Wabasha County, Minnesota - Chapter 1: Geography and Geology, 1920

Wabasha County is in southeastern Minnesota, forty-two miles from the Iowa border. It is crossed by the meridian of 92 degrees, West Longitude, and is about midway betv/een the parallels of 44 and 45 degrees, North Latitude, in the Congressional survey it occupies Township 108, North, Ranges 11 and 12, West; fractional Township 109, Range 9, and Township 109, Ranges 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14; fractional Township 110, Range 9, fractional Township 110, Range 10, and Township 110, Ranges 11, 12, 13 and 14; fractional Township 111, Range 10, fractional Township 111, Range 11, fractional Township 111, Range 12, and Township 111, Range 13. The Second Standard Parallel and the First Guide Meridian cross at the northeast corner of Township 108, Range 11, and consequently Township 108, Range 11 and Township 108, Range 12, are some half mile further west than their respective adjoining townships on the north. The county is separated on the northeast from Buffalo and Pepin Counties in Wisconsin, by the Mississippi River and its enlargement, Lake Pepin. Goodhue County, Minnesota, is on the north and west, Olmsted County, Minnesota, on the south and west, and Winona County, Minnesota, on the south and east.

The area of the county is 380,562.24 acres, of which 25,018.07 is water. There are no natural lakes within the county, except the lakes, lagoons and enlarged sloughs lying in the flood plain of the Mississippi, near the debouchure of the Zumbro. The beautiful lake at Mazeppa is artificial. The water surface of 25,018.07 acres as here indicated consists of the meandered area of the Zumbro River, and that part of the Mississippi and Lake Pepin, and their auxil¬ iary waters, lying west of the "middle of the main channel."

Politically the county is divided into seventeen organized townships named, respectively, Chester, Mazeppa, Mount Pleasant, Gillford, Hyde Park, Zumbro, Lake, West Albany, Oakwood, Elgin, Pepin, Glasgow, Highland, Plainview, Greenfield, Watopa and Minneiska. There are two cities, Wabasha, the county seat, and Lake City. The villages are Plainview, Elgin, Minneiska, Weaver, Millville, Hammond, Zumbro Falls, Mazeppa, Kellogg, Theilman and Reed's Landing. Other railroad points are Brights Station, Jarretts, Keegan, Lakey (Tracy), McCracken, Dumfries, Midland Junction and Camp Lakeview. Small community centers are Smithfield, Conception, Bremen Corners, South Troy, Belle Chester, Bear Valley, Oak Center, Jacksonville, West Albany and King's Cooley.

The county is almost exclusively an agricultural one, there being prac¬ tically no manufacturing except of butter and flour, and the cities and villages being almost entirely dependent upon the rural districts for their support and maintenance.

The original settlement was made by fur traders who found here a loca¬ tion convenient to the Wabasha band of Dakota at Winona. French trading posts in this vicinity date back to 1685. Trading posts were established within the actual present limits of the county early in the nineteenth century and mercantile business has been continuous within the county since 1834. The settlement at the various Mississippi points within the county was brought about by the excellent steamboat landings, and increased by the building of the railroad parallel to the river in the early seventies. The agricultural settlement in the fifties resulted from the possibilities of the rich farming lands then open to settlement, and their accessibility to the steamboat landings.

This settlement was retarded and confused somewhat, however, by the fact that much of the county lay within the limits of the Half Breed Tract, so called, the status of which as to settlement was in considerable doubt for many years. Another drawback was the difficulty of obtaining water in the prairie regions. In common with all this part of Minnesota, the county lost some of its settlers as the result of the financial panic of 1857 and the succeeding hard winter of 1857-58, and as the result of wheat failure of 1878. The prairie villages owe their establishment to their position on early routes of overland travel, and their availability to good reaches of farming country. In' the Zumbro Valley the villages were started as stopping places on river fords, and developed as ferries were established and bridges were constructed. The opening of the Eyota and the Midland Railroad branches in the late seventies gave an impetus to the inland villages along their routes, and increased the importance of farming by furnishing better transportation, though this was coincident with the decline of the wheat crop. A few villages were arbitrarily established by the railroad as convenient shipping points, in places where no previous village had existed, and in at least three cases the railroad resulted in the moving for a short distance of previously established hamlets. While the water power of the county has been important, and resulted in the building of quite a number of mills in the early days, and may have had something to do with the selection of the site of Elgin, it has been a vital predominant factor in but one of the important villages, Mazeppa. There the village site was selected on account of its water power, and in the late seventies and eighties the milling activity was the central industry.

