DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR

BTJMjETIN 611

GUIDEBOOK

OF THE

WESTERN UNITED STATES

PART A. THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

WITH A SIDE TEIP TO YELLOWSTONE PAKK

BY

MARIUS R. CAMPBELL AND OTHERS

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 

1915
PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGIC TIME.* 

[A glossary of geologic terms is given on pp. 199-203.]

Era.

Cenozoic (recent life).

Mesozoic (intermediate 

life).

Paleozoic 

(old life).

P r o t erozoic 

(primordial 

life).

Period.

Quaternary.

Tertiary.

Cretaceous.

Jurassic.

Triassic.

Carboniferous.

Devonian.

Silurian.

Ordovician.

Cambrian.

Algonkian.

Archean.

Epoch.

Recent. 

Pleistocene 

(Great 

Ice Age).

Pliocene. 

Miocene. 

Oligocene. 

Eocene.

(<0

(6 )

(6)

Permian.

Pennsylvanian.

Missi s s i ppian.

(")

(&)

(6 )

(6)

(")

Crystalline 

rocks.

Characteristic life.

"Age of man." Animals and plants of 

modern types.

"Age of mammals." Possible first appearance of man. Rise and development of 

highest orders of plants.

"Age of reptiles." Rise and culmination 

of huge land reptiles (dinosaurs), of shellfish with complexly partitioned coiled 

shells (ammonites), and of great flying 

reptiles. First appearance (in Jurassic) 

of birds and mammals; of cycads, an 

order of palmlike plants (in Triassic); 

and of angiospermous plants, among 

which are palms and hardwood trees 

(in Cretaceous).

"Age of amphibians." Dominance of club 

mosses (lycopods) and plants of horsetail 

and fern types. Primitive flowering 

Slants and earliest cone-bearing trees, 

eginnings of backboned land animals 

(land vertebrates). Insects. Animals 

with nautilus-like coiled shells (ammonites) and sharks abundant.

"Age of fishes." Shellfish (mollusks) also 

abundant. Rise of amphibians and land 

plants.

Shell-forming sea animals dominant, especially those related to the nautilus (cephalopods). Rise and culmination of the 

marine animals sometimes known as sea 

lilies (crinoids) and of giant scorpionlike crustaceans (eurypterids). Rise of 

fishes and of reef-building corals.

Shell-forming sea animals, especially cephalopods and mollusk-like brachiopods, 

abundant. Culmination of the buglike 

marine crustaceans known as trilobites. 

First trace of insect life.

Trilobites and brachiopods most characteristic animals. Seaweeds (algae) abundant. No trace of land animals found.

First life that has left distinct record. 

Crustaceans, brachiopods, and seaweeds.

No fossils found.

Duration, according to various 

estimates.

Millions of years. 

Ito5.

4 to 10.

17 to 25.

50+.

a The geologic record consists mainly of sedimentary beds beds deposited in water. Over large areas 

long periods of uplift and erosion intervened between periods of deposition. Every such interruption in 

deposition in any area produces there what geologists term an unconformity. Many of the time divisions 

shown above are separated by such unconformities that is, the dividing lines in the table represent local 

or widespread uplifts or depressions of the earth's surface.

6 Epoch names omitted; in less common use than those given.
PREFACE.

By GEORGE OTIS SMITH.

The United States of America comprise an area so vast in extent 

and so diverse in natural features as well as in characters due to 

human agency that the American citizen who knows thoroughly his 

own country must have traveled widsly and observed wisely. To 

"know America first" is a patriotic obligation, but to meet this obligation the railroad traveler needs to have his eyes directed toward the 

more important or essential things within his field of vision and then 

to have much that he sees explained by what is unseen in the swift 

passage of the train. Indeed, many things that attract his attention 

are inexplicable except as the story of the past is available to enable 

him to interpret the present. Herein lie the value and the charm of 

history, whether human or geologic.

The present stimulus given to travel in the home country will 

encourage many thousands of Americans to study geography at first 

hand. To make this study most profitable the traveler needs a 

handbook that will answer the questions that come to his mind so 

readily along the way. Furthermore, the aim of such a guide should 

be to stimulate the eye in the selection of the essentials in the scene 

that so rapidly unfolds itself in the crossing of the continent. In 

recognition of the opportunity afforded in 1915 to render service 

of this kind to an unusually large number of American citizens, as well 

as to visitors from other countries, the United States Geological 

Survey has prepared a series of guidebooks 1 covering four of the 

older railroajl routes west of the Mississippi.

These books are educational in purpose, but the method adopted is 

to entertain the traveler by making more interesting what he sees from 

the car window. The plan of the series is to present authoritative 

information that may enable the reader to realize adequately the

1 Guidebook of the western United States: Part A, The Northern Pacific Route, 

with a side trip to Yellowstone Park (Bulletin 611); PartB, The Overland Route, 

with a side trip to Yellowstone Park (Bulletin 612); Part C, The Santa Fe Route, 

with a side trip to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado (Bulletin 613); Part D, The 

Shasta Route and Coast Line (Bulletin 614).

3
4 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

scenic and material resources of the region he is traversing, to comprehend correctly the basis of its development, and above all to 

appreciate keenly the real value of Ihe country he looks out upon, 

not as so many square miles of territory represented on the map in a 

railroad folder by meaningless spaces, but rather as land real estate, 

if you please varying widely in present appearance because differing 

largely in its history, and characterized by even greater variation in 

values because possessing diversified natural resources. One region 

may be such as to afford a livelihood for only a pastoral people; 

another may present opportunity for intensive agriculture; still 

another may contain hidden stores of mineral wealth that may 

attract large industrial development; and, taken together, these varied 

resources afford the promise of long-continued prosperity for this or 

that State.

Items of interest in civic development or references to significant 

epochs in the record of discovery and settlement may be interspersed 

with explanations of mountain and valley or statements of geologic 

history. In a broad way the story of the West is a unit, and every 

chapter should be told in order to meet fully the needs of the tourist 

who aims to understand all that he sees. To such a traveler-reader 

this series of guidebooks is addressed.

To this interpretation of our own country the United States 

Geological Survey brings the accumulated data of decades of pioneering investigation, and the present contribution is only one type of 

return to the public which has supported this scientific work under 

the Federal Government.

In the preparation of the description of the country traversed by 

the Northern Pacific Route the geographic and geologic information 

already published as well as unpublished material in the possession 

of the Geological Survey has been utilized, but to supplement this 

material Mr. Campbell made a field examination of the entire route 

in 1914. Information has been furnished by others, to whom credit 

is given in the text. Cooperation has been rendered by the United 

States Reclamation Service, railroad officials and' other citizens have 

generally given their aid, and other members of the Survey have freely 

cooperated in the work. For the purpose of furnishing, the traveler 

with a graphic presentation of each part of his route, the accompanying maps, 27 sheets in all, have been prepared, with a degree of 

accuracy probably never before attained in a guidebook, and their 

arrangement has been planned to meet the convenience of the reader. 

The special topographic surveys necessary to complete these maps 

of the route were made by J. G. Staack, C. L. Sadler, J. L. Lewis, 

N. E. Ballmer, and W. 0. Tufts.
GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

PART A. THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE, WITH A SIDE 

TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE PARK.

By MARIUS R. CAMPBELL and others.

INTRODUCTION.

If his journey to the Pacific coast begins at one of the great cities 

011 the Atlantic seaboard, the traveler, when he reaches St. Paul, the 

eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway, will have gone 

nearly halfway across North America. He will have traversed or 

perhaps gone around the Appalachian Mountain region and then 

crossed the prairie States, which, in wealth and population, form in 

themselves an empire.

St. Paul is in the prairie region, but the boundary between the 

prairies and the Great Plains is vague and undefined, and the traveler will at no place perceive the change from prairie to plain or from 

the East to the West. On leaving St. Paul he first passes across 

rolling prairies, interspersed with forests of pine and hardwood trees, 

and within a short distance these prairies give place to the vast treeless plains which, stretching a thousand miles west of the Mississippi, 

rise almost imperceptibly to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. 

The annual rainfall diminishes in the same direction from 28 inches 

at St. Paul to only half that amount in central Montana, and the 

traveler, as he goes westward, will note more and more of the features 

that he has habitually associated with the West. Prairie dogs and 

jack rabbits are seen; one by one the flowers and shrubs of the Mississippi Valley disappear and are replaced by those of a semiarid 

country; trees grow only on the moist bottom lands along the streams; 

intensive cultivation is possible only in the valleys, though the uplands are being brought into use by dry farming and are yielding 

fair, crops of the more hardy grains.

Throughout much of the region traversed the face of the country 

has been greatly modified by the vast ice sheets of the glacial period 

which covered the northern part of the continent and left immense 

deposits of loose material on the surface of hard rock in the northern

5
6 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

part of the United States. The history and the phenomena of this 

glaciation are considered in detail at several places in this book.

The general features of the country west of the Mississippi are 

represented on Plate I. When, after crossing the Great Plains, the 

traveler reaches the foothills of the Rocky Mountains he will have 

attained a height of 4,000 feet above the sea, a height reached by few 

peaks in the Eastern States outside of the Adirondacks and the White 

Mountains. The Rocky Mountains form a great, irregular, roughhewn "backbone" for the continent. They comprise many groups 

of ranges, hi which some peaks in Montana and Idaho reach a height 

of 12,000 feet above sea level and some in Colorado rise more than 

14,000 feet.

The western mountains, like the eastern, are the worn remnants of 

upward folds or crumples or of upheaved blocks of the fractured 

earth crust, but, unlike the eastern mountains, which are geologically 

old, the western mountains are geologically very young. They are 

therefore higher, for since they were uplifted there has not been time 

for ice, rain, heat, frost, and wind to wear them down to lower levels.

West of the Rocky Mountains lies a broad ulterior basin, in the 

northern part of which, with its inclosing mountains, there is sufficient 

rain and snow to maintain the flow of the great Columbia River; 

but in the southern part, in what is known as the Great Basin, the 

mountain streams find no outlets to the sea, their waters, so precious 

for irrigation, being soon lost in the thirsty lowlands, and the feeble 

or intermittent rivers of the valleys carry their waters down to be 

evaporated hi alkalLmarshes or on saline deserts.

The part of the Columbia River basin or plateau that is traversed 

by the Northern Pacific Railway is made up of lava flowSj among 

the greatest in the world, which in comparatively recent geologic 

time spread like a fiery flood over hundreds of thousands of square 

miles; and a wide expanse of hard, dark volcanic rocks, whose surface is here and there cut deeply by streams, shows the enormous 

extent and volume of these eruptions. The part of this old lava 

plain that is crossed by Columbia River is the most arid region traversed by this route. The precipitation in this region is sometimes 

not more than 6 niches annually, but despite the small rainfall 

the uplands have become the great wheat-raising country of the 

Northwest.

The last great natural feature to be crossed by the traveler is the 

Cascade Range, which separates the interior basin from the region 

of Puget Sound. This range is a broad upland that stands from 6,000 

to 8,000 feet above the sea, and here the evidences of volcanic activity 

continue to be conspicuous. On the flanks of the range rise the snowcovered peaks of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and other cones, 

which were once active volcanoes, pouring forth streams of lava and
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

T v* ' v jiY T^1 iv IL 't^1 *

 -

BULLETIN 611 PLATE I

rv

vs

'^

U^i^^v^S%¥t: i O

.r 

''Dulu*11

^

*

rwisco ^S^ M

I SOUTH 

Slick" L

W- %' ^ l*-..-----"^.-^3

*TgLr-(» w *.v^T

A S U^ S6 " R '""\

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^ Staked 

<1 Plains

p,

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RELIEF MAP SHOWING SURFACE FEATURES OF THE WESTERN PART OF THE UNITED STATES.

;-~~f a>~- ' Areas shown on 'he sheets of the route map are indicated in red.
THE NORftHERtf PACIFIC ROUTE. 7

showers of rock fragments. Of these great conical masses, built up 

by successive lava flows and by the accumulation of rock fragments 

blown from the craters, the highest is Mount Rainier, towering 14,408 

feet above Puget Sound, from which it presents a magnificent spectacle, its upper slopes covered by great streams of moving ice, the 

largest glaciers in the United States south of Alaska.

On emerging from the Cascades the traveler enters a broad lowland, 

which is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Olympic Mountains, 

but which contains Puget Sound with its many branching waterways, 

one of the most remarkable bodies of salt water on the globe.

NOTE. For the convenience of the traveler the sheets of the route map in this 

bulletin are so arranged that he can unfold them one by one and keep each one in 

view while he is reading the text relating to it. A reference is made in the text to 

each sheet at the place where it should be so unfolded, and the areas covered by the 

sheets are shown on Plate I. A list of these sheets and of other illustrations, showing 

where each one is placed in the book, is given on pages 205-207. A glossary of 

geologic terms is given on pages 199-203 and an index of stations on pages 209-212.
ITINERARY.

The traveler who is interested in the geologic history of this 

country a history that reaches back into the dim and misty past, 

to a time long before Father Hennepin first saw the Falls of St. 

Anthony and the Mississippi Valley in 1680 will find much to attract 

his attention about St. Paul and Minneapolis. If he has only a 

few hours at his disposal he can easily obtain a general view of the 

valley of the Mississippi and the rocks composing its bluffs from the 

Robert or Wabasha Street Bridge in St. Paul, both of which are 

within a few minutes' walk of the Union Station. If he chooses the 

Wabasha Street Bridge, which in some respects affords a better 

view, he will see that the Mississippi is flowing in a broad valley 

from 100 to 200 feet deep. In some places the walls of the valley 

are composed of solid rock, but in others they are made up of loose 

material, such as clay, sand, or gravel, which forms either large 

masses or is spread as a thin coating over the rocky slopes. As the 

valley has been cut in the hard rock by the river, it is a record of 

stream carving and of the climatic and geographic conditions under 

which the'carving was done. Not only are the recent events of geologic history recorded in the size and shape of the valley, but the much 

earlier events in the history of the globe have left a record in the solid 

rock itself a record that, when correctly read, tells of the presence 

of a sea in which limy muds were accumulating or along the shore 

of which sand was washed back and forth by the waves or drifted 

into heaps by the wind. Every one is more or less familiar with 

the history of Minnesota during the last 250 years, or since the white 

man first visited the region, but few know anything of the far more 

ancient history recorded in the rocks and in the hills and valleys of 

the region. It is to this ancient history, dealing with the time 

before man is supposed to have existed upon the globe, that the 

reader's attention is now invited.

The bluff upon which the Wabasha Street Bridge rests is composed almost entirely of white sandstone (St. Peter 1 ), which is very, 

very old, but despite its great age is so soft that it can be crushed in 

the hand. Streams of water flowing through the rock have carved 

great underground channels in it, and more recently boys have dug 

caves in the soft sand along the river front directly below the bridge.

1 The rocks exposed at the surface in the vicinity of St. Paul and those revealed 

by deep drilling are shown in the table on page 9. The natural order of the formations named in the table, from top to bottom, is shown by the order in which the
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 9

Jonathan Carver, in describing his journey to this region in 1766, 

mentions a large cave in the St. Peter sandstone about 30 miles 

below the Falls of St. Anthony, a cave called by the Indians the 

"Dwelling of the Great Spirit." In this cave they held religious 

ceremonies, and near it they buried their dead. When the sandstone 

is examined under a magnifying glass it is found to be composed of 

beautifully white translucent grains of quartz, resembling rock 

candy except that the fragments are round instead of angular. 

The even lines of bedding, which can be seen from either of the 

bridges mentioned, show that the sand must have been laid clown in 

water, but the forms of the individual grains show with equal certainty that the sand before it was washed into the ocean and deposited 

along the shore was blown about by the wind and perhaps heaped 

into large dunes, such as are now seen around the head of Lake 

Michigan south of Chicago.

The St. Peter sandstone, on account of its purity, is well adapted 

to glass making and in many places it is used for that purpose. It 

extends from St. Paul southward as far as central Arkansas and eastward as far as Detroit, and probably once extended much farther 

north, but in that direction it has been eroded worn away by frost, 

rains, and streams until all trace of it is lost. On account of its 

wide distribution and the purity of the materials that compose it, 

this deposit of sand is one of the most remarkable in the world.

Above this sandstone, if stone it may be called, lies a thin-bedded 

limestone known as the Platteville, which can be seen at the entrance 

to the Wabasha Street Bridge and which was formerly used about 

the "twin cities " for building material. The stone occurs, however, 

in thin layers and does not stand the weather well, so that very

names are printed. The place of each of the larger units of rock or of time (as Cambrian, Ordovician) in the general geologic column is shown in the table on page 2.

.. , . . Thickness 

Ordovician: in feet.

Galena limestone (exposed)........................... 15

Decorah shale (exposed).............................. 60

Platteville limestone (exposed)...................... 30

St. Peter sandstone (exposed)......................... 150

'Shakopee dolomite................................... 60

Oneota dolomite...................................... 100

 415 

Cambrian:

Jordan sandstone..................................... 75

St. .Lawrence formation............................... 100

Franconia sandstone, Dresbach sandstone, and underlying rocks........................................ 500

 675 

Red clastic series (Algonkian?)................................ 1,125

Granite. 

2, 215
10 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

little of it is now used. This limestone contains here and there 

fossil sea shells, which show clearly that the sandy shore of the St. 

Peter epoch finally sank and was covered by the sea. The shells of 

the animals that inhabited this sea sank to the bottom when the 

animals died and were buried in the limy mud that later became 

hardened into limestone, which preserved not only the shells but all 

the beautiful ornamentation on their surfaces.

If the traveler can spend a day or two here instead of a few hours, 

he may take many pleasant rides by trolley or automobile into the 

surrounding country to places of historic and scenic interest. Whether 

his visit is one of business or one of pleasure, he should not fail to 

see old Fort Snelling and the Falls of Minnehaha. Fort Snelling 

stands on the green, tree-shaded bluffs that overlook the peaceful 

valley of the Mississippi, and it is hard to realize that when it was 

established, only a few years after Zebulon M. Pike made his journey 

to the source of the Mississippi, 1 it was in the heart of the Indian 

country. It is doubtful if at that time anyone dreamed that near its 

site would rise such cities as St. Paul and Minneapolis. In the 

early days Fort Snelling was the starting point of several military 

expeditions that were sent out to explore the great Northwest.

The Falls of Minnehaha, which are about 2£ miles farther north, 

offer none of the sinister suggestions of war that still linger round 

the fort; on the contrary, they have an atmosphere of love and 

romance, and the journey of Hiawatha and Minnehaha, as related 

by Longfellow, is fittingly commemorated by a bronze group at the 

head of the falls. (See PI. II.)

1 Soon after the acquisition from France 

of Louisiana, which, included most of the 

territory west of Mississippi River, Lieut. 

Z. M. Pike was commissioned by President Jefferson to explore the new territory and to find the source of the river. 

When Pike reached the mouth of St. 

Peter (now Minnesota) River, in 1805, he 

recognized the strategic importance of 

the point for military purposes and procured from the Indians title for the Government to the land from the mouth of 

St. Peter River to and including the 

Falls of St. Anthony. In his report on 

the explorations he recommended that a 

fort be established on the bluff between 

St. Peter and Mississippi rivers. Nothing 

came of hia recommendation until February 10, 1819, when John C. Calhoun, 

Secretary of War, ordered the Fifth Infantry, under Col. Henry Leavenworth,

to establish headquarters at this place. 

 Col. Leavenworth reached the mouth of 

St. Peter River on September 24 of the 

same year, but instead of occupying the 

bluff recommended by Pike he camped 

across the river, where the village of 

Mendota now stands. In 1820 Col. 

Leavenworth was relieved by Col. Josiah 

Snelling, who determined to build a permanent post on the spot originally selected by Pike. The corner stone is supposed to have been laid on September 10, 

1820, and the post was occupied by the 

troops in 1822. The fort was originally 

called St. Anthony,-but the name was 

changed to Snelling at the recommendation of Gen. Winfield Scott, who visited 

it while on a tour of inspection in 1824. 

Fort Snelling has been continuously occupied as a military post from 1822 to the 

present time.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE II

MINNEHAHA, "LAUGHING WATER."

Height of fall, 54 feet. Water -tumbles over St. Peter sandstone, which is gradually being cut back toward Lake 

Minnetonka. Photograph by Haynes, St. Paul, Minn. . . .
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE III

A. VALLEY CITY, N. DAK., FROM THE "HIGH L.NE.

The river meanders broadly on the glacial drift which partly fills the old rock-cut valley. Photograph by Johnson

&Olson, Alexandria, Minn.

B. THE "HIGH LINE" ACROSS THE VALLEY OF SHEYENNE RIVER, N. DAK. 

Height of trestle (1 50 feet) indicates depth of valley. Photograph by Johnson & Olson, Alexandria, Minn.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 11

Fort Snelling and the Falls of Minnehaha can be reached from St. 

Paul by several routes, but whoever wishes to see the rocks and the 

way they have been carved by the streams should take the Snelling 

car, which follows the Mississippi upstream for about 6 miles directly 

to Fort Snelling. The roadway is on a bench or terrace nearly half 

a mile wide, which stands about 100 feet above the river and on a 

part of which the business portion of St. Paul has been built. The 

terrace is underlain by the Platteville limestone, which may be seen 

at a number of places, and it is evidently a remnant of a valley that 

existed there before the present channel of the river was excavated 

in its floor. The accompanying diagram (fig. 1) is a cross section of 

the valley as it appears to-day. If the channel of the river should 

be filled to the broken line it would represent the valley floor as it 

was before the present channel was cut, when the river was flowing 

at the level of the terrace. As the rocks are.not exposed at any 

place in the bottom of the valley it is evident that the old rock-cut 

valley has been filled by sediment (alluvium) brought down by the 

stream, but the depth of this filling has not been accurately deterFIGTJRE 1. Section across Mississippi Valley between St. Paul and Port Snclling, Minn., looking east. 

The broken line represents the bottom of the valley before the present channel was cut.

mined. A deep well sunk in St. Paul northeast of the Union Station 

struck solid rock 100 feet below river level. At some remote time 

the river channel was therefore at least 100 feet deeper than it is 

now, and since that time it has been filled by mud and sand up to 

the level of the present river bottom.

At Fort Snelling the main valley continues to the southwest, but 

it is occupied only by Minnesota River,1 a stream manifestly too 

small for the valley in which it is flowing; and, on the other hand, 

Mississippi River above Fort Snelling is out of proportion to the 

^arrow gorge in which it is confined. To even the most casual 

.bserver the streams appear to be misplaced; the larger stream is 

lowing in the smaller valley and vice versa. The size and relation 

of the river valleys about St. Paul show clearly that they have undergone many changes which do not occur in streams developing under 

normal conditions. Changes of this kind have taken place in many 

of the streams in the northern part of the United States. They are

1 Featherstonhaugh says that the Indian name of this river was Minnay Sotor, 

meaning turbid waters. By the early

white settlers, the name St. Peter was 

applied to it] but later the Indian name 

was revived, with the spelling Minnesota.
12 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

due to the invasion of this country at various epochs in the past by 

great glaciers which filled existing valleys with the mud, sand, and 

gravel that they brought in from the north. (See footnote on pp. 

26-30.) When the ice vanished the streams found different courses, 

developing lakes and falls, features characteristic of a newly established drainage system.

Thus the original drainage about St. Paul consisted of a stream 

flowing southeastward through the city and following the present 

course of Mississippi River to a point 10 or 12 miles below St. Paul, 

where it was joined by a large stream from the west, which crossed 

the present river valley 4 or 5 miles above Fort Snelling. At that 

time there was no stream flowing from Fort Snelling to St. Paul. 

This area was then a rocky upland.

When the western ice sheet (see route map, sheet 1, p. 20) melted 

back from this region, all these old stream channels were filled with 

glacial materials, and the principal streams were developed along 

their present courses. After a time the glacier, which came from the 

north or northwest, melted back into the Red River valley, and 

Lake Agassiz (ag'a-see) came into existence. (See footnote on p. 32.) 

Warren River, the outlet of this large body of water, occupied the 

present valley of Minnesota River and received Mississippi River as 

a tributary from the north. This great river flowed across the rocky 

upland between Fort Snelling and St. Paul and cut a broad valley, 

upon the floor of which St. Paul has been built. Where it joined 

the old valley, at the site of St. Paul, there was a waterfall many 

times the size of St. Anthony. This fall gradually receded upstream 

until it reached the other old valley above Fort Snelling, and thus 

the inner rock gorge shown in the diagram was cut.

The gorge of the Mississippi from Fort Snelling to the Falls of St. 

Anthony, which are a short distance below the station in Minneapolis, 

shows from its extreme narrowness that it is new and that it has 

only recently been carved out of the solid rock by the swiftly flowing 

stream. 1 In fact, the process of carving the gorge of the Mississippi 

is still in operation, or was before it was arrested by. the hand of man.

1 Many take it for granted that the surface features of the earth have always been 

the same as they are to-day, that the valleys have always been valleys and the 

hills and mountains always eminences 

overlooking them. The incorrectness of 

such an assumption, however, can be 

realized by watching any small stream or 

rill after or during a rain. It will be seen 

that the stream is busily engaged in cutting the sand or clay over which it flows

and carrying it down the valley to be 

dropped where the current slackens in 

some pond or lake. Every fragment, as 

it is loosened from the bed of the stream, 

is carried or rolled along by the water a 

few inches or a few feet and then dropped, 

because the stream is unable to move it 

farther, as a tired man lays down his burden a moment to rest. By dropping many 

grains the power of the water is restored 

and the grain of sand is again picked up,
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 13

Rivers always deepen their channels toward the head of the stream, 

and the Falls of St. Anthony have doubtless receded slowly from a 

point near the edge of the main valley at Fort Snelling to their present 

position. As the rate of recession of this fall has apparently been 

fairly uniform, and as the distance which the fall has retreated is 

well known, it has been used in making estimates of the time that has 

elapsed since the river first started to cut its gorge near Fort Snelling. 

According to the best estimate, the fall has been 12,000 years in 

traveling from the vicinity of Fort Snelling to its present position, 

and it has been 8,000 years since glacial Warren River ceased to flow 

and the present river system came into existence.

When the receding Falls of St. Anthony reached and passed the 

mouth of Minnehaha Creek that stream plunged into the deepened 

gorge and the Falls of Minnehaha originated. Since that time they 

have been worn back about 400 feet to their present position. Each

day some particle of rock is dislodged or worn away, and gradually 

the falls are working back up the stream. In the course of time they 

will reach Lake Minnetonka, and then this beautiful sheet of water 

will be drained, but that catastrophe will occur so far in the future 

that the owners of the hotels and summer cottages that line its shore 

need not be alarmed.

Lake Minnetonka is also the direct result of the occupation of the 

country by the ice, as are the 10,000 other lakes which Minnesota is 

reported to contain. Their mode of origin, which is extremely interesting, will be discussed in connection with a description of the many 

other lakes that will come into the traveler's view as he continues his 

westward journey. Lake Minnetonka is easily reached by trolley 

from both St. Paul and Minneapolis, and an afternoon or evening 

spent along its beautiful shores makes a most acceptable break in a 

long transcontinental journey. WTiite Bear Lake, about 6 miles 

north of St. Paul, bears the same relation to that city as a summer 

resort .that Lake Minnetonka bears to Minneapolis/

The site of the present city of St. Paul is said to have been a favorite 

gathering ground for the Sioux Indians long before white men invaded

as the man recovers strength and resumes 

his burden, and is carried or rolled along 

for a short distance farther. This operation is repeated many, many times, until 

the grain of sand is finally transported to 

the sea and finds a resting place upon its 

sandy shore.

The method by which a stream cuts 

hard rocks is not so obvious as that by 

which it cuts sand and clay. The cutting 

is not done by the water itself, for water

alone has no cutting power. The grains 

of sand and the pebbles that are swept 

along by the current act as a great rasp, 

scouring and cutting the hard rocks over 

which they are carried. Thus grain by 

grain the rocks are worn away and grain 

by grain the material is carried to the sea. 

The process, though slow, never stops; 

and in time it carves such gorges as that 

of the Mississippi and even the deeper 

canyons found in the western mountains.
14 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

their hunting grounds, and it is probable that for many generations 

Indian villages stood within what are now the city limits. When the 

white men came they located at Mendota, on the south side of Mississippi River near the mouth of the Minnesota, and this was the 

first settlement in the State. What is now the city of St. Paul was 

settled more recently,, and its origin and the manner in which it 

received its name are interesting events in the history of this region. 1

The State of Minnesota has a gross area of 84,682 square miles, of 

which 3,824 square miles is covered with water. It was admitted to 

the Union in 1858, and its population according to 

Minnesota. the census of 1910 was 2,075,708. The earliest settlements were made along Mississippi River, which 

was then the main artery of commerce in this part of the country. 

From this valley the incoming people spread to other valleys and 

to the general upland between the principal streams. This was essentially an agricultural population, and it has covered all the southern 

and western parts of the State. The northeastern part was originally a land of swamps and heavy timber, not at all inviting to the 

man in search of a farm, and for this reason all of that part except a 

small area about the head of Lake Superior remained for a long time 

comparatively unknown.

WTiile the agricultural lands of southern Minnesota were being 

converted into prosperous farms, the natural water power at the 

Falls of St. Anthony attracted the attention of millers, and great flour 

mills sprang up to grind the wheat that came pouring in from the 

surrounding region. At the same time the pine forest began to be 

utilized, and soon the great mills were denuding the country of its 

valuable timber.

The last great industry to develop was the mining of iron ore in the 

northern part of the State. Though the output of the mines is of less 

value than the products of either agriculture or manufacturing, it 

has probably brought the State into public notice to a greater degree 

than either of the others, for Minnesota is now the greatest producer 

of iron ore in the country, having in 1913 an output of nearly 

39,000,000 long tons, out of a total for the entire country of 62,000,000 

tons. The first iron mines in the State were opened in the Vermilion

1 When the military post of Fort Snelling was established, in 1820, the boundaries of the reservation had not been determined and consequently the post was 

overrun with all sorts of camp followers. 

In 1839 the limits of the reservation were 

fixed and efforts were made to eliminate 

the undesirable element, but not until 

May 6, 1840, were the troops successful in

evicting all the roughs and in demolishing their cabins. The evicted persons 

crossed the river and started a hamlet 

near the spot where the Union Station at 

St. Paul now stands. This was soon 

graced by a Roman Catholic chapel called 

St. Paul's, which gave its name to the 

village. From such inauspicious beginnings the city has developed.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 15

range 1 in 1884. The great Mesabi range was opened in 1892 and the 

Cuyuna range in 1911.

The values of the products of the State are approximately as follows: Manufactures (1909), $409,000,000; agriculture (1909), $275,- 

000,000; mining (1913), $70,000,000.

The locations of the centers of commerce and industry in this State, 

as in many others that were settled in the early days, were determined 

largely by the availability of water transportation. Thus St. Paul, 

which stands at the head of navigation on Mississippi River, and 

Duluth, which is at the upper end of Lake Superior, were the principal 

points. The use of Mississippi River as a commercial highway has 

gradually diminished, until to-day it has little or no effect on the commerce of the Northwest; but St. Paul and'Minneapolis still continue 

to form a center for all the northern transcontinental railroads and 

also for those that connect central Canada with the United States. 

Lake Superior still holds its own as a water route for heavy freight 

iron ore and grain going east and coal and manufactured articles going 

west and the places at which most of this traffic concentrates are 

Duluth and Superior, at the extreme western point of the lake.

On leaving the Union Station at St. Paul (see sheet 1, p. 20) the 

Northern Pacific Railway follows a small ravine almost due north for 

about 2 miles, gradually climbing from an altitude 

of 732 feet at the station to more than 900 feet at 

the highest point within the city limits. In passing 

over this part of the road the traveler unacquainted 

with glacial topography will have an opportunity to become familiar 

with some of its peculiarities its knobs and basins composed of materials which the moving ice carried or pushed along and deposited near 

its margin.

The region was at one time covered (as shown on the map of Minnesota on sheet 3, p. 32) by what is here called the middle ice sheet, 

which, as it came down from the north, brought into this region clay 

and fragments of red rock from the country north of Lake Superior. 

This body of ice extended southward beyond St. Paul and on melting 

left its load of reddish clay, sand, gravel, and bowlders, commonly 

known as drift, spread over the surface like a blanket. Later another

St. Paul.

Elevation 732 feet. 

Population 214,744.2

1 The term range, as applied to a deposit of iron ore or to the ore and the rocks 

with which the ore is associated, is limited to the Lake Superior region. It 

doubtless resulted from the fact that in 

the first districts developed the rocks associated with, the ore are hard and form 

ridges or low ranges. From these districts 

the term has been carried to the other

deposits of iron ore in the region, until 

now they are all known as ranges, even if 

the surface is flat and swampy.

2 The figures for population in this book 

are those of the United States Census of 

1910. For unincorporated places the figures give the population of the election 

precinct, township, or like unit; such 

figures are marked with an asterisk (*).
16 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

large glacier, the western ice sheet, invaded Minnesota from the northwest and spread a mantle of gray drift over part of the area already 

covered hy red drift. The boundary between these two drift sheets 

passes through St. Paul but is not a sharp line of separation.

When the front of the western ice sheet rested on the hills about 

St. Paul streams of water issued from the ice and carried with them 

vast quantities of sand and gravel, which they deposited beyond the 

ice front. One of these streams left the ice mass in the vicinity of 

Minneapolis and spread a great sheet of sand and gravel over the 

country upon which St. Paul has been built. It is mainly these 

outwash materials that can be seen from the Northern Pacific trains 

as they pass from St. Paul to Minneapolis. The gravel was deposited 

irregularly and now forms knobs that are separated by kettle-like 

depressions. Lake Como, on the right (north) 1 of the railway, lies 

in a basin of this character.

Descending somewhat from the high land the railway crosses the 

gorge or canyon cut by Mississippi River in the Platteville limestone 

and St. Peter sandstone. These rocks were formerly well exposed 

here, but they have been obscured by the construction of mills and 

the slumping in of soil from the top of the bluffs. While crossing 

the river the traveler can see on the right what remains of the Falls 

of St. Anthony, after a large part of the water has been diverted for 

the development of power. Further erosion of the rock has been 

prevented by the building of a low dam at the crest of the fall, and 

about 35,000 horsepower has been generated for running the great 

flour mills that line the river bank for some distance.

On the left are the buildings of the University of Minnesota, 

which occupy a commanding position on the east side of the river. 

The rocks rise toward the north, as shown by figMinneapolis, ure 2 (p. 17), even more steeply than the grade of 

Elevation 854 feet. the stream, and the top of the St. Peter sandstone 

SntSnSmnes? and the overlying Platteville limestone appear higher 

in the canyon wall than they do at Fort Snelling. 

Immediately after crossing the river the train enters the Union Station 

at Minneapolis, to receive other travelers bound for the far West.

North of Minneapolis the railway again crosses Mississippi River, 

but here there is no gorge, the river flowing in a shallow valley in 

the drift-covered plain. Just beyond Northtown, on the right (east), 

the St. Peter sandstone is visible for the last time. This outcrop 

lies at considerably higher level' than any outcrop of the sandstone 

in the gorge below the Falls of St. Anthony, indicating that the 

beds of rock rise northward more steeply than the surface of the

1 The terms right and left refer to the westbound journey.

2 The figures giving distance from St. Paul are taken from the Northern Pacific 

Railway folder of 1915.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 17

ground. As this northward rise continues up the Mississippi until 

the underlying granite is brought to the surface about St. Cloud it 

is probable that in the past the St. Peter sandstone and associated 

beds extended farther northward than at present. They were, however, worn away by the weather, the streams, and the ice, until now 

the railway passes over their beveled edges onto lower and lower 

formations toward the north, as shown by figure 2.

The Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways operate the

line from Minneapolis to St. Cloud jointly. At Coon Creek a branch

of the Great Northern turns nearly due north and

Coon Creek. joins a line of the same system from St. Cloud to

Elevation 893 feet. Duluth. In this part of the valley the surface is

St. Paul 23 miles. , , -, P -, -, , , -, composed largely 01 sand and gravel washed out 

from the glacier when its front lay a short distance to the northwest. The fine part of this material when dried was picked up by 

the west winds and carried over the country to the east, forming 

sand dunes which, with intervening marshes, still characterize this 

part of the country, as

-1 J ' NORTH

shown on the map.

The succession 

events during the several

invasions of this Country FIGURE 2. Diagram showing northward rise of the rocks in

by the ice and the various the vicinity of ********* Mi - 

materials deposited by the ice sheets are described in the footnotes 

on pages 26-30.

For nearly 100 miles the railway follows the valley of the Mississippi, here a broad and flat depression much of which has the appearance of a level plain; but in places the low hills on 

Anoka. both sides approach the river and the valley is confined by fairly definite bounding walls. About 

Anoka the floor of the valley consists of a gently 

undulating plain. The river has cut its channel but 

little below the general surface, and it seems to wander over the plain 

without plan or purpose, except to discharge its waters southward. 

The valley is well cultivated, and the glacial hills and wooded banks 

of the river are just sufficient to break the monotony of its even 

surface.

Although no rocks are exposed about Anoka, deep drilling for 

water has shown that the glacial drift there is about 80 feet thick and 

that the underlying rock is probably a part of the Dresbach sandstoneT (See footnote on p. 9.) About Anoka flowing wells obtain 

water from this sandstone, and in the southeastern part of Anoka 

County millions of gallons are pumped from it daily to St. Paul for 

the city supply.

95558° Bull. 611 15 2
18 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The route followed from Minneapolis through Dayton and beyond 

is rich in historic association. The^first white man to traverse it 

was Father Louis Hennepin, who in 1680 named the 

Dayton. Falls of St. Anthony and St. Francis River. There 

Elevation 911 feet. is some doubt about the stream to which Hennepin 

sSSmites. applied the name St. Francis. Some think it was

the stream now bearing that name; others think it 

was Rum River, which joins the Mississippi at Anoka. Hennepin 

traversed part of the Indian trail to Lake Superior, which is generally supposed to have passed by a portage from St. Francis River 

to Mille Lacs, thereby saving greatly in distance over the route up 

Rum River.

At the village of Elk River the stream visible from the train is 

Elk River, and this is in sight for several miles west of the station.

St. Francis River enters Elk River nearly due north 

Elk River. of Big Lake station, but can not be seen from the 

Elevation 924 feet. railway. At the town of Elk River a branch of the 

st^pau^mnes Great Northern turns to the right (north) and joins

the St. Cloud-Duluth line at the town of Milaca. 

The second white man to traverse this part of the valley was Jonathan Carver, who visited the region in 1766 in order to claim it for 

the British sovereign. Carver ascended the Mississippi as far as St. 

Francis River in an endeavor to reach the Pacific coast, but owing to 

lack of supplies he was obliged to abandon the expedition and return 

to the East. Of the American pioneers, Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, for 

whom Pikes Peak was subsequently named, was the first to visit the 

newly acquired territory in his search for the source of Mississippi 

River in 1805. An account of his journey will be found in the footnote on page 20.

Later the route up the Mississippi from Fort Siielling to Sauk 

Rapids became widely known as a part of the Red River trail. Over

this trail several exploring expeditions went into the 

Big Lake. Northwest, but probably the most important, at least 

Elevation 960 feet. so f ar as its influence on the location and building of 

st. Pauuo miles. the Northern Pacific Railroad was concerned, was the

party of Government engineers under the leadership 

of Gov. I. I. Stevens, which made the first surveys for a Pacific railroad in 1853. This expedition followed the Red River trail by the 

sites of Big Lake, Becker, and Clear Lake to Sauk Rapids, and thence

westward to Bois des Sioux River, wnich it crossed 

Becker. just below the outlet of Traverse Lake. Although 

Elevation 996 feet. the country traversed by this expedition in Minnesota 

stOPpauu;7 miles. and a part of North Dakota was well known, even at

that early date, its route farther west lay in large part 

over virgin territory, and the results of its explorations have been of
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 19

Clear Lake.

Elevation 1,016 feet. 

Population 263. 

St. Paul 64 miles.

great value in the subsequent development of the region. The engineers of this expedition explored most of the prominent passes through 

the Rocky Mountains in Montana and the Cascade Mountains in 

Washington, and practically outlined the route that was followed by 

the Northern Pacific engineers some 20 years later.

In the vicinity of the village of Clear Lake the railway passes from 

the gray drift that was brought into this region by the western ice 

sheet from the Red River valley to the red drift of 

the middle ice sheet. The exact point of change from 

one of these drift sheets to the other can not be determined from the train, but close observation will show 

that there are more fragments of red rock in the drift 

north of Clear Lake than there are in the drift south of that place. 

Although the glacial drift covers this country so completely that 

the hard rocks are hidden from view, deep drilling for water has shown

that all the sedimentary rocks 1 underlying the drift in the country 

farther south have been eroded from this region and that nothing is 

left but the granitic rocks which are supposed to form the basement 

or foundation of this part of the continent. Fortunately these rocks 

are exposed at several places along the line, so that the traveler may 

see them and realize how different they are from the stratified sandstone and limestone that show at the surface in the vicinity of St. 

Paul and Minneapolis.

