Report of a Geological Reconnoissance Made in 1835, from the Seat of Government, by the Way of Green Bay and the Wisconsin Territory to the Coteau de Prairie, an Elevated Ridge Dividing the Missouri from the St. Peter's River |
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abound Alleghany amongst ancient anthracite anticlinal appear argillaceous beds bituminous coal bituminous coal field bluffs breccia calcareous called carboniferous limestone causes chalk character clay coal measures conglomerate containing copper Coteau de Prairie Cumberland deposites diagram distance earth east elevation England escarpment Europe extensive feet high formation fossils fresh-water geological column geologists gneiss granite Green Bay grit horizontal hornblende hundred feet Indians islands lake Lake Pepin land left bank lime localities lower marls masses mica miles millstone grit mineral structure Mississippi Missouri mountain Nacotahs numerous observed old red sandstone oolitic order of nature organic remains period Peter's portion Potomac Prairie du Chien present order primary primordial rocks quartz red shale remarkable resembling ridge right bank river seams shells side Silurian slates sometimes species stone strata stratified stream surface tertiary thickness tion United upper valley vicinity Virginia wealden group whilst
Popular passages
Page 49 - ... Collier's mine, two hundred yards south, the seam exhibits this structure: Blue limestone 5' Coal 4" Black shale 6" Coal 2' 6" Black shale 1' 6" Coal 6" Fire-clay 5' In Stark county, Coal No. 3 is known as the " Limestone Vein," and is worked over a large area. About Canton and north to Greentown, it is from three and a half to four and a half feet thick, a tender caking coal of medinm quality. East of Canton it is overlaid by the gray limestone seam No. 5, is generally worthless, sometimes wanting;...
Page 126 - How a work of this kind could exist in a country that has hitherto (according to the generally received opinion,) been the seat of war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowledge has only, till within two centuries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose only breastwork even at present is the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this singular appearance, and leave to future explorers of these distant regions to discover whether it is a production...
Page 126 - On a nearer inspection, I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly discern that it had once been a breast-work of about four feet in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men.
Page 112 - Virginia, the coal strata have to be penetrated 1 to arrive at the salt. In my report of last year§ I gave a section of this kind 700 feet deep, at Kiskiminetas, in Pennsylvania. Dr. Hildreth states that ? twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Muskingum, wells have been sunk 900 feet deep for salt, which is 300 feet below the level of tide-water. It is a very general opinion that these wells are supplied from the percolation of fresh water through certain saliferous strata, charged with particles...
Page 65 - ... granite mountains, — the whole truth flashes upon us, and we clearly understand, that these mountains have once existed at lower levels, and that they have been forced up through the superincumbent...
Page 126 - ... men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular, and fashioned with as much military skill, as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible, but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have been designed for this purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was covered...
Page 114 - ... astonishment and fright of my companions. We were now at the bottom of a chamber of irregular shape, but averaging about one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, and from four to ten feet in height; the ceiling in some parts being supported by blocks of sulphate of lime, piled up in the form of rude columns. The...
Page 126 - ... depth of the bed of earth by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I examined all the angles and every part with great attention, and have often blamed myself since, for not encamping on the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it. To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, or the chimerical tale of a mistaken traveller, I find on enquiry since my return, that Mons.
Page 132 - ... quantities on the bed of the river immediately at the foot of the falls. That part of the river on the north side of the island is about two hundred and twenty yards in width. There is a very fine smooth section of the rocks here to the water, about 90 feet high.
Page 126 - ... part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular, and its flanks reached to the river. " Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular and fashioned with as much military skill as if planned by Vauban himself. The ditch was not visible ; but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have been designed...