The River Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Com¬ pany enters the county at Lake City, follows closely the shores of Lake and Pepin Townships, leaves the river at Wabasha, follows the foot of the bluffs through Greenfield, Watopa and Minneiska Townships, and leaves the county on the river bank at Minneiska Village. The Midland Division of this road, with its eastern terminus at Wabasha, uses the main line from Wabasha through Greenfield Township, and at Midland Junction in that township leaves the main line, and follows the Zumbro Valley through Greenfield, Glasgow, West Albany, Oakwood, Hyde Park, a corner of Chester, and Mazeppa, leaving the county at Mazeppa Village and from there extending westward to Faribault. The Chippewa Valley Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul extends from Wabasha to Reed's Landing, there crosses the Mississippi, and extends up the Chippewa Valley. The Eyota Division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. extends from Plainview in a southwestern direction through Plainview and Elgin Townships, and joins the main line at Eyota in Olmsted County.

The River Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway w^as completed through Wabasha County in 1871. The Minnesota & Pacific Rail¬ road Company was one of the original land grant roads, under the act of May 22, 1857. Among various other routes, it was empowered to construct a line from Winona, up the valley of the Mississippi, to St. Paul. Under the "Five Million Dollar Loan" act, the company graded sixty-two miles, and received $600,000 in bonds. The name of the incorporation was changed to the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company, and as such the company built the first railroad in the state, the first locomotive with a train, of cars leaving St. Paul for St. Anthony (Minneapolis) in June, 1862.

By an act of the legislature approved March 2, 1867, the directors were authorized to change the name of the company or that of any of the branches of the road provided for in their charter. Accordingly, on March 19, 1867, the board of directors gave the name of the Chicago & St. Paul Railway to that part of their line which was to extend from St. Paul to Winona and southward. The line, however, between St. Paul and Winona was long called the Winona & St. Paul. Work was begun upon this line at or near St. Paul in 1865, but nothing was done in Wabasha county until 1870, when a line was put in opera- tion from Minnesota City, on the line of the Winona & St. Peter to Weaver in Wabasha County. The next year the line was completed from St. Peter Junc¬ tion (now known as Winona Junction, on the upper outskirts of Winona) to St. Paul. The last rail was laid August 15, 1871, two miles above Weaver, thus connecting Winona with St. Paul through Wabasha County. The first regular passenger train between the two cities through Wabash County left Winona at 10:30, Thursday, September 7, 1871. The bridge at Hastings was not com¬ pleted at that time, and passengers and freight were ferried across the river at that point. The bridge at Hastings was opened December 11, 1871, and put in operation, thus establishing through railroad connection between Winona, through Winona County, to St. Paul. In December, 1871, the road was sold to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. This company on February 7, 1874, became the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company.- January 16, 1872, when the bridge at Winona was completed (the former bridge at that place having been built December 29, 1870 and fallen May 26, 1871), through communication was established with the east, over the line of the La Crosse, Trempealeau & Prescott. In 1872 the road was extended from St. Peter Junc¬ tion, on the outskirts of Winona, to La Crescent, down the west side of the Mississippi river, and thereafter all freight trains used this route, being ferried across the Mississippi river to La Crosse. Passenger trains, however, con¬ tinued to run over the Winona bridge and the North-Western lines until 1875, when the magnificent iron bridge between La Crescent and North La Crosse was completed and brought into use for all traffic over the Milwaukee & St. Paul line.

The Midland Division of this road was started up the Zumbro Valley in 1877, but the money gave out before many miles had been built. The Mazeppa Milling Co. then took up the matter, and completed the road to Zumbrota with the backing of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company.