After passing milepost 71, beyond Cable, the train runs close to 

the State reformatory, which stands to the left of the railway. The 

walls and buildings of this institution are constructed of blue-gray 

granite quarried on the premises. The granite is an excellent building 

stone, being durable and of pleasing appearance, and beyond the 

reformatory it is quarried commercially. The stone can be obtained 

in fairly large blocks, and it has been used extensively in St. Paul and 

Minneapolis and shipped to different parts of the country.2 A large

1 Sedimentary rocks are those that were 

laid down as sediments, either in lakes or 

i 11 the sea. They were d epos ited layer upon 

layer, and these layers show to-day in what 

is known as the bedding or stratification of 

the rocks. Where the material deposited 

was very fine and was supplied in smaJl 

amounts and intermittently the layers are 

very thin, in some places as thin as paper; 

but where the material deposited was 

coarse and was supplied in great abundance, or where it was of such character 

that it did not form distinct layers, the 

beds may be very thick or even massive 

that is, they may show no bedding planes.

2 The quarrying of granite for buildings 

and monuments is an old and wellestablished industry in this part of the 

Sta,te. The first quarry was opened at 

East St. Cloud in 1868. Since that time 

numerous quarries have been developed 

at East St. Cloud, Sank Rapids, and 

Watab, on the east side of the river, and 

at St. Cloud and Bockville, on the west 

side. The quarries in this vicinity produce both red and gray granites of 

varying degrees of coarseness, ranging 

from fine gray granite suitable for monuments to coarse red and gray granites 

that can be used only as building stone. 

In 1913 the granite quarried in Stearns, 

Benton, and Sherburne counties, with 

St. Cloud as a center, was valued at 

about $850,000.
20 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

St. Cloud.

Elevation 1,050 feet. 

Population 10,600. 

St. Paul 76 miles.

amount of it was used in the new State capitol. The granite is hard 

and resistant, forming the rapids in the river and the rough topography that marks the valley for some distance.

The town of St. Cloud (see sheet 2, p. 26) lies on the opposite side 

of the river from the railway, so that the traveler can see only the 

station and a few houses. A rapid in the river near 

this place is utilized to produce power for a large 

milling industry. Here the main line of the Great 

Northern Railway crosses the river, but a branch of 

that road leading from St. Cloud to Duluth is crossed 

by the Northern Pacific train a short distance beyond the station.

At Sauk Rapids the low granite and drift hills that border the 

valley on the right (east) approach so close to the river that there is 

room only for a few streets and the railway between 

the hills and the river. Masses of granite can be seen 

in the river channel and the resistance of this rock 

has produced the rapids at this place. Rock of the 

same kind is quarried in the bluffs some distance 

back from the river and is brought to the main line over a short 

spur for shipment. Above the rapids the river flows quietly between 

low wooded banks, or rather in a slight depression in the bottom of 

the broad valley.

Although the hills are less precipitous beyond Sauk Rapids, the 

presence of granite in the vicinity of Watab station is attested by 

great bowlders of this material that were evidently picked up by 

the glacier and distributed along the valley, and also by old quarries 

that are faintly discernible on the left (west).

The traveler is now approaching the place where Pike's party 

wintered in 1805-6 on their memorable trip to the source of the

Mississippi. 1

Sauk Rapids.

Elevation 1,034 feet. 

Population 1,745. 

St. Paul 77 miles.

1 As soon as Louisiana had been acquired from France by the treaty signed 

at Paris on April 30, 1803, President 

Jefferson took steps to have the newly 

acquired country thoroughly explored. 

He personally planned the expedition to 

the Pacific coast which was conducted 

by Lewis and Clark (see p. 47) in 1804- 

1806 and other expeditions by Lieut. 

Zebulon M. Pike to the headwaters of 

the Mississippi and to the great Southwest. Pike's search for the source of the 

Mississippi took him over ground with 

which the traveler is now somewhat 

familiar, and an account of the trip may 

be of interest.

The country through which Pike traveled was at that time fairly well known, 

but the earlier explorations had been 

made by French and English adventurers who were using every means to 

further the interests of their respective 

Governments. It had now become the 

property of the United States, and 

Jefferson wanted first-hand information 

not only regarding the geography of the 

country but also regarding the attitude 

taken toward the new owner by the Indian 

tribes and the trappers and traders who 

gathered furs from this vast wilderness.

Pike left St. Louis on August 9, 1805, 

with 1 sergeant, 2 corporals, and 17 pri-
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 1

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the if. S. C. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

MINNESOTA

Scale 500,000 

Approximately 8 miles to I inch

 > 10 \8MHes

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced I mile apart 

Bethel

 .Lake

# 

-StMichae

 Rotfbinsdal 

:\ Med/'c/, 	IjOose surface materials 

 _ A Stream deposits (alluvium) 

B Sand dunes and marshes 

C Glacial river bottoms and terraces 

D Glacial outwash sand and gravel 

E Gray drift of western ice sheet 

F Red drift of middle ice sheet

Underlying rocks (represented by 

heavy lines and patterns)

Thickness

in feet

Shale (Decorah) 60 

Limestone, thin-bedded (Platteville) SO 

Sandstone, soft, white (St. Peter) 150 

Magnesian limestone (Shakopee

dolomite) 60 

Magnesian limestone (Oneota

dolomite) 100 

H Granite Archean
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE.

Rice.

Elevation 1,086 feet. 

Population 262! 

St. Paul 90 miles.

Between Watab and Rice the railway runs in a flat valley that 

extends as far as the eye can reach. It is well cultivated, and the 

fields of grain and potatoes are broken only by some 

small lakes that are to be seen on the right of the 

track, but these have low shores and are not particularly attractive. As the train glides through mile 

after mile of waving grain or pasture fields, with here 

and there a farmhouse nestling beneath the shadow of some ancient 

oak, it is hard to realize that a little more than a century ago this 

was a wilderness in which roving bands of Indians found only a 

scanty subsistence and trappers and traders made journeys with the 

greatest hardship and discomfort.

Although there are no exposures of rock between Rice and Royalton, the route map opposite page 26 shows many isolated outcrops 

of granite and slate; and it will be noticed that all

the areas of granite He east of a line passing nearly 

through Royalton and that all the hard rocks which 

appear at the surface west of that line are slates or 

schists (for definition see footnote on p. 155) with the 

exception of one exposure of Cretaceous shale on the west side of the 

river nearly opposite Royalton.

A short distance beyond milepost 95 a branch of the Soo Line 

(Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway), extending from 

Brooten to Duluth, crosses the valley and the Northern Pacific track 

by a long, high fill. North of Royalton, on the right, some rather 

prominent morainic hills give a pleasing variety to the landscape; 

and at Gregory the traveler is about opposite the point where Pike's 

party spent the winter of 1805-6.

Royalton.

Elevation 1,103 feet. 

Population 676. 

St. Paul 97 miles.

vates. He found settlements and villages as far up the river as Prairie du 

Chien, but above that place there was 

no white settlement and only scattered, 

trading posts of the various fur companies. 

He reached the mouth of St. Peter (Minnesota) River on September 21, and 

spent some time visiting the Indians and 

acquiring for the Government the title to 

100,000 acres of land, including the site 

of Fort Snelling and the Falls of St. 

Anthony.

He then portaged around the falls and 

proceeded up the river, but at many 

places he had considerable difficulty in 

getting his boats over the rapids. He

finally reached the vicinity of Little 

Falls, but here the river was so rough that 

he decided it was useless to take the boats 

farther, so on October 16, 1805, he went 

into winter quarters on the west bank of 

the river about 4 miles below the present 

town of Little Falls.

Pike with a few companions pushed on 

afoot and endeavored to find the source 

of the great river. He succeeded in a 

general way in settling the question, 

though he did not discover Lake Itasca. 

Pike returned to Little Falls on March 6, 

1806, and on April 10 the entire party 

embarked once more, .reaching St. Louis 

on the 30th.
22 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Taken all in all, the Mississippi Valley, in which the train runs 

from Minneapolis to Little Falls, is one of the richest and most 

attractive valleys in the State.

From Little Falls lead two branch lines of the Northern Pacific,

one running up the east bank of Mississippi Kiver to Brainerd and

thence to International Falls, on the northern

Little Falls. boundary of Minnesota, and the other turning to the

Elevation 1,134 feet. jeft and running to Morris, near the western edge of

Population6,078. . o rrn_ £ n -i j i i

St. Paul 107 miles. the State. I he lails in the river are produced by 

hard slate and schist and by diorite (molten material that was forced up and into the sedimentary rocks and that 

has since been consolidated, forming a hard, dense, dark rock) of 

Archean age. (See table on p. 2.) These rocks are not massive like 

the granite at St. Cloud and so they do not make good building 

material, but they are as hard or harder and form a persistent obstacle 

to the easy flow of the river. The falls are of great commercial 

importance, as they furnish 10,000 horsepower, which is utilized by 

sawmills having a capacity of 70,000,000 board feet of lumber 

annually, flour and paper mills, and an electric-light plant.

Here once lay the margin of a great evergreen forest that stretched 

wild and unbroken to Duluth and the falls of Sault Ste. Marie, but 

now only a few pine trees can be seen here and there along the railway, 

for most of them have disappeared in the insatiable maws of the 

great lumber mills. Little Falls is noted among archeologists as a 

place where a large number of flint implements, belonging to an early 

race of men, have been found.

At Little Falls the traveler crosses Mississippi Eiver for the last 

time in his westward trip; he will soon pass out of the Mississippi 

drainage basin and enter another whose waters find an outlet to the 

north. After leaving the river the train passes through a country 

that is typically glacial in all its features. The hard rocks are covered 

by drift varying in thickness from 35 to 400 feet. Owing to this thick 

cover the present surface of the ground gives no indication of what is 

beneath, and for many years it was supposed that this .swampy country, covered only with brush and scrub oak, was of no value whatever. 

After some of the great deposits of iron ore in Minnesota and Wisconsin had been exploited it was found that the best way to prospect for 

iron ore in this region was with the magnetic needle. Many parts of 

Minnesota were tested unsuccessfully, but in 1895 it was found that 

the magnetic needle was affected in this area, and drilling has shown 

that it is underlain by a large body of iron ore. This deposit is now 

known as the Cuyuna (ki-you'na) iron range and is one of the three 

important iron ranges of the State. This range (see map of Cuyuna
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 23

range on sheet 2, p. 26), as now prospected and developed, extends 

from Aitkin, about 27 miles northeast of Brainerd, 

southwestward to the vicinity of Randall. It is about 

55 miles long, but its width has not been fully determined. No mining is done near this line of the 

Northern Pacific Railway, but several mines are

operated some 40 miles to the northeast.1 Little farming is carried

Randall.

Elevation 1,200 feet. 

Population 195. 

St. Paul 118 miles.

1 Whoever wishes to see something of 

iron mining in Minnesota should make a 

short trip from Little Falls or Staples to 

Crosby or Ironton, on the Duluth line. 

The Pennington mine, which is within 

easy walking distance of either of these 

towns, consists of a large open pit from 

which the glacial drift was first stripped 

away and the ore then mined by steam 

°shovels. The ore is hematite, an iron 

oxide, and has resulted from the deep 

weathering or decomposition of a slaty 

sedimentary rock that was originally rich 

in iron carbonate. The sedimentary 

rocks strike about N. 50° E., are folded 

closely, and dip at high angles. The 

workable deposits are vertical or steeply 

dipping lenses, which generally have a 

maximum width of 400 or 500 feet and an 

average depth of about 360 feet, but the 

0 maximum known depth is about 1,000 

feet. Some of the lenses extend for more 

than half a mile along the strike. The 

ores, some of which are soft and some hard, 

are in the main non-Bessemer that is, 

they contain too much phosphorus to be 

converted into steel by the Bessemer process, which is one of the processes generally used. Some of the ores contain considerable manganese.

The traveler wishing to make a more extended excursion into the iron country 

may go from Little Falls or Staples to 

Duluth and take either the Duluth, 

Missabe & Northern Railway or the 

Duluth & Iron Range Railroad to one of 

the great iron-producing towns on the 

Mesabi range. This range is about 100 

miles long and 1 to 3 miles wide. The 

most productive part is served by a trolley 

line which runs between Hibbing and. 

Eveleth, making all the mining towns 

between easily accessible. The HullRust open pit at Hibbing is the largest

iron mine in the world, producing in 19l3 

nearly 3,500,000 long tons of ore. A description of the iron ranges is given by 

W. H. Emmons, State geologist of Minnesota, ia the following paragraphs:

The iron ore of the Mesabi (me-eab/be) 

and Cuyuna ranges is contained in the 

Biwabik (be-wab/bick) formation, named 

from one of the iron-mining towns in the

Mesabi range. This formation consists of 

ferruginous cherts, iron ores, elates, iron 

silicate, and carbonate rocks, with a email 

amount of coarse detrital material at its 

base. It grades upward and in places 

laterally into more slaty rocks, known aa 

the Virginia elate; and it is underlain by 

the Pokegama quartzite, consisting mainly 

of quartzite but containing also conglomerate at its base. These three formations 

are generally known as the Animikie 

(a-nim'i-kee) group and belong in the 

upper part of the Algonkian eystem as 

exposed in this region. All these rocks 

were laid down after the close folding 

which affected the lower Algonkian rocks, 

consequently the formations of the Animikie group are not on edge but generally 

dip at low angles.

The Biwabik or iron-bearing formation 

extends along the Mesabi range (see map 

on sheet 2, p. 26) for its entire lengthT Its 

average thickness is about 800 feet, but 

owing to the prevail ing low dips thewidth 

exposed varies from a quarter of a mile to 

3 miles. The great bulk of the formation 

is ferruginous (iron-bearing) chert, with 

varying amounts of amphibole (asbestos), 

some lime and iron carbonates, and bands 

and shoots of iron ore. Associated with 

the chert, mainly in the middle zone, is 

the iron ore, which occupies about 5 per 

cent of the total surface area of the formation. Throughout the iron-bearing formation, particularly in its upper part,
24 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Gushing.

Elevation 1,288 feet. 

Population 313.* 

St. Paul 123 miles.

on in this region, and the country is covered with a dense growth of 

scrub oak.

For some distance beyond Randall the country consists largely of 

swamps and scrub-oak uplands, but north of Gushing the surface 

becomes rougher, consisting of knoblike hills with 

swamps or lakes between them. When seen from 

some commanding eminence the country appears to 

be a maze of more or less regular conical hills among 

which the railway turns and twists to find a level pathway. As the traveler proceeds he will note that the depressions between the hills become more pronounced, and when he is within a mile 

of Lincoln, or at milepost 126, he can see on his right one of the largest 

depressions in the region, occupied by Lake Alexander. Evidently 

the character of the submerged surface is much the same as that 

around the lake, for the surface of the lake, although extensive, is 

broken by morainic islands that add greatly to the charm of the scene.° 

The rough topography reaches its culmination near Lincoln, where 

the hills range in height from 100 to 150 feet and are very steep. As 

described in the footnote on pages 26-30, the morainic 

Lincoln. material forming these hills was brought by a great 

Elevation 1,304 feet, glacier (the middle ice sheet) that pushed into this

St. Paul 129 miles. & . / , T V, , , ,. .

region from the northeast. It extended only a little 

beyond Mississippi River, and the rough topography about Lincoln 

is due to the deposition of a'part of its terminal, moraine.

Lincoln is mainly a summer resort and is an attractive place for 

those who enjoy boating and other aquatic sports. The wooded

are thin layers of slate and paint rock, the 

paint rock usually resulting from the 

alteration of the slate.

At the east end of the range, near Birch 

Lake, the iron formation has been considerably metamorphosed in consequence 

of the intrusion of granite to the north and 

of gabbro to the south. As a result considerable amphibole has been developed 

in the ferruginous rocks, magnetite has 

segregated into layers, and the rocks have 

become hardened.

Thin beds of conglomerate and shale 

of Cretaceous age, lying nearly horizontal, 

cap the various Algonkian and Archean 

formations. The basal beds of the Cretaceous locally carry detrital iron ore derived from the weathered Biwabik formation.

Only small portions of the Biwabik 

formation are rich enough to constitute 

iron ore. These occur in isolated masses

along the eroded surface of the formation 

and are generally not over 200 feet thick, 

although some are thicker. The workable deposits are secondary concentrations 

due to the action of surface waters, which 

have leached out the silica and some 

other elements and have left the iron in 

a more highly concentrated form. Concentration of this nature, in places to 

which water solutions have found more 

ready access, has been going on through 

long geologic periods. That it was well 

advanced in Cretaceous time is shown in 

the detrital zone of the Cretaceous rocks, 

in which iron ore is abundant in the form 

of polished pebbles.

The geologic conditions in the Cuyuna 

range appear to be almost identical with, 

'those in the Mesabi range, described 

above, but as the Cuyuna range has been 

only slightly developed its geology can 

not yet be described in detail.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE.

Philbrook.

islands in Lake Alexander afford an almost unlimited number of

camping places and sites for summer cottages. 

The strong morainic topography continues for several miles beyond Lincoln but gradually becomes more subdued, and even the 

gently rolling ground that is noticeable around Philbrook soon gives place to a country that is flat and

Elevation 1,269 feet swampv as far as the eye can see. Philbrook is supSt Paul 135 miles '

posed to stand on the dividing line between the red 

drift of the middle ice sheet and the gray drift of the western sheet, 

but no distinction between the two drift sheets can be observed from 

the car window.

From Philbrook the land continues flat and swampy to Staples, 

which is a division point and one of the main junctions on the 

Staples railway. Here the line from St. Paul joins the original main line of the Northern Pacific from Duluth. 1

Elevation 1,298 feet.

Population 2,558. The country west of Staples is as flat as that to 

st. Paul 141 miles. ^ 0 _^ over which the traveler has just passed,

cation and at the head of a lake closed to 

navigation by ice for five months of the 

year. The Northern Pacific Co. early 

recognized that water transportation was 

losing its importance and that in the 

future St. Paul, with its unlimited possibilities of railroad connection with 

Chicago, was the natural eastern terminus 

of the road. Accordingly negotiations 

for a line to St. Paul were undertaken.

Sometime between 1864 and 1870 a railroad was built from St. Paul up Mississippi River to Sank Rapids by an independent company. This line was purchased by the Northern Pacific Co. in 

1870 with tlie understanding that the road 

was to be completed to Brainerd, where it 

would connect with the main line of that 

system. In the panic of 1873 the Northern Pacific could not fulfill its obligations 

and so lost control of this line. The road 

was completed to Brainerd on November 

1, 1877, by other persons, and it afforded 

the firstTailroad connection between the 

Northern Pacific line and the cities of 

Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Northern 

Pacific Co. leased this line in 1878 and 

later acquired control of it through the 

purchase of its capital stock. Still later 

the company built the road from Little 

Falls to Staples, giving it the through 

connection desired.

1 As early as 1853 the Government made 

a survey to determine the best location 

for a Pacific railroad, and one of the routes 

examined and recommended is practically that which the Northern Pacific follows, but after the survey was made the 

undertaking seemed so great that capital 

could not be found with which to make 

even a beginning. On the completion of 

the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 the 

faith of the public in the success of transcontinental roads seems to have revived, 

and in 1870 the construction of the Northern Pacific line was actually begun. 

Work was started at the two extremities 

near Duluth, which was to be the eastern 

terminus, and between Kalama, on Columbia River, and Tacoma, the western 

terminus in Washington. In Minnesota 

the rails were laid in 1870 as far as Brainerd, on Mississippi River, 30 miles east 

of Staples, and in 1871 were extended 

entirely across the State.

At that time Duluth, on account of its 

location on one of the Great Lakes, was 

considered the most desirable place to 

connect with the East. Duluth is a 

convenient port for the westward traffic in coal and other heavy materials 

and for grain shipments eastward to the 

seaboard, but it then stood in a great 

wilderness, without railway communi-
GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTEEOST UNITED STATES.

and as far as the eye can see there are no hills to break the monotony of flat and swamp. The railway follows, hi general, the valley 

A1 , . , of Leaf River, which lies north of the track. Like Alaricn. '

most of the other valleys of this region, this one Elevation 1,351 feet. , J ° '

Population 586.* has not been carved by the stream that occupies 

st. Paul 148 miles, ft but is merely a chain of low places along which the 

water finds an outlet. Such valleys have no definite shape or plan; 

and consequently at one place the railway may be in a fine rolling 

v , . country that is well farmed and prosperous, as it 

is at Verndale, and at another place it may be in

Elevation 1,369 feet. , , T i < i -, n

Population 538. the most dismal expanse 01 swamps and shallow

St. Paul 152 miles. lakes

In a general way the country becomes more rolling toward the 

west, and about the town of Wadena (see sheet 3, p. 32) there are 

fine farms on both sides of the railway. When the 

crops wave green in the breeze or take on the golden 

tints of harvest time this country affords the traveler 

a pleasing contrast with the swamps and scrub oaks 

of the region to the east. Just east of the station at 

Wadena the Northern Pacific is crossed by a line of the Great Northern which runs from Sauk Center to Cass Lake, and about 2 miles 

west of Wadena a branch line of the Northern Pacific turns to the 

left and runs to Fergus Falls and Breckenridge.

Near milepost 169 1 the railway approaches Leaf River on the right, 

and near the valley there is more decided evidence of morainic 

topography than there is between this point and 

Staples. The hills are not high, but they have the 

peculiar conical or sugar-loaf shape that characterizes 

morainic hills, and they are separated in many places

by marked kettles or depressions. The hills in this 

region are formed of material that the ice brought in from the Red 

River valley. A brief history of -the several invasions of Minnesota 

by the ice and a description of the drift deposited by them is given 

below by Frank Leverett.2

Wadena.

Elevation 1,372 feet. 

Population 1,820. 

St. Paul 159 miles.

Bluffton.

Elevation 1,344 feet. 

Population 148. 

St. Paul 164 miles.

1 Mileposts on the Northern Pacific are 

numbered from division points and not 

from the ends of the system. 0

2 Before the glacial epoch, or Great Ice 

Age, Minnesota presented a very different 

appearance from that which it presents 

to-day. Where there are now flat plains 

there were then rocky hills and ridges, 

separated by deep valleys. In the central and western parts of the State, from 

the Minnesota Valley northward, the bedrock is deeply buried. Deep drilling 

shows that it has an uneven surface and

is composed chiefly of old crystalline 

rocks in which there are differences of 

altitude of at least 500 feet. In the 

northeastern part of the State the iron 

ranges and their associated rock formations stood out much more prominently 

than they do to-day. This old surface 

is now so deeply buried under glacial 

material in the greater part of the State 

that it is not possible, with our present 

knowledge, to outline the position and 

courses of even the principal streams of 

that time. Of the eastern and southern
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 2

MAP OF CUYUNA IRON RANGE, SHOWING ITS GEOGRAPHIC RELATION 

TO THE MESA8I AND VERMILION RANGES OF MINNESOTA

MINNESOTA

^XI >/ /^~EL/2i6 b Approximately 8 miles to I inch 

\ ,10 5 IO 15 ?OMiles

is 2O 25 30Kilome1ers

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

Underlying rocks ~ h 

C Shale ^ Cretaceous 

D u Granite granite anda gneiss i 

E Slate and schist J

94° (Zheet No I)
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE.

New York Mills.

Elevation.1,433 feet. 

Population 474. 

St. Paul 172 miles.

West of Bluffton the morainic character of the topography continues for some distance but gradually gives place to the rolling 

country about New York Mills. The less broken 

country here is well suited to agriculture, and fine 

farms may be seen on both sides of the track.

The railway is here on the divide between the 

Hudson Bay and Mississippi River drainage systems. 

It is not at all certain that before the glaciers covered this country 

the divide was at this place, as all the stream courses have been 

either materially modified or completely rearranged by the ice sheets 

that invaded the State. The present divide is not made evident 

by any well-marked ridge, and the appearance of the country will 

not probably show the traveler that he is crossing from one of the 

great drainage basins of the continent to another. The figures given 

for the elevation of the towns show that New York Mills is a little 

higher than the towns on either side and hence that the water parting is near that place.

At milepost 187 the railway crosses Otter Tail River, the first 

large stream passed in the Hudson Bay drainage basin. This stream 

has its origin in a number of beautiful lakes near the Northern 

Pacific line and flows southward through Rush Lake to0 Otter Tail 

Lake, the largest body of water in the region. Thence it flows 

westward and joins the Bois des Sioux at Breckenridge, forming Red 

River.

After crossing Otter Tail River, which meanders broadly in a 

swampy bottom about a mile in width, the railway traverses a rolling plain of rich agricultural land near the center 

of which stands the prosperous town of Perham, so 

named for the first president of the Northern Pacific 

Railroad Co. The surface of this plain is formed of 

sand and gravel washed out from the front of the 

western ice sheet as the big moraine to the west and north was 

being deposited. Pine, Little Pine, and Marion lakes lie a few miles 

from the track on the right, and the cottages and hotels along their

Perham.

Elevation 1,390 feet. 

Population 1,376. 

St. Paul 182 miles.

parts, however, enough is known to warrant the statement that the positions of 

the preglacial stream courses were not 

widely different from those of to-day. 

The Mississippi flows locally in. a new 

course past St. Anthony Falls, at Little 

Falls, and at Sank Kapids; but drilling 

has shown that a deeply buried valley, 

which is 200 feet or more below the present stream, lies near the river and in 

places crosses it.

The glacial epoch did not consist 

simply in the growth and disappearance

of a single great continental glacier; there 

were stages of great extension of the ice, 

separated by stages in which it was 

greatly reduced if not entirely melted 

away. There were also several centers 

of exceptionally great snowfall and snow 

and ice accumulation, from which the 

ice radiated or flowed outward. From 

three of these centers of dispersion 

the ice spread into Minnesota in the 

Wisconsin stage. (See map on sheet 

3, p. 32.) The western and southern 

parts of the State were covered by ice
GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

shores offer many inducements to the sportsman or to the summer 

visitor who is in search of relaxation from the breathless hurry of 

modern city life.

The plain extends along the railway to a point 4 miles northwest 

of Perham, where it gives place to rough, hummocky land that 

marks an eastern point of the great morainic ridge on the west of 

the track. When this moraine was formed the ice had disappeared 

from the country to the east but covered all that part of the State 

lying to the west. From Luce to Frazee the ground is generally 

swampy or dotted by small lakes or ponds.

At milepost 196 the railway crosses Otter Tail River, here flowing 

to the east. On account of the numerous ridges this stream wanders 

about from lake to lake, finding an outlet by an exceedingly roundabout course. Only a few of these lakes are visible from the train,

(western ice sheet) which, c'ame from 

central Canada. The eastern part as far 

south as the vicinity of St. Paul was 

covered by ice (middle ice sheet) from 

the region south of Hudson Bay, and a 

small area on the border of the Lake 

Superior basin was covered by ice (Superior ice sheet) which came in from the 

east through that basin. The western 

sheet brought in fragments of limestone 

and shale, the middle sheet carried southward much material from the iron ranges 

and also red sandstone from the west end 

of Lake Superior, and the eastern or 

Superior sheet transported to the limits 

of its advance large amounts of the red 

sandstone bordering that basin.

The effect of these invasions was to fill 

up and obliterate the valleys or to block 

them in such a manner as to produce 

chains of lakes along their courses. 

Large moraines or irregular, hummocky 

ridges of drift mark successive positions 

of the border of each of the ice sheets. 

Sand and gravel were spread out by 

water escaping from the ice front, fringing the moraines in extensive plains 

termed outwash aprons. In places where 

the ice border melted back rapidly no 

moraines were formed, but instead a 

nearly level surface, composed of bowlder 

clay or till.

The moraines of the Superior sheet encircle the west end of the Lake Superior 

basin in a series of concentric ridges, each 

ridge being later than the one without 

and earlier than the one within. Those

formed by the western ice sheet lie in 

the high country along the valleys of 

Red River and Minnesota River. These 

streams are bordered by broad plains 

which owe their form to the fact that 

they lay under the deep part of the ice 

sheet and along its axis of movement.

The moraines of .the middle ice sheet 

are well developed south and east of St. 

Paul and in central Minnesota. The 

Northern Pacific Railway traverses one of 

the most prominent moraines of this ice 

sheet, between Little Falls and Staples.

The three advances of ice, though occurring in a single glacial stage, did not 

take place at the same time. After the 

middle sheet reached its maximum and

melted back nearly if not quite to the 

Canadian line, the other sheets advanced 

into the district it had occupied and there 

covered its drift with their deposits. 

The western ice in places extended 75 

miles or more into the district the middle 

sheet had abandoned.

The map on sheet 3 (p. 32) is intended 

to show the several glacial invasions of 

Minnesota during the Wisconsin stage, 

but as the three- glaciers did not invade 

the State at the same time it is impossible 

to represent them accurately on a single 

map. The extent of the middle sheet is 

known only from the drift it deposited, 

and as much of this is covered by material 

brought in later by the western sheet its 

limit on the west can be only conjectured, 

but it probably covered much of the 

northern part of the State.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 29

but the map shows that great numbers of them lie on both sides of 

the road. The kettle-like depressions in a moraine, many of which

FIGURE 3. Diagram showing probable origin of many kettle holes. A, Block of ice recently broken 

from a glacier; B, same block after part has been melted and the remainder covered with sand and 

mud; C, depression resulting from complete melting of the ice.

are filled with water and become ponds or lakes, are due either to 

irregularities in the deposition of the drift along the front of a glacier 

or to the melting: of detached blocks of ice. 1

The map is supposed to represent the 

State as it was when the western ice sheet 

extended southward along the Red River 

valley and deployed to the east into the 

open lands of Minnesota. Part of this 

great glacier found an outlet eastward into 

the upper Mississippi Valley and the valley of St. Louis River, but the main mass 

of the ice pushed southeastward along the 

valley of Minnesota River. A part overflowed northeastward, forming a lobe that 

covered much of the territory north of St. 

Paul. The main lobe swept on southward across the boundary of the State and 

as far as Des Moines, Iowa. After a time 

the melting at its front exceeded the supply of fresh ice coming from the north, 

and then the glacial margin began to 

retreat, and eventually the ice disappeared from the State.

When the ice of the Superior sheet 

melted back into that basin the ponding 

of water between the ice front and the 

highland bordering the basin formed a 

glacial lake, known as Lake Duluth, 

which discharged into the St. Croix Valley, in northern Wisconsin. Similarly, 

as the ice melted in the Red River valley, 

a lake known as Lake Agassiz (see p. 32) 

formed between the front of the glacier 

on the north and the high land to the 

south and discharged to the south through 

Browns Valley.

Over a large part of the surface of the 

drift of Minnesota there has been little 

change since the ice disappeared except 

the formation of soil and a slight leaching

and weathering; but in some places notable changes have been wrought. Many 

of Minnesota's "ten thousand lakes" 

show beaches at higher levels than the 

present, their outlets having been cut 

down by the water at various stages: 

Many lakes have been so filled with sediment as to become marshes or even dry 

land, and many have been filled by the 

growth of peat. St. Anthony Falls, on 

the Mississippi, has retreated a few feet a 

year until recently checked by an artificial retaining wall. Minnehaha Falls, 

on a small tributary of the Mississippi, has 

retreated less than 400 feet in several 

thousand years. On the whole, the 

amount of stream erosion since the last 

glaciation is slight, and on many streams 

it is scarcely enough to be measurable.

1 When a glacier reaches its greatest 

extension and begins to retreat, its pause 

and recession mean that the supply of 

fresh ice or snow back at the gathering 

ground, where it receives most of its material, is not sufficient to keep pace with the 

melting that goes on over its entire surface, but more particularly at its outer 

margin. The result is that the ice near 

the extremity moves forward very slowly 

and finally ceases to move at all. The 

edge of the ice sheet becomes thin and 

irregular, and, owing to more rapid 

melting along cracks or crevasses, masses 

of ice become separated from the main 

body.

Part of such a block, as shown at A in 

figure 3, above, may be'uncovered, but
30 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Frazee.

Elevation 1,410 feet. 

Population 1,645. 

St. Paul 194 miles.

Near Frazee the surface is rough and broken and there are many 

deep valleys containing lakes, ponds, or swamps. A notable depression or. old channel is crossed by the railway just 

southeast of the town. This channel extends northwestward from Murphy Lake, 2 miles southeast of 

Frazee, and it is generally occupied by swamps or 

long, narrow lakes. The railway follows it for 3 miles 

beyond the town, and some of the views of the little lakes on both 

sides of the track are very pretty. Town Lake, close to Frazee, and 

Harold Lake, farther on, are in this channel on the left (south) of 

the track; and Chilton and Brink Lakes are irregular bodies of water 

on the other side.

Frazee is in the heart of a lake region, where large lakes abound 

on all sides of the town, but none of them are visible from the train 

for several miles beyond Harold Lake. It is also in a great morainic' 

belt, which was formed by the ice sheet (western) that invaded this 

country from the Red River valley. The hills are steep and conical, 

and the depressions between them are very pronounced. To this 

glacier is largely due the lake region of central-western Minnesota, 

well known as a summer resort and as a paradise for sportsmen.

The largest and best-known sheet of water that is visible from the 

train in this vicinity is Detroit Lake, which can be seen on the left 

as the train skirts its banks between mileposts 208 and 209, a short 

time before reaching the station at Detroit. From Detroit Lake a 

river channel leads southward into and through a series of other lakes 

of equal beauty. This channel has been made navigable by a system 

of locks, and small steamers ply from lake to lake, passing the finest 

scenery of the lake region. The drinking water used on Northern 

Pacific dining cars comes from Pokegama Spring, 

on the shore of Detroit Lake.

Detroit is one of the most important towns in the 

lake region, and is a point of departure for many of

Detroit.

Elevation 1,386 feet. 

Population 2,807. 

St. Paul 203 miles.

possibly the larger part will be buried in 

sand and gravel washed out from the front 

of the glacier. In the course of time the 

part above ground melts and disappears, 

but if the deposition of sand and gravel 

continues the part below the surface may 

become completely covered, and being 

protected it persists, as shown at B in 

figure 3. Finally this also melts, and 

the surrounding sand and gravel fall into 

the hole left by the ice. This leaves such 

a depression as that shown in the diagram a kettle, as it is generally called 

in a glaciated country.

If the material surrounding the kettle 

is open and porous, and if there is good 

underground drainage, the kettle may 

remain open and in much the same condition as it was when it was formed; but 

if the earth around the kettle is impervious, then most of the water falling into 

it .or draining into it from the surrounding 

region is retained, and a lake or pond is 

the result. Some of the lakes of this region 

are many miles across, and if their basins 

were formed in this way the blocks of ice 

that caused the depressions in which they 

lie must have been correspondingly large.
THE NORTHERN" PACIFIC ROUTE. 31

its resorts. Just west of the town the Northern Pacific is crossed 

by a branch of the Soo Line (Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. 

Marie Railway), which runs from Alexandria to Plummer.

The roughest part of the moraine seen from the railway, a part 

known as the Leaf Hills, lies east of Detroit, but west of that place the

surface features become more and more subdued. 

Audubon. As the morainic topography disappears farming 

Elevation 1,332 feet. becomes more general, and at Audubon field after 

S(°Ppau^2io3miies field of grain stretches away over the rolling upland

as far as the eye can see. Although the traveler 

may have enjoyed the ever-changing panorama of lakes, hills, and 

plains of the morainic belt, he may find it a relief to emerge into the 

fine farming region about Audubon and Lake Park.

Lake Park is another important town of the lake region, and 

although no water is visible from the train there are one or two

ponds near by, and some of the finest lakes of 

Lake Park. the region lie a short distance to the south. Lake 

Elevation 1,341 feet. Park is on the edge of the prairies. The trees are 

'st^Pauu^miies small and are confined largely to the watercourses.

Almost all the land is under a high state of' cultivation, and fields of wheat and hay abound on every side.

The country here is a gently rolling upland with the valleys cut 

to a depth of 50 feet or more below the general level. At Manitoba

Junction the Northern Pacific line running to 

unc ion. Qroo]jS^OIlj Mum., Grand Forks, N. Dak., and WinniPeg> Canada, turns to the right (north) . At this

place the traveler enters the valley of Buffalo Creek 

and can not see the upland country, which, however, is much the same 

in character as the country east of the junction that is, it is rolling,

but is cut by the valleys of the larger streams. 

Hawley. The railway follows Buffalo Creek through the 

Elevation 1,174 feet. village of Hawley, but the valley grows deeper 

SSXtfes. toward the west, and little of the country outside

of the immediate valley can be seen from the train.

If the traveler had been attempting to cross the continent in the

closing stages of the glacial epoch by the route which he is now following, he would have been confronted, when he 

Muskoda. reached the place where Muskoda now stands (see 

Elevation LOST feet. sheet 4, p. 40), by a vast lake which then occupied

St. Paul 234 miles. ' L ; J . L

the valley 01 lied River. Ihe only passageway 

around it would have been by a wide detour to the south, for the 

lake extended into Canada for several hundred miles and was bounded 

on the north by the impassable front of the great continental glacier. 

As the lake has completely disappeared the reader may be skeptical 

about its existence or wonder upon what evidence its presence in a
GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

former age has been determined. Unfortunately the track is so far 

below the general surface of the upland that there is little opportunity to observe details, but if the traveler could carefully examine 

the ground, he would easily recognize the shore of this ancient lake 

just before he reaches the station at Muskoda. This old shore consists of a ridge of gravel which was heaped up by the waves that beat 

upon its western side. The large gravel pit which the railroad has 

excavated in this ridge to procure ballast can be seen from the 

Muskoda station.

The lake was named by the geologist Warren Upham in honor of 

Louis Agassiz, who was the first to make a systematic study of 

glaciers and glacial phenomena. 1 The beach at Muskoda is called

1 Lake Agassiz was a body of fresh water 

that existed during a late stage of the 

glacial epoch in the valley of Red River 

and extended northward (see map on 

sheet 4, p. 40) from the head of that 

stream for nearly 700 miles. The area of 

the lake at the time of its greatest expansion was about 110,000 square miles, 

exceeding the present aggregate area of 

the five great lakes tributary to the St. 

Lawrence.

The shore of this ancient lake is marked 

by well-defined beaches, and it is from 

these that the existence and the extent 

of the lake are known. The beach ridges 

are built upon typical bowlder clay or 

till that was deposited by an ice sheet, 

and hence it is known that the lake either 

followed the invasion of the ice or marked 

the closing stages of that episode.

The next question that arises is, What 

were the conditions that led to the formation of such a lake? It could not have 

been held in a landlocked basin, for no 

such basin exists at the present time, and 

there is no evidence that the surface features of that time differed greatly from 

those of to-day. Warren Upham, who 

has studied this question most carefully, 

has come to the conclusion that it was 

held in place by the retreating front of 

the glacier, which blocked the natural 

outlet of the water to the north and forced 

it to accumulate in this basin. The ponding of the water in the Red River valley 

began as soon as the ice front retreated 

across the divide at the head of Minnesota River. Lake Agassiz thus began as

a small body of water, and expanded 

northward as the ice melted until it became of great extent. The water found 

an outlet southward (known as Warren 

River) to Minnesota River through 

Browns Valley, which extends from Lake 

Traverse to Lake Big Stone along the 

boundary between South Dakota and 

Minnesota.

The water of Lake Agassiz continued 

to flow through Warren River until the 

Keewatin (ke-wah'tin) glacier -had retired northward far enough to permit 

an outlet direct to Hudson Bay. As the 

barrier which held the lake in place was 

composed of ice, its gradual retreat afforded outlets at different levels, and at 

many of these stages the water remained 

long enough to carve beach lines more or 

less distinct. Thirty-one such beaches are 

known, all of which except the lowest extend into the United States. Fourteen of 

them were formed by the lake when its 

outlet was to the south, and seventeen 

after it gained an outlet into Hudson 

Bay.

In comparison with the irregularities 

of the topography of the region outside 

of the lake the shore lines are inconspicuous, but on .the = smooth slopes of the 

lake bed they are generally easily traceable. The best-developed beach ridges 

of the lake commonly rise 10 to 20 feet 

above the adjoining land on the side that 

was next to the water and from 3 to 10 

feet on the opposite side. They vary in 

width from 10 to 30 rods and are composed 

of interstratified gravel and sand, the,
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 3

 --w »

^y//':% o '«

MAP OF WESTERN AND SUPERIOR ICE SHEETS OF 

MINNESOTA, SHOWING THEIR RELATIONS TO THE DRIFT 

PREVIOUSLY DEPOSITED BY THE MIDDLE ICE SHEET .

Prepared by Frank Leverett

ata. are shown every fo miles 

 re spaced I mile apart
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 33

the Herman beach. It was formed when the water of Lake Agassiz 

stood at its highest level and consequently marks the line between 

the unmodified glacial topography above and the smooth surface of 

the old lake basin below. The difference in the topography may not 

be noticeable on the east side of the valley because of the unfavorable outlook, but on the opposite side of the valley west of Fargo 

the difference is very striking and can readily be seen from the train. 

Between mileposts 242 and 243 the railway emerges from the now 

shallow valley of Buffalo Creek, and the traveler may obtain his 

first view of the famous Red River valley, which has been referred 

to frequently as the "granary of the world," but which was once a 

lake about 50 miles wide at this point and nearly 700 miles long.

gravel prevailing, including pebbles 2 to 

4 inches in diameter.

