. There "they could not do better than to hide among the wild rice, where the water and mud reached almost to their chins." Then, as Perrot says, the Sioux, or Scioux, "bethought them of this de- vice: they stretched across the narrow strips of land between the lakes the nets used in capturing beavers; and to these they attached small bells * * * * . They divided their forces into numer- ous detachments, in order to guard all the passages, and watched by day and night, supposing that the Hurons would take the first op- portunity to escape from the danger which threatened them. This scheme indeed succeeded; for the Hurons slipped out under cover of the darkness, creeping on all fours, not suspecting this sort of ambuscade; they struck their heads against the nets, which they could not escape, and thus set the bells to ringing. The Scioux, lying in ambush, made prisoners of them as soon as they stepped on the land. Thus from all that band but one man escaped." 386 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The Northwestern Lake District The glaciated portion of the Northern Highland abounds in jus such lakes and swamps as Perrot described. They lie in tw< groups — one in northwestern Wisconsin at the headwaters of the St Croix and Chippewa Rivers, and the other in the extreme northen "VMB5pider L |/Lngl5i| *H T-":-.v.-lArbor y eg* \::- - . : ':;\Vitae L. / Bp* ^ 4:1 $L=. 1 A * ■v M^^%^^^ SS=S=1S=1S= ^ X. 1 * Afi ""^Jli^T^VV^*^ Little* Arbor ( f=W UM J7 Nr- Mud LZ:::-y' jlzlCa ' <<7 / WOODRUFF^SS&p roll Lake 1 -^f£ i=j^J!i \j»^j^^==^mW^JMOCOl i \S ^>W: : 'il?^/ i : Kr&£'- : 'izy ^Hj-C. \ wtn-." , .7 & V-v5 — ■^_6ilmpr( L ^^TWjg^rtx ^w v Irw , 1 LAKjt V> ^ f.v.-.:-v.:.A/5)< \ \J// \-':-" : T\ y*^/! r i**H' \ _J: •.<»•• VHasbrook ^ij^jE/ I ^ uS-Jw^::X-3\-\:-;-\'i - V- \Jr:£i&> Late. =^* ====== ^P/^-^:;V>':V'-:^-:-y ^ V* V /^f .^^ JL yji i^ P^'' : \-'r- ■":'.' •'•:-■/ \'i : \'Vwv??\#A : Y \ V^N. ,/ \ln j*. &„*. v::-- •"* **•/ p** ■"•*••"-'■*'.*•.•"'•'■' "■^T p ?s\ /I *ii.-*'"-^^* / ®ll ^/7 c\ s*\-Cmer ==^^ ]]jf = *^#i^:' ; \>^ sS row vH AWK^^ ^Cr \J@r W%¥ 1 ** 3«]/£i-'7 Ho rl5ehead L jfSjS&X Kdubcwchein \\i\ ^ yfeymonrfT.. Lake $^il ^&£«X !— Yawkey LeP^^Si-^ *— ' 9 IjJ ^-r-^>' X Wind Pudding L. ^/bX>. 1 ||f , Fig. 165. Map showing lakes — dotted areas — near Minocqua. (Juday.) 390 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin western Russia, east of the Gulf of Bothnia, furnish the only paral- lels. Pike Lake, Lac du Flambeau, Minocqua Lake, Tomahawk Lake, Arbor Vitae Lake, Star Lake, Pelican Lake, and the lakes near Eagle River are a few of the many well-known summer resorts. Origin of Lakes. Figures 163 and 168 show nearly all the lakes in northern Wisconsin. They are, as a rule, small lakes, closely spaced, irregular in outline, and connected by streams which have the most irregular courses. All this is typical of lakes in a glaciated region. These bodies of water are all glacial, but the origins of the lake basins are diverse. Some are in shallow depressions in the ground moraine, some are held in by recessional moraines, ' and seme are in hollows in the outwash gravel plains. The smaller hollows are kettles formed at the close of the Glacial Period by the melting of buried ice blocks. Few, if any, are in glacially-exca- vated rock basins, for this part of the state has the rock ledges deeply buried by glacial drift. Muskegs and Other Swamps in Northern Wisconsin. Open swamps or marshes in northern Wisconsin often go by the Indian name muskeg. There are also cranberry and blueberry swamps and drier marshes and swamps not called muskeg, as well as level, tree- covered tamarack swamps and hummocky, cedar swamps. Some of the marshes are filled lakes, but a larger number are merely regions of poor drainage due to glacial accumulations. Marshes cover about 425 square miles in Vilas, Oneida, and adjacent counties. This is about 21 per cent of the area. In Douglas, Bayfield, Sawyer, and adjacent counties to the west and in Marinette County to the east they occupy a smaller proportion of the Northern Highland. The Flambeau and Manitowish Marshes are among the largest of these flat expanses of grassy muskeg. Each of them covers 15 to 25 square miles. They are irregularly circular, while the muskegs to the east in Marinette County are long narrow swamps, trending northeast-southwest between the morainic ridges. The swamps are usually monotonously level. The surfaces are often covered with peat and decayed vegetation. Hardpan under- lies the peat and it is this that causes the marshes, for water easily escapes from sand-floored depressions. There is often sand below the hardpan. The muck in certain swamps is poorly consolidated and some of the muskegs are quaking bogs, especially near the bor- ders of lakes. The Lakes and Streams of the Northern Highland 391 It is the presence of this 21 per cent of marsh land in the lake country of northern Wisconsin, together with the sandy soil of the outwash plains and the hilly topography of the terminal moraines Fig. 166. Swamps in the Highland Lake District of northern Wisconsin. that makes a large area in Vilas, Oneida, Iron, Forest, and adjacent countries far better adapted to being a forest reserve than a region of farms. Half the area is either swampy or has poor soil, and only a 392 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin little over a' sixth of it has good soil. There are 780 clearings or farms in 2,004 square miles, but the cleared land covers only 17 square miles. Thus less than one per cent of the swampy, sandy, and IN 1910 lj J LESS THAN 20 PER CENT %%i 20 TO 40 PER CENT 40 TO 60 PER CENT 60 TO 80 PER CENT 80 TO 00 PER CENT 80 TO 06 PER CENT 6b TO 100 PER CENT Fig. 167. Map showing the percentages of improved land in (1) the Northern Highland, (2) the Lake Superior Lowland, (3) the Central Plain, (4) the Eastern Ridges and Lowlands, and (5) the Western Upland. Border of Driftless Area, shown by dashed black and white line D-A. (After U. S. Census.) irregular portion of the Northern Highland in Vilas, Oneida and ad- jacent counties, is under cultivation, and only a sixth to a half of it is worthy of farm development. The peat in these swamps is a valuable resource (p. 276) not yet utilized. The swamps will re- The Lakes and Streams of the Northern Highland 393 quire drainage ditches before the land could be used for crops, and after this the peat soil must be pulverized and fertilized. As these swamps are important reservoirs, which help regulate the flow of the Wisconsin and other rivers, it seems to the author far more profit- able not to drain the swamps, but to keep the whole swampy area as part of the State Forest Reserve. In 1910 only about 3 per cent of Iron, Vilas, and Forest Counties was in farms (Fig. 167). The Upper. Wisconsin River. Effect of Glaciation. The drainage system of the upper Wis- consin (Fig. 168) may be divided into two parts, north and south of the vicinity of Merrill. The drainage of the northern area is characterized by many lakes, and crooked, systemless stream courses. The southern part has systematic dendritic drainage and no lakes. The terminal moraine of the Wisconsin valley is the boundary line between the two, and it also forms the southern half of the divide between the Wisconsin and Fox River systems. The Wisconsin River rises in Lac Vieux Desert, on the boundary between Wisconsin* and Michigan, at an elevation of 1,650 feet above sea level. Undoubtedly the lakes and muskegs of northern Wisconsin regulate the flow of the Wisconsin and prevent much greater spring floods than would otherwise occur. The Wisconsin flows through the Northern Highland to a point about 15 miles south of Grand Rapids, leaving this geographical province at an elevation of a little less than 920 feet above sea level. In this dis- tance of about 220 miles the river has a grade of about 3 1-2 feet to the mile. In the glaciated northern half of its course the river is in a shallow valley; in the southern half, which lies partly in the Drift- less Area and partly in the region of older drift, the river is in a steep- sided, flat-bottomed trench. Here it flows over a broad valley train of glacial outwash gravels, which have been terraced by late glacial, or postglacial, stream erosion. Rapids and Portages. The steepest descent in the course of the Wisconsin is at Grandfather Falls north of Merrill, where there is no cataract, but a descent of about 90 feet in a mile and a half of rapids. This is in the glaciated area, and there are many other rapids in this postglacial section of the river. At these rapids the early explorer, traveling by canoe, had to portage his goods and his boat around the impassable or dangerous waters. At such a portage on the Wis- consin in 1661 Father Ren6 Menard lost his way in the woods, near where the city of Merrill now stands, and was never seen again. 394 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin sc °*s,f~ r rase 1 .^Wisconsin Drift. /l)lcier~brift _/ Older Drift- _ ' Wisconsin Drift OMe DriftleSS Area 5 10 15 10 Z5 30 35 Miles Fig. 168. The Wisconsin River in the Northern Highland, showing the types of drain- age in the latest or Wisconsin drift, in the area of older drift, and in the Driftless Area. The Lakes and Streams of the Northern Highland 395 At similar rapids on the Flambeau River east of Butternut, where a portage was not thought necessary, Moses Strong was drowned in 1877, while working for the State Geological Survey. Rapids of this character introduced notable difficulties in the driving of logs in the days of Wisconsin lumbering. The portages at rapids were often the sites of the earliest sawmills and towns. They play an important part in the geography and history of the region. ^V>v Fig. 169. A portage around rapids at Sturgeon Falls on the Menominee River. (T. J. Cram.) Value of Rapids and Waterfalls. Today these rapids are being more and more used for the generation of electric power. Formerly the water power of northern Wisconsin was thought of as largely useless because it was impossible to have any variety of manufacturing plants in this remote region. Since the perfect- ing of long-distance transmission of hydro-electric power, as from Kilbourn and Prairie du Sac to Milwaukee, from St. Croix Falls to Minneapolis, and from the falls on the St. Louis to Duluth- Superior, every water power in northern Wisconsin becomes a great resource, making up for our lack of coal. All the rapids may be utilized in time; but, unlike coal, they may not be used up. In 1909 the state had developed water powers amounting to 183,105 horse power. In 1905 it was 124,400 horse power, and in 1870 only 33,700 horse power. The saving in 1909 from using this resource derived from the rivers, rather than steam power, 396 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin may be estimated at 2f to 3§ million dollars. In 1908 there were 439 plants run by water power. The following table by L. S. Smith gives the important facts about water power on the rivers of Wisconsin. Drainage Total Already Easily Now Now River System Area Fall Developed Developed Developed Undeveloped Square Horse Horse miles Feet Feet Feet power power 12,280 1,044 308 430 67,200 386,500 Fox... - 6,400 170 160 13 38,250 ■ 11,500 Wolf. 3,650 800 400 2,580 34,000 Menominee 4,000 560 130 307 12,600 72,600 1,123 1,040 30 880 2,190 33,800 934 246 60 725 2,885 21,000 Black. 2,270 570 95 100 2,200 16,600 Chippewa.. St. Ooix 9,673 7306 300 700 20,000 156,000a 7,678 322 50 200 18,600 45,800 Rock. „ 3,600 132 67 14 7,700 1,000 Milwaukee. 840 437 122 100 3,300 4,300 11,983 575 60 3706 5,200 45,000 183,105 827,900 Total developed and undeveloped 1,011,005 a Omitting Flambeau River. 6Including Dore Flambeau. It has been suggested that this estimate of more than 1,000,000 developed and undeveloped horse power is too high, and that 650,000 horse power is more nearly correct. The state used only half a million horse power in its manufacturing in 1909, and only one fourth of this was water power. Evidently we have more than enough for our present needs. In any event it is fair to say that, since glaciation is directly responsible for the formation of the rapids and waterfalls, the state of Wisconsin has gained a resource of incalculable value. It is worth from twenty-five to forty million dollars a year. The greatest unused powers in 1915 were in the Northern Highland. The Menominee River The larger portion of the Menominee River is in the Northern Highland. As is shown in Figure 170, there are relatively few lakes at the headwaters of the Menominee compared with the great number to the west in the Wisconsin headwaters. The Menominee flows along the boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan in a fairly deep, steep-sided valley (Fig. 169), the greater part of which has been incised below the level of the peneplain since the covering of Cambrian sandstone was removed. The Lakes and Streams of the Northern Highland 397 During the Glacial Period a great deal of valley train gravel was deposited by streams from the retreating ice of the Green 5 10 15 £0 25 30 35 Miles Fig. 170. The Menominee River, with abundant lakes in the headwater region, Bay lobe. The several sets of southward deflections of the river have been ascribed to the influence of various positions of the ice edge. The level surface of the valley trains of the Menominee 398 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin and its tributaries are broken by kettles (see p. 390) and, near the river, by stream-carved terraces. In places the river has cleared all the glacial drift from the rock and descends over waterfalls and rapids, such as Lower Quinnesec Falls — 64 feet — and Big Quinnesec Falls— 54 feet. The lumbering industry made great use of the Menominee River, as well as the other streams of northern Wisconsin, for floating logs from the forest to the sawmill. The best areas of white pine (Fig. 6) were in the Northern Highland, where these streams rise. The logs were cut in winter and were rafted down the rivers during the high water of the spring floods. Marinette, at the mouth of the Men- ominee River, is one of the sawmill towns. Other streams of the Northern Highland, such as the Peshtigo and the Wolf River (Fig. 108), show similar relationships of lakes, rapids, and waterfalls to glaciation. High Falls on the Peshtigo (PL XXIV, B) have a height of 60 feet. Wisconsin-Michigan Boundary in Relation to Rivers As provided in 1846 the boundary between the states of Wis- consin and Michigan west of Green Bay, follows portions of the Menominee River, its tributary the Brule, and the Montreal River. Between the Brule and the Montreal are two straight portions of the boundary, not determined by any river but joining at a low angle in Lac Vieux Desert. It was first thought that both the Montreal and the Brule-Menominee flowed out of Lac Vieux Desert. Then the lake was assigned to one of. these streams, later to the other, and finally it was discovered that it belonged to neither, but to the Wisconsin River. Within the Brule and Menominee Rivers, however, are many islands; and it has not always been agreed as to which side of a given island the main channel follows. This has sometimes resulted, here and elsewhere, in discussion as to which of two towns in different states on opposite sides of the river, should keep certain bridges in repair. Moreover there has not been unanimity as to whether the stream which flows between the towns of Hurley, Wisconsin, and Ironwood, Michigan, is the main Montreal River. Michigan has sometimes maintained that the Gogogashugun fork of the Montreal, 3 miles west of Hurley, is the main stream. The acceptance of this claim would deprive Wisconsin of many valuable mines in the Penokee- Gogebic iron range. - This question, however, is no longer in dispute. The Lakes and Streams of the Northern Highland 399 BIBLIOGRAPHY Cram, T. J. Report on the Survey between the State of Michigan and the Territory of Wisconsin, Senate Doc. 151, 26th Congress, 2nd Session, Washing- ton, 1841, 16 pp., and 5 maps; Report on the Survey of the Boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin, Senate Doc. 170, 27th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1842, 12 pp., and map. Henry, W. A., King, F. H., and Others. Northern Wisconsin — A Hand-Book for the Homeseeker, Madison, 1896, 192 pp. Horton, A. H., and Others. Surface Water Supply of the Upper Mississippi Valley, Water Supply Paper 325, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1914, pp. 125-127, 137-138. Irving, R. D. Drainage of the Eastern Lake Superior District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 80-88; River Systems and General Surface Slopes of Central Wisconsin, Ibid., Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 413-424, Juday, C. Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, Bull. 27, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914, pp. 113-120. King, F. H. Hydrology and Topography of the Upper Flambeau Valley, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 607-611. Martin, Lawrence. Physical Geography of the Lake Superior Region, Mono- graph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 90-91, 435, 451-456, 459. Norwood, J. G. Narrative of Explorations Made in 1847 between Portage Lake and the Head-Waters of Wisconsin River, — in Owen's Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 277-293. Owen, D. D. (Description of parts of the Black, Chippewa, and St. Croix Rivers), Ibid., pp. 151-165. Perrot, Nicolas. (On lakes and swamps in northern Wisconsin), Memoire sur les moeurs, coustumes et relligion des Sauvages de l'Amerique Septen- trionale, 1656-62, written about 1715-18, published in Paris in 1864, — trans- lation in Vol. 16, Collectiotis Wis. Hist. Soc. 1902, pp. 17-19. Roth, Filibert. On the Forestry Conditions of Northern Wisconsin, Bull. 1, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1898, 78 pp; also published as Bull. 16, U. S. Dept. Agr., Washington, 1898. Smith, L. S. Water Powers of Wisconsin, Bull. 20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1908, 341 pp; Water Powers of Northern Wisconsin, Water Supply Paper 156, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, 137 pp; see also Water Supply Paper 207, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1907. Stewart, C. B. Storage Reservoirs at the Headwaters of the Wisconsin and their Relation to Stream Flow, Wisconsin State Board of Forestry, Madison, 1911, 60 pp. Strong, Moses. Drainage of the Upper St. Croix District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 372-381. Sweet, E. T. Hydrographic Features of the Western Lake Superior District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 315-323. Weidman, S. Physiographic Geology of North Central Wisconsin, Bull. 16, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1907, pp. 577-578, 610-631. 400 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Whittlesey, Charles. Physical Aspect of the Bad River Country, — in Owen's Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 431-435; Description of the Country between the Wisconsin and Men- ominee Rivers, Ibid., pp. 452-461. MAPS See Chapter XV. p. 383. CHAPTER XVII. THE LAKE SUPERIOR LOWLAND. A Lake Set Deeply in a Highland One of the most striking features of Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water in the world, is its steeply-rising walls. The other Great Lakes of North America have gently-sloping walls. Lake Superior is bounded by steep escarpments. It is a lake set deeply in a highland. On the southwest is the Bayfield Peninsula and Douglas Copper Range of Wisconsin, 400 to 900 feet above the surface of the lake. On the south are the Penokee-Gogebic Iron Range, the Porcupine Mountains, and Keweenaw Point in Wisconsin and Michigan, 750 to 1100 feet above Lake Superior. On the northwest, north, and northeast is the Lake Superior Highland of Minnesota and Canada, 800 to 1000 feet above the lake. It is only on the southeast, between Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette, Michigan, that Lake Superior has a low-lying shore like the coasts of Lakes Michigan, Erie, . and Ontario. This southeastern coast rises 300 feet or less above Lake Superior. The Lowland is a Rift Valley The portion of Lake Superior basin lying at the western end of Lake Superior in Wisconsin and Minnesota is a rift valley, or graben, similar to those of Central Africa, southwestern Germany, eastern France, and the lowlands of Scotland, though different in certain respects. The history of the Lake Superior basin has been long and complicated. Its salient features may be summarized as follows : 1. The Lake Superior basin originally came into existence as a trough or syncline, probably without a lake ; 2. The syncline was peneplained and ceased to exist as a topographic feature; 3. A rift valley was made by faulting, at least at the western end of Lake Superior; 402 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 4. The rift valley was buried beneath sedimentary rocks and, for a long time, obliterated. 5. The rift valley has been partly exhumed by stream erosion and glacial sculpture, and the lake has been formed. Thus the Lake Superior basin is now a lowland because of the dropping down of a block of the earth's crust in a rift, or graben, fault (Fig. 172). Subsequent sedimentation and erosion in the dis- trict are quite as important as the ancient faulting. The synclinal folding has not been a factor in relation to topography, since long before the Lake Superior peneplain was made. . Fig. 171. Block diagram of the Lake Superior lowland in Wisconsin. (Thwaites.) The Lake Superior Lowland in Wisconsin General Description. The Lake Superior lowland in Wisconsin is part of the larger province just described, — the basin of Lake Superior. It occupies portions of Douglas, Bayfield, and Ashland Counties in the northwestern corner of the state. Its area is about 1250 square miles, not including the 2400 square miles more in Wisconsin that is submerged beneath the waters of Lake Superior. Its altitude ranges from less than 1000 feet above to about 300 feet below sea level, and it rises 150 to 350 feet above and goes 600 to 900 feet below the level of Lake Superior, which stands 602 feet above sea level. The Lake Superior Lowland 403 Boundaries of the Lowland. The author has drawn the southern boundary of this geographical province of Wisconsin by following the highest abandoned beach line of Lake Superior. This boundary also agrees fairly well with the topographic boundary provided by the escarpments at the edge of the Lake Superior sand- stone, where it abuts upon the older igneous rocks. In topography this province is chiefly a plain. The floor of the western end of Lake Superior before it was down- faulted and otherwise modified, was doubtless at the level of the Lake Superior highland or peneplain, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ontario. The position of the two fault lines is now marked by escarpments. One of them, not in Wisconsin, extends southwestward through Duluth and Fond du Lac, Minnesota. The DULUTH peneplain ^™»!£^225 NT » ARCKEAN UPPER HURONIAN KE.WCENAWAN * KEWEENAWAN f ANIMIKIE GROUP ) Fig. 172. Rift valley or graben at the western end of Lake Superior. other, a lower scarp, extends northeast and southwest in Wisconsin from the Minnesota line towards the Apostle Islands, where it is lost beneath the glacial drift. The lowland of Chequamegon Bay near Ashland is not known to be of fault origin, for the Superior fault may merge into a fold near the Apostle Islands; but the plain at Ashland is separated from the Northern Highland province in Wis- consin by a low, sloping wall. The escarpment south of Superior, sometimes called the Douglas Copper Range, or the South Range, has about 350 feet of local relief and slopes northward at the rate of 160 to 300 feet to the mile. Relationships of Escarpments. The escarpments which form the borders of this rift valley are probably of fault origin, but they have been much modified. The Duluth escarpment in Minnesota, which may originally have been determined by a nearly vertical fault, has been planed back by stream work and glacial erosion to a flaring wall, sloping at the rate of 450 to 1000 feet to the mile. Like- wise, the Superior escarpment in Wisconsin, though originally de- termined by a fault line, is now modified by the work of streams and glaciers to a gently-sloping wall. The fault at the Superior escarp- ment is a thrust fault, a break inclined at a high angle, — with the rock layers of the present lowland sliding down under the strata of 404 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin the present upland. This interpretation of the fault in no way in- terferes with the theory of origin of the basin of western Lake Su- perior as a rift valley. The escarpment southeast of Ashland, sloping even more gently, is not known to be of fault origin at all. All these escarpments are of such form as to make it clear that they are not produced in the peneplain cycle, nor could the even upland of the peneplain have been produced at a time when the present lowland existed (Fig. 172). If so, the peneplain, which ex- tends up to the very edges of the escarpments, would have been deeply trenched by stream erosion. As it is, the short streams which flow down the face of the escarpment are in deep gorges and have +i>**A n + * -*. 46 *5 44 43' 42 Fig. 173. Cross-section showing the escarpment which separates the Lake Superior Lowland from the Northern Highland, and the thick covering of glacial drift (P) upon the pre-Cambrian rocks (Akl, Aku, Ah, PC). rapids and waterfalls, as in the Bois Brule River of Douglas County, the Montreal River on the boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan, and many others. These gorges and waterfalls, however, are postglacial features. That the escarpments are so little trenched by streams and that the streams extend so short a distance back into the peneplained upland would be an evidence that the escarp- ments and the lowland were recently formed, were it not for the recent episode of glaciation and for the still earlier burial of the escarpment beneath the Lake Superior sandstone. This suggests that the escarpment and the lowland are very old. Age of the Lowland. The age of the Lake Superior lowland may be determined by the relationships of the fault scarps of the Lake Superior basin to the pre-Cambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks and the later sedimentary rocks of the region. The peneplain all around the basin of Lake Superior is terminated abruptly by steep escarpments. Of these escarpments the one ex- tending northeastward from Duluth, the one extending from Su- perior to Bois Brule River, and the one on the southeastern side of Keweenaw Point in Michigan have been determined by geologists to be of pre-Cambrian or early Cambrian age. The faults cut Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXVIII. M ^ t- V- K ,^. r-' '■ ~ R l 4 1* -4, 1'^J wM ^gp5fi'^We^^ i, l*^TOifaBl ^HMMrrrlwi 'S&iS^BtW^ • ^^^^sii?*" ffi* vw*^8R*»- v--' ^^ 2atat- : ^ *^Hj Jn.-'..&^K»^ Bl ■ ■ Mifl • . K^5 ^^F - **~ Safcr?*-^ B. WATERFALL WHERE THE AMNICON RIVER CROSSES THE FAULT LINE ESCARPMENT SOUTHEAST OF SUPERIOR. Sandstone in foreground, cascade on trap rock. Wisconsin Geol. and Xat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pl. XXXIX. THE GORGE AND WATER FALL AT THE JUNCTION OF TYLERS FORK WITH THE BAD RIVER. The Lake Superior Lowland 405 rocks of Archean, Huronian, and Keweenawan age. They also cut the Lake Superior sandstone. There is some evidence that movement on the faults south of Lake Superior took place during the deposition of the Lake Superior sandstone, which is possibly non-marine and may be of late Keweenawan or early Cambrian age. The presence of marine Cambrian sediments within the Lake Superior basin east of Keweenaw Point definitely fixes its pre- Cambrian age. It is, therefore, thought that the pre-Cambrian peneplain which forms the Northern Highland of Wisconsin used to be connected with the peneplain on the northwest in Minnesota and on the north and northeast in Canada. The connecting feature was a portion of peneplain which included the site of the present Lake Superior lowland and the remainder of the basin of Lake Superior. It seems probable that the faulting and folding at the close of the Keweenawan resulted in the down-faulting and down-warping of a portion of this peneplain. Thus the existing rift valley near Supe- rior and Ashland, and to the northeast in the basin of what is now Lake Superior, was produced before or at the time when the region was buried beneath late Keweenawan or early Cambrian deposits. Accordingly the escarpments were buried and preserved, before they had been greatly modified by stream erosion. Subsequently the uplifted region has had the larger portion of the weak sediments removed by streams and glaciers; but remnants of the Lake Superior sandstone rest against the fault scarps, as in Douglas and Bayfield Counties, and below the level of Lake Superior. The resistant pre- Cambrian rocks were less eroded during the time of removal of the Lake Superior sandstone, so that the carving of stream courses in the escarpments by swiftly-flowing rivers has just commenced. Glacial Modification of the Lowland Glacial Erosion. The modification of the Lake Superior low- land, and the escarpments which bound it, by the continental glacier are of two sorts, — erosion and deposition. This work was ac- complished chiefly by the Superior lobe of the Labrador ice sheet (Fig. 28). It has been suggested that in the early stages of the Glacial Period the Lake Superior lowland was invaded by ice from the Keewatin or the Patrician center west of Hudson Bay. Sculpture by the continental ice sheet has notably modified the rift valley of northwestern Wisconsin. It is becoming more and more evident from observations in Alaska, the Alps, Norway, New Zea- land, and elsewhere, that glacial ice can erode deeply and can in 406 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin time cut down and carve out profound basins. During the time when the Paleozoic sediments were being removed fron the pene- plain of the Northern Highland, streams were doubtless removing the weak sandstone from the basin of Lake Superior. It is not clear whether Lake Superior existed before the first in- vasion by the continental glacier, but probably it did not. The depth to" which these preglacial streams could erode near their headwaters was limited by the obstacles to downcutting between the headwaters and the sea. The preglacial master stream from the western end of the Lake Superior basin probably flowed eastward to some point between Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. There it joined the Lake Michigan River (Fig. 110) and flowed south- ward, through what is now the basin of Lake Michigan to the Illi- nois and Mississippi Rivers. There is no good reason for believing that the preglacial Lake Superior River flowed southwestward to the Mississippi in the region north of St. Paul, Minnesota. In any event this river was probably unable to erode below some such level as is now the surface of Lake Superior, a little over 600 feet above the sea level. No broad preglacial channels are known to cut into the sandstone around the borders of Lake Superior. There is one narrow buried channel leading from the eastern end of Lake Superior to Lake Huron. It is not yet known whether this buried valley is preglacial rather than glacial or interglacial in age. Accord- ingly it seems reasonable to conclude that all of the scouring out of the buried rift valley below approximately the present level of Lake Superior was the work of the continental ice sheet. How much of the erosion above the present lake level was glacial rather than preglacial there is no way of determining. Glacial erosion certainly lowered the bottom of the rift valley to a depth of 600 to 900 feet. Its bottom now lies at levels between that of the surface of the ocean and 300 feet below sea level (PI. XXXVIII, A). In other parts of the rift valley the deepening was less, but every- where there was profound glacial sculpture. The conditions here are especially favorable for the glacial clean- ing out of the sandstone and shale-filled rift valley. The sediments are weak, while the igneous and metamorphic rocks of the enclosing walls are resistant. The ice of the continental glacier, therefore, moved freely toward the southwest and eroded much more deeply than if there had been no weak sediments to be removed from the buried rift valley. The Lake Superior Lowland 407 To what extent the escarpments were eroded is not so easy to say. To the west in Minnesota, the St. Louis River seems to still retain parts of the preglacial course by which it diverted some of the headwaters of the Mississippi (Fig. 176). This suggests relative weakness of glacial erosion in the resistant pre-Ca-mbrian rocks of the escarpment. On the other hand, there is no definite trace of a system of drainage in the Apostle Islands. They are made up of comparatively weak sandstone and might be thought to represent hilltops between preglacial valleys. Glacial erosion seems to have deepened and widened channels between islands, to have eroded hilltops — now island crests — and to have modified the region sufficiently so that the preglacial drainage pattern is completely lost. It is, therefore, apparent that the ice sculpture was much more BAYFIELD CO BAYFIELD AIDGE Fig. 174. Cross-section of Bayfield Peninsula, showing the great thickness of the glacial deposits. Aku, Bayfiela and Oronto sandstones. effective in the weak sandstone rift valley than upon the resistant rocks of the bordering escarpments. The Lake Superior basin owes a notable part of its exhumation, and all, or nearly all, of its present depth below lake level to erosion by the Superior lobe of the continental ice sheet during the several glacial epochs. Morainic Deposits. The retreating glacier deposited very little in the way of moraines in the Lake Superior lowland of northwestern Wisconsin. There may be moraines concealed beneath lake level, but the chief visible deposit of this character is the kettle moraine in Bayfield County. It has been suggested that this is an interlobate moraine, — an accumulation made between the Superior and Chippewa lobes of the retreating glacier (Fig. 28). It is called a kettle moraine because of the many kettles and knobs which make portions of its surface exceedingly irregular. The glacial drift is of great thickness (Fig. 174), perhaps as much as 600 feet in depth. The drift on the escarpment slopes is thin. On the Apostle Islands, and below the level of the base of the escarpment the lowland is completely mantled by stratified lake and stream deposits. Water-laid sandy 408 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin morainic ridges on the clay plains beneath the level of Glacial Lake Duluth (p. 417) run up to 300 feet or more in height. The Superior clay, as it is called on the soils maps, covers more than 1000 square miles. In the soil and subsoil of this belt 82% of the material is ckiy and silt. Much of it is red. Drift Copper. Among the materials in the glacial drift of the Lake Superior Lowland are masses of native copper carried westward by the ice itself and in icebergs. One such mass found near Onto- nagon, Michigan, weighs about 3000 pounds, and one from the Bay- field Peninsula near La Pointe, Wisconsin, 800 pounds. One of the Jesuit fathers observed in 1669 that there were such bowlders of copper in the Apostle Islands. He relates that the squaws often found copper fragments of 20 to 30 pounds weight in digging holes in the sand to plant their corn (p. 415), and suggests the trans- portation of this copper by floating ice, though he did not imply that this was glacial ice. The Origin of the Plain of the Lake Superior Lowland. The surface of these lake deposits forms the present plain of the Lake Superior Lowland (Fig. 171). The plain south and west of Superior, and south of Ashland, slopes gradually toward the lake, its grade varying from 10 to 50 feet to the mile. The surface, however, is not everywhere that of a plain, except near Superior and Ashland, where it furnishes the level sites of these cities. Farther from the lake it has been deeply trenched by postglacial streams, forming ravines 40 to 100 or more feet deep. These have so dissected the plain as to make portions of it very