That same year the Rochester & Northwestern (now the Northwestern) ran a branch from Rochester to Zumbrota. Both lines reached Zumbrota at the same time and both claimed a right of way at the foot of Main street in that village. Early residents of the western part of Wabasha County tell of a pitched battle between the two track laying crews to see who would get pos¬ session of the disputed ground. The Midland Division was operated as a nar¬ row gauge until June 7, 1903, during which year it was extended through to Faribault and on November 9, 1903, the first standard guage train passed over the roadbed through Wabasha County.

The Eyota Branch of the Chicago & Northwestern was completed in 1878. This gave the people of the southern part of the county direct connection through the Northwestern with the great trunk lines of the East and West.

The Chippewa Valley Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was put in operation from Wabasha in 1882. The Chippewa Valley & Superior Rail¬ way Company, which originated the project, was projected in 1881, and the construction of the line started. The road was opened for traffic in 1882, and on Nov. 15, of that year, was transferred to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.

The surface of Wabasha County forms a relatively level plateau, cut by deep stream valleys. This plateau has an elevation varying from 1,100 feet above the sea along the northern boundary of the county to 1,150 in the western portion, and 1,200 in the south and east, where it is approximately 525 feet above the Mississippi. It is cut in two parts near the center of the county by the valley of the Zumbro, which in its lower portion is 500 feet below the upland surface. The southern and southeastern part of the county is cut by the Whitewater Valley. The eastern edge of the county is further cut by numerous tributaries of the Mississippi, which extend back only a few miles from the river. The valleys of these tributaries, as well as that of the Zumbro are sharp and canyon-like. The lower part of the Zumbro Valley is one to two miles in width and is marked by terraces.

The surface waters all reach the Mississippi River, which, as noted, lies from 425 to 525 feet lower than the general upland surface of the county. The greater part of these waters gather first into the Zumbro River, which meanders in a broadly serpentine course eastward to the Mississippi, crossing the entire county. The main affluents of the Zumbro are from the south, being the south branch of Zumbro River, Long Creek, Middle Creek, West Indian Creek, Dady's Creek, and Indian Creek. From the north the Zumbro receives Skillman Brook (Trout Creek) and West Albany Creek. These streams all flow with consid¬ erable descent and rather uniform volume of water, but in the early summer are subject to sudden floods from heavy rain showers. These floods are the more likely to be sudden and disastrous since the valleys of the streams are deep and rock-bound gorges, gathering the surface waters, which cannot any¬ where be detained on the uplands, owing to the absence of lakes and marshes, and the easy slopes which allow them to run off at once.

The valley itself, as stated, is from' one to two miles wide, between rock bluffs, and the stream overflows a wide margin on both sides. When the river reaches the low lands near Kellogg, some two or three miles from the nearest point in the main channel of the Mississippi, it spreads out and finds its way into the Mississippi through various channels. To reclaim a portion of this overflow land, a county ditch has been built from near Kellogg to a point in the Mississippi almost opposite Alma, Wisconsin. The main channel of the river originally flowed east and south from Kellogg and mouthed a mile and a half or two miles above Minneiska. This channel about a mile before reach¬ ing the Mississippi had a branch running south connecting it with the Whitewater which mouths at Minneiska. In high water the waters of the Mississippi and Zumbro were backed into this branch, and thus the main waters of the Zumbro at times reached the Mississippi through the mouth of the Whitewater, causing the early explorers to believe that the two rivers had but one mouth. The old mouth of the Zumbro above Minneiska still furnishes an outlet for Indian Creek and other small streams, and in high water, the waters of these streams may still be flowing through the branch mentioned into the Whitewater.

The small lakes, sloughs and lagoons, already mentioned as lying in the flood plain of the Mississippi, are composed of the waters of either the Zumbro or the Mississippi.-

The North Whitewater flows through the southern part of Elgin and Plainview Townships, and the Whitewater itself, in finding its way to its mouth at Minneiska, flows through the southern part of Minneiska Township.