The development of the beaches varies

greatly from place to place, depending 

apparently upon the abundance and 

character of the materials which were 

within reach of the waves. Thus where 

the valley is crossed by the main line of 

the Northern Pacific Railway three beach 

ridges are clearly visible on the east side 

of the valley and two on the west. At 

Wahpeton (waw/pe-ton), on the Fergus 

Falls branch of the same road, there are 

four well-developed ridges on each side 

of the valley. At Grand Forks there are 

four ridges on the east, where they are 

crossed by the Great Northern Railway, 

and twelve on the west. Not only does 

the number of ridges vary from place 

to place, but ridges disappear and other 

ridges, either higher or lower, appear in 

their places, so that the identification of 

the various ridges is a matter of considerable difficulty.

The Herman beach, which marks the 

highest stage of the lake and which is the 

one most easily recognized, has been 

traced for a long distance around the south 

and west sides of the lake, but the lower 

beaches are not so well marked and can 

not be traced continuously.

Sand and gravel deltas, so' extensive 

as to be notable features of the topography, 

were formed by several streams that 

flowed into the lake while it stood at its 

highest stages. The Buffalo River delta, 

down which the Northern Pacific Rail95558 0 Bull. 611 15 3

way runs immediately west of Muskoda, 

covers an area about 7 miles long from 

north to south and 2 to 3$ miles wide from

east to west. As the average thickness 

of the material laid down in this delta is 

about 50 feet, its volume is probably onesixth of a cubic mile. The delta plain, 

as shown in figure 4 (p. 34), is terminated 

about 3 miles west of Muskoda by a steep 

slope, like the face of a terrace, 25 to 40 

feet high.

The floor of this ancient lake is apparently a level plain, although it really 

has a slight slope toward the middle and 

a gentle northward inclination of about 

a foot to the mile.

The several shore lines are not parallel 

with one another or with sea level, but 

all show an ascent toward the north or 

northeast. Thus the upper or Herman 

beach rises 175 feet between Lake 

Traverse, the lower end of Lake Agassiz, 

and the international boundary, but the 

grade is not regular, being 35 feet in the 

first 75 miles, 60 feet in the second, and 

80 feet in the third. The lower beaches 

show a similar though less pronounced 

rise. As these beaches must have been 

horizontal when they were formed, it is 

evident that the crust of the earth has 

been elevated toward the north, and 

as the beaches show divergence among 

themselves, it is certain that this upward movement in the earth's crust 

began when Lake Agassiz was in existence and continued for some time after it 

was drained.
34 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The silt deposited in this lake gives the valley its wonderfully smooth 

surface and its great fertility. During the highest stage of the lake 

Buffalo Creek built just below Muskoda a delta of considerable size, 

and it is from this delta that the first view of the valley may be obtained. At a later stage, when the 'water of the lake was at a lower 

level, the waves cut away the front of the delta and greatly increased 

the natural slope of the valley side, as shown in figure 4. The railway engineers found difficulty in getting down this slope without 

loops and curves, so a long, high fill has been made which gives a 

uniform grade from top to bottom.1 The weight of the fill, however, 

proved to be too great for the soft mud at the bottom of the old

11'

FIGURE 4. Section of Buffalo River delta, Minn. AB, Surface of Lake Agassiz at the Herman stage; 

EFB, delta profile; CD, level of water at Campbell stage; EDF, part of delta cut away by the waves, 

leaving the steep westward front (DF).

lake bed, and it is still settling and throwing up a ridge of the soft 

material on each side.

From the high fill the traveler can see something of the great 

extent of the valley its level floor stretching mile after mile without 

the least eminence or depression to break its regularity and some 

of the fine farms that have made it famous. Drilling for water has 

shown that originally the surface of the valley was uneven, much 

like the country on both sides. At a later date the valley was filled 

by a great glacier that came down from the north, grinding and 

scouring away many of the projections and filling the depressions with 

the waste material; and then as the last smoothing process the fine 

mud carried by the streams settled in the lake, giving the valley its 

present smooth surface.

x ln the original construction of the 

Northern Pacific Railway the standard 

maximum grade adopted was 52 feet to 

the mile except on the mountain sections, where the standard was 116 feet to 

the mile. As the traffic developed it 

was found necessary, for economy of 

operation and to increase the capacity 

of the line to handle the business of the 

country tributary to it, to adopt new 

standards of 18 and 21 feet to the mile 

except upon the mountain sections. 

This change necessitated a reduction in

the original grades at many points, involving a large amount of expensive 

work, which has been going on actively 

for the last 15 years and is now nearly 

completed. The fill referred to in the text 

was constructed in connection with one 

of these reductions of grade. The grade 

was reduced from 48 to 18 feet to the 

mile, and freight-train loads were increased from 2,200 tons with two locomotives to 2,550 tons with one locomotive. Many similar examples of grade 

reduction will be observed along the line.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 35

The material laid down in the waters of Lake Agassiz is so soft and 

fine that it is washed away with great rapidity when it is exposed to

the action of the elements. Ordinarily the surface 

Glyndon. vegetation protects it, but when this is removed disEievatfon 946 feet, astrous results follow. In 1895 a wagon road was 

1 graded east of Red River and a short distance north

of the railway near Glyndon for about 6 miles. The 

farmers at once began to dram their fields into the roadside ditch, 

which was deepened and widened so rapidly by the consequent 

erosion that in four years the road had been destroyed for nearly 

a mile and in its place there was a channel 80 feet wide and 25 

feet deep.

Dilworth is a division terminal of the railway, established to relieve 

the congestion of the yards at Fargo, where the terminal was formerly

located. In the Red River valley may be seen some 

Dilworth. Qf ^Q magicaj effects of the mirage that is so striking 

Elevation 933 feet. ft feature Of an arj(j or semiarid region. Warren

St. Paul 248 miles. '* ,-, Upham describes it as follows:

The mirage, typical of plains country or the ocean, may be seen in the Red River 

valley almost any sunshiny day in spring, summer, or autumn. This queer phenomenon makes the high land at the sides of the valley, the tops of the distant trees, and 

houses appear to be raised a little above the horizon, with a narrow strip of sky between. 

The more complex and astonishing effect of mirage may be seen from the highland on 

either side of the lake-bed floor. There, in looking across the valley from one and 

one-half to two hours after sunrise on a hot morning following a cool night, the groves 

and houses, villages, and grain elevators loom up to two or three times their true 

height and places ordinarily hidden by the curvature of the earth are brought into 

view. Oftentimes, too, these objects are seen double, being repeated in an inverted 

image close above their real positions and separated from it by a foglike belt. In its 

most perfect development the mirage^ shows the upper and topsy-turvy portion of 

the view quite as distinctly as the lower and true portion.

These appearances are due to refraction and reflection from layers 

of air of different density, such as are often formed above a wide 

expanse of level country in warm weather.

The last town in Minnesota through which the train passes is

Moorhead, named in honor of William G. Moorhead, a former director

of the railway company. Between this town and

Moorhead, Minn. Fargo, N. Dak., runs Red River, the boundary line

Elevation 929 feet. between the two States, a deep, sluggish stream that

st^pauns/miies. ig generally heavily charged with mud derived from

soft materials deposited in the ancient lake. This

mud gives to the water a brownish-red color.
36 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

North Dakota comprises an area of 70,837 square miles. It was 

admitted to the Union in 1889, and at the census of 1910 it had a 

population of 577,056. It is primarily an agricultural 

North Dakota. State, but from time to time, as conditions have 

changed, there has been a corresponding change in 

its leading industries. At the time of the first permanent settlement 

the whole State consisted of one vast open range which furnished 

grazing in abundance for the herds of wild animals that roamed over 

it. The white man saw the natural fitness of the region for grazing, 

and soon cattle, horses, and sheep were feeding in place of the deer 

and buffalo.

In the Red River valley farming early received a great stimulus 

from the officials of the Northern Pacific Railway, and before many 

years this valley, from its head to the Canadian line, was one vast 

sea of wheat. Farming was also carried on in other valleys to a 

minor extent, but for a long time the region west of Missouri River 

was considered suitable only for grazing, as the annual rainfall (16 

niches) was thought to be too small for raising crops. The discovery 

in recent years that by proper methods of cultivation most of the 

moisture hi the soil could be conserved and rendered available for 

agriculture has worked a wonderful change in the appearance of this 

country, for now almost all the land is under fence and the region west 

of Missouri-River contains many fine farms and thriving towns.

The principal crops are wheat, oats, and flax, and the raising of 

domestic animals is still an important industry. According to the 

census of 1910 the value of all farm products for the year 1909 was 

$205,000,000, of which $180,000,000 was produced directly from the 

crops and $14,000,000 from domestic animals. During the same year 

the value of manufactured products amounted to $19,000,000.

North Dakota is well supplied with lignite. This is a low-grade 

fuel, but it is of very great value for domestic use on these treeless 

plains. Almost every section of land in the part of the State lying 

.west of Missouri River is underlain by lignite, and it is estimated 

that the State contains 697,900,000,000 tons of this fuel. In 1913 

the value of the lignite mined commercially amounted to $765,105.

Fargo is the most important town in the Red River valley and the

largest in the State of North Dakota. It was named for William G.

Fargo, of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express. Fargo is the

Fargo, N. Dak. seat of the North Dakota Agricultural College and

Elevation 926 feet. Experiment Station and is noted as one of the great

st^Paut^mite. farm-machinery markets in the United States. The

climate of Fargo is about the same as that of the Red

River valley as a whole. The winters are frequently severe, the

mercury registering 40° below zero, and the summers are hot, ranging
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 37

from 90°-to 105°. The mean annual precipitation is about 20 to 24 

inches, compared with 28 inches at St. Paul and 15 or 16 inches in the 

western part of the State.

The Red River valley, including that part which lies in Canada, was 

one of the first to be explored in this part of the country. Lake 

Winnipeg, at its mouth, in Canada, was part of the great highway 

by which the French voyageurs penetrated the country west of Lake 

Superior in the early days of the trapper and trader. The earliest 

authentic record of exploration is that of Verandrye, who made an 

unsuccessful attempt to cross the continent in 1738-1742. French 

traders doubtless followed in his footsteps, but they left few if any 

records of their experiences or of the country traversed. In the 

early years of the nineteenth century David Thompson and Alexander 

Henry, of the Northwest Fur Co., pushed their way up the Red River 

valley into what is now North Dakota and Minnesota; and in 1812 

the Earl of Selkirk made the first settlement in the vicinity of Winnipeg. Many French traders probably found their way south into 

that part of the Red River valley lying in North Dakota, for Lewis 

and Clark mention their presence on the Missouri as early as 1804.

Not much is known of the rocks underlying the Red River valley, 

for they are effectually concealed by the glacial drift and by the 

sediment deposited in Lake Agassiz, but their presence here and there 

has been revealed by deep drilling. The deepest well which was sunk 

near Moorhead penetrated lake sediment and glacial drift to a depth 

of 220 feet, Cretaceous shale with some sandstone for 150 feet, and 

the underlying granite to a depth of more than 1,500 feet. This 

region is therefore near the eastern edge of the great mass of Cretaceous strata which extends as an unbroken sheet to the Rocky 

Mountains and which can be seen at many places along the Northern 

Pacific Railway. The sea in which these materials were laid down 

must at some stage of its existence have extended farther east than 

the Red River valley, for a few exposures of these rocks have been 

found in the valley of the Mississippi. (See route map, sheet 2, p. 26.)

A few years ago a traveler crossing the old lake bottom just before 

the wheat harvest would have seen mile after mile of grain, which on 

a clear breezy day would have looked much like.the waves rolling 

across the water, and he could almost have imagined Lake Agassiz to 

be still in existence. In recent years the crops in this region have 

become more diversified and now instead of the unbroken stand of 

wheat that stretched to the horizon line, the traveler sees interspersed 

with the wheat other grains and flax, and only here and there is the 

wheat grown in large areas* The rich black soil extends in almost 

unbroken regularity across the valley and it is under a high state of 

cultivation, even to the very edge of the railroad track. Probably 

there are few regions in the world in which the soil is more fertile than
38 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

that of the Red River valley. The silt where it is wet and compacted 

has much the character of clay, but it differs from clay in that it 

contains fine sand, powdered limestone, and carbonaceous matter, 

which make it less coherent.

There are some tracts of very compact and heavy soil upon the 

level bottoms, ranging in area from a few square yards to a few square 

miles, that are known as "gumbo spots." On account of the impermeable character of the clay, drainage is difficult and in places 

alkaline salts tend to accumulate. °

West of Maple River, which the railway crosses near the village of 

Mapleton, the land rises steadily westward, but the surface of the old 

lake bed is so smooth and the ascent so regular that it is scarcely 

perceptible to the eye. This is a region of great 

Mapleton. farms, and one of the largest and most noted of these 

Elevation 929 feet. is the Dalrymple farm, between Mapleton and Casselton' wnicn comPrises 21,000 acres of cultivated land. 

As these big holdings were the pioneers in the Red 

River valley and led directly to its agricultural development, their 

history may prove to be interesting at this place.

About 1870 the banking firm of Jay Cooke & Co. became the 

financial agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Co. and advertised 

widely the great agricultural possibilities of the region to be traversed 

by the railway. Its glowing statements were attacked through the 

press and otherwise, and much skepticism was expressed as to whether 

or not the country was of any value for agriculture. In order to 

meet these criticisms, certain members of the Northern Pacific directorate determined that they themselves must furnish incontestable 

proof that the land could be farmed to advantage. T. H. Canfield 

purchased 5,500 acres at Lake Park, Minn.; Charlemagne Tower,

3,000 acres at Glyndon, Minn.; and Benjamin P. Cheney and George 

W. Cass, 6,000 acres at Casselton, N. Dak. These farms were at once 

put under expert cultivation, and the result of the experiment showed 

the Lake Park region and the Red River valley to contain some of 

the finest wheat lands in the world. The demonstration of this fact 

caused a large and steady immigration to this region in the years 

immediately following.

The town of Casselton is situated in the heart of the great wheat 

belt and was named for George W. Cass, a former president of the 

Northern Pacific Co. In the vicinity of Casselton and 

Casselton. westward for some distance many flowing water wells 

Elevation 961 feet. have been drilled. These wells derive their supplyfrom 

two sources the glacial drift and the underlying Cretaceous rocks. The water obtained from the glacial 

drift is of fairly good quality and can be obtamed at depths ranging 

from 40 to 200 feet, but the amount of water varies considerably
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 39

and several of the wells have ceased to flow. The -water from the 

Cretaceous rocks is slightly salty and not suited for irrigation, but 

can be used for domestic purposes. The depth of the producing 

wells ranges from 250 to 500 feet, and the flow of water is more constant than that from the glacial drift. The water-bearing rock is 

supposed to be the Dakota sandstone, which belongs at the base of 

the Upper Cretaceous. The water is supposed to enter the Dakota 

sandstone in Wyoming, where the sandstone is upturned against the 

Rocky Mountains, or in the region of the Black Hills. It follows the 

sandstone bed beneath the Great Plains and appears where the sandstone rises and approaches the surface in eastern North Dakota.

The village of Wheatland, appropriately named, is situated at the

place where the railway crosses the lowest prominent beach of Lake

Agassiz, the houses in the eastern part of the village

Wheatland. and a cemetery north of the track being situated on

Elevation 1,010 feet, the beach ridge. When the surface of the lake stood

st^paiu^miies. a* this level the water was 90 feet deep at Fargo, in

the center of the valley, and it remained at this height

long enough for the waves to heap up a distinct ridge of sand and fingravel. This is known as the Campbell beach, from the town of that

name in Wilkin County, Minn., through which it extends.

West of Wheatland there are, here and there, traces of similar 

beaches, showing that Lake Agassiz stood at different levels above

Herman Beach

FIGURE 5. Section of Herman beach ridge wast of Magnolia, N. Dak., showing the relation of the sand 

and gravel bods composing the beach to the surface of glacial Lake Agassiz.

that of the Campbell stage, but at none of them long enough to form 

a decided and well-marked beach, except at the highest of the series. 

This is known as the Herman beach. It can easily be seen from the 

train just 5 miles west of the Campbell beach, or three-fourths of a 

mile west of Magnolia. (See fig. 5.) This beach ridge is even better 

developed than the Campbell beach and is marked by an old gravel 

pit on the right (north) of the track. The ridge is 15 feet high and 

about 150 feet wide on top. In the pit the beds of gravel dip about 20° 

to the west, or away from the open water of the lake, showing that 

the waves earned the sand and gravel over the top and deposited 

them on the back slope of the ridge. When Lake Agassiz stood at 

this level the water at Fargo was about 175 feet deep, but it rose no 

higher, because at that stage it found an outlet to the Mississippi 

through the valley of Minnesota River.

From the Herman beach a comprehensive view can be had of the 

broad expanse of the Red River valley. Above the level of the beach
40 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

the old surface of till and outwash gravel is in its original condition, 

not having been smoothed and covered by a coating of mud, as was 

that of the submerged area.

West of the Herman beach the railway crosses a low, broad ridge 

by a deep cut in glacial till and sand. This cut is 4 

miles long, extending as far as the village of Buffalo, 

and it affords excellent exposures of the materials 

transported by the ice. The low ridge through which 

the cut is made is a faint moraine, marking the position of the front of the glacier 1 that occupied the valley of Red River 

before it became a lake, as described on page 32.

Buffalo.

Elevation 1,226 feet. 

Population 241. 

St. Paul 288 miles.

1 The glacial features of North Dakota 

are the result of the invasion of the ice 

sheet that originated west of Hudson Bay. 

At the time of its greatest expansion this 

glacier covered all of North and South 

Dakota east of Missouri River with ice 

probably hundreds and perhaps thousands of feet in thickness.

A study of the materials brought down 

from the north shows that glaciation was 

not confined to a single stage of growth 

and decadence of the ice sheets, but that 

there were several advances and retreats, 

and that the amount of movement accomplished in the various stages differed 

greatly. These fluctuations appear to 

have been due to the fact that at times 

the climate was favorable for the development and advance of the ice, and that 

at other times it was milder and the ice 

wasted away until large tracts previously 

covered were again in condition for the 

return of animal and vegetable life. 

During the warmer epochs soils were developed, and the glacial materials spread 

over the land were sculptured by newly 

established drainage systems. The return of colder weather and the advance 

of the ice over most of the area previously 

glaciated destroyed many of the new 

surface features and buried the whole 

under a new deposit of drift.

The extent of the several ice sheets 

which invaded the Dakotas during the 

Wisconsin stage of glaciation is shown on 

the sketch map on sheet 5 (p. 44). Northeastern Minnesota was covered by ice that 

came from the direction of Labrador. 

Sweeping southwestward and southward 

around the west end of this ice mass came

another great glacier from the region west 

of Hudson Bay, which divided at the head 

of the Coteau des Prairies (for meaning 

of the word " coteau" see p. 45), or just 

south of the South Dakota line, into two 

great lobes, one of which, known as the 

Minnesota Glacier, passed southward up 

the broad valley of Red River and across 

Minnesota into Iowa as far as the present 

city of Des Moines, and the other, known 

as the Dakota Glacier, moved down the 

James River valley to the Missouri, spreading westward upon the flanks of the Coteau du Missouri. The farthest extent of 

these lobes is marked by a" well-developed 

ridge, called the Altamoht moraine.

The Altamont moraine is crossed by 

the Northern Pacific Railway between 

Sterling and Driscoll and from this point 

recedes far to the east, crossing the line 

between North and South Dakota about 

75 miles east of Missouri River. In 

South Dakota its outline is somewhat 

irregular, showing that small lobes of ice 

pushed out here and there far beyond the 

principal mass. In general, however, the 

Altamont moraine bounds Missouri River 

on the east, and it is probable that the 

front of the ice and its accompanying 

moraine were largely instrumental in determining the course of that stream. 

. The Dakota lobe of the glacier filled 

all the country between Missouri and 

Big Sioux rivers, but east of the Big 

Sioux there was a strip of country free 

from ice, which extended, as shown on 

the map, nearly to the North Dakota line.

The marginal deposit indicating the 

first halt in the glacial wasting and retreat is the Gary moraine, which is
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 4-

GLACIAL LAKE AGASSIZ AT THE TIME OF ITS GREATEST EXPANSION

THE LAKE. CAUSED BY ICE BLOCKADE ON THE NORTHEAST. WAS 700 MILES LONG 

AND MORE THAN 200 MILES BROAD

9730' 97 'MINNESOTA-NORTH DAKOTA

I...9

Approximately 8 miles to I inch

20Miles

IS 25 aOKilometers

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

9630'
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 41

Just beyond Buffalo the traveler can obtain on the left the first 

extended view across the prairies and lowlands of the valley of 

Sheyenne River. This broad stretch of country is well farmed, and 

the fields of grain are a sure indication of its prosperity.

Near Tower City (see sheet 5, p. 44) the railway is located in a 

broad flat that is only imperfectly drained by the headwaters of 

Maple River, as described on page 43; and then 

begins the long, steady ascent to the summit of Alta 

Ridge, which can be seen in the distance from Oriska. 

This ridge, one of the most pronounced topographic 

features that will be seen between the Red River 

valley and Missouri River, is capped by drift which represents the

Tower City.

Elevation 1,194 feet. 

Population 452. 

St. Paul 294 miles.

crossed by the Northern Pacific Railway 

just west of Crystal Springs. It lies upon

the Coteau du Missouri and is closely associated with the Altamont moraine, the 

high coteau front serving as a wall or darn 

which held back the ice in its forward 

movement. The great amount of material 

in these outer moraines and the large size 

of the hills indicate that the edge of the 

great ice sheet probably remained against 

the coteau for a considerable time. South 

of the Northern Pacific Railway the Gary 

moraine is roughly parallel with the Altamont moraine. In some places they 

coincide, but in others they are nearly 

50 miles apart. The glacier at the time 

the Gary moraine was built extended as. 

far south as it did during the greatest extension, but the lobe was narrower, averaging not more than 80 miles in width, 

and the point of division between this 

lobe and the Minnesota lobe had receded 

to the North Dakota line.

The next stage in the recession of the 

ice front is not marked by a single large 

and well-defined moraine, but by a belt 

of more or less disconnected ridges or 

heaps of morainal deposits, called the 

Antelope moraine. The number of these 

ridges indicates that the ice front fluctuated back and forth across the belt. The 

ridges of the Antelope moraine are crossed 

by the Northern Pacific line between 

Spiritwood and Eldridge, but they are 

not well' marked on either side of James 

River. The glacier at the Antelope substage extended in a long tongue down 

the James River valley as far as Huron, 

S. Dak., but the point of division between

the two great lobes had not changed its 

position appreciably from that which it

occupied in the Gary substage. The 

Antelope moraine is here regarded as including the Kiester moraine, which has 

been recognized only for a few miles south 

of the Northern Pacific Railway and east 

of James River.

The next important moraine, Avhich has 

been called the Waconia, is crossed by 

the railway between Eckelson and Fox 

lakes and forms the divide between Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It 

marks the first definite and prolonged 

halt in the retreat of the ice front after 

the formation of the Gary moraine. The 

glacier at this stage of the retreat extended 

only a few miles across the State line into 

South Dakota, and its lobe, which at one 

time extended to the mouth of James 

River, was so reduced as to be scarcely 

recognizable and before the next halt had 

disappeared.

Two more halts in the recession of the 

western margin of the ice are recorded 

along the Northern Pacific line, but these 

were doubtless of slight duration and did 

not produce separate moraines south of 

the railway. The moraine marking the 

earlier of these halts is supposed to be the 

same as a moraine at Fergus Falls, Minn., 

and therefore is called by that name. It 

is well developed in Alta Ridge, G miles 

east of Valley City. The second moraine 

is the low ridge east of Buffalo. When 

the ice front retreated east of this moraine, 

the southern part of Red River valley 

became flooded with water, and Lake 

Agassiz was formed.
42 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Fergus Falls moraine. Its summit, which is crossed by the railway 

near milepost 59, attains an altitude of 1,454 feet, or 528 feet higher 

than Fargo on the east and 209 feet higher than Valley City on the 

west. On the west there is a sharp descent from Alta Ridge down 

to a broad plain formed by the outwash of material from the glacier 

when it lay just east of the ridge. It is supposed that at the time 

the moraine was formed Sheyenne River was flowing at the same 

level as this plain and that the present valley of that stream had not 

been cut.

West of Alta Ridge the old line of the railway turned slightly to 

the south and descended into the valley of Sheyenne River, crossing 

the stream but little above the general level of the 

valley bottom. Recently a new "high line" has 

been carried across the valley on a steel trestle 150 

feet high. From this trestle a fine view of Valley 

City and the river can be had. (See PI. Ill, p. 11.) 

Here the rock underlying the glacial drift is exposed, and it is the 

first exposure of this kind that can be seen from the train west of the 

Mississippi Valley. Soft dark shale may be seen in either bluff from 

the "high line" or in the sides of the coulee 2 as the train descends 

by the "low line" to the bottom of the valley. This shale contains 

fossil shells, which are similar to those of animals living in the ocean 

of to-day; hence it is believed that it was deposited when this part of 

the country was beneath the waters of a sea.3

At Valley City the Northern Pacific is crossed by the branch of 

the Soo Line that connects Moose Jaw, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, with St. Paul.

Valley City.

Elevation 1,245 feet.» 

Population 4,606. 

St. Paul 310 miles.

1 This is the altitude at the old station, 

which is near river level. The new station is about 150 feet higher.

2 The term "coulee 1 ' is generally applied 

throughout the northern tier of States to 

any steep-sided gulch or water channel 

and at times even to a stream valley of 

considerable length. The term was 

doubtless derived from the French verb 

couler, signifying to flow. This meaning 

of " coulee" should not be confused with 

the geologic meaning of the word, which 

signifies a solidified stream or sheet of 

lava.

3 During the later half of the Cretaceous period the sea covered what is now 

the region of the Great Plains and the 

Rocky Mountains as far west as the 

Wasatch Range in Utah and extended 

from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic 

Ocean. The incursion of the sea over

this area was due to the relative sinking 

of the land. As the land sank the waters 

advanced, and the waves and currents 

washed and sorted the sediments brought 

down by the streams. The coarser sand 

and gravel were left near the shore, but 

the finer silt was widely distributed over 

the sea bottom. As the sea gradually 

deepened and the shore line advanced 

the silt covered up the sand; the sand 

was cemented together as sandstone and 

the silt was compacted into shale. Vary- 

 ing conditions caused more or less commingling and interbedding of sand and 

silt, so that numerous beds of sandstone 

and of sandy shale are now encountered 

in drilling into the ancient -deposits. 

The long duration of the period in which 

these beds were laid down is indicated 

by the great thickness of fine sediment 

which then accumulated.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 43

West of Valley City the surface is more or less irregular and hummocky, but no definite moraine has been recognized along the line 

of the railway. In this part of North Dakota many of the glacial 

features are not clear and distinct. It is supposed that this is due 

to the fact that the older ice sheets had left pronounced features that 

were only slightly modified by the Wisconsin glacier, and the result 

to-day is that one system of moraines is superimposed on others having different patterns, the features being therefore very much confused. 

In the vicinity of Sanborn there are a number of lakes which 

can be seen from the train, but they are not so attractive as the 

lakes of Minnesota, for they are shallow and highly 

charged with alkali, which in seasons of drought is 

deposited around their margins as a white powder. 

This powder is composed largely of such substances 

as baking soda, washing soda, and other materials 

having similar properties. The water of these lakes is unsuitable for 

drinking but is not too strongly alkaline to be used for watering stock. 

The lakes are generally long and narrow, occupying depressions that 

resemble stream valleys, but the mode of formation of these depressions has not been determined. At Sanborn a branch line turns to 

the right, leading northward to Cooperstown and McHenry.

The Waconia moraine, crossed by the Northern 

Eckelson. Pacific Railway west of Eckelson (see p. 41), constiEievation 1,487 foot, tutes the divide between the Hudson Bay and MissisPopulation 327.* . ._. , , J

st. Paul 326 miles. sippi Kiver drainage basins. 1

Sanborn.

Elevation 1,468 feet. 

Population 390. 

St. Paul 320 miles.

1 Tliis divide illustrates the poorly 

drained character of the glaciated prairies and the delicate balance between 

the drainage systems. Although Sheyenne and James rivers, the two principal 

streams of this region, flow in nearly parallel courses for 180 miles, and the relief 

of the land between them is generally 

not more than 20 feet, yet the Sheyenne 

ultimately discharges into Hudson Bay 

and the James into the Gulf of Mexico. 

These rivers are very small in proportion 

to the valleys in which they flow, there 

being barely sufficient water to maintain 

them as running streams during the summer season.

The drainage area of the Sheyenne 

embraces approximately 10,000 square 

miles, yet the volume of water it discharges into Red River is estimated to 

be less than that which flows through 

Valley City, nearly 150 miles upstream. 

The loss is due to evaporation and absorption as the stream meanders sluggishly 

over the broad, flat bottom of its valley.

Several broad and deep coulees enter 

the valley of the Sheyenne from the 

west, but they are occupied only by 

intermittent streams, insignificant in size 

even in times of heavy rain; and the only 

land that is really drained is that comprised in short, deep gorges which broaden out rapidly toward the Sheyenne as 

they deploy upon its flood plain.

The drainage basin of James River is 

much larger than that of the Sheyenne, 

but a gaging station established by the 

United States Geological Survey on the 

James a few miles south of the railway 

was abandoned because there was not, for 

a part of the year, sufficient current to 

turn a water meter.

In periods of heavy rains and melting 

snows a system of ancient channels is 

occupied by Maple River and its tributaries; but although these constitute the 

drainage system for an area of more than 

1,000 square miles, ordinarily the run-off 

is insufficient to maintain a permanent 

stream.
44 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED ' STATES.

Spiritwood.

Elevation 1,500 feet. 

Population 264.* 

St. Paul 333 miles.

Jamestown.

Elevation 1,429 feet. 

Population 4,358. 

St. Paul 344 miles.

Between the Waconia moraine and Spiritwood there are no marked 

features. From Spiritwood westward for a distance of 

48 miles no distinctly morainic ridges are visible from 

the train, but it is believed that the various ridges 

constituting the Antelope moraine are present in this 

region, for they have been identified in the country 

north and south of the railway.

Jamestown is a district terminal, and here a branch turns to the 

right to Pingree and Devils Lake, and another to the left down the 

valley of James River to La Moure and Oakes. The 

country is so thoroughly covered with glacial drift 

that the underlying rocks are not visible along 'the 

railway, but deep drilling for water showed that in 

general on the upland the drift is merely sufficient to 

conceal the rocks below, and in some of the larger stream valleys it is 

more than 100 feet deep. This indicates that the valleys of such 

streams as James River were in existence before the glacial epoch, that 

during the occupation of this region by the ice they were deeply filled 

with glacial material, and that since then the streams have succeeded 

only in partly clearing them of this material.

A deep well at the North Dakota Insane Hospital, in the southern 

part of Jamestown, passed through 118 feet of glacial drift, 1,330 feet 

of Cretaceous shale, and about 200 feet of sandstone that is supposed 

to be the Dakota sandstone, at the base of the Upper Cretaceous. The 

top of this sandstone is about at sea level, and rises eastward at the 

rate of about 8£ feet to the mile.

The chief occupation in the country around Jamestown is agriculture, the crops being wheat, oats, flax, barley, and vegetables. 

West of Jamestown the railway follows the valley of Pipestem

Creek as far as milepost 94.1 At this point the main valley followed 

by the branch road leading to Pingree and Devils Lake comes in from 

the north, but the mam railway line keeps directly ahead up a small 

ravine and reaches the upland near Berner, about 2 miles farther on. 

In this ravine there are many cuts, which afford excellent opportunities to study the composition of the drift or till, beneath which in 

some of the cuts a few feet of Cretaceous shale may be seen. In this 

vicinity the railway is supposed to cross parts of the Antelope moraine, 

but nothing resembling a definite ridge is in sight.

1 The mileposts about Jamestown are 

confusing, as the last one to be seen as the 

train enters the yards, nearly a mile east 

of the depot, is 99, and the one mentioned 

above, where the branch leaves the main 

line and turns up Pipestem Creek, is 94.

Evidently about 7 miles has been dropped 

out of the count, but the figures given for 

each town in the side notes in this bulletin represent the distances from St. Paul 

that are given in the Northern Pacific 

Railway folder for 1915.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 5

MORAINES FORMED BY THE ICE SHEET THAT 

CROSSED NORTH DAKOTA IN WISCONSIN TIME

98°3o' 98° NORTH DAKOTA

'....9

Scale 500,000

Approximately 8 miles to I inch 

,?.... IP .... ip .... 2OMII««

. ?. . . .'P. . . .P. 20 25 aoKilometers

Contour interval 200 feet

ELEVATIONS IN FEET ABOVE M£AN S£A LEVEL

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The croastiaa on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

98°30'
THE NOBTHEEN PACIFIC EOUTE. 45

Eldridge.

Elevation 1,563 feet. 

Population 161.* 

St. Paul 351 miles.

Windsor.

Elevation 1,864 feet. 

Population 112.* 

St. Paul 3GO miles.

A few miles west of Eldridge (see sheet 6, p: 46) is the eastern front 

of a low plateau known as the Coteau du Missouri, 1 which is mentioned 

in all the accounts of early explorations in this part 

of the country. Doubtless in passing across the 

country on foot or with a wagon train the Coteau 

loomed up as a formidable obstacle, but the railway 

traveler of to-day, unless his attention is particularly 

directed to it, would probably cross it without realizing that it is a 

prominent topographic feature.

At milepost 103 the train begins the ascent of the east front of the 

Coteau, and it reaches the summit just east of Windsor. A comparison of altitudes shows that this summit is almost exactly 300 feet above Eldridge and 435 feet above 

Jamestown". In a mountainous region a ridge 300 

feet high is hardly worth considering, but in eastern 

North Dakota a plateau of this height is of the first 

magnitude. The commanding position of the Coteau can better be 

appreciated by a view eastward from milepost 108, at the east end of 

the deep summit cut. This view commands a wide expanse of undulating plain, which is backed in the distance by the low swell of Alta 

Ridge, east of Valley City.

As shown on the sketch map on sheet 5 (p. 44), a small moraine 

marks the face of the Coteau north of the railroad. It is probable 

that this is represented by the deep till in the summit cut east of 

Windsor, but the features visible from the train are not strikingly 

morainic in character.

The glacial features along the line of the railway are not well 

marked, but from Cleveland nearly to Medina there are many 

indications, in the form of hummocks and undrained 

basins, of the morainic character of the topography. 

Beyond this belt the country is gently rolling. The 

scarcity of ranch houses is an indication that this 

is what was formerly called the "short-grass country," but now, in the days of successful dry farming, 

it has achieved a very different reputation.

Near Crystal Springs the aspect of the country 

appears to be distinctly morainic in character, but no definite ridge

Cleveland.

Elevation 1,874 feet. 

St. Paul 364 miles.

Medina.

Elevation 1,816 feet. 

Population 343. 

St. Paul 373 miles.

1 Coteau is a French term signifying a 

small hill or hillock. In the northern 

part of the United States it was generally 

applied by the early French travelers to 

a range of hills or to the escarpment forming the edge of a plateau. Such an escarpment is usually dissected, so that at a distance it resembles a range of hills. The 

Coteau des Prairies and Coteau du Missouri are escarpments of this character.
46 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEEN" UNITED STATES. {

can be seen from the train. The tracks cross the Gary moraine (see

sketch map on sheet 5, p. 44) a short distance west

Crystal Springs. of thig towilj but ag the raiiway f 0UOWs an old outlet

Elevation 1802 feet, channel, the moraine, as seen from the train, does not

Population 216.* ' ' . '

st. Paul 382 miles. appear to be particularly prominent. A mile or so 

to the left (south) of the track the moraine is strongly 

developed, consisting of a ridge at least 125 feet higher than the 

plain on the west. The gravel showing in big pits near Ladoga 

is outwash material from the front of the ice when it built the 

moraine.

Beyond Crystal Springs the country is drift covered but generally

flat. This topography continues to Tappen, a flourTappen. ishing village in a belt of good farming land. SeeniEievation i,789 feet, ingly the glacier in passing over this country had

st°Ppaui 389 miles, little effect except to smooth off and fill up most of

the irregularities in the old topography. J 

In the vicinity of Dawson the most pronounced geologic and ^ 

topographic feature is the Altamont moraine, which was produced \t 

. by the Wisconsin ice sheet at the time of its maxi- * 

Dawson. mum extension. As shown on the sketch map on J 

Elevation 1,771 feet, sheet 5 (p. 44). there is a great reentrant angle in '

St. Paul394 miles. , . r. \' , . t T>- i ± i. ^ >

this moraine almost due east ot Bismarck, at about j 

the place where it is crossed by the Northern Pacific Railway. -\ 

Owing to this reentrant the moraine trends parallel with the track .'; 

and is visible for several miles. West of Dawson there are heavy ^ 

deposits of drift which probably belong to this moraine. They "! 

are especially prominent in a cut a mile long between mileposts \ 

147 and 148.

The same rolling topography occurs in the vicinity of Steele

and as far west as the western margin of the

Steele. moraine. Outwash gravel is also abundant about

Elevation 1,880 feet. Steele, as is indicated by the hills of gravel and

st°PpauH02 miles. by the pits from which the railway has procured

gravel for ballast.

At Driscoll (see sheet 7, p. 54) is the highest land that is crossed 

by the Northern Pacific Railway east of Missouri River. Near milepost 163 an old drainage channel, including a chain 

Driscoll. of shallow lakes, crosses the moraine obliquely in a 

Elevation 1,895 feet, southwesterly direction. West of this gap and north 

st^HisSes. °f Sterling the hills rise again in a narrow morainic 

ridge which extends to the northeast for a long distance. Beyond Driscoll the railway gradually descends to Missouri 

River, which in the early days was the great highway to the north-
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 6

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington.

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and frem additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH. DIRECTOR 

David White. Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

NORTH DAKOTA

Scale 

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch

10 IS 10 25 30KilOtn«

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Pful. Minnesota, ire sAotvf every 10 miles 

The trotattes f>n the rat/roads are sp«ced ' mi/6 apart

uthdown. n,

EL.I8IO :. :

if't east of and incluain& the Altamont moraine was

deposited at the last or Wisconsin stage of giaciation
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 47

western part of the United States and which was first thoroughly 

explored by Lewis and Clark. 1

1 One of the most noteworthy explorations that was successfully carried out in 

the nineteenth century was that of the 

headwaters of Missouri and Columbia 

rivers by Meriwether Lewis and William 

Clark in the years 1804-1806, and as the 

Northern Pacific Railway follows in a 

general way a part of the same route and is 

the indirect result of their efforts it seems 

appropriate to give here a brief sketch of 

the expedition and of the commanders. 

It is so easy now to cross the continent 

in comfort and even in luxury that the 

difficulties and hardships of such a journey in 1804 can not readily be realized.

Meriwether Lewis was born August 18, 

1774, near Charlottesville, Va., of one of 

the distinguished families of the State. 

He had been for two years the private 

secretary of President Jefferson and was 

serving in that capacity when he was 

selected by the President as commander 

of the exploring expedition to the Pacific 

coast. Upon the completion of his long 

trip Capt. Lewis returned to Washington, 

but soon afterward (Mar. 3, 1807) he was 

appointed governor of Louisiana and departed for St. Louis to assume the duties 

of that office. These occupied his attention for two years, when he again found it 

necessary to visit Washington. He first 

planned the trip by water, but after going 

as far down the river as Chickasaw Bluffs 

(Memphis) he changed his mind and 

started east across the country. On the 

way he committed suicide or was murdered October 11,1809, in Lewis County, 

Tenn.

William Clark was born in Caroline 

County, Va., August 1, 1770. He had a 

number of brothers and sisters, of whom 

George Rogers Clark, an elder brother, 

achieved distinction as a military commander. When William Clark was 14 

years old the family moved to the place 

then called the Falls of the Ohio, now 

Louisville, Ky. The town at that time 

consisted merely of a few cabins clustered 

around a fortification which had been 

erected by Clark's elder brother. When 

the exploring trip to the Pacific coast was

undertaken Clark was selected by Lewie 

as joint head of the party. Soon after his 

return he was made Indian agent for 

Louisiana, with headquarters at St. Louis, 

and on February 27, 1811, he was appointed by President Madison brigadier 

general of tie militia of Louisiana. On 

July 1, 1813, he was made governor of 

Missouri, an office which he held until 

the Territory was admitted to the Union 

in 1821. In May, 1822, President Monroe 

appointed him Superintendent of Indian 

Affairs, and he held that post until his 

death at St. Louis September 1, 1838. 

His funeral was the most impressive that

had ever been held in that city.

When Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated President of the United States, in 

1801, our country did not extend west of 

Mississippi River, and already much friction had arisen between Spain and the 

United States regarding the navigation of 

that stream. Jefferson fully realized that 

for the complete development of the Mississippi Valley it was necessary that we 

should control the mouth of the river. 

Accordingly he began negotiations with 

Spain for the purchase of New Orleans 

and the Floridas.

Louisiana was originally a French possession through the discoveries of La Salle. 

It had been an expensive and troublesome 

province for France and for this reason it 

was secretly conveyed to Spain in 1762. 

In the year 1800, however, it was by another secret treaty ceded back to France. 

It was therefore a surprise to our negotiators to find that it was France and not 

Spain with which they would have to 

treat.

