Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1881 (part 13 of 17)

" The reason why he did not reach Gundry is very satisfactorily explained by Gundry himself, who says that, while he was under the water, he distinctly saw Mr. Strong with his legs drawn up, as in a sitting position, with his arms bent in front of his breast, in which position he sank, and his body was in this position when found. It, therefore, would seem quite certain that, in his effort to save Gundry, Mr. Strong was seized with cramps, which deprived him of the power of swimming, and resulted in his own drowning, and the certainty is increased by the fact that his body was found on the bottom of, the river, not more than thirty or forty feet from where he had been standing.

"That Mr. Gundry escaped drowning is almost miraculous. He drifted down the river until his feet struck a sand-bar, which enabled him barely to get his head above the surface of the water. Here he stood in water up to-his neck, until he was rescued by Jack Hawn. As soon as Jack heard the cries, ho left his canoe at the head of the rapids and ran to the foot of them, whe;ce he saw Gundry 's head above the water, and the skiff floating down the stream. He immediately rushed' into the water and secured the skiff, and with it rescued Gundry from his peril.

" The time of the accident was 2:55, as indicated by the watches of both the young men, which were stopped at the time of being submerged. The body of Mr. Strong was found at 6 o'clock on Sunday evening, in eight and one-half feet of water. It might probably have been found sooner, but for the erroneous supposition of those engaged in the search that it had drifted further than proved to be the fact."

At the time the crushing news was received, his father, the Hon. Moses M. Strong, was at Stevens' Point, and, through a generosity and courtesy that commanrls our warmest admiration, a special train was placed at his disposal by General Manager E. B. Phillips, of the Wisconsin Central Eailroad, whereby he was enabled to reach at an early hour the scene of the disaster.

The remains were conveyed to Mineral Point, where they were laid to rest, amid profound sorrow, not alone of kindred uud friends, nor of the community by which he was so highly esteemed, but of the entire commonwealth in whose service he had fallen.

The loss to the survey, though immeasurably less than the unspeakable affliction to the smitten family, is very great. Mr. Strong's careful notes, even up to the very hour of his death, were all recovered in a legible condition ; yet, though they were taken with ihat painstaking care that so prominently characterized his work, they can never receive at the hands of another that fullness and completeness of elaboration which they would have received from their author.

In Memoriam - Moses Strong - (June 17, 1846 - August 18, 1877). - The lapse oi a geologic age is little to us save in the record it has left us. The infinitude of its days are of little moment if they form a " Lost Interval." The record is little to us save in its character. An eon of ages may have heaped up an immensity of sands, but if they have buried neither life nor treasure, it is but a barren interval. The years that formed the coal, the ore and the life beds, however brief among the eras of the earth's history, are more to us than all lost or barren intervals, however Vast their cycles. So the eon of life. June 17, 1846 - August 18, 1877. These are the limiting signs of human age. What is the record ?

The earlier period of Mr. Strong's life, the period of fundamental intellectual deposit and moral accretion, were spent where the basal strata of character are best laid, at home.

His early training and instruction were largely received at the hands of an intellectaal father and a pious mother, the combination which best matures thought and develops morals. To this was added something of the cosmopolitan culture of the public schools. In his thirteenth year he entered the French and English school then located at Sauk City, where he acquired some knowledge of the rudiments of the versatile language of the French. A collegiate course had, however, been selected as an important feature of his education, and in his fourteenth year his studies were turned specifically in that direction under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Skinner, then Rector of the Episcopal Church at Mineral Point. The last few months of these preparatory studies were passed at Delavan, in this State, whither Mr. Skinner had removed, and some of the citizens of that place will recall the quiet manner of the youne student. Let it be noted that thus far, more than half the span of his life, he had been chiefly under the quiet but potent molding power of paternal and pastoral influence. Under these auspices the predominant traits of his character were formed, and the most important part of his education accomplished, the education that looks toward manhood.

But, though the home is wide enough for the boy, the world is none too broad for the man, and Mr. Strong now entered upon that wider culture wiiich was to fit him for the still bi'oader school of life. In September, 1863, he was admitted to Yale College, in whose classic atmosphere he passed the succeeding four years. It was in our judgment a fortunate circumstance, in view of the fact that he subsequently turned his attention so largely to engineering and scientific studies, that so considerable an element of literary study entered into his course at this period. In the junior year of his college course, he selected the profession of mining engineer as his life pursuit, and during the remainder of his course his reading, outside of his class studies, was mainly such as was germane to his chosen profession. Immediately after his graduation, he was offered an opportunity to engage in practical civil engineering in connection with the survey of a railroad line along the Mississippi, between La Crosse and Winona. This work, however, was cut short by sickness.

In the fall of the same year he returned to New Haven, and spent the year in the Sheffield Scientific School in the study of natural science, higher mathematics, drawing and kindred studies. In the pursuance of these studies he was much indebted to Prof. Blush, of the chair of mineralogy and metallurgy, who had completed his education in Germany, and by whom Mr. Strong's desire to complete his own education in that country was stimulated to its consummation.

Mr. Strong sailed for Germany in July, 1868, and returned in the same month of the year 1870. His first year was spent in the mining school at Clausthal, in the Ilartz Mountains, and the second at the celebrated school at Freyberg, in Saxony. These two years afforded excellent facilities for the pursuit of his professional studies, both in the extensive mines aud the ample laboratories.

Soon after hia ret'Jin from Germany, Mr. Strong engaged in the practice of his profession - the survey of the extensive lead mines of Crawford, Mills & Co., at Hazel Green, being his first engagement. Upon the completion of this, he was entrusted by the firm with a financial mission to New York.

It was always the intention of Mr. Strong to pursue the work which he had planned for his life in the mines of the West, but his devotion to his parents, and his attachment to the home of his infancy and youth, and its domestic associations, were so great that he was reluctant to remove to so distant a field of labor, so long as he could be profitably engaged without permanently disturbing the ties and affections which bound him with such devotion to the scenes that had given so much pleasure to his earlier years.

Deeming a practical acquaintance with civil engineering, especially so far as relates to the location and construction of railroads, a valuable accessory to his profession as mining engineer, he became associated for varying periods, and in different capacities, in the location of the Northern Pacific, the Wisconsin Central, and several preliminary lines in the lead region.

On the inauguration of the geological survey, in 1873, Gov. Washburn, upon the recommendation of the late Dr. I. A. Lapham, then chief geologist, commissioned Mr. Strong as

Assistant State Geologist. During the years 1873 and 1874, he was engaged chiefly in the examination of the lead region. In 1875, he extended his work, adjacent to the Mississippi, as far north as Trempealeau County.

The history of Mr. Strong's work during the past year, and of its calamitous close, has already been given on a previous page. He fell in the midst of his work, in its active prosecution. His last notes were recorded but a few moments before they were submerged with him beneath the fatal rapids. The life passed away, but its latest record remained. These last recordings are marked by blanks. The formation has been described, but spaces were left for the location, which was not then determined. These blanks may be filled, but he has left other blanks we may not fill. He fell pushing up the stream - in fact and in symbol - not floating down it. He stood at the frow, pressing onward and upward, with duty for his motive and truth for his aim.

In character, he was modest and unassuming, and commanded respect rather by the merits he could not conceal than by any that were assumed. His quiet manner never revealed the real executive strength which he possessed. He accomplished more than he seemed to be attempting. His quiet self-possession gave steady and eff'ective direction to his activities, and stood as a bar alike to the aberrations of mental confusion, the effervescence of merely emotional enthusiasm, and the turbulence of illusive energy. Judiciousness in the application, rather than the absolute amount of energy displayed, characterized his efforts.

His retiring disposition excluded aggressive personal ambition, and his self-assertion was Umited to that called forth in the discharge of his duties. His personal advancement was due to inherent merit or the efforts of others, rather to self- zeal and assurance on his part.

Candor and sincerity were eminent traits in his character, and honesty of expression marked alike his life and his language. His integrity was absolutely above question. No bond but his honor was requisite for the security of whatever trust was reposed in him. In attestation of his attractive personal traits, he enjoyed the warm friendship of his associates, and, in an unusual degree, the esteem of the community in which he was so well known.

In harmony with his whole nature, Mr. Strong's religious convictions were of the practical rather than the emotional type. Conscientiousness in the fulfillment of every relationship of life was the fundamental stratum upon which was erected the temple of his faith. In outward recognition of his persuasions, he became a member and regular communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

If he could have chosen the form of his departure, and could have so molded it to best portray at once the soul of his ethical and religious views, he could perhaps have chosen nothing more fitting than that which the hand of destiny selected for him, to die from the perils that encompass duty, to die for his friend.

His domestic relations were most felicitous. Love given and received made his dwelling place a genial home. A kind father, a happy wife, and two lovely children, formed the hearth circle. The household penates always seemed to smile. That they are now broken and veiled, is the saddest thought of this sad story.