The two middle forks of the Zumbro unite in the township of Oronoco, in Olmsted county, forming one rapid stream, which winds its way for a distance of two miles and unites with the waters of the south branch, which it carries onward about two miles farther, and enters Wabasha county in the towm of Mazeppa. The north branch also enters the county at this point, and flows a distance of about four miles, and discharges its waters in the main Zumbro very near the center of the town. From Mazeppa it finds its way eastward, forming the boundary line betwee Zumbro and Hyde Park, crossing the north¬ west corner of Oakwood and the southeast corner of West Albany, traversing the towns of Glasgow and Greenfield, and enters the Mississippi, receiving on its way tributary waters from smaller streams.

The most important water power in southeastern Minnesota is utilized not far from Mazeppa, where a dam built on the south branch of the Zumbro furnishes electrical power for the city of Rochester. The water power at Mazeppa itself furnishes that village with municipal power for its electric lights and waterworks, and is used also in grinding feed. At Jarrett's the waterpower is used for a mill. There are also a few other mills in the county.

"On Section 31, Gillford, is the Cold Spring mill; the head of water is eight feet, formed by a dam in a small creek, owned by M. S. Hostetter, two run of stone (one for feed). This mill takes its name from a large spring of very cold water which issues from the bluff a short distance below the dam.

"At Mazeppa, the Mazeppa mill company own a mill which is situated on the Zumbro river, and has a water head of 18 feet. It is a roller mill and, by the use of steam, when the water is low, has a capacity of 650 barrels per day.

"Jarrett's mill is at Jarrett's ford, N. W. ^4, Sec. 23, Hyde Park, on the north side of the Zumbro river. It is a custom mill with three run of stone (one for feed), twelve feet head of water, and is operated by a race-way from the river; owned by Mr. Owen.

"On the West Albany creek are John Hoffman's mill, with two run of stone for custom work, and E. Brandt's mill with two run of stone for custom work.

"At Millville a fine water power is available. A seven foot dam would give a fall of fourteen feet, capable of running twenty-four run of stone.

"On Indian creek, Watopa, is a small mill owned by John Hitchcock. It has about twelve horse-power, with a fall of ten feet; two run of stone for flour, one being an "automatic mill" for grinding middlings; of Knowlton and Dolan, Logansport, Ind.; one Leffel wheel.

"On Dady's creek, N. E. Sec. 34, Greenfield, is Mark Hitchcock's mill. This has a turbine wheel of eighteen inches, but cannot run constantly; one run of stone; twelve horse-power.

"On West Indian creek, Sec. 16, Highland, S. Appel owns a flouring mill with two run of stone, of which one is for feed. It has a turbine wheel, with twelve feet head of water. Another good power is twTo miles below Appel's mill, where formerly was a mill. This is in the west part of Sec. 5, Highland."

Wabasha County, particularly in the eastern half, participates in the gen¬ eral character of surface that is typical of the general area of this vicinity. The valleys are deep and rock-bound, though the ruggedness of rocky bluffs is alleviated by the heavy covering of loam with which the whole country is mantled. The valley of the Zumbro is one of the chief elements in the topog¬ raphy of the county. This valley is so wide and so deep that it suggests a theory of erosion and a force of water once operating in it which have no adequate proportion to the small stream that now occupies it. The streams that now discharge into it add material to the flood plain of the main valley, while the Zumbro itself seems to be unable to carry away the detritus they bring into it. The valley is therefore apparently being filled rather than excavated. Along the immediate river banks, within the general margin of the rock bluffs, is a belt of alluvial flat land which lies about 400 feet below the upland plateaus north and south. This alluvial flat is sometimes two miles wide, and in the lower part of the valley is terraced by successive flats higher and higher above the river, the highest being at Kellogg, sixty-five above the depot, or 767 feet above the sea.

These upland plateaus are undulating, or rolling, their roughness increas¬ ing with proximity to the little water-courses. These smooth undulation^ are due partly to the changes of the strata of the underlying rocks, partly to the incomplete filling up of pre-existing rock-gorges by the deposit of the loam, or the drift, and partly to the effect of drainage and re-excavation since the deposit of the loam. Nowhere are these irregularities of upland surface so disposed, at this time, as to enclose lakes. If such lakes were ever so produced in Wabasha County, they have been drained by the wearing down of their original outlets. The nature of the contours, however, warrants the belief that Wabasha County uplands were never diversified by lakes, but the surface on which the loam was deposited was one that had been for many ages sufficiently eroded by drainage to prevent the accumulation of standing waters; the loam itself accommodating itself to the original contour, and on being brought finally to constitute the surface of the county, taking the same, or nearly the same, plan of drainage.