At the time negotiations were opened 

Napoleon was expecting a declaration of 

war by England and the seizure by her of 

the mouth of the Mississippi. This threatened his supremacy in America as well as 

in Europe, and in order to anticipate this 

move he decided to cede to the United 

States not only New Orleans and the Floridas but the entire province of Louisiana, 

which was an empire in extent. Out of 

it has been formed the States of Arkansas,
48 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The village of Sterling is situated at the outer border of the Altamont moraine, at the western limit of the great ice sheet that occupied 

this region in the last stage of the glacial epoch. 

Below it and stretching far to the west is a plain 

which was formed of clay, sand, and gravel that were 

accumulated by the ice and swept along to its outer 

margin. From Sterling may be obtained an extended 

view of the outwash plain, toward the south, and far beyond the more 

rugged country bordering Missouri River.

Sterling.

Elevation 1,834 feet. 

Population 198.* 

St. Paul 421 miles.

Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, 

and South Dakota; nearly all of Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, and 

Montana, about one-third of Minnesota, 

and one-third of Colorado. The treaty by 

which all of this territory was acquired 

was executed in Paris April 30, 1803. 

The compensation was $11,250,000 and 

the assumption by the United States of 

the "French spoliation claims,1'-'estimated 

to amount to $3,750,000. It is an interesting fact that some of these claims are 

still in process of adjudication.

The extent and boundaries of the province of Louisiana were never definitely 

stated. In the treaty the territory was 

described merely as being the same as 

that ceded by Spain to France by the 

treaty of San Ildefonso. From this it 

appears that the territory sold to the 

United States comprised that part of the 

drainage basin of the Mississippi which 

lies west of the river, with the exception 

of such parts as were then held by Spain.

The lack of precise definition was not 

objected to by the American commissioners, as they probably foresaw that it might 

prove of service in future negotiations 

with other powers.

At that time all the territory on the 

Pacific coast now included in the State of 

California was claimed by Spain, and the 

great region later to be embraced in the 

States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho 

was a sort of no man's land. Subsequently, in treating with Great Britain 

regarding the northern boundary of the 

United States, this region was claimed by 

the United States on three grounds: (1) 

Discovery and occupation, (2) Louisiana 

purchase, and (3) cession from Spain. At 

first none of these claims were recognized by Great Britain, and by the treaty

of peace in 1818 it was agreed that the 

country immediately south of the fortyninth parallel and west of the "Stony" 

(Rocky) Mountains should remain open 

to both parties. In 1846 the WebsterAshburton treaty with Great Britain fixed 

the northern boundary of the United 

States west of the Rocky Mountains at the 

forty-ninth parallel as far as the Strait of 

Fuca, and thus Oregon, 'Washington, and 

Idaho finally were recognized as belonging to this country.

On the acquisition of Louisiana an expedition was planned by President Jefferson "to explore the .Missouri River and 

such principal streams of it as, by its course 

and communication with the waters of the 

Pacific Ocean, whether the Columbia, 

Oregon [another name for the Columbia], 

Colorado, or any other river, may offer the 

most direct and practicable water communication across the continent for the purpose of commerce." After receiving the 

requisite instructions Capt. Lewis left 

Washington July 5, 1803, and proceeded 

to Louisville, where he was joined by 

Capt. Clark. They arrived at St. Louis 

in December, but found that the Spanish 

commandant of the province, not having 

received an official account of the transfer, was obliged by the general policy of 

his Government to prevent strangers from 

passing through Spanish territory. The 

party therefore camped on the east side 

of the Mississippi, where they passed the 

winter in making the necessary preparations for setting out early in the spring, 

but they did not leave until after the 

cession of Louisiana had been formally 

announced.

The party when it left St. Lpuis comprised, besides the two officers, nine young 

men from Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 49

The outwash plain with its silty soil is well adapted to the raising 

of flax, wheat, oats, and barley and supports a thriving farming community, the center of which is McKenzie, the junction point of a branch line of railway running south 

to Linton, 45 miles distant. West of McKenzie the 

railway follows down Apple Creek to Missouri River. 

The width of the Apple Creek valley, which is much 

greater than that of even larger streams in the vicinity, indicates 

clearly that at some time in the past this stream must have been

McKenzie.

Elevation 1,725 feet. 

Population 191.* 

St. Paul 427 miles.

the United States Army who had volunteered their services, two French water 

men, an interpreter and hunter, a black 

servant belonging to Capt. Clark, and a 

corporal, six soldiers, and nine water men 

who were to accompany the party as far 

as the Mandan villages.

The party finally embarked on the. momentous voyage of discovery up Missouri 

River on May 14, 1804. The letter from 

President Jefferson instructed them to 

gather information on a great variety of 

subjects, including "the soil and face of 

the country, its growth and vegetable 

productions; the animals of the country, 

and especially those not known in the 

United States; the mineral productions 

of every kind, but more particularly 

metals, limestone, pit coal, saltpeter, salines, and mineral waters * * *; volcanic appearances; and climate." They 

were particularly advised to cultivate 

friendly relations with the Indians and 

to make exhaustive notes regarding their 

habits and customs, their family and 

tribal relations, and the extent and limita of their territorial possessions. They 

carried out these instructions so fully 

that the summer was passed and the autumn well advanced before they reached 

the North Dakota region. By October 26 

the weather had become so severe that 

they went into winter quarters 7 or 8 

miles below the mouth of Knife River 

and 50 miles or so above the present town 

of Bismarck. Here they built a stockade 

which they called Fort Mandan, after the 

tribe of Indians inhabiting this part of 

the country.

They spent the winter in procuring 

supplies for the camp, in friendly intercourse with the Indians, and in visiting

95558° Bull. 611 15 4

the scattered French and English traders 

who were dealing with the Indians on 

both sides of the Canadian line. On 

April?, 1805, the permanent party, which 

had been increased by the interpreter, 

Toussaint Charboneau, and his Indian 

wife, Sacajawea (sak-a-ja-we/a, meaning 

bird woman), again set out on their journey up the great river. They were soon 

beyond the range of the fur trader and 

they saw no white man until they returned to this region the following year. 

All went well until they came to the 

Great Falls of the Missouri, which the 

Indians had described to them. After a 

laborious portage around the falls they 

proceeded onward, searching for a path 

through the "Shining Mountains," which 

lay in rugged masses before them.

Their instructions were to explore the 

best route from the Missouri to the Columbia, but, although they had fairly 

reliable information from the Indians regarding the headwaters of the Missouri, 

they were completely at sea regarding the 

source of the Columbia. For this reason 

they desired very much to find Indian 

guides to pilot them across the mountains. 

Sacajawea, a member of the Snake tribe, 

who had been captured by the Mandans 

when she was a young girl and carried off 

to the Indian towns in North Dakota, 

hoped that she might see some of her 

people inhabiting the mountain region 

at the head of the Missouri and procure 

from them the necessary information and 

assistance.

Above Great Falls the river swings far 

to the west, approaching the mountains, 

and the leaders looked anxiously for signs 

of Indians, but none could be found. To 

make the matter worse, the river here
50 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

much larger than it is at the present time. The increased volume of 

water in Apple Creek was due to the fact that it received a large part 

of the drainage of the ice sheet that piled up the Altamont moraine. 

Much of the clay, sand, and gravel washed out from the ice was carried 

down to Missouri River and swept southward by its mighty current, 

but a large amount was dropped along Apple Creek, filling the valley 

to a considerable depth. Since the disappearance of the ice the 

stream has cut a channel hi this material 70 or 80 feet deep. The 

uplands on both sides of the valley of Apple Creek have only a thin 

veneer of glacial drift. (See footnote on p. 54.)

The great amount of cutting done by Apple Creek when it was 

flooded by water from the melting ice is shown by the width of its 

flood plain where the valley j oins that of Missouri River. At the State 

penitentiary 2 miles east of Bismarck the valley of Apple Creek has a

changes its course and they were forced 

to travel away from the mountains for a 

long distance; but on coming to the three 

forks of the Missouri Sacajawea remembered the country and saw the spot where 

she had been captured many years before. The expedition proceeded up Jefferson River to its head and crossed the 

Continental Divide (at Lemhi Pass) into 

Idaho. Here they met the Snake Indians, Sacajawea even finding her brother 

and sister, but after repeated efforts they 

decided that it was impossible to make 

their way down Salmon River to the Columbia, so they turned northward, crossing the range again, and followed down 

the Bitterroot Valley until on September 

10 they came within 8 miles of the place 

where Missoula, Mont., is now situated. 

Here they turned to the left up what is 

now known as the Lolo trail and crossed the 

Co3ur d'Alene Mountains, arriving at the 

mouth of Snake River October 16. From 

this point they rapidly drifted down the 

Columbia to the Pacific Ocean and went 

into winter quarters December 7 in a 

stockade which they named Fort Clatsop, near the site of Aetoria, Oreg. They 

remained here, without seeing any vessel 

from which they could obtain supplies, 

until March 23, 1806, when they left Fort 

Clatsop on their eastward journey.

The party returned over practically the 

same route to the Bitterroot Valley, where 

it was divided, Capt. Lewis making his 

way by Missoula and up Blackfoot River, 

along the route followed by the Indians

in going to the plains to hunt buffalo, and 

Capt. Clark going back to the head of 

Jefferson River to recover their canoes, 

which had been cached at that place. 

Capt. Lewis crossed the Continental Divide at Lewis and Clark Pass and then 

made an attempt to explore the pass at 

the head of Marias River (now utilized 

by the Great Northern Railway), but 

troubl'3 with the Indians prevented him 

from reaching the mountains, so he embarked on the Missouri and floated down 

to the mouth of the Yellowstone, where 

the two parties were to meet again on 

their homeward journey.

Capt. Clark crossed through the Bighole country and, after getting the boats, 

floated down Jefferson River to Three 

Forks, where his party again divided, 

some going on down Missouri River to 

join Lewis, while Capt. Clark and a few 

others, including the faithful Sacajawea 

as guide, started across the country to 

Yellowstone River. They crossed Bozeman Pass July 15,1806, and reached Missouri River at Livingston the same day. 

They passed rapidly down the stream, 

reaching the mouth of Tongue River 

(Miles City) on July 29 and the mouth 

of Yellowstone River August 3. They 

were slightly ahead of Capt. Lewis and 

the party was not united until August 

12, when they all came together at the 

mouth of Little Knife River, N. Dak. 

The rest of the journey was uneventful 

and they reached St. Louis September 

23, 1806.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 51

Population 5,443. 

St. Paul 446 miles.

width of 4 miles, whereas the width of the Missouri Valley rarely 

exceeds 3 miles. On this flood plain, known as the "second bottom," 

is Fort Lincoln, to the left (south). This is the only military post now 

maintained near the Canadian border between Fort Snelling, at St. 

Paul, and Fort Assinniboine, at Havre, Mont. Opposite the penitentiary the Northern Pacific crosses a branch of the Soo Line which 

extends up the river as far as Washburn.

Bismarck, the capital of the State, was named in honor of the great 

German chancellor. This town was the western 

Bismarck. terminus of the Northern Pacific Railway from 

Elevation 1,692 feet. 1873, when all construction work was stopped by 

the financial panic, to 1878, and was originally 

called Edwinton, for Edwin F. Johnson, the first 

chief engineer of the road.

Those who are in the habit of reading the daily weather reports 

may have noted that Bismarck has about as great a range of temperature throughout the year as any other place where observations are 

recorded. In summer the thermometer occasionally registers 100° 

or more, and in winter it is frequently as low as 40° below zero. 

The precipitation is only 18 or 19 inches a year, compared with 28 

inches at Minneapolis. This difference in the amount of moisture 

received is largely the cause of the difference in the appearance of 

the two regions.

West of the station at Bismarck the railway skirts the eastern bluffs 

of the river for a distance of 2 miles upstream and then crosses on a 

steel bridge to the west side. 1

1 At present Missouri River has little 

effect on the commercial and industrial 

life of the northwestern part of the United 

States, but before the construction of the 

transcontinental railways it was a most 

important factor, first in the exploration 

of that part of the country and second in 

its commercial development.

The country about Bismarck and Mandan was formerly inhabited by the Mandan Indians. The surviving remnant of 

this tribe occupies the Fort Berth old 

Reservation, some 60 or 70 miles farther 

up the river, but almost every day groups 

of these Indians can be seen about the 

station at Mandan or on the local trains of 

the river branch.

The earliest recorded visit of a white 

man to these Indians was that of Verandrye in 1738-1742, when he attempted to 

cross the continent to the Pacific coast. 

David Thompson, of the Northwest Fur

Co., was here in 1797, and Lewis and 

Clark wintered about 50 miles north of 

Bismarck in 1804-5. After that date 

many explorers and traders came thia 

way, gradually extending their operations westward until they finally overran 

the whole region, even including the 

rougher parts of the Rocky Mountains. 

Supplies were sent to the fur-trading stations by boat up the Missouri from St. 

Louis, and the furs obtained from the 

Indians found their way to the outside 

world by the same route. The river at 

that time was a silt-laden shifting stream, 

just as it is to-day, and great difficulty 

was experienced in getting supplies to its 

upper waters. The river traffic was greatly 

stimulated by discoveries of gold in Montana in 1863, and light-draft steamboats 

were employed in the trade. This traffic 

continued to increase until the completion 

of the Northern Pacific Railway, when
52 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Mandan.

Elevation 1,667 feet. 

Population 3,873. 

St. Paul 451 miles.

The town of Mandan, named for the tribe of Indians that formerly 

occupied this part of the country, is on the west side of the Missouri. 

It is essentially a railway town, being a division terminal. In coming from the east the traveler has had 

very few opportunities to see the rocks underlying the 

glacial drift, but west of Mandan the drift is thin or 

lacking and the bedded rocks are much more conspicuous than they are east of that place. In places about Mandan 

they are exposed in badlands, as shown in Plate IV, A.

A deep well that was drilled at Mandan a number of years ago with 

the hope of obtaining water for railway and town use penetrated 

sandstone and shale much like the surface rocks to a depth of 470 

feet and then nothing but shale like that seen at Jamestown to a depth 

of 2,000 feet. The drill probably went nearly to the Dakota sandstone, which furnishes artesian water farther east in North and South 

Dakota, but as it did not reach that rock the exact depth of the Dakota 

is not known.

In 1876, when the railway extended westward only as far as Bismarck, this town was a mere frontier settlement with a wide stretch 

of Indian country to the west. On the west side of the river was 

Fort Abraham Lincoln, one of the important military posts of the 

time. Although the days of Indian warfare in this vicinity had 

passed, it was the starting point for many military expeditions into 

the Indian country. An expedition of this kind which left the fort in 

1876 was the most eventful in the history of the border warfare of the 

region, as it resulted in the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the 

slaughter of Gen. Ouster and his immediate command. The Northern 

Pacific Railway has been built along or closely parallel with the route 

followed by the troops. (See p. 71.) At Mandan the railway changes 

from Central to Mountain time, and the westbound traveler should set 

his watch back one hour.

West of Mandan the railway follows the valley of Heart River, and 

for the first time in North Dakota the westbound traveler can see the 

hard rocks well exposed. These consist of shale and sandstone (Lance

the slow and unsatisfactory method of 

boat transportation was abandoned, so 

that to-day vessels are seldom seen upon 

the muddy waters of the river.

The Missouri is one of the great drainage channels of the United States, Its 

total length is about 2,400 miles, and 

that part above the crossing of the Northern Pacific has a length of about 1,160 

miles. The total area drained by this 

river is 527,155 square miles, a territory 

as great as that embraced in the States of

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, 

Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, 

South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and 

Mississippi.

Although Missouri River may never 

again be utilized as a means of communication and transportation, it is destined 

to play a most important part in the better 

development of its drainage basin by 

furnishing water for irrigation and for the 

development of power.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE IV

A, BADLANDS IN THE VICINITY OF MANDAN, N. DAK. 

These are not so rugged or picturesque as those to be seen farther west, where the precipitation is less.

B. CRACKS PRODUCED BY THE BURNING OF A BED OF LIGNITE.'

Where a bed of lignite many feet thick burns, the sandstone or shale overlying it breaks down, forming large 

ciacks through which steam and smoke issue as long as the lignite is on fire.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN r,11 PLATF. '

> :" -T

B,

EROSION FORMS OF NORTH DAKOTA.

As soon as the turf is removed from the sides of the ridges and hills the slopes are cut rapidly by the rain. Each 

little trickle of water cuts a hole vertically through the sand or clay, producingasurface which, when seen from 

above, resembles a gigantic sponge. Its general appearance is shown in the upper view. When erosion has 

reached a more advanced stage, the hil] may be reduced to an isolated butte, as shown in the lower view, 

and the sides are covered with the most delicate tracery.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE.

formation), partly of marine origin, and represent the bottom of the 

sea that through later Cretaceous and part of Tertiary time covered 

the region.1

The railway follows Heart River for some distance and then turns

to the right and climbs to the upland along Sweetbriar Creek. Here

large bowlders of granite and other similar rocks may

Judson. be seen on both sides of the track. These are parEievation 1,971 feet, ticularly numerous and very large, some as much as

St. Paul 473 miles. ojj.-j- , ,1 -4. t i j i. ± j. 8 feet in diameter, m the vicinity 01 Judson, but scattered bowlders can be seen from the car window beyond New Salem. 

Rocks of this kind are not known to crop out in the State, so it is supposed that the bowlders must have been brought here by ice, but as

1 The rocks exposed along Missouri 

River from the vicinity of old Fort Pierre 

in South Dakota to and beyond the crossing of the Northern Pacific Railway at 

Bismarck dip slightly to the north or 

northwest and are encountered in going up the stream in ascending order. 

First is the Pierre shale, which consists of 

a great mass of fine dark shale that carries 

marine shells wherever it has been found 

from the Canadian line to New Mexico. 

It was doubtless laid down when the entire Rocky Mountain and Great Plains 

regions were sunk below the level of the 

ocean.

This formation is overlain by a coarse, 

generally clean white or brownish sandstone, called Fox Hills, which was evidently at one time the sandy shore that 

followed the retreat of the Pierre sea. 

Sandstone as a rule is not good material 

for the preservation of fossils, but here and 

there the Fox Hills sandstone contains 

marine shells and almost everywhere the 

casts of sea weeds, which now resemble 

fossil corncobs. Until very recently this 

has been regarded as the last formation in 

this region that was laid down in sea water.

The Fox Hills sandstone is followed by 

the Lance formation, which consists of 

sandstone, shale, and coal beds. Few 

shells occur in the Lance, but those that 

have been found in the larger part of the 

area are fresh-water forms. The presence 

of many coal beds (composed of vegetation that once grew on the land and was 

buried in swamps) and of fossil leaves and 

trunks of trees in the sandstone and shale 

shows clearly that the Lance formation

accumulated above sea level as material 

either brought down by streams and 

spread out over the even surface of the 

land or deposited in lakes. This formation covers much of the mountain 

and plains country north of Colorado, 

and in most of this broad area it contains nothing but fresh-water material. 

Recently, however, marine and brackish-water shells have been found in the 

upper part of the Lance in south-central North Dakota and also along Little 

Missouri River in the southwest corner of 

the State, which indicate that after the 

recession of the sea to the east at the close 

of Fox Hills time it reappeared and 

reached as far weat as the Montana line. 

Then at the close of Lance time the sea 

again disappeared from this region, never 

to return, as all succeeding formations are 

of fresh-water origin.

For many years the age of the Lance 

formation has been in dispute. The fossil 

shells and the great dinosaurs (see p. 73) 

indicate that the formation is Cretaceous 

in age, but the fossil plants are Tertiary 

in their relations, almost identical with 

those of the overlying Fort Union formation. Although the question is not 

finally settled, it seems probable that the 

Cannonball member of the Lance formation is Tertiary and that the Cretaceous 

fauna which occurs in it is merely a surviving remnant of an old Cretaceous fauna 

which formerly lived in the open sea but 

which as this sea became more and more 

restricted and eventually inclosed by 

land preserved its old form even into Tertiary time.
54 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

little or no other drift accompanies them, they are supposed to represent an earlier ice invasion than that which brought the drift east of 

Missouri River an invasion so long ago that most of the clay in the 

drift has been washed away, leaving only the coarser material.1

About half a mile east of the station at New Salem (see sheet 8, 

p. 60) the lignite mine of the Dakota Products Co. has been in operation for a number of years. The bed of lignite mined 

is 5 feet thick and lies about 30 feet below the surface. 2 

West of New Salem, which is situated on the surface 

of the upland plain, the railway goes down a small 

ravine in which scattered granite bowlders can be seen 

from the car window for a distance of 5 miles, or as far as milepost 

33. Beyond this point no bowlders can be seen, but careful examination of the surrounding upland has shown that they are present 

as far to the southwest as Almont.

New Salem.

Elevation 2,188 feet. 

Population 621. 

St. Paul 479 miles.

1 West of the Altamont moraine, which 

marks the greatest extension of the glacial 

lobe that occupied the Red River valley 

in Wisconsin time, there is only a thin 

veneer of drift on the upland and in some 

of the valleys. This outer drift is not bordered by any well-marked moraine, but 

here and there indications of such a feature occur along its outer margin on the 

west side of Missouri River. In the vicinity of the Northern Pacific Railway 

the moraine is characterized by a low 

bowldery ridge which trends nearly south 

from Judson. Outside of this moraine 

there is a marginal fringe of bowlders 

which extend as far west as Almont.

The general thinness of the drift west of 

the Altamont moraine indicates that the 

material which was brought by the ice has 

almost all been washed away, except the 

large bowlders; and this means that a 

much longer time has elapsed since it was 

deposited than there has since the material 

east of the Altamont moraine was laid 

down. Some geologists have argued that 

this outer drift represents a stage of glaciation very much older than the Wisconsin 

and have assigned it provisionally to the 

Kansan (one of the earliest stages known). 

Others have maintained that the granite 

bowlders which can be seen from the 

Northern Pacific Railway are too fresh 

and unweathered to have been dropped 

here during the Kansan stage, many 

thousand years ago; but the unweathered 

condition of the granite is due to the

dryness of the climate and therefore is 

not a reliable criterion as to the age of 

the drift.

From all the facts at hand it is evident 

that the glacier which crossed Missouri 

River was older and thinner than the one 

which occupied the Red River valley, but 

the difference in age is problematic.

2 The lignite bed is reached by a slope, 

and from the bottom of the slope the 

workings extend north about 2,100 feet. 

The lignite bed is almost horizontal. It 

ranges in thickness from 4£ to 6 feet and 

is underlain by a bed of gray clay. Most 

of the lignite produced at this mine is 

either hauled by wagon to the surrounding 

country and used by the farmers or 

shipped by rail to the neighboring towns. 

North Dakota lignite represents one of 

the early stages in the transformation of 

vegetable matter into coal. The products 

of the various stages now recognized are 

(1) wood, (2) peat, (3) lignite, (4) subbituminous coal, (5) bituminous coal, (6) 

semibituminous coal, (7) semianthracite, 

and (8) anthracite. Much of the lignite is 

woody, and frequently logs and stumps 

are found in the mines. It is generally 

brown, and the woody parts will bend 

without breaking. The lignite of this 

State, as it comes from the mine, carries 

about 40 per cent of water. It will 

readily dry down to 8 or 10 per cent if 

stored in a dry place with good ventilation, but in so doing it shrinks and falls to 

pieces. This falling to pieces is generally
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 7

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R- B- Marshal!. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower faft corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G, S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

101* 100*30' NORTH DAKOTA

EXPLANATION

Loose surface materials

A Stream deposits (alluvium) "1

B Sand dunes ]

C Glacial drift (Wisconsin stage)

D Outwash from the Altamont moraine and older glacial drift

Throughout the region west of the Altamont moraine there are scattered remnants of 

glacial drift, indicating that an earlier rpre-Wisconsin) ice sheet covered this area ,

Quaternary

Underlying rocks

E Sandstone and shale with beds of lignite fFort Union formation)

F Sandstone and shale (Cannonball marine member of Lance formation)

G Sandstone and shale (lower part of Lance formation)

Thickness

in feet

KOO

300~l 

450J

Tertiary 

Tertiarv(?)

1...9 . 

i o

bcale

Approximately 8 miles to I inch 

5 10 15 20Miles

5 I0 . . . 15 20 25 SOKilometers 

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shewn every 10 mites 

The crossttes on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

lor 10 0*30'

47'

46°
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 55

Sims.

Elevation 1,982 feet. 

Population 80. 

St. Paul 487 miles.

Some 10 years ago several lignite mines were in operation at Sims,

but now all but one of these are closed and abandoned. The bed of 

lignite mined here is 7 or 8 feet thick, and in drilling 

a deep well for water four other beds having thicknesses of about 5 feet each were found. According 

to the log of this well there is 29 feet of lignite 

below the surface at Sims in beds thick enough to

work, and the lowest is at a depth of 710 feet.

Below Sims the railway follows the small valley of Hailstorm Creek

and affords no general view of the country. Just east of Almont the 

valley of Hailstorm Creek joins that of Muddy Creek, 

which the railway, making a sharp turn to the right, 

ascends practically to its head. This valley shows 

excellent examples of stream meanders, the creek

making great loops whose ends in places nearly connect.

Almont.

Elevation 1,933 feet. 

St. Paul 492 miles.

called slacking (from its likeness to the 

slacking of lime, though lime slacks by 

taking up moisture and lignite by parting 

with it), and the process takes place 

rapidly where it is exposed to alternate 

moisture and dry ness.

Manifestly a fuel containing 40 per cent 

of water can not be shipped any great distance, as the purchaser can not afford to 

pay transportation charges on so much 

water. The lignite is also difficult to 

handle on account of the slacking or 

breaking up, and when stored it is likely 

to ignite spontaneously by its rapid combination with the oxygen of the atmosphere or of water. Altogether it is far 

from an ideal fuel, though very useful for 

domestic purposes in this treeless country. 

Although lignite is a poor fuel for raising 

steam, it is well adapted to making producer gas that can be used economically 

in a gas engine for the production of 

power, and probably in the future it will 

be utilized largely in this way. Th e chief 

difficulty at present is that there is only a 

small demand in this thinly settled 

country for power, and hence there would 

be little market for the product, but it is 

possible that with the growing use of 

long-distance transmission lines the lignite could be utilized for the production of 

electric power at the mine and the current 

carried to distant towns and cities or even 

to ranches for utilization. Lignite has 

been found to be an excellent fuel for 

burning brick and is now used extensively

at Dickinson and other towns in the State 

for that purpose.

Lignite occurs most abundantly in the 

Fort Union formation (the lowest formation in the Eocene series of the Tertiary 

system), which underlies almost all the 

western part of North Dakota. It is estimated that the State contains the enormous amount of 697,000,000,000 short 

tons of lignite in beds over 3 feet thick 

and within 1,000 feet of the surface, and 

it seems probable that there is workable 

lignite within this limit under every 

section of the land in the western part of 

the State. It is difficult to form an idea 

of a mass containing even 1,000,000 tons, 

and hence the figures given above are 

practically impossible of comprehension, 

but if the amount is put in the form of a 

cube a better conception of its magnitude 

may be obtained. The lignite of the 

State, if gathered into one mass in 

the compact form in which it lies in the 

ground, would make a cube 5 miles long, 

5 miles broad, and 5 miles high. Such a 

cube would cover nearly a township of 

land and would be almost as high as the 

highest mountain on the globe.

The lignite, although of poor quality 

and at present used only in a small way, 

constitutes a vast fuel resource which will 

in time become of great value, not only 

to the individual citizens of the State 

but to the corporations that are seeking 

power for use in manufacturing or in 

transportation.
GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

About 11 miles from Almont, at milepost 51, there are on the right 

(north) about a mile distant many knobs and spurs having a brightred color. When examined closely the color is seen to run in more or 

less regular horizontal bands, like the rock, but it is not continuous, 

and hi places it affects the whole hillside. This color is due to the 

burning of beds of lignite, which has baked and reddened the originally dark strata on either side, as clays originally brown or gray in 

color turn red when burned into brick. 1

The success of dry farming has led to the settlement of almost all 

of western North Dakota, and towns have sprung up along the railroads like magic. Glemillen is one of the newer 

towns, and from its general appearance it is evident 

that in this region dry farming is a success. Although 

grassy slopes or fields of grain predominate in this 

part of the State, the appearance at intervals of bare 

knobs or buttes indicates that everywhere under the surface are the 

same lignite-bearing rocks that were seen farther east, those of the 

Fort Union formation. These rocks, when searched carefully, are 

found to contain many impressions of fossil leaves which show that 

the sands and muds, now hardened to rock, were laid down in shallow 

water near a land surface upon which trees and smaller plants grew in 

abundance. Where the land was swampy the vegetation was covered as it fell and in time was changed into lignite. In this.part of 

the country the lignite is generally concealed by the grassy slopes,

Glenullen.

Elevation 2,090 feet. 

Population 921. 

St. Paul 509 miles.

1 All through the lignite region and the 

fields of low-grade coal of the Rocky 

Mountains and Great Plains the coal 

beds have burned extensively along their 

outcrops, the resulting red color giving a 

touch of brightness to some otherwise dull 

and monotonous landscapes. In some 

places the burning has been just sufficient 

to color the shale and sandstone to a bright 

red, but in others, where the lignite bed 

is thicker or where more than one bed has 

burned, the heat has been so intense that 

the rocks have been melted into a sort of 

slag or scoria, good examples of which will 

be seen farther west. When a thick bed 

of coal or lignite burns, the overlying 

material settles, and frequently great 

cracks are formed, out of which issue 

smoke and steam from the burning lignite 

below. An example of such cracking is 

shown in Plate IV, B (p. 52).

As the lignite retains much of its original woody character it ignites readily

when dry, and the fires may have begun 

in any one of several ways. For instance, 

they may have' been started by prairie 

fires, by lightning, by camp fires, or even 

by alternate wetting and drying, which 

causes very rapid oxidation and a consequent rise in temperature. The last suggestion may appear improbable, but the 

writer has seen a large pile of low-grade 

coal take fire after a rain and be entirely 

consumed. The burning of a dump of 

waste material is a common experience 

at many mines, and rarely, is the fire 

started by man. Once started, the burning of a coal bed will continue as long as 

air is available. Near the outcrop the 

coal burns readily, but back under "cover 

the amount of air is not sufficient for combustion and the fire dies out. Many coal 

and lignite beds are burning to-day, and 

it is possible that one may be seen in the 

badlands called Pyramid Park, farther 

west, near Sully Springs, N. Dak.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 57

but farther west many beds are exposed in the hillsides. The fossil 

plants of the Fort Union formation indicate very different conditions 

during the Eocene epoch from those which prevail to-day. A brief 

sketch of the flora, together with an interpretation of its meaning, is 

given below by F. H. Knowlton. 1

The railway gradually ascends the valley of Muddy Creek, and if 

the traveler is not looking carefully he will cross the divide and 

enter the valley of Knife River without being aware that he has 

passed out of the valley in which he has been traveling from Almont. 

As a matter of fact the two valleys are continuous, and it seems 

probable that originally the drainage from the vicinity of the summit 

at Antelope came into Muddy Creek, but that some change has 

occurred by which the drainage about Hebron has been turned northward into Knife River. The details of this change have not been

1 As the traveler rides mile after mile 

over the almost barren plains of Dakota 

and eastern Montana and sees them shimmering in the heat of midsummer, with 

only an occasional cottonwood or box 

elder along the streams or sprawling, 

stunted junipers on the rocky slopes to 

relieve the monotony, he finds it difficult 

indeed to realize that this country once 

supported a vegetation as luxuriant and 

varied as that now growing in any of the 

Southern States. However, it will require only a brief examination of the 

rocks to convince him of the truth of this 

statement, as they contain in many places 

the remains of vast numbers of branches, 

leaves,,fruits, and even a flower here and 

there. Fossil remains have aptly been 

called the illustrations in the world's history, of which the pages are the layers of 

rock forming the outer part of the crust of 

the earth. It is the purpose now to look 

at a few of these illustrations and by this 

means restore in imagination the ancient 

vegetation.

Fossil plants are very abundant in the 

Fort Union formation and are found in the 

sandstone, in the harder concretions or 

lenses, and in the clay between the sandstone beds. Most of them, especially 

those in clay, are preserved with remarkable fidelity. About 300 species have 

been described, and it is probable that 

the total number may be found to reach 

500 or more species.

Beginning with the plants of the most 

simple structure, we may first consider 

the ferns. One of the most abundant and 

widespread forms, having been found at 

hundreds of localities, is the beautiful 

sensitive fern Onoclea. This can not be 

distinguished from the living species, 

which now grows so widely over eastern 

North America. There is also a chain 

fern (Woodwardia) very closely resembling a living species, and numbers of 

others that are more or less closely related 

to forms now growing in the Eastern 

States.

The conifers, though not numerous in 

species, were very abundant and were of 

the types that must have been of rather 

imposing appearance. The most abundant form is a redwood (Sequoia) that is 

very closely related to the redwood which 

is now confined to the coast regions of 

California. There was also another 

Sequoia nearly related to the big trees of 

California, but it was not so abundant as 

the other form. With these was a cypress 

(Taxodium) that must have been much 

more beautiful than the common cypress 

of our southern swamps. There was also 

a cedar (Thuya), with delicate juniper-like 

foliage, that must have been very numerous, as its fossil remains are widespread in 

the Fort Union formation. In strange 

contrast to these conifers is what appears 

to have been the immediate ancestor of 

the celebrated ginkgo, or maiden-hair tree
58 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

worked out, but it was doubtless caused by glaciers which crossed 

Missouri River and extended to the southwest as far as this valley, 

damming the streams and compelling them to find new outlets.

Hebron, one of the new towns of western North Dakota, is the 

center of a prosperous agricultural district and is noted for the 

manufacture of fire and pressed brick, the clay for 

which is derived from the Fort Union formation. 

The bed of clay utilized is at least, 50 feet thick. 

Beyond Hebron the railway follows the broad, open 

valley of Knife River to its head, where there is a 

steep climb to the summit of the dividing ridge between that stream 

and Heart River on the southwest. The highest 

point is reached a short distance beyond Antelope, 

where a good view can be obtained of the upland 

surface of this part of North Dakota. The surface 

is gently undulating, but here and there on the principal divides 

there is a high knob that has not been reduced by erosion to the 

general level. The sides of these knobs are generally bare, and they 

have been sculptured by the rain, the frost, and the wind into most 

beautiful and intricate forms. (See PI. V, p. 53.)

Hebron.

Elevation 2,180 feet. 

Population 597. 

St. Paul 522 miles.

Antelope.

Elevation 2,435 feet. 

St. Paul 531 miles.

of China and Japan. The ginkgo has had 

in many ways a more wonderful geologic 

history than any other tree now living, as 

it has come down to us practically unFIGUKE 6. Ginkgo leaf.

changed from earliest Mesozoic time. It 

apparently saw its heyday during what is 

known as the Jurassic period (see table on 

p. 2), when it was widely spread from the

Arctic regions over most of the globe, but 

since that time it has been gradually 

dwindling until it is now represented by a 

single living species in Japan and China. 

It is regarded as a sacred tree in the Far 

East and as such is planted about the temples and sanctuaries, but there is great 

doubt as to its existence in a truly wild 

state. It is not likely to become extinct, 

however, for its fascinating history and 

curious fernlike foliage (see fig. 6) have 

made it of so great interest that it has been 

extensively planted in many parts of the 

world, notably southern Europe and eastern United States. It is a familiar shade 

tree on the streets of Washington, D. C.

Among the so:called higher flowering 

plants there were many grass and sedgelike plants during Fort Union time, but 

none that were very conspicuous or otherwise remarkable. Other monocotyledonous plants included a fan palm with leaves 

that must have been 5 or 6 feet across, 

which once grew along the lower reaches 

of Yellowstone River in Montana, as 

shown on Plate XI, B (p. 75).

The plants with deciduous leaves (dicotyledons) flourished in great numbers in 

Fort Union time, as they do now. They
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 59

West of the summit the surface descends to Kichardton, the largest 

town between Mandan and Dickinson. This town has grown up as 

a result of the success of dry farming. It is attractively situated on the rolling upland plateau of 

western North Dakota and has abundant supplies 

of clay and lignite ready to be utilized in the building 

of a large town.

From Bichardton the railway winds through a gently rolling 

country and gradually descends to Heart River, which is reached 

at the village of Gladstone. Here the railway is in 

the same- valley that it left a few miles west of Mandan, but the climb out of the valley and the descent 

back in again saved the railway several miles of 

track, although it involves some rather heavy grades.

The valley of Heart River is comparatively narrow and is bounded

by steep bluffs in which the rocks of the Fort Union formation are 

well exposed. At the little village of Lehigh (see 

sheet 9, p. 64) a lignite mine has been in operation 

for a number of years. The bed of lignite, which is 

from 6 to 7 feet thick, lies horizontal and is reached

Richardton.

Elevation 2,487 feet. 

Population 647. 

St. Paul 536 miles.

Gladstone.

Elevation 2,373 feet. 

St. Paul 550 miles.

e lg '

included trees of many kinds, shrubs, 

vines, and probably herbs of more humble 

growth. Among the trees one of the most 

abundant types as regards kinds as well 

as individuals was the poplar (Populus). 

These were of an ancient type, with small 

rounded or heart-shaped leaves, and were 

most closely related to the living quaking 

aspen. Of the willow several species are 

known. Oaks of several kinds were present, as well as two species of hazelnut, 

both of which are still living in the eastern 

United States and Canada. Walnut, 

allied to our common black walnut, was 

present, together with sycamores so like 

the living species as to be separated with 

difficulty. Figs were present, though not 

so numerous in North Dakota as they were 

in other areas where the same formation 

prevails, notably in Colorado. There 

were also elms, maples, birches, alders, 

dogwoods, hickories, box elders, buckthorns, viburnums, wax berries, witchhazels, horse-chestnuts, bittersweets, and 

many that are without common names.

From this abundant flora it is evident 

that what is now an almost treeless plain 

was then covered with splendid forests of

hardwoods, interspersed with scattered 

conifers and ginkgos. From the presence 

of numerous and in many places thick 

beds of lignite it is clear that there were 

great swamps, and that these must have 

continued with but little change for long 

periods of time. It has been estimated 

that the product of heavily timbered 

woodland, when compressed to the specific gravity of coal, would only amount to 

about one-fourth of an inch in thickness 

during a century. If this statement is 

even approximately correct, it is easy to 

calculate that a 4-foot bed of coal must 

have required about 20,000 years for its 

accumulation.

Except for the presence of palms and an 

occasional fig, it might be presumed that 

the climate was not greatly different from 

that now prevailing on the Atlantic slope 

of North America that is, cool temperate. The palms which are found in the 

lower part of the formation imply, so far 

as the present distribution of palms indicates, a somewhat warmer climate, just 

as the numerous thick beds of lignite 

throughout the formation imply longcontinued marsh conditions.
60 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Dickinson.

Elevation 2,430 feet. 

Population 3,678. 

St. Paul 561 miles.

by an entry driven into the hillside. The workings extend 2,000 

feet or more into the hill,- and the lignite is brought to the tipple in 

cars hauled by horses.1

A few miles west of Lehigh is Dickinson, a district terminal and a 

thriving town in the midst of an extensive district of dry farms. 

This place was named for W. S. Dickinson, of Malone, 

N. Y.; a former State senator and an enthusiastic 

advocate of the value of the country west of Missouri 

River. The clay beds worked near Hebron are well 

developed along the valley of Heart River in the 

vicinity of Dickinson and are extensively worked a mile south of the 

town. The clay from this pit is manufactured into dry-press brick 

and fire brick near the railway just east of the town.

The valley of Heart River is broad and shallow, and few exposures 

of rocks are to be seen in it, but here and there the bare side of a butte 

or a freshly cut ravine shows the yellowish sandstone or a bed of 

lignite of the Fort Union formation.

The climate of the region about South Heart, is marked by great 

extremes in temperature, the mercury ranging from 30° or 40° below 

zero in the winter to 100° or more in the summer, but 

these extremes are not so trying as -they would be in 

a more humid climate. The total precipitation for 

the year in the part of this region west of Missouri 

River is about 14 inches, but nearly half of this falls in the winter, 

leaving only 8 or 10 inches for the growing season. Formerly this 

amount of rain was considered entirely inadequate for agriculture, 

but in the last five or six years it has been demonstrated that good 

crops of grain can be obtained here about three years out of four, 

if the ground is properly treated. This discovery has changed the

activities of the country from stock raising on the open range to the 

cultivation of grain and the consequent fencing of the country into 

160-acre or 320-acre tracts.

South Heart.

Elevation 2,499 feet. 

St. Paul 571 miles.

1 The lignite as it comes from the mine 

contains about 42 per cent of moisture, 

but on drying parts with most of it, the 

percentage being reduced to about 10. 

The composition of an average sample of 

this lignite after it had been dried at a 

temperature of 86° to 95° F. until the 

sample attained a constant weight is as 

follows: Moisture, 9.1 per cent; volatile 

matter, 38.2 per cent; fixed carbon, 42.1 

per cent; ash, 10.6 per cent. Its heating 

value is 9,640 British thermal units. A 

British thermal unit is the amount of

heat required to raise 1 pound of water 

1° F., or it may be considered as the ratio 

of weight of coal burned to the weight of 

water that will be raised 1° by the burning 

of the coal. Thus the burning of 1 pound 

of air-dried Lehigh lignite would raise the 

temperature of 9,640 pounds of water 1°. 