hilly indeed. The clay has been more extensively dissected than the sand because the water sinks into the latter and erodes it very little. This stream cutting has necessitated vast expense for railway bridges and culverts. The highways which cross the streams are continually going up and down hill, and the clay soil makes sticky roads. The soil is not as well adapted for farming as for grazing and the production of hay, and the topog- raphy of the stream-sculptured portions of the plain even less so. Drainage of the Lake Superior Lowland The St. Louis River. The St. Louis River (Fig. 175), most of whose drainage basin is in Minnesota, flows eastward into Lake Superior after descending the Duluth escarpment near Fond du Lac, Minnesota. It forms part of the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota. From Fond du Lac to Superior, it is an estuary with The Lake Superior Lowland 409 little current because of the drowning of its valley beneath the waters of Lake Superior (p. 424). The valley of the St. Louis is one of the historic waterways of the Northwest. It was long used by the Indians and was traversed 5 10 15 20 Z5 30 35 Miles Fig. 175. The St. Louis River in Wisconsin and Minnesota. by Sieur Du Luth in 1679, by Schoolcraft in 1820, and by many others. The volume of the St. Louis is much greater than it was before the stream captured and diverted certain headwaters of the Mississippi, as is shown in Figure 176. There is a moderate number of glac- ial lakes (Fig. 175) among the Minnesota headwaters of the St. Louis, so that its run-off is partly regulated, but not to so great an 410 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin extent as is desirable. The water power, resulting from the rapids and falls where the St. Louis river descends the Duluth escarpment, is now being developed a mile and a half west of the Wisconsin state Fig. 176. St. Louis River before and after the preglacial stream capture which resulted in the diversion of one of the Mississippi headwaters. line. By the transmission of this electric power to the city of Superior, a distance of only 14 miles, a great deal of manufacturing will be possible at this lake port. A Boundary Question. Minnesota formerly maintained that the state boundary at Duluth-Superior should follow a new dredged channel rather than the original main channel of St. Louis River (see law cited, p. 441). The Lake Superior Lowland 411 The Nemadji River. As is shown in Figure 177, the Nemadji River, which flows northeastward into Lake Superior, has a short course from the Superior escarpment to the lake. The river has two parts, (a) the torrential, steep course on the escarpment, and (b) the flatter grade over the plain of lake clays and glacial stream deposits. In this latter portion the Nemadji and its tributaries are flowing in steep-sided ravines 25 to 100 feet deep, which decrease in depth as the lake is approached. There are relatively few glacial lakes on the headwaters of the Nemadji River, whose steep slope Fig. 177. The Nemadji, Bois Brule, Bad, and Montreal Rivers. enables it to discharge rapidly in seasons of great precipitation or of melting snow, giving it a small volume during the summer months. On this account artificial reservoirs would be necessary if water power were to be developed where the Nemadji descends the Superior escarpment. This stream can never be as useful in this respect as the St. Louis, which is longer and has a greater volume. The cata- ract of the Black River, a tributary of the Nemadji, is the highest waterfall in Wisconsin, 160 feet (Frontispiece). It is 13 miles south of the city of Superior. Bois Brule, Bad, and MontrealRivers. The short streams which flow northward to Lake Superior from the Northern Highland descend steeply over the escarpment and then flow with gentler grades to the lake. As is shown in Figure 177, these streams have a few glacial lakes at their headwaters. The rapids in the Bois Brule necessitated many portages in the days of canoe travel over the 412 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Brule-St. Croix pass. In the headwaters of the Bad, White, and Montreal Rivers there is a trellis pattern of drainage, espec- ially in the tributaries which rise in the east-west valley of weak slate north of the Penokee Range (Fig. 149) and between the trap ridges to the north (Fig. 178). The waterfalls at or near the escarpment are among the highest in the state, including Copper Falls of Bad River— 60 feet— (PI. XXIV, A), the falls at the junction of Tylers Fork and Bad River— 45 feet— (PI. XXXIX), and the falls of Montreal River. The native name for Montreal River was Ka- l A\ \ \ ^yyjs \. \\ \ lp ' i r ^ ^ ©Iron BELT ■jpr' )4° /^_j^r~^=r^ \^JL4***^JPtTpson o ■ 2 3 Miles. Fig. 178. Trellis drainage among the trap ridges southeast of Ashland. wasiji-wangsepi, said to mean white falls river. The cataract a quarter mile from Lake Superior has a vertical fall of 78 feet. There are two falls farther up the river, the higher with a vertical descent of about 40 feet. The stream-cut gorges, formed in postglacial time, are deep and steep-sided (PI. XXXIX) where these rivers are flow- ing through rock, but are broader and have gentler slopes in the clay belt near Lake Superior. None of these streams have deltas. In connection with all these waterfalls much hydro-electric power can be and has been developed. This is of importance, both in relation to future manufacturing at such places as Ashland, Port Wing, and Superior, and for power used in pumping water in the mines, for running ore skips, for drilling, for lighting mines, and even for running railways, as on the lines at present using coal- burning locomotives between the iron mines of the Penokee Range near Hurley and the lake port of Ashland. The Lake Superior Lowland 413 BIBLIOGRAPHY Agassiz, Louis. The Terraces and Ancient River Bars, Drift, Boulders, and Polished Surfaces of Lake Superior, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., First Meeting, 1848— Philadelphia, 1849, pp. 68-70; On the Origin of the Actual Outlines of Lake Superior, Ibid., pp. 79-80; Lake Superior, Boston, 1850, — The Erratic Phenomena about Lake Superior, pp. 395-416; The Outlines of Lake Superior, Ibid., pp. 417-428. Desor, E. Drift of the Lake Superior Land District, in Foster and Whitney's Report on the Geology and Topography of a Portion of the Lake Superior Land District, Part 1, House Ex. Doc. 69, 31st Congress, 1st Session, Washing- ton, 1850, pp. 186-218; On the Superficial Deposits of this District, Ibid., Part 2, Senate Ex. Doc. 4, Special Session, Washington, 1851, pp. 232-273. Grant, U. S. Copper-Bearing Rocks of Douglas County, Bull. 6, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1900, 83 pp; Junction of the Lake Superior Sandstone and Keweenawan Traps in Wisconsin, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., Vol. 13, 1901, pp. 6-9. Irving, R. D. On Some Points in the Geology of Northern Wisconsin, Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci., Vol. 2, 1874, pp. 107-119; Geology of the Eastern Lake Superior District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 53-214; The Copper- Bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, Monograph 5, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, 446 pp. Irving, R. D., and Chamber I in, T. C. Observations on the Junction of the Eastern Sandstone and the Keweenaw Series on Keweenaw Point, Bull. 23, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, 124 pp. Leith, C. K. Relations of the Plane of Unconformity at the Base of the Cambrian to Terrestrial Deposition in Late Pre-Cambrian Time, Compte Rendu de la Xlle Session, Canada, 1913, Congres Geologique International, Ottawa, 1914, pp. 335-337. Lyell, Charles. Lake Superior, — Principles of Geology, tenth edition, Vol. 1, 1867, pp. 421-422. Martin, Lawrence. The Basin of Lake Superior, Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 110-117; The Pleistocene, Ibid., pp. 427-459; Journ. Geog., Vol. 12, 1914, pp. 230-231. Owen, D. D. Formations of Lake Superior, Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 187-193. Smith, L. S. The Water Powers of Wisconsin, Bull. 20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1908, pp. 250-260. Sweet, E. T. Geology of the Western Lake Superior District, Geology of Wis- consin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 305-362. Thwaites, F. T. Sandstones of the Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior, Bull. 25, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1912, 109 pp. Van Hise, C. R., and Leith, C. K. Keweenawan Series of the Lake Superior Region, Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 366-426. Whitson, A. R., and Others. Soils bulletins on the Bayfield Area and North Part of Northwestern Wisconsin, Bulls. 31 and 32, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914; Superior Area and Carlton Area, U. S. Bureau of Soils, Washing- ton, 1905, 1906. 414 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Whittlesey, Charles. Geological Report on that Portion of Wisconsin Bordering on the South Shore of Lake Superior, Surveyed in the Year 1849, — in Owen's Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 425-444; On the Fresh-Water Glacial Drift of the Northwestern States, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. 15, 1867, 32 pp; Physical Geology of Lake Superior, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. 24, 1876, pp. 60-72. MAPS U. S. Geological Survey. Superior Quadrangle, Wisconsin (in preparation). Duluth Quadrangle, Minnesota, (Fig. 192). U. S. Lake Survey. Survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes: Charts 9, 96, 961, 962, 964, 966; various scales from 1:15,000 to 1:500,000, (see Fig. 194). CHAPTER XVIII. THE WISCONSIN COAST OF LAKE SUPERIOR Copper in Relation to Former Lake Levels "Near that place are some islands, on the shores of which are often found Rocks of Copper, and even slabs of the same material." Thus wrote Father Dablon in 1669. He alluded to the Apostle Islands near Chequamegon Point. He continued as follows: "Last Spring we bought from the Savages a Slab of pure Copper, two feet square, and weighing more than a hundred livres (100 pounds, troy weight). It is not thought, however, that the mines are found in the Islands, but that all these Copper pebbles probably come from Minong (Isle Royale), or from the other islands which are the sources of it, borne upon floating ice or rolled along in the depth of the water by the very impetuous winds, — particularly by the Northeast wind, which is extremely violent. "It is true that on the Mainland (Bayfield Peninsula), at the place where the Outaouaks raise Indian corn, half a league from the Water's edge, the women have sometimes found pieces of Copper scattered here and there, of the weight of ten, twenty, or thirty livres. It is in digging up the sand to plant their corn that they make these, chance discoveries." This is the first discussion of the physical geography or mineral resources of the Wisconsin portion of Lake Superior region. The copper alluded to was carried to the Bayfield Peninsula and Apostle Islands, as already explained (p. 408), by icebergs, 'floating in a gla- cial lake. Certainly it was not rolled along the bottom of the lake. The copper of Keweenaw Point, Michigan, which occurs in ledges as well as in drift bowlders, was mentioned by LeGarde in 1636. Still earlier, it was known to the aboriginal inhabitants, who mined it and fashioned it into idols, and even into implements and weapons. Submergence and the State Boundary It was provided in 1846 that the western boundary of Wisconsin should extend due south from the St. Louis River to the main 416 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin branch of the St. Croix, starting at the first rapids in the St. Louis above the Indian village, according to Nicollet's map. When the boundary was actually marked, six years later, the rapids in question were difficult to locate. Upon the map alluded to, the Indian village is shown, but with no rapids at just that point. A Chippewa Indian assured the surveyor that there were rapids nearly opposite the Indian village only a few years before. The surveyor accepted the statement as evidence that the lake level was rising. Nevertheless he proceeded up stream to the first rapids of that day, where he located his boundary. This resulted in giving Wisconsin a strip of territory a quarter mile wide and over 40 miles long that might other- wise have been in Minnesota; but the decision was just, because the submergence of the rapids had commenced centuries before the boundary was even proposed. The fluctuation in lake level that causes the submergence of St. Louis River is exceedingly slow. Such changes began thousands of years ago when Lake Superior was very different. It then sub- merged the sites of the present cities of Superior and Duluth (Fig. 184) about 500 feet. Its outlet was down the St. Croix River to the Mississippi. It terminated at the east in a vertical ice cliff far higher and grander than the snowy Antarctic barriers of today. Glacial Lakes in the Superior Basin Nature of the Lakes. The ancestors of the present. Lake Supe- rior have already been alluded to in the description of glacial lakes in eastern Wisconsin (p. 282), and in the discussion of accumulations of lake clay near Superior and Ashland (p. 408). These glacial lakes were held in between the land and the margin of the Superior lobe of the continental ice sheet. The lake levels were determined by the heights of' gaps in the surrounding highland through which the water of these lakes might drain. As the Superior lobe melted back toward the northeast the successive lakes enlarged in area. As the ice vacated more and more of the basin of Lake Superior they decreased in altitude, as lower outlets were exposed. Following an early stage when there were successive small bodies of water, including Glacial Lake Upham — 700 feet above Lake Superior — and Glacial Lake St. Louis in Minnesota, northwest of Lake Superior, we are interested in four stages of the glacier-mar- ginal lakes. These are (1) Lake Nemadji, (2) Lake Duluth, (3) Lake Algonquin, and (4) the Nipissing Great Lakes. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 417 Glacial Lake Nemadji. It will suffice here to state that Glacial Lake Nemadji was very small, about 30 square miles, and that lit- tle, if any, of it was in Wisconsin. Its surface was about 500 feet above the present surface of Lake Superior and it drained down the Kettle River valley. Its waters entered the St. Croix near Grants- burg and the Mississippi at Prescott. ZS SO 75 100 1Z5 ISO MILES Fig. 179. Glacial Lake Nemadji and the Kettle River outlet. Glacial Lake Duluth. Glacial Lake Duluth (Fig. 180) start- ed as a small lake, but was enlarged by the eastward retreat of the ice dam until it was over a third as large as Lake Superior. Its surface stood 450 or 500 feet higher than the present level of Lake Superior, as is proved by abandoned beaches and deltas, and by lake clays and sands on the hill slopes. Its outlet (Fig. 184) was southward through the gap near Upper St. Croix Lake. It probably did not come into existence as soon as Glacial Lake Chicago, (p. 282), per- haps being contemporaneous initially with the Whittlesey-Chicago stage (middle map, Fig. 116) and continuing till the Lundy-Chicago stage (upper map, Fig. 117). Glacial Lake Ontonagon, in Michigan, probably stood about 167 feet higher than Lake Duluth, draining into it near the present Montreal River, north of Hurley, Wisconsin. 418 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin - Fig. 180. Glacial Lake Duluth and the Bois Brule outlet. t?„ iqi riapinl Take Duluth at an hypothetical intermediate stage with draina southward into GlLcLl Lake U Chicago and ^detached ice mass in the eastern part of t Lake Superior Lowland. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 419 Glacial Lake Algonquin. Glacial Lake Algonquin was a very large lake (Fig. 182), occupying all of the basins of Lake Supe- rior, Michigan, and Huron, and overlapping their borders. Of course there was slow change from the Lake Duluth (Figs. 180 and 181) to the Lake Algonquin stage, as there had previously been from the Lake Nemadji to the Lake Duluth stage. In the Superior Fig. 182. Glacial Lake Algonquin in the Lake Superior Lowland. For outlet at this stage see middle map, Figure 117. basin the level of Glacial Lake Algonquin stood 300 to 350 feet above the present lake. Its outlets at different stages were prob- ably: (1) from the south end of what is now Lake Michigan, through the Chicago River to the Illinois and Mississippi, and so to the Gulf of Mexico; (2) from the south end of what is now Lake Huron, through the St. Clair River; (3) from the extreme east end of what is now Georgian Bay in Lake Huron, through the Trent River — Kirkfield outlet — and into Glacial Lake Iroquois, which occupied the basin of the present Lake On- tario. From here the water drained eastward by way of the Mo- hawk and Hudson Rivers to the Atlantic Ocean at New York City. 420 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Nipissing Great Lakes. Lake Nipissing, in the Lake Superior basin, (Fig. 183) was similar to Lake Algonquin in shape but was slightly shallower. It, therefore, overspread less of the borders of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron than its predecessor. Its surface was a few feet higher than Lake Superior at the mouth of the Montreal River on the boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan, but here the Nipissing beach is now cut away by Lake Superior. At Bayfield it is about 4 feet above Lake Superior. Near Wash- Fig. 183. The glacial lake in the Lake Superior Lowland at the stage of the Nipissing Great Lakes. For outlet at this stage see lower map, Figure 117. burn on Chequamegon Bay the level which we think to represent the former surface of Lake Nipissing now dips below the present lake. At the city of Superior it may be 25 feet or so below the pres- ent level of Lake Superior. Its outlet was northeast of Lake Huron (Fig. 117), and its waters drained into the arm of the ocean which then occupied the St. Lawrence valley. Each of the changes mentioned above was separated by numer- ous intermediate stages, here omitted. Each of them was caused by the retreat of the continental glacier toward the northeast and the consequent enlargement of the lake basins. The changes in lake levels were due chiefly to the uncovering of lower and lower outlets, previously blocked by the ice. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 421 There is proof that the land was being uplifted during the latter part of this glacial lake history, for some of the lake beaches are not horizontal, but rise toward the north. After Glacial Lake Nipissing had persisted for a long time, this uplift raised the outlet northeast of Lake Huron. The present outlet of Lake Ontario, near the Thou- sand Islands, was not raised so high, and the waters of the Great Lakes began to flow by the present St. Lawrence River to the ocean. The St. Lawrence outlet had previously been submerged, and then had been higher than the Nipissing outlet. It was not until the Nipissing outlet was abandoned and the St. Lawrence outlet estab- lished that Lakes Superior, Michigan, and the other Great Lakes, began the present episode of their history. The Abandoned Outlets. Only one of the abandoned outlets of the Glacial Great Lakes is in Wisconsin. This is the valley oc- cupied by the Upper St. Croix Lake near Solon Springs. It should not be confused with the long, narrow, Lower Lake St. Croix, oc- cupying the mouth of the same river between Prescott, Wis., and Stillwater, Minn. This outlet is a steep-walled valley at the south end of a long, narrow bay, which led southward from Lake Duluth (Fig. 184). It is now followed for a short distance near Solon Springs by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Rail- way and the "Soo" Railway. This outlet lies nearly 90 feet lower than the Kettle River outlet of Lake Nemadji, but was not occupied by a stream from that lake because it was then blocked by ice. It lies within the Brule Forest Reserve, which may sometime be a State Park. The beaches leading into the outlet from either side are 464 feet above Lake Superior and the outlet is only 411 feet above the lake. It has been suggested that this does not indicate a depth of 53 feet of water in the great stream which formerly flowed here, but a great amount of erosion by the stream. Streams emerging from lakes are commonly free from sediment. They are thought of as unable to erode their outlets, as for example in the case of the Ni- agara River between Lake Erie at Buffalo and the crest of Niagara Falls. Since the outlet of Lake Duluth is in glacial drift rather than in solid rock, it is possible, however, that there was erosion, as has taken place at the St. Clair outlet of Lake Huron. The St. Croix outlet was also occupied during certain of the later stages of Lake Duluth when lower beaches were formed. The outlets of still lower stages of Lake Duluth, also represented by beaches, are not yet worked out. Two suggestions have been 422 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin made. One is that there was drainage northward from Lake Supe- rior to Lake Nipigon, and thence westward into Glacial Lake Agassiz. The other is that there are undiscovered outlets across the upper peninsula of Michigan to Glacial Lake Chicago. This lat- Fig. 184. Glacial Lake Duluth and the Bois Brule — St. Croix outlet. Figures give elevations of abandoned beaches in feet above sea level. (After Leverett.) ter view is supported by the presence of the red till and red clay (p. 252) in northeastern Wisconsin. The Abandoned Shorelines. Above the borders of the Wis- consin shore of Lake Superior are the abandoned shorelines from which we know the series of events just narrated. These are gravel and sand beaches, gravel deltas, and wave-cut cliffs. They are not at all unlike the present coast lines, except that they are high above the present lake. Some of them are overgrown with vegetation. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 423 The Nipissing beaches are usually broader and the wave-cut cliffs higher than those of the Duluth and Algonquin stages. Indeed it seems possible that the present stage of Lake Superior has not yet existed as long as did the Nipissing Great Lakes. The heights of the abandoned strand lines of Lake Duluth above present lake level are shown below. Table Showing Elevations of the Highest Abandoned Shorelines of Glacial Lake Duluth Locality Altitude in feet Above Lake Superior Above sea level West of Superior Southwest of Superior Near Poplar Near Port Wing Near Washburn West of Ashland Near Bibon South of Sedgwick Near Saxon 483 464 482 494 503 490 479 492 503 1085 1066 1084 1098 1105 1092 1081 1094 1105 It is clear from this table that the beaches of Glacial Lake Duluth ascend gradually northeastward (Fig. 184), being 39 feet higher a*bove Lake Superior near the Montreal River than at Superior. This slope is at the rate of about 2 1-2 feet to the mile. The aban- doned beaches of Lake Algonquin and of the Nipissing Great Lakes are also inclined, though not at the same rate. Lake Superior General Features. The modern Lake Superior came into exis- tence after the Nipissing Great Lakes and with the establishment of the present St. Lawrence outlet. The coast line of Lake Superior in Wisconsin is a little over 150 miles long. This does not include minor sinuosities, nor the shores of the Apostle Islands. These islands, more than 24 in number, are said to have been named for 12 pirates who lived in a cave on one of the outer islands. The pirates called themselves the twelve apostles. Another explanation is based upon the erroneous supposition that there were only twelve islands. 424 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin The lake surface is subject to minor fluctuations, as on Lake Michigan (p. 294). The Drowned River Valleys. The tilting of the land which had caused the inclination of the beaches and the submergence of the western part of the shoreline of the Nipissing Great Lakes may still be in progress. This was first noticed more than 60 years ago and was afterwards studied more carefully, so that we now know some- thing about the rate at which the tilting is going on. To say that a line 100 miles long and trending approximately north-south, is being tilted at such a rate that the southern end of it will be four or five inches below the northern end after the lapse of a century seems to indicate a very slow movement. It may turn out, however, that the tilting is spasmodic, with intervals of movement interrupted by in- tervals of rest. However, this may be, the slow tilting has sufficed to submerge the stumps of trees near Superior, where the trees, of course, grew above lake level. The tilting has submerged rapids during the lifetime of some of the Indians, as indicated at the be- ginning of this chapter. The tilting has drowned the valleys of streams on the southern and southwestern side of Lake Superior (p. 416). Of these drowned valleys, or estuaries, Flag Lake at Port Wing may be mentioned, but the best illustration is the lower course of the St. Louis River and the Bay of Superior. Stream erosion had previously proceeded far enough so that the St. Louis had a meandering course on the plain of lake clays (upper map, Fig. 185). These meanders were entrenched in the clays when the lake level fell and the stream cut into these weak deposits. Subsequently they were drowned by the canting of the waters of Lake Superior into the river valley. This is well shown at Spirit Lake. The river is navigable for a long distance by the lake steamers, and smaller boats can go up it 17 miles to Fond du Lac, Minnesota. Thus a great commercial advantage, the use of the Bay of Superior as a harbor, has been made possible by this drown- ing of the mouths of the small rivers on the south side of Lake Superior. Present Sea Cliffs and Benches. The present shorelines of Lake Superior are the product of wave-cutting in some places, of deposition by waves and by currents at other localities. Some of these shorelines are cut in solid rock, but the greater number are in the unconsolidated deposits of glacial drift. The rock coast shows marked evidence of modification by the work of waves at the present level of Lake Superior. These are best de- The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 425 Scj*2-E / • 170000 Stat UTS f-ffL.r.5 \l\ j ( 'Hi' ' ' SUPERIOR f NIRISSIMG STAGE i: /SOOOO J5TATCST& ff/£.CS Fig. 185. The drowned valley of the St. Louis River at Superior (lower map), and the river before the submergence (upper map). 15 426 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin veloped where the sandstone is made up of comparatively thin lay- ers. Of the rock shores, mention may be made of two types of coast: one is the low coast near the mouth of Montreal River and a few miles to the west near Clinton Point, where the rock ledges are prac- tically at lake level and the wave-cut Cliffs only a few feet high. The opposite extreme is the high cliff of the type developed in the Apostle Islands. Here the sandstone, which is red or brown and distinctly coarser-grained than that at Clinton Point, lies in an essentially- horizontal position. The waves, have, therefore, been able to carve fairly-high precipitous rock cliffs in the sandstone, the height being 10 to 30, and in extreme cases, 60 feet. There are many wave- formed arches and caverns (PI. XL, A) of the type known as sea caves. These are best seen on Devils Island. Pillared Rocks in the Apostle Islands. The Pillared Rocks were described in 1848 by Norwood, as follows: "Between Madeline island and Bark point the red sandstone shows itself on the lake shore for nearly the whole distance. At Point Detour, and many other places, the bluffs are perpendicular and from forty to sixty feet in height, and are overlaid by beds of sand and red marl. Beyond the mouth of the small river opposite Oak island, the rock has been worn, by the incessant action of the waves, into most singular and interesting architectural forms. Among these the pillar and arch predominate. These Pillared Rocks extend for many miles and are interesting, not only on account of their picturesque appearance, but also as illustrating the means by which the lake is gradually enlarging its southern boundary. Some of the arches are circular, but most of them are pointed. In the space of two hundred yards, at one point, I .counted over fifty arches, all possessing great regularity, and resting upon pillars almost as symmetrical as though they had been subjected to the chisel of the artisan. Through these arches the waters of the lake dash with every swell, and their unceasing play has hollowed out numerous caverns of great depth. Two caves were particularly noticed, each more than an acre in extent, and supported at intervals by pillars of all sizes, from twelve feet to half the number of inches, in diameter, and forcibly reminding one of the descriptions of the celebrated cave of Elephanta. Regular architraves, friezes, and cornices are constantly seen, but it is only occasionally that a •pillar shows a base, as they are sunk beneath the waters of the lake. Some of the arches are large enough to permit the passage of a Mackinaw boat. There is generally from twenty-five to forty feet Wisconsin Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey. Bulletin XXXVI, Pi.. XL. A. WAVE-CUT ARCH AT SQUAW BAY, BAYFIELD COUNTY. B. BEACH ON THE COAST OF LAKE SUPERIOR. The Wisconsin Coasf of Lake Superior 427 of sandstone resting on the arches, the layers being nearly hori- zontal, and supporting a capping of majestic forest trees, giving to the whole scene an indescribably grand and picturesque appear- ance." Destruction of Islands. The Apostle Islands have been greatly modified by wave erosion. Steamboat Island has been completely destroyed since the coming of white men to the region, while another island has been cut in two. Fig. 186. The sand spits at the head of Lake Superior. (Gilbert.) Bluffs and Beaches. The common wave-cut bluffs in the unconsolidated glacial till or lake clay and sand is a more-gently sloping form. The slope is sometimes as much as 40°, but is generally less. Some of these bluffs are very high, as in the 200 foot cliff at the northern end of Oak Island. Associated with these cliffs are sand and gravel beaches (PI. XL, B). Such beaches skirt the shores of the larger part of the Lake . Superior coast of Wisconsin. There are also barrier beaches, which have been built from headland to headland and which hold in lagoons (Figs. 185, 188). The Sand Spits at Superior. The Bay of Superior and Duluth Harbor are formed by four sand spits (Fig. 186). The two on the 428 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin east separate the port from Lake Superior, while the two on the west separate it from the estuary of the St. Louis River. Among the shore deposits now being formed in Lake Superior none are more striking than the two great bars or spits which extend across the head of Lake Superior at Duluth— Minnesota Point and Wisconsin Point. Their ends are separated by a narrow channel which formed the only entrance to the Bay of Superior until the Government dredged the canal near the Duluth shore. These bars have a total length of about 10 miles. Minnesota Point is 6£ miles long, Wisconsin Point 3 J miles. Their width varies from a little over an eighth of a mile to less than a hundred yards. They have been built up above the water by a combination of two causes. The first and more important is the interference of the shallowing lake bottom with the passage of waves, causing waves to be overturned on the site of the present Minnesota and Wisconsin Points. The overturning stirs up the deposits at the bottom of the lake and causes the waves to heap up material at this locality. The continued accumulation of material along this narrow line has gradually built up a deposit that approached the surface of the water and was augmented by the deposits of the second kind. These are the materials derived from the shores of the lake, trans- ported outward along the submerged embankment, under the influence of the shore currents. The combination of these two agencies soon carried the spits a great distance out from the lake shores, and they were eventually built up above lake level. Drill holes put down near the Government canal at Duluth and at the new jetties between Wisconsin Point and Minnesota Point have shown that the points are built upon a base of fine lake clay. This is overlain near the shore by very coarse material, which is replaced a short distance out by fine sand. The sand goes 60 to 90 feet below present lake level. On the Minnesota side no pebbles are found on the present beach at a greater distance from shore than three- quarters of a mile. This shows that the contribution of the coarse, along-shore drift in the middle of the point is not very great, and that the larger part of the material is washed up by the waves. It is augmented by the material drifted along the beaches. The higher parts of these points, which rise 20 or 30 feet above the lake level, consist of very fine sand, built up into sand dunes by the wind. Upon these dunes, evergreen trees have been able to grow. About a mile back from Minnesota and Wisconsin Points, another pair of spits — Rice Point and Connors Point — has been built. They The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 429 separate St. Louis Bay, where most of the ore boats are loaded, from Superior Bay. These were doubtless formed as spits at an earlier date, in an exactly similar manner to the outer spits, though they have never been connected. The outer bars could not have then existed. Two Harbors Bottle Paper Courses Special Drifts 6u rrents ZO 30 40 50 Mi les Fig. 187. Currents at the western end of Lake Superior. (Harrington.) Still farther up St. Louis River there are projections from the sides of the valley, like Grassy Point and others. In some respects they are similar to the spits, though of an entirely different origin. In the post-Nipissing tilting of the lake waters into the valley of St. Louis River, portions of the low spurs on the valley sides were drowned. Parts of these spurs still emerge from the water and resemble spits (Fig. 185). Origin of the Sand in the Spits. The sand which is carried along shore to the spits is directly related to the currents in western Lake 430 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Superior. These currents make a great eddy west of the Apostle Islands. The water moves southwestward on the southern shore and northeastward on the northern shore, but, in the latter case, with a southwest-setting counter current for a short distance east of Duluth. The presence of the sand which forms these spits calls for special explanation. It has been shown by a study of the soundings in the western part of this lake basin that the prevailing bottom material is clay and mud. The shore material also is chiefly glacial clay, for there are no sandstone ledges on the coast west of Port Wing and Orienta on the south shore. The ledges of the north shore are mostly basic Keweenawan rocks, which contain practically no quartz. The acid volcanic rocks, which might supply some sand, outcrop on the coast northeast of Minnesota Point for less than two miles. They have been little modified by wave work at the present level of Lake Superior. The narrow strip of sand between these two clay belts, one above, the other below lake level, is therefore, seen to be derived from glacial sands and from the along-shore drift of sandy material. Its probable origin is 25 or 30 miles to the northeast in the sandstone ledges near Port Wing, where the abundant sand below lake level begins and continues without interruption to Minnesota Point. A small part of it may come from rivers like the Iron, Bois Brule, Poplar, and Amnicon, which cross sandstone ledges near the escarpment, though these streams are drowned at the mouths and, therefore, should supply little but silt to Lake Superior. As the rate of movement of the surface current is only 6 to 24 miles per day, and the rate of movement of the sand along shore is infinitely slower, except in time of storms, it is clear that the accumulation of the sand in these great spits has occupied a period of many thousands of years. Spits at Port Wing. Port Wing, in Bayfield County, also has a pair of spits (Fig. 188). They partly close the mouth of the estuary made by the drowning of the mouth of Flag River. Within the bay the submerged channel may still be traced by soundings. It is re- markable that the estuary has not been completely filled, in view of the sand accumulation which makes the spits at the bay mouth. Spits in the Apostle Islands. Farther east, near the end of the Bayfield Peninsula, there is a broad sand spit below lake level, con- necting the mainland west of Point Detour with Sand Island (Fig. 189). It is over 2 miles long, a mile wide, and has water 6 to 8 feet deep where the depth is normally 40 to 60 feet. Its proximity to the mouth of Sand River, however, does not indicate that this is delta' Fig. 188. The sand spits at Port Wing. 