Lake Pepin, which borders Wabasha County, lies in the gorge of the Mis¬ sissippi River, of which it is an enlargement. It extends from the mouth of Chippewa Rver, northward nearly twenty-two miles. It is from one to two and a half miles wide, and covers about thirty-eight and a half square miles. The maximum depth of the lake is fifty-six feet, but most of it is twenty to thirtyfive feet deep. The cause of this lake is the delta of the Chippewa River, which is covered with modern flood plain deposits. The Chippewa, flowing at a steeper grade than the Missssippi, has deposited more and coarser debris than the Mississippi could remove. This material has formed a sort of natural dam, which has filled the great gorge above with water, thus forming the lake. The depth of Lake Pepin makes it apparent that the gorge has been filled with the main stream to a depth of at least thirty to fifty feet since the dam was laid down. The delta at the head of the lake, formed by the deposits brought down by the Mississippi itself, and not carried away, is still growing, thus forcing the head of the lake further south. The lake must have originally extended much further upstream toward Prescott. Certainly the head of the lake was not long ago at least five miles further upstream at Hagar, Wis., and Red Wing, Minn. The Dakota Indians are said to have traditions regarding this. Below Red Wing three large and several small lakes lie between the distributory chan¬ nels of the lake. 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 be eventually filled up and obliterated. It has been stated that Lake Pepin had varied notably in level within historic times, rhis is upon the basis of stumps of trees in the channel of the Mississippi at Red Wing, Minn., though it is possible that these stumps indicate only the changing of the channel. It is thought that the French explorers found the main Chip¬ pewa flowing into what is now Beef Slough, which empties into the Beef River above Alma. The change from this channel to the present channel would cause the level of the lake to rise somewhat.

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 Chippewa, at the head and foot of the lake, respectively, and the smaller deltas of Rush River near Maiden Rock and Isabell Creek at Bay City. Other notable features of the low shore lines 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, Cen¬ tral Point and Lake City cusps on the Minnesota shore.

The Zumbro River by piling up the material which it has through count¬ less ages brought down from the upper Zumbro Valley, has doubtless assisted in the creation of Lake Pepin, by fretting the Mississippi currents, and thus depriving of an unobstructed outlet the material from the Chippewa which flows from the east several miles above.

Lake Pepin is 664 feet above the sea at average tide-level, and the Mis¬ sissippi River at the southern boundary of the county is 650 feet, the river falling fourteen feet in the distance of about eighteen miles. The highest land in the county is about 1,200 feet above tide. Such elevation is reached in the western part of Mount Pleasant, and in the southwestern part of Elgin, in each case lying over a small area of the Trenton limestone. There is another area of equal elevation north and northwest of Plainview, extending somewhat into Elgin and Highland townships. It is presumed that this last is produced by an accummulation of drift-clay, below the loam, rather than by the preser¬ vation of any part of the Trenton formation. A tongue from this area extends southeastward into Winona County, in Whitewater Township, and there it is highly improbable that any part of the Trenton exists.

The elevations on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in Wabasha County, are as follows: Lake City, 705 feet above the sea level; Reed's Land¬ ing, 682 feet; Wabasha, 712 feet; Midland Junction, 695 feet; Kellogg, 702 feet; Weaver, 674 feet; Minneiska, 672 feet; Midland Junction, 695 feet; Glas¬ gow, 716.5 feet; McCracken, 732 feet; Theilman, 743 feet; Tracey, 756 feet; Keegan, 759 feet; Millville, 787 feet; Garrett, 792 feet; Hammond, 805 feet; Funk, 820.5 feet; Zumbro Falls, 836 feet; Summit, grade, 895 feet; Depression, grade, 868; Mazeppa, 935; Forest Mills, 970; Summit, grade, 986; Zumbrota, 980.