Coals range in their heating value from 

the amount given in this analysis, which 

is about the lowest, to as much as 15,500 

British thermal units, a value shown by 

the best Pocahontas and New River coals 

of West Virginia.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 8

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

. GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic

Sheet of that name.

_I02! NORTH DAKOTA

EXPLANATION

Ijoose surface materials

A Stream deposits (alluvium) 1 

 North of the railway there are scattered remnants of drift, indicating that a pre-Wisconsin > 

ice sheet extended toward the southwest at least 

as far as Almont, Glenullen and Hebron \

Quaternary

B Sandstone and shale, with beds of 

ignite (Fort Union formation; 

Sandstone and shale (Cannonball 

marine'member of Lance formation

Tertiary 

Tertiary (?)

7 he distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 mites 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced 1 mile apart
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 61

The railway rises steadily up the regular slope by Belfield to the 

divide between Knife River and Little Missouri River. The valley 

of the Little Missouri is noted for its scenery, but it is 

of even greater interest on account of some of the 

distinguished people who inhabited it in the days of 

the open range, when the "cow puncher" was in his 

glory. Col. Theodore Roosevelt resided for a number of years on a 

ranch in this valley about 20 miles south of the railway, and here he 

acquired, that knowledge of and sympathy for the free life of the 

plains that has so endeared him to the western people.

Fryburg is situated on the summit between the drainage basins of

Knife River and Little Missouri River. The descent to the Little

Missouri is made through a maze of badland forms that

Fryburg. stand out in striking contrast to the gentle rolling

Elevation 2,790 feet. surface of the upland east of the divide. Little MisPopulation, 288*. -r> i 

st. Paul 587 miles. soun River has cut its valley about 500 leet deep, and 

all its tributaries have made similar sharp cuts in the 

upland, so that the main stream is bordered by a belt of rough country from 10 to 15 miles in width. As the early French explorers and 

traders had difficulty in crossing these belts they called them "mauvais 

terres a traverser" or bad lands to cross. From this has come the 

common appellation "badlands."

The change from the grassy upland east of Fryburg to the badlands

of Pyramid Park on Sully Creek is very abrupt, and the traveler is

likely to be bewildered by the seemingly endless

Sully Springs. variety of form, arrangement, and color. There is

Elevation 2,599 feet. an apparent lack of plan in the arrangement of the

St. Paul 592 miles. * I i_ j i. j * i_- J^i. forms, as 11 some giant hand had fashioned these monuments and then strewn them about without plan or purpose. Views 

of the badlands are shown in Plates VI-IX. The natural color is a 

somber gray, but this is enlivened by bands and splotches of red where 

beds of lignite have burned. In some places, as at Scoria siding, the 

burning has been so intense that all the rocks are deep red and huge 

blocks of half-fused material are abundant. From the evidence on 

every side one might imagine that at some previous time this place 

had been an inferno rivaling that of Dante's most vivid imagination, 

but it is probable that the burning took place so slowly that the general temperature was no greater than it is to-day. It is reported that 

one of the lignite beds is now on fire at no great distance from the 

track. If the traveler should come this way on a hot day hi August 

he might well believe that he felt the added heat of the burning lignite, 

for there is no place hotter than badlands of this character on( a hot 

day, but a cold day in winter would give him a different impression.
62 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Medora.

In the badlands many beds of lignite can be seen outcropping as 

black bands along the faces of the buttes and "temples/' and petrified 

stumps and logs are especially abundant about Sully Springs and near 

the lower end of the valley. (See PI. VI, A.) The reason why some 

of the stumps and logs are petrified is that when the trees fell they 

were covered by mud before they could decay and for ages were soaked 

with water charged with silica. This silica replaced the vegetable 

tissues, preserving even the most minute structures of the plants, so 

that it is possible to tell to what kind of tree the wood belonged. The 

petrified logs give a good idea of the size of the trees composing the 

forests of that day.

The village of Medora is situated on Little Missouri River at the 

point where it is. crossed by the Northern Pacific Railway. The river 

flows here in a deep, rugged canyon, which seems to 

be about the last place in which to establish a settleElevation 2,290 feet. ment. The village was founded in the early eighties

St. Paul601 miles. , . to j-j.n-i.--/. by the Marquis De Mores, who named it after his wife. 

On an eminence on the west bank of the river he built a "chateau," 

which can be seen on the left (south) from the passing train. The 

marquis evidently expected that Medora would become a busy center, 

for he built a large packing house, the remains of which can be seen on 

the right. He left the country and met a tragic death a few years ago 

in the Far East.

There are two prominent beds of lignite in the bluff at Medora, one 

40 feet above river level and the .other 30 feet higher. The upper bed 

is 4 feet 6 inches thick and the lower one 9 feet 4 inches, with 3 inches 

of clay near the bottom.1

After crossing the river the road follows Andrews Creek and climbs 

to the upland in about 16 miles. For most of this distance the rocks

of the Fort Union formation are well exposed, and near the river there 

are exposed the same thick beds of lignite that were seen at Medora. 

(See PI. VII, £.)

always careful to distinguish dark shale 

from lignite. As reported in this log, 

there is altogether 29 feet of lignite in beds 

3 feet or more thick.

The lignite here has been mined only 

for local use, but when improved methods 

for the utilization of this kind of fuel have 

been devised, the canyon of Little Missouri River will offer exceptional opportunities *for cheap mining on a large scale.

1 The log of a deep wellat Medora, sunk 

by the railway company for water, records 

the occurrence of a lignite bed 23 feet 

thick at a depth of 120 feet. Although 

beds of lignite from 8 to 9 feet thick., are 

known farther up the river at nearly the 

earne depth and may extend under the 

town, too much confidence should not be 

placed on the thickness given in the log 

of the Medora well, as drillers are not
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE VI

A. SILICIFIED STUMP IN PYRAMID PARK, N. DAK.

A remnant of one of the big trees of the Fort Union forest, now a mass of stone resting on a pedestal of soft 

clay. Photograph by Haynes, St. Paul, Mihn./

H. THE "PROW OF THE BATTLESHIP," ONE OF THE BUTTES OF PYRAMID PARK, N. DAK.

Note the concretions which weather out of the sandstone and cover the ground long after the main mass has 

been removed. Photograph by Haynes, St. Paul, Minn. . .
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE VII

A. VIEW OF THE BADLANDS OF NORTH DAKOTA.

Away from the main stream the small side branches and headwater streams are just beginning to cut into the 

level upland. The wealth of detail in such natural sculpture is beyond description.

B. A BED OF LIGNITE 15 FEET THICK IN THE CANYON OF LITTLE MISSOURI RIVER, N. DAK. 

Some of the beds are as much as 35 feet thick.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 011 PLATE VIII

VIEWS OF THE BADLANDS OF NORTH DAKOTA.

As shown in the upper view, fantastic shapes abound in evety valley and ravine. In places flying buttresses 

support the slender columns and gargoyles may be seen projecting from beneath the roof. Even with the 

scanty rainfall of this region, every stream has carved for itself a channel great ones for the large streams and 

small, almost infinitesimal ones for the tiny rivulets that trickle down the slope as shown in the lower view.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN en PLATE ix

VIEWS OF THE BADLANDS OF NORTH DAKOTA AND MONTANA.

Towers and pinnacles abound on every side. These are the remnants of hills or buttes or of a ledge of 

sandstone that now remains only as protecting caps to the columns of softer material beneath.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 63

Near milepost 160 (Demores station) a flat-topped butte can be seen

on the left (south) that stands far above most of the other surface

features. This is known as Square Butte. An irregSentinel Butte. ^lar, two-crested butte, which is about as high as

Elevation2,731 feet. Square Butte and visible on the right (north), is called

St. Paul 617 miles. ~^ . TT . to , , , ' ,

Camels Hump. The most prominent and best known 

of the high knobs in this vicinity is Sentinel Butte, which has an 

altitude of 3,350 feet, or 620 feet above the town of the same name, 

and is the highest point of land in North Dakota. These buttes 

are composed mainly of the Fort Union formation, but they are 

capped by a thin bed of shale that is supposed to belong to the 

White River formation, of Oligocene age. The land about the base 

of Sentinel Butte was a few years ago only a sagebrush plain, but is 

now divided into farms that in appearance resemble those of the 

older farming regions farther east. 

Beach (see sheet 10, p. 68) is one of the towns that have recently

grown up as a result of the successful farming of this 

eac ' ' ' region. West of Beach the railwav crosses the State

Elevation 2,779 feet. ° . _ . , " ,

Population 1,003. hne into Montana, a little west 01 milepost 176. I he 

st. Paul 626 miles. position of the State line is indicated by a sign on 

the left of the track.

The State of Montana has an area of 146,572 square miles, or a little

more than that of the States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware,

Pennsylvania, and Ohio. It was admitted to the

Montana. Union in 1889 and according to the census of 1910 had

a population of 376,053. Montana has long been

known as a metal-producing State, and many have thought of it as

being entirely mountainous and as suited only for mining. As a

matter of fact, the western half alone is mountainous; the eastern

half, an area nearly as large as North Dakota, is in the Great Plains.

Although placer gold was discovered in Montana in 1852, it was not 

until 10 or 12 years had elapsed that the "gold rush" began and the 

outside world was made acquainted with the wondrous wealth of its 

mountain gravel. Many persons starting for the new gold diggings 

stopped in the more promising valleys, such as the Gallatin and the 

Bitterroot, and farming began almost as soon as the panning of gold. 

The mining industry of the State has passed through a number of 

changes from placer mining to lode mining of gold and silver and, 

finally, of copper as the leading metal. Before the development of the 

great copper mines at Butte, Michigan was the leading State in the 

production of copper, but it soon gave place to Montana, which for a 

number of years stood at the head. Recently Arizona has forged to 

the front and Montana has dropped to second place in the rank of 

copper producers. Despite the fact that Montana ranks second in
64 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

the amount of copper produced annually, it still is first in the total 

amount produced. The total for the three leading States up to the 

close of 1913 is as follows: Montana, 3,214,775 tons; Michigan, 

2,759,721 tons; Arizona, 2,324,719 tons.

At first agriculture flourished only in the mountain valleys, where 

there was protection from the frost and the wind, and the plains 

portion of the State was devoted to the grazing of stock. Immense 

herds of cattle roamed the plains, and for a number of years Montana 

held first place in the number of sheep and the value of the wool 

shipped out of the State. Irrigation was finally undertaken in many 

of the valleys, and large crops of wheat, oats, alfalfa, and sugar beets 

are now being raised. The most recent change has been the influx 

of the dry-land farmer and the taking up and fencing of most of the 

land in the eastern and central parts of the State. This has materially decreased the number of live stock, and in the sheep industry 

Montana has dropped to second place, Wyoming taking the lead. 

Dry farming has not been universally successful, but sufficient has 

been accomplished to demonstrate that 'it is feasible when rightly 

carried on and with sufficient capital to enable the farmer to tide 

over years of drought and crop failure. The most important crop 

in the State is forage, amounting in 1909 to over $12,000,000.

Probably few persons realize that the value of manufactured articles 

in Montana exceeds that of the output of the mines, but such is the 

case. The smelting and refining of copper are the leading industries, 

but the value of the manufactured product is not given in the census 

reports. It is, however, roughly the same as the output of the mines. 

Aside from the manufacture of copper, the leading manufacturing 

industry is that of lumber and timber, which in 1909 amounted to 

over $6,000,000. The values of the products of the State, exclusive 

of the copper smelted and refined, are about as follows: Manufacturing (1909), $73,000,000; mining (1913), $69,000,000; agriculture, 

(1909), $63,000,000.

The country continues to be rolling to the valley of Beaver Creek, 

a tributary of Little Missouri River, on which is situated the town of 

Wibaux (we'bo), in the midst of an excellent farming 

Wibaux, Mont. district. Four miles west of Wibaux the railway 

Elevation 2,674 feet, crosses the summit between the drainage basin of 

Little Missouri River on the east and that of Yellowstone River on the west, and then begins a long descent down Glendive Creek to the Yellows tone. This valley was a 

famous hunting ground in early days, and the name Glendive was 

applied to it by Sir George Gore, an Irish nobleman, who hunted 

buffalo here in the winter of 1855-56.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 9

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

i033o' 103 NORTH DAKOTA

4-7

!

*

*

EXPLANATION

Thickness

in feet 

A Shale (White River formation) 40 Oligocenel

B Sandstone and shale, with beds of f-Tertiary 

lignite (Fort Union formation) 850 Eocene j

 .^amelsHu 

0 .. Suite.

union formation B

Scale 500,000 

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch

10 5 10

47

'....?....?.... 'P. 'r*. . 7P 

Contour interval 200 feet

25

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

I03'30' 103°
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 65

The rocks, which to the eye appear to be horizontal, in reality rise 

steadily toward the southwest as part of a broad and gently curved 

arch in the strata, more fully described on page 68. The rise of 

the rocks in this direction brings to the surface those crossed in the 

badlands east of Medora and others that lie below the level of Little 

Missouri River at that place, but the country is so generally grass 

covered that the traveler can not see them all.

At Hodges there is a bed of lignite which is supposed to mark the 

base of the Fort Union formation, and may be the same as the bed 

reported to be 23 feet thick under Medora. The rocks below this 

bed, which are scarcely distinguishable from the rocks above, belong 

to the Lance formation, in which the valley of Glendive Creek is cut 

from Hodges to Yellowstone River. In most places the valley is 

bounded by bare walls of somber-colored rocks and subdued badlands, but they are neither so imposing nor so picturesque as those 

of Pyramid Park. The Lance formation carries some beds of lignite, 

but generally they are too thin to mine.

Below Allard the Lance formation constitutes the valley walls as

far as Yellowstone River. Along this part of the valley no two of the

topographic forms are the same, but there is a simiAUard- larity of type and color that soon becomes extremely

Elevation 2,269 feet, monotonous. There are, however, some well-defined

St. Paul 657 miles. , . , . ; , , , ,. , , ..,

terraces which in a measure tend to relieve the dullness of the landscape. The upper terrace probably records an epoch 

when the stream was flowing at a higher level than it is to-day, these 

terraces being remnants of the old valley floor. The lower terraces, 

which are well developed near the river, may record flood stages of 

the Yellowstone, when slack water from the river backed up into all 

the tributary valleys and caused sand and mud to be deposited.

At milepost 213 the train swings out from the mouth of Glendive 

Creek into the broad valley of the Yellowstone and in a few minutes

reaches Glendive, the end of the division, the county 

Glendive. seat of Dawson County, and one of the largest towns 

Elevation 2,091 feet, in eastern Montana. In building the main line of the 

srpfu/e^mue's. Northern Pacific Railway in 1879-80 this was the

most important town between /Missouri River and 

Helena, for it was the point from which construction was carried on 

in both directions. This was made possible by the transportation of 

supplies from Bismarck by way of Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. 

When through travel was established, however, Glendive lost most 

of its importance, and for a long time its growth was slow, as the 

country roundabout was but sparsely settled and its principal business was that of a division terminal of the railroad. Recently, with 

the impetus given to agriculture by the introduction of dry-farming

95558° Bull. 611 15 5
66 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

methods and with the completion of the Lower Yellowstone irrigation project by the United States Reclamation Service,1 settlers have 

flocked in, and the country which 10 years ago was an open range is 

now almost all cut up into small farms. This change has removed 

from this region one of the picturesque types of western life the 

" cow-puncher" of the early days. The traveler may still see a few 

poor imitations or caricatures, but the real article the fearless, daredevil rider who was an equally fearless "booze fighter" when he came 

to town is no more. The big herds are gone, and with them the 

men who tended them.

At Glendive the railway route again touches the trail of Lewis and 

Clark, for in their homeward journey Capt. Clark with a small party 

descended Yellowstone River. 2 As nearly as can be determined, they 

passed the site of Glendive on August 1, 1806.

South of Glendive there can be seen on the left (east) badland 

bluffs and on the right the muddy river, which, a short distance above 

the town, is crossed by the new branch railway leading to Intake and 

other towns established under the Lower Yellowstone irrigation project. 

Still farther south the railway passes through deep cuts in massive 

white sandstone and skirts a prominent pinnacle of the same rock,

1 In the Yellowstone Valley in eastern 

Montana, tributary to the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railways, the 

Government has built an irrigation system to cover a strip of land 70 miles long 

lying on both sides of the river and extending over the boundary line into 

North Dakota. The irrigable area consists of about 60,000 acres of land lying in 

the midst of one of the best and largest 

grazing areas in the United States.

The soil is a deep sandy loam and when 

properly cultivated produces abundant 

crops of hay and grain. Alfalfa, the great 

forage crop of the West, grows to perfection here, and dairying and the winter 

feeding and fattening of stock are profitable industries.

The towns of Intake, Burns, Savage, 

Crane, and Sidney are located at short intervals through the middle of the area 

covered by the project. Nearly all the 

Government lands have been filed upon, 

but several hundred farms are for sale on 

easy terms and at reasonable prices. The 

cost of water right is $45 an acre, payable 

in annual installments to the Government.

The general elevation is 1,900 feet above 

sea level, and the temperature ranges

from 30° below to 100° above zero. The 

advantages of the valley in the way of fertile soil, assured water supply, favorable 

climate, low prices, and transportation 

facilities make it one of the most desirable 

locations in the Northwest.

2 The name Yellowstone was doubtless 

given to the river because of some outcrop 

of yellow rocks along its banks; but where 

do such rocks occur? The traveler in 

passing up the valley sees no distinctly 

yellow rocks between Glendive and Livingston, and if he goes to Yellowstone 

Park he will see none as far as Gardiner, 

the northern entrance to the park. Within the park the conditions are different. 

The canyon of the Yellowstone below the 

falls is noted the world over for its gorgeous display of colors, among which the 

most brilliant and dominating tint is 

yellow. Here is the only place on the 

river where the rocks are so distinctly 

yellow as to have suggested a name for 

the stream, and the conclusion seems 

inevitable that here the name originated.

As the evidence available seems to 

indicate that the name did not originate 

with the English explorers, it must have 

been given by some early French traveler
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 67

known as Eagle Butte. This white sandstone with a buff layer at 

the bottom is known to geologists by the local name of Colgate sandstone. The lower part contains in places casts of sea weeds and 

marine shells, so that it is beJieved to represent the sandy shore of an 

ancient sea. It is supposed to bo in part equivalent to the Fox Hills 

sandstone of South Dakota. The rocks overlying the Colgate sandstone in this region are all of fresh-water origin. At Eagle Butte the 

sandstone appears to be nearly horizontal, but it rises gently toward 

the southwest and near milepost 7 it is high in the hills, and the shale 

below it appears at railroad level. The hill near milepost 7, known 

as Iron Bluff, is noted for the beauty and abundance of the fossil 

shells that occur in limestone concretions * in the dark shale. The 

shells are so perfectly preserved that they retain their pearly luster. 

From the kinds of shells occurring in the shale and from its character 

it is known to be the same as the dark shale that is poorly exposed in 

the river bluffs at Valley City, N. Dak. It is called the Pierre shale 

and is of Upper Cretaceous age. The fossil shells show clearly that 

the sea must have occupied this part of the country when the shale 

was deposited. At that time, instead of rolling prairies across North 

Dakota and eastern Montana, there were rolling waves and abundant 

marine life.

or by the Indians who inhabited the 

region. The only Frenchman who is 

thought to have seen the upper part of the 

Yellowstone Valley before the time of 

Lewis and Clark was Verandrye, who, between the years 1738 and 1742, penetrated 

the wilderness far to the west of Lake 

Winnipeg and who wandered for a long 

time among the mountains in an ineffectual attempt to reach the Pacific slope. 

It is said that he reached the headwaters 

of the Missouri and even penetrated as far 

south as the central part of Wyoming, 

where he was so beset by hostile Indians 

that he was forced to return to the east.

None of the points described by Verandrye have been recognized, so the identity of the country which he traversed will 

always remain a matter of doubt. It 

seems incredible, however, that he should 

have visited the site of the present Yellowstone Park without noting at least 

some of the wonderful geysers and hot 

springs. On this negative evidence it is 

reasonable to conclude that he did not 

visit the canyon of the Yellowstone, and 

therefore that the Indians were the first 

people to apply the name.

1 The term concretion is applied to 

rounded bodies of rock that are somewhat 

harder and more resistant than the main 

mass of the formation in which they are 

contained and for that reason remain on 

the surface after the rest of the formation 

has decayed. In many places they are 

nearly spherical, but as a rule they are 

irregular in outline, either elongated in 

a mass resembling the trunk of a tree or 

flattened like a disk.

The material composing concretions 

differs greatly; in sandstone or sandy 

shale it is generally sand, or sand containing a large amount of iron; in limestone it 

is generally chert (a form of silica); in 

shale it consists of limestone or ironstone.

The concretions of Iron Bluff are doubly 

interesting because they are made up 

almost exclusively of fossil shells. It 

seems probable that the shells grew in 

colonies and thus provided the lime of 

which the concretions are composed. 

The result is very beautiful and many of 

the coiled shells are so perfect that they 

might inspire another Holmes to write a 

poem on the chambered nautilus of the 

ancient sea.
68 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

The Pierre shale continues to Cedar Creek, 11 miles beyond Glendive, where, if the traveler looks ahead on the left at milepost 11, he 

will see on the far side of the valley a large ridge in which the rocks 

dip as much as 20° in the direction in which he is going, the opposite 

direction from their dip between Glendive and Cedar Creek. In 

other words, the train has crossed a great arch or anticline in the 

rocks, the highest point of which is at Cedar Creek. The Glendive 

anticline is the most pronounced fold in eastern Montana. It 

extends from Yellowstone River in a straight line southeastward into 

the extreme northwest corner of South Dakota. It brings to the 

surface the Pierre shale on the center of the arch, and as this shale 

is softer than the rocks on either side, it gives rise to a belt of country 

having little relief. For this reason it was followed by the Chicago, 

Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway from Marmarth, N. Dak., to Baker, 

Mont. The shale is everywhere rimmed about by the hard Colgate 

sandstone, and this in turn by the Lance and Fort Union formations. The form of this fold is shown in figure 7, which represents

FIGURE 7. Diagram of Glendive anticline, Mont., looking east. Gentle dips on northeast side; steep

dips on southwest side.

the strata as they would appear if the observer were in an airplane 

hovering over the flat on the far side of the river and looking up 

the valley of Cedar Creek to the southeast. A short distance beyond 

the mouth of the creek the steep dips die out and the rocks are so 

nearly flat that they seem to be horizontal.

At milepost 17, between Hoyt and Marsh, there is a large gravel 

pit on the left from which ballast has been hauled as far east as 

Richardton, N. Dak. This gravel, as well as that occurring at other 

places along the river, contains many moss agates which have been 

washed down from the mountains in the vicinity of Yellowstone 

Park, and many fine specimens have been picked up along the track.

Just beyond the village of Fallon (see sheet 11, p. 72) the Chicago, 

Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway enters the valley of Yellowstone 

River from Fallon Creek, and near milepost 36 it 

Fallen. crosses the Northern Pacific tracks by an overhead 

Elevation 2,231 feet, bridge. In this vicinity, as elsewhere in the Yellowst°Ppaui 697 miles. stone Valley, two plants characteristic of the semiarid West are very abundant, the cottonwood tree 

(Populus) and the sage (Artemisia). The courses of the river and 

its tributaries can be followed across the prairies where the bluffs
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 10

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White. Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

IDS' 104 '30' NORTH DAKOTA-MONTANA

\r

A Stream deposits (alluvium) Quaternary

B Sandstone and shale, with beds of lignite (Fort

Union formation) 1,200 Tertiary

C Sandstone and shale, with thin beds of lignite 1 

(upper part of Lance formation) 500

D Sandstone (Colgate sandstone member of Lance I Tertiary (?) 

formation). The Colgate probably includes at its 

base some sandstone of Fox Hills, Cretaceous, age 175J

E Dark shale (Pierre) 2,500 Cretaceous 

105*

i o

Scale "500,000

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch 

.?.... 1Q ....'{»

10 IS ?0 

.... 1 .... I ,- 

TOMilcc 

25 30Kilom«ters

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crosstits on the railroads art spaced i mite apart

104'ao' IO4"
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 69

Terry.

Elevation 2,264 feet. 

Population 775.* 

St. Paul 706 miles.

are low by the lines of cottonwood trees, and even in the lower 

part of the mountains these trees are generally found where there is 

running water. Sagebrush originally covered most of the bottom 

land of the valley, but it has been removed in many places to make 

room for valuable crops. Many people suppose that the growth of 

sagebrush is indicative of poor soil, but such is not the case, and a 

person familiar with the habits of the plant will always prefer a plot 

of land on which the sagebrush grows to large size.

The village of Terry, named in honor of Gen. Alfred H. Terry, 

who commanded the expedition of 1876 in what is commonly known 

as the Ouster campaign, is served by both the Northern Pacific and St. Paul roads. The light-colored 

sandstones which give to the Fort Union formation 

its distinctive color are well developed between 

Cedar Creek and Terry, but at Terry, in the lower 

part of the formation, there begins a change in color and composition 

that will become more evident as the traveler proceeds westward. 1

About 2 miles above Terry the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 

Railway crosses Yellowstone River, and it remains on the far side 

nearly to Miles City. The big coal bed at the base of the Lebo 

shale may be observed on both sides of the valley as far as the mouth 

of Powder River and on the opposite side of the river for some distance beyond that point. The rocks rise gradually upstream, and 

within a short distance the Lebo shale, which is only a little above 

river level at Terry, rises so high that it disappears from the adjacent 

bluffs and. the underlying Lance forms all the hills that are in sight 

between Powder and Tongue rivers.

In the vicinity of Miles City is Signal Butte, a high knob'about 

4 miles southwest of the railway, which can be'seen from passing

1 The large lignite bed on the west side 

of the river, which can readily be seen 

from the train near Terry, is regarded as 

the base of the Fort Union formation. 

Beginning a short distance down the 

liver below Terry, there appears just 

above this bed a band of dark shale which 

increases in thickness up the river to 50 

feet in the bluff opposite the town and to 

200 feet a mile or so farther west. The 

traveler, if he looks closely, can recognize 

this more somber-colored belt. It is 

made up of dark shale and sandstone, 

which, when examined under a microscope, are found to contain a large quantity of volcanic material in the form of 

lava fragments and volcanic dust or ash. 

These particles have been "washed and 

rolled over in water until all have been

reduced to fine mud or sand. This band 

of dark material has been followed westward nearly to its source, which must 

have been somewhere in the vicinity of 

Yellowstone Park. In .that region the 

formation is much thicker than it is 

farther east and the materials composing 

it are coarser, as would naturally be 

expected of material dropped near the 

shore. South or southwest of Livingston 

there were at one time great volcanic 

outbursts, and the material thus thrown 

out was swept away by the currents of 

water and deposited in a layer that extended for a great distance toward the 

east. This widespread sheet of volcanic 

sedimentary material is known as the 

Lebo shale member of the Fort Union 

formation.
70 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEBIST UNITED STATES.

Miles City.

Elevation 2,377 feet. 

Population 4,697. 

St. Paul 740 miles.

trains. It is reported that in the early days, before the railway had 

been built into this region, officers from Fort Keogh (ke'o) used this 

butte for sending and receiving messages from the Black Hills, 175 

miles distant. The signaling was done with a heliograph, an instrument for reflecting the sun's rays in any desired direction and flashing messages in the Morse code. On account of this use the knob 

received its name.

Miles City, at the mouth of Tongue River, was named in honor of 

Gen. Nelson A. Miles, an experienced Indian fighter, who had 

already established Fort Keogh on the river bottom 

about 2 miles farther west. Miles City is said to be 

the greatest horse market in the West, and is also an 

important wool-shipping point. In the early days the 

principal industry was the hunting of the buffalo or 

bison, and it is reported that as many as 250,000 hides were shipped

from this place in one season. Such numbers are almost inconceivable, but it is well 

known that the buffalo roamed the plains 

in great herds, and when the slaughter was 

carried on in wholesale fashion the number 

killed must have been very great. Capt. 

Clark and his party, in descending the Yellowstone in boats, were forced to wait near 

Glendive until a herd of buffalo numbering, 

by his estimate, 80,000 had crossed the 

river. Now all traces of the buffalo are 

gone from these plains except an occasional 

sun-bleached skull or a few weather-beaten 

horns. (See fig. 8.) 

Some distance below Tongue River the St. Paul road crosses the 

Yellowstone, and Miles City has the advantage of two transcontinental railways.

West of Tongue lliver, on the right (north), is Fort Keogh, which 

was built by Gen. Miles in 1877 and named in honor of Capt. Myles W. 

Keogh, who perished in the Battle of the Little Bighorn the year 

before. For a long time this was probably the most important post 

in the Indian country, but now it is used only as a remount station, 

where horses are trained for cavalry service.

The St. Paul road crosses to the north side of the Yellowstone 

again a short distance above Fort Keogh, and it remains on that 

side of the stream to Forsyth, where it turns northwestward and 

crosses the divide to Musselshell River. The Northern Pacific line 

continues on the south side, running in places along the wide, flat 

bottoms and in others on the river bank, where it is overhung by 

cliffs and steep slopes of sandstone, shale, and coal beds of the Lance

FIGURES. Sun-bleached skull near 

Miles City, Mont. The skulls and 

bones are all that remain of the 

great herds of buffalo that once 

roamed these plains.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 71

formation. Generally the coal beds are thin or variable in thickness; 

but in places they thicken, as between mileposts 92 and 93, where 

four beds are visible from the tram. Two or three of these beds are 

thick enough to work and some day may be mined, although the coal 

is not of very high quality. It is much better, however, than the 

lignite of North Dakota or that around Glendive and is classed as 

subbituminous a grade between lignite and ordinary bituminous 

coal.

A similar change in the character of the coal or lignite can be found 

in almost all the fields of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast. 

In every field the coal improves in quality toward the mountains, 

in places ranging from lignite to subbituminous coal or from subbituminous coal to anthracite within the limits of a single field. 

Such changes are doubtless due to greater stresses in the rocky crust

of the earth in the mountains than in the plains, and as the coal is 

the weakest member of the rocks forming that crust it was most 

compressed and changed.

The chief interest in the trip from Miles City to Rosebud lies in 

the fact that the railroad was constructed along the same route as 

that followed by Ouster in his approach to the great battle that 

terminated his career.1

1 In the spring of 1876 the Sioux Indians 

exhibited signs of unrest, and some of the 

more adventurous spirits among them deserted their reservations and began to 

assemble a force which the Government 

feared might at any time take the warpath and cause pillage and slaughter 

along the frontier. Sitting Bull was the 

leader of the insurrection. Gen. Crook 

with 1,000 men at Fort Fetterman (near 

Douglas), on North Platte River, Wyo.; 

Gen. Terry with another 1,000 at Fort 

Abraham Lincoln, near Mandan, N. Dak.; 

and Gen. Gibbon with 450 men at Fort 

.Ellis, near Bozeman, Mont., were ordered 

to force the Sioux back to their reservations.

The command of Gen. Crook, the greatest Indian fighter of his time, was defeated by the Indians in a battle on the 

headwaters of Rosebud River June 17, 

before he could effect a junction with the 

other parts of the expedition. He tried 

to notify Terry and Custer of his defeat 

and to warn them of the great number of 

Indians engaged in the campaign, but 

his scouts failed to reach them, and Custer proceeded from the mouth of Tongue 

River (Miles City) June 19, supposing the 

Indian force to be a small one which he 

could overcome in a single daring charge. 

Custer had just returned from Washington, where he had had difficulty with his 

superior officers, and, doubtless smarting 

under the charges made against him and 

the indignity of a threatened court-martial, he was in the mood to stake all on 

the chance of winning an immediate and 

brilliant victory. Maj. Reno, of his command, had been on a scouting trip into 

the Rosebud Valley, where he found 

abundant indications of a party of Indians 

who had recently moved westward toward 

the Little Bighorn.

On June 21 Custer's command camped 

at the mouth of Rosebud River, where 

they were joined by the troops under the 

command of Gen. Gibbon. The plan of 

the battle was for Custer to move up the 

Rosebud until he found the trail reported 

by Reno and then to follow it until he 

reached the Indian camp, which was supposed to be on the Little Bighorn. Gibbon's command was to march back on
72 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Rosebud.

Elevation 2,501 feet. 

Population 370.* 

St. Paul 778 miles.

West of Fort Keogh the railway follows the river past the small 

villages of Hathaway and Joppa to Rosebud, at the mouth of Rosebud River. (See sheet 12, p. 78.) The scenery along 

this part of Yellowstone River is not particularly 

striking, but many interesting views may be obtained, 

especially if the trip is made late in the season, when 

the water is low, for at that time it is generally clear, 

whereas in June the stream, swollen by the melting snow in the 

mountains, becomes a muddy torrent. Streams in this condition 

may be interesting as vehicles for the transportation of earthy material, but they are certainly not attractive.

Where the river swings close against the rocky bluffs the traveler 

may obtain through the soft foliage of the willows and cottonwoods 

vistas of deep, quiet pools that reflect all the colors of the clouds and 

sky, or of tumbling rapids where accumulated bowlders interfere with 

the progress of the stream. These views have for a setting on one 

side bold and rugged cliffs and on the other the upland stretching 

away to the horizon in a monotonous expanse of dry and dusty plain. 

In other places the outlook is over the wide valley bottom, which 

irrigation has made an oasis in the desert of sagebrush hills and 

broken cliffs.

the north side of the Yellowstone to the 

mouth of Bighorn River, and there Terry 

and Gibbon were to meet them on the 

steamer Far West and ferry them across the 

river. Gibbon was then to lead his command up the Bighorn and strike the enemy 

from the north at the same time that Ouster 

made his attack on the east and south.

Ouster did not pause at the mouth of the 

Rosebud but was away the next morning 

on his march up that stream. After following it for about 70 miles he found the 

great trail that the Indians had made 

across the ridge toward the Little Bighorn. He did not wait to give Gibbon 

time to move his troops up from the mouth 

of Bighorn River but pressed on until 

the Indians were actually sighted in an 

enormous camp on the Little Bighorn. 

Here he divided his forces, directing 

Reno to descend to the stream at the upper end of the camp and sweep down the 

valley, while he scouted along the hills 

on the east, apparently intending to atr 

tack the Sioux from that side simultaneously with Reno's charge and put them 

to flight.

Reno failed in his effort to drive the 

Indians down the valley and early in the 

action took to the hills on the east, where 

after considerable fighting he managed to 

secure a position that he held throughout 

the engagement. The whole force of the 

Indians was then directed against Ouster, 

and he, as well as his entire command, 

with the exception of an Indian guide, 

were slain. Reno was besieged in the hills 

until he was rescued by the force under 

Gibbon, which arrived, however, too 

late to take an active part in the battle.

When Gibbon's troops arrived the Indians left the valley and after some 

skirmishes with the soldiers returned to 

their reservations.

The soldiers killed in this battle numbered 265. They are buried in a national 

cemetery on the spot where they fell, 

with fitting monuments commemorating 

the bravery of their last fight against 

overwhelming numbers.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 11

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White. Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S, G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of (hat name.

I06oo' 105 so' MONTANA

|46'

Contour interval 200 feet

7 he distances from Si Paul. Minnesota. arr> sftow/i every 10 miles 

The crossn'es on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

Thickness 

in feet

A Stream deposits (alluvium)

B Sandstone and shale, with beds of lignite 

(upper part of Fort Union formation)

C Dark shale with some sandstone and

beds of lignite (Lebo shale member of

Fort Union formation) 0 to 340J

850

Quaternary

Tertiary

D Sandstone and shale, with thin beds 

of lignite (Lance formation) 140 Tertiary (?)

46°

106 oo' I05so'
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 73

The Lance formation makes rugged bluffs along the river from 

Miles City to Forsyth. This formation extends across North Dakota, 

Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The coal or lignite beds 

that characterize it in many places and the fossil leaves and branches 

that have been found almost everywhere in the sandstone and shale 

composing it show clearly that it was laid down in lakes and ponds. 

It is also certain that at the time it was deposited great forests 

flourished over much of the area of the States mentioned, where are 

now the treeless wastes of the Great Plains. The trees of that time 

were similar to those of the Fort Union epoch, as described on page 

57. The formation of coal beds means that the land was flat and 

probably at low level. The plains country and much of that which 

is now mountainous was at that time low and swampy, supporting a 

luxuriant tangle of large trees, underbrush, vines, and water plants. 

The strange creatures that roamed through that ancient forest or 

swam in its shallow lakes are described below by Charles W. Gilmore, 

of the United States National Museum. 1

1 Where vegetation grew as luxuriantly 

as in the swamps and lowlands of Lance 

time there must have been animals to 

subsist upon it and in turn other animals 

to feed upon them. The Lance formation is noted for the remains of great reptiles that it contains, and all the large 

museums of the country have skeletons 

or models of these wonderful dinosaurs, 

as they are called.

One of the best-known dinosaurs is 

called Triceratops (meaning literally 

three-horned face), so named because he 

had over each eye a massive horn directed forward and terminating in a long, 

sharp point and a third, but much smaller 

horn, on the nose, not unlike that of the 

modern rhinoceros. A mounted skeleton 

of Triceratops in the National Museum in 

Washington is about 20 feet long and 

stands 8 feet high at the hips. Some of 

the skulls that have been found measure 

more than 8 feet, or nearly one-third of 

the length of the entire animal, including the tail. The great .length of skull 

is due to the fact that the neck was protected by a bony frill, which projected 

backward from the skull like a fireman's 

helmet or like the large ruffs that were 

worn in Queen Elizabeth's time. Although the brain of this dinosaur is large, 

it is, when the size of the skull is taken

into consideration, relatively smaller than 

that of any other known land animal.

That Triceratops was a fighter is shown 

by the finding of broken and healed bones. 

A pair of horns in the National Museum 

bear mute witness to such an encounter, 

for they had been broken and then 

rounded over and healed while the animal was alive.

In the earlier restorations or models of 

this animal, as shown in Plate X (p. 74), 

the skin was represented as being smooth 

and leathery, but in a specimen recently 

discovered the well-preserved skin shows 

that it was made up of a series of scales of 

various sizes.

Triceratops, as indicated by the structure of his teeth, was manifestly a planteating animal, his food probably being 

leaves and branches of low trees and 

shrubs. Hatcher, the most noted collector of Triceratops in the United States, 

has pictured the country at the time these 

animals lived as being made up of vast 

swamps with wide watercourses that were 

constantly shifting their channels, the 

whole resembling the Everglades of 

Florida. The entire region, where the 

waters were not too. deep, was covered by 

an abundant vegetation and inhabited by 

the huge. dinosaurs as well as by crocodiles, alligators, turtles, and diminutive
74 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

During Lance time the crossing of the continent must have been 

attended by dangers beside which those of the African wilds seem 

trivial indeed. The traveler may be glad that he is safely ensconced 

in a railway car instead of facing the terrible ferocity of some wandering dinosaur as big as a house. But the days of these monsters 

have passed away, and then- former presence is recorded only in the 

skeletons which here and there are found embedded in the rocks. 

Just across the river from Forsyth a skeleton of Triceratops was found

animals, fossil remains of which are now 

found embedded in the sand and mud that 

were deposited in those old swamps.

There lived at the same time the great 

duck-billed reptile Trachodon, the bestknown and presumably the commonest 

dinosaur of its time. The length of an 

average-sized individual, measured from 

the end of the nose to the tip of the tail, 

was 30 feet, and as he walked erect on his 

huge three-toed hind feet, the tip of the 

head, which was nearly a yard long, was 

from 12 to 15 feet above the ground. The 

nose expanded into a broad duck-billed 

beak, which was covered with a horny 

sheath, as in birds and turtles, and was 

admirably adapted to pulling up the 

rushes and other water plants upon which 

the creature lived. That Trachodon 

lived in the water is shown by the webbed 

fingers of the fore foot and the long, deep, 

flattened tail, which was a most efficient 

swimming organ and equally useful as a 

counterbalance to the weight of his body 

when he was striding about on his hind 

legs on the land. The skin, as shown by 

specimens that have been found, was thin 

and covered with tubercles of two sizes, 

the larger ones predominating on surfaces 

exposed to the sun. One of the most 

remarkable features of this great brute was 

the set of teeth with which he was provided . In that respect he was much better off than the human being, for as soon 

as a tooth was worn out or lost, it was replaced by another pushed up from below. 

Each jaw had from 40 to 60 rows on each 

side and from 10 to 14 teeth in each row, 

hence there must have been more than 

2,000 teeth in the mouth of one individual.

There were also flesh-eating and consequently armored reptiles in Lance time.

The most highly specialized of the armored reptiles was Ankylosaurus', which 

was covered by a great number of flattened ridged-skin plates of bone, arranged 

in rows across the broad back. The reptile was low of stature and had at the end 

of his stout, heavy tail a great triangular 

club of bone, which when he moved 

about must have dragged on the ground. 