Obituary Notice of Knights Templar. - The following is a brief extract from the report of the Committee on Obituaries, to the Grand Oommandery of Knights Templar of the State of Wisconsin, at the Nineteenth Annual Conclave held at Madison, October 2 and 3, 1877.

"The unusual fine advantages that he had enjoyed in youth and early manhood had been faithfully used, and he had fairly entered on a career that, had his life been spared, would have secured him honorable distinction.

" His character was one upon which his friends can look from any point of view with pride, with satisfaction and with love. To a mind trained by years of study and filled with valuable learning, he added a character of great moral excellence and of unsullied honor.

" Sir Knighi Strong was initiated, passed and raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in Mineral Point Lodge, No. 1 ; became a Royal Arch Mason in Iowa Chapter, No. 6 in Mineral Point, and was received and constituted a Knight Templar in Mineral Point Commandery. No. 12; receiving all his degrees in the place of his birth, and the home of his lifetime, and at the hands of those who knew full well that the honors he received were most worthily bestowed. His brethren mourn his loss with grieving and heartfelt sorrow. Such men as he it is who honor Masonry in their lives, and dying leave upon it the luster of a pure life and unspotted character."

The Driftless Area

Again resuming the narrative of geologic fact, it is observed that the most interesting fact jiresented for the consideration of the general geologist, is the entire absence of " drift," or diluvium throughout the southwestern quarter of the State, and, while extending far to the north, still including the region referred to herein. The lead district is driftless. About twelve thousand square miles are embraced in these boundaries. The investigations by Mr. Roland D. Irving and Mr. Moses Strong have resulted in much interesting information. From the official reports. is quoted the following:

"In the driftless region, which occupies nearly one-fourth of 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 condition, from those portions of their courses that lie within the drift-bearing regions."

Those readers of this work who have not easy access to the official reports, may be interested to know the boundaries of the driftless region, and it is, therefore, here stated. The outline is, for the most part, sharply defined, both by a more or less sudden cessation of the drift materials, and by a change in the topography, as the line is crossed, from one side to the other. This is more especially true of the eastern boundary, in which the reader is naturally most interested. On this line are often seen heavy morainic heaps - that is, deposits of such bowlders and gravel as scientists have decided are carried under, or attached to the sides of glaciers, or to the center of glaciers which are formed by the union of two separate bodies of that nature. The eifects of purely subaerial (or open air) erosion without drift, and the effects of glacial erosion with drift, are plainly distinguishable along these lines. The northern boundary of the region is mainly level country, the drift materials gradually diminishing to the south.

Mr. Strong defines the eastern line through Green County as beginning at the southwest corner, and waving irregularly northeast, until it crosses the county line on the north, about fifteen miles from the east line of Iowa County. Thence the line curves to the west, and crossee the Wisconsin about three miles east of the northeast corner of Iowa County ; thence, due north to Baraboo, curving as it crosses the Sauk County north line to touch Range 5 ; thence, with a gradual curve, it includes nearly all of Adams County, and swings to the northwest, touching Grand Rapids as its northeastern point ; thence, mainly west to the Mississippi River. This is now the accepted area, although Mr. Whitney differs somewhat from the definition as to the line through Adams and Juneau Counties. The report of 1877, by Mr. Irving, is referred to, for the benefit of those who desire a more detailed and argumentative description.

Mr. Irving says: "The nature of the topography of the driftless area, everywhere most patently the result of subaerial erosion exclusively, is even more striking proof that it has never been invaded by the glacial forces than is the absence of drift material. Except in the level country of Adams, Juneau, and the eastern part of Jackson County, it is everywhere a region of narrow, ramifying valleys and narrow, steep-sided dividing ridges, whose direction are towaiu every point of the compass, and whose perfectly coinciding horizontal strata prove conclusively their erosive action. * * * * Each one of the numerous streams has its own ravine and the ravines are all in direct proportion to the relative sizes of the streams in them." [Reference is made to the contour maps drawn by Mr. Strong, displaying, with instructive plainness, the topographic phenomena of the region.]

"The altitude of the driftless area, as compared with the drift bearing regions, becomes a inatter of some importance in any attempt to explain the absence of the drift phenomena. It has been stated by some writers that the driftless area is higher than the drift-bearing, and was, consequently, not subjected to glacial invasion. It is true that in general the eastern half of the State is lower than the western, but from what follows it will be seen that farther than this the statement is inaccurate. From the south line of the State, as far north as the head of Bucar River, in Cross Plains, the county west of the drift limit rises rapidly from 200 to 400 feet. .Ju4 north of the head of Sugar River the limit crosses high ground - the western extension of the high limestone and prairie belt of northern Dane and southern Columbia Counties - and the altitudes east of the limit are as great as those to the west ; whilst in passing from the head of the Catfish River westward, a glacier must have made an abrupt ascent of fully 300 feet. North of Black Earth Ri\-er the limit has the higher ground, by 200 feet, on the east. Sauk Prairie is crossed on a level, and though higher ground occurs west of the prairie, its topography and the absence of drift show that the glacier never reached so far. Where the quartzite range north of Sauk Prairie is crossed by the limit, it is higher (850 feet above Lake Michigan) than any part of the driftless area except the Blue Mounds, whilst only a few miles east a great development of bowlders and gravel is found on one of the highest portions of the range (900 to 950 feet altitude). From the Baraboo north to the Sauk County line, there appears to be in relation between the position of the limit and the altitude of the country. From the north line of Sauk County, in curving to the eastward and northward around Adams County, the limit is on the very crest of the divide. From its position near the middle of the east line of Adams County, the country, for forty miles to the west, is from 100 to 200 feet lower. From the northwest part of Adams County to the Wisconsin River the limit is in a level country; whilst from the Wisconsin westward, the country north of it is everywhere much higher than that to the south, the rise northward contiriuin;}; to within thirty miles of Lake Superior."

In his discussion of the glacial drift, Mr. Irving reaches certain conclusions, which are here reproduced only so far as they relate positively to the area devoid of drift. The negative or those that go to prove the absence of drift, because the region is not like the vast majority of the country, and of the Northern Hemisphere of the globe, are recited in brief: "1. The drift of Central Wisconsin is true glacier drift. [See Report 1877, p. 630.] "2. The Kettle Range of Central Wisconsin is a continuous terminal :ind lateral moraine. The mere fact of the existence of such a distinct and continuoas belt of unstratified and moraine-like drift, which, in much of its course, lies along the edge of the driftless area, or, in other words, along the line on which the western foot of a glacier must long have stood, would go far toward proving the truth of the proposition [that this is true glacial drift], of which, however, a complete demonstration is at hand. In all the country just inside the Kettle Range, wo find that glacial striae - channels - lines of glacial erosion, and lines of travel of erratics - bowlders, or minerals foreign to the locality where found - preserve a position at right angles 'to the course of the range, although that course veers in the southern part of the district from west to north. East of the Central Wisconsin district, the Kettle Range extends eastward and northeastward to the dividing ridge between the valley of Lake Michigan and the valley in which lie Green Bay, Lake Winnebago, and the head-waters of Rock River, and along this ridge northward, into Green Bay Peninsula. All along this part of its course, Prof Chaiuber- Im has found the glacial striae pointing east of south, and toward the Kettle Range, whilst along the middle of the Green Bay Valley he finds the striae directions parallel to the main axis ot the valley, or a little west of south. On the west side of this great valley, and along the border of the Central Wisconsin district, the striae trend about southwest, whilst still

" We have then a most beautiful proof that at one time the Green Bay Valley was occupied by a glacier, which was not merely a part of a universal ice sheet, but a distinctly separate tongue from the great northern mass. The end of this glacier was long in northern Rock County, its eastern foot on the East Wisconsin divide, and its western on the summit of the divide between the Fox and Wisconsin River systems, as far south as southern Adams County, after which it crossed into the valley of the Wisconsin, and from that into the head-waters of the Catfish branch of Rock River, in the Dane County region. Whilst the main movement of the glacier coincides in direction with the valley which it followed, it spread out on both sides in fan shape, creating immense lateral moraines. Peculiar circumstances caused the restriction of the eastern moraine or narrow area, whilst that on the west, having no such restriction, spread out over a considerable width of country, the breadth of the moraine reaching in Waushara County as far as twentyfive miles. This width of moraine must have been due to the alternate advance and retreat of the glacier foot. Such an advance and retreat appears, moreover, to be recorded in the long lines of narrow sinuous ridges, each marking, perhaps, the position of the glacier foot, or a portion of it, during a certain length of time. The intersecting of these winding ridges, which have no parallelism at ail with one another, appears to me to have been the main cause of the formation of the jcettle depressions. Col. Whittlesey [Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge], has supposed . that these owe their origin to the melting of ice masses included within the moraine raiterials, and this may possibly be true with regard to more regularly circular kettles. The thickness of the great glacier we can only conjecture. It is easy to see, however, that it was at least a thousand feet, for it was able to accommodate itself to variations in altitude of many hundred feet. Morainic drift occurs on the summit of the Baraboo ranges over 900 feet above Lake Michigan, and on the immediately adjacent low ground, 700 below.