Mean elevation of Wabasha County. The various townships of the county may be estimated to have the following average elevation above the sea, viz: Mount Pleasant, 1100 feet; Lake, 1000; Pepin, 1050; Wabasha, 740; Chester, 1025; Gillford, 1100; West Albany, 1000; Glasgow, 915; Greenfield, 800; Ma¬ zeppa, 950; Zumbro, 1050; Hyde Park, 1025; Oakwood, 985; Highland, 1025; Watopa, 900; Minneiska, 675; Elgin, 1125; Planview, 1135. If Lake and Wabasha together be taken as the equivalent of one town, with areas propor¬ tioned as three to one, and Pepin and Minneiska be considered together equal to another town, each forming one half, the mean elevation of the county will be found to be about 1065 feet.

Where the surface is not broken by too great ruggedness, as it is in prox¬ imity to the numerous ravines and along the bluffs of the Zumbro, Whitewater, and the Mississippi, the soil is uniformly good; and even when the roughness is quite unfavorable, or the sides of the hills are quite steep, the soil still is capable of producing all the crops of ordinary agriculture. The loam which spreads over the entire county is strong and fertile in all the qualities of a good soil. It is only in the immediate vicinity of the standstone bluffs that the soil is too light for reliable farming. In these places the sand is superficial, and has worked down from the bluffs since the deposition of the loam which in many cases is seen to underlie the sandy surface. The loam itself is not sandy, in general, but clayey, and is easily carried in suspension by moving water. Yet in its ordinary condition it is hard to get into suspension. It is impervious. The rains that fall upon it are more effective in disturbing it, and removing it, in the act of fallng, than in the erosion that follows. An ordinary sand or gravel would be easily undermined and carried to lower levels by the surface wash that sometimes is poured upon this loam, while the loam can be attacked by erosion only on its very surface. It is so fine and so tenacious that the surface film susceptible of such attack is very thin. If the surface be covered by vegeta¬ tion the loam is practically immobile under ordinary rains and wash.

The loess loam is the basis of the soils and subsoils of Wabasha County and forms the immediate surface. Sometimes this loam is stratified and fine, yet exhibiting thin laminae of sand. Sometimes in the uplands it seems to graduate into pebbly clay, and this into stony clay, and the stony clay then is the till, which underlies the clay in large areas throughout the county. This structure would result from the decay in situ of the rocks underlying the county; and but little if any of such disturbed, decayed, rock-material can be said to exist in this county. Its substance seems to have been worked over, perhaps several times, by water and by ice, thus reproducing itself with modi¬ fied features in different localities. Nothwithstanding these variations, its usual and characteristic qualities, at the surface, is that of a fine, sticky, impervious, yellowish clay.

There is, as mentioned, a blue, stony clay underlying large areas in Wabasha County, including the most of Chester and Gillford, and the high¬ lands in Mazeppa, Zumbro, Elgin, Plainview and Highland. It is probably more extensive still, running into Lake and West Albany, and even into Pepin, but its limits cannot be defined with accuracy. It is hid by a canopy of yellow, fine loam. Its former existence over areas that now do not show' it, is proven by the occurrence of an occasional foreign boulder in the ravines where every other trace of it has been destroyed. How thick this clay may be is unknown, but it seems to be, in some places, from twenty-five to forty feet. The region between the Clearwater and the Zumbro rivers, however, does not generally have this blue clay, the loam only being found in deep wells, and having an average of about thirty-five feet. The existence of this clay at Plainview was one of the factors that determined the final site of the village. The village was first started two miles further east, under the name of Greenville (in 1855), but as no good wells were found the town was unsuccessful; -while at Plainview, the blue clay there present furnished water at about thirty feet and attracted new settlers, and even the residents from Greenville. In this clay is frequently found wood and other vegetation. This, however, was not the only factor in the fall of Greenville and rise of Plainview. Greenville was within the "Half Breed Tract," and the uncertainty of land titles, as well as the difficulty of getting water, kept investors away. *

There is a little foreign gravel on the washed surface near the top of the ravine (over the brink of the bed-rock), near the schoolhouse, in Section 28, Pepin.

Drift-clay and gravel can be seen in the southeast corner of Plainview, section 25. One large boulder of gneiss lies in the road on section 35.