The head was short and blunt, and the eye 

was provided with a cup-shaped bony 

shutter that could be closed over the eyeball when the creature was harassed by 

his enemies. With all vulnerable parts 

thus protected by bony armor, this living 

fortress had little to fear from his bloodthirsty contemporaries. Ankylosaurus 

doubtless had need of his armor, for there 

were many other flesh-eating dinosaurs 

that swarmed in the forests or swam in 

the sluggish waters. The most striking 

of these was Tyrannosaurus, or tyrant 

lizard, the largest land-walking carnivorous animal the world has ever known. 

He was 40 feet long and, in a standing 

position on his hind legs, was 18 or 20 feet 

high. The fore legs were exceedingly 

small, and he must have walked entirely 

upon his powerful hind legs, the knee 

joint of which was 6 feet above the ground. 

At the American Museum of Natural History, New York, there is a perfect skull of 

this animal. It is with a feeling of awe 

that the spectator stands before the huge 

head with jaws 4 feet long, filled with bristling rows of sharp-pointed teeth, several 

of which project at least 6 inches from their 

socket, and he can not help wondering 

what part such a creature played in the 

economy of nature and whether he was as 

important to his time and place as the 

animals that live to-day.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

THE GREAT TRICERATOPS (THREE-HORNED FACE), WHICH IN LANCE TIME ROAMED THROUGH 

From painting by C. R. Knight, made under the direction of J. 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE XI

A. BLUFFS OF LANCE FORMATION ON YELLOWSTONE RIVER WEST OF HYSHAM, MONT.

B. FOSSIL PALM LEAF OF EOCENE AGE FOUND NEAR HYSHAM, MONT.

The climate of Montana must have been warmer and more moist than it is to-day to have permitted the growth 

of palms and other subtropical plants.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 75

Porsyth.

Elevation 2,535 feet. 

Population 1,39.'?. 

St. Paul 791 miles.

several years ago, and bones of these animals may be seen occasionally 

in riding about the country.

Forsyth, the county seat of Rosebud County, a district terminal of 

the Northern Pacific Railway, is one of the thriving towns in the 

Yellowstone Valley. It was named for Gen. J. W. 

Forsyth, one of the military pioneers of this country. Opposite the town the Chicago, Milwaukee & 

St. Paul Railway, which has followed Yellowstone 

River from Terry, leaves the valley and goes in a 

northwesterly direction to the Musselshell Valley in the vicinity of the 

new towns of Musselshell and Roundup.

Beyond Forsyth an anticline crosses the Yellowstone Valley, but 

it is not so distinct as the one above Glendive. The first indication 

that the traveler may observe of a change from the Lance formation, 

which is at railway level from Terry to Forsyth, is that after passing 

Armells Creek, just beyond milepost 130, the width of the valley 

suddenly increases and the bluffs lose their rugged character. These 

features indicate the presence of softer rocks, and while the formation 

containing them is not visible from the train a close examination of 

the bluffs would show that they are composed of dark shale the 

same dark shale that the traveler saw at Cedar Creek, above Glendive. 

This shale normally underlies the Lance, and its presence near railway 

level here means that the rocks rise west of Forsyth and the next lower 

formation is brought to view. 1

1 The dark shale noted near Glendive 

is called the Pierre shale, but the dark 

shale that makes its appearance near 

Howard and is said to be the same as the 

Pierre, is called Bearpaw. The change

supposed to represent the cut edges of the 

formations as they lie in the ground.

In the Black Hills, and so far as known 

at Glendive, the Upper Cretaceous rocks 

begin with the Dakota sandstone at the

EUuMEDLs

FIGURE 9. Diagram showing the thinning out and coming in of formations from the Black Hills, S. Dak.,

to Billings, Mont.

in the Cretaceous formations along an 

east-west line from the Black Hills to 

Billings, Mont., and the reason for the 

introduction of new names for the formations are explained by figure 9, which is

base, resting upon the Lower Cretaceous. 

Over this are two great shales (Benton 

and Pierre) and a limestone (Niobrara) 

of marine origin, and capping all is the 

Lance, a fresh-water deposit.
76 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Howard.

Elevation 2,600 feet. 

Population 139.* 

St. Paul 800 miles.

Finch.

Elevation 2,595 feet. 

St.'Paul 806 miles.

about 30 feet.

The high hills composed of Lance sandstones (see PI. XI, A, p. 75), 

as shown on sheet 12 (p. 78), recede from the river until at Howard 

they are more than 2 miles from the railway, and 

the low hills near by are made up of the Bearpaw 

shale. The outcrop of the shale crosses the river 

and then swings far to the northeast around a domeshaped structure in the rocks that brings this and 

lower formations up to the surface.

The valley increases in width "until in the vicinity of Finch the 

Lance sandstones are so far back from the river that they are hidden 

by the low hills of shale at the margin of the valley 

bottom. At milepost 141, a short distance east of 

Sanders, a massive gray sandstone rises from river 

level until it attains a height above the railway of 

Beyond this point it descends toward the west and 

within a short distance disappears below railway level. The highest 

point on this sandstone marks the axis of a large irregular uplift 

which lies almost entirely north of the railway.

This sandstone is known to be the extreme eastern point of the 

Judith River, a coal-bearing formation (see fig. 9) that is exposed 

in many places in the central part of the State. In its best development it is a fresh-water deposit, but the sandstone near Sanders 

contains marine shells, showing that the shore of the land upon 

which the fresh-water sediments of the central part of the State were 

laid down was near this place, and that to the east of that shore line 

sand was deposited in the waters of the sea. A deep well recently 

drilled for water at Vananda, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 

Railway about 16 miles northwest of Forsyth, started in this sandstone and struck the red shale of the Kootenai formation (see fig. 9) 

at a depth of about 3,200 feet.

The relatively flat land in the bottom of this valley, although 

originally only a sagebrush plain, was attractive to farmers, and an 

extensive private irrigation project has been developed. Water is 

taken from the river at Myers, between Hysham and Rancher, and

Westward from the Black Hills the 

Niobrara fades out as a limestone, and at 

Billings it can not be identified and separated from the Benton. The entire mass 

of shale is called the Colorado, and this is 

equivalent to both the Benton and the 

Niobrara. The Dakota disappears west of 

the Black Hills and the Coloradoshale rests 

upon the Kootenai (Lower Cretaceous).

In the east the great marine deposit 

above the Niobrara is known as the Pierre 

shale. Toward the west this changes in

character in its lower part, and three more 

or less sandy formations the Eagle sandstone and the Claggett and Judith River 

formations have been recognized and 

named. The dark shale above the Judith 

River is in composition and appearance 

like the Pierre, but as it represents only a 

small part of that formation it is given 

another name (Bearpaw). The Lance 

formation is apparently continuous and 

regular throughout the section here 

described.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE XII

VIEWS IN THE SHEEP RANGE OF MONTANA. - . 

As shown in the upper view, the watchful herder and the equally vigilant sheep dogs guard the defenseless flock. 

The covered wagon shown In the lower view has been developed to meet the special needs of the sheep 

herder. It is light in weight and commodious and in bad weather affords protection from the fierce storms 

which sweep over the Montana plains
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE XIII

A. POMPEYS PILLAR, MONT., AS SEEN FROM THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 

 The inscription shown below is on the other side of the pillar.

J{. INSCRIPTION MADE BY CAPTAIN CLARK ON POMPEYS PILLAR JULY 25, 1806. 

Now protected by an iron grating, Photograph furnished by the Northern Pacific Railway.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 77

Sanders.

Elevation 2,618 feet. 

Population 281.* 

St. Paul 812 miles.

Hysham.

Elevation 2,667 feet. 

Population 162.* 

St. Paul 818 miles.

carried by a gravity system down the valley for a distance of 30 

miles. Part of this system has only recently been opened, so that 

all the land is not cultivated, but in the older parts fine crops are 

raised.

West of the sandstone outcrop the valley floor is again smooth, 

showing that the soft shale forms it as well as the low hills that 

appear far to the left (south). A little beyond 

Sanders the railway crosses Sarpy Creek, one of the 

well-known places of the early days, for here was 

located Fort Sarpy, an important trading post of the 

American Fur Co. and the headquarters of many 

of the hunters and trappers of the Northwest. The post was 

named for if not established by Col. Peter Sarpy, who was an 

agent of the fur company for 30 years after its organization.

At Hysham the valley is very wide, 

the hills being at least 2 miles back from 

the railway. By looking 

ahead on the left, after 

leaving this town, the 

traveler can see the rugged sandstone walls of 

the Lance formation coming in close to 

the track, and for several miles the road 

follows the river bank under a towering 

cliff that rises to a height of 300 feet. 

The traveler is now in what was a 

few years ago the great open sheep range 

of Montana. Single ranches had flocks 

ranging from a few hundred to as many FIGURE 10. Monument built by sheep 

as 40,000 sheep. These were not kept in

a fenced inclosure as is clone in the East but were herded in bands of a 

few hundred or a few thousand each. To each band was assigned 

one or two herders who with horses to draw a covered wagon and a 

faithful dog followed the sheep for months at a time without returning 

to the home ranch. (See PL XII.) Hour after hour, day after day, 

and week after week were spent in watching the sheep, with absolutely nothing to break the monotony of the rolling treeless plain 

except here and there low hills of barren rock. The herder would 

stand upon such eminences when the sheep were quietly feeding and 

no coyotes near to cause uneasiness and, to amuse himself, would 

build monuments of the loose rocks (fig. 10). "In the course of time 

monuments of this kind were erected on almost every hill and on all 

the commanding points of the river bluffs, and the traveler can 

doubtless see them from the passing train.
78 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The dry-land farmer has. gradually encroached upon the open range, 

and before long large flocks feeding upon it will be seen no more. 

Conditions will become more and more like those in the East, and 

finally the sheep herder, like his enemy the cowboy, will pass out of 

existence and will live only on the canvas of some Remington or 

Russell.

The next station is Bighorn, which is only a short distance east of

Bighorn River. This is historic ground also, for it has been occupied

almost continuously since it was first visited by Capt.

Bighorn. Qjark juiy 26,1806. In the year immediately followEievation 2,712 feet. mg Clark's visit Manuel Lisa, one of the restless.

St. Paul834 miles. jP . , 7 , .. '

adventurous spirits 01 the frontier, established a 

trading post here which afforded a rendezvous for many of the 

hunters of the region. In 1822 Col. William H. Ashley, president of 

the Rocky Mountain Fur Co., built a trading post.2 miles below the 

mouth of Bighorn River which he called Fort Van Buren. It was 

here also that Gen. Gibbon, in 1876, crossed the Yellowstone and 

proceeded overland with his detachment of 450 men to cooperate in 

the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which Custer had already lost.

A little beyond Bighorn station the train crosses Bighorn River 

and, skirting the base of sandstone bluffs for a distance of 3 miles,

plunges into the blackness of the Bighorn tunnel, to 

Custer. emerge at the town of Custer. This town derived its 

Elevation 2,749 feet. name from the fact that it was the stopping place

Population 335.* n ~ f-f ,,

st. Paul 839 miles. tor persons going to old $ ort Custer, at the mouth 

of Little Bighorn River, but, despite the fact that the 

post has been abandoned, Custer retains its importance on account 

of its situation in the center of a fine agricultural district. Several 

years ago the skeleton of a Triceratops was found in the Lance formation which makes the river bluff opposite this place.

West of Custer the bluffs on both sides of the river are composed of 

sandstone of the Lance formation, but they are not so prominent as 

those below the mouth of Bighorn River. In places the low hills 

rise abruptly from the water's edge and the roadbed of the railway 

was made by blasting the solid rock. Generally, however, the hills 

are back half a mile or so from the track.

From Waco (see sheet 13, p. 82) to Bull Mountain the same kind

of topography prevails, except that the bluffs on the north side

of the river are more pronounced and rise abruptly

Bull Mountain. from the water level. Near Bull Mountain the hills on

Elevation 2,867 feet, ^he south are farther from the track, lower, and less

St. Paul 856 miles. ' '

rugged than they are farther east. Such changes in the 

appearance of surface features are due to the presence of softer rocks. 

Here the formations are rising westward, and at Bull Mountain 

the Bearpaw shale, underlying the Lance formation, is again brought
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 12

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White. Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915 .

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

Lebo

shale 

member of 

Fort Union 

form.

A Stream deposits (alluvium)

B Dark shale with some sandstone 

and beds of lignite (Lebo shale 

member of Fort Union formation)

C Sandstone and shale, with thin beds

D Dark shale, marine deposit (Bearpaw) 9001

200("

E White sandstone and shale, marine 

deposits (Judith River formation)

F Shale and sandstone, marine deposits, 

(Claggett formation)

Scale 560,000 

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown ev«ry 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

60 \^ """"" .. __ __ - 

10730'

/

107'

10630'
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 79

to the surface, but because of its. softness it soon weathers down to a 

dark mud that so conceals the rock from which it was derived that 

the rock can not be seen from the train.

West of Bull Mountain the Northern Pacific Railway crosses the 

northern point of one of the great mountain-making folds of the 

Rocky Mountains. The rocky layers or formations have been forced 

up into a great arch which has a breadth, where crossed by the railway, of 75 miles and a length of about 180 miles. In the region of 

its greatest development in Wyoming it forms the Bighorn Mountains, 

and it is generally spoken of as the Bighorn uplift or anticline, but 

the northern projection into Montana has a local development in 

Pry or Mountain and for that reason is known as the Pry or Mountain 

anticline.

As the railway crosses the fold at its north end, where the formations swing around in broad curves, it cuts the outcrops at oblique 

angles or follows them for a considerable distance. It is because of 

this fact that the hills on the left are smooth and low, indicative of 

shale, and the bluffs on the opposite side of the river are rugged, 

being composed of sandstone.

One of the most striking mementos of the early exploration of 

the Yellowstone Valley is Pompeys Pillar (PL XIII, p. 77),' a lone 

butte, 200 feet high, between mileposts 196 and 197. In descending 

the Yellowstone Capt. Clark noted this butte and from its isolated 

position and vertical walls called it Pompeys Pillar. He states concerning it, "I marked my name and the day of the month and year." 

Halfway up on the side near the river is to be seen Clark's rude 

inscription, now protected by an iron grating. The sandstone 

forming Pompeys Pillar is near the base of the Lance formation, and 

the westward rise of the rocks soon brings up the dark marine Bearpaw shale, but near the railway this shale is covered by soil and can 

not be seen from the train.

From Pompeys Pillar to Huntley the railway line is in the middle 

of a broad, flat bottom, which is irrigated by water taken from the 

river a short distance above the mouth of Pryor 

Creek, under the Huntley project of the United 

Elevation 2,9is feet. States Reclamation Service. 1 The underlying rocks

St. Paul 866 miles. . ., . T

 are not visible irom the train except at a great distance on the right. As shown on sheet 13 (p. 82), the first formation 

to be passed over beyond Pompeys Pillar is dark shale (Bearpaw) of

Newton.

1 The Huntley project covers an area of 

33,000 acres in the broad valley of Yellowstone River. In 1907 this region was a 

part of the Crow Indian Reservation and 

was uninhabited. To-day it contains 400 

farm families and six towns. The transformation wrought by Government irrigation is apparent in the present compact, 

intensively cultivated farms, in substantial farm buildings, and in growing towns. 

A few farms under this project are open 

to homestead entry under the terms of the
80. GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Huntley.

Elevation 3,038 feet. 

Population 1,746.* 

St. Paul 880 miles.

marine origin. Next is a formation (Judith River) which in many 

places carries coal beds and was laid down on the land or in shallow 

lakes. It is soft and mostly light colored, but at a distance it can 

not be distinguished from the overlying Bearpaw shale.

At Huntley the Northern Pacific is joined by the Kansas City line 

of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and the two systems 

use the same tracks from Huntley to Billings. Pryor 

Creek, which is crossed by the train soon after leaving Huntley, was named by Capt. Clark for one of 

his party. West of the creek the railway is at the 

foot of a precipitous bluff of greenish sandstone, in 

places thick bedded, which is the upper part of. the Claggett formation. This underlies the Judith River formation and from the fossils 

that it contains is known to have been laid down in the sea. Thus, 

under the' influence of the great Pryor Mountain anticline, lower and 

lower rocks are hi turn brought to the surface. Beyond the bluff 

the sandstone rises until near milepost 220 it can be seen on the left 

(south) just capping the highest hills. The rock underlying the sandstone is not exposed here, but it is known to consist of soft shale, the 

lower part of the same formation. Where it is crossed by the line 

of the railway, the valley is broad and the slopes on either side are 

smooth and gentle.

West of the open part of the valley just described the hills close 

in on the river, especially from the south, until it seems as if the 

stream would be blocked, but on close approach it is apparent that 

the water has cut a narrow passage through what appears to be a 

barrier across its path. The railway is crowded close to the bank 

of the river, and west of milepost 223 hillside cuts show that the 

constriction of the valley is due to a thick bed of coarse sandstone 

(Eagle) which crosses the river nearly at right angles and dips 15° 

or 20° to the east. Immediately west of this outcrop the railway 

crosses Yellowstone River to the broad flat upon which the town of 

Billings is situated. As the train enters the yards just west of the 

river the Eagle sandstone can be seen on both sides of the valley.

reclamation act, and full particulars may 

be obtained at Huntley from the project 

manager. The cost of the water right is 

$30 an acre, payable in 20 annual installments without interest, and there is an 

additional charge of $4 an acre for the land. 

The climate is healthful and the soil 

fertile, producing abundant crops when 

watered. Cereals and alfalfa are the 

principal crops, but the growing of sugar 

beets is becoming profitable. There is a 

sugar factory at Billings, and an increased

acreage has been put into beets each 

year.

Probably no section in the West has 

experienced the freedom from speculators 

enjoyed by the area under the Huntley 

project. As a result, this is to-day one of 

the most prosperous and up to date communities in the Northwest. Its progressive spirit is shown by its centralized 

graded schools, its churches, the steady 

substantial growth of its towns, and its 

clubs and cooperative organizations.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 81

On the south side it forms a prominent cliff and on the north it swings 

to the west and borders the valley with a precipitous wall.

Billings, a division terminal, is the most important city in the 

eastern half of the State. It was named in honor of Frederick Billings, one of the early presidents of the Northern 

Billings. Pacific Railway Co. For a long time it was the greatEiovation 3,139 feet. est Wool-shipping point ui the United States, if not

Population 10,031. . i T i i c i

st. Paul892 miles. in the world, but in recent years much. 01 the wool 

from the north has been diverted by the St. Paul 

road and the dry-land farmers have taken up so much of the open 

range that the raising of sheep has been greatly reduced and is likely 

to become one of the vanishing industries of this region.

The earliest authentic record of exploration in the vicinity of 

Billings is that of Capt. Clark, who on his return from the Pacific 

coast passed the site of the city July 24, 1806. Soon afterward fur 

traders and trappers explored most of the streams of this country in 

search of beavers, and in so doing they frequently passed up and 

down the valley of the Yellowstone, but they left no record except 

possibly their names attached to some of the old trading posts or to 

the streams. The first permanent settlement in this vicinity appears 

to have been made about 1876, when a place called Coulson was 

established as a stage station and steamboat landing. Coulson continued to be of importance until the railway was built in. 1881-82. 

In 1883 a street railway, the first in Montana, was built connecting 

this town with Billings, then recently established. The new town 

soon outgrew its rival, and to-day Coulson has disappeared.

Originally the valley outside of the lower land was clothed only 

with sagebrush, and for a number of years after the completion of 

the railway but little farming was done. As the annual rainfall is 

only about 14 inches and the summer season short it was thought 

that even the hardier grains could not bo successfully raised here. 

About 1892 agricultural development started in earnest, ditches were 

dug, and water was taken to the land, and to-day there is no more 

fertile and productive valley in the State than that of the Yellowstone about Billings. Sugar beets are the principal crop, but alfalfa 

and grains are also grown in abundance. Farming is now the main 

occupation of the people about Billings. A large sugar factory has 

been erected at Billings which manufactures sugar from beets grown 

in many of the irrigated valleys in this part of the State.

Near milepost 3, west of Billings, the traveler may, if the day is 

clear, catch his first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, directly ahead, 

nearly 100 miles away. In midsummer the outline of the mountains 

may be faint and scarcely discernible, but early in the summer or in 

the autumn the snow on their summits should cause them to stand

95558° Bull. 611 15 6
82 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

out clear and distinct. If the traveler is fortunate enough to obtain 

such a view, he will understand why, in the early descriptions, they 

were always referred to as the "Shining Mountains." The mountains 

that can be seen from this point are the ranges that lie just south of 

Livingston and bound Yellowstone Park on the east.

At this point also the setting of' the valley can be well seen. Billings has for a background a high bluff capped by massive sandstone 

or "rim rock" (Eagle). This can be followed to" the east by the eye 

until it dips below water level and then reappears on the south side 

of the river in equal boldness and ruggedness, but instead of following parallel with the valley it strikes due south across country to 

Pryor Creek, the next stream in that direction. Its outcrop is everywhere marked by an escarpment, and at the last point at which it 

can be seen it makes an abrupt break in the sky line. On the right 

(north) the cliff trends nearly due west, as shown on the map (sheet 

13), but the railway runs toward the southwest and consequently 

departs more and more from the cliff. The rim rock is visible as far 

as milepost 8, but beyond that point it is obscured by the edge of 

the terrace on the right.

The traveler may notice that the river bluffs on the left (south) 

look very different from the rim rock. There are no ledges on these 

bluffs and they are composed of dark shale (Colorado shale), which 

underlies the run rock. This shale is the lowest and oldest formation 

that has yet been seen on this trip west of Minnesota.

Near milepost 12 a branch of the Great Northern Railway which 

uses the tracks of the Northern Pacific from Billings to this place 

turns northward, going to Great Falls and Shelby, where it unites 

with the Great Northern main line.

From Laurel a branch of the Northern Pacific Railway leads to the 

south across the Yellowstone and up the valley of Clark Fork to the 

towns of Bridger and Red Lodge. Red Lodge is the 

largest town in a coal field that supplies most of the 

fuel used by this railway in its mountain divisions 

from Butte and Helena on the west to Mandan on 

the east. 1

Laurel.

Elevation 3,311 feet

1 The Red Lodge coal field, at the foot 

of the Beartooth Mountains in Carbon 

County, supplies fuel for the railway, for 

the big smelter at Anaconda, and for a 

large domestic trade.

In quality the Red Lodge coal is distinctly below most of the eastern coals 

but compares favorably with many of the 

Rocky Mountain coals. It shows a tendency to slack on exposure to the weather 

and consequently is classed by the United

States Geological Survey as subbituminous, but this tendency is so slight that 

the coal evidently belongs at the top of 

its class, which is near the dividing line 

between the bituminous and subbituininous coals. Its heating value ranges from 

10,570 to 11,440 British thermal units.

The field comprises only about 40 

square miles, but the number and thickness of the coal beds compensate in some 

degree for the small area. According
BULLETIN 611 SHEET NO. 13

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. C. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that -name.

A Stream deposits (alluvium)

B Sandstone and shale (Lance formation)

C Dark shale, marine deposit, (Bearpaw)

D Shale with some sandstone, fresh-water 

deposits (Judith River formation)

E Shale and sandstone, marine deposits 

(Clajrgett formation)

F Sandstone (Eagle)

G Dark shale, marine deposit (Colorado!

a&le sandstone

5 10 IS

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 83

The traveler has now passed the axis of the great Pryor Mountain 

anticline, which brings to light the Colorado shale south of Billings, 

and the rocks dip gently and regularly toward the west. Under the 

influence of this westward dip the shale (Colorado) visible in the bluffs 

on the south side of the river soon passes below water level, and the 

cliffs of sandstone (Eagle) on the north begin to approach the railway. Near milepost 20 the cliff is about 2 

miles distant and consists of three beds of 

sandstone with intervening shale or soft sandstone, as shown in figure 11. xs the dip is

low, only abouo 10°, the Eagle

sandstone approaches the

river slowly, but at milepost

25 it can be seen in the hills

on the south side of the river. 

The top of the sandstone passes below water 

level at a siding called Youngs Point, beyond Park City (see 

sheet 14, p. 86), and here about 300 feet of shale and another 

sandstone immediately overlying the Eagle are visible across the 

river. These beds make up the lower part of the Claggett formation, which dips gently westward and gradually disappears beneath water level. At milepost 32 all the white sandstone has 

passed from view and the hill slopes are comprised of the overlying Judith River formation. This formation has no decided

Park City.

Elevation 3,410 feet. 

Population 903.* 

St. Paul 915 miles.

FIGURE 11. Eagle sandstone 

north of Park City, Mont.

to a section measured in the bluffs on 

the east side of Rock Creek in and below the town of Eed Lodge and in the 

mine workings there is 90 feet of coal in 

beds 3 feet or more in thickness. The 

beds vary greatly in size, being thicker 

near Red Lodge than in any other part of 

the field so far explored, but the quality 

is somewhat better about Bear Creek, in 

the eastern part.

These coal beds (in the Fort Union formation) are made up of the same sort of 

vegetation as the great lignite beds of 

North Dakota, but being nearer to the 

mountains the coal is of much better quality, for the reason given on page 71. The 

coal beds dip from 10° to 20° toward the 

southwest, or into the mountain, which is 

separated from the coal field by an immense fault.

Although mining at Red Lodge was begun before 1882, it was conducted on a 

small scale until 1889, when railway connection was established and some large

mines opened. Since then the field has 

been developed steadily until now it is 

first in point of production in the State. 

The coal production of Carbon County, 

which includes the Red Lodge field, in 

1913 amounted to 1,304,524 short tons.

It is estimated that the amount of coal 

in the Red Lodge field before mining began was 1,691,800,000 short tons. If from 

this is deducted 12,544,796 short tons, the 

total amount mined to the end of 1913 (the 

latest statistics yet compiled), and about 

4,000,000 tons that was rendered unavailable through mining operations, there 

would still remain about 1,675,000,000 

short tons. Not all of this can be regarded 

as minable, for in mining some coal is 

almost always left in the ground or rendered unavailable on account of breaking 

down of the roof. According to present 

practice only from 60 to 80 per cent of 

the coal in the ground is mined, but as 

methods improve more and more of the 

coal will become available.
84 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

characteristics by which it may be recognized and identified, but it 

contains fewer beds of sandstone, and consequently makes smoother 

hill slopes than the underlying Claggett formation. The slopes composed of the Judith River formation have a whitish-gray tint and are 

rather monotonous in color and appearance. The rocks composing 

the upper part of this formation are well exposed in Countrymans 

Bluff, between mileposts 37 and 38. Here the rocks are undoubtedly 

of fresh-water origin, as they contain numerous fragments of fossil 

plants such as could have been deposited only either on land or in 

bodies of fresh water.

The continued westward dip of the rocks brings the next higher 

formation (Bearpaw shale) to water level in the vicinity of Columbus. 

It can not be seen near the railway, but is well exposed 

a mile north of the town. This shale crops out in the 

valley of Keyser Creek north of the railway and along 

the foot of the ridge that begins just across the river 

from Columbus and extends southeastward as far as

Columbus.

Elevation 3,624 feet. 

Population 521. 

St. Paul 933 miles.

JOivingsttnx

FIGURE 12. Cross section to illustrate the change in the formations between Terry and Livingston,

Mont.

the eye can see. This ridge is composed of beds of light-colored sandstone (Lance formation) which are almost identical with those seen 

in the vicinity of Hysham. In one of these beds a large quarry has 

been opened a mile north of Columbus, which furnishes a building 

stone of great excellence. This stone has been used in the construction of buildings in the neighboring towns and in the State capitol at 

Helena.

These sandstones cap Bensons Bluff, 1\ miles west of Columbus, 

and come down to water level near milepost 43. The dips here are 6° 

to 8° to the west, but they flatten within a short distance and the 

rocks are practically horizontal.

The traveler may remember that at Terry he saw a wedge of somber-colored shale and sandstone immediately overlying the Lance and 

that the dark color of this wedge is due to the presence of volcanic 

material, which was washed far to the east from its place of origin 

somewhere near the Yellowstone Park. The relation of this wedge 

of volcanic material to the adjacent formations is shown in figure 12.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 85

The train is now approaching the place of origin of this material. 

The gray sandstone of the Lance forms most of the slopes at milepost 

50, just beyond Merrill, and about 300 feet above the river the hills 

have a brownish appearance which indicates that some other formation makes their upper slopes. After crossing the river the same relations may be observed, except that as the train moves westward the 

brown Lebo shale can be seen at lower and lower levels, owing to the 

slight westward dip of the rocks.

At Reed Point the white beds of the Lance extend up the slopes

only 100 to 150 feet, and above that all the rocks are brown. The

Lance probably goes under river level near milepost

Reed Point. gQ^ an(j beyond that point the hillsides are much

Elevation3,762feet, smoother and the general tone of the rocks is brown,

indicating that the Lebo shale forms the hills at

least for a height of 800 or 1,000 feet.

About three-fourths of a mile beyond milepost 63 a large dike, 

visible on the right (north), cuts directly through the bedded rocks 

in a direction nearly parallel with the railway. The dike is composed 

of a dark igneous rock which was injected in a melted condition into 

an extensive crack in the bedded rocks. It stands up like a wall, and 

where it cuts across a bed of light-colored sandstone it is easily 

recognized.

As the train rounds the curve at milepost 66, the traveler looking 

forward and to the right can get his first good view of the Crazy 

Mountains (originally called Crazy Woman Mountains). This 

mountain group stands by itself in the plains and contains the first 

high peaks which the traveler can see at close range. Its mode of 

origin is described in the footnote beginning on page 86.

East of this place the volcanic material of the Lebo shale has been 

so thoroughly washed and sorted by water that it is evenly bedded 

like ordinary shale and friable sandstone, but near the mountains and 

the source of supply this material is coarser and some of it has the appearance of being only a little modified by water after it was blown out 

of some old volcanic vent in the vicinity.. Such material, known as 

volcanic agglomerate, is composed of fragments of lava ranging from 

minute pieces to blocks 4 feet in diameter. The agglomerate beds 

have in general a warm gray tint, and a mass of such material gave 

the name of Greycliff to a siding that was formerly located under the 

cliff but now has been moved 3 miles to the west. The cliff is fully 

100 feet high, but the base of the agglomerate is not exposed and 

hence its full thickness may greatly exceed that amount. As it is 

reported to be 2,000 feet thick a few miles to the southwest, it seems 

reasonably certain that the old volcano which furnished the material 

was located in that direction, but no trace of it has been discovered.'
86 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

At Grey cliff an upland stretching far to the north is visible across

the river on the right. This is underlain by light-colored sandstones

of the Fort Union formation, which show here and

Greycliff. there, giving to the surface a light-gray appearance.

Elevation 3,940feet. As these rocks dip slightly westward, they should apSt. Paul 963 miles. ., i , < T» m- i i

pear near railway level east 01 Big limber, but no 

such rocks occur near the track. This is due to the fact that on approaching Yellows tone Park more and more of the volcanic material 

is present in the sandstones, giving to them a dark color that makes 

them indistinguishable from the underlying Lebo. 1 

After passing Big Timber the traveler obtains on the right (north) 

his best view of the Crazy Mountains,2 an isolated 

group of sawtoothed peaks which rise sharply to a 

height of 6,000 feet above the generally even surface 

of the plain and 7,000 feet above the level of the 

railway.

Springdale (see sheet 15, p. 98) is the stopping place for those going 

to Hunters Hot Springs, which are visible on the right at a distance 

of about 1£ miles. These springs are reported to have 

Sprmgdale. keen well known to the Indians before the advent of 

the white man. They were discovered in 1864 by 

Dr. J. A. Hunter, who, with his family, was on his 

way to the newly discovered gold fields of Montana. The springs

Big Timber.

Elevation 4,095 feet. 

Population 1,022. 

St. Paul 974 miles.

Elevation 4,234 feet. 

St. Paul 989 miles.

1 The change in character of the materials composing the Fort Union may 

not be apparent from the train, but north 

of the Crazy Mountains, on Musselshell 

River, all the formations from the Colorado shale (the shale that is exposed 

across the river from Billings) to the Fort 

Union change toward the west to an andesitic mass in which formations are not 

distinguishable. This mass is generally 

known as the Livingston formation, and 

when it was named it was supposed to be 

younger than any formation so far described and to rest unconformably on all 

the older formations up to and including 

the Fort Union. This idea was based on 

its supposed relation to the other formations about Livingston and to the fact 

that the fossil plants which it carries are 

different from those in the Fort Union 

and also in the underlying formations. 

The anomalous character of the fossil flora 

has not yet been explained, but the apparent merging of the formations into one 

great mass of andesitLc material toward 

the west is so apparent that it is now

generally regarded as established that the 

Livingston is not a separate formation, 

but a peculiar near-shore phase of the 

other 'formations, produced by a great 

supply of volcanic material from an upland on the south.

2 The Crazy Mountains can not in any 

sense be considered as a range, for in 

form they are merely a group of peaks and 

in structure they are unlike any other 

range in this part of the country. The 

highest point, Crazy Peak, has an altitude 

of 11,178 feet, or'about 6,000 feet above 

the general level of the plateau or bench 

land at its foot. The Crazy Mountains 

are therefore higher than many of the 

more noted mountains of Montana, and 

they are certainly more conspicuous on 

account of their compactness and isolation.

Structurally they have no relation to 

the ranges of .the Rocky Mountains, for 

those ranges in general are formed of 

upturned or faulted strata, whereas the 

Crazy Mountains are merely the remains 

of a great irregular mass, called a stock,
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 14

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

109 MONTANA

Stream deposits (alluvium)

White sandstone and shale (upper part of Fort Union 

formation)

White sandstone and shale (middle part of Fort Union 

formation)

Dark shale and sandstone composed largely of volcanic 

materials (Lebo shale member of the Fort Union 

formation) including volcanic agglomerate (G)

Sandstone and shale (Lance formation) 

Dark shale, marine deposit (Bearpaw)

Shale and sandstone, fresh-water deposits 

(Judith River formation)

Sandstone and shale, marine deposits (Claggett formation) 600

Sandstone and shale, with coal beds (Eagle sandstone) 200

Dark shale, marine deposit (Colorado) 1,300

Upper and middle part = 

o.rt^nion

Formations C, D, F, G, H, and' I change toward the west into dark volcanic 

materials and near the western border of this area are grouped into the 

Li vingston formation

Scale 500,000 

Approximately 8 miles to ! inch

'P

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St Paul. Minnesota, are shown every JO miles 

The crossties on She railroads are spaced I mile apart
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 87

discharge 90,000 gallons of water an hour at a temperature of 148° 

to 168° F.

Beyond Springdale the river passes through a narrow gorge known 

as McAdows Canyon. In this canyon the rocks, which are well 

exposed, show many wrinkles or minor folds that were undoubtedly 

formed by the upheaval of the great Absaroka Range, on the south. 

The mountain range is high and rugged, indicating a youthful stage 

in its development, for if the range were old it would have been worn 

down by erosion and its rugged features would have been smoothed 

and rounded off. Another proof that the Absaroka Range has been 

recently formed is found in the fact that the rocks along its flanks 

have been wrinkled and upturned by the same forces as those that 

folded and raised the mountain rocks into their present positions. 

From this it is evident that the mountains must have been formed 

since the deposition of the youngest of the plains rocks, and as the 

Fort Union formation, which is early Tertiary, is involved in the folding, the mountains must have been formed in middle or late Tertiary 

tune.

On the right (north) near milepost 103. a near-by view may be 

obtained of the Sheep Cliffs, which, as seen from the train, are very 

prominent. They are the result of an intrusion of molten lava 

between beds of sedimentary rocks, probably from some of the dikes

of igneous rock that was forced in molten 

condition into the soft shale and sandstone of the upper Mesozoic and lower 

Tertiary formation. At the time this 

great mass of igneous material pushed 

into the soft sedimentary beds, the surface 

must have been above the present top 

of the mountains. J. P. Iddlngs, who has 

given the most study to this mountain 

mass, says that it is not at all certain that 

the molten material ever poured oyer or 

even reached the surface. It is exposed 

to view now because the beds that once 

covered it have gradually been washed 

away by rain and streams.

The stock is 4 miles wide and 6 miles 

long. It consists of a very coarse grained 

dLorite which disintegrates rapidly when 

exposed to the weather. In this condition it is easily eroded, and the slopes 

are very steep, as can be seen from the 

train. The present mountains are made 

up not only of the igneous rock, but also 

of the shale and sandstone into which it 

was forced. These rocks were heated so 

intensely that the shale has been baked 

into a porcelain-like mass that is very

hard and resists weathering much more 

successfully than the diorite. These 

baked rocks form a zone nearly a mile 

wide around the core. Through this zone 

and beyond it the rocks have been cut 

and hardened by a countless number of 

dikes that radiate from the central mass 

in all directions. Here and there the 

molten matter has found an outlet between the beds of sandstone, resulting in 

great sheets or sills of the hardened lava. 

These are very dense and serve as pro- 

.tecting caps to the softer strata beneath. 

The forcing of so much material between 

the layers of the sedimentary rocks has 

raised them up around the stock until 

they dip from it in all directions.

Nearly the last stage in the evolution of 

this group of mountains is the sculpturing they have received from local glaciers during the Great Ice Age. These 

were so small that they did not even 

coalesce and form an ice cap, but each 

little glacier scoured out the valley in 

which it lay and built a moraine at its 

cuter end, where it came down nearly to 

the level of thp bench land.
88 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

connected with the core of the Crazy Mountains. When this sheet of 

igneous material, was forced in between the beds they were in all 

probability deep in the earth, but the cutting of the streams has 

revealed the igneous rock, and owing to its superior hardness it stands 

up almost like a mountain.

West of milepost 105 a glimpse can be obtained on the right, ahead, 

of the highest part of the Bridger Range, which, though small, has a 

very sharp crest and which separates the valley of the Yellowstone 

from the headwaters of Missouri River on the west. The structure 

and character of this range are illustrated by figure 17 (p. 98).

At Mission station a branch leaves the main line and after crossing 

Yellowstone River follows up Shields River, so named by Capt. Clark 

for a member of his party. This valley has the reputation of producing some of the finest oats grown in the State.

Just before the tram enters Livingston it crosses Yellowstone River 

for the last time on the main line. Here the Yellowstone is a clear, 

rushing mountain stream, very different from the turbid river farther 

east. The traveler now comes face to face with the great mountain 

wall that forms the north front of the Absarokas and can look up at 

the commanding heights, which tower nearly a mile above him and 

which during much of the year are covered with snow.

Livingston, originally called Clarks City, was named in honor of

Charles Livingston, of New York, one of the directors of the Northern

Pacific Railway. The main line of the road was finLivingston. ished to this place on January 15, 1883, and the

Elevation 4,510 feet, branch line to Yellowstone Park, which now carries

s^Paun'oo^miies many thousands of tourists annually, began operation

in August of the same year. Livingston is a division

terminal and essentially a railway town.

[The description of the route west of Livingston begins on page 94.] 

LIVINGSTON TO GARDINER (YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK).

The train for Yellowstone Park, on leaving Livingston, turns to 

the left (south) and heads directly for the mountains, through a wide 

bottom which, though composed largely of gravel brought down by 

the river, is mostly under a high state of cultivation. For some distance the rocks are not well exposed, as the railway is built on alluvial 

material (material laid down by running water) and the rocks can be 

seen only in the cut edge of a low terrace on the right (west). The 

formations are upturned against the mountains at an angle of about 

.20°, and as the railway runs at right angles to their upturned edges 

the train passes them in quick succession.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 89

The main outer range which forms the gateway through which the 

train enters the mountains is composed of very old (Paleozoic) rocks, 

chiefly limestone, shale, and quartzite. 1

The great mountain mass beyond this outer range is anticlinal in 

structure; that is, it once formed an immense arch. The top of the 

arch is eroded and the traveler can not see the formations rising on 

one side of the fold, curving over the top, and descending on the 

other side, but they once formed such an arch, and the flanks and

1 The smooth slopes of the terrace on the 

west are composed of the Eagle sandstone, 

which is not well exposed and probably 

not recognizable from the train, and the 

underlying dark shale of the Colorado, 

which is well exposed south of Billings. 

The relation of the various beds can be 

better understood by consulting figure 

13, which shows the rocks as the traveler 

Bees them on the right. Opposite milepost 3 are sandstone and red shale, which 

underlie the dark shale of the Colorado. 

These beds constitute one of the most reThe next formation to attract attention 

consists of a great mass of limestone, which 

makes the mountain front and which is 

one of the most conspicuous sedimentary 

formations in the Rocky Mountain region. 

It will be seen many times on the trip and 

the traveler will doubtless learn to recognize it wherever seen. This thick-bedded 

formation is of early Carboniferous age and 

is known as the Madison limestone. It 

makes the front of the mountain on the 

east side of the river as far as the eye can 

see and on the west side for a distance of

FIGURE 13. Cross section showing the rim of the mountains south of Livingston, Mont. The rocks were 

crowded together until they bent into great folds, which later broke, resulting-in overthrust faults.

sistant formations of the plains and on the 

easti ie of the river they make a hogback 

ridgy/hich is a fine example of its kind. 

This formation was at one time regarded 

as the Dakota sandstone, but is now known 

to be the Kootenai, of Lower Cretaceous 

age. It is the same formation as that 

carrying the coal beds at Sand Coulee and 

Belt, southeast of Great Falls, but in the 

vicinity of Livingston no coal has yet 

been found in it. Below the Kootenai 

there are shale and limestone containing 

fossil sea shells of Jurassic age.