'S (After U. S. Lake Survey.) Fig, 189. The submerged sand bar or tombolo, which connects one of the Apostle Islands with the mainland. Depths andheights in feet, (After U. S. Lake Survey.) The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 433 as well as shore accumulation, for this stream is like its neighbors in having no delta. The mouths of the rivers which enter Lake Superior on the south are practically all without deltas because of the tilting of the waters of the lake into the valley on this side. The soundings in Lake Superior show sand deposits which trail southwestward from the islands with the prevailing lake currents. There is a similar sand deposit extending southwestward from Bark Point, where sand- stone ledges outcrop at lake level. There are other small spits, above and below lake level, on the shores of some of the Apostle Islands. Many of them point south- Fic. 190, Chequamegon Point and the great deposit of sand in the bay at Ashland- (After U. S. fake Survey.) westward. There are also sand bars which unite pairs of islands, as at York Island and Rock Island. There are converging spits which enclose lagoons, as on the southwest sides of Michigan and Outer Islands. On Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle archipelago, the head of Big Bay on the eastern side is barred off by a barrier beach. This also is the case on the southwestern side of the same island between the modern village of La Pointe and the Old Mission. There is a similar barrier in Bark Bay, Bayfield County. Chequamegon Point. East of the Apostle Islands is Chequame- gon Point, a long, narrow sand spit to which the harbor of Ashland owes its protection. It extends nearly across the bay (Fig. 190). 434 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Chequamegon Point was formerly a narrow spit nearly 8 miles long, reaching within If miles of Madeline Island and within 2| miles of the mainland of Bayfield Peninsula. About 1840, again in 1870, and again in 1891, a gap was formed during a severe storm, making I st Stage 4 th Stage. Original bay.' \ Beginning of Chequamegon Point bar Dotted line shows the present bay Marsh forming behind the bar. 2 nd Stage. Oak PoM bar stage. Bad River bar forming. Oa'kPt. bar completed Chequamegon Point 5 th Stage. Present condition of Chequamegon Bay, showing completed bars. t£d Marshland IS&I Marsh forming Union of Oak Point and Bad River bars. 6 — t- 24 Miles — i Fig. 191. Five stages in the formation of Chequamegon Point. (Collie.) the outer 4 miles of the spit into an isolated bar, called Long Island. This gap, known as the Sand Cut, has water only If to 4 feet deep. Inside Chequamegon Point is an older sand spit called Oak Point. Nearby Radisson and Groseilliers portaged across from Lake Superior to Chequamegon Bay in 1661. It is assumed that the break in Chequamegon Point did not then exist, for otherwise the The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 435 Indians would not have taken the French coureurs de bois across the portage. The order of events in the formation of Chequamegon and Oak Points has been worked out as follows: Following the first stage, when there was no sand accumulation here, Oak Point bar is thought to have been formed (2nd stage, Fig. 191). Soon it was connected with the mainland by Bad River bar (3rd stage, Fig. 191). Subse- quently outer Chequamegon Point was formed on the site of the present Long Island (4th stage, Fig. 191). Then the whole point was connected by the large Chequamegon Point (5th stage, Fig. 191). Finally the Sand Cut breach was made (Fig. 190). This latter episode has been interpreted as evidence that this and all the ad- jacent sand spits are wasting under the influence of higher wave attack with the southward tilting of the lake waters. La Pointe, where Father Allouez established the mission of St. Esprit in 1665, was on the mainland west of Chequamegon Bay, be- tween Washburn and Ashland. There Allouez found a village of 800 Indians, and there Father Marquette lived in 1669. This should not be confused with the Old Mission of La Pointe or the present village of La Pointe, both on the west shore of Madeline Island, opposite Bayfield. At none of these three places called La Pointe is there a conspicuous peninsula or point, comparable to Chequame- gon Point. It was the latter that originally gave the name to the mission and the region of La Pointe du St. Esprit (p. 23). Lake-bottom Deposits. West of Chequamegon Point there is an extensive marsh and shallow water area which has filled the eastern two-thirds or three-fourths of Chequamegon Bay. This is quite as important a deposit as the visible sand spits. Its formation has accompanied the building of the spits, but it is nowhere above lake level, except where the deposition has been of sufficient amount to allow marsh plants to raise the deposit above lake level and make a swamp. This process is much slower than in warmer southern waters. Between the mouth of Montreal River and the Apostle Islands the bottom of Lake Superior is shown, by a study of the sound- ings on lake charts, to be prevailingly sandy, though with small areas of clay in the deeper water. This sand is the source of the spits. As in Wisconsin Point at Superior, it has been built up above lake level by the interference with waves on the shallow bottom, as well as by alongshore transportation. 436 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin This great accumulation of sand in water 50 to 400 feet deep forms a notable contrast with the prevailing clay and mtfd bottom of Lake Superior. It is clearly related to the friable sandstone ledges of the Apostle Islands and to the currents in the lake. The drift of bottles and of wrecks (Fig. 187) shows that the surface waters flow northeastward from the Apostle Islands and from Chequamegon Point. The observations here are incomplete, but the abundant, submerged deposits of sand south of the archipelago and the lack of .sand to the west suggests that there may also be strong southward currents through the Apostle Islands. There may also be a counter- current close to shore and extending westward from the Montreal River to Chequamegon Point. There are no rock ledges at lake level, except at the mouth of Montreal River and near Clinton Point, and the sandstone here is more shaly and much less friable than in the Apostle Islands. Accordingly the chief source of the sand of this spit may be in the latter locality, though much is also derived from the sandy glacial drift of the lake shore. Further observations of drifting bottles and a petrographic study of the sand of the spit may throw light upon this question. Ice in Lake Superior. Winter ice closes Lake Superior to navi- gation for several months each year. Ashland Harbor is usually closed for 145 days, Dec. 1 to Apr. 25; Outer Island in the Apostle group for 157 days; and Duluth-Superior for 96 to 133 days. This is a decided contrast to Milwaukee (p. 291). Relation of Sand Bars to Commerce. The relation of the sand spits to the protection of the estuary harbor of Duluth-Superior, of the harbor of Ashland at Chequamegon Bay, and to a less extent the harbor of Port Wing, is a potent influence in connection with the shipping of iron ore, lumber, and grain from these ports. This is especially important at Duluth-Superior, whose harbor (Fig. 186) ships a greater tonnage than Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Fort William, Port Arthur, Buffalo, or any other lake port, and, in spite of the ice embargo of winter, probably more than any American seaport except New York. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bayfield, H. W. Outlines of the Geology of Lake Superior, Trans. Lit. and Hist. Soc. of Quebec, Vol. 1, 1829, pp. l-i3. Collie, G. L. The Wisconsin Shoreline of Lake Superior, Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. Vol. 12, 1901, pp. 197-216. The Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior 437 Dablon, Claude. (On drift copper in and near the Apostle Islands), Jesuit Relations 1669-71, Thwaites edition, Vol. 54, pp. 161-163. Gilbert, G. K. The Topographic Features of Lake Shores, 5th Annual Rept.,, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, pp. 93-95; Recent Earth Movements in the Great Lakes Region, Ibid., 18th Annual Rept., Part 2, 1898, pp. 595-647. Harrington, M. W. Surface Currents of the Great Lakes, Bull. B, U. S. Weather Bureau, Dept. of Agriculture, 1895. Hattery, O. C. Survey of Northern and Northwestern Lakes, Bull. 24, U. S. Lake Survey, War Dept., Corps of Engineers, Detroit, 1915, 455 pp. This is an annual publication, with corrections and additions in monthly supple- ments. Irving, R. D. Coastal Features of the Eastern Lake Superior District, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 70-76. Leverctt, Frank. Outline of History of the Great Lakes, 12th Annual Rept., Mich. Acad. Sci., 1910, Superior Basin, pp. 21, 25-28. Martin, Lawrence. Marginal Lakes of the Lake Superior Region, Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911, pp. 441-453; Postglacial Modifications, Ibid., pp. 455-459. Nicollet, J. N. Map in Senate Doc. 237, 26th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1843. Norwood, J. G. (On the Apostle Islands and south coast of Lake Superior), — in Owen's Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wisconsin, Senate Ex. Doc. 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washing- ton, 1848, pp. 75-77. Radisson, Pierre Esprit, sieur de, (On Chequamegon Point in 1661), The Fourth Voyage of Radisson, Collections Wis. Hist. Soc. Vol. 11, 1888, p. 72. Schoolcraft, H. R. Native Copper of Lake Superior, Amer. Journ. Sci., Vol. 3, 1821, pp. 201-216. Stuntz, G. R. On Some Recent Geological Changes in Northeastern Wisconsin, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Salem Meeting, 1869, Vol. 18, 1870, pp. 205-210. Taylor, F. B. A Reconnoissance of the Abandoned Shorelines of the South Coast of Lake Superior, Amer. Geol., Vol. 13, 1894, pp. 365-383; Monograph 53, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1915, pp. 321, 327-328, 431, 456, 460, 509, 510. Upham, Warren. The Western Superior Glacial Lake and the Later Glacial Lakes Warren and Algonquin, 22nd Annual Rept., Minn. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1894, pp. 54-66; Origin and Age of the Laurentian Lakes and of Niagara Falls, Amer. Geol., Vol. 18, 1896, pp. 169-177. Whittlesey, Charles. The Apostle Islands, Geological Report on that Portion of Wisconsin Bordering on the South Shore of Lake Superior, — in Owen' Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 437-438; On the Cause of the Transient Fluctuations in Level in Lake Superior, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Portland Meeting, 1873, pp. 42-46. On Owen's geological map of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, published in 1851, Whittlesey shows the border of the red clays and marls. Williams, F. E. Recent Sedimentation in the Western Great Lakes, Unpublished thesis, University "of _ Wisconsin, 1910. MAPS See Chapter XVII, p. 414. 438 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin APPENDIX A. AREA OF WISCONSIN. The area of Wisconsin is 56,066 square miles. It has also been given as 54,450 and 56,040. The list of areas of counties in Appen- dix C adds up to the second of these three figures. This is from the Wisconsin Blue Book and the Official Railroad Map by the Rail- road Commission of Wisconsin. The area of 56,066 is the most nearly correct, however. It is based upon careful computations published by the United States Geological Survey, and based upon the joint work of the Federal Census Office, General Land Office, and Geological Survey. Their method of measurement is described as follows (Bulletin 302, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, p. 6) : "The areas of all square degrees included entirely within a State or the United States are taken from tables of such areas. Where a square degree is crossed by a boundary line, so that only part of it is included, both the part included and that excluded are measured from the best maps by planimeter, and the correctness of the meas- urement is tested by comparing their sum with the tabular area of the square degree." Included in this 56,066 square miles are 810 square miles of water surfaces. This represents the area of the rivers and inland lakes of Wisconsin. It is,thought that this figure is too small, perhaps repre- senting only half the water surface of rivers and inland lakes. In addition Wisconsin has 2,378 square miles of the surface of Lake Superior and 7,500 square miles of the surface of Lake Michi- gan. Its area may be summarized as follows: Square miles Total area, including rivers, inland lakes and parts of the Great Lakes Area of land surface Area of rivers and inland lakes Area of Wisconsin portion of Lake Superior Area of Wisconsin portion of Lake Michigan Area of land and inland waters 65 ,944 55 ,256 at least 810 2,378 7,500 56 ,066 The state ranks twenty-fourth in area in the United States. Boundaries of Wisconsin 439 APPENDIX B. BOUNDARIES OF WISCONSIN. The best description of the limits of the state is "The Boundaries of Wisconsin" by R. G. Thwaites, (Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 11, 1888, pp. 451-501). See also M. M. Strong's "History of the Territory of Wisconsin from 1836 to 1848," Madison, 1885, 637 pp; and H. C. Campbell's "Wisconsin in Three Centuries, 1634-1905," 4 vols., New York, 1906. The following is quoted from the Thirteenth Census of the United States, (Vol. 3, Population, 1910, Washington, 1913, p. 1047). "Wisconsin was named from its principal river. The significance of the word, which is of Indian origin, is not positively known, but among the meanings given are 'wild, rushing river,' 'gathering of the waters,' and 'great stone or rocks.' "The first explorers of the region now constituting Wisconsin were the French. In 1634 Jean Nicolet, sent out by the governor of New France to promote trade with the Indians, landed where the city of Green Bay now stands, and ascended the Fox River to a point about 20 miles west of Lake Winnebago. Twenty years later two fur traders, Radisson and Groseilliers, ascended the Fox and may have descended the Wisconsin to its junction with the Mississippi. In 1669 a mission was established on the Fox River a few miles above its mouth, and about the mission grew up the town of Depere, the first permanent settlement within the present limits of Wisconsin. "In 1763, at the close of the French and Indian war, the French possessions east of the Mississippi were ceded to England. At the close of the Revolution the territory northwest of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi was ceded by Great Britain to the United States. The former country, however, did not at once relinquish its hold, and, although its outposts in that region were evacuated in the summer of 1796, it was not until the close of the war of 1812 that it ceased to exercise some degree of control in the territory between Lake Michi- gan and the Mississippi. "In 1787 the region bounded by Pennsylvania, the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes was organized as the North- 440 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin west Territory, the claims of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vir- ginia, based on their early charters, having been ceded to the United States between 1781 and 1786. In 1800 the present area of Wis- consin was included in the newly organized territory of Indiana; in 1809 it was made a part of Illinois territory; and in 1818, when Illinois became a state, it was added to Michigan territory. "Wisconsin was organized as a separate territory in 1836. At this time it included, in addition to the area of the present state, the region now constituting Minnesota, Iowa, and those portions of North and South Dakota lying east of the Missouri and White Earth Rivers. In 1838 that part of Wisconsin territory situated west of the Mississippi River and a line drawn north from its source to the Canadian boundary was organized as the territory of Iowa. In May, 1848, Wisconsin, with boundaries as at present, became a state of the Union." The name of the state has also been spelled "Wiskonsin, Ouiscon- sin, Misconsing, etc." (see R. G. Thwaites' book entitled "Wis- consin, the Americanization of a French Settlement," American Commonwealth Series, Boston, 1908, p. 233). The boundaries of Wisconsin are described as follows in Bulletin 226, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, pp. 122-123; see also the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, Article II, (Wisconsin Blue Book, Madi- son, 1915, p. 341). "Wisconsin was organized as a territory July 3, 1836. As orig- inally constituted its area comprised all that part of the former territory of Michigan which lay outside of the present limits of the State of Michigan. The limits are defined in the act for its organi- zation as follows : Bounded on the east by a line drawn from the northeast corner of the State of Illinois, through the middle of Lake Michigan, to a point in the middle of said lake and opposite the main channel of Green Bay; and through said channel and Green Bay to the mouth of the Menomonee; thence through the middle of the main channel of said river to that head of said river nearest to the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the middle of said lake; thence through the middle of the main channel of the Montreal River to its mouth; thence with a direct line across Lake Superior to where the territorial line of the United States last touches said lake northwest; thence on the north with the said territorial line to the White Earth River, on the west by a line from the said boundary line following down the middle of the main channel of White Earth River to the Missouri River, and down the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River to a point due west from the northwest corner of the State of Missouri, and on the south from said point due east to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri; and thence with the boundaries of the States of Missouri and Illinois as already fixed by acts of Congress. (Twenty-fourth Congress, first session). Boundaries of Wisconsin 441 "In 1838 all that part of the territory lying west of the Miss- issippi and a line drawn due north from its source to the international boundary — that is, all that part which was originally comprised in the Louisiana purchase — was organized as the Territory of Iowa. "On August 9, 1846, an enabling act for Wisconsin was passed giv- ing the boundaries as follows : Beginning at the northeast corner of the State of Illinois, that is to say, at a point in the center of Lake Michigan where the line of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes of north latitude crosses the same: thence running with the boundary line of the State of Michigan, through Lake Michigan, Green Bay, to the mouth of the Menomonee River; thence up the channel of said river to the Brule River; thence up said last-mentioned river to Lake Brule; thence along the southern shore of Lake Brule in a direct line to the center of the channel between Middle and South islands in the Lake of the Desert; thence in a direct line to the headwaters of Montreal River, as marked upon the survey made by Captain Cramm; thence down the main channel of the Montreal River to the middle of Lake Superior; thence through the center of Lake Superior to the mouth of the Saint Louis River; thence up the main channel of said river to the first rapids in the same, above the Indian village, according to Nicollet's map; thence due south to the main branch of the river Saint Croix; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river to the Mississippi; the'needown the center of the main channel of that river to the north- west corner of the State of Illinois; thence due east with the northern boundary of the State of Illinois to the place of beginning. (Twenty-ninth_Congress, first session). "On March 3, 1847, a supplementary act for the admission of Wis- consin was passed by Congress, in which the western boundary of the proposed State was changed as follows: That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the change of boundary proposed in the first article of said constitution, to wit : Leaving the boundary line prescribed in the act of Congress entitled "An act to enable the people of Wisconsin Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union," at the first rapids in the river St. Louis; thence in a direct line southwardly to a point fifteen miles east of the most easterly point of Lake St. Croix; thence due south to the main channel of the Mississippi River or Lake Pepin; thence down the said main channel, as prescribed in said act.. (Twenty- ninth Congress, second session)." This supplementary act was incorporated with the first draft of the constitution of the new state, which failed to be ratified by the people of Wisconsin. Subsequently another constitution was adopted by the people of the state. It contained a proviso altering the northwestern boundary to a position west of the present one. This would have placed the city of St. Paul in Wisconsin. This proviso failed in Congress. Accordingly the act of May 442 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 29, 1848, admitting Wisconsin to the Union, fixed the boundaries as provided in the act of Aug. 9, 1846, quoted on page 441. The Illinois- Wisconsin boundary was run and marked in 1832-33; the Michigan- Wisconsin boundary between the Montreal and Brule Rivers in 1847, the Minnesota-Wisconsin boundary from the St. Louis to the St. Croix River in 1852. Certain geographical relationships of these boundaries have been discussed in this book (see pp. 41, 157, 398, 410, and 415). The territory and state of Wisconsin have at various times been attached to Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Wisconsin has included Minne- sota, Iowa, and the Dakotas. It has possessed and lost the sites of Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis, the iron mines of Minnesota, the iron and copper mines of Michigan, the coal and lead mines of northern Illinois, and the rich corn and wheat lands of Iowa, of northern Illinois, and of the Red River Valley in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Areas and Populations of Counties in Wisconsin 443 APPENDIX C AREAS AND POPULATIONS OF COUNTIES IN WISCONSIN. With Names of County Seats, and Distances of Each From Madison — the State Capital — and From Milwaukee — the Largest City An excellent publication containing much geographical informa- tion about the boundaries of Wisconsin counties and the origin of their names is Louise P. Kellogg's "Organization, Boundaries, and Names of Wisconsin Counties" (Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc. Vol. 57, 1909, pp. 184-231). See also Wisconsin Statutes, 1911, pp. 3-16. The following table is quoted from the Wisconsin Blue Book, 1913 edition, and the 1914 edition of the Official Railroad Map of Wisconsin, prepared under the direction of the Railroad Com- mission of Wisconsin. Distance From Area Square Popu- lation County Seat County Miles 1910 Madison Milwaukee AHamR 682 8,604 Friendship..-. 106 125 AnhTaTlrl 930 21,965 289 367 Barron 878 29,114 237 294 Bayfield 1,497 15,987 359 422 518 54,098 157 115 Buffalo 662 16,006 187 252 881 9,026 340' 398 317 16,701 Chilton 160 78 Chippewa 1,002 32,103 193 268 Clark. 1,200 30,074 154 215 Columbia 776 31,129 37 93 Crawford 657 16,288 98 180 1,188 77,435 82 884 47,436 18,711 59 58 454 214 172 1,319 47,422 336 368 844 25,260 209 291 620 32,721 3,381 183 265 498 271 226 Fond du Lac 720 51,610 91 63 1,421 6,782 266 238 Grant 1,157 39,007 85 167 Green 576 21,641 27 105 364 15,491 118 90 763 22,497 47 128 1786 8,306 385 338 978 17,075 Black Kiver Falls 127 209 1548 34,306 36 52 [790 19,569 73 129 r 274 T327 32,929 16,784 115 194 33 152 La Crosse J75 43,996 133 203 444 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin County Lafayette. Langlade Lincoln Manitowoc... Marathon Marinette Marquette Milwaukee.... Monroe Oconto Oneida....^ Outagamie Ozaukee Pepin Pierce Polk Portage Price..... Racine Richland Rock Rusk St. Croix Sauk Sawyer.... Shawano. Sheboygan Taylor . Trempealeau. Vernon Vilas Walworth.™.. Washburn Washington... Waukesha.. ... Waupaca , Waushara. Winnebago.... Wood Area Popu- Square lation Miles 1910 634 20.07S 855 17,062 885 19,064 590 44,978 1,532 55,054 1,396 33,812 451 10,741 328 433,187 915 28,881 1,080 25,657 900 11,433. 634 49,102 226 17,123 238 7,577 543 22,079 933 21,367 ' 800 30,945 1,241 13,795 323 57,424 576 18,809 706 55,538 936 11,160 711 25,910 820 32,869 1,342 6,227 1,135 31,884 510 54,888 965 13,641 734 22,928 792 28,116 907 6,019 562 29,614 834 8,196 423 23,784 562 37,100 749 32,782 639 18,886 472 62,116 785 30,583 County Seat Darlington.., Merrill Manitowoc... Wausau Marinette Montello... Milwaukee Sparta Oconto Rhinelander Appleton Port Washington ,. Durand Ellsworth Balsam Lake Stevens Point Phillips Racine Richland Center.... Janesville Lady smith Hudson Baraboo. Hayward Shawano Sheboygan Medford Whitehall Viroqua Eagle River. Elkhorn Shell Lake West Bend Waupaca Wautoma Oshkosh Grand Rapids... Distance From Madison Milwaukee 108 138 212 184 191 207 159 77 171 187 206 164 61 117 82 108 178 186 144 259 231 127 100 107 25 212 294 275 357 316 361 108 164 210 266 106 24 59 141 39 71 213 263 249 331 37 119 290 372 176 153 134 52 176 232 169 251 149 206 268 242 71 56 270 352 116 34 62 20 156 136 146 118 108 81 133 160 The total population of the 71 Wisconsin counties in 1910 was 2,333,860. In 1840 it was only 30,945, and, in 1836, 11,000 people. The state now ranks thirteenth in population in the United States. The density of population in each county in 1910 and the relation to the geographical provinces of the state is shown in Figure 68. These 71 counties contain 35,363,840 acres. They had 21,060,066 acres in 177,127 farms in 1910. Of this, 11,907,606 acres were improved land. The percentage of the area in farms in each county in 1910 and the relation to the geographical provinces of the state is shown in Figure 167. Areas of State Parks, Forest Reserve, etc., in Wisconsin 445 APPENDIX D. AREAS OF STATE PARKS, FOREST RESERVE, INDIAN RESERVATIONS, MILITARY RESERVATIONS, PUBLIC LANDS AND EDUCATIONAL LANDS IN WISCONSIN. State Parks. The Wisconsin state parks are as follows: Name of Park County Acres Peninsula State Park Door 3700 Marquette State Park Grant 1671 Devils Lake State Park Sauk 1040 Interstate Park Polk 550 Total area in state parks* 6961 a For brief descriptions, see pages 109, 192, 295, 343. The Brule River Reserve, 5086 acres, is in Douglas County. It is now part of the State Forest Reserve but will doubtless be made into a state park. A Bird Reserve of 6000 acres, on the Wisconsin River near Merrimac, has recently been donated to the state. There is a small bird reserve on Gravel Island, Door County, near Ephraim. This is not a state park. There are several other small privately-donated bird reserves in northern Wisconsin. Forest Reserve. The State Forest Reserve covered over 365,000 acres in 1915. It consisted of 186,537 acres in Vilas, Oneida, Iron, Forest, and Price Counties and 88,882 acres in scattered lands out- side, plus several thousand acres in small islands. The federal government has recently given the state 637 small islands in the lakes of northern Wisconsin. The Forest Reserve includes a Game Preserve of 218 acres near Big Trout Lake, Vilas County, where there are deer and elk. Indian Reservations. The Federal Indian Reservations are as follows, (see Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior, Washington, 1914): 446 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Reservation County Area in Acres Number of Indians Tribe Ashland 123,761 14,166 68,914 71,030 231,680 8,920 65,440 1222 507 1252» 707 1721 606 2451 1274 313 Chippewa Red Cliff Bayfield. .. Chippewa lac Court D'Oreilles 8awyer.._ Shawano-Oconto „ Chippewa Chippewa Menominee Stockbridge Outagamie-Brown. Winnebago Fotawatami a Includes Hayward School. b The Hayward, Tomah, and Carter schools are not within any of the Indian Reservations. The Indian Reservations cover over 912 square miles or 583,901 acres. On these reservations and in the Indian schools there were 10,053 Indians in 1914, not including the Stockbridge' and Brother- town Indians who are voters. Many geographical relationships of the Indians in Wisconsin in early days are found in F. J. Turner's "Character and Influence of the Fur Trade in Wisconsin" (Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc. Vol. 36, 1889, pp. 52-98; reprinted as "Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin," Johns Hopkins University Studies, Vol. 9, 1891, 75 pp). See, also, J. G. Shea's "Indian Tribes in Wisconsin," (Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 3, 1857, pp. 125-138.) Military Reservations. The State military reservation at Camp Douglas in Juneau County covers 1200 acres. The Federal military reservations are: In Monroe County between Sparta and Tomah, 14,111 acres (Sparta Target Range) ; In Door County near Sturgeon Bay, 1046 acres (stone quarries). Public Lands. There are also public lands as follows: In 1915 the United States Government land subject to entry included 6758 acres in small, scattered tracts. The U. S. Land Office is at Wausau. The State of Wisconsin then had, in addition to the scattered Forest Reserve lands, over 12,000 acres in small isolated tracts south of Township 33. The State Land Office is at Madison. Educational Lands. In all the state, educational lands — including school lands, University lands, agricultural college lands, and normal school lands- — cover 11,690 acres. Wisconsin Maps 447 APPENDIX [E. WISCONSIN MAPS. The State as a Whole. The following list describes the more important maps of the whole state and tells where they may be obtained. Name of Map Scale Size in inches Cost Where Obtainable Base Map of Wisconsin (1911). .. 8 miles to 1 inch 39 by 42 30c U. S. Geol. Survey, Wash- ington, D. C. Geological and Road Map of Wisconsin (1911)a... 6 miles to 1 inch 51 by 59 $1.50b Superintendent of Public Property, Madison. Relief Model of Wisconsin (1910)c 42 by 46 42 by 46 42 by 46 • d Geological Model of Wisconsin (1910) .. . d Model of Wisconsin, showing Glacial Deposits. ... Relief Map of Wisconsin (1915) 16 miles to 1 inch 20 by 21 issued separately. Railroad Map of Wisconsin (1913) 10 miles to 1 inch 33 by 36 Free Wisconsin, Madison. Land Office Map of Wisconsin (1912) 12 miles to 1 inch 25 by 29 25c U. S. Land Office, Wash- ington, D. C. Post Office Map of Wisconsin and Michigan. 9 miles to 1 inch 46 by 60 $1.60 U. S. Post Office, Washing- ton, D. C. Political Map of Wisconsin 16 miles to 1 inch 19 by 26 25c Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago. Political Map of Wisconsin 12 miles to 1 ineh 28 by 38 $1.00 Rand, McNally & Co., Chicago. Political Map of Wisconsin.. . 38 by 42 $2.50 A. J. Nystrom & Co., Chi- cago. A. J. NyBtrom & Co., Chi- cago. 48 by 60 $2.60 Political Map of Wisconsin 10 miles to 1 inch 29 by 35 $2.50 apolia, Ind. aEarlier colored geological maps of the state were published as follows. For places of publication of these maps see Appendix G. Author Date Scale of Map D. D. Owen. 1851 1855 25 22 15 36 24 20 15 1 (t II H 1 II II II 1869 1874 1878 1879 1881 1 1. II II < II II 11 1 II II II b Cloth backed and mounted. The same on paper, 30c. cEarlier models were published as follows: (1) in 1882 by F. H. King (editions issued to show separately (a) geology, (b) glacial deposits, (c) forests, and (d) soils). (2) in 1906 by E. C. Case (for information apply to Central Scientific Co., Chicago). dFor prices and descriptions, address E. H. J. Lorenz, Madison, Wis. 448 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Relief models of two portions of the state have been made and issued by the University of Wisconsin. Photographs of these models appear as Plates XVI and XXXVI, A in this book. These are: The Lake Superior Region, 10 miles to 1 inch, model 70 by 44 inches, shows topography in parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Canada. The Baraboo District, 2 inches to 1 mile, model 44 by 60 inches, shows topography and geology. For information address the Secretary, Board of Regents, Madison, Wis. The following maps of part or all of Wisconsin are on more specialized subjects. Some of them were made many years ago and are not easily obtained at present, but may be consulted in the larger libraries: Name of map a Date Scale Size in inches Published as 1881 15 miles to 1 inch 23 by 27 Atlas PI. II; Geology of Wisconsin 1882 1882 15 miles to 1 inch 15 miles to 1 inch 23 by 27 23 by 27 Atlas PL IIA; Geology of Wisconsin Soils Atlas PL IIB; Geology of Wisconsin 1882 15 miles to 1 inch 23 by 27 Atlas PL IIC; Geology of Wisconsin Geological Map, showing Quarries 1898 20 miles to 1 inch 16 by 20 PI. I, Bull. 4, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey 1898 24 miles to 1 inch 9 by 15 PI. I, Bull. 1, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey 1901 21 miles to 1 inch 16 by 20 PI. I, Bull. 7, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey 1906 1908 21 miles to 1 inch 55 miles to 1 inch 16 by 20 6 by 7 PI. II, Bull. 15, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Soils Hist. Survey PI. U, Bull. 20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey . Creameries and Cheese Factories 1910 9 miles to 1 inch 43 by 31 BulL 210, Wis. Agr. Exp. Station Geology of the Lake Superior Region 1911 16 miles to 1 inch 35 by 23 PI. I, Monograph 52, U. S. Geol. Survey 1915 1915 25 miles to 1 inch 16 miles to 1 inch 13 by 15 19 by 21 PI. I, Bull. 45, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Geological Map, showing Artesian Hist. Survey PL I, Bull. 35, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey Index to Atlas Sheets, Wisconsin. 1915 16 miles to 1 inch 19 by 21 U. S. Geol. Survey, Washington, D. C. (Free) aThe maps listed in this table are all good-sized wall maps, usually in colors. For smaller black and white maps showing geographical distributions see the following: Farm animals, crops, etc., in Wisconsin in 1905 — Bull. 26, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1913; Ibid., Wisconsin Blue Book, 1915: Ibid., in Merrill's Industrial Geog- raphy of Wisconsin, 1911. Farm animals, crops, etc., in 1910 — Unbound pamphlet. Wis. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1915. Population, improved land, etc., — Abstract, U. S. Census, 1910, with Supplement for Wisconsin. Wisconsin Maps 449 U. S. Geological Survey Maps. The United States Geological Survey, partly in cooperation with the Wisconsin Geological Survey, has published the quadrangles outlined in Figure 192, showing topog- raphy. Part of one quadrangle is reproduced in Figure 15. They are sold for 10 cents each, or $3 for 50 maps, on application to The Director, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., or from The University Cooperative Co., 504 State St., Madison, or The C. N. Casper Co., 454 E. Water St., Milwaukee, or Gray's Bookstore, 104 Wisconsin St., Milwaukee. They may also be purchased from the postmasters in certain towns. The names of the sheets or quadrangles thus far published are listed below. All of them are on the scale of 1:62,500, or about an inch to the mile, except the Geneva-Racine, Marathon Special, Wausau Special, Richland Center, Lancaster, Mineral Point, Elkader, and Waukon quadrangles, which are on the scale of 1 :125,000, or about 2 miles to the inch. Each sheet is 16| by 20 inches. A large index map of these quadrangles, or atlas sheets, may be obtained, free, by writing The Director, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. On the index map (Fig. 192), these quadrangles bear the arbi- trarily-chosen numbers given in the following alphabetical list. In ordering these sheets or quadrangles it is necessary to refer to them by name rather than by number. Name of Quadrangle Number on Figure 192 Name of Quadrangle Number on Figure 192 32 11 37 7 27 4 33 13 10 17 39 18 30 48 6 15 3 9 26 46 20 19 8 12 40 42 22 36 28 31 1 34 41 Eagle. .. St. Croix Dalles (Wis.