There is a large amount of foreign drift, in the form of gravel and boulders, about Mazeppa, sometimes also gravelly clay. It is of the color of the loam and is mixed in the bottom of the loam.

The Zumbro and the Mississippi are bordered by alluvial terraces. These consist, usually, and conspicuously, of gravel of foreign origin, the washings from the frayed edge of the sheet of till that once seems nearly to have cov¬ ered the whole county.

At Zumbro Falls there is a sandy irregular terrace (15-20 feet) which, near the bottom, shows sand. In the higher bluffs is coarse gravel, mingled with fallen pieces of the limestone strata; the gravel itself also consisting largely of limestone of the same kind.

The village of Millville is on a terrace that rises thirty feet above the depot, or 817 feet above the sea, and forty-eight feet above the river at high water.

At Kellogg the highest terrace, composed of gravel and sand, is that wThich accompanies the Zumbro, sixty-five feet above the railroad grade, or 767 feet above the sea, and 106 feet above Lake Pepin. This shows a descent, in this terrace level, from Millville to Kellogg, of fifty feet. At Kellogg there is another flat forty feet lower, and this descends irregularly to the plain on which Kellogg is situated. The only permanent terrace here is the uppermost one, the other plains apparently being liable to fluctuation, and to blending, by a gradual descent, with the present flood-plain. The top of this higher terrace here is of gravelly sand with but a slight covering of loess.

Along the Mississippi there is an important terrace-flat, rising from fortyfive to fifty feet above the river. Kellogg is situated on it, where it seems to be about fifty feet above the river. Wabasha, likewise on the terrace, is fifty-four feet above the river, and Lake City depot is forty-one.

The alluvium occurs in the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries where these have formed flood plains. Its thickness is unknown, but presum¬ ably averages between 25 and 50 feet. The coarser alluvium of the smaller streams and of the fan formed at the mouth of the Zumbro generally contains abundant water, the supplies being available to shallow wells and furnishing sufficient quantities for domestic and farm purposes. The alluvial deposits of the Mississippi include a considerable amount of silt, and the supplies of water are consequently smaller.

Of the upper formations of the Ordovician system only the Platteville lime¬ stone, here about 10 feet thick, is represented in the county. It caps the eleva¬ tion known as Lone Mound and occurs on the highest uplands southwest of Plainview along the southern border of the county. It carries very little water and is to be considered as a source of supply only for "wet weather open wells."

The St. Peter sandstone, which in this county is about 100 feet thick, lies beneath the Platteville limestone on Lone Mound and on the high land near Plainview and outcrops over a considerable area of the uplands in the vicinity of this village. Owing to the fact that it occurs only on the higher lands, where its waters can escape to lower levels, it is not commonly a source of water supply in Wabasha County, though it would furnish water in moderate amounts to wells on the upland about Plainview and in parts of Mount Pleasant Town¬ ship.

The Shakopee dolomite underlies a considerable part of the uplands, espe¬ cially in the west and south. It has a thickness of about 35 feet7 and is gen¬ erally less than 50 feet and rarely over 100 feet below the surface. It is reached by domestic and farm wells, to which it will yield small supplies.

The New Richmond sandstone, which is about 20 feet thick, outcrops on the uplands several miles back from the bluffs of the Mississippi and the Zumbro. It affords small supplies of hard water to the wells penetrating it.

The Oneota dolomite, which is very similar to the Shakopee, forms the upland crests and upper parts of the cliffs along the Mississippi and Zumbro valleys. It carries some water in its joints, bedding planes, and solution chan¬ nels, and at a distance from its outcrops usually yields enough for farm purposes.

The Jordan sandstone, which in this region is a buff or yellow sandstone 100 to 120 feet thick, outcrops in the lower parts of the cliffs. It forms an important water-bearing bed and will yield good supplies to deep wells almost anywhere in the county. The water from this formation fails to rise to the surface, except perhaps in the Zumbro Valley.

The St. Lawrence formation, which consists of shales and limestones with some sandstone beds, is exposed at the base of the cliffs and lies beneath the flood plains of the Mississippi and the lower portion of the Zumbro, having a maximum thickness of about 230 feet. It will yield only small amounts of water.