7 or 8 miles. Its base can be seen about 

4f miles south of Livingston, or just 

opposite the county bridge across the 

river. Beneath the Madison is a great 

mass of shale, limestone, and quartzite embracing formations of Devonian, 

Silurian, and Cambrian age, but as 

these various formations can not be 

distinguished from the train they will 

not be described in detail. Some of 

these are very old rocks, even older 

than the St. Peter sandstone, which was 

seen at St. Paul.
90 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

core of it still remain to tell the story to the geologist. There are on 

the flanks of the large fold a number of small folds, and the rocks 

that have just been described constitute such a wrinkle. This 

minor fold, as shown in the section (fig. 13), has been pushed over 

toward the south beyond the vertical, so that the beds on the south 

side dip toward the anticline instead of away from it, as they would 

had they not been overturned. This fold is bounded on the south 

by a fault (a break in the rocks), and near Brisbin it 

Brisbm. js succeeded by a smaller fold of the same type. The 

Eievation,4,7i7feet. Madison'limestone making the core of this smaller

St. Paul] ,018 miles. fo.

told lorms the high, straight ridge or spur that 

trends at right angles to the railway. Beyond this ridge there are 

traces of another kind of fold a trough or syncline which lies at the 

base of the limestone ridge and extends far to the northwest where 

it contains the Trail Creek coal field. Coal is being mined from Cretaceous rocks in this syncline at the present time, but the product 

of the mines reaches the railway on the other side of Bozeman Pass.

Beyond Brisbin the rocks on the west forming the Gallatin Range 

are made up of volcanic materials, some of which consist of fine fragment (tuffs) blown out of some crater with explosive violence or of 

coarse angular blocks derived from the same source or from the 

breaking up of partly cooled lava flows.

The rocks on the east side of the valley from Deep Creek, opposite 

Brisbin, on the north to Mill Creek on the south are very ancient 

gneiss and schist. This great mass of crystalline rock constitutes the 

central part of the large anticline already described, from which all 

the younger sedimentary formations have been removed by erosion. 

Traces of the sandstones and limestones that once constituted the 

south flank of the fold are to be found up Mill Creek, but they are 

so badly faulted and covered with volcanic breccia (rock composed 

of angular fragments) that they can not be easily recognized from 

the train. The most prominent peak in this part of the valley is 

Mount Co wen, which has an altitude of 11,190 feet and stands 6,400 

feet above the bottom of the valley.

As far as milepost 16 the railway is on the flat surface of a terrace

50 to 75 feet above river level. This was formed by the glaciers that,

long ago, came down Yellowstone, and Mill Creek

Chicory. valleys and joined near the village of Chicory. The

Elevation 4,872 feet, streams flowing from the melting ice carried large

St. Paul 1,028 miles. .. & . . -, ^ -, 1-1 quantities ot gravel and sand and dropped them- in 

the open valley, filling it to a considerable depth. Since the ice 

melted away the river has cut a deep channel in this filling, leaving 

remnants of it here and there in the form of terraces. As the terrace 

was built only below the limit of the glacier, the railway is forced,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

EMIGRANT PEAK, THE SENTINEL GUARDING THE NORTHERN APPROACH 

View from Chicory, Mont. Elevation of peak 1 0,969 feet. Height above the railway 6,100 fee
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

ROCKY GATEWAY .,;,, , ROCK CREEK HAS CUT THROUGH THE MADISON LIMESTONE BE

. Photograph by Schlechten, Bozeman, Mont.
THE NOETHEEN PACIFIC ROUTE. 91

opposite the mouth of Mill Creek, to leave the terrace and descend 

to the valley bottom on which lay the great mass of ice.

In the vicinity of Emigrant there is a thin sheet of basalt (a dark

massive volcanic rock) capping the terrace on the right. This rock

exhibits the vertical columnar structure common to

Emigrant. such material, and it is probable that the several

Elevation 4,887 feet, masses of basalt which can be seen up the canyon are

St. Paul 1,031 miles. . . ^ J.

parts 01 one lava flow that originated somewhere in 

the park and extended down the valley as far as this place. It can 

be followed on the right for 3 miles, but beyond that it has been eroded 

for some distance, leaving no trace of its presence.

In the vicinity of Emigrant the most prominent topographic feature is Emigrant Peak (PL XIV), which dominates the entire valley. 

From the train this appears to be an isolated mountain, but the map 

shows that it is merely a prominent spur projecting from the mountain mass. The peak has an altitude of 10,960 feet, and its summit 

stands 6,000 feet above the valley. The base of the peak is composed 

of old gneiss, a rock which the traveler will have a good chance to 

see at close range farther up the canyon, and its summit of the 

andesitic breccia and lava flows that at one time probably almost 

engulfed the range on the east and completely submerged that on the 

west. At milepost 24 the high, sharp summits of the Gallatin Range 

show on the right (west), but they are neither so rugged nor so imposing as the peaks on the east.

The sheet of basalt capping the terrace on the right in the vicinity 

of Emigrant disappears for a mile or more, but opposite milepost 28 

it reappears on the other side of the river, capping a finely developed 

terrace at a height of about 150 feet above the river.

At Daileys, a little farther on, a complete section of the rocks

forming the terrace can be seen, and these rocks record an entirely

new chapter in the geologic history of this region.

Daileys. They consist of white marl and conglomerate overEievation 4,941 feet. jam by dark gravei and the whole covered with the

St. Paul 1,039 miles. , J , , ,& , , n sheet oi basalt that was poured out upon the sun ace 

as molten lava. The white materials are known, from their composition and the fossils they contain, to have been deposited in a lake 

or lakes in Miocene or Pliocene time. A brief description of these 

lake beds is given on page 113.

The sheet of basalt capping the terrace can be followed as far as 

milepost 33, but from that point nearly to the entrance to the park 

the terrace and the basalt are not present. At Point of Rocks, only 

a short distance farther on, the traveler can obtain a good idea of the 

kind of material composing a volcanic breccia, for the railway cuts 

through a projecting point of the breccia and it can be seen at close
92 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

range. Here it is tinted a deep, rich red, which adds a warmth and 

beauty to the otherwise somber mountain slope.

At Miner the river valley makes an abrupt bend to the southeast 

and the rocks on the right show clearly the smoothing action of the

glacier that once passed over them. Each projectmer* ing mass of rock has been rounded and smoothed,

especially on the upriver side, which the glacier

struck first in its course down the valley. 

A short distance above Miner the stream passes through a narrow 

rugged canyon, the walls of which are composed of gneiss and show 

clearly the intricate folds into which this rock has been bent and the 

character of the different layers composing it. Through most of this 

canyon the tracks are on the very brink of the river channel, and the 

traveler can look down on the left into the boiling flood which dashes 

and foams about the bowlders that have fallen into it from the rocky 

slopes above. The grade through this canyon is very steep, but the 

gorge is short and the slope of the valley beyond is more gentle.

At Corwui Springs is a hotel for the accommodation of those 

who wish to use the hot waters. Above this place Cinnabar Mountain, on the west, is the most conspicuous object, 

Corwin Springs. ^u^ ^he W0nderful structure of the mountain and

Elevation 5,133 feet. j£s peculiar appearance can not be fully appreciated

St. Paul 1,055 miles. ' f, . j rf .. ., i . /-,. i -» r

until the traveler reaches Electric. Cinnabar Mountain was named in the early days, when the bright-red streak that 

marks it from top to bottom was supposed to be due to the mineral 

cinnabar, a red ore of mercury. It is now known that this red 

streak, called the Devil's Slide, is a bed of shale and that there is 

no cinnabar in the mountain. Almost the entire geologic column 

of this part of Montana is here exposed, and the rocks are turned 

up on edge so that they can be studied without the exertion of 

making a difficult climb. The oldest rocks are seen first, as one 

ascends the valley, and then others come in orderly succession, 

ranging from Cambrian to Upper Cretaceous.1

1 The geologic section exposed at Electric, if placed in its correct position, would 

be as follows: reet 

Montana formation (Upper Cretaceous) ........................... 955

Colorado shale (Upper Cretaceous). ............................. 2, 775

Kootenai formation (Lower Cretaceous) .......................... 577

Morrison formation (Jurassic or Cretaceous) ....................... .185

Ellis formation (Jurassic). . ..................................... 277

Quadrant formation (Carboniferous) ............................ 200

Madison limestone (Carboniferous). . ............................ 1, 500

Threeforks shale (Devonian). .................................. 240

Jefferson limestone (Devonian). . ............................... 200

Cambrian...................................................... . 700

7,609
THE. NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 93

Electric.

Elevation 5,i85 feet.

St. Paul 1,057 miles.

The town of Electric was established and extensive coal mines 

were opened at this place a number of years ago by the Montana 

Coal & Coke Co. Some of the mines were opened 

directly back of the town and some near the town 

^^ on ^he other side of 

. 

the mountain, 

'

and the

coal was brought to the tipple by an aerial tramway. 

The coal is of excellent quality, apparently having been improved 

by the heat of igneous intrusions or by the intense pressures developed when the rocks were thrown, into the great folds that are so 

apparent to-day, but the cost and difficulties of mining caused the 

undertaking to be abandoned. 1

At Electric station Electric Peak (elevation 11,000 feet), one of 

the highest mountains in the vicinity, may be seen on the right. The 

peak was so named because of a severe electric storm during its 

ascent by members of the Hayden Survey in 1872. One of the men 

was severely shocked, and all the others experienced prickly sensations as if they were receiving the discharge from an electric machine. 

The station and coal field took their names from the mountain.

1 The coal beds in this field are probably the same as those mined in the 

Trail Creek field and at Bridger, near 

Red Lodge, and formerly mined extensively at Cokedale, Avest of Livingston, 

but the coal of the Electric -field is 

probably the best in Montana. The coal 

beds occur near the base of the Montana 

formation, probably in the Eagle sandsills of igneous rocks as to be scarcely 

identifiable. As shown by the map 

(sheet 15) and the section (fig. 14), the 

rocks are 'nearly flat in the southern part 

of the block, but are sharply upturned at 

the north end, forming Cinnabar Mountain. The great block of strata constituting the coal field is bounded on all 

sides by faults, and within this block

FIGUKE 14. Diagram showing the structure of Cinnabar Mountain, Mont.

stone. The coal field consists of a great 

block of the earth's crust, containing not 

only the Cretaceous coal-bearing rocks 

but also all the older formations known 

in the region. This block of strata 

extends from Cinnabar Mountain (Yellowstone River) on the north to Electric 

Peak on the south, but in the south end 

the formation is so altered by dikes arid

another and small block has been broken 

from the larger mass and dropped about 

1,000 feet. The smaller block contains 

the coal mine directly back of the 

town of Electric. Practically all the 

coal mined in this field was coked, the 

market being chiefly the smelters at 

Butte and Anaconda. The heating value 

of the coal is 12,270 British thermal unite.
94 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Above Electric bowlders of dark basalt and the outcropping edge 

of a sheet of similar material on the far side of the river indicate that 

a stream of basaltic, lava once flowed down the river valley at least 

as far as Emigrant. Since it solidified the river has cut most of it 

away, leaving the two or three remnants noted. 

At Gardiner the traveler has arrived at the northern entrance to 

Yellowstone Park. Descriptions of the park and the 

Gardiner. principal routes through it are given in other Government and private publications. The railroad route 

to Yellowstone, Mont., the western entrance to the 

park, is described in Survey Bulletin 612 (Guidebook 

of the western United States, Part B).

MAIN LINE WEST OF LIVINGSTON.

As the train leaves Livingston for the continuation of the westward 

journey, an excellent view can be obtained on the south of the entrance 

to the valley of the upper Yellowstone, sometimes called the "gate 

of the mountains." West of Livingston the railway crosses the 

northern point of the Gallatin Range at Bozeman Pass. This pass 

was discovered by Capt. Clark, who crossed the summit on his return 

journey July 15, 1806. He expressed surprise at the ease with which 

he passed from the Gallatin Valley on the west to that of the Yellowstone on the east. Although this is a low summit and an easy one 

to cross with a wagon or on foot, it offered a considerable obstacle to 

the railway, as it involved a climb from Livingston of 996 feet in 12.2 

miles. Originally the railway followed the creek with an easy grade 

nearly to its head and then reached the summit by a very steep ascent, 

but a few years ago a new roadbed having a regular grade from 

Livingston to the summit at Muir was established.

The mountain side on the left (south) presents many interesting 

features, especially to one not familiar with mountains. Early in 

the summer light-green grassy slopes interspersed with patches of 

brush or groves of aspen extend partway up the mountain to the forest 

of evergreen trees that thrives upon the upper slopes. At the lower 

margin of the forest the trees appear singly or in groups, but higher up 

they cover the entire surface with their dense foliage. Here and there 

are the marks of old burns in which the tree trunks stand out as 

whitened skeletons that later fall headlong in a hopeless tangle and 

then are concealed by the second growth of trees. Late in the summer the lower slopes may be brown, but with the coming of the early 

frosts the woods are bright with color, the soft yellow of the aspens 

blending with the reds and browns of the scrub maple and the oak. 

The lower limit of the timber, which seems to be fairly definite, is not
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 95

controlled directly by the altitude but by the greater precipitation 

on the mountain slopes than on the plains below them.

Along the new grade many exposures of the Livingston formation 

can be seen in the deep cuts. It consists of chocolate-colored shale 

and sandstone of a lighter shade but still showing a brownish tinge, 

which is due to the fragments of volcanic matter of which it is composed. The beds are somewhat wrinkled and disturbed but generally 

dip to the right, away from the mountain, at an angle of about 20°. 1

About half a mile beyond milepost 121, in a deep cut, two dikes 

of igneous rock are exposed cutting directly across the bedded sandstone and shale. In places where such dikes have cut through coal 

beds, or have taken the form of a sheet or sill below the coal, as illustrated in figure 15, the heat of the molten rock has changed the 

coal, the resultant material depending upon the conditions attending

FIGURE 15. Dike cutting coal bed and sill intruded in a position to affect the quality of the coal.

the intrusion. If air is present, the coal will burn out completely; 

if only a moderate amount of air is available, natural coke will be 

formed; and if little or no air is present, the coal will be baked into 

anthracite. Anthracite produced in this manner occurs in Colorado, 

New Mexico, and Washington.

After a long climb the summit is reached at Muir, a station at the

east end of the Bozeman tunnel, which has a length of 3,610 feet.

The summit of the pass is only a few hundred feet

Muin above the level of the railway. Beyond the tunnel

Elevation 5,506feet, fj-^ Jiwie sandstone, which was seen back of Billings

St. Paul 1,020 miles. . fe . ' , , T , ITI and again obscurely at Livingston, carries coal beds 

which have been prospected and mined at various places west of 

Livingston. As a general rule the coal crops out along the base of

1 As the rocka dip away from the mountains, as shown in figure 13 (p. 89), lower 

formations than those exposed in the railway cuts appear toward the south. These 

lower rocks include the coal-bearing 

formation which crops out in a continuous 

band from Livingston across the summit 

to Chestnut. This formation overlies the 

Colorado shale and is about equivalent to 

the Eagle sandstone which is so prominent 

in the rim rock back of Billings. In most

places the formation is only 100 feet thick, 

but about Livingston the sandstone with 

its accompanying shale beds is about 

1,000 feet thick.

Formerly the Cokeclale mine, one of the 

most productive in the State, was in operation about 7 miles west of Livingston and 

coke was manufactured from part of the 

coal, but the mine has been abandoned 

for a number of years and the railway 

spur leading to it has been removed.
96 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Chestnut.

Elevation 5,270 feet. 

Population 2fiL* 

St. Paul 1,024 miles.

the mountain on the south, and the remains of old mines can be 

seen on both sides of the track as far as Chestnut. The coal is of 

good quality, button account of the heavy percentage 

of ash and the expense of mining, all of these operations have ceased. Just east of Chestnut, however, 

a branch line turns to the left up Meadow Creek 

and goes southeastward across the summit to the 

Trail Creek field, in which mining is still carried on.

About a mile beyond Chestnut the railway cuts through the point 

of a closely folded anticline in which the Madison limestone forms 

the core, as shown in figure 16. (See PL XV, p. 91.) The exposures 

are not good enough for the traveler to see all the formations that 

are involved in the fold, but after pass.ing some coal beds he may 

see sandstone with red shale (Kootenai, Lower Cretaceous), and then 

on his right hand a broad band of the same red shale as that which 

produces the Devil's Slide at Electric. These rocks are standing 

vertical. Next comes the Madison limestone (Carboniferous), which

is the oldest rock exposed. This

/ \ massive limestone is dissolved 

and cut by the streams into 

curious towers and pinnacles, 

and by the exercise of his imagination the traveler may see 

resemblances to almost any 

form he desires. West of this 

maze of sculptured towers and

craffS the rocks that Were Seen 

,, . , , _ , ,

on the east side 01 the fold are 

crossed in reverse order. This fold, although small in comparison 

with those that make up the mountains, may give the traveler some 

idea of the great forces which have crumpled the rocky crust of the 

earth like paper. No formation is massive enough to resist them.

At milepost 136 the train emerges from the narrow defile of Rocky 

Canyon and the traveler obtains his first view of the GaUatin Valley. 

On the left between mileposts 137 and 138 are a few old buildings that 

once constituted a part of Fort Ellis, an important military post 

during the Indian wars. This post was established by order of Gen. 

Terry in 1867 and abandoned in 1887. A little 

farther on the train arrives at Bozeman, one of the 

oldest and most prosperous agricultural towns in the 

State. Here in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, 

surrounded on all sides and protected by high ranges, 

is the GaUatin Valley, which is widely known on account of the fine 

farms it contains and the excellent and diversified crops it produces. 

The Montana State Agricultural College, situated at Bozeman, has

EIGURE 16. Vertical fold in Madison limestone west of 

Chestnut, Mont.

Bozeman.

Elevation 4,773 feet. 

Population 5,107. 

St. Paul 1,033 miles.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 97

assisted materially in the prosperity of the region by the introduction 

of scientific methods of farming and of handling the crops.

It seems rather strange that a part of the State so far removed 

from the regular westward routes of early travel and so walled in by 

the mountains should have been one of the first to be occupied by 

settlers. This was doubtless due to the description of the valley 

given by Capt. Clark, who discovered it, in 1806. The first effort of 

the whites to obtain a foothold here was made by fur traders in the 

vicinity of Three Forks, on Missouri River, but that region, like 

Kentucky in the early days, was the common hunting and fighting 

ground of many Indian tribes, .and the trading posts were soon 

swept away.

The first permanent settlement in the valley was made by John M. 

Bozeman, for whom the town was named, and a party of settlers 

whom he led into the valley in 1864. Another pioneer who entered 

the same year was James Bridger,1 one of the best-known guides, fur

1 Of all the men who renounced the 

conventionalities of civilization and 

cast their lot with the fur traders and 

trappers of the West, one of the most 

remarkable was James Bridger. He was 

well known to almost every western 

explorer and settler in the first half of 

the nineteenth century, but there are 

few written records of the man himself 

or of his many wanderings from Mexico 

on the south to the British possessions 

on the north. He was born in March, 

1804. His father, who was a poor tavern 

keeper in Richmond, Va., moved to 

St. Louis in 1812, and so the boy grew 

up in the stirring atmosphere of romance 

and adventure of what was then the very 

edge of the great "Wild West." It is 

therefore of little wonder that at the age 

of 18 he joined a party under William 

Ashley to go to the mountains to hunt 

beaver for the Rocky Mountain Fur Co., 

which was organized in 1822 at St. Louis. 

By 1832 he had become a resident partner 

in this company and was generally 

recognized as a leader among the explorers 

and Indian traders of the time.

In the years from 1822 to 1870 Bridger 

roamed the country from Montana to 

Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains 

to the Pacific coast, but his headquarters 

were at a trading post built by him on 

the Black Fork of Green River, Wyo., 

generally known as Fort Bridger. It is

95558° Bull; 611 15 7

said that he was the first white man to 

see Great Salt Lake (in the winter of 

1824-25), but this statement has never 

been fully substantiated.

Unquestionably Bridger played a most 

important part in the exploration of the 

West, and his chief claim for recognition 

by posterity will rest upon this service. 

He was probably the best guide in this 

region and his services were sought by 

almost every leader of an exploring 

expedition in the Rocky Mountains. 

Capt. Gunnison says: "With a buffalo 

hide and a piece of charcoal he will map 

out any portion of this immense region 

and delineate mountains, streams, and 

circular valleys, called 'holes,' with 

wonderful accuracy." His name has 

been perpetuated in many of the natural 

features of the region, but the interesting 

personality of the man is largely lost in 

the hazy distance of a rapidly vanishing 

past.

Of James Bridger's last years little is 

known except that on losing his eyesight 

in 1870 he retired to a farm which he had 

previously purchased at Washington, 

Mo., about 5 miles east of Kansas City. 

Here the once eagle-eyed frontiersman 

lived in almost total blindness until hia 

death July 17, 1881. Some years ago 

his body was rescued from an unnamed 

grave and a marble shaft was erected, 

over his last resting place,
98 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

traders, and scouts of the Rocky Mountain region from 1830 to 1870. 

His visit here is perpetuated by the names Bridger Range, Bridger 

Peak, and Bridger Creek.

Recently an effort has been made to apply the name Sacajawea 

Peak to one of the peaks in the Bridger Range, in honor of the Indian 

woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark in their journey to the 

Pacific coast and return and who guided Clark through the Bozeman 

Pass.

The Bridger Range, which is a conspicuous feature from the 

vicinity of Belgrade, consists of the upturned edges (see fig. 17) of 

the rocks of the Great Plains and so is really the 

Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. On its east 

side are the Cretaceous and Jurassic formations that 

were seen above Livingston, and the crest of the 

range is made up of the massive and resistant Madison and associated limestones of Paleozoic age. On the western

Belgrade.

Elevation 4,467 feet. 

Population 561. 

St. Paul 1,042 miles.

FIGURE 17. Upturned Madison limestone and associated rocks, forming the Bridger Range, Mont.,

looking north.

slope gneiss similar to that seen on the road to Gardiner and argillite 

(hard shale) and sandstone of the Belt series are exposed, but within 

a short distance these rocks are buried beneath the soft clay and 

sand of the Tertiary lake beds. The Gallatin Valley, like that of the 

Yellowstone and also other intermountain valleys of Montana, at one 

time in the past was occupied by a lake. Into this lake were washed 

clay, sand, and gravel from the surrounding uplands and volcanic 

ash blown out from the craters of active volcanoes in the vicinity. 

The ash had the appearance of white dust, being composed of fine 

particles of glassy lava. On account of the abundance of volcanic 

ash the sediments deposited in this lake have a light color, which is 

readily recognized even at a distance of several miles.

At Central Park the railway crosses West Gallatin River and on

the left is a beautiful rolling upland country, every 

Central Park. acre of which is under good cultivation. This upland 

Elevation 4,324 feet, is on the lake beds and rises toward the southwest, 

st^Paufi^Viruies. ^h ^e rise of the beds composing it, to a height of

at least 500 feet above the railway. Near Manhattan 

(see sheet 16, p. 112) a branch line turns to the left (south) to
GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

' OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each Quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

|O Anteloije 

^O Sutte '

A Stream deposits (alluvium)

and glacial drift 

B White clay and volcanic ash

(lake beds;

C Dark sandstone and shale, 

mainly volcanic material 

(Livingston formation) 

D Sandstone and shale, with coal

beds (Eagle sandstone) 

fDark shale. (Colorado) 

Sandstone and red shale,

(Kootenai formation) 

Impure limestone and shale

(EUis formation) 

fQuartzite and impure limestone

200 Late Tertiar> 

fEarly Tertiar 

7.000-{and late Cretaceous

Scale 500,000

Approximately 8 miles to 1 incK 

I 0 5 10 Miles yuartzite and impure limestone i

H S (Quadrant formation) 400f Carbomferou

Massive blue limestone 'Madison) 1,500)

[Shale and shaly limestone

(.Three-forks shale) 

JDark limestone (Jefferson) 

1 Lira 

Qua 

L (Fl 

T DiTsefL Sandstone, conglomerate, slate,

and sandy limestone (Belt series) 5,000 Algonkian 

'Q Lava flows', basalt ' Tertiary or late 

>T Lava flows and intrusive masses.

mainly andesite f Tertiary 

[I Dikes of various kinds of igneous rocks 

LLOWSTONi/ NATldNAL PARK

440 Devonian 

835 Cambrian

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from SI. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced / mile apart
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 99

Anceney. The plain continues northwestward almost as far as Logan, 

Manhattan. and throughout that distance the only rocks which 

Elevation 4 255 feet are exposed are the gravel and sand of the river 

Population 57o* flood plain and the slightly more indurated materials

St. Paul 1,052 miles. f ., 1H 1 k h H"

Near Logan the whole of the Paleozoic succession present in this 

region.is exposed across Gallatin River, on the north. The first rocks 

to be seen are those of the Belt series (Algonkian), 

which are so far away that their character can not be 

determined from the train, but the traveler, in the 

course of his journey farther west will see this series 

in many places and will have opportunity to study it 

The rocks across the river near Logan constitute the 

southeastern limb of a great synclinal tro'ugh (see fig. 25, p..116) and 

therefore dip toward the northwest, or away from the observer. The 

next system above the Algonkian is the Cambrian, which is represented by two formations. The lower one (Flathead) is composed 

mostly of shale and sandstone, but includes a layer of massive limestone through which the railway passes in a deep cut near milepost 

164. The Gallatin limestone, overlying the Flathead formation, 

makes a prominent bluff across the river which can be. seen just as

Logan.

Elevation 4,114 feet. 

Population 481.* 

St Paul 1,057 miles.

at close range.

FIGURE 18. Southeast side of the great synclinal basin north of Logan, Mont., as seen from the station.

the train enters the yards at Logan. The section as seen from the 

station is represented in figure 18. The Gallatin limestone, at the 

extreme right of the section, is generally light blue or gray and is 

easily distinguishable from the overlying Jefferson limestone (Devonian), which is dark and more resistant. The Jefferson limestone is 

one of the most conspicuous members of the section, for it is much 

darker than any of the other limestones, and as it lies directly below a 

fairly soft shale it forms a distinct ridge or prominent spurs. It is 

overlain by the Threeforks shale, which is conspicuous only in that, 

as it is softer than the limestones on either side, it forms valleys or 

ravines. Overlying the shale is the massive bluish-gray Madison limestone, which forms the bluff opposite the station and extends westward 

on both lines of the railway for a distance of at least half a mile.

From Logan to Garrison the Northern Pacific has two lines, the 

original line turning to the right and running by way of Helena and 

the other keeping to the left by way of Butte. A description of the 

Helena line begins on page 116.
100 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEBN UNITED STATES.

LOGAN TO GAEEISON BY WAY OF BUTTE.

West of the station at Logan a few outcrops of Madison limestone 

occur near the track, but these are soon passed; and then the only 

surface features visible from the train are the-broad flood plain of 

Gallatin River on the north and a bluff composed of Tertiary lake 

beds on the south. The character and composition of these beds and 

also of similar beds found in most of the other broad valleys of the 

mountain region are well shown by the bluffs on the east side of the 

valley of Madison Rivei and can be seen by looking back after passing 

milepost 3. Here the material is largely sand and the lower layers 

exposed along the terrace front are hardened into real sandstone. The 

coarse sand above is less coherent and is being used in the manufacture of cement blocks. Farther south the sandstone is limited to the 

upper part of the terrace, and all the material below consists of white 

volcanic ash.

At milepost 5 the railway crosses Madison River.1 On the right 

(north) is the thriving town of Threeforks, situated near and named 

from the three forks of the Missouri. This place was 

first visited in 1805 by Lewis and Clark,2 who named 

the easternmost branch for Albert Gallatin, Secretary 

of the Treasury; the middle branch for James Madison, Secretary of State; and the largest and westernThreeforks.

Elevation 4,081 feet. 

Population 674. 

St. Paul 1,063 miles.

1 Fifty miles to the south Madison Kiver 

cuts through gneiss in a narrow, rocky 

canyon. Here the river has been dammed 

and two hydroelectric plants installed, 

which develop about 15,000 horsepower 

and supply current to the cities of Butte, 

Bozeman, Livingston, and Billings; to 

placer mines in the vicinity of the plant; 

and to the cement mill at Trident, below 

Threeforks. A dam is under construction 

on Madison River which will store about 

350,000 acre-feet of water in what is 

known as the Hebgen reservoir. It is 

estimated that this reservoir when completed will increase the total present 

development along Madison River by 

about 23,000 horsepower.

2 When Lewis and Clark reached this 

point in their journey up the Missouri 

River, they were greatly worried by their 

inability to find a pass through the mountains or to meet Indians from whom they 

might obtain information regarding such 

a pass. They knew not where the river 

would lead them, nor whether the mountains that lay in their pathway could be 

crossed. The reader mav obtain some

conception of the difficulties that beset 

them by reading a brief quotation from 

their notes written while they were at 

Threeforks:

"We are now very anxious to see the 

Snake Indians. After advancing several 

hundred miles into this wild, mountainous country, we may soon expect that 

the game will abandon us. With no information of the route, we may be unable 

to find a passage across the mountains 

when we reach the head of the river 

at least such a pass aa will lead us to the 

Columbia. Even are we so fortunate as 

to find a branch of that river, the timber 

which we have hitherto seen in these 

mountains does not promise us any fit to 

make canoes, so that our chief dependence is on meeting some tribe from whom 

we may procure horses. Our consolation 

is that the southwest branch [Jefferson 

River] can scarcely head with any other 

river than the Columbia, and that if any 

nation of Indians can live.in the mountains we are able to endure as much as 

they can and have even better means of 

procuring subsistence."
THE NOETHEEN" PACIFIC EOUTB. 101

most branch in honor of President Jefferson. The western branch,, 

by reason of the volume of water and its greater length, is generally 

regarded as the real head of the Missouri.

It was here that Sacajawea, the Indian woman who was the real 

guide of the expedition, found the place of her capture several years 

before. In recognition of her services in the early exploration of the 

country a bronze tablet, presented by former Senator W. A. Clark, has 

recently been placed on a large bowlder in the public park of Threeforks by the Montana Daughters of the American Revolution.

Beyond Threeforks the railway leads up the broad flood plain of Jefferson River and is paralleled by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 

Railway as far as Cardwell. -The flood plain is composed largely of sand and gravel washed down from 

the mountains on either side, consequently the soil 

is thin and the region not well adapted to farming. 

At Willow Creek, however, soft lake beds cover the 

coarse gravel, and the country is more fertile.

Beyond Willow Creek the railway approaches the bluffs on the 

south side of the valley, which consist of quartzite, shale, and limestone, of the Quadrant formation, backed by a higher ridge of Madison 

limestone. At milepost 17 the river flows in a narrow canjron through 

a point of this limestone which projects into the valley, and the two 

railways follow the passageway that the river has cut through the 

hard rock. 1

Willow Creek.

Elevation 4,165 feet. 

Population 333.* 

St. Paul 1,070 miles.

1 It is by no means uncommon to find 

that a river has cut its way through hard 

rock which it might have avoided by 

pursuing a slightly different course. The 

explanation for Jefferson Elver lies in the 

fact that when the present course was 

established the valley was not cut to its

a deep channel in the soft rocks of its valley bottom and revealed the hard rock 

beneath, but is was confined by walls of 

its own slow cutting and could not dodge 

aside when it encountered a more resistant 

rock. As the channel was worn lower, the 

stream became intrenched so deeply in

PIGUKE 19. Diagram to explain the course of Jefferson River west of Willow Creek, Mont. The 

river cut through soft lake beds (DEF) to hard limestone (AB), but was then so deeply intrenched 

that it could not avoid the hard rock.

present depth, and the hard limestone 

that now seems like a barrier in the pathway of the stream lay concealed below 

the surface. Under such conditions the 

stream was free to meander from side to 

side of its flat-bottomed valley, and one 

of its loops was located directly above the 

limestone ledge. In time the stream cut

this hard rock as to make direct escape 

impossible, even after the whole aspect 

of the country had been changed by 

erosion and easier routes which the river 

might have taken had become evident.

The situation is represented by figure 

19, in which ABC represents the cross 

section of the valley which one sees on
102 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

St. Paul 1,076 miles.

From Sappington a branch line continues up the south side of the 

river for a mile or so and then turns up Antelope Creek to Norris and

Pony. A short distance beyond the station the 

Sappington. Northern Pacific crosses the St. Paul line, and from

this point on through the canyon the Northern

r . , .

Pacific is on the north side of the river. About 2 

miles above Sappington the river again cuts through a ridge of the 

hard rocks which project from the great mass on the left. In this 

canyon the formations composing the earth's crust have been greatly 

disturbed and tilted up on edge, but it is not easy to understand just 

how the originally horizontal beds of limestone and quartzite were 

forced into their present positions.2 Here again the stream has cut 

a canyon across a spur of hard rock projecting from the left, and here, 

as below Sappington, the stream could have avoided the obstruction 

by keeping on the soft rocks farther north.

Beyond this canyon the river flows through an open valley composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks which the traveler will hardly

FIGURE 20. Section of great anticlinal fold near Lime Spur, Mont., as seen from the Northern Pacific

Railway, looking west.

be able to distinguish from the tram. At milepost 26 he enters the 

deepest and most picturesque canyon on this part of the line. The 

rocks in this canyon are in the form of a great anticline, as shown 

in figure 20, but the fold is so large and so badly broken that 

its form is difficult to determine. This fold has been produced by

looking west, with the limestone ridge 

AB proj ecting into it from the left. When 

the present location of the river was determined it was flowing on the top of the lake 

beds, on a surface represented by DEF 

which was smooth and with no irregularities to prevent the stream flowing in any 

part of the valley. Let us suppose that 

it was located at E; then some change 

occurred, such as an elevation of the land 

.or an increase in the volume of water, 

either one of which would give the stream 

greater cutting power, and it began to

trench the soft material over which it 

flowed. As it cut deeper it came into 

contact with the limestone, but the 

stream was intrenched in its course and 

so maintained its position, cutting ita 

way down to G, its present level.

The soft rocks upon which Jefferson 

River assumed its present course are the 

Tertiary lake beds, which probably filled 

the valley to a depth of several hundred 

feet.

2 The peculiar relations of the several 

formations, as seen in the small canyon
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 103

pressure from the north so great that the rocks' have broken, as 

shown in the diagram, and the Paleozoic formations on the north 

have been pushed over the Cretaceous formations on the south. Such 

a break is called an overthrust fault.

The main part of the arch visible from the train is composed of 

Madison limestone, which is first seen from a westbound train at 

a point between mileposts 25 and 26. As shown in the diagram, the 

limestone at this place is only the broken fragment of the south side 

of the fold which has been nearly removed by the fault that crosses 

at the small loading platform on the right. The limestone at this 

place is overturned, dipping to the north, and it is probable that if 

it could be followed downward it would be found to grow thinner 

(beveled) and finally to be cut off altogether by the fault.

At milepost 26 the Madison limestone gives place to the underlying Threeforks' shale (Devonian). The upper shaly part of this 

formation is covered so that it can scarcely be seen, but the lower 

part, consisting of a conglomerate composed largely of red granite 

debris, is seen in rugged cliffs on the east side of the track.

In the high mountain on the right there is said to oe a wonderful 

cave in the Madison limestone, which has not yet been thoroughly 

explored. A quarter section (160 acres) of land, including the cave, 

was set aside by President Roosevelt on May 11, 1908, as the Lewis 

and Clark Cavern National Monument. The cavern, however, is so 

nearly inaccessible that it has been visited by only a few of the more 

hardy travelers.

Opposite Lime Spur, 8 miles west of Sappington, the beds of

Madison limestone outcrop along the canyon wall like great white

ribs, making some of the most rugged scenery to be

Lime Spur. found on the road. The limestone is quarried extenEievation, 4,260 feet. sively at this place and shipped for the manufacture

St. Paul, 1,084 miles. J r rr

ot cement.

West of Lime Spur the Madison limestone gives place to the Quadrant formation, which is well marked by the bright-red color of some 

of the limestone and shale beds that it contains. Beyond this band 

of bright color is a small exposure of Jurassic rocks which are cut 

off by an immense overthrust fault, shown in figure 20. This fault 

separates the rocks already described from conglomerate and argillite

west of Sappington, could have been produced only by folding and faulting, which 

were the results of strong forces that 

crowded the rocky layers into this region 

from both the north and the south. This 

caused them to buckle along east-west 

lines, much as a pad of paper will buckle 

when gra'sped by the hands along two 

opposite edges and compressed. The

great compression which affected the 

rocks in this canyon produced at least 

three upward folds or anticlines, and as 

the movement was strongest from the 

north the folds were pushed over toward 

the south. As the pressure continued the 

rocky folds were broken, crushed, and 

crowded together into the positions shown 

on the west side of the river.
104 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

(slate or hardened shale) of the Belt series (Algonkian). The railway follows the west base of a mountain slope of this formation for 

nearly a mile and then enters the broad valley at the junction of 

Boulder and Jefferson rivers.

On looking back from the vicinity of Cardwell one is impressed 

with the abrupt ending of the broad valley a little east of this place 

and the mountainous barrier that has apparently 

Cardwell. been thrown across the pathway of the stream. It 

Elevation 4,291 feet. js evi(ient that either the mountains have risen across 

the valley, or the valley about Cardwell has been 

depressed far below its former level, or perhaps both of these movements have taken place. As the river has succeeded in cutting a 

canyon through the uplifted mass, the movement must have been 

very slow, else the stream would have been ponded and found an 

outlet in some other place.

The valley of Jefferson River, although little above water level, is 

very fertile, and good crops are raised in the vicinity of Cardwell. 

In flowing through this flat-bottomed valley the river is not confined 

to a single channel but breaks up into a number of channels, which

in turn branch and unite in a complex and confusing manner. Such 

a system of interlacing channels 

is called a braided stream. It is

FIGUKE 21.-Diagram of braided stream. ^^ ^ ^ slight fall of the

stream, which prevents it from carrying away all the sediment swept 

in by the numerous tributaries. This material chokes the stream and 

forces it to spread into numerous shallow and shifting channels, 

resembling the strands of a braid, as shown in figure 21.

The Tobacco Root Mountains are prominent on the south, at 

Cardwell, and Bull Mountain on the north, though the latter is less 

conspicuous than the former. The end of Bull Mountain nearest the 

railway is composed of the Belt series, with the Tertiary lake beds 

lapping in around its base. The geology of the Tobacco Root Mountains is too complicated to describe here, and the rocks are so far 

distant that they can not be recognized from the train.

The railway for a long distance west of Cardwell is on an island in 

the braided stream, but beyond milepost 36 it crosses to the mamland, and Jefferson River is seen no more in the westward journey. 

At this place the~railway leaves the trail of Lewis and Clark, for they 

followed up the main river toward the southwest, whereas the Northern Pacific strikes across the range to the west, though it means a 

climb that even to the modern, high-power locomotive, is a severe 

test. The St. Paul road also turns to the left, but merely to seek 

another pass in the same range ahead.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 105

At Whitehall a branch of the Northern Pacific turns to the left, 

going up the valley of Jefferson River to Twin Bridges and Alder. 

The town at the end of the line was named from 

Whitehall. Alder Gulch, which was one of the most noted placer 

Elevation 4,371 feet, camps in the years immediately following its dissSuujSLies. covery in 1863. It is said to have yielded at least 

$60,000,000 and is still producing in a small way.' 

Alder Gulch lies near Virginia City, at one time the capital of Montana. West of Whitehall the road begins the ascent of about 2,000 

feet to Homestake Pass, on the Continental Divide 23 miles away.

Just beyond Whitehall the low hills on both sides of the track are

composed of soft lake beds which are particularly well exposed just

west of Pipestone. In the valley some distance to

Pipestone. ^e south there are hot springs and a hotel.' West of

EievatioD 4,720 feet. Pipestone the cuts along the railway show a finest. Paull,0l2miles. j j i / j , f grauied, dense igneous rock (andesite). 1ms is part 

of a large body of similar rock that lies to the right (north) of the 

railway and east of the great mass of granite that forms the Continental Divide. Most of the andesite was poured out over this region 

as lava when the surface was very different from that which the 

traveler sees to-day, but some of it was intruded from below into the 

older sedimentary rocks. The volcanic activity which gave rise to 

the andesite took place long before the granite was intruded, as is 

proved by the fact that near Pipestone the granite includes fragments of the older rock which were broken off and mixed with.the 

molten granite as it ascended through a fissure in the rocky crust of 

the earth.

Near milepost 48 the railway enters the great area of granite which 

extends northward along the range to Mullan Pass, west of Helena. 

The granite (quartz monzonite) came up from below in a molten condition, forcing the rocks asunder or melting them as it came. It 

probably did not reach the surface, but since it cooled and solidified 

it has been exposed by the streams, which have removed the overlying rocks and cut deep ravines in the granitic mass.

As the slope is too steep for a direct ascent, the road winds out and 

in, around projecting spurs, and up into the heads of valleys, but 

ever climbing toward the top. On the hills and upland the slopes 

are smooth and gentle, but in the gulches they are rocky in the 

extreme.