" 3. The driftless region of Wisconsin owes its existence, not to superior altitude, but to the fact 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 hitherto 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 water-shed between the Lake Michgan and Mississippi River slopes, whilst the driftless region is altogether on the last-named slope. Moreover, to the north, toward Lake Superior, and in Minnesota, the whole country covered with drift materials lies at a much greater altitude. J. D. Whitney, in his report on the lead region of Wisconsin, favors the idea that the driftless district stood, during the glacial times, at a much greater relative altitude than now, and so escaped glaciation. But it is evident that, in order that this could have been the case, either (1) a break or bend in the strata must have taken place along the line of junction between driftless or drift-bearing regions, or else (2) the driftless region has since received relatively a much greater amount of denudation than the driftbearing.

" Tliat no break or bend ever took place along. the line indicated, is abundantly proven by the present perfect continuity of the strata on both sides of the line, che whole region in Central Wisconsin being in fact one in which faults of any kind are things absolutely unknown. That no sensible denudation has taken place in Wisconsin since the glacial times, in either drift-bearing or driftless areas, is well proven by the intimate connection with one another of the systems of erosion of the two regions. The valley of Sugar River, for instance, with its branches, is throughout its course worn deeply into the underlying rocks; on its east side it contams moraine drift, proving that it was worn out before the Glacial period, whilst on the west it extends into the driftless regions. We are thus compelled to believe that, during the Glacial puriod, the region destitute of drift had the same altitude relatively to the surrounding country as at present. Before the Glacial period, portions of the drift-bearing region may indeed have been somewhat hi"her, for in it a considerable amount of material must have been removed from one place to another by the glacial forces. The only satisfactory explanation remaining, then, for the existence of the driftless region, is the one I have proposed. We have already seen that the extent of this region to the eastward was marked out by the western foot of tlic glacier which followed the valley of Green Bay. 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. The details of the movement for this northern countrv have not been worked out, but it is well known that what is probably the most remarkable and best-preserved development of morainic drift in the United States, exists on the water-shed south of Lake Superior. Here the drift attains a very great thickness, and the kettle depressions and small lakes without outlet are even more numerous and charici eristic than in other parts of the State. The water shed proper lies some thirty or forty miles south of the lake, and 800 to 1,200 feet above it, but the morainic drift extends twenty-five to fifty miles further southward. On the east side of the State, the drift of Lake Superior merges with that of Central and Eastern Wisconsin, while west of the western moraine of the Green Bay glacier, it dies out somewhat gradually, until 125 to 150 miles south of the lake the drift limit is reached. Much of the country twenty-five to seventy-five miles north of the driftless region, though showing numerous erratics, is quite without any marked signs of glaciation, as, for instance, along the valley of the Wisconsin, from Grand Rapids north to Wausau. Further west, the drift extends more to the southward. The course of the Lake Superior glaciers conveyed them further and further southward as they moved westward.

"Future investigations will undoubtedly bring out a close connection between the structure of the Lake Superior Valley and the glacial movements south of it. Even the facts how at hand seem to point toward some interesting conclusions. Projecting from the south shore of Lake Superior, we find two great promontories, Keweenaw Point and the Bayfield Peninsula. Both of the projections have a course somewhat transverse to the general trend of the lake, bearing some thirty degrees south of west. Both have high central ridges or backbones, which rise 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the adjacent lake, and are made up of bedded igneous rocks, sandstones, and conglomerates of the copper series. Both of these ridges continue far westward on the mainland, having between them a valley, partly occupied by the lake, which is a true synclinal trough; the rocks of the two ridges dipping toward one another. North of the Bayfield Peninsula, and again south of Keweenaw Point, we find two other valleys running in from the lake shore in the same direction. In all probability each one of these valleys has given direction to a glacier tongue. An inspection of a good map of the northern part of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, will serve to show thafthe almost innumerable small lakes (which are far more' numerous than are shown in the best maps) of these regions, are concentrated into three main groups, each group corresponding to a great development of morainic drift, and lying in the line of one of the three valleys just indicated. I suppose that each of the lake groups is a moraine of the glacier which occupied the valley in whose line it lies. The main ice-sheet coming from the north met, in the great trough of Lake Superior, over 2,000 feet in depth, an obstacle which it was never able to entirely overcome, and so reached 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 be done in the way of invesU"iition not only in Wisconsin, but over all of Minnesota and the States south, in order that the details' of the ice-movement for the whole northwest may be fully understood.

"4. The stratified drift of the valleys (in the drift-covured regions) owes its structure and distribution to the water of the swollen streams and lakes that marked the time of melting of the glaciers.

" 5. The depth below the present surface of the rock valleys appears to indicate a greater altitude of this part of the continent during the Glacial period than at the present time."

Topography And Surface Geology Of The Lead Region

Mr. Moses Strong, in his report of 1877, saj's : " Unlike most regions which nature has selected for the reception of metallic ores and useful minerals, the lead region bears no evidence of any sudden disturbances or violent action of physical forces. The effects produced bv igneous and eruptive agencies are wanting. Faults and dislociitions of strata are nowhere found. The only irregularities are slight upheavals or bending of the strata (and these never of great extent), producing changes of but a few feet from the normal dip. Between the geological condition and the general surface contour of the country, there is no direct correlation. The existence of n hill or a valley on the surface is not due to a sabterranean elevation or depression of surface, as is by many supposed, and whatever irregularities exist must be chiefly attributed to the milder natural agencies now constantly at work, such as running water, frost, winds, etc., acting through an immensely long period of time.

" Drainage. - The most marked and persistent feature of the lead region is the long dividing ridge, or water-shed, which, commencing near Madison, continues almost directly west to the Blue Mounds, a distance of about twenty miles. Here it takes a slight bend to the southwest for fifteen miles until it reaches Dodgeville, where it resumes its westerly course until it terminates in the bluffs at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. Its total length is about eighty-five miles. Two points are noticeable - one is its general uniform directness of outline (it being subject to but few and unimportant flexures), and the other is its parallelism with Wisconsin River so long as the latter holds an approximately westerly course, the summit of the ridge being always about fifteen miles from the river. The divide maintains an average elevation of about six hundred feet above Lake Michigan, and is seldom less than five hundred or more than seven hundred, except at the Blue Mounds, where it gradually rises east and west for several miles until it attains an elevation at the west mound of one thousand one hundred and fifty-one feet. This, however, is an extreme case, and, in fact, the only marked exception to the general level. In th^town of Mount Hope, a slight decrease of elevation is about four hundred and thirty feet at a point within a mile of both the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers. There are also two main branches or subdivisions of the water-shed. Of these, the western is the ridge which separates the waters that flow into the Platte and Fever Rivers from those which flow into the Pecatonica. It leaves the main divide in the town of Wingville, nnd, passing through the townships of Bellmont and ShuUsburg in a southeasterly direction, passes out of the State in the town of Monticello. The ridge is not so conspicuous as the main watershed, either for the directness of its course or the uniformity of its elevation. The most conspicuous points on it are the Platte Mounds, which appear from a distance to be very high, but their height is only relative, their actual elevation being about seven hundred feet above Lake Michigan. The ridge appears to slope somewhat in its approach to Illinois, its average elevation there being about five hundred feet.

" The easterly subdivision is that which separates the waters of the Pecatonica and Su;^:ir Rivers. It may be said to begin at the Blue Mounds or a couple of miles east of them, aiul, pursuing quite a devious course through the townships of Primrose, Washington and Monroe, it crosses the State line in the town of Jefterson. This ridge is characterized by a much greater want of uniformity in its general course and its verv irregular elevation. It is much narrower than either of the others, more abrupt in its slopes, and coutiiins quite a number of hills and low places. These are the principal elevations of the country affecting the drainage. There are, of course, many minor ones.

" Streams. - The present situation of the streams was probably never modified nor influenced by drift or glacial agencies. Premising this, it follows that the location of the streams must have depended upon the natural configuration of the country and the superior advantages of certain strata in certain positions predisposing tiiem to become the beds of streams. Other things being equal, surface waters would naturally form a channel first in the more soft and easily erosible strata lying along the line of strike of some soft formation, and would cause a river to conform its first channel to its outcropping edge. Simultaneously, its tributaries would shape their channels approximately at right angles to the river, under the following conditions : When the general slope or drainage of the country is not contrary to the geological dip of the formations, which, in the lead region, does not appear to have been the case, the tributaries on one side of the river thus formed would conform themselves to the natural dip of the underlying strata, sloping toward the main river, and would be found wherever there were depressions or irregularities in the surface suitable to their formation. These would, at their inception, approximate to their final length and course, and future changes in them would be confined to the deeper erosion of their beds and widening of their valleys, the formation of lateral branches, the division of the head of the stream into several smaller sources, and. finally, the gradual recession of all the subordinate parts.