-Minn.) 47 5 2 44 16 25 49 38 24 23 1A 21 35 45 ■ 29 14 43 39-40 aBayview, Eagle, Lake Geneva, Muskego, Racine, and Silver Lake sheets, on the scale of 1 :62,500, have been reduced and form the Geneva-Racine double sheet, on the scale of 1:125,000. It sells for 20 cents, or 12 cents when included in wholesale orders. bThe Wilton, Superior, Ripon, and Neshkoro quadrangles are in preparation in 1915. cNeenah and Fond du Lac sheets form the Winnebago special, price 20 cents. 450 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Within the state the U. S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Geological Survey, issued profile river maps in 1907, supplementary to Water Supply Paper 207. The scale' is 1 :24,000 TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS AND FOLIOS 13 . M — I8 . 3 * ' Fig. 192. Index map showing the location of areas in Wisconsin where there are topo- graphic maps by the United States Geological Survey. The numbers on this map correspond to those in the fist on page 449, where the names of these quadrangles are given. Ruled areas are covered by folios with geological as well as topographic maps. or about 1\ inches to the mile. The contour interval is 5 or 10 feet on the land and 1 or 5 feet on river surfaces. These maps, made under the direction of L. S. Smith, are sold for 5 cents a sheet, but most of them are now out of print. Address The State Geologist, Wisconsin Maps 451 Madison, Wis. These profile river maps (Fig. 194), cover parts of the rivers listed below: River Number oi± Sheets Area Covered Wisconsin 11 From Kilbourn, Columbia Co., to Tomahawk, Lincoln Co. Eau Claire 2 township, Marathon Co. Peshtigo 4 From Peshtigo to Taylors Rapids, Marinette Co. Black 3 From Black River Falls, Jackson Co., to Withee, Clark Co. Flambeau 6 From junction of the Flambeau with the Chip- pewa River to Turtle River, Iron Co. Immediately adjacent to the borders of Wisconsin are the Duluth Quadrangle (Minn.), the Crystal Falls and Menominee Special Quadrangles (Mich.), and the Elizabeth, Galena, and Peosta Quadrangles (Illinois-Iowa). The topographic sheets of the United States Geological Survey are described as follows: "The features shown on these atlas sheets or maps may be classed in three groups — (1) water, including seas, lakes, rivers, canals," swamps, and other bodies of water; (2) relief, including mountains, hills, valleys, and other elevations and depressions; (3) culture (works of man), such as towns, cities, roads, railroads, and boundaries. The conventional signs used for these features are explained below. Variations appear on some earlier maps. "All water features are printed in blue, the smaller streams and canals in full blue lines and the larger streams, lakes, and the sea in blue water-lining. Intermittent streams — those whose beds are dry at least three months in the year — are shown by lines of dots and dashes. "Relief is shown by contour lines in brown. A contour on the ground passes through points that have the same altitude. One who follows a contour will go neither uphill nor downhill but on a level. The contour lines on the map show not only the shapes of the hills, mountains and valleys but also their elevations. The line of the sea coast itself is a contour line, the datum or zero of elevation being 452 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin mean sea level. The contour at, say, 20 feet above sea level would be the shore line if the sea were to rise or the land to sink 20 feet. On a gentle slope this contour is far from the present coast; on a steep slope it is near the coast. Where successive contour lines are far apart on the map they indicate a gentle slope; where they are close together they indicate a steep slope; and where they run together in one line they indicate a cliff. Fig. 193. Perspective sketch of hills, valley, cape, bay, and cliffs; map showing the same features Dy contour lines. Contour interval 50 feet. (U. S. Geol. Survey.) "The manner in which contour lines express altitude, form, and grade is shown in the Figure 193. "The sketch represents a river valley between two hills. In the foreground is the sea, with a bay that is partly inclosed by a hooked sand bar. On each side of the valley is a terrace into which small streams have cut narrow gullies. The hill on the right has a rounded summit and gently sloping spurs separated by ravines. The spurs are truncated at their lower ends by a sea cliff. The hill on the left terminates abruptly at the valley in a steep scarp. It slopes grad- ually back away from the scarp and forms an inclined table-land, Wisconsin Maps 453 which is traversed by a few shallow gullies. On the map each of these features is indicated, -directly beneath its position in the sketch, by contour lines. "The contour interval, or the vertical distance in feet between one contour and the next, is stated at the bottom of each map. This in- y HYDROGRAPHIC MAPS Fig. 194. Index map showing the location of areas in Wisconsin where there are hydro- graphic maps — charts and maps of the coast, lakes, and rivers. The numbers on this map correspond to those in the lists on pages 455 to 459. terval differs according to the character of the area mapped; in a flat country it may be as small as 5 feet; in a mountainous region it may be 250 feet. Certain contour lines, every fourth or fifth one, are made heavier than the others and are accompanied by figures stating elevation above sea level. The heights of many points, such as road corners, summits, surfaces of lakes, and bench marks, are 454 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin also given on the map in figures, which express the elevations to the nearest foot only. More exact elevations of bench marks, as well as geodetic coordinates of triangulation stations, are published in bul- letins issued by the Geological Survey. A bulletin pertaining to any state may be had on application. "The works of man are shown in black, in which color all lettering also is printed. Boundaries, such as those of a State, county, city, land grant, township, or reservation, are shown by continuous or broken lines of different kinds and weights. Public and through roads are shown by fine double lines; private and poor roads by dashed double lines; trails by dashed single lines." The United States Geological Survey has also issued detailed geological (Figs. 192, 197) and glacial (Figs. 198, 199) maps of parts of Wisconsin in recent years (p. 485), see Monographs 5, 19, 52, and 53, Folios 140 and 145, Bulletins 273 and 294, Water Supply Papers 207, etc., and Professional Paper 34. All of these are issued free except the monographs and folios. For information address The Director, U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. U. S. Lake Survey Charts. The United States Lake Survey (War Department, Corps of Engineers, Survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes) has published colored charts of the coasts of Lakes Superior and Michigan, as outlined in Figure 194. Part of one of these charts is reproduced as Figure 190. They may be purchased from The U. S. Lake Survey Office, Old Custom House, Detroit, Mich. The cost of each one of these charts is 15 cents, except Charts 96, 961 and 966, which cost 20 cents, Charts 723 and 745 which cost 13 cents, and 743 which costs 16 cents. In ordering these charts it is necessary to refer to them by number. The following areas have been covered, (see table on the opposite page). Mississippi River Commission Maps. The land close to the Mississippi River in Wisconsin is mapped on excellent black and white sheets in two series, as shown in Figure 194. Part of one of these maps on the larger of the two scales, 1 :20,000 or about 3 1-8 inches to the mile, is reproduced as Figure 67, and part of one of the smaller scale maps, as Figure 44, on the scale of 1 :63,360, or 1 inch to the mile. From Crawford County northward the Mississippi valley in Wisconsin has not been mapped as yet by the U. S. Geol- ogical Survey. The Mississippi River Commission maps may be purchased from The Mississippi River Commission (Corps of En- gineers, U. S. Army), 1311 International Life Building, St. Louis, Wisconsin Maps 455 Chart Number Name of U. S. Lake Survey Chart Scale Remarks. 9 Lake Superiora 1:500,000 Shows the whole lake. 96 Wisconsin portion of Lake Supe- rior 1:120,000b Includes inset map of Port Wing. 961 Apostle Islands 1:60,000b 964 Ashland Harbor 1:15,000 Includes Washburn Harbor. 966 Superior Harbor 1:18,000 Includes Duluth Harbor. 7 Lake Michigan* 1:600,000 Includes Green Bay 70 North end of Lake Michigan 1:240,000 North of Kewaunee 71N North end of Green Bay 1:120,000 72N South end of Green Bay 1:120,000 Includes part of Lake Michigan north of Kewaunee 73 Lake Winnebago and Lower Fox River 1:120,000 Includes Lake Michigan from Kewaunee to Port Washington 74 Lake Michigan coast from Ke- waunee to Waukegan. 111. 1:120,000 Includes inset map of Port Washington SI Part of Door Peninsula and Stur- geon Bay Canal 1:80,000 Extends south to Manitowoc S2 Coast of Lake Michigan 1:80,000 Manitowoc to Port Washington 715 Entrance to Green Bay 1:40,000 Contour map of Washington Island 723 Menominee-Marinette Harbor 1:15,000 725 Head of Green Bay 1:25,000 Includes Fox River below Depere 728- Sturgeon Bay Canal 1:30,000 Includes inset map of Sturgeon Bay 734 Manitowoc Harbor 1: 8,000 737 Sheboygan Harbor 1:10,000 743 Milwaukee Harbor 1:12,000 745 Racine Harbor 1:15,000 Includes Racine Bay 747 Kenosha Harbor 1:10,000 a The areas of Charts-9 and 7 are also covered by Charts 1474 and 1475. They are on Mercator projection, while Charts 9 and 7 are on polyconic projection. b The scale of 1:120,000 is about one and nine-tenths miles to the inch; the scale of 1:60,000 is nearly one mile to one inch; and the other scales are proportional. Mo. The eleven sheets of the small-scale map of the Mississippi valley in Wisconsin sell for 5 cents each. Their dimensions are 15 by 24 inches. The twenty-five sheets of the larger-scale map sell for 26 cents each. Their dimensions are 25 by 39 inches. The whole river in Wisconsin is also covered by a set of 4 sheets — Map of the Alluvial Valley of the Upper Mississippi River, from the Falls of St. Anthony to the Mouth of the Ohio River. These maps cost 20 cents per sheet or 70 cents for the set. The two northern sheets of this map cover the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, as well as the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers eastward to Lake Winnebago. The map shows (a) lands subject to overflow, and (b) bluff lines 456 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin defining the limit of the alluvial valley. The scale is 5 miles to 1 inch. The charts on the scale of 1 :20,000 have 5-foot contours on the bottom lands and terraces, and 20-foot contours on the bluffs, (see Fig. 53). This is the larger and better series. The maps on the scale of 1 :63,360 show topography graphically by hachures — short lines running straight up and down the slopes (see Fig. 55). The sheet of the Mississippi River Commission maps covering the neigh- borhood of each of the principal cities and villages along the Miss- issippi River in this state is indicated in the list below. In ordering these maps it is necessary to refer to them by number. City or village Chart on scale of 31 inches to the mile Map on scale of one inch to the mile Alma 179 165 182 164 178 169 184 168 176 170 165 183 172 167 182 173 180 172, 173 173 181 166 185 181 171 174 170 165 129 132 Baglev 127 Bay City 133 Cassville 126 Cochrane 131 De Soto 128 Diamond Bluff 134 Ferryville 128 Fountain City 131 Genoa 129 Glen Haven 126 Hager 133 La Crosse ,130 Lynxville 128 Maiden Rock 133 Midway 130 Nelson 132 North La Crosse 130 Onalaska 130 Pepin 132 Prairie du Chien 127 Prescott 135 Stockholm 133 Stoddard 129 Trempealeau 130 Victory 129 Wyalusing 127 The lower Wisconsin River is not shown in detail on any set of maps now easily available, except in the portion covered by U. S. Geological Survey maps (Fig. 192). A set of maps covering the whole of the lower Wisconsin was made long ago by the Engineer Department of the United States Army and may be consulted in the larger libraries. These are the 8 sheets of the Warren Survey of Wisconsin Maps 457 1867, on the scale of 1 3-8 inches to the mile. They extend from the mouth of the Wisconsin River at Prairie du Chien to the Fox River portage in Columbia County. The positions of the several sheets are shown in Figure 194, (see bibliography, page 195). The St. Croix River and Lake St. Croix are likewise covered only by maps of the United States Army made long ago. There are two series of maps, one on the scale of 1 inch to 1 mile, the other on the scale of 1,600 feet to 1 inch. These are blue prints. The present survey of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, under the direction of the United States Engineer Offices of the War De- partment has detailed, up-to-date, blue print maps of the river on the scale of 400 feet to 1 inch. These are sold at 30 cents per sheet. The sheets within this state may be obtained from The United States Engineer Office at La Crosse, Wis., or St. Paul, Minn., or Rock Island, 111. Wisconsin Geological Survey Maps. The maps issued by the state geological survey are of two sorts, one showing topography, the other geology, the latter being sometimes combined with topog- raphy. The present Geological and Natural History Survey has pub- lished ten sheets of hydrographic maps of the principal lakes of southern and eastern Wisconsin. These were prepared under the direction of L. S. Smith, and cover the areas outlined in Figure 194. Num- ber Name Size of sheet in inches Scale in inches per mile Contour interval, in feet 1 17.5 by 10.8 15.5 *' 13.1 22.5 " 20.0 29.8 " 19.1 21.7 " 20.6 22.5 " 16.8 26.0 " 17.8 23.7 " 19.5 18.0 " 13.5 17.6 " 17.3 2 5 6 2 6 4 3.2 6 2.9 4 10 2 10 3 10 4 Oconomowoc — Waukesha 10 5 6 The Chain of Lakes, Waupaca Delavan and Lauderdale 10 10 7 20 8 Lake Mendota 5 9 10 10 5 In all of these maps the depth of the lakes is indicated by contour lines, and by tints in all except No. 1. They are sent on receipt of 16 458 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 10 cents each and may be had either mounted in a manila cover, or unmounted. Address The State Geologist, Madison, Wis. These maps, on a reduced scale, and five new sheets in addition,, are in- J&P GEOLOGICAL MAPS LAPHAM — CHAM8ERLIM SURVEY Fig. 195. Index map showing the location of the areas in Wisconsin which are covered by the atlas sheets of the Wisconsin Geological Survey of 1873-1879. These maps show geology without topography and are all on the scaleofS^miles^to linch. The numbe those of the original sheets. '■ numbers are The one exception (marked PI. I, Bull. 16) is a geological map on the same scale published by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey in 1907. included in Bulletin 27 which may be obtained from the State Geologist for ten cents. Details concerning some of the shorelines of the inland lakes appear as black and white maps in Bulletin 8, which may be obtained for 50 cents. Wisconsin Maps 459 In Bulletin 27 the maps on sheets 4 and 6 are split up into sep- arate hydrographic maps of the following lakes: Oconomowoc map: Nagawicka, Nashotah, and Nemahbin Lakes. Silver, Crooked, Otis, and Genesee Lakes. Pewaukee Lake. North, Pine, and Beaver Lakes. Mouse, Garvin, Okauchee, and Oconomowoc Lakes. Fowler Lake, and Lac la Belle. Delavan-Lauderdale map : Delavan Lake. Lauderdale Lake. The new sheets include the following : 11. Hydrographic map of Devils Lake by F. T. Thwaites 12. Lake Waubesa 15. Lake Winnebago 13. Lake Kegonsa 16. Northeastern Lake District 14. Rock Lake 17. Northwestern Lake District. The Geological and Natural History Survey has also issued 15 large scale topographic maps of the lead and zinc district, as outlined in Figure 196. Part of one of these maps is reproduced as Figure 63. These maps are in two uniform series, the first printed in 1906 as a supplement to Bulletin 14 by U. S. Grant. The bulletin and maps may be obtained for 25 cents. The second series of maps, issued in 1909 by W. 0. Hotchkiss and Edward Steidtmann — topography and geol- ogy combined — may be obtained for 6 cents additional. All these maps are on the scale of 4 inches to 1 mile with contour interval of 10 feet. The maps are listed below: Plate Name Supplementary Plates I Highland Sheet 1. Cuba Sheet III Dodgeville Sheet 2. Big Patch— Elk Grove V Mineral Point Sheet Sheet VII Mifflin Sheet 3. Ipswich Sheet IX Platteville Sheet 4. East Meekers Grove XI Hazel Green — Benton Sheet Sheet XIII Shullsburg Sheet 5. East Mineral Point XV Meekers Grove Sheet Sheet XVII Potosi Sheet 6. Montfort Sheet Three areas in the state where no topographic maps have yet been made by the U. S. Geological Survey have state survey maps showing topography combined with geology. These maps are no longer available for distribution, but copies may be consulted in the •larger libraries. The first of these areas is the eastern portion of the lead and zinc district in Lafayette and Green Counties where 460 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin parts of a more extensive series of maps, made in 1876 by Moses Strong, bridge over the gap between the Mineral Point and Brod- head Quadrangles (Fig. 192) of the U. S. Geological Survey. The maps are sheets V and VI of the Atlas accompanying the Geology of Wisconsin. They are on the scale of 1 inch to one mile with very |sSSN3 Sheets V-IX,Atlas 6eo). Wia Bull. i3 Fig. 196. Index map showing the location of the areas in southwestern Wisconsin where there are geological maps combined with topography. These are all maps by the state geo- logical surveys. For list of maps in Bulletin 14 and supplement Cfine oblique ruling) see p. 459. satisfactory 50 foot contours. The areas covered are outlined in Figure 196. Another area where topographic maps were made by the State Geological Survey is in the Penokee Range of Ashland and Iron Counties (Fig. 197). Here large-scale maps, made in 1877 by R. D. Irving, show the topography very well indeed from Penokee Gap to the Montreal River. The sheets are numbers XXIV, XXV, and XXVI of the Atlas accompanying the Geology of Wisconsin. They are on the scale of 3 3-5 inches to one mile with contour in- Wisconsin Maps 461 terval of 20 feet. Sheet XXIII, a large scale topographic map of Penokee Gap, is reproduced in this book as Figure 150. A generalized topographic map of eastern Wisconsin includes the area not yet mapped by the United States Geological Survey. It was compiled in 1876 by T. C. Chamberlin and is Plate IV of the Alias accompanying the Geology of Wisconsin. The scale is 12 miles to 1 inch and the contour interval is 100 feet. Fig. 197. Index map showing the location of the areas in northern Wisconsin where there maps. The numbers correspond to those of the original publications. The areas marked Bull. 6, Bull. 25, and Bull. 44 are covered by maps in bulletins of the Wisconsin Geo- ig. II ologi logical and Natural History Survey; the areas marked Monograph 5 and Monographs 19 and 52 by United States Geological Survey monographs; the areas marked 22 to 27 by sheets in the Atlas of the Geology of Wisconsin. Maps showing the glacial geology of parts of Wisconsin cover the areas outlined in the index sheets (Figs. 198, 199). Some of these were published by the state geological surveys, some by the U. S. Geological Survey, and some in geological periodicals. Much glacial and physiographic data may also be obtained from the county soil maps now being rapidly extended over the whole state (see table, p. 10). In 1915 these maps covered the areas out- lined in Figure 200. They are on scales of 1 mile to 1 inch for detailed surveys and 3 miles to 1 inch for reconnoissance surveys. The map of Vilas and adjacent counties is on the scale of 2 miles to 1 inch. 462 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin GHS-Pl.37 GLACIAL MAPS M5z-ri$ee. 3/1 -«. ss Fig. 198. Index map with the location of the areas in Wisconsin where there are maps showing the glacial geology (see also Fig. 199). GW3 — -PL 37 means Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 3, 1880, Plate 37 facing p. 383; GW4—PI. 13, Ibid., Vol. 4, 1882, Plate 13, facing p. 612; GW2—PI. XXVA, Ibid., Vof 2, 1877, Plate XXV A, facing p. 608; 3A—PJ. 35, Third Annual Rept., U. S. Geol. Survey, 1883, Plate 35, facing p. 382; 3A — PI. 29, Ibid., Plate 29, facing p. 316; 6A — PI. 28, Ibid., Sixth Annual Rept., 1885, Plate 28, facing p. 306; 6A — PI. 24, Ibid., Plate 24, facing p. 220; 6 A — PI. 27, Ibid., Plate 27, facing p. 259; M 52 — Fig. 68, Ibid., Monograph 52. 1911, Fig. 68, p. 453; J. G. 13. Journal of Geology, Vol. 13, 1905, Fig: 2, p, 243; A. G. 21, American Geologist, Vol. 21, 1898, PI. 13, p. 146; 16 — 2, Bull. 16, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, Plate 2; obliquely-ruled area in eastern Wisconsin, Geology of Wisconsin, Atlas Plate IV, 1876; two areasin northwestern Wisconsin marked In Prep., to be described in bulletins of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey; area in southeastern Wisconsin marked In Prep., to be described in a professional paper of the U. S. Geol. Survey. There is also a glacial map of the whole state, published as Atlas Plate II A, Geology of Wisconsin, 1882. A new glacial map is in preparation. The soils maps whose locations are shown on Figure 200 also give much information about glacial deposits, especially if used in connection with the key list on page 10. Maps showing glacial striae alone are not referred to on Figure 198. Maps of the borders of the Glacial Great Lakes are given in Monographs 52 and 53, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1911 and 1915 (see Figures 116, 117, and 179 to 183 in this book). Wisconsin Maps 463 These maps and the accompanying bulletins may be obtained from Prof. A. R. Whitson, in charge of Soil Survey, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, Madison,. or from the State Geologist. Geological maps of each of the 71 counties of Wisconsin were published in Hotchkiss and Steidtman's Bulletin 34, of the Geological %'//////////W/W/WW / ' / 5m*.. |WI5COM3lrt 1LLIN0I5- Wis. Acad. Vol 10. Fig. 199. Index map of southeastern Wisconsin, with the areas covered by maps which show the glacial geology (see also Fig. 198). Prof. Paper 34 means Professional Paper 34, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, Plate XIV, facing p. 64; U. S. G. S. Bull. 273, Ibid., Bull. 273, 1905, Plate I facing p. 10; Folio 140, Ibid., Geologic Atlas of the United States, Milwaukee Folio; Wis. Bull. 5, Bulletin V, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1900, Plate 37, facing p. 108; Wis. Ball. 8, Ibid., Bulletin VIII, 1910, folded map; Wis. Acad. Vol. 10. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, Vol. 10, 1895, Plates XIII to XVI; GW2— XXVI-A, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, Plate XXVI-A, facing p. 613; PGE 17, Manual of Physical Geogra- phy Excursions, Fig. 17, p. 116; the numerals refer to maps in theses (see bibliographies at ends of earlier chapters), 1 and 3 by F. T. Thwaites, 2 by O. W. Stromme. 4 by R. W. Ellis, 5 by E. S. Park. and Natural History Survey, issued in 1914. These are colored maps on the scale of 6 miles to 1 inch, and show the locations of all quarries; The bulletin and maps may be obtained from the State Geologist for 10 cents. 464 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin A series of maps showing the roads, streams, and swamps in 87 townships in parts of Ashland, Bayfield, Washburn, Sawyer, Price, Oneida, Forest, Rusk, Barron, and Chippewa Counties was pub- lished in 1915 in Bulletin 44 of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural SOILS MAPS pa ARZA Fig. 200. Index map showing the location of the areas in Wisconsin where there are soils maps by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. These cover counties or § roups of counties, except in the Janesville Area, Viroqua Area, Racine County Area, and 'ortage County Area, which were issued by the United State Department of Agriculture. The numbers correspond to those of bulletins of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. History Survey. These are on the scale of If inches to the mile. Many of them contain leveled road profiles showing elevations. The bulletin and maps may be obtained from the State Geologist for 20 cents. Wisconsin Maps 465 The series of outline maps published in this Appendix (Figs. 192 to 200) is thought to refer to all maps of the state as a whole or of any parts of it that will be of use to the teacher or layman interested in the physical geography of Wisconsin. A very few maps showing details of the economic or structural geology of small areas are omitted. In such cases, however, the area is covered in some other map referred to in this Appendix. Those interested in the mineral resources of Wisconsin may wish to refer to some of these maps — such as the 7 large-scale blue prints of certain areas in the lead and zinc district, the large-scale crevice maps of the same region, and the blue prints of Florence County. Information concerning these latter maps may be obtained from the State Geologist. References to detailed economic maps of parts of the Lake Superior iron district and the lead and zinc district of southwestern Wisconsin will be found in the books and articles listed at the end of several of the chapters in this book and in Appendix G. The geological maps issued by the State Geological Survey cover a large part of the state. The sheets on the scale of 3 miles to 1 inch (Fig. 195) were made and issued by the Lapham-Chamberlin Sur- vey of 1873 to 1879. An area in North-Central Wisconsin has also been mapped more recently on this scale (Bull. 16, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey). The later maps are on various scales, the areas covered being indicated in Figures 196 and 197. The territorial geological surveys between 1820 and 1848 (p. 479) issued only exploratory geological maps. The state geological sur- vey of 1853 to 1862 issued reconnoissance maps of parts of the state, with a little detailed work in the lead and zinc district. The state geological survey of 1873 to 1879 issued good general maps of al- most the whole state with detailed work in the iron country to the north as well as in the lead and zinc district. The present state sur- vey since 1897 has issued detailed maps of all the areas it has in- vestigated. For list of areas covered, see pp. 486-492. The maps and bulletins may be obtained from The State Geologist, Madison, at cost of mailing. 466 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin APPENDIX F. THE LAND SURVEY IN WISCONSIN. Three Systems of Describing Boundaries. There are three ways in which the location of lands may be made specific, so that one person may describe them to' another. These are (a) by metes and bounds, (b) by the rectangular system of townships, ranges, and sections, (c) by latitude and longitude. Metes and Bounds. The location of lands by metes and bounds is as follows. A point of beginning is taken arbitrarily, for example the bank of a river or lake, - a prominent rock or hill, a tree, or some other natural feature. The property is then bounded in terms of lines run in stated compass directions for stated distances, often in relation to other natural features. The disadvantages of this sys- tem are, first, that the starting point may not be easy to identify after the lapse of some years. The bank of a river may be worn back; the tree may be cut down; one hill or rock may be confused with another; the boundary stakes or monuments may be destroyed. The second objection to this system is that it does not always pro- vide boundaries which fit each other. Thus disputes and litigations over property lines often arise. This system is found to work satisfactorily, however, in places where it has been long established, though it is less simple than the location by townships and sections. We sometimes use metes and bounds in delineating our city and village building lots in Wis- consin, though more often they are designated as Lot No. in Plat so-and-so. Metes and bounds are still used in the French claims of parts of this state (p. 270). This is the approved method throughout eastern United States from Ohio and Tennessee to the Atlantic coast. Township and Range System. The land survey of the United States government, as adopted in 1785, locates public lands and rural property in relation to principal meridians, base lines, and correc- tion lines, so that the land is divided into a rectangular system of townships and ranges. The Land Survey in Wisconsin 467 In Wisconsin the ranges — north-south strips of land 6 miles wide — are determined by the 4th principal meridian (Fig. 201). The 1st principal meridian is in eastern Indiana. The 4th principal meridian is a north-south line extending from western Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri, through southwestern Wisconsin near Platteville, west of Richland Center and northward to a point near the mouth of the Montreal River and through Outer Island in the Apostle archipelago. It is a short distance east of the geographical meridian of 90° 30' Fig 201 Map to show the location of the 4th principal meridian, in relation to which government lands in Wisconsin are described. (From Johnson's Mathematical Geography.) west longitude. The 4th principal meridian was surveyed about 1847. Lapham has quoted some of the difficulties of the work (Lapham, I. A., Latitude and Longitude of Places in Wisconsin, Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 4, 1859, pp. 359-363). The lands were subdivided into townships and sections between 1834 and 1866. The ranges are numbered eastward and westward from the 4th principal meridian (Fig. 202). There are 30 ranges east of the principal meridian in Wisconsin and 20 ranges west. The townships are arranged in north-south tiers, beginning at the base line along the Illinois boundary. There are 53 townships in the longest Wisconsin ranges. 468 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Thus we may locate any township in the state by reference to the township and range numbers. Madison, for example, is in township 7 north, range 9 east. This is usually written T. 7 N., R. 9 E. PR1N. MERIDIAN *53 4o 60 BO 100 MILES Fig. 202. MERIDIA1 Map of Wisconsin, showing the principal meridian, base line, correction lines, and numbering of ranges and townships. Each township is supposed to be 6 miles square. The meridians converge, however, due to the earth's curvature. This necessitates allowances and corrections, as do the lack of coincidence of state boundaries with township boundaries, the presence of lakes and streams, and errors in surveying. Accordingly, no township is The Land Survey in Wisconsin 469 exactly six miles square. In order to avoid carrying errors clear across the state the government surveyors established correction lines. These are east-west lines parallel to the original base line in southern Wisconsin. There are four correction lines in Wisconsin (Fig. 202). In a region of slight relief, as in northern or eastern Wisconsin, the highways are laid out along the township, range, and section lines. COUNTY Fig. 203. Map of Dane County, showing the civil towns, nearly all of which coincide with the government townships. Where the relief is greater, however, as among the hills of the Driftless Area, the roads are apt to follow ridge tops or valley bot- toms, regardless of the land lines. Townships within Counties. When townships are combined into counties these, like the townships, are often rectangular. Dane County is typical (Fig. 203) . It consists of 35 townships, 7 east and west by 5 north and south. The four western tiers lie slightly to the north of the three on the east, producing an offset between ranges 9 and 10. This is because town 1 in range 9 is more than 6 miles long, while town 1 in range 10 east is just 6 miles long. Ac- 470 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin cordingly the northern boundaries of all the townships in range 9 and the ranges to the west are a fraction of a mile farther north than the northern boundaries of the townships in range 10 east, although all the townships on each side are 6 miles long. This offset appears only as far north as the first correction line, however, where the town- ships numbered 12, in ranges 10 and 11 east, are nearly 7 miles long. 42 LEHK.OOT i I J. ROUND LAK;E HAYWARD — &A-HD-- LAKE ; ! ! HUNTtRJ 40 5AiWY£R (to UNITY r-j -VHD-I-A-N-I -i— RESERVATION l I "I I _ _U _!.. — -^ I j 39 I RADI350N ED.