The Dresbach sandstone is estimated to be about 50 feet thick in this county. It will yield large quantities of water, which is confined by the St. Lawrence formation under pressure sufficient to lift it nearly or quite to the surface.

The underlying shales and sandy layers have a thickness, according to the section of the Wabasha well, of about 150 feet, and according to the section of the Lake City well considerably greater. These are not important as a source of water, but serve to confine under artesian pressure the water in the sub¬ jacent sandstone. The underlying porous Cambrian sandstone is 225 feet or more thick and will yield large volumes of water that rises nearly or quite to the surface.

Beneath the sandstone just described, according to the evidence of the Lake City well, there are 320 feet or more of red shale, sandstone, and quartzite which are not water bearing. Underlying these will be found the granite, which is likewise void of available water.

The railroad well at Lake City, drilled in 1882 by W. E. Swan, for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, disclosed some interesting features. The sand and gravel (alluvium) extended down 207 feet; the blue sand and shale (lower part of the St. Lawrence), extended under that 68 feet; the sandstone (Dresbach) and gray sand shale extended under that 127 feet; the yellow and gray sandstone extended under that 88 feet; and the red shale and quartzite extended under that 320 feet; making a total investigation of 820 feet beneath the surface. At that early date, Mr. Swan stated that the red clastic series was never known to add materially to the water supply furnished by overlying beds, and he advised the withdrawal of the drill whenever it was reached.

At first the principal sources of water supply in addition to the springs and streams, were shallow wells dug into the surface deposits, after the manner in which the settlers from the eastern states had secured water from the sand and gravel deposits immediately beneath the surface of the soil in many regions in those states. But the inferior quality of the water found in the surface wells in Wabasha County, its liability to pollution, and failure in dry seasons, together with the fact that in some parts of the county it was almost impossible to obtain any water at all from surface wells, gradually led to the substitution of deeper drilled wells. In those parts of the uplands remote from the river valleys, the wells are commonly from 100 to 150 feet deep, but near the edges of the plateau many go to depths of 250 to 350 feet or even more. In the valleys, driven wells sunk into the alluvium to a depth of 20 to 75 feet afford the most common source of supply, but when large volumes are required, drilled wells are sunk into the underlying sandstones.

Springs emerge at numerous points along the base of the cliffs bordering the rivers, both from the sandstones and the limestones. Some are of con¬ siderable size, and are important sources of domestic and farm supplies. Springs also issue from the limestone on the uplands, but their volume is generally small.

Springs usually emerge from the top of an outcrop of an impervious for¬ mation. Thus the top of the St. Lawrence, essentially a shale formation, and the top of the Shakopee, a compact dolomite, mark the situation of most of the springs of the county.

Back from the Mississippi and Zumbro and Whitewater Rivers, water stands in wells at a considerable depth below the surface, and as lower sup¬ plies have been tapped the head has gradually been lowered. In the valley of the Mississippi River the water rises nearly to the surface, but it does not flow either in Lake City or in Wabasha, though flows are obtained at Red Wing to the north and Winona to the south. It is improbable that flows can be obtained by new wells at either Lake City or Wabasha, but it is possible that they could be procured along the Mississippi south of the Zumbro.

An inspection of the analyses shows no great difference in the quality of the underground water from different formations. The water from the Plainview well, which comes largely from the Jordan sandstone, is better than that from the alluvium of Lake City, Wabasha, and Weaver.

The natural resources of the county are similar to those of several other counties in the southeastern part of the state. The soil is fertile and appar¬ ently very durable and almost inexhaustible. The timber is sufficient for fuel for the residents within the county and also supplies a quantity of hardwood lumber. Nearly every farm has a grove, either of natural growth timber or of planted trees. Material suitable for making red brick is found throughout the county. The making of cement blocks has proven successful. Some quarrying has been done, and some lime has been burned. A bed of porcelain clay is believed to exist in the northern part of Chester and Guilford. Gold has been washed frim the drift on the southeast quarter of section 25, Chester Town-

NOTE. - A more detailed description of the Geological features of Wabasha County will be found in the "Geology of Minnesota," 1882-1885 (St. Paul, 1882) II, 1-19.