" With the tributaries on the other side of the principal river, a different order would prevail as regards their position and growth. They would at first be the merest rivulets, and increase only from erosion, and their beds would lie across the edges of the strata. There would be only a very limited extent of country tributary to the river on this side, the great volume of its water being derived from the tributaries of the other side. The dividing ridge would tlan be very near the river, and a second set of long streams tributary to some other river would here take their rise and flow away.

"In the process of time the main river would slowly cut its way through the soft formation, in which it had its original bed, into and through those which underlaid it. This might, at first, be accompanied by a slight recession parallel to the line of strike. Such a movement, however, could not be of long duration, but would become less as the valley became deeper, because any such recession would necessitate the removal of all the overlying formations. Finally, the small streams flowing across the strata would cut their valley back from the river, the dividing ridge would recede, and their sources would, from the position of the strata, be in steep and precipitous ravines. Such, in brief, is the theory of the formation of the streams in the lead region.

" The Wisconsin River, from the eastern limit of Iowa County to its mouth, is a conspicuous example and illustration of the foregoing theory.

"Although the surface of the country, in its present condition, does not permit the accurate delineation of the former lines of outcrop of the paleozoic formations, yet a suSicient number of others remain to show that they must once have covered the country far north of where they are at present found. The existence of Niagara limestone in a thickness of about one hundred and forty feet at the Platte Mounds, and probably the full thickness of the formation at the Blue Mounds, warrants us in supposing that the former outcrop of the underlying Cincinnati group was at least as far north as the present bed of the Wisconsin River.

"The valley now occupied by the river, from Mazomanie to Blue River, is very nearly that of the present line of strike of the Lower Silurian formation, and, although from there the strike of the loAver members (of which outliers still remain) appears to bear rather more to the iionhward, yet observations on the dip of the Cincinnati group, in such occasional outliers as remam, lead us to believe that its original strike was approximately in a southwesterly direction, from Blue River to the Mississippi.

"Assuming, then, that the Cincinnati group once had its northern outcrop where the river now runs, or in a line parallel to it in that vicinity, the surface waters would easily erode a channel in the soft and friable shales which, to a great extent, compose this formation.

"In fine, the whole process of formation previously described would take place. On the north side it had, as now its principal tributary streams, the Kickapoo, Knapp, Eagle, Pine and Bear, in their present localities, and approximately their present length. On the south side of the river, however, the principal water-shed already referred to was probably quite near the river from which position it has receded to the place it now occupies. The Green and Blue Rivers and Otter, Mill and Blue Mound Creeks were small and insignificant streams, which, by the gradual process of erosion, have increased to their present size and length ; but even now are small when compared to the northern tributaries.

"A further eflfect was to shorten the Grant, Platte and Pecatonica Rivers by the gradual southwesterly recession of the water-shed and the lowering of the latter by the denudation of the Niagara limestone and Cincinnati groups ; except in such localities as were protected by a superior hardness of some part of the formation, as in the case of the Blue Mounds.

"The result of the denudation has been to divide the country into two parts, each differing widely from the other in its topographical features. The streams flowing southward from the water-shed have eroded the country into gently undulating slopes. This is probably due to the direction of the streams conforming in a measure to the dip of the strata. Abrupt cliffij and steep ravines are the exception, and not the rule, never being found in the immediate neighborhood of the water-shed, but rather confined to the small lateral branches. On the other hand, to the north of the water-shed the panorama of bluffs and precipitous ravines is almost mountainous in its aspect. In fact, nothing can be more striking than the contrast which presents itself from certain points on the divide in looking from north to south. In nearly all of the ravines leading northward the fall of the first quarter of a mile is not less than one hundred feet: and, in general, it is true of the streams running northward that three-quarters of the fall takes place in the first quarter of the distance from their sources to their mouths.

" It seems not improbable that these sudden declivities are due to the streams flowing over the edges of the strata, rather than lengthwise, along their dip. Again, the streams flowing to the southward become comparatively sluggish in their course as soon as they cease to be brooks. They have usually a soft, muddy bottom, while those tributary to the Wisconsin are clear, rapid streams, flowing over a sandy or gravelly bottom, their valleys being narrow and their sides very steep.

" The streams tributary to the Platte, Grant and Pecatonica Rivers do not exhibit any marked characteristics on one side that are not shared equally by the other. It may be remarked, however, that the short streams which flow into the Mississippi River present very much the same topographical characteristics as are seen in the southern tributaries of the Wisconsin, narrow and deep ravines and valleys being apparently the rule in Grant County.

" It is remarked that there has been a gradual diminution of water in the lead region since the early mining days. The larger streams contain much less water than heretofore, within the memory of living men. It is probable that cultivation of the land is the chief cause of this decrease, as a much greater amount of surface is thus exposed, and evaporation takes place more rapidly and in larger quantities. Removal of the timber is, without doubt, another cause of this decrease. The soil of the timbered land contains more moisture than that of the prairie ; and in all countries the removal of the timber has always been followed by a marked decrease of the water supply.

"Springs and Wells. - The Lead Region is one of the best watered tracts of country in the State. Springs are very numerous about the sources of streams, and frequently in their banks. They are found in all the geological formations, but with the greatest frequency and of the largest size between the bottom of the Galena limestone and the top of the St. Peters sandstone. Such springs are usually found flowing along the surfece of some layer of clay, and finding a vent in the outcrop of an 'opening.' The clay openings most favorable to their formation are the 'upper pipe-clay openings,' situated on the top of the blue or Trenton limestone, and separating it from the Galena limestone ; the ' glass-rock opening,' separating the blue and underlying buff limestone, and the 'lower pipe-clay opening,' situated in the lower part of the buff limestone; the latter, however, does not seem to be so persistent a bed as the other two. Springs are by no means confined to these three openings, but occur in many of the beds of the Galena limestone, as well as in the lower formations ; usually, however, flowing over an impervious bed of clay, or some layer of rock, too compact to admit of the passage of water through it."

The springs which flow from the Blue Mounds are clearly not of igneous origin, as they are not hot, but are logically accounted for by the excess of rainfall over the amount of water carried off by the streams or by evaporation.

" Nearly all the water in the region holds in solution a small portion of lime and magnesia, and a still smaller quantity of sodium, iron, alumina and silica. The presence of these salts usually gives the water what is called a hard taste, which is more noticeable in the limestone than in the sandstone springs, and not infrequently induces persons to believe them possessed of medical properties.

" Prairie and Forest. - The prairie area of the lead region is comparatively small, and seems to be chiefly a continuation of the great prairies of Illinois. The most extensive prairie is that found in the southern part of Grant and La Fayette Counties, comprising the townships of Jamestown, Hazel Green, Benton, New Diggings, Shullsburg, Seymour, Monticello and Gratiot. From this there is a branch extending in a northwestern direction (corresponding to the eastern subdivision of the water-shed previously alluded to), until it unites with the main water-shed ; here it branches to the east and west. The western extension forms a prairie in the towns of Glen Haven, Patch Grove, Little Grant, and some parts of Fennimore and Wingville. The eastern prairie follows the main divide already described, the prairie being from six to ten miles in width. Between the east and west branches of the Pecatonica there is a prairie, including most of the towns of Fayette, Waldwick and Wiota. Small patches of prairie are to be found in other localities. The original timber of the woodland has been mostly cut off, and is replaced by second-growth black, white and burr oak, maple, hickory, poplar and elm, the trees being generally of small size, not exceeding one foot in diameter.

" Mounds. - The elevations in the lead region most worthy of note are : The Platte Mounds, in La Fayette County ; the Blue Mounds, in Dane and Iowa Counties, and the Sinsinawa Mound, in Grant County. The former are three in number, about a mile apart, the middle one being very small in comparison to the other two. The east and west mounds are about the same elevation, and are capped with a very hard Niagara limestone, to which they doubtless owe their preservation, in the general denudation of the country. The ground slopes away from them so gently, and blends so gradually with the surrounding high land, that it is impossible to define exactly where the mound proper begins. The Blue Mounds are two in number, one being in Iowa County and the other in Dane. The top of the west mound (which is the higher of the two) consist of over a hundred feet of very hard flinty rock, somewhat resembling quartzite, or granular quartz ; below this is the Niagara limestone. This cap of quartz rock seems to have been removed from the east mound, the top of which is a flat table-land under cultivation. These mounds are very conspicuous, and can be seen from any moderately high land in the region. The Sinsinawa Mound is also a very conspicuous object, in the southern part of Grant County, near the village of Fairplay. It is composed, for the most part, of the Cincinnati group, capped with a small amount of Niagara limestone.