<3£.WfiTER,-CQmiERA^.a .j + I ! ! j WE I R^OR I i ; j 38 37 VH NTER IX Fig. 204. VIII VII VI IV 12 Miles =1 III Map of Sawyer County, showing the civil towns. The town of Winter con- tains seven government townships. There are similar adjustments throughout the state. The parti- cular departure from the regular dimensions in townships 1, ranges 9 and 10, appears to be due to the error in determining the southern boundary of the state as already described (p. 41 ), for the Wis- consin-Illinois boundary is not a true east-west line. Civil Towns and Congressional Townships. Another par- ticular in which Dane County departs from regularity is that the The Land Survey in Wisconsin 471 towns of Black Earth and Mazomanie — Ts. 8, 9, N., R. 6 E. — are not square. This introduces the difference between the civil, or organized, or municipal town and the congressional township or government township. The civil town of Black Earth — a unit of present government — is only half the size of a congressional town- ship. The civil town of Mazomanie is more than 6 miles long on the eastern side, but is cut off at the northwest by a natural bound- ary — the Wisconsin River. Other counties furnish numerous variations of form and relation- ship of civil towns. Sawyer County (Fig. 204) is about the same size as Dane County, but it contains several very large civil towns. In southeastern Sawyer County is the civil town of Winter. This civil town contains about 252 square miles, made up of 7 congres- sional townships each containing 36 square miles. As Sawyer County becomes more densely populated the large town of Winter will doubtless be split into smaller and smaller units until it is only 6 miles square. Only a few years ago the civil town of Winter contained nine townships instead of seven. The most irregular civil town in Wisconsin, so far as form is concerned, is Vaughn, Iron County. It contains the city of Hurley. This town is 16 miles long. It is 7 miles wide at the south. For ' 5 miles, however, it is only a half mile wide, and for three miles only a quarter mile wide. At one point, 3 miles south of Hurley, it is actually separated into two parts. It terminates at the north in a narrow point, where the Montreal River, along the Wisconsin- Michigan state line, furnishes its eastern boundary (Fig. 205). Sections. Every township is divided into 36 sections, each 1 mile or 320 rods square. They are numbered as shown in the upper right hand corner of Figure 203. The capitol square at Madi- son is at the corner of sections 13, 14, 23, and 24 in township 7 north, range 9 east. A section contains 640 acres. Each of the quarter-sections, therefore, contains 160 acres. As the townships are surveyed from the southeast corner and measured off to the north and west, the northern and western sections often contain a little more or a little less than 640 acres. The quarter-sections are, accordingly, irregular in some cases. There are aberrant 40 acre tracts, and smaller plats, usually known as fractions or lots. The quarters of a section are designated by the points of the compass. Thus the tract of land originally purchased by the University of Wisconsin was the northwest quarter of section 23, Fig. 205. The town of Vaughn, Iron County, which contains the city of Hurley. The Land Survey in Wisconsin 473 T. 7 N., R. 9 E. It contains the part of the present campus including Chadbourne Hall. A quarter of a quarter-section, of course, contains a fourth of 160 acres or 40 acres. These tracts, generally spoken of as "forties," 1320 2640 FT. Fie 206 Map showing a section of government land and the way its quarter-sections and forties are designated. are likewise designated in relation to the points of the compass. No one could misunderstand if the shaded area in Figure 206 were described as the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 31, township 18 north, range 9 east. This may be abbre- 474 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin viated to the following: NE J of SW \ of Sec. 31, T; 18 N., R. 9 E. It might be well, however, to add "of the 4th principal meridian." The word quarter is often omitted, a forty being spoken of as "the northeast of the southwest of section so-and-so." The Marking of Township and Section Corners. The monuments or land bounds which mark the corners of townships and sections may be stakes, trees, stones, or mounds. Too often they are not permanent in character. The section post or stone is notched on the edges, the number of notches indicating the distance in miles from the boundary of the township. Each monument is also marked by several witness trees or stakes. Usually there are four witness trees for a section corner and two witness trees for the corner of a quarter section. The witness trees are blazed and in- scribed with the number of the township, range, and section, as follows: T 18 N R 9E S31 It is sometimes possible to read the marks on the witness trees when they are reblazed after a period of at least 60 years. The French Land System. Allusion has already been made to the long, narrow farms (p. 270) which the French laid out along the Fox River near Green Bay and Depere and on the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. Some of these farms were over 3 miles long and only 400 feet wide (Fig. 109). This narrow frontage was always on the river bank so that every habitant might have his share of the common highway of communication. As these French claims were already occupied when the government lands in Wisconsin were surveyed, the tracts in question were not laid out in the township and range system. Like the system of metes and bounds, this township and range system, or rectangular system, is open to certain objections. If we were establishing land lines now we should probably use some sys- tem similar to the one next described. The Quadrangle System. A third method of locating lands is that used in describing the location of the topographic sheets of the United States Geological Survey. The Madison quadrangle, for example, is bounded by the parallels of 43° and 43° 15' north lati- tude and by the meridians of 89° 15' and 89° 30' west longitude. This means that the area is nearly a quarter of the way around the world from Greenwich, England, and nearly half way from the The Land Survey in Wisconsin 475 equator to the north pole. These topographic sheets usually show both the parallels and meridians and the townships and range lines. Triangulation and Maps. The astronomical observations, triangulation, and spirit leveling, upon which the location of base maps and the contouring of topographic maps depends, began long ago. The earlier explorers made rough determinations of latitude and longitude at scattered points, while mapping the rivers and lakes. One of the best early maps of Wisconsin, based on more refined work, was made by Nicollet, who delineated the Mississippi region, (Nicollet, J. N., Report Intended to Illustrate a Map of the Hydro- graphic Basin of the Upper Mississippi River, Senate Document 237, 26th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, 1843, 170 pp., and map, — for geographical positions and altitudes in Wisconsin deter- mined in 1838 and 1839 see pp. 122-124, 128). A similar map of excellent quality is the work of Cram, who covered eastern Wiscon- sin (Cram, T. J., Internal Improvements in the Territory of Wis- consin, Senate Document 140, 26th Congress, 1st Session, Wash- ington, 1840, 22 pp., and map). Astronomical positions along the coast of Lake Superior were first determined with accuracy by H. W. Bayfield. His chart was published by the British Admiralty in 1828. The Jesuit fathers published a general map of Lake Supe- rior as early as 1672. The United States Coast and Geodetic Sur- vey and United States Lake Survey have carried on extensive tri- angulations in connection with the more modern mapping of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Triangulation and other geodetic work in this state were performed by Davies nearly 40 years ago (Davies, J. E., Geodetic Survey, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 727-754, and Atlas Plates 41, 42). As the first step in this triangulation, a very accurate base line was measured in the Wisconsin valley near Spring Green. Triangulation along the Mississippi River was done by the Mississippi River Commission. Triangulation and leveling by the U. S. Geological Survey, U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, U. S. Corps of Engineers (Lake Survey and Mississippi River Commission) are summarized in Marshall's "Results of Spirit Leveling in Wisconsin" (Marshall, R. B., Bull. 570, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1914, 82 pp; earlier edition, Ibid., Bull. 461, 1911, pp. 28-60). The positions of lines of levels, lines of primary traverse, and of triangulation stations are shown on the Index to Atlas Sheets in Wisconsin, published in 1915 by the U. S. Geological Survey. 476 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin In 1911 the United States Geological Survey published a large two-sheet base map of Wisconsin. This is issued preparatory to the publication of a topographic map of this region in four sheets on the scale of 1:1,000,000 — or about 16 miles to 1 inch — the same scale as Plate I in this book. The base map issued is on the scale of 1 :500,000 or about 8 miles to 1 inch. It is on a projection which does not distort the townships, as on the state geological survey's "Map of Wisconsin showing Geology and Roads." Hence this U. S. Geo- logical Survey sheet is the best map showing the location of the townships of Wisconsin. For details it will be necessary to consult some of the later county atlases, or W. W. Hixson's "Plat Book of the State of Wisconsin," published in 1915. List of Federal and State Survey Reports 411 APPENDIX G. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF FEDERAL AND STATE SUR- VEY REPORTS, WITH A FEW OTHER EARLY PAPERS ON THE GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRA- PHY OF WISCONSIN Observations Before the Coming of Geologists There are incidental observations of geological and physiographic features in the narratives of the very earliest exploration and settle- ment of what is now Wisconsin. We may fairly designate as the first contribution to the physical geography of Wisconsin the fol- lowing papers written by Father Andre, a black-robed Jesuit priest. Andre, Louis. The Tide in the Bay des Puans, Jesuit Relations, 1671-72* Thwaites' edition, Vol. 56, Cleveland, 1899, pp. 137-139; Remarkable Facts Concerning the River (that Discharges into the Bay des Puans at the Bottom of the Cove), Jesuit Relations, 1672-73, iBid., Vol. 57, pp. 301-303. Both of these papers deal with the fluctuations in level of Green Bay, also discussed in 1673 by Father Marquette. Father Andrfe's papers are quoted in full in Chapter XII of this book. The first contributions to the geology of Wisconsin are perhaps the following: Marquette, Jacques, Jesuit Relations, 1673-77, Thwaites' edition, Vol. 59, Cleveland, 1900, p. 107; Ibid., Hennepin's translation in "A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America," 1679-82, Part 1, London, 1698, p. 326. Marquette and Joliet had crossed over from the Fox River to the Wisconsin River at Portage in 1673, when Father Marquette states that: "After navigating about 30 leagues, we saw a spot presenting all the appearances of an iron mine; and, in fact, one of our party who had formerly seen such mines, assures us that The One which we found is very good and very rich. It is Covered with three feet of good soil, and is quite near a chain of rocks, the base of which is covered by very fine trees. After proceeding 40 leagues on This same route, we arrived at the mouth of our River; and, at 42 and a 478 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin half degrees Of latitude, We safely entered Missisipi on The 17th of June." Joliet's map (see reference p. 168) shows "Mines de fer," to the northwest of what seems to be meant for Blue Mound. The locality mentioned by Marquette should be near Boscobel, where the Cam- brian sandstone contains some iron. The iron in adjacent areas was mined in subsequent years, but no geologist is known to have men- tioned the deposit described by Father Marquette. Still earlier, as we learn from the Jesuit Relations, the copper deposits were noticed and commented upon, the first mention being over 250 years ago. Among others, Father Dablon took stock of the copper near Lake Superior, as quoted at the beginning of Chap- ter XVIII. Dablon, Claude. Jesuit Relations, 1669-71, Thwaites' edition, Vol. 54, pp. 161-163; see also the following:— The Relation of 1659-60, Vol. 45, pp. 219-221; the Relation of 1670-72, Vol. 55, p. 99; Ibid., p. 103, the latter perhaps alluding to the diamonds in the glacial drift, as well as to copper. The volumes of the Jesuit Relations contain much more geo- graphical information regarding Wisconsin. The contemporary ac- counts published in the Collections and Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin also constitute an undeveloped mine of geographical information. Among the early French travelers whose writings contain inciden- tal references to geographical features were Radisson and Gros- eilliers, Marquette and Joliet, Hennepin, Perrot, and many others who traveled in Wisconsin in the seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century came English travelers, including Carver, who noted and commented upon the simpler features of our physical geography. Carver, Jonathan. Travels through the Interior Parts of North America in the years 1766, 1767, and 1768, London, 1778, 1781— reprinted as Travels in Wis- consin, from the third London edition, New York, 1838, 362 pp. Lapham has collected some of the early maps of Wisconsin, a few of which were subsequently destroyed in the Chicago fire. Lapham, I. A. Maps of Early Wisconsin Published between 1670 and 1823, 10 blue print plates. The bibliography in this Appendix includes the chief publications dealing with first-hand observations of the geology and physical geography of the area included within the present boundaries of the state of Wisconsin. The list includes all the publications seen by the List of Federal and State Survey Reports 479 author, but may not be absolutely complete. From this point on, these are all works by geologists and geographers, or by men some- what skilled in geological observation. Periodical literature has not been included, except for the earliest years, the bibliography be- ing mainly confined to portions of official reports and to books. Geological papers for later years are referred to in the bibliographies at the ends of the chapters in this book. Only a few reports on paleontology and economic geology are included. For physical geography and general geology the list is substantially complete. Period of Exploratory Geological Surveys, 1809-1848. Nuttall, Thomas. Observations of the Geological Structure of the Valley of the Mississippi, Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol. 2, Part 1, 1821, pp. 14-52. This is a series of notes on a journey in 1809 which included Green Bay, the Fox River at Portage, the Wisconsin River to Prairie du Chien, and the Miss- issippi to St. Louis. The author, primarily.a botanist, speaks of rounded gravels at Prairie du Chien, the contrast in the current of the Fox and the "Ousicon- sin" Rivers, the "almost uninterrupted hills" on either side of the Wisconsin, the southward dip of the rocks, the pieces of native copper from Lake St. Croix which was shown to him by an Indian, and the copper at the western end of Lake Superior, the lead mines near Dubuque, the "adventitious granitic gravel and holders throughout the western states," the marine origin of the sedimentary rocks with citation of fossils collected, — see pp. 16, 18, 22, etc. Schoolcraft, H. R. Narrative Journal of Travels through the Northwestern Regions of the United States in the Year 1820, Albany, 1821, pp. 191-204, 321-383. This report contains notes on topography and geology, in a journey along the coast of Lake Superior from the Montreal River to the St. Louis River, along the Mississippi from Lake St. Croix to Dubuque, up the Wisconsin River from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay, and on the coast of Lake Michigan from Green Bay to Chicago, on meteorology (p. 204), on Lake Pepin, (pp. 324, 327- 331), on Trempealeau Mountain (pp. 334-335), on the lead and zinc district of southwestern Wisconsin (pp. 342-354). Keating, W. H. Major Long's Second Expedition, Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, etc., etc., Performed in the Year 1823, under the command of Stephen H. Long, 2 volumes, Philadelphia, 1824, 439, 459 pp.— especially Vol. 1, pp. 172-293. The author was Professor of Mineralogy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. His book includes geological and geographical observations in Wisconsin during a journey overland from the Pecatonica River to Prairie du Chien and up the Mississippi to Minneapolis. On drift copper from near Mil- waukee, (Vol. 1, p. 168); on the Driftless Area, (pp. 200, 263, 287-288); Platte Mounds, (p. 193); topography and geology of southwestern Wisconsin, including fossils, (pp. 194-209); Mississippi gorge and its rock formations, (pp. 236-237, 265-266; 293-294); Kickapoo Valley, (pp. 241-242); Trem- 480 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin pealeau Bluffs, (pp. 271-272); Lake Pepin, (pp. 278-280). The account of the expedition also contains some very general statements about topography and drainage by Major Long, "Of the Country and Navigable Communications be- tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River" (Vol. 2, pp. 212-220); Lati- tudes and longitudes in western Wisconsin determined in 1823 by J. E. Col- houn, (Vol. 2, pp. 401-404) ; Comparison of temperatures at Prairie du Chien and Green Bay in 1822 with those in other parts of United States, by Joseph Lovell and Major Long, (Vol. 2, pp. 417-448). Schoolcraft, H. R. Exploration of the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Brule) Rivers, Narrative of an Expedition through the Upper Mississippi to Itasca Lake, the Actual Source of the River; Embracing an Exploratory Trip through the St. Croix and Burntwood (or Broule) Rivers in 1832, New York, 1834, pp. 123-144, 157-159. This report includes Remarks on the Lead Mine Country on the Upper Mississippi (pp. 294-307); on the Driftless Area, (p. 306). Featherstonhaugh, G. W. Report of a Geological Reconnoissance Made in 1835 from the Seat of Government by the way of Green Bay and the Wiscon- sin Territory to the Coteau de Prairie, an Elevated Ridge dividing the Missouri from the St. Peter's River, Senate Document 333, 24th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1836, 162 pp., — see especially pp . 119-135; A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor, 2 volumes, London, 1847, on Wisconsin, and Miss- issippi Rivers, (Vol. 1, pp. 191-258, 270-273; Vol. 2, pp. 15-22, 28-33, 113). Owen, David D. Report of a Geological Exploration of Part of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois in 1839, House Ex. Document 239, 26th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1840, 161 pp. Reprinted as Senate Ex. Document 407, 28th Con- gress, 1st Session, Washington, 1844, pp. 15-145. This volume includes the report of John Locke described below, a report by E. Phillips on timber and soil, a series of woodcuts of Wisconsin scenery, a number of diagrams with geological sections on the border and perspective sketches above (much as in the modern block diagrams), township descrip- tions of southwestern Wisconsin, and a geological map of the region south of the Wisconsin River and west of Madison. Locke, John, in Owen's report, Op. cit., 1840, pp. 116-159. Report compares rocks of southwestern Wisconsin with those of Ohio, gives detailed sections with some physiographic interpretation, and summarizes instrumental observations on elevations, on terrestrial magnetism, and on meteorology. Lapham, Increase A. A Geographical and Topographical Description of Wis- consin, Milwaukee, 1844, 256 pp; Wisconsin, Its Geography and Topography, Milwaukee, 1846, 202 pp. Owen, David D. Preliminary Report containing Outlines of the Progress of the Geological Survey of Wisconsin and Iowa, up to October 11, 1847, Senate Ex. Document 2, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1847, pp. 160-174. Owen, David D. A Report of a Geological Reconnoissance of the Chippewa Land District of Wisconsin, and the Northern Part of Iowa, Senate Ex. Document 57, 30th Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1848, 134 pp. This volume includes a report by J. G. Norwood, many graphic illustrations of the block diagram type, and a large geological map of northern and western Wisconsin. List of Federal and Stale Survey Reports 481 Norwood, J. G. In Owen's report, 1848, pp. 75-129. This report includes a description of the Pillared Rocks in the Apostle Islands, General Observations of the Topography and Climate of Wisconsin, Reconnoissance of a Portion of St. Louis River, of a Portion of the District ly- ing between Fond du Lac and the Falls of St. Anthony, and from the mouth of Montreal River, via Lac du Flambeau, and the Head Waters of the Wis- consin River to Prairie du Chien. Jackson, C. T. Report on the Geological and Mineralogical Survey of the Mineral Lands of the United States in the State of Michigan, Senate Ex. Document 1, 31st Congress, 1st Session, Part 3, Washington, 1849, 935 pp., description of falls on Montreal River, (p. 417). Foster, J. W. and Whitney, J. D. Report on the Geology and Topography of a Portion of the Lake Superior Land District in the State of Michigan, Part 1, Copper Lands, House Ex. Document 69, 31st Congress, 1st Session, Wash- ington, 1850, 224 pp. Includes Desor's report on the drift. For references to Wisconsin geology and geography see Montreal River, (pp. 24, 103-104); Menominee River, (pp. 30-31); Meteorological records at Fort Howard on Green Bay, (pp. 40, 42, 46, 47). Among the illustrations are drawings of the falls of the Montreal and Menominee Rivers. Foster, J. W. and Whitney, J. D. Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Part 2, The Iron Region, Senate Ex. Document 4, Special Ses- sion, 1851, Washington, 1851, 400 pp. Includes Desor's Report on the Superficial Deposits, Lapham's Geology of Southeastern Wisconsin, Hall's discussion of the Paleozoic, and Whittlesey's Geology of Eastern Wisconsin and Observed Fluctuations of the Surfaces of the Lakes. Notes on Wisconsin geology and geography, — Menominee River, (p. 27); Geology in eastern Wisconsin, (pp. 153, 174, etc.); red clay of Fox River and well records at Fond du Lac, Wis., (pp. 175-176, 234, 393-395); origin of basin of Lake Michigan, (pp. 176-177); drift copper in southeastern Wisconsin, (p. 201); drift of Menominee valley including eskers, (pp. 234-237). Lapham, Increase A. On the geology of the Southeastern Portion of the State of Wisconsin, — in Foster and Whitney's Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Senate Ex. Document 4, Special Session, 1851, Washington, 1851, pp. 167-173; Geological Formations of Wisconsin, Trans, Wis. State Agr. Soc, Vol. 1, 1851, pp. 122-128. Owen, David D. Abstract of an Introduction to the Final Report on the Geologi- cal Surveys made in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, in the years 1847-'48-'49 and '50, containing a Synopsis of the Geological Features of the Country, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Science, Vol. 5, 1851, pp. 119-131; On the Palaeontology of the Lowest Sandstones of the Northwest, Ibid., pp. 169-172; On the Number and Distribution of Fossil Species in the Palaeozoic Rocks of Iowai Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Ibid., pp. 235-239. Owen, David D. Report of a Geological Survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minne- sota, Philadelphia, 1852, 634 pp. and atlas. This report contains a rather good geological map of Wisconsin, (see notice in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, 1854, pp. 189-191.) Norwood, J. G., in Owen's 1852 report, pp. 213-418, — including Geology of the Northwest and West Portion of the Valley of Lake Superior (pp. 333-418). 482 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Whittlesey, Charles, in Owen's 1852 report, pp. 419-473, — including Geological Report on that Portion of Wisconsin Bordering on the South Shore of Lake Superior. Shumard, B. F., in Owen's 1852 report, pp. 475-634, — including Local Detailed Observations in the Valleys of the Minnesota, Mississippi, and Wisconsin Rivers. Schoolcraft, H. R. Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes, Philadelphia, 1851. For journey from southwestern Wisconsin to Portage in 1831, (pp. 352-396). This volume also contains notes and journals concerning Schoolcraft's travels in the Fox and Wisconsin valleys and on Lake Superior between 1825 and 1827. Schoolcraft, H. R. Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River in 1820; Resumed and Completed by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832. By Authority of the United States. With Appendices, comprising the Original Report of the Copper Mines of Lake Superior, and Observations on the Geology of the Lake Basins, and the Summit of the Mississippi, Together with all Official Reports and Scien- tific Papers of Both Expeditions, Philadelphia, 1855, 588 pp. Description of journey from Montreal River to the west end of Lake Supe- rior in 1820, (pp. 102-109); journey from Prescott to Prairie du Chien, trip to lead mines of Grant County, and journey from Prairie du Chien to Chicago via the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers, Green Bay, and the west coast of Lake Michigan in 1820, (pp. 162-199). For Observations on the Geology and Mineralogy of the Region Embracing the Sources of the Mississippi River, and the Great Lake Basins, during the Expedition of 1820 see the following: South coast of Lake Superior at Montreal River, Apostle Islands, St. Louis River, etc., (pp. 321-322, 325); Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Fox River Valleys and west coast of Lake Michigan at Lake St. Croix, Lake Pepin, Trempealeau, Prairie du Chien, Grant County, Portage, Green Bay, Milwaukee, etc., (pp. 332-336). Geological profiles of the Missis- sippi Valley and basins of the Great Lakes, with diagrams and views of scen- ery, were submitted with this report but not published. For journey from Lake Superior to the Mississippi River via the Bad, Nama- kagon, and Chippewa Rivers in 1831, (pp. 540-544). For journey from south- western Wisconsin to Portage, via Blue Mound and Madison in 1831, and second recorded observation of Driftless Area phenomena, (pp. 560-572). For journey from Prescott to Lake Superior via the St. Croix and Brule Rivers in 1832, (pp. 269-274). For latitudes and longitudes in western Wisconsin de- termined in 1836, (pp. 653-654). Period of State Surveys by Daniels, Percival, Lapham, Hall and Whitney, 1853-1862. Daniels, Edward. First Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, Madison, 1854, 83 pp. — — , Report of the Committee on Mining and Smelting, J. H. Earnest, (Chairman), March 8, 1854, 8 pp. Percival, James G. Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wis- consin, Madison, 1855, 101 pp. List of Federal and State Survey Reports 483 Lapham, Increase A. Geological Map of Wisconsin, New York, 1855. Percival, James G. Report on the Iron of Dodge and Washington Counties, State of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1855, 13 pp. Percival, James G. Annual Report on the Geological Survey of the State of Wis- consin, Madison, 1856, 111 pp. Daniels, Edward. Annual Report of the Geological Survey of the State of Wis-' consin for the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1857, Madison, 1858, 62 pp. This report includes Document "P," and Iron Ores of Wisconsin. Hall, James. Report of the Commissioners of the Geological Survey, Madison, 1858, — in Governor's Message and Documents, 1859, 12 pp. Hall, James. Report of the Superintendent of the Geological Survey, Exhibiting the Progress of the work January 1, 1861, Madison, 1861, 52 pp. This report includes Document and Descriptions of New Species of Fos- sils from the Investigations of the Survey; To Accompany the Report of Prog- ress made to His Excellency, Alexander \V. Randall, on the 24th day of De- cember, 1860. (A list of new species of fossils appeared as a 4 page pamphlet with the imprint — Albany, 1860). Hall, James, and Whitney, J. D. Report on the Geological Survey of the Slate of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, 1862, 448 pp. Whitney, J. D. The Upper Mississippi Lead Region, reprint of part of above, bound and with different title, 1862, pp. 273-420. Hall, James. Preliminary Notice of the Fauna of the Potsdam Sandstone, with Remarks upon the Previously Known Species of Fossils and Descriptions of Some New Ones, from the Sandstone of the Upper Mississippi Valley, Trans- actions Albany Institute, 1852, Vol. 5, 1867, pp. 93-195; 16th Annual Rept., N. Y. State Cabinet of Natural History, 1863, pp. 119-206. Hall, James. Geological Survey of the State of Wisconsin, 1859-1863, Paleontol- ogy, Part Third, Organic Remains of the Niagara Group and Associated Lime- stones, Albany, 1871, 94 pp. This appears to be a reprint of the report written in 1864 and entitled Ac- count of Some New or Little Known Species of Fossils from Rocks of the Age of the Niagara Group, 20th Annual Rept., N. Y. State Cabinet of Natural History, 1867, p. 305. Hall, James. Geological Survey of Wisconsin. James Hall, Dirext. Geological Map of Wisconsin, Showing the Relations of its Geology with that of the Sur- rounding States, compiled from the work of the Geological Surveys of Wis- consin and Iowa and from the Surveys of Doctors D. D. Owen, Foster and Whitney and Professor A. Winchell. (Date of publication not determined). Lapham, Increase A. Geological Map of Wisconsin, new edition, prepared most- ly from original observations, Milwaukee, 1869. Period of State Surveys by Lapham, Chamberlin, Irving, Strong, King, and others, 1873-1879 Lapham, Increase A. Wisconsin Geological Survey, Report of Progress and Results for the Year 1873, Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 5^4. Lapham, Increase A. Report of Progress and Results for the Year 1874, Ibid., pp. 45-66. See also Synopsis of a Report on the Geology of East Central Wiscon- sin, Made to Dr. I. A. Lapham, Chief of the Geological Corps of Wisconsin, 484 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Jan. 1st, 1874, by T. C. Chamberlin; Synopsis of a Report on the Geology of the Lake Shore Region of Wisconsin, Made to Dr. I. A. Lapham, Chief of the Geological Corps, Jan. 1, 1875, by T. C. Chamberlin; report by F. H. King. The last three reports were published separately, together with Chamberlin's report to 0. W. Wight, in a 16-page pamphlet, not dated. Lapham, Increase A. Geological Map of Wisconsin, 4 sheets, 6 miles to the inch, submitted with annual reports of 1873 and 1874, but probably not published. Lapham, Increase A. Geology, Walling's Atlas of the State of Wisconsin, 1876, pp. 16-19 (includes a geological section from Lake Superior through the Penokee Range and Iron Ridge to Lake Michigan, and a colored geological map), report dated July, 1874). Wight, O. W. Report of Progress and Results for the Year 1875, Geology of Wis- consin, Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 67-89; Synopsis of a Brief Report of Progress and Re- sults for the Year 1875, Made to Dr. O. W. Wight, Chief of the Geological Corps of Wisconsin, by T. C. Chamberlin, published separately. Chamberlin, T. C. Annual Report of the Progress and Results of the Wisconsin Geological Survey foT the Year 1876, Madison, 1877, 40 pp. (Includes reports of progress by Moses Strong, R. D. Irving, C. E. Wright, A. C. Clark and P. R. Hoy). Chamberlin, T. C. Annual Report of the Wisconsin Geological Survey for the Year 1877, Madison, 1878, 93 pp. (Includes reports of progress by E. T. Sweet, R. D. Irving, C. E. Wright, L. C. Wooster, A. C. Clark, and R. P. Whitfield); Topography and Geology of Wisconsin, Snyder, Van Vechten & Co.'s Atlas, 1878, pp. 15, 148-151, including geological map of Wisconsin. Chamberlin, T. C. Annual Report of the Wisconsin Geological Survey for the Year 1878, Madison, 1879, 52 pp. (Includes report of progress by T. B. Brooks.) Chamberlin, T. C. Annual Report of the Wisconsin Geological Survey for the Year 1879, Madison, 1880, 72 pp. (Includes descriptions of new fossils by R. P. Whitfield, and of new species of fungi by W. F. Bundy.) Chamberlin, T. C, R. D. Irving, Moses Strong, E. T. Sweet, F. H. King, C. E. Wright, Raphael Pumpelly, A. A. Julian, Charles Whittlesey, T. B. Brooks, Arthur Wichmann, T. Sterry Hunt, L. C. Wooster, R. P. Whitfield, A. C. Clark, J. E. Davies, R. D. Salisbury, and others. Geology of Wisconsin, Survey of 1873-1879, 4 volumes and atlas (maps drawn by W. J. L. Nicodemus and A. D. Conover). Vol. II, 1877, (second edition, 1878), 752 pp., Plates III to XVI of Atlas; Vol. Ill, 1880, 741 pp., Plates XVII to XXX of Atlas; Atlas Plate I, 1881, Geology; Plate II, 1881, Quaternary Formations; Plate IIA, 1882, Native Vegetation; Plate IIB, 1882, Soils; Plate IIC, 1882, Rainfall and Temperature; Vol. IV, 1882, 754 pp., Plates XXXI to XLII of Atlas; Vol. I, 1883, 701 pp. Irving, R. D. The Mineral Resources of Wisconsin, Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers, Vol. 8, 1880, pp. 478-508, with geological map of Wisconsin on the. scale of 20 miles to 1 inch. King, F. H. Model of Wisconsin, showing topography and geology, River Falls, Wis., 1882. List of Federal and State Survey Reports 485 Period of United States Geological Survey Work Since 1881, by Irving, Van Hise, Chamberlin, Salisbury, Leith, Buell, Alden, Grant, and others This work has resulted in the publication of the following major contributions, within which unusually complete references to other literature will be found : Monographs: 5. The Copper-Bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, by R. D. Irving, 1883, 464 pp. 19. The Penokee Iron-Bearing Series of Wisconsin and Michigan, by R. D. Irving and G. R. Van Hise, 1892, 534 pp. 47, A Treatise on Metamorphism, by C. R. Van Hise, 1904, 1286 pp. 52. The Geology of the Lake Superior Region, by C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith, 1911, 641 pp. Geologic Atlas of the United States — Folios: 140. Milwaukee Special, by W. C. Alden, 1906. 145. Lancaster-Mineral Point, by U. S. Grant and E. F. Burchard, 1907. Professional Papers: 34. The Delavan Lobe of the Lake Michigan Glacier of the Wisconsin Stage of Glaciation and Associated Phenomena, by W. C. Alden, 1904, 106 pp. — . The Quaternary Geology of Southeastern Wisconsin, with a chapter on the Older Rock Formations, by W. G. Alden (in preparation). Water Supply Papers t 156, Water Powers of Northern Wisconsin, by L. S. Smith, 1906, 145 pp. (See also other Water Supply Papers, and Bibliography in Water Supply Paper 340, D and E, 1914.) Topographic Maps: Fifty quadrangles, up to 1915, see Appendix E and Fig. 192. A large number of the early quadrangles were mapped by I. M. Buell. See also Results of Spirit Leveling in Wisconsin, 1897 to 1914 inclusive, Bulletin 570, 1914, 86 pp. Other U. S. Geological Survey Reports : Copper-Bearing Rocks of Lake Superior, by R. D. Irving, 3rd Annual Rept., 1883, pp. 89-188. Preliminary Paper on the Terminal Moraine of the Second Glacial Epoch, by T. C. Chamberlin, Ibid., pp. 291-402. The Topographic Features of Lake Shores, by G. K. Gilbert, 5th Annual Rept., 1885, pp. 69-123. Secondary Enlargements of Mineral Fragments in Certain Rocks, by R. D. Irving and C. R. Van Hise, Bulletin 8, 1884, 56 pp. The Requisite and Qualifying Conditions of Artesian Wells, by T. C. Cham- berlin, 5th Annual Rept., 1885, pp. 125-173. A Preliminary Paper on an Investigation of Archean Formations of the North- western States, by R. D. Irving, Ibid., pp. 175-242. Observations on the Junction between the Eastern Sandstone and the Kewee- naw Series on Keweenaw Point, Lake Superior, by R. D. Irving and T. C. Chamberlin, Bulletin 23, 1885, 124 pp. 486 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Preliminary Paper on the Driftless Area of the Upper Mississippi Valley, by T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury, 6th Annual Rept., 1885, pp. 199-322. The Rock Scorings of the Great Ice Invasions, by T. C. Chamberlin, 7th An- nual Rept., 1888, pp. 147-248. On the Classification of Early Cambrian and pre-Cambrian Formations, by R. D. Irving, Ibid., pp. 365-454. The Penokee Iron-Bearing Series of Michigan and Wisconsin, by R. D. Irving and C. R. Van Hise, 10th Annual Rept., Part 1, 1890, pp. 341-507. Principles of pre-Cambrian North American Geology, by C. R. Van Hise, 16th Annual Rept., Part 1, 1896, pp. 571-874. Principles and Conditions of the Movements of Ground Water, by F. H. King, 19th Annual Report, Part 2, 1899, pp. 59-294. The Iron-Ore Deposits of the Lake Superior Region, by C. R. Van Hise, 21st Annual Rept., Part 3, 1901, pp. 304-434. The Drumlins of Southeastern Wisconsin, by W. C. Alden, Bulletin 273, 1905, 46 pp. Rock Cleavage, by C. K. Leith, Bulletin 239, 1905, 216 pp. Zinc and Lead Ores near Dodgeville, Wis., by E. E. Ellis, Bulletin 260, 1905, pp. 311-315. Zinc and Lead Deposits of the Upper Mississippi Valley, by H. F. Bain, Bulle- tin 294, 1906, 155 pp. Pre-Cambrian Geology of North America, by C. R. Van Hise and C. K. Leith, Bulletin 360, 1909, 939 pp., (especially on Wisconsin, pp. 178-196, 717-724). The Physical Geography of the Lake Superior Region, and The Pleistocene, by Lawrence Martin, Monograph 52, 1911, pp. 85-117, 427-459. Recent Discoveries of Clinton Iron Ore in Eastern Wisconsin, by F. T. Thwaites, Bulletin 540, 1915, 5 pp. History of the Great Lakes, by F. B. Taylor, Monograph 53, 1915, pp. 316-469. THE PRESENT WISCONSIN GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY SINCE 1897. Birge, E. A., Director, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey; Bulle- tins 1 to 45; Road Pamphlets 1 to 4; and various maps, 1898 to 1915 (see Appen- dix E). Birge, E. A. First to Ninth Annual Reports of the Commissioners of the Geo- logical and Natural History Survey. Hotchkiss, W. O., and Thwaites, F. T. Geological Model of Wisconsin, 1910. Geological and Road Map of Wisconsin, 1911. The Bulletins of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey are issued in four series: Scientific Series. — The bulletins so designated consist of original contributions to the geology and natural history of the state, which are of scientific interest rather than of economic importance. Economic Series. — This series includes those bulletins whose interest is chiefly practical and economic. . Educational Series. — The bulletins of this series are primarily designed for use by teachers and in the schools. List of Federal and State Survey Reports 487 Soil Series. — This series gives the results of field surveys carried on in cooperation with the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the College of Agriculture of Lhe University of Wisconsin. Bulletin No. I. Economic Series No. 1. On the Forestry Conditions of Northern Wisconsin. Filibert Roth. 1898. Pp. vi, 78; 1 map. Out of print. Bulletin No. II. Scientific Series No. 1. On the Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps. George W. Peckham and Elizabeth G. Peckham. 