" Sinks. - Very remarkable features in the vicinity of Blue Mounds are the numerous sinkholes found near their base, and frequently quite high up on their sides. The sinks are usually m groups of three or four, and invariably in nearly an east and west line, in both Dane and Iowa Counties. On the center line of Section 1, Township 6, Range 5 east, is a well-defined line of them, extending for about a quarter of a mile on each side of the center of the section. There is another range of them near the center of the southwest quarter of Section 1, and a third line near the quarter-posts of Sections 1 and 12. The largest of these sinks is an isolated one near the center of the southeast quarter of Section 1, which is as much as fifty feet in diameter and twenty feet deep. In this one the wall rock of the fissure could be very planly seen on the south side. The difference is that these sinks mark the line of large open crevices in the rock beneath them. No prospecting for ore has been done in them, although the suggestion has been reasonably made that the indications are favorable. The sinks are not confined to the Galena limestone, and an exceptional one in the St. Peters sandstone is noted on the southeast quarter of Section 14, Township 5, Range 2 west, although less notable ones occur in the Niagara limestone.

"Soil and Subsoil. - The quality of the soil of the lead region is chiefly dependent on the character of the subjacent formation. The subsoil appears to be derived directly from the decay and disintegration of the strata, of which it is the residuum. South of the principal water-shed, the subsoil is clay, almost without exception, having a thickness of from three to six feet, depending on the configuration of the underlying rock formation. This is the average thickness, on comparatively level land ; on side hills it is usually much thinner, the greater part having been washed down in the valley below. The clay soils and subsoils appear to consist chiefly of those portions of the overlying Galena limestone, and earthy Cincinnati shales, which being insoluble in water were not removed by the gradual process of denudation.

" The amount of lime, magnesia and alkaline earths in the subsoil and soil, together with the vegetable mold in the latter, constitute a soil, which, in its virgin state, is unsurpassed for rich ness and fertility. The number of successive wheat crops which have been raised, without regard to rotation, on some of our prairie farms, attest its native strength ; as, also, the marked decline in fertility of the soil when this has been done, shows the inevitable retribution which follows the practice. Exceptions to the clay soil, usually found in the country covered by the Galena limestone, are found in the eastern part of La Fayette and frequently in Green County, where the soil is quite sandy, owing to the disintegration of calcareous sand layers frequently found there in that formation. A few localities are cited below, where the sand was so abundant that the formation might have been considered a sandstone, were it not for the occasional outcrops ot Galena limestone in place.

" The agencies of the glacial period do not appear to have had anything to do with transporting the component meterials of the soil, and although a slight transportation has taken place, it is always merely local. For instance, in the valleys of the creeks which lie in the St. Peterssandstone, the soil is usually a rich clay loam, richer in fact than that of the adjacent ridges, because the best parts of the upland soils have been washed down and distributed over the surface of the valley.

" A similar transportation may be observed in passing up any long and moderately steep hill, which includes several formations, such hills being very common north of the principal watershed. Let us suppose one, whose summit is composed of Galena limestone, and whose base lies in the Lower Magnesian. Scattered about the base will be seen many loose pieces of Lower Magnesian limestone, mixed with less numerous bowlders of St. Peters sandstone; still less numerous and smaller pieces of the buff and blue (Trenton) limestone, while fi-agments of the Galena limestone will be comparatively rare. On ascending the hill and arriving at the St. Peters, fragments of Lower Magnesian will no longer be seen, while those of the upper formation will become larger and more numerous. On arriving at the buff limestone, the fragments of St. Peters sandstone will also have disappeared ; fragments of blue limestone will be very numerous and easily recognized by their white color and their general rounded and worn appearance. On reaching the summit of the hill, no fragments of stone will be found, except such as are derived from the subjacent Galena limestone. One prominent feature of the soil will be the prevalence of flints, which are nearly indestructible, and often form a large component part. From the arrangement of the surface soil and fragmentary rock, it is evident that the rock oi any formation is never found above the level from which it was detached.

Histoky Of The Leab Region

"Briek Clay. - Clay suitable for making brick is found in many parts of the lead region, Mineral Point being one of the important localities. The clay sought is usually of a grayish yellow color which becomes red on burning. It appears to have been formed in the same manner as other portions of the soil, as already described. The origin of the clay of which the brick are made is a matter of some doubt. It has not exactly the appearance of a drift clay, and if not, its situation indicates that it must have undergone some subsequent re-arrangement."

The Lead Region Described

Boundaries and Area. - In Wisconsin, the lead region may be said to be bounded on the north by the northern outcrop of the Galena limestone, running parallel to the main water-shed from the Mississippi to the Blue Mounds, as already described ; on the west by the Mississippi River ; on the south by the State line ; on the east by Sugar River. These limits include all of the lead region which has ever been productive, as well as much that has never as yet proved so. The area thus included, which has been, or may hereafter become, productive, is necessarily that of the Galena limestone, which is about 1,776 square miles.

Explanation of Mining Terms. - For the enlightenment of the readers who are unfamiliar with mining terms, the following short explanation of expressions, most frequently used in the lead region, is offered.

Range. - This is probably the most indefinite term in use, and, at the same time, one which is universally applied. First. A range denotes a single, or several, parallel crevices, containing useful ores or minerals ; vertical, or approximately so ; seldom more than a few yards apart ; sometimes, but not necessarily, connected by quartering crevices. Its length may vary from a few hundred feet to a quarter of a mile or more ; in short, so far as the crevice or crevices have been connectedly traced, or there is a reasonable probability of such connection. Thus, different parts of the same range often have different names given them before the connection between them is proved. This is a fruitful source of confusion. Second. The term range is also applied to horizontal bodies of ore, of which there may be one, or several, superimposed upon one another ; sometimes, but not necessarily, separated by unproductive layers of rock, limited in length in the same way as a vertical range.

Crevice. - This term denotes a fissure in the rock, vertical or nearly so, but a few inches in width, of indefinite length, which may or may not be filled with ores or minerals. When a crevice becomes very small, less than an inch in width, it is called a seam.

Lode or Lead are words usually substituted for vein ; they are, however, generally applied to ore deposits found either in crevices or openings.

Openings. - They are of two kinds, vertical and horizontal. First. Vertical openings are known as crevice openings, which are mere enlargements of the crevice in certain parts, these being sometimes co-extensive with the vein in length, and sometimes mere local enlargements. There are in the same crevice frequently several openings, situated one above the other, separated by beds of unproductive rock. Crevices vary in width from one to several feet. When very wide and high, they are sometimes called tumbling openings. Second. Horizontal openings are large, irregular spaces between the strata which contain the lode. Such openings are usually from one to four feet high, and are frequently superimposed upon one another, separated by an unproductive rock, called a "cap." The "cap" of one opening being frequently the " floor " of the one above it.

History Op The Lead Region

Chimneys are irregularly shaped vertical holes found in crevices ; sometimes connecting openings, and at others extending from the surface of the ground to some particular stratum of rock.

Sheet. - This is a term usually employed to designate a solid body of ore, exclusive of other minerals, which may fill a crevice or opening. A sheet is said to " pitch " when it inclines considerably from the perpendicular.

Bar. - The term denotes a band or belt, of very hard and unproductive rock, crossing the crevices and sheets. In crossing a bar, all sheets become less productive, and p.re sometimes entirely lost, the crevices usually dwindling to mere seams. Their width varies from a few feet to many yards.

Mineral06Y

There does not appear to have been any absolute and unvarying order in which the minerals of the lead region were deposited in the mines. The following conclusions are derived from the inspection of the ore as it occurs in place in the numerous mines visited, and from the examination of a great number of specimens ; and it is assumed that when crystals of one mineral are coated or covered with another, the overlying one is the more recent. The minerals appear to have been deposited in the following general order :

Azurite

The order above given, however, is subject to very numerous and important exceptions, and is more particularly applicable to crystallized specimens than to heavy ore deposits. Large bodies of ore frequently consist of galentine, sphalerite and pyrite, so mingled together that no order of deposition can be ascertained.

In general, it appears that the sulphurets of the metals were deposited first, and that the carbonates have been generally, if not invariably derived from them. Carbonate of lead (cerussite), when found crystallized, always occurs in connection with galenite ; and carbonate of zinc (Smithsonite) is so frequently found graduating into the sulphuret (sphalerite) as to leave but little doubt of its origin from that mineral.

Histoky Of The Lead Region

It seems not improbable that the formation of the carbonate of zinc may even now be taking place in the ground to quite a large extent, especially in such deposits as are not below the water-level, or are only periodically submerged.

It is a well-known fact that the drybone diggings are usually comparatively free from water, and that the zinc ore below the water-level is usually blende (sphalerite) with but little admixture of the carbonate. As the level of the water in the ground becomes gradually lower, and it is a well known fact that it does, the atmosphere, together with surface water charged with carbonic acid, is permitted to act upon the blende, and a transformation from the sulphuret to the carbonate is the result.

The association of calcite with other minerals is such as to indicate that it must have been formed in crystals during at least two different periods. Stalactites of recent origin are found in the mines, on being fractured show a distinct crystalline structure, and large planes of cleavage.

The following is a list of the minerals known to occur in the lead region, arranged according to the system adopted by Prof. Dana, in his " Mineralogy : "

Sulphur. - Native sulphur is found, but seldom in the lead region ; its presence is usually due to the decomposition of iron pyrites. It is usually found in a pulverulent form. Some pieces weighing as much as an ounce were seen in a cabinet at Hazel Green, which are said to have been obtained from a small sheet in some of the Buncome mines. It is said to be not uncommon in this vicinity. Other localities where it is found are Mineral Point and the Crow Branch diggings.

Bornite. - Variegated or purple copper ore. Composition - Copper, 62.5 ; iron, 13.8 ; sulphur, 23.7. This is quite a rare mineral. A few pieces have been found in the copper diggings near Mineral Point ; it has never been found here crystallized, but always massive and in small pieces.

Qalenite. - Composition - Lead, 86.6 ; sulphur, 18.4. This is the only ore of lead found in sufficient quantities to be of economic value. It is universally known in the lead region as "mineral." It frequently occurs indistinct crystals, either as a cube or some modification of it. Octahedral crystals are quite rare, but are occasionally found, especially in the carbonaceous shale of the southern part of the region. Usually, however, galenite occurs massive, with a very distinct cleavage. Freshly broken surfaces have always a bright steel color, which speedily tarnishes on exposure to the air.

Sphalerite. - Blende or black-jack. Composition - Zinc, 67 ; sulphur, 33. This is one of the most abundant minerals in the lead region, besides being of great economic value as an ore of zinc. It is almost invariably found as an associate vein-mineral in the horizontal deposits of lead ore. It is usually found massive and compact, of a dark-brown or black color, due to a small portion of iron contained in it, and more or less mixed with gelanite. The lead region has never afforded a perfect crystal of blende, although many specimens are found with small and imperfect crystalline faces. The fractured surfiices of such specimens usually have a resinous luster.

Pyrite. - Composition - Iron, 46.7; sulphur, 53.3. This is the most common vein-mineral found in the mines. It is universally met with in veins, lodes or other deposits of ore, and in many cases impregnates the rock when all other minerals are absent. In crevices it frequently appears to have been the first mineral deposited. It is usually found massive, although handsome crystallized specimens are frequently obtained from the mines. In crystals it usually assumes some modification of the cube, the octahedron being quite frequent. It also occurs in radiated and reniform masses. It has never yet been considered of any economic value in the lead region, and as it is so much mixed with rock it is doubtful if it could be profitaibly separated, except by the natural process of disintegration, to which some varieties are liable when exposed to the air. The Crow Branch diggings and the Linden mines afford large quantities and good specimens of this mineral.

Marcasite. - Composition - Iron, 46.7; sulphur 53.3, or same as pyrite. The difference between this and the preceding is but slight, and chiefly due to crystalline structure; the former belonging to the mono-metric and the latter to the trimetric system. It is somewhat lighter colored than pyrite, and decomposes more readily in the air. It is quite a common vein mineral, and occurs in globular and cockcomb shapes. It is abundant in the New Diggings district. It is difficult to preserve specimens of this mineral, longer than a few months.

Chalcopyrite. - Composition - Copper. 34.6; iron, 30.5 ; sulphur, 34.9. This is the principal ore of copper in the lead regions, and is most abundantly found in the vicinity of Mineral Point. It usually occurs massive, frequently mixed with pyrite ; small and indistinct crystals are occasionally found.

Hematite. - Composition - Iron, 70; oxygen 30. Impure arenaceous varieties of this mineral frequently occur, nowhere, however, suEBciently rich or abundant to be of any economic value. It seems to be chiefly due to the decomposition of pyrite, and is most common as the ferruginous sandstone concretions in the upper beds of the St, Peters. It is also frequently found as ocher, with other vein-minerals, especially in the flat openings.

Oxide of Manganese. - A substance consisting of manganese with a little oxide of iron, zinc, and traces of magnesia, according to an analysis of Dr. Bode, of Milwaukee, is found in crevices in the Trenton limestone, in some diggings situated on Section 11, Town 4, Range 1 east. The mineral is as light as cork ; color brownish-black, sub-metallic luster and streaks ; soils readily, and is infusable. It is very soft, and does not occur crystallized. It has a structure in thin parallel layers, resembling wood.

Calamine. - Composition - Silica, 25.0; oxide of zinc, 67.5; water, 7.5. This mineral is of very rare occurrence in the lead region. It is found in small, drusy crystals ; coating, Smithsonite. The crystals are very brittle, colorless, and have a vitrious luster. It is found near Mineral Point.

Barite. - Composition - Sulphuric acid, 34.33 ; baryta, 65.67. It occurs usually white and massive, but sometimes in lamellar and crested forms. The only place where it was found in distinct crystals, was in the railroad cut at Scales'Mound, where it occurs in small cavities, as small but very perfect transparent crystals, associated with dolomite and pyrite. It is not a very abundant mineral, but is found in several of the mining districts, especially Dodgeville and Mineral Point.

The following is an analysis by Mr. B. T. Sweet, of a specimen from the southwest quarter of Section 6, Township 5, Range 3 east, in Van Matre's survey :

Anglesite. - Composition - Sulphuric acid, 26.4 ; oxide of lead, 73.6. Traces of this mineral are reported as occurring in some of the mining districts, but no specimens have as yet been obtained. It probably originates from the decomposition of galenite.

Calcite. - Composition - Carbonic acid, 44 ; lime, 56. This is a vein-mineral, common to aU the deposits of ore, whether in crevices or openings. It occurs crystallized in modified rhombohedrons and scalinohedrons. The variety known as Dog-tooth-spar is a very frequent form, especially in the Shullsburg and Linden districts, which affords very handsome cabinet specimens. The Mineral Point district affords handsome rhombohedrons, and the Linden mine affords handsome twin crystals of calcite set in sphalerite (blende). It also occurs there, rarely, as a pseudomorph, after marcasite, and has then a radiate or divergent form.

magnesia in slit^htly varying, but nearly equal, proportions. It occurs occasionally in small rhombohedral crystals in cavities of tbe Galena limestone. The best locality for obtaining cabinet specimens is in the railroad cut at Scales Mound.

Smithsonite. - Often improperly called calimine. Composition - Carbonic acid, 35.18 ; oxide of zinc 64.81. This mineral, commonly known as drybone, is one of the two ores of zinc found in the lead region. It is found most extensively in the central and northern parts, and usually in connection with blende. It crystallizes in rhombohedral forms ; such specimens are, however, rare. It usually occurs massive, having a structure similar to partially decayed bone, from which it derives its common name.

Pseudomorphs, of Smithsonite, after calcite, are sometimes formed. They occur as rhombohedrons, and in the various irregular shapes in which calcite occurs in the lead region. Perfect crystals, in which the transformation from calcite to Smithsonite is complete, are very rare. It 18 much more common to find skeleton crystals, or those which have been formed by the deposition of a smooth, light-colored shell of Smithsonite, about a sixteenth of an inch thick, over all the exposed surface of the calcite, followed by a gradual removal of the crystal contained within the shell. The space within the shell is sometimes partially filled with Smithsonite, and frequently planes of the original crystal. Pseudomorphs are also found in which the imperfect crystallization of sphalerite is very evident. Smithsonite is also found covering crystals of galenite, which are undecomposed.

Oerussite. - Composition - Carbonic acid, 16.5 ; oxide of lead, 83.5. Cerussite is occasionally found in small pieces, but never in sufficient quantities to form an object of mining. It occurs in irregular rounded pieces of a yellowish color, exhibiting no crystalline structure. It has been found near Mineral Point, and in former years quite frequently at the diggings near Blue Mounds. Cerussite is found in small irregular translucent crystals of a white or light yellow color, in the mine of Messrs. Poad, Barrack & Tredinnick, near Linden. The specimens were large, cubic crystals of galenite, coated with pyrite, the crystals of cerussite being formed in both of these minerals. The specimens indicate that the crystals of pyrite had been formed, and many of them broken before the formatioii of the cerussite.

Sydrozincite. - Composition - Carbonic acid, 13.6 ; oxide of zinc, 75.3 ; water, 11.1. This is a mineral of rare occurrence in the lead region. It is found at Linden and Mineral Point as a white, finely crystalline, fibrous incrustation on Smithsonite.

Malachite. - Composition - Carbonic acid, 19.9 ; protoxide of copper, 71.9 ; water, 8.2. It is occasionally found in small seams, mixed with other ores of copper in the Mineral Point copper mines. Crystals or good cabinet specimens do not occur.

Azurite. - Composition - Carbonic acid, 25.6; protoxide of copper, 69.2; water, 5.2. It occurs similar to malachite, massive and in seams, associated with chalcopyrite. The Mineral Point mines afford very beautiful cabinet specimens of small rhombohedral crystals of dark-blue color.