1898. Pp. iv, 245; 14 plates, of which 2 are colored; 2 figures in the text. Sold at the price of $1.50 in paper and $2.00 bound. Bulletin No. III. Scientific Series No. 2. A Contribution to the Geology of the Pre-Cambrian Igneous Rocks of the Fox River Valley, Wisconsin. Samuel Weidman. 1898. Pp. iv, 63; 10 plates; 13 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. IV. Economic Series No. 2. On the Building and Ornamental Stones of Wisconsin. Ernest Robertson Buck- ley. 1898. Pp. xxvi, 544; 69 plates, of which 7 are colored, and 1 map; 4 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of 30 cents. Bulletin No. V. Educational Series No. 1. The Geography of the Region About Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wiscon- sin, with Some Notes on its Surface Geology. Rollin D. Salisbury and Wallace W. Atwood. 1900. Pp. x, 151; 38 plates; 47 figures in the text. Out of print. Bulletin No. VI. Economic Series No. 3. Preliminary Report on the Copper-Bearing Rocks of Douglas County, and Parts of Washburn and Bayfield Counties, Wisconsin. Ulysses Sherman Grant. 1900. Second edition, 1901. Pp. vi, 83; 13 plates. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. VII. Economic Series No. 4. The Clays and Clay Industries of Wisconsin. Part I. Ernest Robertson Buckley. 1901: Pp. xii, 304; 55 plates. Sent on receipt of 20 cents. Part II was never issued, see Bulletin XV. Bulletin No. VIII. Educational Series No. 2. On the Lakes of Southeastern Wisconsin. N. M. Fenneman. 1902. Pp. xv, 178; 36 plates, 38 figures in the text. Second edition, 1910. Sold for 50 cents. 488 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Bulletin No. IX. Economic Series No. 5. Preliminary Report on the Lead and Zinc Deposits of Southwestern Wisconsin. Ulysses Sherman Grant. 1903. Pp. viii, 103; 2 maps, 2 plates, 8 figures in the text. Out of print. Bulletin No. X. Economic Series No. 6 Highway Construction in Wisconsin. Ernest Robertson Buckley, 1903. Pp. xvi, 339; 106 plates, including 26 maps of cities. Sent on receipt of 20 cents. Bulletin No. XI. Economic Series No. 7. Preliminary Report on the Soils and Agricultural Conditions of North Central Wisconsin. Samuel Weidman. 1903. Pp. viii, 68; 10 plates, including soil map. Second edition, 1908. Out of print. Map alone sent on receipt of 4 cents. Bulletin No. XII. Scientific Series No. 3. The Plankton of Lake Winnebago and Green Lake. C. Dwight Marsh. 1903. Pp. vi, 94; 22 plates. Sent, paper bound, on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XIII. Economic Series No. 8. The Baraboo Iron-bearing District of Wisconsin. Samuel Weidman. 1904. Pp. x, 190; 23 plates, including geological map. Out of print. Bulletin No. XIV. Economic Series No. 9. Report on Lead and Zinc Deposits of Wisconsin. Ulysses Sherman Grant. 1906. Pp. ix, 100; 8 plates; 10 figures in the text; an atlas containing 18 maps. Out of print. For list of supplementary maps see Appendix E. Bulletin No. XV. Economic Series No. 10. The Clays of Wisconsin and Their Uses. Heinrich Ries. 1906. Pp. xii, 259; 30 plates, including 2 maps; 7 figures in text. Sent on receipt of 15 cents. Bulletin No. XVI. Scientific Series No. 4. The Geology of North Central Wisconsin. Samuel Weidman. 1907. Pp. xxxi, 697; 76 plates, including 2 maps; 38 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of 20 cents. Bulletin No. XVII. Scientific Series No. 5. The Abandoned Shore-lines of Eastern Wisconsin. J. W. Goldthwait. 1907. Pp. x, 134; 37 plates; 37 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XVIII. Economic Series No. 11. Rural Highways of Wisconsin. W. O. Hotchkiss. 1906. Pp. xiv,136; 16 plates; 2 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. List of Federal and State Survey Reports 489 Bulletin No. XIX. Economic Series No. 12. Zinc and Lead Deposits of the Upper Mississippi Valley. H. Foster Bain. 1907. Pp. xii, 155; 16 plates, including 5 maps; 45 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of 6 cents. This bulletin is a reprint of Bulletin No. 294 of the United States Geological Sur- vey. Only a small number of copies were reprinted for local use. It has not been sent out to libraries and exchanges. Bulletin No. XX. Economic Series No. 13. The Water Powers of Wisconsin. L. S. Smith. 1908. Pp. xviii, 354; 54 plates; 17 figures in the text. Sent on receipt of $2.00. For accompanying maps see Ap- pendix E. Bulletin No. XXI. Scientific Series No. 6. The Fossils and Stratigraphy of the Middle Deyonic of Wisconsin. H. F. Cleland, 1911. Pp. vi, 222; 53 plates. Out of print. Bulletin No. XXII. Scientific Series No. 7. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, — the Dissolved Gases of the Water and their Biological Significance. Edward A. Birge and Chancey Juday. 1911. Pp. xx, 259; 10 plates, 142 figures in text, all diagrams of gases and plankton. Sent on receipt of 25 cents. Bulletin No. XXIII. Economic Series No. 14. Reconnoissance Soil Survey of Part of North Western Wisconsin. Samuel Weid- man, assisted by E. B. Hall and F. L. Musback. 1911. Pp. viii, 103; 15 plates, in- cluding one map; 16 figures in the text. Second edition, 1914. Sent, paper bound on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XXIV. Soil Series No. 1. _ __ Reconnoissance Soil Survey of Marinette County. Samuel Weidman and Percy O. Wood. 1911. Pp. 44, 4 plates, one map. Out of print. Bulletin No. XXV. Scientific Series No. 8. Sandstones of the Wisconsin Coast of Lake Superior. Fredrik Turville Thwaites. 1912. Pp. viii, 117; 23 plates; large map in pocket; 10 figures in text; Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XXVI. Educational Series No. 3. The Geography and Industries of Wisconsin. R. H. Whitbeck. 1913. Ppl vi, 94; 20 plates; 48 figures in the text. Cloth bound. Out of print. Bulletin No. XXVII. Scientific Series No. 9. The Inland Lakes of Wisconsin, — the Hydrography and Morphometry of the Lakes. C. Juday. 1914. Pp. xvi, 137; 29 maps; 8 figures in the text. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. 490 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Bulletin No. XXVIII. Soil Series No\2. Soil Survey of Waushara County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, Guy Conrey, A. K. Kuhlman and J. W. Nelson. 1913. Pp. iv, 63; 3 plates, including one map. Sent, paper bound, on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXIX. Soil Series No. 3. Soil Survey of Waukesha County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, A. H. Meyer, Percy 0. Wood and Grove B. Jones. 1914. Pp. iv, 82; 3 plates, including one map. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXX. Soil Series No. 4. Soil Survey of Iowa County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, T. J. Dunnewald, Emil Truog and Clarence Lounsbury. 1914. Pp. 61; 2 plates, including one map. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXXI. Soil Series No. 5. Soil Survey of the Bayfield Area. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, L. R. Schoenmann, F. L. Musback and Gustavus B. Maynadier. 1914. Pp. 51, 4 plates, including one map. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXXII: Soil Series No. 6. Reconnoissance Soil Survey of North Part of North Western Wisconsin. F. L. Musback, T. J. Dunnewald, Carl Thompson and 0. I. Bergh. 1914. Pp. vi, 92; 11 plates and 10 text figures, including one map. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXXIII. Scientific Series No. 10. The Polyporaceae of Wisconsin. J. J. Neuman. 1914. Pp. iii, 206, 25 plates. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 15 cents. Bulletin No. XXXIV. Economic Series No. 16. Limestone Road Materials of Wisconsin. W. 0. Hotchkiss and Edward Steidt- mann. 1914. Pp. viii, 137; 2 text figures, 41 plates and geological maps of coun- ties. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XXXV. Economic Series No. 17. The Underground and Surface Water Supplies of Wisconsin. Samuel Weid- man and A. R. Schultz. 1915. Pp. xxii, 664; 72 figures in text, 4 plates; and a colored geological map of the state, scale: 1 inch equals 16 miles. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 20 cents. List of Federal and Slate Survey Reports 491 Bulletin XXXVI. Educational Series No. 4. The Physical Geography of Wisconsin. Lawrence Martin. 1916. Pp. xxii, 549; 206 figures in text, 42 plates including a colored relief map of the state, scale: 1 inch equals 16 miles. Contains a Dictionary of Altitudes, and 49 tables in text. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 15 cents. Bulletin XXXVII. Soil Series No. 7. Soil Survey of Fond du Lac County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, L. R. Schoen- mann, F. L. Musback, Guy Conrey and A. E. Taylor. 1914. Pp. v, 84; 5 plates and 2 text figures. Includes soil map of the county. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXXVIII. Soil Series No. 8. Soil Survey of Juneau County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, L. R. Schoenmann, C. A. LeClair, O. E. Baker and E. B. Watson. 1914. Pp. v, 93; 5 plates and 4 text figures. Includes soil map of the county. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XXXIX. Soil Series No. 9. Soil Survey of Kewaunee County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, E. J. Graul and A.H.Meyer. 1914. Pp. v, 84; 3 plates and 4 text figures. Includes soil map of the county. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XL. Soil Series No. 10. Soil Survey of La Crosse County. A. R. Whitson, W. J. Geib, T. J. Dunnewald and Clarence Lounsbury. 1914. Pp. 77; 5 plates and 2 text figures. Includes soil map of the county. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. Bulletin No. XLI. Economic Series No. 18. A Study of the Methods of Mine Valuation and Assessment. W. L. Uglow. 1914. Pp. 73; 12 plates. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XLII. Educational Series No. 5. The Geography of the Fox-Winnebago Valley. R. H. Whitbeck. 1915. Pp. viii, 109; 25 text figures, 28 plates. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Bulletin No. XLIII. Soil Series No. 11. Special Report on the Reconnoissance Soil Survey of Vilas and portions of Ad- joining Counties, Wisconsin. A. R. Whitson, T. J. Dunnewald, W. C. Boardman, C. B. Post and A. R. Albert. 1915. Pp. ix, 77; 4 plates, 2 text figures, and 2 soil maps. Paper bound. Sent on receipt of 5 cents. 492 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin Bulletin No. XLIV. Economic Series No. 19. Mineral Lands in part of Northwestern Wisconsin — Mineral Land Classifica- tion Showing Indications of Iron Formation in Parts of Ashland, Bayfield, Wash- burn, Sawyer, Price, Oneida, Forest, Rusk, Barron and Chippewa Counties. W. 0. Hotchkiss, assisted by E. F. Bean and 0. W. Wheelwright. 1915. Pp. x, 378; 8 .plates, including a map showing geology of part of northwestern Wisconsin. Scale: 1 inch equals 6 miles. 39 figures in the text and 89 township plats! Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 20 cents. Bulletin No. XLV. Economic Series No. 20. The Peat Resources of Wisconsin. F. W. Huels. 1915. Pp. xvii, 274; 20 figures in the text. 22 plates, including a map showing the swamp lands of Wisconsin. Scale: 1 inch equals 24 miles. Cloth bound. Sent on receipt of 10 cents. Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 493 APPENDIX H. ALTITUDES OF CITIES AND VILLAGES ON AND NEAR THE RAILWAYS IN WISCONSIN, WITH A FEW ELEVATIONS OF RIVERS, LAKES AND HILLS." By F. T. Thwaites. Introductory Notes The following table is based upon Gannett's "Dictionary of Al- titudes" (Gannett, Henry, A Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States, Bull. 274, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1906, pp. 1042-1062. See also Macfarlane, James, An American Geological Railway Guide, New York, 1890, pp. 223-232). It has been revised and enlarged from information furnished by the chief engineers of nearly all the rail- ways operating in the state. All bul a few of the elevations given in the older list have been adjusted by checking one railway survey against another and by connections with the levels of the U. S. Geological Survey and of the Corps of Engineers of the U. S. Army (U. S. Lake Survey and Mississippi River Commission). A small number of elevations were obtained from Smith's "Water Powers of Wisconsin" (Smith, L. S., Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, ° The origins of geographical names in Wisconsin are discussed in the following publications. L. M. Brunson, A., Hathaway, J., and Calkins, H., Wisconsin Geographical Names, Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 1, 1855, pp. 110-126. Gannett, Henry, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, Bull. 197, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902, 280 pp. Kellogg, Louise P., Organization, Boundaries, and Names of Wisconsin Counties, Proc. Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 57, 1909, pp, 184-231. Schoolcraft, H. R., Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes, Philadelphia, 1851. Stennett, W. H., History of the Origin of Place Names connected with the Chicago and North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railways, second edition, Chicago, 1908, 202 pp. Thwaites, R. G., The Boundaries of Wisconsin, Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 11, 1888, pp. 451-501. Verwyst, Chrysostom, Geographical Names in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, Having a Chippewa Origin, Collections Wis. Hist. Soc, Vol. 12, 1892, pp. 390-398. 494 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin 1908, Bull. 20) and the "Geology of Wisconsin" (Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 17-24, 429-433; Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 77-78). A few levels were run especially for this report. In addition, a considerable number of typographical errors in elevations have been eliminated, so that the list is virtually a new one. All elevations are above mean sea level. Unless otherwise stated, the elevation printed is that of the track in front of the local rail- way station. The elevations are given to the nearest foot only, and are not intended for exact engineering work. It is believed that the error will seldom be found to exceed 5 feet. For the elevations and locations of permanent "Bench Marks" recourse should be had to R. B. Marshall's "Results of Spirit Leveling in Wisconsin, 1897 to 1914 inclusive," (Bull. 570, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1914, 82 pp.). Approximate elevations of other points in Wisconsin may be ob- tained from the topographic maps listed in Appendix E. It should be remembered that those given on maps of the U. S. Geological Survey made before 1904 are barometric, while those on later maps are based on rapid spirit leveling over the roads. Barometric ele- vations will be found in the volumes of "The Geology of Wis- consin," as follows: Vol. 2, 1877, pp. 107-127, 429-447, 650-651; Vol. 3, 1880, pp. 78-80, 312-314; Vol. 4, 1882, pp. 138-140, 747-748; and in Bull. 27, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, 1914. A few of the elevations given on Plate I of this bulletin are baro- metric. While often very accurate, these barometric elevations cam not be depended upon within 50 feet. Hand-leveled profiles will be found on the maps of Bulletin 44 of this Survey. A few of these were not referred to sea level and the railways surveys were not then adjusted as they were for this table. For instance, the elevations near Crandon are 47 feet too low. Accurately-leveled elevations on the abandoned shorelines of Lake Michigan and Green Bay will be found in Bulletin 17. These are not tied to permanent bench marks. Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 495 KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS Ahnapee & Western Railway (Kewaunee and Door Counties). Bayfield Transfer Railway, and connecting lines (Bayfield County). Bench marks — usually an iron post or metal tablet when on a stone building. Elevation given is to nearest foot only and given only where there is no railway station. See Bull. 570, U. S. Geol. Survey, for exact elevations. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. Chicago & Northwestern Railway. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway, or "Omaha Line." Chippewa Valley and Northern Railway (Rusk and Sawyer Coun- ties). Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway. Fairchild & Northeastern Railway (Clark and Eau Claire Counties). Green Bay & Western Railroad. Great Northern Railway (Douglas County). Illinois Central Railroad. Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western Railroad (Brown and Kewaunee Counties). Mineral Point & Northern Railway (Lafayette and Iowa Counties). Mississippi River Commission. Northern Pacific Railway. "Soo Line" — Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway. Stanley, Merrill & Phillips Railway (Clark, Taylor and Rusk Counties). United States Geological Survey. United States Lake Survey, U. S. Army, Corps of Engineers. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Wisconsin and Michigan Railway (Marinette County). Wisconsin and Northern Railway (Shawano, Langlade and Forest Counties). Grade crossing of railways. Elevations given on authority of only one of the lines. The officers of each of the railways mentioned above furnished profiles and other information for use in determining these altitudes. Acknowledgment is gratefully made to the railways, as well as to the United States Geological Survey. The latter bureau gave the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey permission to revise this dictionary of altitudes and supplied some topographic data from unpublished maps. A. & w. B. T. B. M *4 C. C. B. & Q. & N. W. C. M. , & St. P. C. St. P. M. & 0. C. V. & N. D. S. S. & A. F. & N. E. G. B. & W. G. N. I. C. K. G. B. & W. M . P. & N. M . R . C. N. P. S. L. S. M. & P. u. S. G. S. u. S. L. S. w . G . & N. H. S.' w . & M. w , & N. X 496 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation Abbotsford Ablemana Abrams Ackerville Adams Adell Afton X C. & N. W.. Agnew Albany Albert ville Alden, B. M Alder Algoma Allen Allen Grove Allenton Allenville Allouez X. G. N.. Alma Alma Center.., Almena Almond Altoona Alverno Anberg Amery Amherst Amherst Jet... Amnicon.. Aniwa Anson Anston Antigo Anton Appleton.. Appleton Jet Arbor Vitae Arbutus Arcadia Arena Argyle Arkdale Arlington Armstrong Creek.. Arnott Arpin Clark Sauk Oconto Washington.. Adams..., Sheboygan.... Rock Ashland Green Chippewa Polk Ashland Kewaunee Eau' Claire.... Walworth Washington- Winnebago... Douglas Buffalo Jackson Barron Portage Eau Claire... Manitowoc. Marinette.... Polk Portage....... Portage Douglas Shawano Chippewa... Brown Langlade Outagamie.. Outagamie.. Outagamie Vilas Marinette Trempealeau.. Iowa Lafayette Adams Columbia Forest Portage Wood Ashippun.. Ashland Dodge.... Ashland.. S. L C. & N. W C, M. & St. P C, M. & St. P C. & N. W C, M. & St. P C. & N. W C, M. & St. P S. L Q., M. & St. P S. L U. S. G. S C. & N. W A. & W F. & N. E C, M. & St. P S. L C. & N. W N. P D. S. S. & A D. S. S. & A M. R. C G. B. & W S. L C. & N. W C. St. P. M. & 0..>. S. L C, M. & St. P../.... S. L S. L S. L G. B. & W N. P C. & N. W C, St. P., M. & O C. & N. W C. &. N. W S. L C. & N. W C, M. & St. P C. & N. W C. ,M. & St. P C, M. & St. P G. B. & W C, M. & St. P I. C C. & N. W C, M. & St. P S. L G. B. & W C, M. & St. P C. & N. W C. & N. W S. L Feet 1,422 882 679 1,056 956 904 764 754 796 818 1,022 953 700 590 978 918 949 801 637 648 651 674 967 1,191 1,161 890 730 899 1,076 1,067 1,101 1,127 852 1,410 954 743 1,496 834 790 719 802 1,627 1,061 723 738 788 919 1,047 1,427 1,155 1,147 1,152 854 671 Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 497 ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation Ashland (continued) C & N W Feet 666 Ashland Jet C , St P M & 644 C M & St P 749 Askenett W. & N 1,118 C & N W 780 Athelstane , C , M & St P 937 S L 1,359 U.S G S 843 Atwater C , M & St P 931 Auburndale Wood S. L . 1,215 C St P M & 968 Rock C , M & St P 953 Avoca C, M. & St. P . 698 9 Babcock Wood. . C, M. & St. P 975 Badger Mills C„ M. & St. P 816 S. L.... 895 Grant M. P.. C 626 Bagley Jet C, M. & St. P 646 Baldwin C, St. P., M. & 1,136 Balou , S. L 1,428 S. L 1,089 C. & N. W.... 753 C, M. & St. P U. S. G. S 743 818 U. S. G. S 864 W. G. & N. H. S 783 Baraboo, Woolen Mills- dam, 843 871 938 C„ M. & St. P 870 R. R. X . 867 1,231 C, M. & St. P 678 S. L 1,120 C, St. P., M. & 1,375 Bartel 673 C. & N. W 905 I. C 905 939 707 M. R. C 689 Bayfield C, St. P., M. & 617 C. & N. W 594 Bear Creek, (Welcome P. 0.) C. & N. W 796 C, M. & St. P 1,526 C. &. N. W ...... C, M & St. P 643 672 C, M. &. St. P 867 C, M. & St. P 917 U. S. G. S 910 C, M. & St. P 958 498 The Physical Geography~of Wisconsin ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation U. S. G. S Feet 793 C, St. P., M. & 976 C. & N. W 737 Bell Center C, M. & St. P 697 Belle Plaine C. & N. W 841 Belleville I. C 864 C. & N. W 759 C, M. & St. P 1,010 Beloit Rock C, M. & St. P 743 Beloit Jet C, M. & St. P 766 Belton C. & N. W 770 Bayfield . .. N. P 1,075 C, St. P , M. & 0.... 1.J85 890 Bayfield . C, St. P., M. & Benson (Randall P. 0.) N. P C. & N. W 885 846 D. S. S. & A 1,115 C, M. & St. P 762 C. & N. W 626 S. L 1,305 Bayfield D. S. S. & A 914 C, St. P., M. & 935 C. & N. W 590 Birch C. & N. W 838 C, St. P., M. & O 1,246 C. & N. W 1,285 G. B. & W 788 Black Earth C, M. & St. P 816 Blackhawk, B. M Sauk U. S. G. S 775 W. G & N. H. S 628 763 Hatfield 838 F. & N. E. Bridge 1 ,094 S. L. Bridge 1,198 Black River Falls C, St. P., M. & O 805 Black Wolf S. L 788 Blair G. B. & W 844 I. C 830 C, St. P., M. & ... 1,006 N. P 1,136 U. S. G. S . .. 1,301 Blue Mounds, Top west mound.... W. G. & N. H. S 1,716 Grant C, M. & St. P 677 Bluff Siding, X C. & N. W. & C. B. & Q Buffalo . U. S. G. S . .. 660 St. Croix . . C, St. P., M. & 957 S. L C. & N. W 834 Bolton : Vilas 1,622 C. & N. W.... 884 Grant . C, M. & St. P 673 C. & N. W 1,081 Boyceville S. L 950 Boyd S. L 1,107 Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 499 ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation G. N Feel 689 S. L 690 C. & N. W 732 C, M. & St. P 997 S. L 1,696 C. & N. W 869 C, M. & St. P 640 S. L 749 F. & N. E 1,300 C, St. P., M. & 1,192 C. & N. W 825 C. & N. W 772 C , M. & St. P 790 C, M. & St. P 835 G. & N. W 979 C. & N. W 954 S. L 1,198 C, M. & St. P 789 S. L 1,093 N. P 994 C, St. P., M. & O 1,022 C. & N. W 1,587 C & N. W 834 C. & N. W 799 C & N. W 697 C, M. & St. P 902 C, St. P.. M. & 928 C, M. & St. P 786 S. L 765 C. &MM. W 873 C & N. W 852 S. L 1,413 C. & N. W 736 S. L 1,504 S. L 1,058 C, St. P., M. & 1,372 S. L 979 C M & St. P 824 C. M & St. P 723 C. & N. W 851 C & N. W 1,242 C & N. W 645 C. & N. W 945 C, B. & Q 643 C, M. & St. P 861 C, St. P., M. & C & N. W 1,099 1,045 C St P , M. & O 935 S. L 1,168 S. L 751 C. & N. W 1,687 S. L 1,101 C. & N. W 1,624 Boylston.. Branch Brandon Brantwood Breed Bridgeport Brighton Beach.. Bright Brill Brillion Bristol Brodhead Brookfield Brooklyn Brooks Brownlee Browntown Bruce Brule Brunet Bryant Buckbee Buffalo. Buncombe Burke Burkhardt Burlington Burnette Jet.. Burnside Bushman Butler Butternut Byron Cable Cadott Calamine Caledonia Calhoun Callon Calumet Yard Calvary Calvert Cambria. Cameron, Union Station.. Campbellsport Camp Douglas Campia Camp Lake. Camp No. 4 Canton Carson Douglas.. Manitowoc... Fond du Lac. Price Oconto Crawford Winnebago Clark Barron Calumet Kenosha Green Waukesha Green Adams Washburn Green Rusk Douglas Chippewa Langlade Waupaca Marquette Lafayette Dane St. Croix Racine Dodge Outagamie Marathon Milwaukee Ashland Fond du Lac. Bayfield Chippewa Lafayette Racine Waukesha Marathon Manitowoc Fond du Lac. La Crosse Columbia Barron Fond du Lac. Juneau Barron Kenosha Oneida Barron Iron 500 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation Cary Wood C, M. & St. P Feet 1,073 C, M. & St. P 761 A. & W 709 K. G. B. & W 728 C, M. & St. P 1,365 C, M. & St. P 1,518 Grant M. R. C... 620 S. L 1,493 S. L 1,457 Cato C. & N. W 839 Cecil C. & N. W 804 C. & N. W 1,094 C, M. & St. P 778 Cedar Falls C, M. & St. P 869 Sheboygan „ Clark C. & N. W 697 C, St. P., M. & O 1,214 S. L 1,030 C, M. & St. P 832 Polk S. L 1,227 Taylor S. L 1,525 C, M. & St. P 813 C. & N. W 877 Chetek C, St. P., M. & 1,048 C„ St. P., M. & 1,086 Chili Clark . C, St. P., M. & O 1,233 C, M. & St. P 856 C, St. P. M. & O 859 S. L 833 X — C, St. P., M. & O S. L 861 X — C, St. P., M. & o : S. L ... 906 W. G. & N. H. S .... 839 936 993 Flambeau River, mouth ■ 1,050 1,064 Pelican Lake 1,462 1,509 S. L 1,098 G. B & W.. . 964 Polk C, St. P., M & O 1,201 S. L 885 Clay wood C & N W 825 Polk C, St. P., M. & O 1,199 Clear Lake, water surface Rock U. S. G. S .... 800 Cleghorn _ F. & N. E. ... 974 Cleveland C & N. W 638 Rock C & N. W 945 C. & N. W 824 Cloverdale C. & N. W.... 925 Clyde K. G. B. & W 652 Clymao C. & N. W 901 Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 501 ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation Clyman Jet Cobb > Cochrane Coda Colby Coleman Colfax Colgate Collins Coloma Columbia.... Columbus Combined Locks.. Comfort Commonwealth.... Comstock Conover Conrath , Coolidge Corinth Corliss Cormier Corning Cottage Grove Couderay County House County Line Coxie Cranberry Center Crandon Cranmoor Crawford Cross Plains Cuba Cudahy Culver Cumberland Curtiss Cusson Custer Cutter Cylon Dale Dallas Dalton Daly Danbury Dancy Dane D'arien Darlington Darwin Dodge Iowa Buffalo Bayfield Marathon... Marinette... Dunn Washington Manitowoc. Waushara... Clark Columbia Outagamie. Dunn Florence Barron Vilas Rusk Price Marathon... Racine Brown........ Columbia Dane Sawyer Douglas Racine Clark Juneau Forest Wood Crawford Dane Grant Milwaukee . Langlade Barron Clark Bayfield Portage Douglas St. Croix Outagamie... Barron Green Lake. Wood Burnett Marathon.... Dane Walworth.... Lafayette Dane C. & N. W C. & N. W C, B. & Q N. P S. L C, M. & St. P S. L S. L S. L S. L C, St. P., M. & O C, M. & St. P C. & N. W C, St. P., M. & o C. & N. W C, St. P., M. & O C. & N. W S. L S. L S. L C, M. & St. P C, M. & St. P S. L U. S. G. S .... C, St. P., M. & O. D. S. S. & A C. & N. W F. & N. E C. & N. W C. & N. W W. & N C, M. & St. P C, B. & Q U. S. G. S C. & N. W C. & N. W W. & N C, St. P., M. & O. S. L D. S. S. & A S. L N. P S. L S. L S. L C. & N. W C, M. & St. P S. L C. M. & St. P C. & N. W C, M. & St. P C, M. & St. P C, M. & St. P Feet 890 1,175 683 1,095 1,355 716 949 970 809 1,042 962 842 665 848 1,315 1,282 1,669 1,128 1,499 1,436 725 602 778 889 1,260 694 714 1,258 927 1,635 1,622 982 641 861 1,005 714 1,280 1,242 1,372 1,105 1,175 737 1,060 807 1,156 824 965 932 1,128 1,062 946 814 884 502 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation Dauby Deanville Deckers Dedham Deer Brook Deerfield Deer Park De Forest Delavan Dells Mills Delta.... Denmark Denzer, B. M.. Depere Deronda De Soto Devils Lake Dewey Dexterville Diamond Bluff Dickeysville, B. M.. Dillmans Dodge Dodgeville Donald X— C, St. P., M. & O.. Donges .'. Dorchester Dotyville, B. M 7... Dousman Dover Downing Downsville Doylestown : Draper. Dresser Jet Drexel (Kent P. O.) Drummond Duck Creek Dunbar ton Dundas Dunnville Duplainville X— C, M. & St. P X— C, M. & St. P Durand Eagle Eagle Jet Eagle Point.. Eagle River.. Earl Bayfield Dane Ozaukee Douglas Langlade Dane St. Croix Dane Walworth.... Eau Claire.. Bayfield Brown...; Sauk Brown Polk Vernon Sauk Douglas Wood Pierce Grant Milwaukee Trempealeau.. Iowa Taylor.. Ozaukee Clark :.. Fond du Lac. Waukesha Racine Dunn Dunn Columbia Sawyer Polk Langlade Bayfield Brown Lafayette Calumet Dunn Waukesha Pepin.. Waukesha.. Waukesha.. Chippewa . Vilas Washburn.. , St. P., M. & O.. S. G. S & N. W N & N. W S. G. S St. P.M. & O... M. & St. P M. & St. P M. & St. P S. S. & A & N. W S. G. S , M. & St. P & N. W L R. C & N. W N M. & St. P.. B. & Q S. G. S & N. W S. G. S & N. W C L L & N. W.. L S. G. S & N. W M. & St. P.. M. & St. P M. & St. P St. P., M. & O.. 5. G. S 6. N. W St. P., M. & 0.. & N. W M. & St. P & N. W M. & St. P L L L M. & St. P.. C, M. & St. P.. C, M. & St. P.. C. & N. W C, St. P., M. & O.. Feet 853 884 736 803 1549 861 1060 943 938 807 1,056 874 803 595 605 1,072 636 971 819 992 722 955 668 674 1,253 1,178 1,186 1,188 691 1,422 1,041 868 811 980 765 948 1,472 954 1,698 1,299 588 986 819 733 851 852 821 728 945 942 968 1,636 1,102 Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 503 ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation East Farmington, B. M East Winona — X C. B. & Q. with C. & N. W Eau Claire— X C. M. & St. P. with C, St. P., M. & Polk Buffalo.. Eau Claire.. Eden Edgar Edgerton Edgewater Edmund Eidsvold Eland Jet Elba Elcho Elderon El Dorado Eleva Eliot Elkhart Elkhorn Elk Mound Ellis Jet. (Crivitz P. O.)., Ellsworth Elm Grove Elm hurst Elm Lake Elmo Elmwood Elroy Elton Embarrass Emerald, Union Sta Endeavor Enderline...„ Engle Engoe Evansville Evergreen Lodge Exeland X C, V. &N Fairchild. Fairplay, B. M.. Fairwater Fall Creek Fall River Fennimore Fenwood Ferry ville Fifield Fond du Lac.. Marathon Rock Sawyer. Iowa Clark Shawano Dodge Langlade Marathon Fond du Lac. Trempealeau.. Bayfield Sheboygan Walworth Dunn Marinette Pierce Waukesha Langlade Wood Grant Pierce Juneau Langlade Waupaca St. Croix Marquette Bayfield Columbia Bayfield Rock Langlade Sawyer Eau Claire.. Grant Fond du Lao.. Eau Claire Columbia Grant Marathon Crawford Price ,. : r„ U. S. G. S.. M. R. C S. G. S L M., & St. P St. P., M. & O.. & N. W & N. W M. & St. P L & N. W L & N. W M. & St. P & N. W & N. W & N. W St. P., M. & O S. S. &.A M. & St. P M. & St. P St. P., M. & O.. M & St. P St. P., M. & O.. M. & St. P & N. W B. & W & N. W , St. P.,'M. & O.. . St. P., M. & O.. & N. W & N. W L W.. L... P. & N. P & N. W.. . & N L L C, St. P., M. & O.. F. & N. E U. S. G. S C, M. & St. P C, St. P., M. & O.. C, M. & St. P C. & N. W C. & N. W M. R. C S. L , Feel 1,038 659 880 840 791 837 1,015 1,238 822 1,268 1,202 1,137 1,238 823 1,655 1,203 897 866 1,161 946 996 929 685 1,069 744 1,458 1,013 1,016 870 961 1,385 795 1,147 781 1,126 883 734 897 1,276 1,192 1,189 1,066 1,069 863 952 937 866 1,196 1,286 635 1,454 504 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation Fisk Fitchburg Flambeau River Mouth Ladysmith, above dam Foot, Big Falls Forks Park Falls Florence Fond du Lac XC. & N. W Footville Forest City Forest Jet Forestville Fort Atkinson Foster Foster Fountain City Fowler Lake, water surface Foxboro Fox Lake Fox Lake Jet Fox Point Fox River Fox River Menasha dam, crest Appleton, upper lock, crest... Littlechute locks', crest Grand Kaukauna locks, crest Depere lock, crest Francis Creek Franksville Frederick Fredonia Sta Fremont Sta Friendship, Adams Sta Fries Lake, water surface Friesland Gagen Galloway Gaysmills.... Genesee Lake, water surface Genesee Sta Geneva Lake, water surface Genoa Genoa Jet Germania Germantowu Gibraltar Bluff Gibson Winnebago.. Dane Florence Fond du Lac. Rock Bayfield Calumet Door Jefferson Ashland Eau Claire.. Buffalo Waukesha... Douglas Dodge Dodge Milwaukee.. Kenosha Manitowoc... Racine Polk Ozaukee Waupaca Adams Washington.. Columbia Oneida Marathon Crawford Waukesha Waukesha Walworth Vernon Walworth Iron Washington.. Columbia Milwaukee. . . C, M. & St. P I. C. W. G. & N. H. S , & N. W & N. W , M. & St. P.. L L & N. W , St. P., M. & O.. . M. & St. P & W & N. W...". L & N. E R. C S. G. S N M. & St. P M. & St. P & N. W & N. W G. & N. H. S.. C, & N , M. L W 64 4 18 522 The Physical Geography of Wisconsin ELEVATIONS Locality Way Webster Weed Dam Weedens Weirgor Weiskisit Wentworth Werley West Bend Westboro Westby West End Westfield West Greenville.. West Rosendale.. West Salem Weston.., Weyauwega Weyerhaeuser Wheatland Wheeler Whitcomb White Fish Bay Whitehall Whitelaw .*, White River Whitewater Whitson Jet Highest point on line Whittlesey Wiehe Wild Rose. Willard Willo Wilson Wilton Winchester Windfall— X C, St. P., M. & O. Windsor Winegar Wingra Lake, water surface Winneboujou Winnebago Lake, water surface... Winneconne Winona Jet Winter Wiscona Wisconsin & Northern Jet Wisconsin River Mouth Muscoda Bridge '. Prairie du Sac Kilbourn, below dam County Douglas Burnett Shawano Sheboygan Sawyer Langlade Douglas Grant Washington.... Taylor Vernon Bayfield Marquette Outagamie Fond du Lac. La Crosse Dunn Waupaca Rusk Kenosha Dunn Shawano Milwaukee Trempealeau.. Manitowoc Ashland Walworth Iowa Taylor Douglas Waushara... Clark Bayfield St. Croix Monroe Vilas Sawyer Dane Vilas Dane Douglas Calumet Winnebago.. La Crosse.... Sawyer Milwaukee.. Forest Authority L L & N & N. W. L & N P & N. W.. & N. W.. L M. & St. T L & N. W & N. W & N. W M. & St. P St. P., M. & .. L L I L & N. W.. & N. W.. B. & W.. & N. W.. L M. & St. P. & N... P. & N... P & N. W & N. E S. S. & A St. P., M. & 0.. & N. W.„ & N. W L M. & St. P & N. W S. G. S S. S. & A S. G. S M. & St. P & N. W St. P., M. & O.. & N. W & N G. & N. H. S Elevation Feet 989 978 902 702 1,203 1,201 941 738 896 1,504 1,309 857 856 891 902 749 741 877 779 1,200 759 93.9 1,114 656 815 855 731 822 1,193 1,233 1,465 1,096 997 1,178 1,165 1,157 992 1,692 1,313 899 1,711 849 1,024 747 754 656 1,360 681 1,628 604 669 740 815 Altitudes of Cities and Villages in Wisconsin 523 ELEVATIONS Locality County Authority Elevation "Wisconsin River (continued) Feet 922 1,004 1,098 1,180 1,251 1,385 1,431 1,558 S. L 1 ,650 Withee Clark.. 1,270 C. & N. W 1,157 Wolf River Jet C. & N. W W. G. & N. II. S 1,507 Wolf River 747 750 ? C. &. N. W 1 , 562 914 S. L 1,600 I. C 788 Woodhull C. & N. W 871 C, M. & St. P 949 C. & N. W 639 C, M. & St. P 657 Vilas C. & N. W 1,609 X C M & St P C. & N. W 1,615 S. L 848 St. Croix C, St. P., M. & 1,171 C. & N. W 751 S. L 1,605 C. & N. W 657 M. R. C C, St. P., M. & 628 922 C, M. & St. P C, St. P., M. & 824 1,431 C. & N. W 863 C, M. & St. P 987 INDEX Abandoned beaches, 282-287, 296, 319- 321, 422-423. Abandoned channels, 139, 262, 267, 329, 330. Abandoned delta, 285. Abandoned outlet, 279, 282, 320-321, 421-422. Abandoned shorelines, 282-287, 296, 319-321, 422-423. Abandoned valley, 144, 362. Abbotsford, 352. Abbreviations, 495. Ablemans, 112, 113, 180. Ablemans gap, 53. Aborigines, 74. See Indians. Accordant junction of main and side streams, 181. Ackley series, 10. Acknowledgments, xvi, 495, and Pref- ace. Adams, 300. Adams County, 83, 119, 120, 125, 306, 307, 310, 314, 318, 320, 321. Agassiz, Louis, 413. Agricultural college lands, 416. Agriculture, 12. Albany, 117, 260. Albert, A. R., 491. Alden, W. C, 89, 120, 220, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 251, 253, 254, 263, 485, 486. Aldrich, Mildred, 89. Algoma, 21, 212, 290. Algonkian, 3, 4, 31. Allen, C. J., 194. Allen's Landing, 330. Allouez, Claude, 22, 269, 302, 321, 435. Alluvial fans, 10, 121, 145, 317. Alluvium, 9, 10, 13, 154, 317, 318. Alma, 43, 76, 114, 119, 142, 151, 154, 155, 166, 192, 443, 456. Alongshore transportation, 435. Altitude, effect on temperature, 15. Altitudes in Wisconsin, 493-523. American land system, 270. Americans in Wisconsin, 23. Amherst Jet., 315. Amherst series, 10. Amnicon formation, 4. Andre, Louis, 291-293, 294, 297, 477. Andrews, E., 254, 297. Animals, work of, 7, 10. Anticlines, 7. Antigo, 441. Antigo series, 10. Anvil, The, 333. Apostle Islands, 21, 403, 407, 415, 423, 426, 427, 432, 433, 435, 436. spits at, 430-433. Apple River, 189. Appleton, 269, 336, 444. Arbor Vitae, 363. Arbor Vitae Lake, 390. Arcade Glen, 206. Archean, 3, 4, 5, 31. Arches, 426. Area of counties, 443-444. of educational lands, 446. of Forest Reserve, 445. of Indian Reservations, 446. of land surface, 438. of Military Reservations, 446. of public lands, 446. of State Parks, 445. of Wisconsin, 2, 438. of Wisconsin portion of Lake Michi- gan, 438. of Wisconsin portion of Lake Su- perior, 438. of Wisconsin rivers and inland lakes, 438. Argyle, 56. Arid country, 299. Arid-land forms, 300. Arlington, 201, 202. Armstrong Creek, 363. Arpin formation, 4. Artists Glen, 327, 329. Ashland, 21, 287, 336, 352, 361, 377, 403, 405, 408, 416, 423, 433, 435, 436, 443, 455. Ashland County, 402, 446. Atwood, W. W., 71, 83, 92, 111, 323. 