Visitors in the lead region will constantly hear the terms "brown rock," "glass rock," "pipe-clay opening," etc., used by the miners to designate the different strata in which they work. This would be an advantageous system were it not that the several names are applied to widely different strata by persons in the several districts. The term " glass rock," for mstance, is indiscriminately applied to all the strata in the buff, blue and Galena limestones. The following section is given as a general guide in understanding the relative position and thickness of the strata and openings, to which reference will occasionally be made in the subsequent pages. The section, however, will not be found of universal application, but merely shows the strata as their position is now understood by the most ihtelligent and systematic miners.

In practice, the most reliable plan for determining the geological position of an ore bed or mme, is to find the out-crop of some well-defined horizon in the vicinity, and ascertain the distance of the bed or mine above or below it, after making due allowance for the dip.

There are numerous openings occurring in all upper and middle beds of the Galena limestone, none of which appear to be found regularly in all the districts. The section is, therefore, confined to the more persistent openings of the lower beds : .

History And Character Of The Mines

The history of the mining interest of this region is essentially a history of the region itself. The following reliable and detailed report of mines was made by Mr. Strong in 1877. Such new mines as have since then been opened are named further on in this work :

Beetown District

This is the most westerly district in which any productive mines have been worked. In former years they were very productive, but have gradually become less so. There are several sub-districts, of which the principal ones are Beetown, Nip-and-Tuck, Muscalunge and Hackett's. The diggings in the immediate vicinity of Beetown are situated north and east of the village, chiefly in Sections 20 and 29, of Township 4, Range 4 west. There are here, on the ridge, about a dozen principal old ranges, all nearly parallel, and bearing a few degrees north of west. They vary from half a mile to a mile and a half in length, some of them extending easterly to the Grant Diggings. There are no large organized companies at work in them, the principal product being by individual parties in small lots.

Lead ore is usually found in this district in two principal openings, known as the " Twelvefoot Opening " and the " Sixty-five-foot Opening." The first is named from the height of the opening, which usually averages about twelve feet. The second derives its name from sixtyfive feet of unproductive rock which separates it from the first. The following parties are now, or have recently been, mining near Beetown :

Brown Bros. ^ Birch. - These diggings are situated in the Hull Hollow, about threequarters of a mile south of the village. They were discovered in 1860, by Walters and Roberts, and were first worked in the twelve-foot opening. There are three parallel east-andwest ranges, situated about nine feet apart. They produced lead ore, which is found in flat openings, four and one-half feet high and four and one-half feet wide, lying about seventy feet above the sixty-five-foot opening. The ore has been traced by a level three hundred feet west from the discovery shaft. The depth at the working-shaft is sixty feet ; the greatest depth in the ridge will be one hundred and sixty feet. Work' was commenced in the winter of 1875-76, since which time the product has been 35,000 pounds. The prospects are considered good.

Wilcox Biggings. - North half of the southeast quarter of Section 32, Township 4, Range 4 west. This ground has been recently bought by Messrs. Henry, Ross, Gundry and Toay, of Mineral Point, by whom it is now operated, under the name of the Beetown Mine. Work was commenced here by Mr. Wilcox in 1868. A level has been run in the ground 500 feet, underlying a fiat sheet of blende or Smithsonite, which is, in places, 36 inches thick. The sheet has been found to extend eighty feet north and south, and one hundred and thirty feet east and west; its extreme limits are not yet known. On its south side, some copper ore has been found. The sheet lies in the upper pipe-clay opening. About twenty-two feet above the sheet of zinc ores, is one of Smithsonite and lead ore, one hundred and fifty feet wide, whose length is unknown. It lies in flat and pitching sheets, in the green-rock opening. The ground has produced lead ore to the value of $8,500 ; also, forty-five tons of Smithsonite and one hundred and seventy-five tons of blende.

Crossly ^ Bass. - Situated south of the preceding. Work was carried on for six months, and stopped by the owner of the land. Twenty thousand pounds of lead ore were produced.

Pigeon Biggings. - They are situated in the north half of Section 20, Township 4, Range 3 west, and consist of several east-and-west ranges, in which the ore is found in flat openings in the "Brown Rock" division of the Galena limestone. The ground is owned by Messrs. Barber, Dewey & Cox. There are about fifty men employed here, mining chiefly in the old workings at a depth of from thirty to fifty feet below the surface. The annual product of the Pigeon Diggings is about two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of lead ore. Mining is chiefly confined to the winter season. During the last year a sheet of Smithsonite was discovered on the southeast quarter of Section 19, which has produced sixty tons.

Hackett's Biggings. - These mines are situated on Section 17, Township 4, Range 4 west. They have been idle for several years. Work has recently been resumed on them by the following parties: Hutchcroft & Pigg, and Whitehead & Oo. They have now good paying mines in the sixty-five-foot opening. The annual product is about thirty thousand pounds.

Nip-and-Tuck Diggings. - Situated on the south half of Section 25, Township 4, Range 5 west. They consist of several east-and-west ranges crossed by north- and-south ranges. Very little mining is now done here. The parties are Sillick & Co. and Roberts & Co. The annual product is about twenty thousand pounds.

Muscalunge Biggings. - Situated on Section 26, Township 4, Range 5 west. There are here numerous east-and-west ranges, from a quarter to a half a mile in length, lying near Rattlesnake Creek. More activity is displayed here in mining operations than anywhere else in the district, about half of the ore smelted in the Beetown furnace being obtained here. In addition to the east-and-west ranges already mentioned, there are a great number of small parallel crevices running nearly east and west, and crossed by various quartering ores, forming a perfect network of veins and crevices. The following parties are operating in this vicinity :

Graham Mining Company. - This is a Milwaukee mining company who own and work a large tract of ground comprising the west half of Section 26. The workings are all in the sixty-five-foot opening. The following section of the Dewey & Maiden shaft is given, which shows the position of strata from the top of the ridge downward :

The two openings are seen here to be separated by sixty-five feet of intervening barren rock. The ground is drained by a level about three-quarters of a mile long, run on the random of the lower opening at an expense of $20,000. It empties into one of the adjacent branches ol Rattlesnake Creek. It could easily be drained to the top of the blue limestone by a level in the horizon of the pipe-clay opening. A convenience in hoisting was noticed here which might profitably be adopted in other portions of the lead region. A six-inch hole had been drilled from the surface to one of the drifts for purposes of ventilation. An artesian well-bucket was then put on, and all small stuff and wash dirt was removed through the hole, thus saving a long and unnecessary transportation underground to the main shaft. The company h^s worked continuously here for' many years. The ground has been very productive ; it produced in one year 1,300,000 pounds. Its average annual production for the last nine years is estimated at 300,000 pounds of lead ore.

James Thomas ^ Qo. - This company has been working here for the last fifbeen years. The ore is found on the east-and-west range in the sixty-five-foot opening. The diggings are dry, and from 150 to 160 feet deep. The average production is 150,000 pounds of lead ore per annum. The ground is owned by Mr. Dewey.

Hutchcroft ^ Thomas. - Situated four hundred and fifty feet south of the preceding, and connected with them underground. They are in the same opening as the preceding, and have been worked continuously for many years. During the last year, they have been idle, having been sold by the parties who operated them. When worked, their annual product was 150,000 pounds.

Hutchinson, Dewey ^ Co. - Situated on the southeast quarter of Section 26, east of James Thomas & Co., and in the same range and opening. This party has been working here since 1869, and has now a very good prospect. The average depth below the surface is one hundred and sixty feet. In some cases, it is one hundred and eighty feet. They are connected with the Adkinson Diggings by a quartering range. They have produced about 30,000 pounds in the last three years.

Adkinson Diggings. - Situated a short distance east of the preceding, and connected with it. Access is gained to these diggings through a level about a quarter of a mile long, emptying into the valley of Rattlesnake Creek. The level was run on a northeast crevice, which contained a large amount of ore, and was frequently intercepted with east-and-west crevices. These diggings have been worked continuously during the last twenty years. During the last fifteen years, the annual product has been 150,000 pounds of lead ore.

Showalter ^ Payten. - Situated a quarter of a mile southeast of the preceding, and near the south line of the Dewey land. These parties commenced two years since, and are now working an east-and-west range in the sixty-five-foot opening. During the last two years, the product has been 70,000 pounds.

Arthur ^ Co. - Situated two hundred feet south of the preceding, on Mr. Arthur's land. This is a new east:and-west range discovered in the spring of 1876. A shaft has been sunk ninety feet to the sixty-five-foot opening, and a small amount of ore produced. The' appearances in this new range are quite encouraging.

Bitter ^ Bock. - Northeast quarter of Section 35, Township 4, Range 5 west ; situated on land owned by Mr. Ritter. This is a new east-and-west range, discovered in the summer of 1875. It is worked in the sixty-five-foot level. It is regarded as a good prospect, and has already produced 20,000 pounds.

Loomis ^ Co. - Situated on the land of the Graham Mining Company, in the southerij part. This is also a new east-and-west range, discovered in August, 1876. It has produced about 12,000 pounds. The mine is now in a condition to yield 1,000 pounds per day. The lead ore in the Muscalunge mines occurs in direct contact with the wall rock, usually in vertical sheets, and without any of the associate vein minerals which are usually found in the other mining districts.

Potosi Distkict

Mining operations here are chiefly confined to the winter season. The old ranges of the Potosi Diggings are included in Sections 33 and 34, Township 3, Range 3 west. Their general course is about north, 70° west, although some bear a few degrees more to the west, and somea few more to the north. They numbered about thirty in all, which were considered as separate and distinct ranges ; and, in addition, there were many smaller crevices, not sufficiently important to constitute ranges by themselves. Among the more important were the Long, Wooley, Gillet Gilmore, Smith, Polkinghorn and Barbara, some of which were over a mile in length. The productive portion of these ranges is confined to the middle and lower portions of the Galena limestone, none of the crevices having as yet proved as low as the brown rock ; the ore is usually found in sheets of varying thickness.

Considerable irregularity exists in the formation of many of the crevices in the Potosi district by which they seem to split up in the lower beds of the limestone, forming key rocks and divergent crevices. An instance in point was seen in the diggings of Mr. Meredith, in the northeast quarter of Section 33, about three hundred feet south of the old Wooley range, on the summit of the ridge. A shaft was sunk in the main crevice, which continued without change for sixty feet from the surface. At this point a hard key rock, as it is called, was encountered, on which the crevice and ore sheets divitled, one part continuing vertical and the other slanting downward at an angle of about forty-five degrees, for a distance of thirty feet. Here a very hard and smooth floor was found, on which the sheet was followed out by drifting for a distance of 130 feet, without reaching the end. No appearance of openings was observed. These diggings were struck about six years ago (1870), and have produced since then about four hundred and twenty thousand pounds.

Rockville Diggings. - There are here a number of east-and-west ranges with flat openings, which have been worked with but little interruption since 1840, and now furnish employment to about twenty miners. Mining is chiefly confined to the winter season. The following parties are now operating here :

Phillips ^ Walker. - Southwest quarter of southwest quarter of Section 13, Township 3, Range 3 west. These parties are working a new east-and-west range, discovered by thera in the «ummer of 1874. The ore is found at a depth of about one hundred feet below the surface, in flat openings from fifty to sixty feet wide, whose length has not yet been ascertained. They have, however, been worked to a distance of 300 feet. The lead ore is found in what is known here as the second opening, which lies about thirty feet above the upper surface of the blue limestone. Their annual product is 30,000 pounds.

Lilger Mines. - Northwest quarter of northwest quarter of Section 24. This is a new range, discovered in January, 1876. The works are as yet confined to the first opening, which is here thirty feet above the second. It has produced, during the past year, 40,000 pounds.

Hayward Range. - Southwest quarter of Section 13. This range has been worked continuously every winter since its discovery in 1841, and has yielded in all between four and five million pounds. It is now worked by Messrs. Jackson & Calloway, in the second opening, which is here from thirty to forty feet wide. It produces about one hundred thousand pounds per annum.

Warfield Range. - Southwest quarter of Section 13. This range has been worked every winter during the last thirty years, and has produced about two million pounds. It is now worked by Messrs. White & Dunn, in the second opening, which is here from thirty to forty feet wide. Its annual product is about one hundred thousand pounds.

Ournow and Pillow Range. - Southwest quarter of Section 13. This range has not been idle during the last thirty years, and is still productive. During the last fifteen years the range has produced over 100,000 pounds per annum. Messrs. Nichols & Stevens are now mining in it, and producing 20,000 pounds per annum.

Emery Sf Davis Level. - Northwest quarter of northwest quarter of Section 24. The level Was commenced in 1852, and is now 600 feet long, and drains the ground in its vicinity nearly as low as the second opening. Its cost was about $20,000. The excavations here were of the nature of a quarry, several flat sheets of lead ore being found inter-stratified with the Galena limestone. While the level was in operation, the annual product was about 100,000 pounds. The level drains the Langstafl" and Willey ranges, which were discovered about thirty years ago, and have been worked continuously ever since. Most of the lead ore is obtained from the first opening. The annual product is 50,000 pounds. These ranges have been worked to the present water level, leaving sheets of ore from twelve to eighteen inches thick, going down. The level should be run a few rods further to connect with a north-and-south crevice ; it would then probably drain all the ranges much deeper.

Stone ^ BryJion. - Situated near the northwest corner of Section 1, Town 3, Range 3 west, on land owned by Mr. Stone, about three miles north of the village of Rockville. The works are in the first opening, which is from eight to ten feet wide. They have been worked in the winter season during the last four years, producing annually between -30,000 and 40,000 pounds. They were formerly worked by Mr. Grusham, and were more productive. The mines are dry.

Griswold Diggings. - Situated about a quarter of a mile south of the preceding. These are dry diggings, worked in the first opening, which is here about six feet high and from ten to thirty feet wide. They have been worked continuously during the last seven years, producing about 65,000 pounds per annum.

Henry Gillilan's Diggings. - These diggings are situated about three miles southeast of Rockville, on the Platte River. They are dry diggings, and have been worked during the last four years in the first opening, which is here thirty feet wide and about six feet high. The annual product is 25,OO0 pounds.

J". Alderson's Diggings. - Northwest quarter of Section 26, Town 3, Range 3 west. They are situated on the Craig range, in the village of British Holland. This range was worked, by a Cincinnati company for three yonrs ; they abandoned it two years ago. This company produced about 3,000,000 pounds during the time of their operation. Mr. Alderson commenced mining here again in July, 1876, with a steam pump, and has sunk four shafts. The workings are about 120 feet deep in the second opening, and in the third, which is about twenty-five feet below the second. The mine has not produced much yet, as the time has been mostly consumed in preliminary operations.

Peak ^ Blair. - Northwest quarter of Section 26. These parties have also been working in the Craig range during the past summer (1876). They have a flat sheet of lead ore about five inches thick in the first opening, which here averages twenty feet in width. This range has been worked during the last forty years. The product of the present parties has been about 20,000 pounds.

Dutch Hollow Diggings. - They are situated on the north half of Section 36, Township 3, Range 3 west, about two and a half miles east of Potosi. The following parties are now operating here:

Dutch Hollow Level Com'pany. - Mining operations have been carried on here continuously for the last six years, excavating a level on or near the upper surface of the blue limestone. The level is now about a half a mile long, and it is expected to reach the main shaft in about a month. When completed, the level will unwater all the Galena limestone above it, which is here about one hundred feet thick. It is expected to unwater the Kendall, and many other old ranges in the vicinity, as deep as the third opening. The level is not producing much now. During the year 1872, it produced 60,000 pounds.

Rup ^ Son. - Northeast quarter of Section 35. This party has been working during the last six months in a part of the Zug range. The ore is found in the first opening, which is here about fifteen feet wide. The production has been 150,000 pounds.

Langstaff ^ Gillan. - Situated three-quarters of a mile northeast of the preceding, in the creek in Section 25. The lead ore is found here in a flat sheet in the first opening, near the water level and about thirty feet below the surface. Three men have been working here twelve months, and have produced 60,000 pounds. The production of the Potosi district, including Rockville, British Hollow and Dutch Hollow, could not be definitely ascertained, as very little record has been kept of it. It is estimated at 80,000 pounds per annum. Mining in this district is generally abandoned in summer for farming, and resumed again in the winter, in the lack of other employment. In this way a large number of men are at work in the winter, each ra sing a small amount by prospecting, which forms in the aggregate the total product of the district.

Fairplay District

The only mines in this vicinity, which have recently produced anything, are those of Black & Co., on the northeast quarter of Section 24, Township .1, Range 2 west, and those of Williams & Co., near the center of Section 19, Township 1, Range 1 west.

Blach ^ Co. - This property, which comprises in all about two hundred and forty acres, is owned by Messrs. Joseph and Thomas Sparks. It has been known to be rich ground for many years, and to contain, besides the ore, an immense amount of water, which was the chief obstacle to be overcome. Previous to the operations of Mr. Black, it had been attempted by three separate parties, at as many different times, but always with more or less loss. Mr. Black commenced work on it, in 1871, by means of pumping, and continued to add pumps, engines and pumping machinery at intervals. At the time the mine was visited (June, 1874), there were in operation two steam pumps, and two large lift pumps, together with three boilers and two engines, one of them about thirty-horse power. The company then contemplated adding a large engine and machinery. It was estimated that about a thousand gallons of water per minute were being pumped from the mine, and, when the lower opening is reached, which is thought to be about fifteen feet deeper, it will become necessary to pump about fifteen hundred gallons per minute.

The mine is in the upper beds of the Galena limestone, which is here present in its full thickness, and, indeed, the first few feet of the shafts are sunk through the lowest bed of the Cincinnati group, as may be seen from the yellow clay with the characteristic shells, in any of the shallow prospecting holes in the vicinity.