346, 486. Auburn series, 10. Babcock, 320. Backwater sloughs, 160, 161. Bad River bar, 435. Bad River formation, 4. Bagley, 141, 147, 152, 456. Bagley terrace, 147. Bagley, W. S., 364, 382. Bailey Harbor, 289. Bailey, Joseph, 324. Bain, H. F., 70, 71, 486, 489. Baker, O. E., 15, 26, 490. Bald Bluff, 307, 308. Baldwin series, 10. Balsam Lake, 444. Bancroft, 308. Bancroft scries, 10. Bangor, 43, 185. Baraboo, 53, 54, 110, 112, 114, 180, 181, 300, 315, 317, 319, 320, 321, 368, 444. Baraboo Bluffs, 52. Baraboo formation, 4. Baraboo Range, 33, 35, 43, 51-55, 68, 69, 80, 110, 115, 120, 177, 178, 180, 357, 366, 367, 376, 378. glaciation of, 110-114. Baraboo River, 53, 172, 180. Bark Bay, 433. Bark Point, 426, 433. Bark River, 262, 265, 266. Barrier beach, 433. Barron, 443. Barron County, 114, 301, 302, 306, 313, 340, 354, 371. Barron Hills, 33, 113, 361, 378. Barron quartzite, 4. Bars, see Sand bars, Spits, Cusps. Baselevel, 8. Base-levelled plain, 306, 362. Base lines, 466. Base map of Wisconsin, 447. Battle Creek, 170. Battlefield, ancient, 385. Battlefield beaches, 285. Battlemented ridges, 185. Battle of the Bad Axe, 170. Battle of "Wisconsin Heights, 170. Baxter series, 10. Baxter silt loam, 82. Baxters Hollow, 53, 54. Bay City, 147, 151, 162, 456. Bay City terraces, 147. Bay des Puans, 291. Bayfield, 420. Bayfield County, 353, 377, 390, 402, 405, 430, 433, 446. Bayfield group, 4. Bayfield, H. W., 436, 475. Bayfield Peninsula, 21, 401, 407, 415, 430, 434. Bayous, 139, 194. Bays, 287. Beach ridges, 285. Bean, E. F, 28, 71, 195, 218, 255, 278, 345, 361, 381, 492. Bear Bluff, 307. Bear Cave, 85, 86, 87\ Bear Creek, 188. Beaver, 202. Beaver Creek, 188. Beaver Lake, 21, 263. Beef River, 187. Beef Slough, 142, 157. Belleville, 59, 102. Belmont, 61. Beloit, 56, 110, 116, 239, 246, 249, 257, 262, 263, 264. Beloit dolomite, 4. Belted plain, 29, 33, 36, 37, 198, 305. See Cuesia. Benches, rock, 424, 426. Bench marks, 454. Benton, 183, 184, 459. Bergh, O. I., 490. Berkey, Charles, 322. Berlin, 368. Berryville, 283. Bibliographies, 24-28, 70-72, 89-92, 168-169, 194-195, 217-219, 254-255, 278, 297-298, 322-323, 345-346, 381-383, 399-400, 413-414, 436-437, 477-492, 493. Bibon, 423. Big Cedar Lake, 457. Big Lake Butte des Morts, 267. Big Patch, 459. Big Quinnesec Falls, 398. Big Trout Lake, 445. Bird, H. P., 26. Bird Reserve, 445. Birge, E. A., 27, 486, 489. Blackboard map of Wisconsin, 447. Black Creek, 202. Black Earth, 471. Black Earth Creek, 180, 182. Black Hawk, 170, 192. Black Hawks Leap, 330. Black River, 19, 47, 143, 171, 185-186, 188, 321, 338, 339, 364, 396. Black River, east fork, 321. Black River Falls, 49, 75, 299, 303, 308, 337, 338, 343, 366, 368, 371, 443, 451. Black River group, 4. Blaisdell, J. J., 27. Bliss, J. S., 254. Blueberry swamps, 390. Blue Mound cave, 86, 87. Blue Mound Creek, 181. Blue Mounds, 56, 60, 61, 85, 87, 95, 233, 376. Blue River, 85, 86, 380. Boardman, W. C, 491. Bog limestone, 262. Bogs, 10. See Swamps. Bogus Creek, 151. Boise Brule pass. 387. Bois Brule River, 20, 22, 189, 404, 411, 412. Bois Brule— St. Croix outlet, 412, 418, 422. Boone fine sandy loam, 82. Boone series, 10. Boscobel, 85, 86, 87, 336. Bottle paper courses, 429. Bottomland, 143, 175-176. See Floodplain, Terraces. Boundaries of geographical provinces, 30-31. of public lands, systems of de- scribing, 466. of Wisconsin, 41, 157-158, 398, 410, 415-416, 439-442. Bowlder clay, 9, 245, 377. See Till, Glacial Drift, Moraine. Bowlder train, 239, 240, 378. Bowman, Isaiah, 89. Brabant, Lilla, 28. Brandon, 206. Brices Prairie, 143, 152. Bridgeport, 121, 173, 177, 194. Bridges, natural, 84. Brillion, 271. Briquetting plants, 277. British government in Wisconsin, 270. Brodhead, 117, 259. Brooklyn, 260. Brooks, T. B., 381, 484. Brown County, 204, 212, 446. Bruce Mound, 308. Brule Forest Reserve, 421, 445. Bruncken, E., 254. Brunson, A., 493. Brunsweiler River, 360. Buckley, E. R.. 25, 278, 487, 488. Buell, I. M., 240, 254, 485. Buffalo City, 133, 147, 166. Buffalo County, 43, 46, 115, 142, 155, 158, 188. Buffalo River, 187, 188. Buncombe, 59. Bundy, W. F., 484. Burchard, E. F., 71, 92, 485. Burlington, 240, 250, 267. Burnett County, 304, 313, 318, 340, 353, 386. Burnett Falls, 387. Buried ice blocks, 390. Buried peneplain, 368, 369. See Peneplain. Cable, 380. Cacti, 300-302. Cadiz, 102. Calamine, 56. Calcite, 5. Calcium carbonate, 6. Calkins, H., 493. Calumet County, 212, 213, 252. Calumet stage, 284. Calvin, Samuel, 168. Cambria, 202. Cambrian sandstone, 3, 4, 12, 13, 33, 36, 37, 207, 309. See also Central Plain, Potsdam sandstone. Campbell, H. C, 439. Camp Douglas, 50, 64, 66, 180, 181, 299, 300, 306, 307, 308, 310, 311, 343, 446. Camp Douglas Country, 299-302. Canton, 113. Capes, 287. Capture of Buffalo River, 187. of Wisconsin River, 178, 179. Carboniferous period, 3. Carries Gap, 358. Carrington series, 10. Carver, Jonathan, 387, 478. Cary series, 10. Cascades, 327-328, 341. See Waterfalls, Rapids, Water power. Case, E. C, 24, 297, 447. Cassville, 56, 100, 124, 133, 143, 147, 149, 152, 154, 155, 456. Cassville terrace, 147. Castellated bluffs, 314. Castellated hills, 299-300, 308. Castellated peaks, 185. Castellated ridge, 315. Castellated towers, 311. Castle Rock, 85. Catfish Bar, 190. Catfish River, 260. Caves, 84-88, 115, 223, 236-238, 296, 426. absence in glaciated area, 88. sea, 426. Cedar Lake, 274. Cedar swamps, 390. Cement rock, 4. Cenozoic, 2, 3. Census, see U. S. Census. Central Low Plains, 23. geiieicii uesui ip nun, ou^-ou*. glaciation of, 310-322. great swamp of, 342-343. origin, 305-310. rivers of, 325-345. swamps of, 341-343. topography, 305-310. Central Scientific Co., 447. Chamberlin, R. T., 322, 344. Chamberlin, T. C, 24, 25, 26, 70, 89, 92, 102, 106, 107, 168, 218, 254, 322, 340, 381, 413, 447, 458, 461, 465, 484, 485, 486. Chambers Island, 214, 295. Changes of level, causes for, 282. Channels of Mississippi, map of, 160. Channel, valley, and gorge, 133. See Abandoned channels. Chapel Gorge, 329. Chelsea series, 10. Chequamegon Bay, 21, 22, 23, 403, 420, 436. Chequamegon Point, 415, 433-436. Chequamegon sandstone, 4. Chert, 5, 82. Chetac Lake, 386. Chetek Lake, 386. Chetek series, 10. Chicago, 41. Chicago and Northwestern Railway, 171, 180, 182, 183, 202, 299, 314, 352, 361, Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Rail- way, 130. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail- way, 130, 171, 172, 182, 183, 202, 299, 352. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway, 171, 189, 299, 421. Chilton, 275, 443. Chimney Rock, 330. Chippewa County, 354, 362. Chippewa Falls, 341, 352, 371, 443. Chippewa lobe, 79, 80, 310, 313, 374, 407. Chippewa River, 19, 22, 47, 110, 115, 149, 156, 171, 188, 189, 338, 340, 386, 387, 388, 396. escarpment west of, 44-45. highland near, 44. ridges and coulees near, 45-46. upland near, 81. Cincinnati shale, 4, 6, 13, 33, 38, 60, 230. absence from Rock River Lowland, 230. City Point, 320, 321, 370. Civil towns, 470-471. Clark, A. C, 381, 484. Clay products, 8. Clays, 10, 11. map, 448. Clay soil, 408. Cleland, H. F., 218, 489. Cliffs, 192, 289, 296. recession of, 289. wave-cut, 424-426. See Escarpments. Cliftoir, 213. Climate, 14-18. Climate, relation to hydrography, 19. Climatology, applied, 16-18. Clinton, 204. Clinton iron ore, 4. Clinton Point, 426, 436. Clyde fine sand, 287. Clyde series, 10. Coapman, Lillian, 322. Coastal lakes, 289. Coast, see Shorelines, Wave Work. of Lake Michigan, 279-296. of Lake Superior, 415-436. of Wisconsin, 21. Cobb, 57. Cochrane, 147, 151, 456. Cochrane terrace, 147. Colby series, 10. Coldwater Canyon, 327-328, 329. Colhoun, J. E., 73, 94, 480. Collie, G. L., 24, 434, 436. Coloma loam, 242. sand, 314. series, 10. Colorado, compared with Wisconsin, 1. Columbia County, 51, 58, 83, 197, 201, 202, 203, 206, 235, 249, 303, 310, 343. Columbus, 203. Combined Locks, 269. Commerce, relation of spits to, 436. Conglomerate, 5. Congress Hall Gorge, 331. Congressional townships, 470-471. Coniferae, 300-302. Connors Point, 428. Conover, A. D., 484. Conrey, Guy, 490. Consequent streams, 354. Continental climate, 14-18. Continental glacier, 9, 220, 221, 222. Contour interval, 453. Contour lines, 451. Contour map of Wisconsin, 18. Contraction, and weathering, 7. Copper Creek, 160. Copper Falls, 412. Copper in glacial drift, 239, 408, 415. Cormier, 285. Corn, 12. Corners, marking ~of, 474. Correction lines, 466, 469. Cottage Grove, 249. Couderay, 363. Coulees, 45, 192, 193, 194. Counter-currents, 436. Counties, areas and populations, 443- 444. Counties, townships within, 469-470. County seats, 443-444. Coureurs de bois, 22, 435. Court Oreilles Lake, 386. Cox, H. J., 345. Crags, 82-83, 192, 299, 300, 308, 310, 312, 345. Cram, T. J., 278, 395, 399, 441, 475. Cramer, Frank, 218. Cranberry swamps, 343, 390. Crandon, 352, 376, 443. Crawfish River, 258, 262. Crawford County, 50, 55, 69, 85, 87, 119, 155, 160, 161. Creameries and cheese factories, 448. Creep, 7, 9..10, 11. Cretaceous period, 3. Crocker, H., 27. Crops, value of, 11. Cross Plains, 96. Crystal Lake, 274. Crystalline rocks, 6, 10. residual soil of, 82. Cuba, 59, 459. Cudahy, 212, 252. Cuesta, 33, 34, 45, 47, 49-50, 55, 60, 63- 70, 198, 200, 212, 217, 305. denned, 42. Cuesta-maker, 213. Culture, on maps, 451. Cumberland, 302, 306. Currents, 424, 429, 436. Cushing series, 10. Cusps, 157. Cycle, 12, 49-50, 209, 303, 363. stage in, 31. D Dablon, Claude, 415, 437, 478. Dairying, 11, 12. Dairy products, value of, 12. Dales, 296. Dalles of the St. Croix, 340, 343. Dalles of the Wisconsin, 83, 301, 325- 333. Dam, at Kilbourn, 328-329. Dana, J. D., 89. Dane, 201, 202. i-^cuneis, iz.uwaiu, /u, oy, yo, iio, ^o^, 483. Darlington, 444. Davies, J. E., 475, 484. Davis, W. M., 24, 51, 89, 322. Dayton, 117, 260. Dead Lake, 262. Dearborn, H. A. S., 297. Decomposition- of ro.cks, 7. Decorah dolomite, 4. Deepest inland lake in Wisconsin, 311. Dekorra, 333. Delavan, 267, 457. Delavan lobe, 245, 246. Dell Creek, 180, 181, 331. Delta, 10, 156, 157, 162, 190, 422. See Abandoned delta. Delton, 319, 331. Dendritic drainage pattern, 61-62, 180, 181, 182, 258, 259, 350, 376. Density of population, 196, 197,- 444. Denudation, 7. Denver Creek, 188. Depere, 269, 270, 292, 439, 455, 474. Deposition, 8-9, 12. Deposits, glacial, 239-254, 313-322, 407- 408. See Moraine, Glacial drift. lake, 118-119, 251-253, 318-321, 435-436. of Driftless Area streams, 121-122. of glacial streams, 119-121. river, see Floodplains, Terraces. wind, 321. See Loess, Dunes. Desor, E., 297, 413, 481. De Soto, 119, 133, 161, 456. Desplaines River, 267. Detached ice mass, 418. Developed water powers, 395. Devereaux, W. C, 27. Devils Chimney, 83, 84. Devils Door, 83, 109. Devils Island, 426. Devils Island sandstone, 4. Devils Jug, 328. Devils Lake, 53, 54, 55, 76, 83, 109, 110, 112, 114, 123, 177, 378. Gap, 178, 358, 361. State Park, 51, 109-110, 445. with icebergs, 112. Devils Nose, 109. Devonian, 3, 4. Diagonal valley, 22. Diamond Bluff, 147, 149, 151, 160, 456 Diamond Bluff terraces, 147. Diamonds in glacial drift, 239-241. Differential glacial erosion, 227. Dip, 7. Discovery of Wisconsin, 22. See Northern Highland. Diversions, stream, 329, 330. See Capture. Dodge County, 207, 212, 249. Dodgeville, 56, 58, 59, 181, 258, 443, 459. Dodgeville series, 10. Dodgeville silt loam, 82. Dolomite, 4, 6. Door County, 212, 289, 295, 445, 446. Door Peninsula, 21, 213, 214, 216, 225, 237, 287, 291, 295. Dopp, Mary, 28. Dore Flambeau River, 396. Dorro Couche, 307. Douglas Copper Range, 353, 401, 403. Douglas County, 353, 379, 390, 402, 404, 405, 445. Dousman, 265. Downing, 45. Drainage, see Rivers. basins, 20. changes in, 113. ditches, 393. in relation to history, 22-23. of Central Plain, 325-345. of eastern Wisconsin, 257-278. of Lake Superior Lowland, 408-412. of Northern Highland, 385-398. of Western Upland, 129-194. of Wisconsin, 19-21. Dresbach cuesta, 304. Dresbach sandstone, 4, 304, 309. Drift bluffs, 289. Drift copper, 239, 408, 415. Drift dams, 117, 260. Drift, glacial, 9, 13, 239. See Glacial Drift, Moraine, Outwash. Drifting bottles, 436. Driftless Area, 9, 12, 13, 20, 29, 31, 35, 37, 42, 47, 50-51, 59, 73-88,110, 111, 115, 170, 181, 185, 186, 192, 196, 221, 224, 229, 233, 238, 239, 257, 260, 276, 300, 301, 310, 311, 312, 331, 333, 339, 351, 374-376, 392, 393. cause of, 76-82. caves limited to, 87-88. deposits of glacial age in, 118. discovery and explanation of, 93- 108. elevations in, 76. first correct explanation, 102-104. first map of, 100. forms, 300. modern map of, 75. nature of, 74-75. prairies in, 125, 127. stream deposits in, 121-122. topography of, 76. valley fill in, 121. See Older drift. Drift, weathered, 116. See Older drift. Drifts or currents in Lake Superior, 429. Drowned valleys, 290, 408, 409, 424, 425, 428. See Estuaries. Drumlins, 221, 242-245, 246. Dubuque, 124, 133. Duck Creek, 236. Duluth, city, 436. See Superior. Du Luth, Sieur, 22, 23, 387, 409. Dunbarton, 59. Dunes, 9, 10, 13, 122-123, 147, 176, 321, 379, 428. Dunesand, soil, 10. Dunkirk fine sand, 285. Dunkirk series, 10. Dunn County, 44, 124, 311, 318. Dunnewald, T. J., 490, 491. Dunning series, 10. Durand, 188, 444. Durwards Glen, 53. E Eagle, 85, 87, 240, 246, 266. Eagle Bay, 295. Eagle Bluff, 212, 295. Eagle Cave, 85, 86, 87. Eagle Harbor, 296. Eagle River, 379, 390, 444. Eastern Ridges and Lowlands, 29, 36, 196, 197-296, 392. coast of, 279-296. density of population in, 196. drainage of, 257-278. glacial striae in, map showing, 220, 235. glaciation of, 221-254. peat resources of, 275-277. physiographic divisions of, map showing, 199. prairies of, 277-278. East Farmington, 43. East Winona, 155. Eaton, J. H., 70. Eau Claire, 80, 149, 318, 338, 341, 443. Eau Claire County, 46, 124, 318. Eau Claire, escarpment near, 46-47. Eau Claire sandstone and shale, 4. Educational lands, area of, 445-446. Eggs, value of, 11. Eileen sandstone, 4. Eland Jet., 352. Electric power, 394. See Water power. Elephants Back, 308, 331. Elk Grove, 459. Elkhart Lake, 274, 457. Elkhorn, 267, 4 14. Ellis, E. E., 486. Ellis Jet., 303, 306. Ellis, R. W., 322, 463. Ellsworth, 43, 45, 444. Elroy, 180, 182. Embayments, 371. Emmons, S. F., 89. Enabling act for Wisconsin, 441. England, compared with Wisconsin, 1. Eocene period, 3. Ephraim, 237, 295, 296, 445. Epoch, 3. Era, 3. Erosion, 7, 8-9, 12. See Glacial erosion, Wind work, Rivers, Wave work. Erosion cycle, stages in, 12. Erosion, glacial, see Glacial erosion. Erosion, river, compared with glacial, 131-132. Erratics, 73, 74, 80. See Glacial drift. Erratics, ice-rafted, 318-319. Escarpments, 42, 44-45, 46-47, 50, 58, 59-60, 64, 114, 115-116, 197, 202, 205, 213, 228, 229, 232, 235, 295, 299, 300, 301, 310, 401, 403, 405. Escarpments, simple, due to glaciation, 230-231, 234, 235. Eskers, 10, 244, 249-250, 380. Estuary, 290, 408, 409, 424, 425, 428. Europe Lake, 289. Exeter, 99. Exhumed monadnocks, 366-369. See Peneplain, Buried peneplain. Expansion, and weathering, 7. Exploration of Wisconsin, 22-23, 287, 439. See History. Exploratory geological surveys, 479, 482. Extinct Lake Middleton, 182. F Fairbanks, H. W., 384. Fair Play, 59. Fall Line, 338, 341. Fall Line cities of the Central Plain, 341. Farm produce, value of, 12. Father of Waters, 129. Faulting, 234, 328, 401. Fault line, 403. Faults, 6, 358. Featherstonhaugh, G. W., 168, 256, 480. Federal military reserves, 446. Fenneman, N. M., 278, 322, 345, 487. Fennimore, 56. Fennimore Creek, 181. Ferryville, 160, 456. Fertility, 11. Fever River, 183, 184. Fifield, 363. Filled lake, 275, 390. First American fort, 270. First permanent settlement, 439. First white man to visit Wisconsin, 287. Fish Creek, 295, 296. Fisherman Shoal, 289. Flag River, 430. Flambeau Marsh, 390. Flambeau Ridge, 354, 357, 362. Flambeau River, 393, 396. Flint, 5, 82. Flint, A. R., 297. Floodplains, 10, 175, 185, 192, 193, 338. of Mississippi, 139, 160-163. Floods, 141, 336, 338, 393, 398. Florence, 380, 443. Florence County, 366, 380. Fluctuations in lake level, 291-295, 416. seasonal, 294. twelve-year, 294-295. Folds, 6. Fole avoine, 291, 293. Folios, 450. Folsom, W. H. C, 89, 94. Fond du Lac County, 204, 206, 213, 231, 262, 265. Fond du Lac, Minnesota, 23. Fond du Lac, Wis., 56, 204, 214, 245, 252, 277, 287, 443. Forest bed, 253-254. Forest County, 362, 376, 391, 393, 445. Forest map, 17. Forest Reserve, 391, 445. Forests of northern Wisconsin, 448. Forests, relation to run off, 17. Fort Brady beaches, 285. Fort Howard, 270, 352. Forties, 473. Fort Wilkins and Fort Howard wagon road, 352. Fossil, geographical, 54. Fossils 5 Foster,' J.' W., 106, 481, 483. Fountain City, 154, 158, 192, 456. Four Lakes at Madison, 21, 256. Fourth principal meridian, 467. Fox Glen, 53. Fox River, 6, 19, 173, 206, 216, 258, 267-271, 287, 292, 335, 336-338, 396. hills near, 33, 35. improvement, 267, 269. in history, 269-270. 532 Index Fox River (continued) lower,- 269-271. of southeastern Wisconsin, 217, 266. relation to Wisconsin River, 335, 336. upper, 267, 338. water power, 269. Fox series, 10, 249. Fox-Wisconsin waterway, 22, 336. Fractions, 471. Franconia sandstone, 4. Freda sandstone, 4. Fredonia, 217. Freedom formation, 4. French claims, 466, 474. French explorers, 22. French Island, 143, 149, 152. French land system, 270, 466, 474. French regime, 270. French Slough, 143. Friendship, 307, 320, 443. Friendship Mound, 83, 307, 308. Frost action, 7. Fruit, value of, 11. Fur trade, 11, 12. Gagen, 363. Galena-Trenton limestone, 4, 6, 13, 33, 36, 37, 38, 87, 207. See Trenton cuesta, Trenton escarp- ment, Eastern Ridges and Low- lands, Western Upland. Game Reserve, 445. Gannett, Henry, 493. Gaps, 215-216. See Water gaps. in Baraboo Range, 53. in Penokee Range, 357-361. Geest, 82. Geib, W. J., 490, 491. Genesee series, 10. Geneva, Lake, 21. Genoa, 456. Genoa Jet., 212, 267. Geographical names, 493. Geographical provinces, 23. boundaries of, 30-31. of Wisconsin, 29-37. Geography, general, 1-2. R of an ancient battlefield, 385. physical, 7-14. regional, 23. Geological column, 2, 3, 4. Geological history, 13-14. Geological map of Wisconsin, 12, 13. Geological maps, 457, 460-461. Geological model of Wisconsin, 447. Geological names, 4. Geological structures, 6-7, 35. Geology of Wisconsin, 2-7. Geology, relation to hydrography, 19. Germans in Wisconsin, 23, 197. Giants Hand, 330. Gibraltar Rock, 83, 203. Gilbert, G. K., 89, 297, 311, 322, 427, 437,485. Gillett, 306. Gillis, F., 276. Gingnass, Michael, 168. Girard Jet., 363. Glacial deposits, 10, 37, 114, 239-254, 313-322, 407-408. See Moraine, Outivash, Lake clay, Till. Glacial deposits, model of Wisconsin showing, 447. Glacial Devils Lake, 112, 113. Glacial drift, 9, 13, 221. See Glacial deposits. Glacial erosion, 9, 37, 115-116, 200, 222-239, 310-313, 405-407. Glacial erosion compared with stream- erosion, 131-132. Glacial Great Lakes, 280, 281, 282-287, 416-423. See Glacial Lakes Algonquin, Chi- cago, Duluth, and Nipissing Great Lakes. Glacial Lake Agassiz, 166. Glacial Lake Algonquin, 281, 282, 284- 285, 296, 416, 419. Glacial Lake Baraboo, 112, 113. Glacial Lake Chicago, 280, 281, 282-284. Glacial lake deposition, see Lake clay. Glacial Lake Duluth, 166, 281, 416, 417, 418, 419, 422, 423. Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet, 166, 167, 280, 285-287, 336. Glacial Lake Nemadji, 166, 416, 417. Glacial Lake Nipissing, see Nipissing Great Lakes. Glacial Lake Ontonagon, 417. Glacial Lake Wisconsin, 112, 118-119, 166, 308, 318-321, 329, 341. map of, 319. outlet of, 320, 321. Glacial lakes, 282, 287, 416-423. See Glacial Great Lakes, Glacial Lake Wisconsin, Glacial Lake Jean Nicolet. Glacial lobes, 78, 80, 374. See Green Bay lobe, Lake Michigan lobe, Chippewa lobe, Lake Super- ior lobe. Glacial maps, 462, 463. Glacial oscillations, 374. Glacial Period, 2, 3, 4, 9, 14, 74. Glacial region, 29. Glacial River Warren, 166. Glacial scooping, 224. Glacial scratches, 80, 88, 220, 235, 250, 377. See Striae. Index 533 Glacial sculpture, 224, 289. See Glacial erosion, Plucking. Glacial streams, 10, 379. See Outwash, Eskers. Glaciated land, relative value of, 127- 128. Glaciation, effect on drainage, 393-396. Glaciation, of Baraboo Range, 110, 114. of Central Plain, 310-322. of eastern Wisconsin, 221-254. of Lake Superior Lowland, 405-408. of Northern Highland, 374-380. of Western Upland, 109-128. value of, 127-128, 380. Glaciers, 7, 9. advancing, 110. retreating, see Outwash, Lake clay, Moraine. Glen Beulah, 274. Glen Eyrie, 329. Glen Haven, 56, 456. Glenwood stage, 283, 284. Gneiss, 6. Gogebic Range, 355-361. See Penokee Range. Gogogashugun fork of Montreal River, 398. Gogogashugun Gap, 358. Gogogashugun River, 357, 398. Goldthwait, J. W., 273, 285, 296, 297, 488. Goodnow, 363. Goose Bay, 162. Gorge, 8, 133-142, 173-179, 325, 331, 333, 345. Gorge, channel, and valley, 133. Gorge of Mississippi River, 133-142. of Tylers Fork, 357, 358. of Wisconsin River, 173-179. Gould, L. T., 28. Government township, 471. Graben, 401, 402, 403. Grandfather Falls, 393. Grand Marsh, 318. Grand Rapids, 80, 172, 317, 318, 333, 334, 341, 343, 352, 363, 369, 370, 371, 374, 378, 379, 380, 444. Granite, 5, 6, 8, 10, 31. Grant County, 40, 41, 55, 85, 124, 132, 133, 155, 160, 445. Grant River, 62, 119, 121, 183. Grantsburg, 318, 417, 443. Grant, U. §., 66, 70, 71, 89, 92, 154, 381, 413, 459, 485, 487, 488. Grassy Island, 288. Grassy Point, 429. Gratiot, 56, 62, 69. Graul, E. J., 491. Gravel, 8. Gravel Island, 445. Gravel seam, at Ripon, 250-251. Gravity, 7, 9. Gray Cave, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88. Gray drift, 315. Great Ice Age, 3. See Glacial Period. Great Lakes, 1. glacial, 282-287, 416-423. short history of, 282. Great swamp of central Wisconsin, 342- 343. Greeley, A. W., 26. Green Bay and Western Railway, 172, 186, 202, 205-206, 299. Green Bay, arm of Lake Michigan, 21, 23, 173, 204, 207, 225-227, 252, 287-289, 291-294, 370, 455. city, 56, 173, 174, 197, 204, 236, 256, 270, 287, 288, 443. depth of, 21. present shore line, 287-289. rock basin, 225-227. sand spits in, 287-289. seiches in, 291-294. Green Bay — Lake Winnebago — Rock River lowland, 199, 204-212. Green Bay lobe, 79, 81, 110, 220, 221, 246, 247, 310, 315, 374. Green County, 55, 102, 116, 117, 236. Green Lake, 201, 203, 231, 232, 267, 311, 338, 443, 457. Green Lake County, 201, 203, 206, 235, 309, 311, 312. Greenstone, 5. Gregory, John, 27. Griffith, E. M., 27. Groseilliers, M. C, 22, 23, 129, 171, 387, 434, 439, 478. Ground moraine, 10, 242, 314, 378-379. Guelph limestone, 4. Gullying, 11, 63. H Hachures, 456. Hager, 151, 155, 156, 456. Haider, 351, 364. Hall, James, 24, 89, 447, 481, 483. Hamburg formation, 4. Hamilton cement rock, 4. Hammond, 43. Hancock, 315. Hanging valley, 226-227, 230, 329. Harbors, 21, 287, 290-291, 424. Harder, E. C, 194. Hardpan, 390. Hard water, 8. Hardwood Hill, 351, 355. Harrington, M. W., 429, 437. Harrison series, 10. Hartford, 368, 369. Hartland, 217. Hartland series, 10. Hatfield, 119, 321. Hathaway, J., 493 534 Index Hattery, 0. C, 297, 437. Hay, 12. Hay-nee-ah-chah, 136. Hayward, 444. Hazel Green, 56, 62, 459. Hazelhurst, 363. Headlands, 287. Headwater erosion, 188. Hemlock, 366. Hennepin, Louis, 22, 156, 168, 194, 478. Henry, A. J., 25, 297. Henry, W. A., 26, 381, 399. Hen's eggs, value of, 11. Hershey, O. H., 71, 168. High Cliff, 213. Highest point in Wisconsin, 19, 354. High Falls, 398. Highland, 85, 401, 459. Highland Lake District, 21, 388-393. Highland, Northern, 29, 31-33, 347-380. High Rock, 330. Hillside gullying, 11, 63. Hillside wash, 9, 10. Hinge lines, 166, 284, 320, 334. Historic highways of Wisconsin, 22, 23, 173-175, 269-270, 387-409. History of physiographic features, 14. History, relation of geography to, 22- 23, 173-175, 269-270, 387, 409. Hixson, W. W., 476. Hobbins, Joseph, 27. Hobbs, W. H., 83, 111, 194, 240, 254, 297, 322, 384. Hodge, J. T., 89, 97. Honey Creek, 170, 181. Hook Lake, 257. Horicon„214. Horicon Marsh, 262, 264-265. Horlicks Mill, 283. Hornets Nest, 332, 333. Horseshoe Bend, 183. Horseshoe Island, 295. Horton, A. H., 399. Hortonville Jet., 201. Hotchkiss, W. O., 24, 25, 381, 459, 463, 486, 488, 490, 492. Hoyt, 361. Hubbard, G. D., 71. Hudson, 41, 45, 189, 190, 444. Hudson River shale, 4, 60. Huels, F. W., 25, 276, 278, 345, 492. Humbird, 299, 308, 314, 315. Humbird nunatak, 314-315. Humid region, 299. Hunt, J. W., 27. Hunt, T. Sterry, 484. Hurley, 352, 356, 398, 417, 443, 471, 472. Hurley Gap, 361. Huronian, 4. Hustisford, 262. Hydration, 7. Hydro-electric power, 395, 412. Hydrographic maps, 453, 457. Hydrography, 19-22. Hydrography, relation to history, 22-23. Icebergs, 112, 408. Ice blocks, buried, 390. Ice in Lake Michigan, 291. in Lake Superior, 436. Ice mass, detached, 418. Ice-rafted erratics, 318-319. Ice ramparts, 274. Ice sheet, 9, 14. See Glacial lobes. Igneous rocks, 5, 10. Illinoian glaciation, 80. Illinois-Wisconsin boundary, 41, 442. Improved land, percentage of, 392, 444. Incised meanders, see Intrenched me- anders. Index map, 449, 450, 453, 458, 460-464. Index to atlas sheets, Wisconsin, 448. Indian reservations, areas of, 445, 446. Indians, 22, 73, 93, 94, 95, 131, 136, 157, 170, 278, 287, 302, 336, 385, 387, 409, 415, 416, 424, 446. Indian schools, 446. Industrial stage, 12. Inkstand, The, 330. Inliers, 32, 35, 305, 365, 366. Inner lowland, 34, 305, 306. See Central Plain, Insequent pattern of topography, 353. Interior lowland, 306. Interlobate kettle moraines, 246, 247, 377, 407. Intermittent streams, 451. Interstate Park, 153, 340, 343-345, 445. Intrenched meanders, 69, 165, 184, 330. Iowa County, 55, 85, 124. Iowan glaciation, 80. Iowa- Wisconsin boundary, 41. Ipswich. 459. Irma, 363. Iron County, 338, 391, 393, 445, 446, 471, 472. Iron Mountain, 212. Iron ores, 8. Iron Ridge iron ore, 4. Ironwood formation, 4. Irving, R. D., 24, 25, 27, 71, 89, 92, 102- 104, 106, 107, 194, 218, 254, 322, 345, 355, 356, 357, 359, 381, 399, 413, 437, 447, 460, 484, 485, 486. Islands, 398. destruction of, 427. Isle Wisconsin, 32-33, 370, 372-373. Jackson County, 46, 303, 306, 310, 314, 318, 321, 341, 343, 366. Jackson, C. T., 218, 481. Index 535 Jamestown, 100. Janesville, 56, 99, 116, 178, 198, 239, 245, 246, 247, 249, 257, 261, 263, 264, 277, 444. Jaws, The, 330. Jefferson, 244, 274, 443. Jefferson County, 204, 207, 211, 230, 239, 249, 368. Jesuit fathers, 240, 269, 408, 475. Johnson, W. E., 467. Johns, R. B., 191, Joint planes, 6, 327, 328. Joliet, Louis, 22, 129, 168, 171, 194, 477, 478. Jones, E. R., 345, 346. Jones, G. B., 490. Jordan sandstone, 4. Juday, C, 27, 278, 345, 389, 399, 489. Julian, A. A., 484. Junction City, 363. Juneau County, 83, 125, 304, 306, 310, 312, 313, 314, 318, 319, 321, 341, 343, 368, 443, 446. Juneau, Solomon, 294. Jurassic period, 3. Kansan glaciation, 80. Kangaroo Lake, 289. Kaolinized rock, 370, 381. Kaukauna, 269. Kawasiji-wangsepi, 412. Keating, W. H., 73, 90. 93, 94, 96, 139, 168, 479. Keewatin ice sheet, 77, 78, 79, 81, 114, 315, 374, 405. Keewatin, igneous and metamorphic rocks, 4. Kegonsa Lake, 21. Kellogg, Louise P., 443, 493. Kelvin, 48. KendaU, 180, 182. Kennan series, 10. Kenosha, 21, 273, 274, 279, 290, 443, 455. Kenosha County, 41, 212, 217, 282. Kettles, 246, 315, 377, 398, 407. Kettles, due-to slumping, 380. Kettle lakes, 379. Kettle moraine, 246, 247, 266, 315, 377, 407. Kewaunee, 21, 253, 290, 443, 455. Kewaunee County, 212, 275. Kewaunee River, 274. Keweenawan, 4, 5. Keweenaw lobe, 374. Keyes, Charles, 381. Kickapoo River, 50, 121, 170, 178, 180, 181, 182, 188. Kickapoo-Wisconsin, 178, Kiel, 252. Kilbourn, 123, 172, 180, 181, 300, 303, 307, 311, 313, 315, 317, 319, 320, 321, 325, 328, 331, 334, 370, 395, 451. Kilbourn, effect of dam at, 328-329. Kimberly, 269. King, F. H., 26, 381, 384, 399, 447, 484, 486. Kinnikinnic River, 189, 190. Kirch, A. B., 254. Kirchoffer, W. G., 26. Knapp, 45, 311. Knapp, J. G., 27. Knobs, 377, 407. See Terminal Moraine. Knowlton, 352. Knox series, 10. Knox silt loam, 124. Kohlsville, 240. Koshkonong, Lake, 21. Kuhlman, A..K, 490. Kummel, H. B., 71, 194. La Baie, 23. La Baye, 23, 270. Labrador ice sheet, 77, 78, 81, 114, 221, 315, 374, 405. Lac Court Oreilles, 352. Lac du Flambeau, 390. La Crosse, 41, 84, 95, 119, 125, 140, 141, 143, 145, 152, 154, 155, 161, 185, 186, 311, 443, 456. La Crosse and Southeastern Railway, 192. La Crosse County, 43, 46, 124, 155. La Crosse River, 115, 121, 171, 183, 185, 186. ridges and coulees near, 45, 46. upland near, 47-51. La Crosse serie's, 10. La Crosse terrace, 143. Lac Vieux Desert, 20, 393, 398. Ladysmith, 444. Lafayette County, 55, 85. Lagoons, 427, 433. Lakes, 20-21, 267, 336, 338; 376, 384, 386, 393. Lake Algonquin, see Glacial Lake Al- gonquin. Beaver, 21. Beulah, 266, 457. Lake-bottom deposits, see Lake clay. sand, 341. . sediments, see Lake clay. Lake Buffalo, 267, 338. Chicago, see Glacial Lake Chicago. Lake clay, 9, 10, 13, 112, 118-119, 123, 251-253, 265-275, 314, 318-321, 322, 341, 390, 428, 435. Lakes, coastal, 289. Lake Delavan, 266. 536 Index Lake, deepest, 311. Lake deposits, see Lake clay. Lake Duluth, see Glacial Lake Dufuth. Europe, 289. Lakes, filled, 265-275, 390. Lake Geneva, 21, 266, 267, 457. Hennepin, 107. Lakes in northern Wisconsin, 21, 385- 386, 388-390. Lake Kegonsa, 21, 257, 261. Koshkonong, 21, 262. Lake maps, 453. Lake Mendota, 21, 257, 260, 261, 457. Lake Michigan, 20. depth of, 21. drainage entering, 272-275. fluctuations in present level, 291- 295. glacier, 110, 374. harbors, 290-291. lobe, 79, 220, 221, 246, 247. lowland, 199, 200. predecessors of, 279-281. present shore line, 287-291. reefs in, 289-290. river, 406. rock basin, 223, 225. Wisconsin coast of, 279-296. Lake Middleton, extinct, 182. Lake Mills, 239. Lake Monona, 21, 261, 457. Nemadji, see Glacial Lake Nemadji. Nipissing, see Nipissing Great Lakes. Lakes, Oconomowoc, 21, 264. Lakes, origin of, 390. Lake Pepin, 21, 94, 95, 119, 155-158, 162, 167, 189, 190. state boundary at, 157-158. terraces near, 147. Lake Plains, 23. Lake Poygan, 21, 202, 267, 336. Puckaway, 21, 267, 338. Lake Region, 23. Lake Ripley, 263. St. Croix, 21, 73, 95, 157, 158, 190, 191. terraces near, 148, 149. Shawano, 21, 267, 336. Lakes of the Mississippi bottomlands, 155-163. Lakes, temporary, 121. Lake, Superior, 20, 22, 114, 415-436. Ranal to the Mississippi, 189. coast of, 415-436. ^ depth of, 22. if glacier, 79, 374. * ice in, 439. Flobe, 79, 310, r 313, 374, 405. 407, 416. present shore lines of, 423-436. [ l_ region, geological map of, 448. Lake Superior Highland, 23, 29, 347- 380, 349. See Northern Highland. Lake Superior Lowland, 29, 33, 196, 392, 401-412. age of, 404-405. boundaries of, 403. drainage of, 408-412. glacial lakes in, 416-423. glaciation of, 405-408. origin of, 408. rivers of, 408-412. Lake Waubesa, 21, 261. Waumandee, 158-159. Wingra,-257, 262. Winnebago, 19, 21, 267-269. Lake Winnebago — Rock River Lowland, 199, 204-212. Lake Wisconsin, see Glacial Lake Wis- consin. La Montagne qui trempe a I'eau, 136. Lancaster, 56, 65, 443. Lancaster peneplain, 67. Land bounds, 474. Land Office, 438. Land Office map of Wisconsin, 447. Land survey, 466-476. Lane, A. C, 297. Lange, E. G., 28, 86, 90, 374, 376. Lapham, I. A., 24, 25, 26, 27, 90, 97, 102, 218, 254, 262, 278, 345, 382, 447, 458, 465, 467, 478, 480, 481, 483, 484. La Pointe, 23, 408, 433, 435. La Pointe du St. Esprit, 435. La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de, 195. Lauderdale group of lakes, 266, 457. Laurentian igneous rocks, 4. Lava flows, 6. 345, 347, 353. Lawson, P. V., 25, 254. Leaching, 11. Lead and zinc district, 55-70. See Western Upland, Driftless Area, Southwestern Upland. Lead deposits, 8. LeClair, C. A., 491. Ledge, The, 213. Lees, J. H., 168. Le Garde, 415. Leith, C. K., 322, 382, 383, 413, 485, 486. Leland, 84. Lemonweir River, 334, 335. Lena, 201. Leonard, A. G., 168. Le Seuer, P. C, 22, 387. Leslie, 61. Leverett, Frank, 168, 222, 254, 280, 281, 284, 382, 422, 437. Liberty Bluff, 308, 309, 312, 313. Liberty Pole Hill, 260. Limestone, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 82. Lincoln County, 374, 377, 379. Index 537 Lintonia series, 10. Literature, Geological, ^e,e.Bibliographies. Little Chute, 269. Little Kaukauna, 269. Little Rapids, 269. Little Tail Point, 289. Livingston, 57. Load of rivers, decreased, 167. Loams, 10, 11, 82. Lobe, glacial, 114. See Glacial lobes. Lobes of advancing ice sheet, 221-222. Locke, John; 62, 480. Lodi, 202, 310. Loess, 9, 10, 13, 78, 107, 123-125, 321, 322. See Wind work. distribution of, 124, 125. nature of, 123. thickness of, 124. Lone Rock, 122. Longfellow, H. W., 257. Long Island, 434, 435. Long Lake, 161. Long Mound, 307. Long, S. H., 90, 93, 95. Long Tail Island, 289. Lorenz, E. H. J., 447. Louis Bluff, 331. Lounsbury, Clarence, 490, 491. Lower Dalles, 325. See Dalles of the Wisconsin, Wis- consin River. Lower Lake, in Mississippi, 162. Lower Lake St. Croix, 421. Lower Magnesian limestone, 4, 13, 33, 36, 37, 38, 87, 207, 209. See Western Upland, Eastern Ridges and Lowlands. Lower Narrows, 54. Lower Quinnesee Falls, 398. Lowest part of Wisconsin, 19. Lowlands, 29, 36. See Eastern Ridges and Lowlands, Central Plain, Lake Superior Lowland, Lake Michigan Low- land, Green Bay — Lake Winne- bago — Rock River Lowland. Lowlands, Eastern Ridges and. 197-296. Lumbering, 12, 341, 395, 398, Lumber, value of, 12. Lunar tides, 294. Luncheon Hall, 333. Lutheran Hill, 201. Lyell, Charles, 413. Lynxville, 161, 456. Lytle, 152.] M McCaslin Mountain, 354, 362. McConnell, W. R., 28. McCoy, 48. Macfarlane, James, 493. McGee, W J, 90, 92, 107, 134, 168, 242. McGregor Lake, 161, 162. Madeline Island. 426, 433, 434, 435. Madison, 56, 80, 82, 95, 96, 99, 123, 178, 180, 182, 197, 201, 203, 208, 230, 236, 238, 239, 245, 246, 257, 261, 277, 369, 370, 443, 446, 468, 471. Madison, region near, 207-211. Madison sandstone, 4. Madison type of drumlins, 245. Magnesian cuesta, 43, 115, 199, 200-204. Magnesian cuesta, back slope, 203-204. Magnesian escarpment, 202-203, 231, 232, 311. Magnesian limestone, 4. See Lower Magnesian- limestone. Maiden Rock, 154, 157, 456. Mammoth, 9. Manitowish Marsh, 390. Manitowoc, 21, 253, 289, 290, 291, 444, 455. Manitowoc County, 212, 252. Manitowoc River, 19, 216, 271, 274. Manitowoc Swamp, 275. Mansfield, G. R., 90. Manufacturing, 12. Maps, lists of, 28, 72, 92, 219, 323, 383, 414. Maps, lists with cost and sources, 447- 465. Maps, triangulation and, 475-476. Maquoketa, 60. Maquoketa shale, 4. Marais de St. Friol, 145, 161. Marathon, 350, 364. Marathon County, 125, 324, 350, 374, 379. Marathon formation, 4. Marathon loam, 82. Marble, 6. Marengo River, 360. Marginal lake, 279. Marinette, 21, 252, 285, 291, 398, 444, 455. Marinette County, 197, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 235, 250, 303, 306, 307, 318, 340, 354, 362, 366, 380, 390. Maringouin River, 360. Markesan, 201, 206. Marking of Township and Section Corners, 474. Marl, 262. Marquette, Jacques, 22, 129, 168, 171, 175, 194, 195, 269, 293-294, 297, 302, 323, 435, 477, 478. Marquette State Park, 57, 129, 192-194, 445. Marshall Hill formation, 4. Marshall, R. B., 475, 494. Marshall series, 10. Marshall silt loam, 124. Marsh, C. DJ278, 488. 538 Index Marshes, 10, 386, 390. See Swamps. Marshfield, 352. Marsh plants, 435. Martintown, 116. Mascoutin, 278. Mashkodeng, 125. Maskoute, 125. Mastodon, 9. Mather, 343. Mature valleys, 8. Maturity, 8, 12. Mauston, 299, 304, 308,- 320, 443. Maynadier, G. B., 490. Mayville limestone, 4. Mazomanie, 85, 182, 471. Mead, D. W., 26. Meadow, 9. Mean annual temperature, 14, 15. Meanders, 69, 162, 424. Meanders, intrenched, 69, 165, 184, 330. Mechanical analyses of drift, 242, 376. Medford, 444. Meekers Grove, 459. Mellen, 356, 361.. Mellen series, 10. Menard, Rene, 393. Menasha, 269, 336. Mendota dolomite, 4. Mendota, Lake, 21. Menomonie, 45, 318, 443. Menominee River, 19, 197, 206, 216, 272, 287, 289, 291, 293, 340, 366, 380, 388, 395, 396-398. Mentor series, 10. Meridean series, 10. Merrick, G. B., 168. Merrill, 80, 352, 363, 377, 379, 393, 444. Merrill, J. A., 28, 448. Merrillan, 299, 300, 308. Merrimac, 110, 113, 114, 178, 180, 270, 445. Mesas, 299, 300, 307-310, 314, 315. Mescousing, 175. Mesozoic era, 2, 3. Metamorphic rock, 6, 10. Metamorphism, 6, 7. Meteor, 361. Metes and Bounds, 466. Meyer, A. H., 490. 491. Meyers Mill, 53. Miami loam, 242. Miami series, 10 Mica, 5. Michigan Island, 433. Michigan-Wisconsin boundary, 442. Midway, 456. Mifflin, 459. Mikana, 113. Mile Bluff, 319. Military reservations, 446. Military Ridge; 56-58, 59, 67, 181, 183, 192, 258, 357. See Trenton cuesta. Military Road, 56. Miller, Eric, 26. Millston, 303. Milltown series, 10. Milwaukee, 21, 197, 213, 217, 252, 272, 274, 290, 291, 294, 395, 436, 443, 444, 455. Milwaukee County, 212, 283, 343. Milwaukee formation, 4. Milwaukee Harbor, 274, 291. Milwaukee River, 19, 216, 217, 272-274, 396. Milwaukee shale, 6, 13. Mineral Point, 56, 459. Mineral resources, value of, 8, 11. Minerals, 5. Mineral water, 8. Min-nay-chon-ka-hah, 136. Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, 352, 356, 361, 421. Minnesota lobe, 79, 114, 310, 313, 315. Minnesota Point, 428. Minnesota-Wisconsin boundary, 41, 442. Minocqua, 389. • Minocqua Lake, 390. Minong Copper Range, 353. Miocene period, 3. Mirror Lake, 181, 331. Mirror Lake gorge, 331. Miskous, 129. Mississippian period, 3. Mississippi River, 1, 19, 21, 22, 41, 45, 46, 47, 49-50, 63, 170, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 224. bluffs, 134-136. commerce, 142. coulees, along, 192. current, 141. depth of, 141. floodplain, 139. floodplain, small lakes of, 160-163. floodplain, swamps of, 163. flow of, 141. ' gorge, 133-142. gorge, buried portion of, 155. gorge, lack of halts in down-cutting, 163. gorge, period of filling, 166. gorge, period of floodplain deposi- tion, 167. gorge, preglacial origin, 163. gorge, summary of history, 167. gorge, terrace cutting, 166-167. history of, 163-167. improvement, 141. in Wisconsin, 129-167. lakes of, 155-162. lake, temporary, in, 119. Index 539 narrowing downstream, 164. persistence of direction, 165-166. scenery of, 129-131. terraces, 143-155. trench of, 133-112. volume, 141. water in, 139-142. width of, 141. Mississippi River Commission, 18, 28, 72, 140, 148, 149, 159, 161, 162, 163, 183, 194, 154-457, 475, 493. Mississippi waterway, 22, 1 12. Mitchells Glen, 206. Modern stream deposition, 10. Monadnocks, 32, 35, 43, 51, 53, 54. 63, 352, 355, 356, 361. See Peneplain. exhumed, 366-369. in Northern Highland, 354-362. Monochnal ridge, 305, 356. Monocline, 353. Mondovi, 188. Monona, Lake, *1. Monroe, 93, 96, 99, 102, 110, 116, 119, 443. Monroe County, 43, 46, 182, 235, 236, 306, 309, 310, 314, 446. Montello, 368, 444. Montfort, 57, 459. Montfort Junction, 58, 59. Montreal Gap, 358. Montreal River, 20, 357, 360, 361, 398, 404, 411-412, 417, 435. Monument Rock, 83. Monuments, 474. Moon, 351. Moraine, defined, 112. ground, 10, 242, 314, 378-379. recessional, 245-246, 274, 315, 377. terminal, 10, 112, 244, 245, 246, 315, 316, 317, 377-378, 407-408. Morris, G. P., 91. Morrison Creek, 321. Mosel, 217. Mosinee formation, 4. Mosinee Hill, 355. Mosinee loam, 82. Mosinee series, 10. Mosquito Mound, 83, 307, 308, 309, 311. Mounds, 307, 308, 312, 371. Mountain Island, 136. Mountains, 13, 29, 31, 347. Mt. Calvary, 369. Mt. Horeb, 56, 68, 76. Mt. Morris, 311, 312. Mt. Simon sandstone, 4, 304. Mt. Tom, 231, 312. Mt. Whittlesey, 357. Muck, 9, 265, 275, 318, 343, 390. Muir, John, 315, 323. Municipal towns, 471. Murrish, John, 90. Musback, F. L., 490. Muscoda, 125, 173. Muskego Lake, 267. Muskegs, 10, 390-393. See Swamps. N Navy Yard, 328, 330. Necedah, 76, 122, 313, 317, 318, 334, 368, 369, 370. Necedah Mound, 83, 308, 320, 368. Necedah quartzite, 35. Neenah-Menasha, 269, 336. Neillsville, 75, 80, 310, 315, 366, 443. Neillsville nunatak, 314-315. Nekoosa, 98. Nelson, 147, 151, 155, 456. Nelson, J. W., 490. Nemadji River, 20, 411. Namakagon Lake, 386. Ncmakagon Valley, 379. Ncmakagon River, 380. Narrows, The, 330. Nashotah, 264. National Map Co., 447. Natural bridges, 84. Natural levees, 142, 163. Natural regions, 29. Natural resource, soil as, 11. Navarino, 256. Neuman, J. J., 490. New Amsterdam, 152. New France, 270. New Franken, 212. New Glarus, 56, 102. New Lisbon, 308. New Richmond sandstone, 4. Niagara cuesta, 47, 60, 64, 199, 200, 205, 212-217, 228, 229, 233. gaps in, 215-216. swamps of, 274-275. Niagara escarpment, 59-60, 115, .213- 215, 228-229, 231, 357. inside and outside Driftless Area, 231-234. lateral erosion of, 231. Niagara limestone, 4, 5, 6, 13, 33, 36. Niagara upland, 216, 217. See Niagara cuesta. Nicodemus, J. L., 484. Nicolet, Jean, 22, 287, 439. Nicollet, J. N., 168, 416, 437, 441, 475. Nine Springs Valley, 257. Nipissing Great Lakes, 281, 282, 285, 296, 416, 420-421, 424. Nipissing outlet, 421. Nippersink Creek, 267. Nonesuch shale, 4. Noquebay Lake, 340. Normal erosion agencies, 209. Normal school lands, 446. 540 Index Northern Highland, 29, 31-33, 38, 196, 347-380, 392. See Lake Superior Highland. borders of, 371. drainage of, 385-398. glaciation of, 374-380. relation to cuestas, 34. swamps in, 390-393. topography of, 349-373. typical portion, 350. North Freedom, 114, 319. North La Crosse, 143, 152, 456. North Mound formation, 4. North Range, Baraboo Bluffs, 52. Northwestern lake district, 386-387. Northwestern Line, see Chicago and Northwestern Railway. Norwalk, 43. Norwood, J. G., 24, 25, 90, 98, 325, 345, 399, 426, 437, 481. Nunatak, 76, 78, 170, 314, 315. Nutall, Thomas, 479. Nystrom, A. J. & Co., 447. O Oakfield, 231. Oak Island, 427. Oak openings, 76. Oak Point, 434, 435. Oats, 12. Oconomowoc, 204, 214, 231, 264. Oconomowoc lakes, 21, 263, 264, 274, 457. Oconto, 444. Oconto Bay, 285. Oconto County, 201, 203, 204, 306, 307, 377, 396, 446. Oconto River, 216, 272, 287, 340, 362. Okauchee, 264. Okee, 203, 310. Old age, 12, 303. Oldenhage, H. H., 26. Older drift, 10, 79, 80, 82, 114-115, 116- 118, 188, 242, 259, 260, 310, 313- 314, 339, 374, 378, 380, 386, 393. Older outwash, 121. Oldland, 34, 36, 305. Old Mission of La Pointe, 435. Old ridge, 48. Old valleys, 8, 12, 303. Oligocene period, 3. Omaha Line, see Chicago, St. Paul, Min- neapolis, and Omaha Railway. Omro, 206. Onalaska, 123, 140, 143, 145, 149, 152, 154, 162, 456. Onalaska terraces, 143. Oneida County, 379, 388, 390, 391, 392, »*~-r 445. Oneota dolomite, 4. Ordovician, 3, 4, 13. Ore deposits, 8. Oregon, 240, 257, 262. Organized towns, 471. Orienta, 430. Oronto group, 4. Orr, E., 90. Osceola, 190, 345. Oshkosh, 197, 206, 267, 444. Otter Creek of Iowa County, 181. Otter Glen, 53. Ouisconsin, 440. . Outagamie County, 201, 202, 205, 314, 446. Outcrop, 12. Outer conglomerate, 4. Outer Island, 433, 436. Outlet of Glacial Lake Chicago, 279, 282. of Glacial Lake Duluth, 421-422. of Glacial Lake Wisconsin, 320-321. Outliers, 35,. 50, 51, 60, 229, 232, 301, 305, 310, 312, 313. Outliers, sandstone, 371, 373. Outwash, defined, 42% Outwash deposits, 10, 112, 113, 119-121, 155, 166, 246-249, 314, 316-318, 322, 334, 341, 378, 379-380, 393. Outwash, pitted, 316. Outwash plain, defined, 112. See Outwash, Valley train. Ordovician, 12. Owen, D. D., 39, 40, 61, 71, 91, 92, 96, 130, 176, 399, 413, 437, 447, 480, 481, 483. Oval hills, 221. See Drumlins. Overflow lands, 10, 343. See Swamps, Floodplains. Ox-bow curves, 162. See Meanders. Ozaukee County, 212, 217, 240, 283. Pah-hah-dah, 136. Painted Stone, 73-74, 94. Paleozoic, 2, 3, 12, 14, 33. Palms formation, 4. Palmyra, 204. Paoli, 59, 116. Parfreys Glen, 53, 54. Park, E. S., 71, 91, 92, 463. Parks, see State parks. Partly-exhumed monadnocks, 368. See Buried peneplain. Passes, 361. Patrician ice sheet, 79, 374, 405. Peat, 9, 163, 265, 269, 274, 275, 314, 318, 343, 390, 392. bog, 338. resources, 275-277. swamps, 386. Index 541 Pecatonica River, 62, 93, 121, 183, 258- 259. Peckham, Elizabeth, 487. Peckham, George W., 487. Pelican, 376. Pelican Lake, 390. Pence, W. D., 337, 345. Peneplain, 14, 31, 32, 34, 53, 63, 65, 306, 347, 348, 350, 352, 356. See Northern Highland age of, 373. buried extension of, 32, 35, 366-369. buried soils on, 370-371. cuesta interpreted as, 63-70. cycle, 362. defined, 31. dissection of, 363-366. hidden, 369-370. inner lowland interpreted as, 306. warping of, 362-363. Peninsula Park, 212, 295-296, 445. Pennsylvanian period, 3. Penokee Gap, 352, 356, 358, 359, 361. Penokee-Gogebic iron range, see Penokee Range. Penokee Range, 354, 355-361, 362, 398, 401, 460. Penokee water gaps, 357-301. Pensaukee 216 Pepin County, 44, 46, 115, 121, 133, 147, 151, 155, 456. Pepin, Lake, 155-158. Percival, J. G., 91, 99, 218, 382, 482, 483. Period, geological, 3. Permian epoch, 3. Perrot, Nicolas, 22, 385, 399, 478. Peshtigo, 285, 451. Peshtigo River, 216, 272, 287, 310. 396, 398. Petenwell Peak, 83, 308, 320, 334 Peterson, H. W., 275, 278. Pewaukee Lake, 266. Pewits Nest, 114. Phillips, 444. Physical geography, 7-14. of United States, place of Wiscon- sin in, 23. Physiographic features, history of, 14. Physiographic processes, 7-8, 10, 11, 12, 31, 37. Physiographic provinces, 23. Physiography, 7-14. See Physical Geography. Picture Rock, 83. m „_ r Pierce County, 40, 43, 45, 115, 124, 155, 160. Pike Lake, 390. Pike River, 273, 274, 289. Pike, Z. M., 74, 91, 94, 169. Pillared Rocks, 426. Pilot Knob, 83, 307. Pine Barrens, 302, 379. Pine forests, 11. Pine River, 170, 180, 181, 380. Pinnacles, 82-83, 310, 312. See Crags. Pishtaka River, 217, 266. Pitch, 7. Pitted outwash, 316. See Outwash, Kettles. Plain, belted, see Cuesta, Belled plain. Plum, Central, 29, 299-322. See Central Plain. Plainfield, 249, 306. Plainfield series, 10. Plains, 14, 29, 299-322, 408. Plant accumulation, 10. See Peat, Swamp. Plants, work of, 7. Plateaus, 29. See Western Upland. Platte Mounds, 60, 61, 85, 93, 233. Platte River, 62, 152, 160, 183 Platteville, 41, 56, 59, 62, 370, 459 Platteville limestone, 4. Pleasant Prairie, 212. Pleistocene period, 3, 4, 12. See Glacial Period. Pliocene period, 3. Plucking, 230. See Glacial erosion. Plymouth, 274. Point Detour, 426, 430. Polk County, 43, 111, 171, 304, 313, 315, 340, 353, 445. Poplar, 423. Population, density of, 196, 197. of counties, 443-444. of Wisconsin, 1, 444. Portage, city, 56, 95, 113, 173, 174, 180, 181, 203, 267, 270, 287, 303, 333, 33 1, 335-336, 411, 443. PorLage between Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, 335-336. Portage County, 83, 119, 310, 311, 379. Portages, 393-395. Porte des Morts, 291. Porterfield, 204. Portland, 44, 230. Ports, 290. Sgg Hsrfoors Port Washington, 21, 200, 212, 290, 444, 455. Port Wing, 21, 412, 423, 430, 431, 436, 455. Port Wing, spits at, 430. Post, C. B., 491. Postglacial gorge, 325, 333, 345. Post office map of Wisconsin, 447. Potato River, 357. Potato River Gap, 358. Pot holes, 55, 327-328, 345. Potosi, 100, 152, 459. 542 Index Potsdam sandstone, 4, 13, 33, 38, 207. See also Cambrian sandstone, St. Croixan sandstone, Central Plain. Pound, 201, 202, 203. Powers Bluff, 239, 348, 354, 362, 378. Powers Bluff bowlder train, 380. Powers Bluff formation, 4. Poygan fine sandy loam, 252. Poygan, Lake, 21. Poygan series, 10, 252, 318. Poynette, 201, 202, 277. Prairie du Chien, 41, 49, 50, 56, 93, 101, 119, 125, 129, 133, 139, 141, 143, 152, 154, 155, 157, 161, 165, 170, 173, 174, 182, 192, 194, 225, 227, 270, 443, 456, 474. Prairie du Chien group, 4. See Lower Magnesian limestone. Prairie du Chien terrace, 145. Prairie du Sac, 109, 113, 120, 121, 124, 173, 176, 197, 203, 333, 336, 395. Prairie La Crosse, 124. See La Crosse. Prairie Plains, 23. Prairies, 76, 125, 127, 277, 278. Pray, 303, 321. Pre-Cambrian, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 38. See also Archean, Algonkian, Hu- ronian, Keweenawan, Northern Highland. Pre-Cambrian peneplain, 373. See Northern Highland, Lake Su- perior Highland. Precipices, 192, 345. Precipitation, 16. Preglacial drainage in northeastern Wisconsin, 271. in southeastern Wisconsin, 263. near Madison, 261. Preglacial gorge, 362. Preglacial Lake Superior River, 406. Preglacial Troy valley, 263, 266. Preglacial valley of Fox River, 270, 271. Preglacial Wisconsin valley, 334. Preglacial Wolf River, 336. Pre-Kansan glaciation, 80. Prescott, 45, 95, 130, 132, 133, 139, 141, 148, 151, 155, 156, 165, 166, 190, 417, 421, 456. Preston, 59. Price County, 445. Prickly pear, 302. Primitive boulders, 96. Primitive rock, 73. See Pre-Cambrian. Primitive stones, 95. Primrose, 84. Princeton, 203, 312. Principal meridians, 466. Processes, physiographic, 7-8, 31, 37. Profile river maps, 450, 451. Prosser dolomite, 4. Provinces, 23, 29-37. nature of, 29. order of discussion, 37. See Geographical provinces. Public lands, area of, 445-446. Puckaway, Lake, 21. Pulaski, 204. Pumpelly, Raphael, 484. Quadrangles, 449-454. See Maps. Quadrangle . system of locating lands, 474-475. Quaking bogs, 390. See Muskegs. Quarries, maps showing, 448. Quarter-sections, 471, 473. Quartz, 5. Quartzite, 5, 6. Quaternary, 3, 4, 12, 448. See Glacial Period, Pleistocene, Drift. Quinnesec Falls, 398. Quinney, 212. R Racine, 21, 197, 225, 274, 279, 289, 290, 444, 455. Racine County, 217, 240, 250, 282. Racine limestone, 4. Racine Reef, 289, 290. Radisson, Pierre Esprit, sieur de, 22, 23, 129, 171, 387, 434, 437, 439, 478. Railroad Commission of Wisconsin, 438, 443, 447. Railway construction, 350. Railways, see Chicago and Northwestern, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, etc. Railway stations, altitudes at, 493-523. Rainfall, 16. Rainfall maps, 16, 448. Ramparts, 262. Range and township system, 466-474. Range of temperature, 14. Ranges, 467. Rand, McNally & Co., 447. Rapides des P&res, 270. Rapids, 269, 270, 338, 341, 376, 380, 393- 396, 404, 411. Rapids, value of, 395-396. See Water power. Rat River Marsh, 337. Rattlesnake Mound, 307. Rattlesnake Rock, 83. Ravines, 408, 411. Readvance of Green Bay lobe, 252, 253. Recent geological period, 3, 4, 12. Index 543 Recessional moraine, 245-246, 274, 315, 377. See Terminal moraine. Recession of cliffs, 289. Rectangular system, 466-474. Red Banks, 287. Red clastic series, 4. Red clay, 251, 252, 253, 314, 422. See Lake clay. Red drift, 315. Red Granite, 312. Red River expedition, 324. Red Rock, Minn., 73, 94. Reedsburg, 112, 113, 180, 182, 320. Reefs, 289, 290. References to geological reports, see Bibliographies. Regional geography, 23. Relief map of Wisconsin, 447. Relief model of Wisconsin, 417. Relief, on topographic maps, 451. Reservations, 445-446. Reservoirs, 393. Residual soils,' 9, 82, 88, 223, 236, 238, 370, 374. thickness of, 82. Resistant rock, 5. Retreat, 170. Reversal in direction of drainage, 336. Rhinelander, 352, 444. Rhine River, compared with Mississippi, 39-40, 130. Rhode Island, area compared with Wisconsin swamp, 342. Rib Hill, 19, 348, 354, 357, 376. Rib Hill formation, 4. Rib River, 364. Rice Lake, 161, 162. Rice Lake series, 10. Rice Point, 428. Richardson Cave, 85, 88, 237. Richland Center, 43, 49, 76, 84, 85, 86, 180, 370, 444. Richland County, 43, 85, 87. Richmond shale, 4. See Cincinnati shale. Ridges and Lowlands, Eastern, 29, 197. Ridges in dissected cuesta, 45. Ridges, morainic, see Terminal moraines. Ridges, trap, 353-354. Ries, Heinrich, 25, 448. Rift valley, 401-402, 403, 404, 405. Rileys, 59. Ripon, 204, 206, 231, 232, 277, 311 Ripon, gravel seam at, 250-251. Rio, 201, 203. Ritchie, J. S., 27. River diversions, 113-114,117-118, 178- 179, 181, 187-188, 410. See Capture, Preglarial drainage. River Falls, 41, 45, 189. River maps, 453. Rivers, 8, 19-20. See Mississippi River, Wisconsin River, etc. flowing into Lake Michigan, 272- 275. flowing into Lake Superior, 408- 412. in relation to boundaries, see Boundaries. of Central Plain, 325-345. of eastern Wisconsin, 257-278. of Lake Superior Lowland, 408, 412. of Northern Highland, 395-398. of Western Upland, 129-194. River valleys, drowned, 424. Road map of Wisconsin, 447. Robinson Creek, 321. Roche a Cris, 83, 307, 308, 311, 312, 334, Rock basin, 223, 221. Rock benches, 149. Rockbridge, 84, 85, 87. Rock cliffs, 289, 296. Rock County, 55, 204, 207, 236, 242. Rock floor of Mississippi River, 155. Rock formations, occurrence of, 12-13. Rocking Bridge Gap, 357, 358. Rock Lake, 263. Rock River, 19, 56, 178, 198, 206, 209, 216, 249, 256, 258, 259, 261, 271, 287, 396. main, 262-264. system, 258-265. Rock River lowland, 199, 204, 212. Rock River, older drift west of, 116-118. Rocks, 5-6. Rock structure, 30. Rock terrace at Bridgeport, 177. Rock texture, 33. Rodman series, 10, 250. Rolling-phase Superior series, 20. Romance Cliff, 330. Roodes Glen, 327, 328, 329. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1. Roth, Filibert, 399, 487. Round Lake, 161. Ruggles, D., 323. Run-off, 17, 263. Rush Lake Jet, 201. Rush River, 157. Rusk County, 361, 362, 371. Russell, I. C, 255, 382. Rutledge Siding, 152, 155. Sable Point, 289. Saddle Mound, 303. St. Croixan sandstone, 4, 13. See Potsdam sandstone, Cambrian sandstone, Central Plain. St. Croix-Brule route, 387. St. Croix Copper Range, 353. 544 Index St. Croix County, 40, 43, 44, 45, 85, 114, 115, 171. St. Croix Dalles, 189, 315, 343, 345. St. Croix Falls, 304, 340, 341, 345, 395. St. Croix outlet, 387, 412, 418, 422. St. Croix River, 19, 21, 22, 45, 110, 153, . 189, 192, 340, 386, 387, 396, 416. glacial deposits near, 114. highland near, 44, 115. St. Lawrence dolomite, 4. St. Louis Bay, 429. St. Louis River, 20, 22, 23, 407, 408, 410, 416, 424, 425, 429. St. Peter sandstone, 4, 13, 33, 38, 58, 207. Salients, 371. Salina limestone, 4. Salisbury, R. D., 27, 71, 83, 89, 91, 92, 107, 111, 168, 195, 255, 322, 323, 340, 346, 484, 486, 487. Sand, 8, 10, 11. Sand bars, 140, 141, 176, 190, 194, 272, 427, 436. See Sand spits, Cusps. relation to commerce, 436. Sand Cut, 434, 435. Sand dunes, see Dunes. Sand Island, 430. Sand Lake, 316. Sand River, 430. Sand spits, at Chequamegon Bay, 433- 435 at Green Bay, 287-289. at Milwaukee, 272. at Port Wing, 430, 431. at Superior, 427-430. in Apostle Islands, 430-433. in Lake Mendota, 262. in Lake Pepin, 157. origin of sand in, 429-430, 435-436, relation to commerce, 436. See Sand bars, Cusps. Sandstone, 8, 10. See Cambrian sandstone, St. Peter sandstone, Lake Superior sand- stone. Sandstone escarpment, 304. Sandstone outliers, 371-373. See Mounds. Sandstone, residual soil of, 82. Sardeson, F. W., 91. Sauk City, 119, 121, 123, 336. Sauk County, 50, 51, 84, 115, 197, 235, 306, 319, 445. Saukville, 240. Sawmills, 341. Sawyer County, 361, 390, 446, 471. Saxon, 423. Scandinavians in Wisconsin, 23. Schist, 6. Schoenmann, L. R., 491. Schofield, 451. Schoolcraft, H. R., 74, 91, 95.H30, 169, 190, 387, 409, 437, 479,480, 482, 493. School lands, 446. Schultz, A. R., 26, 490. Schwarz, G. F., 278. Scranton, 321. Scuppernong Marsh, 265. Sea caves, 426. Sea cliffs, 424-426. Sears, C. B., 195. Seasonal fluctuations in lake level, 294. Second bottoms, 143. See Terraces. Section corners, 474. Section post, 477. Sections, 471-474. Sedgwick, 423. Sedimentary rocks, 5-6, 10. Seeley formation, 4, 52. Seiches, 291-294. Seneca 69 119. Settlement in Wisconsin, 23, 287, 439. Seymour, 202, 205. Shakopee dolomite, 4. Shale, 6. Shanty Bay, 296. Sharon, 204. Shawano, 267, 311, 352, 370, 444. Shawano County, 201, 202, 204, 311, 446. Shawano, Lake, 21. Shaw, James, 91. Shea, J. G., 446. Sheboygan, 21, 197, 283, 289, 290, 444, 455. Sheboygan County, 283. Sheboygan Marsh, 274, 275. Sheboygan River, 19, 274. Sheep Pasture Bluff, 308, 309. Shell Lake, 444. Shingle, 296. Shorelines, 296, 415, 436. abandoned, 282-287, 296, 319-321, 422-423. See Glacial Great Lakes. of Lake Michigan, 279-296. of Lake Superior, 415-436. Shullsburg, 62, 69, 85, 459. Shumard, B. F., 323, 482. Silts, 10, 11. Silurian, 3, 4, 12, 13. Silver Mountain, 345. Sink holes, 84, 85, 223, 237. Sinsinawa Mound, 60, 61, 62, 63, 233. Sinz, E. F., 275, 278. Skeleton pattern of topography, 180. Skillet Creek, 113, 114. Slate, 6. Slickensides, 313. Slothower, C. E., 28. Sloughs, 140, 160, 161. Smith, H. E., 255. Index 545 Smith, L. S., 16, 26, 278, 345, 396, 399, 413, 450, 457, 485, 489, 493. Smith, W. D., 71. Smiths Landing, 149, 151. Soil, 7, 9-12, 380, 448. as a resource, 11, 12. buried, 370-371. classes, 11. grains, 11. improvement of, 322. maps, 461, 464. residual, 82. series, 9, 10, 11. texture, 11. transported, 9, 11, 82. See Glacial deposits, Wind work, River deposits, Wave work. types, 11. Solon Springs, 421. Solution, 7, 8, 11, 84, 85, 88, 237. Soo Line, see Minneapolis, St. Paul and Saull Ste. Marie Railway. South Range, Baraboo Bluffs, 52. South Range, Douglas Co., 403. Southwestern Upland, 55-70. Sparta, 49, 68, 185, 309, 444, 446. Sparta Target Range, 446. Spencer, J. W., 255. Sphagnum moss, 343. Spirit Lake, 424. Spits, see Sand spits, Cusps. Spooner, 352. Spring Green, 336. Spring Lake, 312. Spring water, 377. Squaws Bed-chamber, 333. Squier, G. H., 91. Stages in erosion cycle, 12, 31. Stand Rock, 83, 308, 328, 331, 333. Star Lake, 363, 390. State Fish Hatchery, 257. State Forest Reserve, 393, 445. State Land Office, 446. State Line, 363. State military reservation, 446. State Parks, 51, 57, 114, 192, 194, 295, 325, 343, 345, 421, 445. areas of, 445. State Survey maps, 457-465. reports, 482-492. See Wisconsin Geological and Nat- ural History Survey. Steamboat Island, 427. Steamboat Rock, 330. Steidtmann, Edward, 25, 459, 463, 490. Stennett, W. H., 493. Sterling series, 10. Stevens Point, 119, 308, 315, 334, 341, 371, 374, 379, 444. Stewart, C. B., 399. Stickle, B. A., 28. Stiles Jet., 203. Stockbridge, 213. Stockholm, 139, 151, 155, 157, 456 Stoddard, 152, 192. Stoughton, 204, 261. Stratified drift, 245. See Outwash, Esker. Stream adjustment, see Capture, Stream diversion. Stream capture, 274, 330, 410. Stream diversion, 187, 188, 194, 329, 330, 336, 376. Stream erosion compared to glacial erosion, 131-132. Stream, see River. Striae, 80, 116, 313, 314, 345. maps showing, 220, 235. Striated bowlders, 377. Stromme, O. W., 218, 463. Strong, M. M., 439. Strong, Moses, 71, 91, 92, 102, 107, 195, 323, 353, 382, 395, 399, 460, 484. Structures, geological, 6-7, 30, 35. Stuntz, G. R., 437. Sturgeon Bay, 212, 216, 221, 225, 285, 289, 291, 443, 446. Sturgeon Bay Gap, 289. Sturgeon Falls, 395. Subglacial stream work, 10. Submerged hanging valley, 223, 226- 227, 230. Submergence, 415, 416. Subsequent lowland, 356. Subsequent streams, 354. Subsoil, 8, 11. Sugar Bowl, 330. Sugar Creek, 267. Sugar River, 59, 117, 118, 183, 256, 258, 260. Summer temperature, 15. Summit, 48, 182. Summit Lake Station, 376. Sun Prairie, 204, 239, 244, 277, 278. Sun spots, 295. Superimposed river, 117, 177, 360. Superior, 21, 287, 352, 395, 403, 404, 405, 408, 410, 411, 412, 416, 420, 423, 425, 436, 443, 452, 455. Superior Bay, 428, 429. Superior clay, 408. Superior clay loam, 252. Superior escarpment, 411. Superior fine sandy loam, 252. Superior gravelly loam, 287. Superior lobe, 79, 310, 313, 374, 405, 407, 416. Superior, sand spits at, 427-430. Superior series, 10, 314, 318. Suydanj, V. A., 218. Swamps, 10, 121, 264, 265, 267, 274, 276, 277, 302, 338, 341, 343, 376, 379, 386, 390, 393. See Muskeg, Marsh, Bog, Peat, Muck. causes of, 341-342. 546 Index Swamps (continued). of Central Plain, 341-343. of eastern Wisconsin, 257, 260, 261, 262, 264-265, 274-277. of the Mississippi floodplain, 163. of the Northern Highland, 386, 387, 390-393. lands, 448. reclamation, 343. Sweet, E. T., 382, 399, 413, 484. Swezey, G. D., 71. Swiss in Wisconsin, 23. Synclines, 7, 52, 401. Talus, 109. removal by glacier, 111-112. Tamarack swamp, 390. Taylor County, 374. Taylor, F. B., 222, 280, 281, 284, 297, 437, 486. Taylors Glen, 331. Taylors Rapids, 451. Teepee buttes, 303, 309. Teepeeota Point terrace, 147, 151, 166. Temperature, 14-16. Temporary lakes, 121. Tenney, H. A., 91. Terminal moraine, 10, 112, 244, 245, 246, 315, 316, 317, 377-378, 407- 408. Terminal moraine, defined, 112. Terraces, 176, 185, 189, 283, 317, 334, 338, 340, 345, 398. age, 154. compared with beaches, 153. correlation, 149. dimensions, 151-152. distribution, 149. increase in height, 149, 153. increase in number, 149, 153. material, thickness', 154. of Mississippi River, 143-155, 166- 167. origin, 154. rock, 149, 177. scarps, 148. Tertiary period, 3. Texture, rock, 30, 33. Thomas, K., 323. Thompson, Carl, 490. Thorn apple series, 10. Thrust fault, 403. Thunder Mountain, 354, 362. Thwaites, F. T., 18, 24, 32, 71, 92, 195, 208, 210, 218, 246, 261, 278, 402, 413, 459, 463, 486, 489. Thwaites, R. G., 28, 195, 278, 324, 439, 493. Tides, 294! Till, 9, 112, 245, 322, 377. See Glacial deposits. Tilting, 167, 320, 424. Time, element of, as cause of Driflless Area, 81-82. Toleston stage, 284. Tomah, 46, 50, 68, 299, 303, 343, 446. Tomahawk, 451. Tomahawk Lake, 390. Tombolo, 432. Topographic maps, 449-454. Topographic map of Wisconsin, 18. Topography, as cause of Driftless Area, 78. of Wisconsin, 18-19. relation to boundaries, 41. relation to history, 22-23. relation to hydrography, 19. transitional, 118. , Township and range system, 466-474. Township corners, 474. Townships within counties, 469-470. Transportation, 8-9. Transportation, by wind, 122. Transported glacial soil, 376. Transported rocks, 80. ■ Transported soils, 9, 11, 82. See Glacial deposits, Wind work, Wave work. Transverse streams, 340. Trap rock, 4, 5, 345, 353. Trap ridges, 304. 353, 354, 412. Trego, 380. Trellis pattern of drainage, 353, 354, 412. Tremont, 303. Trempealeau, 22, 95, 119, 123, 132, 133, 134, 136, 152, 161, 165, 166, 456. Trempealeau Bluffs, 136. Trempealeau County, 46, 155. Trempealeau Mountain, 136, 145. Trempealeau River, 172, 186. Trempealeau, rock hill at, origin of, 136- 139. Trempealeau terraces, 145. Trench of Mississippi River, 133-142. Trenton escarpment, 58, 205, 206, 232. Trenton limestone, 4, 13, 33, 36, 37, 38, 209. . See Galena-Trenton, Western Up- land, Eastern Ridges and Low- lands. Trenton upland, 59. See Trenton escarpment. Trenton village, 147, 151. Triangulation, 475-476. Triassic period, 3. Trimbell River, 147. Trout Lake, 388. Trowbridge, A., 71. Troy, 267. Troy valley, 246. Truncated pre-Cambrian layers, 364. Truog, Emil, 490. Turks Head, 83, 109. Turner, F. J., 278, 446. Index 547 Turner, J. M., 27. Turner, Lura, 27. Turtle Creek, 267. Turtle River, 451. Two Creeks, 253. Two Rivers, 21, 284, 285, 290, 370. Tyler formation, 4. Tylers Fork, 357, 360, 412. Tylers Gap, 358. U Uglow, W. L., 491. Ulrich, E. O., 24. Unconformities, 65, 362. Underground water, 7, 8, 11, 37, 82-88. Underground water conditions, map showing, 448. U. S. Army, maps by, 50, 454- 157. U. S. Bureau of Soils, 9. U. S. Census, 28, 196, 392, 438, 449. U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 475. U. S. Corps of Engineers, 272, 454-455, 475. See U. S. Lake Survey, Mississippi River Commission, U. S. Engi- neer Office. U. S. Department of Agriculture, 9, 464, 487. U. S. Engineer Office, 142, 457. U. S. Geological Survey, 3, 18, 28, 44, 48, 57, 65, 72, 117, 134, 135, 174, 175, 194, 208, 219, 228, 229, 255, 260, 264, 266, 309, 316, 317, 323, 351, 383, 414, 438, 447, 451, 461, 462, 463, 474, 475, 485-486, 493, 494. U. S. Geological Survey maps, 449-454. U. S. Lake Survey, 18, 28, 219, 255, 288, 290, 414, 431, 432, 433, 437, 475, 493. U. S. Lake Survey charts, 454-455. U. S. Land Office, 446, 447. U. S. Postoffice, 447. U. S. Weather Bureau, 25. University of Wisconsin, 72, 383, 471. Upham, Warren, 195, 255, 297, 323, 437. Uplands, see Northern Highland, Eastern Ridges and Lowlands, Western Upland. Upland, Western, see Western Upland. Upper Lake, Mississippi River, 162. Upper St. Croix Lake, 386, 417, 421. Vales, 198. Valleys, 8. See Abandoned Valley, Buried Val- ley, Diagonal Valley, Drowned Valley, Mature Valley, Old Val- ley, Young Valley. Valley fill, 121. Valley, gorge, and channel, 133. Valley strip, 365. See Inlier. Valley trains, 10, 112, 119-121, 155, 378, 379, 397. See Outwash. defined, 112. Valley wash, 10. Van Hise, C. R., 71, 345, 357, 359, 364, 381, 382, 383, 413, 485, 486. Vaughn, 471, 472. Veatch, A C, 42. Vegetable accumulation, 9. Vegetation in drift, 253-254. Vegetation, native, 448. Veins, 8. Vernon County, 40, 43, 83, 85, 155, 2:55. Verona, 85, 87, 96, 116, 117, 237. Verwyst, Chrysostom, 493. Victory, 155, 456. Vienna, 267. Vilas Counlv, 353, 376, 379, 388, 390, 391, 392, 393, 415, 446. Vileis series 10 Viroqua, 43, 49, 50, 83, 85, 124, 192, 444. Visor Ledge, 331. W Wabash series, 10. Walworth County, 204, 207, 212, 242, 246, 267. War Department, see U. S. Corps of Engineers. Warner, J. H., 218. Warping, 362, 370. Warren, G. K., 72, 169, 176, 195, 278, 346, 456. Washburn, 420, 423, 435, 443, 455. Washburn County, 353, 379, 386. Washington County, 240, 274, 369. Washington Island, 21, 212, 213, 214, 216, 225, 227, 230, 285, 289, 291. Waterfalls, 328, 376, 380, 404. value of, 395, 396. See Water power. Water gaps, 53, 216, 354, 355, 357-361, 360. Water, hard, 8. Water-holding capacity, 11. Waterloo, 33, 230, 239, 244, 245, 249, 368. Waterloo bowlder train, 240. Waterloo quartzite, 4, 35. Water, mineral, 8. Water-planes, 285. Water power, 12, 183, 269, 338, 341, 380, 395, 396, 410. Water power, developed, 395. Water-shed, 19. Water surfaces, area of, 438. 548 Index Water, underground, 8, 11, 82-88. Waterways, 22-23. Watson, C. F., 28. Watson, E. B., 491. Waubakee dolomite, 4. Waubesa, Lake, 21. Waukesha, 212, 214, 246, 249, 444. Waukesha County, 204, 212, 217, 240, 265. Waukesha lakes, 457. Waukesha series, 10. Waumandee Creek, 151, 158, 162. Waumandee Lake, 147, 158-159. Waumandee terrace, 147. Waunakee, 277. Waupaca, 315, 338, 341, 444. Waupaca County, 314, 371. Waupaca lakes, 21, 337, 457. Wausau, 75, 76, 80, 82, 119, 352, 354, 363, 364, 374, 378, 379, 444, 446. Wausau formation, 1. Wausaukee, 363. Waushara County, 121, 125, 306, 311, 313, 314, 318, 343. Wautoma, 444. Wauzeka, 85, 121, 180, 182. Waves, 7, 289, 424. Wave-cut cliffs, 283, 289, 296, 422. Wave-cut terraces, 285. Wave-planed platform, 290. Wave work, 9, 10, 13, 37, 274, 279-296, 415-436. Weak rock, 5. Weather, 14-18. Weathered drift, 116. Weathering, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 37, 82- 88, 237, 300, 315, 331, 332. Weathering since glaciation, 10. See Older drift. Webster, 363. Webster series, 10. Weidman, Samuel, 25, 26, 32, 72, 92, 195, 255, 298, 323, 348, 354, 365, 367, 368, 372, 375, 378, 382, 399, 487, 488, 489, 490. Welles, W. S., 28. Well water, 377. West Bend, 444. Westfield, 308. Western Upland, 29, 37, 38, 39-70, 196, 392. glacial erosion in, 115-116. Glacial Period in, 109, 128. ice invasions in, 110. older drift in, 114, 215. rivers within, 171, 194. West La Crosse, 152. West Salem, 185. Wet lands, 343. Weyerhaeuser, 113. Wheat, 12. Wheelwright, O. W., 381, 492. Whitbeck. R, H., 28, 9, 1227, 278, 489, 491. White, C. A., 92. White Falls River, 412. See Montreal River. Whitefish Bay, 289. Whitefish Point, 289. Whitehall, 444. White Oak Mound, 60, 61. White River, 411. Whitewater, 239, 246, 277. Whitfield, R. P., 484. Whiting, H., 298. Whitney, J. D., 24, 25, 72, 92, 97, 98, 100, 105, 106, 169, 481, 483. Whitson, A. R., 15, 25, 26, 92, 255, 323, 346, 382, 413, 463, 490, 491. Whittlesey, Charles, 92, 101, 255, 298, 382, 400, 414, 437, 481, 482, 484. Whittlesey — Chicago stage of Glacial Great Lakes, 417. Whittlesey Gap, 358, 361. Wichmann, Arthur, 484. Wight, O. W., 484. Wild-oats River, 291. Wild-rice River, 291. Williams, F. E., 26, 28, 71, 195, 218, 255, 278, 345, 437. Willow River Bar, 190. Wilson, 85, 88, 115, 237. Wilton, 182. Winchell, Alexander, 26, 483. Winchell, N. H., 92, 94, 102, 104, 106, 169, 255. Wind-blown deposits, see Loess, Dunes. Wind Creek, 160. Wind gaps, 360, 362. Wind Lake, 267. Wind work, 7, 9, 10, 13,37, 122-125,300, 332. See Dunes, Loess. Winnebago County, 201, 202, 206, 309, 311, 314, 336. Winnebago, Lake, 267-269. Winneconne, 201. Winter ice, 291, 436. Winter temperature, 15. Winter, town of, 471. Wisconsin Central Railway, 352, 361. Wisconsin drift, 80, 374, 393. Wisconsin-Fox waterway, 22. Wisconsin Geological Survey, 17, 72, 383, 482-484. Wisconsin Geological and Natural His- tory Survey, 28, 72, 255, 323, 486-492. Wisconsin Geological and Natural His- tory Survey maps, 457-465. Wisconsin, Glacial Lake, see Glacial Lake Wisconsin Wisconsin Heights, battle of, 170. Wisconsin maps, 447-465. Wisconsin-Michigan boundary, 398. Index 549 Wisconsin-Michigan Upland, 23. Wisconsin, place in physiography of United States, 23. Wisconsin Point, 428. Wisconsin Railroad Commission, 27. Wisconsin River, 19, 20, 41, 49-50, 54- 55, 56, 57, 58, 109, 113, 129, 171, 173-179, 180, 192, 197, 333-336, 388, 393-396, 398. as diverted stream, 178, 179. as superimposed stream, 177-178. bluffs, 176-177. bottomland, 175-176. Dalles, 325-333. gorge of, 173. narrowing downstream, 164. relation to Fox River, 335-336. unused highway, 173-175. upland north of, 43-51. valley, older outwash in, 121. Wisconsin River soil series, 10. Wisconsin stage of glaciation, 80, 81, 374, 376. Wisconsin, State of, 1-23. Wisconsin State Parks, see Stale Parks. Wiskonsin, old spelling, 440. Witches Gulch, 327-329. Withee, 451. Witness trees, 474. Wolf River, 19, 267, 270, 336, 396-398. Wood County, 119, 239, 310, 318, 320, 321, 341, 354, 362, 374, 379. Wood, P. O., 255, 489, 490. Woodruff Jet., 352, 363. Wood-working, 12. Wooster, L. C, 72, 195, 323, 382, 384. Worthen, A. H., 92. Wright, C. E., 383, 484. Wyalusing, 56, 192, 193, 194, 456. Wyeville, 299, 308. Yahara River, 21, 178, 182, 209, 258, 259, 260-262. Yahara-Wisconsin, 178. Yellow River, 334-335. York Island, 433. Young valleys, 8. See Gorges, Dalles of the Wisconsin, Trench of the Mississippi, Yahara River, Streams of the Northern Highland, etc. Youth, 12. Youthful ridge, 48. Zinc deposits, 8. WISCONSIN GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY E. A. BIRGE. DIRECTOR W. O. HOTCHKISS. STATE GEOLOGIST RED WING WAHASHA"" ELEVATION OF IMPORTANT POINTS IN WISCONSIN O PROMINENT HILLS ABOVE SEA LEVEL Rib Hill, Marathon Co. (highest in state) 1940 feet Hill west of Crandon, Forest Co 1850 " Penokee Range, Iron Co about 1800 " Barron Hills, Meteor, Sawyer Co 1770 " Summit Lake Station, Langlade Co 1743 '' Blue Mounds, West Mound, Iowa Co 1716 " Baraboo Range, Point Sauk, Sauk Co 1620 " Flambeau Ridge, Chippewa Co about 1500 " Platte Mounds, West Mound, Lafayette Co 1 Holy Hill, Washington Co 1 Castle Rock, Mo< Co '■ 1335 " Friendship Mound, Adams Co about 1330 " Bayfield Ridge about 1100 " Gibraltar, Colii^>j*§fj Co 1240 " Government Hill, Waukesha Go 1233 " Military Ridge, Grant, laiva & DaneCounties. -1100 to 1200 " Sinsinawa Mound, Grant Co 1185 " Grandfather Bluff, or Grandad, La Crosse Co 1172 " Petenwell Peak. Juneau Co about 1110 " E H 1 R BULLETIN NO. XXXVI PLATE I RELIEF MAP OF WISCONSIN ACCOMPANYING "The Physical Geography of Wisconsin" BY LAWRENCE MARTIN REPRODUCED FROM A MODEL PREPARED BY W. O. HOTCHKISS AND F. T. THWAITES AND MODELLED BY E. H. J. LORENZ, IN 1910 Scale iTSoBJSKS A D A, M S I MAHg O K-7F R K yu yi -V ^ . y. ,<: r^J ^3S V4 -> H 5/ ^ •/M/ l^/l I ! ^ ^Lr i < N » K '-* n '> ° ' J»^> '/* ,v« x V 43 4 . I I'JZTi W * '^ '*? // -tz ~ -*f*. I* I ST- /' w >/ t^^K «*? '*£$&&* 3?\ & ^ ^J / >— **^%Arf jatts^h,. .Hi _ ^ ^ ^*4AJ/ at ^yf vyVv.7 rS^+ >l \^>.>» i7rfJr^T> v RED WING® WABA8HA" ELEVATION OF IMPORTANT POINTS IN WISCONSIN O PROMINENT HILLS above SEA LEVEL Rib Hill, Marathon Co. (highest in state) 1940 feet Hill west of Crandon, Forest Co 1850 " Penokee Range, Iron Co about 1800 " Barron Hills, Meteor, Sawyer Co 1770 " Summit Lake Station, Langlade Co 1743 •■ Blue Mounds, West Mound, Iowa Co 1716 " Baraboo Range, Point Sauk, Sauk Co 1620 " Flambeau Ridge, Chippewa Co about 1500 " Platte Mounds, West Mound, Lafayette Co 1420 " Holy Hill, Washington Co 1361 " Castle Rock, Monroe Co 1335 '■ Friendship Mound, Adams Co about 1330 " Bayfield Ridge, Bayfield Co about 1300 " Gibraltar, Columbia Co 1240 " Government Hill, Waukesha Co 1233 " Military Ridge, Grant, Iowa & Dane Counties. 1100 to 1200 " Sinsinawa Mound, Grant Co 1185 " Grandfather Bluff, or Grandad, La Crosse Co 1172 " Petenwell Peak, Juneau Co about 1110 " Liberty Pole Hill, Green Co 1102 " Observatory Hill, Marquette Co 1100 " Necedah Mound, Juneau Co about 1090 '' RIVERS Mississippi, south line of state, near Dubuque 595 feet west line of state, near Prescott 667 " Wisconsin, Mouth, near Prairie du Chien 615 " Portage 784 " Nekoosa 921 " Tomahawk 1431 " Source, near Lac Vieux Desert — about 1650 " Black, Mouth 628 " Black River Falls 753 " Hatfield Bridge 838 " Near Neillsville 989 " Near Withee 1187 " Chippewa, Mouth 664 " Eau Claire 770 " Chippewa Falls 839 " Mouth of Flambeau 1050 " Bruce 1064 " Forks, Sawyer Co 1 280 " St. Croix, Lake St. Croix 670 " Minnesota state line, near Pansy 895 " Upper St. Croix Lake about 1030 " Fox, near Kaukauna 594 " Lake Winnebago 747 " Lake Puckaway 760 " Portage 781 " LAKES Lake Michigan 581 feet Lake Superior 602 " Koshkonong, Jefferson Co 777 " Shawano, Shawano Co 798 " Rainbow, Waupaca Chain, Waupaca Co about 800 " Green, Green Lake Co 815 " Mendota, Dane Co 849 " Pewaukee, Waukesha Co 852 " Geneva, Walworth Co 864 " Nagawicka, Oconomowoc Group, Waukesha Co 890 " Elkhart. Sheboygan Co 906 " Devils. Sauk Co 955 " Red Cedar, Barron Co 1185 " Court Oreilles, Sawyer Co 1287 " Butternut, Price Co about 1455 " Tomahawk, Oneida Co about 1582 " Pelican, Oneida Co about 1600 " Trout. Vilas Co about 1618 " Vieux Desert, Vilas Co about 1650 " For elevations of cities and other points, see Appendix —'->- '•'■,.-- V^ ;-^'T' T-a W --V .7'^ 8 i) K ^•^ \ s r**4 n UJAMliI Dds ~< tf' > \^r -*,« — Si •-. s ■&£ VONJy , Titpnp- S~ At I m *2j. **„* ■ «i- Mil *«ul:Mislt -$3e jP --V 4&**A JU^fl . WLiL *«*« '. s: *r-^. "fy } rr *» . _»^ 3E1S2 !/ f yBV rrr^ A^sS^^ V I 3*: ?&% V !■' 11 '.MF a Jm Chamber* Id : f bi )■: n s L N O OCNftCC BALTiMOAf MO