Near milepost 50 the traveler, by looking ahead on the left, can 

see a bare dome of granite, known as Spire Rock, the base of winch 

the train will pass farther up.the grade. Other knobs or domes of 

gray granite appear from time to time, standing above the general 

surface. These landmarks resemble the domes of Yosemite Valley, 

which are formed of similar rock. Such domes and indeed the great
106 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

number of rounded forms which the granite assumes on weathering 

are due to the facts that the corners and edges are more exposed to 

the attacks of weather than broad surfaces are, and that this rock, 

which is popularly regarded as the type of stability, readily disintegrates or falls to pieces on exposure to the atmosphere. At many 

places along the track the granite has been reduced by weathering 

' to fine fragments called " sand."

The general slope leading to the summit seems to be an old surface, on which the granite is deeply decayed, indicating long exposure 

to the weather, but the ravines, which have been cut more recently, 

are jagged and irregular. The difference in the two surfaces may be 

seen near <milepost 56, where the railway leaves the smooth surface 

of the upland and enters a gorge which is cut below the general level 

and which is marked by blocks of all sizes and shapes, including 

domes, towers, and pinnacles that seem to be scattered over the 

ground in hopeless confusion.

This combination of smooth upland and rocky canyons continues 

to the top, which is remarkably free from rugged peaks. Although 

there is a short tunnel here', the real summit of the mountain is'only 

about 100 or 150 feet above the railway track.

This is the backbone of the continent, the height toward which 

the train has been climbing since leaving Missouri River at Mandan. 

The traveler may be disappointed in the Continental 

Divide, for it is no more conspicuous than many of 

Elevation 6,345 feet, the other ranges in sight. In fact, the Rocky MounSt. Paul 1,118 miles. . > i < tains are a great complex ot mountain ranges, no one 

of which dominates the others to any extent. On the west side of 

the Homestake tunnel can be obtained a better realization of height, 

for the descent to Butte is made along a rugged mountain side, and 

one can look down to the left 1,000 feet to the valley, seemingly almost 

vertically below.1 (See PL XVI.)

Homestake.

1 The difference in the appearance of 

the two sides of the Continental Divide 

. is very striking. On the east side the 

slopes are gradual, so that the railway 

can follow almost directly up the old 

smooth slope, but on the west the slope 

is so precipitous that the road must be 

graded along the rocky mountain side for 

8 or 9 miles in order to get down to. the 

valley floor. So steep and regular a 

front bordering a broad, flat valley suggests some other mode 'of origin than 

erosion, which is the normal agency in 

the production of mountains and valleys. 

It gives the impression that this range, 

instead of owing its relative height to the

carving out of the valley by rain and 

streams, is really separated from the lowland by an. actual break in the rocks and 

has been lifted bodily to its present position, or the valley has been depressed 

with reference to the mountain. If the 

rocks along the mountain front south of 

Butte are examined, evidence will be 

found to show that there has been recent 

movement in them and a break (fault) or 

series of breaks along the west face which 

allowed the great block of strata on the 

east side of the fault to be raised at least 

1,000 feet with reference to the strata 

on the other side. The steep mountain 

front is therefore the cut edge of a great
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

VIEW LOOKING WEST FROM HOMESTAKE SUMMIT, M

The roadbed is cut in granite along the steep mountain side nearly 1,000 feet above the bottom of Silver Bow 

slope. Photograph by Haynes, St. Paul, Minn.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

SILVER BOW CANYON, MONT.

Recent gorge cut by Silver Bow Creek, which was forced to take this course by the filling of its old valley to the north by lake s

Butte Photo View Co., Butte, Mont.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 107

Butte.

Elevation 5,490 feet. 

Population 39,165. 

St. Paul 1,128 miles.

The train winds in and out around the spurs of the mountain, 

plunging through deep cuts and speeding over high trestles. In the 

course of a few miles the city of Butte comes into 

view on the side of a barren hill. Its general appearance is most desolate. Bare, brown slopes, burnt 

and forbidding, from which all vegetation was long 

ago driven by the fumes from the smelters, rise from 

an almost equally barren valley. The slopes, even in the city, are 

gridironed by railway tracks leading to the different mines, and great 

mine buildings, tall smokestacks, steel hoist frames, and the heaps 

of gray waste rock from the mines are the most conspicuous features 

of the landscape. West of the city is the sharply conical hiH, Big 

Butte, from which the city takes its name. If the traveler enters 

Butte in the evening he may obtain a beautiful view of the lights of

block of rock that has been tilted gently 

to the east, and the time since it was 

raised to its present position has not been 

sufficient to permit the streams to cut 

deep ravines on it.

The tilting and lifting of this block of 

strata have disarranged many of the 

streams, causing some of them to flow in 

opposite directions from those which 

they pursued prior to the uplift. It 

seems probable also that the block west 

of the fault was depressed at the same 

time, for it is difficult to understand how

the part on the right rising about 1,000 

feet. Now the mountain top, instead of 

being at B, is at D, more than 1,000 feet 

above the valley.

Although the main movement that 

raised the Continental Divide to its 

present position is supposed to have 

ceased, there still appears to be slight 

movement in the rocks under Butte. 

Many underground water pipes have 

been broken, and considerable difficulty 

has been experienced from the irregular 

settling of foundations. For a long time

FIGTJKE 22. Diagram of Continental Divide east of Butte, Mont. Before faulting occurred the divide, 

as shown by the broken line AS C, was an upland of slight relief and no higher than Butte is to-day.

the headwaters of Silver Bow Creek 

could be ponded and produce the flat 

that can be seen from the train, unless it 

were the result of the downward tilting 

of the block west of the fault. The condition is illustrated by figure 22, in which 

the cross profile of the range before the 

faulting occurred is represented by the 

line ABC. The surface around Butte 

showed little relief, the mountain north 

of Homestake Pass being only a few 

hundred feet high. Then came the break 

along the line indicated by the arrows,

these slight movements have been 

attributed to the extensive mine workings 

beneath the city, but on close study it 

was found that water pipes were broken 

in parts of the town far removed from 

any mine. This suggests that there may 

be movement along some of the old fault 

planes. The United States Geological 

Survey has run some very exact levels 

and has set a number of bench marks, 

so that in the future it can be told positively whether the rocks under the town 

are moving and, if so, at what rate.
108 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEBN" UNITED STATES.

the city twinkling through the smoke and haze, but in the daylight 

all beauty disappears.

When the smelters were pouring out their destructive fumes there 

was not a spear of grass nor a green leaf visible, but now most of the 

ore is smelted at Anaconda and Great Falls, and the valley is gradually 

recovering some of its vegetation. Of the city itself perhaps no 

better description can be given than that contained in "Along the 

scenic highway," a pamphlet issued by the Northern Pacific Co.:

Butte is unique among the cities of the world, * * * possessing all the united 

wealth of its tremendous copper deposits, with thousands of well-paid miners. With 

a large and growing trade in commercial lines, it is an odd and interesting combination of frontier mining camp and modern city, smoke-begrimed manufacturing point, 

and an orderly, well-kept residential center. It is a city of glaring, violent contrasts, 

where money seems quite the easiest thing to obtain, where men work furiously and 

spend the proceeds of their labor with open hand, where the fine instincts of modern 

city life struggle constantly with the old order of things, and where the mining camp 

and twentieth-century municipality have been, mixed into one rugged mass but have 

not yet quite blended. Butte boasts with reason that it is the greatest mining camp 

in the world and may with equal reason boast of its achievement as a modern city.

The positions of the famous copper mines are indicated by the 

great shaft buildings and tall smokestacks in and about the town. 

Underground the rocks are honeycombed with workings, and day 

and night, without cessation, the work goes on at depths which in 

some of the mines reach 3,000 feet. Up to the present time the 

value of the metal output of the district has reached the enormous 

'sum of over $1,000,000,000. The ore is found in the granite, but 

the highly mineralized rocks are confined to an area only a few 

square miles in extent. The mining conditions are described below 

by B. S. Butler.1

1 Butte was at first a placer camp, and 

the district was named the Summit Valley district on account of its nearness to 

the Continental Divide. This is still the 

official name of what is commonly called 

the Butte district. Gold was discovered 

in gravel near the present site of Main 

Street in 1864, and in the next few years 

the district produced gold to the value 

of about $1,500,000. While the placers 

were being operated, efforts were made 

to work the quartz veins for silver, but 

without success. About 1875, however, 

attempts to work these ores were renewed, 

and the Dexter 10-stamp mill was erected, 

but important production did not begin 

till 1876, when the mill was completed 

by W. A. Clark, later United States Senator from Montana. About the same

time Marcus Daly arrived in the district 

and began operations in the Alice mine. 

The camp developed rapidly, and for 

many years these two men were prominent in mining enterprises in this district. 

The district continued to be a large producer of silver ore until the decrease in 

price of that metal in 1893 caused many 

companies in Butte, as elsewhere in the 

West, to cease operations.

The presence of copper minerals was 

noted in the district probably as early as 

placer gold or the silver veins, but under 

existing conditions there was little inducement for prospecting the copper 

veins. Nevertheless some unsuccessful 

attempts to smelt the copper ores were 

made in 1866, and early in the seventies 

some copper ore was hauled 400 miles to
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 109

In the' early days Butte, like the other mining camps of Montana, 

suffered greatly from the lack of transportation facilities, as the 

only way to get supplies was to have them brought up the Missouri 

or Yellows tone River as far as steamboats could come and then by 

team over the mountains to the camp, and the metals produced had

Corinne, Utah, whence it was shipped 

by rail to smelters in other parts of the 

country.

The first successful smelter in this district was put into operation about 1880 

by the Colorado & Montana Smelting 

Co., and this was followed by a rapid development of the copper industry. Production was greatly stimulated in 1881 

by the completion of the Utah Northern 

Railroad (now Oregon Short Line) to 

Butte, followed a few years later by other 

railroad connections. The first smelting 

plants were near Butte, but in 1883 the 

Anaconda Co. began the construction at 

Anaconda, in Deer Lodge Valley, about 

27 miles from Butte, of a plant which has 

bacome one of the largest copper smelters 

in the world, its capacity being 12,500 

tons of ore a day. It was rebuilt in 1902 

at a cost of $7,500,000. About 1892 the 

Boston & Montana Co. erected a plant 

having a daily capacity of 4,500 tons at 

Great Falls, where the water power of the 

Missouri is available. At present there 

is but one smelter near Butte, that of the 

East Butte Copper Co.

In recent years the development of 

large bodies of zinc ore at Butte has led 

to the construction of plants for its 

concentration, and the mill of the Butte 

& Superior Co. has successfully demonstrated the economic importance of these 

ores.

The efforts to apply to the complex 

and enormously valuable veins at Butte 

that provision of our mining law which 

permits the owner' of the upper part 

(apex) of a vein to follow his ore under 

the surface of adjoining claims has burdened the district with protracted and 

costly litigation, to an extent probably 

unequaled in the history of mining in 

other parts of the world.

The Butte district has yielded more 

copper than any other district in the 

world, the total output to the close of 

1913 being 6,154,196,000 pounds, or about

one-third of the total copper output of the 

United States. It has produced also 

$26,268,500 in gold, 275,119,000 ounces of 

silver, 11,300,000 pounds of lead, and 

181,540,000 pounds of zinc. The values 

of these metals are as follows: 

Gold.................... $26,268, 500

Silver.................... 191,765,300

Copper................... 865,794,300

Lead............."........ 513,500

Zinc...................... 12,093,600

1,096,435, 200

A large part of the output has come 

from an area of but a few square miles, 

which so far as value is concerned, has 

undoubtedly been the most productive 

metalliferous area of its size in the world.

In recent years some arsenic has been 

recovered from the smelter fumes and 

small quantities of the rarer metals have 

been recovered in the electrolytic refining 

of the copper.

The metallic deposits at Butte occur 

near the western border of an area of the 

granitic rock technically known as quartz 

monzonite. Near Butte this rock has 

been intruded by dikes of light-colored 

siliceous rocks known as aplite and rhyolite. The Big Butte and a large area 

northwest of it are composed of rhyolite 

that has risen through openings in the 

older rocks and covered the surface.

The rocks in the vicinity of Butte have 

been broken by many faults and fissures, 

the greatest of which is the Continental 

fault, described on page 107. Long before 

the break of the Continental fault and 

soon after the intrusion and solidification 

of the granite, the rocks were broken by 

one series of fissures and faults having a 

general northwesterly direction and another series having a general northeasterly 

direction. Water carrying minerals in 

solution rose along these fissures and deposited the ore in part as a filling of the 

fissures and in part as a gradual replacement of the rock adjacent to the fissures.
110 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

to be sent out by the same slow, expensive way. The city is now 

served by five railways, three of which are transcontinental lines.1

After leaving Butte the railway follows down Silver Bow Creek, 

which received its name from a party of prospectors who, in 1864, 

reached the valley in the vicinity of Butte. They had an extended 

discussion regarding the best name for the stream, and while they 

were talking the clouds broke away and the sunshine falling on the 

creek as it circled around the mountain suggested the name Silver 

Bow. At that time the creek may have looked like a silver bow, 

but now there is little similarity.

The composition of the veins shows a 

progressive change in metal and mineral 

composition from a central area outward. 

The central area contains mainly copper 

ores. These grade outward into ores containing increasing quantities of zinc, lead, 

and silver, together with abundant manganese minerals, and showing a decrease 

in copper, until in the outer zone the 

ores are valuable chiefly for their silver, 

gold, and zinc content.

The veins at the surface have all been 

highly oxidized, and from some the copper has been leached to depths of several 

hundred feet. In mining some of the 

veins have been followed to a depth of 

3,000 feet and show little change in mineral composition after the first few hundred feet. In fact, in many veins the 

change in depth is less striking than in 

an equal distance horizontally.

In the early days of copper mining in 

the district the ores extracted were of 

high grade and were smelted direct. 

Later large bodies of low-grade ores were 

mined and concentrated at the plants at 

Anaconda and Great Falls, and the resultant concentrates smelted to recover the 

metal. More recently a plant has been 

constructed at Anaconda for leaching the 

tailings from the concentrating plant to 

recover the copper lost in the operation. 

A plant has also been placed in operation 

at East Butte, by the Butte & Duluth 

Co., to leach the copper from oxidized 

ores. A portion of the copper from Butte 

is electrolytically refined at Great Falls, 

but the greater part is sent to the Atlantic 

seaboard for refining. The water from 

the mines carries a considerable quantity 

of copper in solution, the metal being 

recovered by precipitation on old iron.

1 The railroads were naturally anxious 

to get the trade of such places as Butte 

and made every effort to reach them at 

the earliest moment possible. While 

the Northern Pacific was pushing its 

line from the east and from the west, the 

Utah Northern, now the Oregon Short 

Line, built into the district from the 

south, the first train arriving December 

21, 1881. This road gave direct connection with the Union Pacific. Although 

the Northern Pacific had through trains 

running by way of Helena in 1883, not 

until 1888 did it make a vigorous effort 

to reach Butte. At the same time the 

Montana Central Railroad Co. was organized, and both it and the Northern 

Pacific began to build parallel lines from 

Helena to Butte. There was great 

rivalry in the construction work, but as 

the Montana Central, now the Great 

Northern, succeeded in getting its line 

through first, the Northern Pacific line 

was abandoned after it had been built as 

far as Boulder. The Montana Central 

line from Helena to Butte was opened for 

traffic on July 12,1888.

The Northern Pacific, however, did 

not give up the project of reaching Butte 

and a few years later built a line from 

Logan, giving the camp a direct outlet 

to the east, but still there was no main line 

through the camp. On September 8, 

1893, the Montana Union Railroad was 

completed by Union Pacific interests 

from Butte to Garrison, thus giving a 

direct outlet to the west. This line was 

used jointly by both the Union Pacific 

and the Northern Pacific for a few years, 

but eventually it passed into the hands of 

the latter, and it is now one of the main 

lines of the system.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. Ill

The valley is wide, the immediate hills are low, and the slopes are

gentle and rolling. At Silver Bow station, 7 miles from Butte, the

Oregon Short Line (Union Pacific) turns to the

Silver Bow. je^ (S0uth) and after a short climb crosses the sumEievation 5,345 feet, j^ at j)eer Lodge Pass. Beyond Silver Bow

St. Paul 1,135 miles. to J

station the valley continues open ior a distance of 

4 miles to a point where the stream enters a very narrow, rugged 

canyon cut in massive rhyolite, a volcanic rock that covers much of 

the country west of Butte. The rock when freshly broken is nearly 

white, but under the influence of the weather it turns to a deep, 

rich red, which gives a pleasing relief to. the somber-gray color of 

the granite to the east. The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad 

(recently electrified) and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and 

Northern Pacific railways also occupy the canyon, which, on account 

of its narrowness, is very much congested. (See PI. XVII, p. 107.)

Aside from its ruggedness and picturesqueness this canyon has 

an added interest because it owes its origin to the filling of the 

original valley on the north with lake sediment and the cutting of a 

new course by the stream, similar to that of Jefferson River, described 

on page 101. After the disappearance of the lake Silver Bow Creek 

came into existence, and on the swampy bottom of the lake it 

meandered broadly. In .its windings it had assumed its present 

position, when, through the elevation of the land, it gamed cutting 

power and began to deepen its channel. In doing so it encountered 

the rhyolite, but it continued to cut, and the canyon is the result..

At Durant the train emerges from the canyon into a valley much

broader than the one at Butte or Silver Bow. This, the renowned

Deer Lodge Valley, is much too large to have been

Durant. carved by the stream now occupying it. The eastern

Elevation 5,174 feet, traveler has doubtless noticed that the valleys in

St. Paul 1,142 miles. . ,, -.-i this region are generally different from those with 

which he is familiar. Valleys that are the result of stream erosion 

have generally a width that is roughly proportional to the size of 

the stream, and as a rule they decrease in size toward the head of

the stream. In the northern part of the Rocky 

Stuart. Mountains many of the larger valleys are out of proEievation 5,006 feet, portion to the size of the streams occupying them,

St. Paul 1,146 miles. F , ., and hence it does not seem probable that they were 

formed alone by the erosive action of the streams. 1

The most conspicuous artificial object in the Deer Lodge Valley 

is the giant stack of the Anaconda smelter on the left (west), 350

JAs the origin of many of the broad 

valleys of the northern Rocky Mountains 

can not be attributed to erosion, it is 

manifest that they must have been produced by movement in the earth's crust, 

either the direct subsidence of the valley itself or the elevation of the surrounding mountain masses. Subsidence may
112 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

feet high, from which issues a never-failing cloud of yellow smoke. 

The train does not pass close enough to Anaconda for the traveler 

to see much of the town, which is reached by a spur from the main 

line at Durant, but he is soon made aware of the effect of the waste 

waters from the concentration plant, which have flowed down the 

creek and killed most of the vegetation. Back of the smelter is 

Mount Haggin, named for James B. Haggin, who for many years was 

prominent in the mining industry of Butte. On the west side of the 

valley farther north is Racetrack Peak, which stands like a sentinel keeping guard over the entire valley. In 1910 Anaconda had a 

population of 10,134. .

have been accomplished in one of three 

ways, as illustrated by figure 23. In 

this diagram AB represents a section 

across a country with a hilly surface. A 

broad valley may be formed by a simple 

depression of the region, as illustrated

fault, as shown in FG. Here the block 

 of strata on the left has been tilted toward 

the right and at the same time dropped 

along the fault HI until a depression and 

lake are formed. The third and last case 

is that of a block of the earth's crust

FIGURE 23. Diagrams illustrating the ways in which the broad valleys of the Eocky Mountain region

were formed.

by CE, in which the center D is depressed 

so much that the tops of the hills fall below drainage level. In such a case the 

depressed portion becomes a lake, and 

the lake is finally filled by waste material 

washed in from the surrounding region. 

Similar results may be produced by a

dropped between two nearly parallel 

faults, as shown in JK.

Deer Lodge Valley was probably produced by one of the three methods described above, but by which one can 

be told only by close examination and 

mapping.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 16

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. C. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

EXPLANATION

Thickness 

in feet

A Stream deposits (alluvium ^ 

H Gravel, sand, arid volcanic ash

(lake beds) 

Dark shale, (Colorado)

Sandstone and red shale 

K X (Kix)tenai formation)

Impure limestone and quortzite 

(Ellis formation)

V

Sandstone and impure limestone 

'Quadrant formation) 

Massive blue limestone (Madison )J 

Shale and shaly limestone

(Threeforks .shale) 

)ark limestone (Jefferson) 

Limestone (Gallatini 

J <j Shale, limestone, and sandstone

L (Flathead formation) 

L Shale, limestone, sandstone, and

conglomerate < Belt series » M Cinei.sK and schist

2, (KM) Late Tertiary 

1,900 Upper Cretaceou

9UO Lower Cretaceous

400 Jurassic

1,800 Carboniferous

Scale 500,000

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch _ _ __ __ 

*5 1O IB 20Miles

8,000 Alyonkian 

Archean Contour interval 200 feet

R Lava flows, dacite, and rhyolite

S Granite, intrusive

T Lava flows'and intrusive masses,

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

Tho crossties on the railroads are spaced I tn>'
TEE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 113

The town of Warm Springs (see sheet 18, p. 134) is built around a 

group of springs having a temperature of about 150° and affording 

a copious flow of water. The valley floor is several 

miles wide and is so flat that much of it is swampy. 

The hills on the right (east), about 500 feet high, 

are composed of light-colored clay and volcanic ash 

and are remnants of the Tertiary lake beds that 

once filled the valley at least as high as the top of these hills. These 

materials were deposited in a great lake, which occupied this valley 

at the same time that similar lakes occupied the Gallatin and Madison valleys to the east. 1

Warm Springs.

Elevation 4,832 feet. 

Population 866.* 

St. Paul 1,153 miles.

1 There is no more interesting subject in the geology of the mountain 

region of Montana than that of the lake 

beds. They imply conditions which at 

first sight seem to be anomalous that 

is, extensive bodies of water in a rough 

mountainous region. As shown by the 

map of western Montana on sheet 18 

(p. 134), lake beds have been found in 

practically every valley from the Yellowstone on the east to the Bitterroot on 

the west, but they have not been observed in many of the valleys north of 

Blackfoot River. It therefore seems 

fairly safe to assume that in Tertiary time 

lakes existed in nearly every mountain 

valley in the State. Many of the valleys 

that to-day are separated were doubtless 

connected through the canyons, but in 

such locations the material deposited in 

the lakes has been removed by the swiftly 

flowing streams. In other valleys the lake 

sediments that were once continuous 

have been separated by the breaking of 

the earth's crust into great blocks and the 

tilting of these blocks in various directions. Although the distribution of the 

materials that were laid down in these 

lakes indicates that many of them were 

connected, a study of the bones of animals 

that lived at the time and were buried in 

the mud and sand of the lakes indicates 

that the lake-forming conditions extended 

over a long period of time, some of the 

fossils being of Oligocene, some of Miocene, and some of Pliocene age. It is 

generally supposed, however, that most 

95558° Bull. 611 15 8

of the lakes were in existence in the 

Miocene epoch.

Lakes are abnormal features and have, 

no place in the orderly development of a 

drainage system that is, when a drainage 

system is established on the land there ia 

no tendency in the action of the streams 

to form lakes, and when such features are 

formed they are the direct result of some 

interference with the work of the streams.

Most lakes in mountainous regions are 

due to the action of glaciers, either in 

scouring out rock basins or in damming 

valleys with moraines or with the outwash 

of sand and gravel from the front of the ice. 

If the old lakes of Montana were due to 

the action of ice, there would remain some 

trace of the glaciers that did the work and 

of the great dams which they must have 

built. Dams formed by landslides or lava 

flows would likewise leave some evidence 

of their existence, and they could not 

have been so extensive as to pond the 

water in all the principal valleys opening 

out on both sides of the range.

The wide extent of the lakes seems at 

once to rule out all local causes, so it is 

necessary to appeal to some cause that 

would have been operative throughout a 

wide region and that would have been 

adequate to produce such results. The 

great regional cause that is fully competent to pond rivers or produce lake basins 

is movement within the crust of the earth 

whereby one area is raised or depressed 

with relation to another. To the geologist 

the.history of the earth, so far as it has
114 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Race Track.

Elevation 4,710 feet. 

St. Paul 1,160 miles.

Beyond Warm Springs the valley of Clark Fork continues broad and 

flat; in many places near the stream it is swampy, but on the terraces 

on each side there is good farm land. On the left 

(west) from Race Track there are many deep canyons 

in the side of Flint Creek Mountain, through which 

glaciers, long past,.have flowed down from the high 

summits even to the level of the main valley. This indicates that 

most if not all of the side ravines were cut before the glaciers were 

developed, and that since their disappearance there has been little 

change in the surface features.

At Deer Lodge terraces about 200 feet high are well developed on 

both sides of the valley. Apparently these terraces are remnants of 

the floor of the valley at a much earlier epoch, and 

possibly they may correspond with those observed on 

the east side of the valley near Warm Springs. North 

of Deer Lodge there is a terrace on the left, but the 

one on the right has disappeared and is replaced by 

low hills composed of soft Cretaceous rock. 1

Deer Lodge.

Elevation 4,530 feet. 

Population 2,570. 

St. Paul 1,169 miles.

been interpreted, consists of the record of 

an almost infinite number of such, oscillations, with accompanying changes in the 

outline of the land and water.

A regional subsidence in the Rocky 

Mountains of Montana relative to the 

plains would readily account for the formation of lakes in all the valleys that were 

deep enough to lie below drainage level, 

and this will be accepted as at least a reasonable working hypothesis. According 

to this view, a rough mountain region, 

probably as mountainous as it is to-day, 

was depressed hundreds or perhaps thousands of feet, until the streams failed to 

flow out in their accustomed courses, as 

the plains beyond were higher than the 

^mountain valleys. The water from the 

rains and melting snows of the mountains 

soon filled the valleys until the water rose 

high enough to discharge over the plains 

country. Under such conditions there 

may have been many lakes or there may 

have been one large lake with ramifications in the valleys among the mountains.

Into the lakes thus formed the mountain streams poured mud, sand, and gravel, 

the mud being carried far out in the lake

to settle as fine clay while the sand and 

gravel were dropped near shore. At least 

600 feet of such material has been measured in some of the valleys, and probably 

it was originally much thicker. In some 

valleys the lakes were evidently filled, 

and the surface became a swamp in which 

vegetation flourished and finally was converted into coal or lignite. Such beds 

have been found near Drumniond and 

Missoula, along the line of the Northern 

Pacific Railway, and in the vicinity of 

the Glacier National Park, near the Great 

Northern Railway.

The climate of this region in the lake 

period, as indicated by the animals and 

plants that lived then, seems to have been 

much like that of central or southern 

Africa at the present time. The lake beds 

have not been searched thoroughly, but it 

is known that mastodons, horses, camels, 

and rhinoceroses roamed the hills in that 

far-off time, and that the filled basins were 

swamps in which flourished a luxuriant 

vegetation.

1 The broad Deer Lodge Valley extends 

from Durant northwestward to Drummond, but its continuation beyond Garrison may not be apparent from the train.
THE NORTHERN" PACIFIC ROUTE. 115

Garrison.

Garrison was named in honor of William Lloyd Garrison. Here the 

railway line through Butte unites with the original line of the Northern Pacific through Helena. The valley at Garrison 

is much narrower than it is above that place, the 

Elevation4,344feet. j-g on the west being composed of a volcanic rock

St. Paul 1,180 miles. \ lnl

(andesite) and that on the east 01 sandstone, shale, 

and beds of volcanic tuff 1 of Upper Cretaceous age.

[The itinerary west of Garrison is continued on page 127.]

The present condition and possible mode 

of formation of the valley are illustrated 

by figure 24, which represents a section 

along the railway from Durant on the 

south to Drumniond on the north. As 

first formed, this valley was a great structural depression in the hard rocks, as represented by AB. In that basin sediment 

accumulated in Miocene time until the 

depression was filled, as shown in the diagram. The place Avhere Garrison now 

stands was then near the middle of the 

basin, and probably only soft lake sediments showed at the surface from Durant 

to Drumniond.

map or by a view from some commanding 

summit on the valley rim.

On account of the deformation of the old 

basin or trough, the immediate stream 

channel below Garrison for several miles 

is a veritable canyon in the Cretaceous 

ro.cks, but farther down it opens out into 

another wide expanse deeply covered by 

material laid down in the lake.

1 Tuff is a rock composed of fragments 

of lava, as a rule more or less distinctly 

bedded. These fragments may have been 

blown from a volcanic vent and may have 

settled down on dry land or in water. 

Even if deposited on land, the material

FIGURE 24. Sections along Northern Pacific Railway between Durant and Drummond,Mont., showing 

probable mode of formation of Deer Lodge Valley.

At some later stage the floor of the 

b asin was upraised midway b etween these 

two ends (see CZ>), so that the lake beds 

were exposed to erosion. The soft, incoherent lake sediments were soon washed 

away, and the stream trenched the underlying Cretaceous rocks to a depth of several hundred feet. The upraising of the 

middle part of the trough left a depression 

at either end, and at the present time 

these structural depressions are marked 

by broad valleys, such as can be seen*at 

Deer Lodge and at Drumniond. The 

presence of a broad valley connecting 

these two marked depressions can be 

realized ojily by a study of a contoured

may be so fine and loose as to be rapidly 

washed into the nearest body of water, 

there to accumulate as a stratified rock. 

Some of the finer-grained tuffs are largely 

volcanic ash that is, the dustlike material produced when hot lava, thrown into 

the air, is blown into small particles by 

the explosive action of the steam that is 

an original constituent of all molten lava. 

Coarser tuffs may include angular blocks 

of lava many feet in diameter or rounded 

masses that have solidified as they flew 

through the air, and are known as volcanic 

bombs. Some tuffs include also much 

sedimentary material from the erosion of 

freshly erupted lavas.
116 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES,

LOGAN TO GAKKISON BY WAY OF HELENA.

A short distance west of the station at Logan (see sheet 16, p. 112) 

the Helena line crosses Gallatin River and then follows this stream 

to its junction with the other rivers that form the Missouri. At the 

bridge and for a short distance beyond it the 

railway skirts the foot of a bluff of Madison 

limestone, but this rock dips below river 

level and beyond it the bluff is composed 

of the overlying Quadrant formation. Although the Quadrant resembles limestone it 

contains little of that rock, being generally 

? composed of quartzite or flinty beds that are 

; much harder and generally of a lighter color 

; than the. limestone. These beds in turn dip 

I below water level and the rocky bluffs give 

l» way to a low rolling country with swampy 

£ land near the track.

i| The railway follows the flat bottom of 

[I Gallatin River for some distance and thence 

| >> once more follows the cliffs of the MadiI| son limestone, which is brought up from 

'§ below water level by a great anticlinal 

jo fold. On the left (west) there is an ex- 

[>». tensive flat valley through which Gallatin, 

i~ Madison, and Jefferson rivers flow on their

?^i^ill £ ® way ^° J 0*11 f°rces anc^ f°rm Missouri River. 

I They unite at the entrance to the gorge which 

I the combined stream has cut through the 

S limestone and which the train is about to 

I enter. This junction, known as Threeforks, 

I has attracted the attention of every travj eler who has entered this region since 1805, 

I' when it was first seen by Lewis and Clark. 

! (See p. 100.)

3 North of Threeforks the river has cut a 

I canyon along a great arch or anticline which at 

' the entrance to the canyon brings up to view 

only the Madison Hmestone, but the fold increases in magnitude northward (downstream) and lower formations are successively brought 

above water level. As shown in figure 25 this fold is not a simple arch, 

but the force which bent the rocks was so great that the fold was 

pushed over to the east, or overturned. The rocks were then broken 

or faulted, as shown in figure 26 (p. 117).
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 117

At Trident, in the canyon of the Missouri, there is a large plant 

for the manufacture of cement from the Threef orks (Devonian) shale,1

which is obtained from the crushed rock in the overIndent. turned anticline shown in the diagram. From Threeforks to Lombard, a distance of 15 miles, the Chicago,

n n T-» n i i -vr i Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway parallels the Northern 

Pacific, on the opposite side of the river.

St. Paul, 1,063 miles.

c1

/' '' ."*

FIGURE 26. Faulted fold at Trident, Mont., looking northeast.

For 5 miles beyond Trident the railway winds in and out on the 

flanks of the anticline, making a long cut in the Madisoii limestone at 

the sharp bend of the river. From this point the river turns back 

toward the southeast, cutting down through the formations, until it 

reaches the Belt series the lowest in the section. Beyond this point 

the soft material of the lake beds obscures the hard rocks, and the 

hills formed by those rocks recede a mile or more from the river.

The valley on the right (east) i's wide and the hills are low as far as

Clarkston siding, but on the opposite side of the river and rudely

parallel with it there is a mountainous ridge, formed

Clarkston. ^y the.overturned northwest side of a syncline which

Elevation 4,002 feet. \{GS parallel with the general course of the road and

St. Paul 1,071 miles. . ^ . . & which is shown in figure 25. 1 he southeast side of 

this fold is obscured by the lake beds, which cover all older forma1 The mill at Trident has a daily capacity of 1,600 to 1,800 barrels of cement 

and is modern in all its equipment, having been erected in 1910. Material most 

suitable for the manufacture of Portland 

cement contains approximately 75 per 

cent carbonate of lime, 15 per cent silica, 

and 5 to 7 per cent alumina and iron 

oxides, with very little magnesia and no 

sulphur. This combination is found in 

the Threeforks (Devonian) shale, which 

is quarried extensively along the east 

bluff of the river. The shale varies considerably in composition, that from the 

upper end of the cut being very limy and 

that from the lower end earthy and sandy.

Rock is taken from all parts of the cut and 

then mixed until the proper proportions 

of the constituents are procured for the 

manufacture of cement. The raw material is burned in a revolving steel cylinder, 

with Red Lodge coal as a fuel. (For a 

description of Red Lodge coal see footnote on p. 82.) The coal, crushed until 

95 per cent of it will pass through a 100- 

mesh sieve, is blown into the front ends 

of the revolving cylinders. It burns like 

gas, producing a temperature of about 

3,000° F. The burned cement is crushed 

and mixed with a little gypsum to regulate the setting time and is then ready for 

the market.
118 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

tions as with a mantle, but in the vicinity of Clarkston the Madison 

limestone is exposed, dipping to the northwest. At milepost 181 

begins a long hillside cut in the upper part of this limestone, but as 

the beds trend in nearly the same direction as the track not much of 

the formation can be seen. The cut continues to milepost 183, where 

the valley opens out. On the right the hard formations are covered 

by clay deposited in the old lake, but on the left the Madison limestone swings across the river and makes a bluff more than 100 feet 

high above the St. Paul road. Before reaching Lombard the river 

makes a sharp bend to the left (north) and enters a box canyon * in 

the Madison limestone. (See PI. XVIII.) The height of the walls

Lombard.

Elevation 3,977 feet. 

Population 155.* 

St. Paul 1,077 miles.

FIGURE 27. Fold and fault in the rocks near Lombard, Mont.

of this canyon is about 300 feet, but it decreases downstream, owing 

to the fact that rocks dip in that direction.

At Lombard the St. Paul line crosses the Northern Pacific and turns 

to the east up Sixteen Mile Creek, crossing the divide to the head of 

Musselshell River. Beyond Lombard the thick beds 

of the Madison limestone descend rapidly and pass 

below water level about a mile from the station. The 

Quadrant formation does likewise, and at milepost 

186 attempts have been made to open a mine on a 

coal bed either in this formation or in the overlying Kootenai formation, but the coal is badly crushed and dirty and the project has 

been abandoned.

A short distance beyond the coal mine there is a' fault that brings 

the coal-bearing rocks into contact with the Belt series, which consists of red and green shale and argillite, very much broken and disturbed. (See fig. 27.) The Belt rocks form the surface along the 

river for about 3 miles, including the large bend which the river 

makes to the left. At milepost 189 the railway crosses this fault again 

and an igneous mass that was intruded along the fault. The road 

then enters the Quadrant formation, the lower part of which is generally characterized by very brilliant red limestone and clay. This 

color is well shown on the right as the train rounds a sharp bend of

1 The term box canyon is applied in many parts of the West to a narrow canyon 

having vertical or nearly vertical walls.
0. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

CLIFFS OF MADISON LIMESTONE AT LOMBARD, MO

View from the crags a short distance up SixtecnmMc Creek. Photograph by Curtis & 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE Xl>

A. SUMMER CAMP OF THE FLATHEAD INDIANS, A FAMILIAR SCENE IN THE JOCKO VALLEY,

MONT.

B. GLACIER ON THE NORTH SLOPE OF McDONALD PEAK, MONT. 

Photograph by C. D. Walcott.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE.

the river and it is visible up the hill slope beyond milepost 190, where 

the train crosses a spring that wells up in large volume from the 

limestone. The spring forms a beautiful pool, and the stream that 

flows from it is carried in ditches for a long distance and used to irrigate the bottom land farther down the river.

About 1,000 feet beyond milepost 191 the fault is crossed for the 

last time, and here the conditions are much like those that prevail at 

the other crossings. The rocks south of the fault carry a c<5al bed 

similar to the one opened near Lombard, and the formation is hi 

contact with a large mass of igneous rock which on the other side 

rests against the rocks of the Belt series. The Belt rocks are considerably altered, apparently by the heat of the intruded mass, and 

some mineralization of the rocks has been the result, but although 

many prospect pits can be seen on the hillsides, little of value has 

been found.

The hard rocks that form the high hills soon give way to the soft 

clay of the lake beds, and at Toston the valley opens out on both sides

nearly as far as the eye can reach. The river has no 

Toston. " well-marked channel, and its surface is only a few 

Elevation 3.925 feet, feet below the general level of the plain. This is the 

isfcpannJsBndics. resu^ °f tne washing in of fine silty material, in which

the valley has been cut. The valley was originally 

formed by some downward movement in the crust of the earth (see 

p. 112) and then it was occupied by a lake, probably an extension of 

the body of water that occupied Gallatin Valley in Miocene time. 

After the lake basin was filled or drained the land was raised, and 

Missouri River has carved its present valley almost entirely in the 

soft materials laid down in the old lake. Owing to the softness of 

this material it is washed into the river at every shower and so the 

stream is supplied with more sediment than it can carry. This 

material therefore settles to the bottom, and the channel of the stream 

is kept at nearly the same level as the bottom land on either side.

Opposite milepost 201 the hills on the left closely approach the 

river bank and for a height of 400 feet they appear to be composed 

entirely of clay deposited in the old lake.

The flourishing town of Townsend (see sheet 17, p. 126) is in the 

heart of a prosperous agricultural region which stretches up and down

the river valley for a long distance. A little beyond 

Townsend. the town the railway crosses' Missouri River and 

Elevation 3,833 feet, begins to climb to the top of the terrace that faces 

stTauuO98miies. *ke rrver- From this point the traveler may obtain,

on the right, a broad view of the fertile farms stretching across the level bottom of the Missouri and broken only by lines
120 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

of trees through which the stream sweeps down the valley in broad, 

graceful curves.

On attaining the top of the terrace it is found to be a sloping plain 

which rises gradually to the foot of the mountain on the west. The 

train soon passes Bedford siding, from which the old town, established 

in 1864, can be seen on the right. This was one of the placer camps 

in the early days, and it is said that the heaps of gravel marking the 

location of the old workings are still visible.

The train climbs steadily up the sloping surface of the smooth 

plain and at Winston the traveler can see a wide sweep of the river 

valley and the Big Belt Mountains on the right. 

Winston. Across the river on the east, at the foot of the mountain, far in the distance, is Confederate Gulch, from

the sand and Sravel of which more than $10,000,000 

in gold has been taken. It is said that in the autumn 

of 1866 a four-mule team hauled to Fort Benton, for transportation 

down the river, 1\ tons of gold, worth $1,500,000, nearly all of which 

had been taken out at Montana Bar and vicinity, near Confederate 

Gulch.

No hard rocks have been found at the surface near the track, and 

it is supposed that they are deeply covered by sediment deposited in 

the great lake previously described. At the summit between Beaver 

and Spokane creeks a part of the Belt series can be seen in a knob on 

the north, but its constituent formations are not distinct enough to 

be recognized from the train. Charles D. Walcott has described this 

ridge as a syncline composed of the same rocks (the Belt series) as 

those that are exposed in Helena on the west and the Big Belt 

Mountains on the east.

The railway follows in a general way the old stage road along which

the gold seekers rushed in 1864-65 toothe newly discovered Last 

Chance Gulch, where the city of Helena now stands, and along this 

road there may still be seen many old houses that resemble the taverns found along some of the famous old stage roads of the Eastern 

States.

On the right (north) is the broad valley of the lower part of Prickly 

Pear Creek, its irrigated and well-tilled fields contrasting with the 

background of rugged mountains. The gently undulating upland 

upon which the railroad is built is composed of sand and gravel, 

which are exposed in every cut. Beneath this surface cover are 

Tertiary lake beds, as shown by a well a little east of East Helena, 

which passed through 1,200 feet of soft lake beds before reaching the 

bedrock.
THE NOBTHEBN" PACIFIC BOUTE. 121

East Helena.

Elevation 3,902 feet. 

Population 1,139.* 

St. Paul 1,126 miles.

At East Helena there is a smelter on the left (south), established 

when this district was a large producer of silver-lead ores, but recently 

most of the ore smelted here has come from the Cosur 

d'Alene district in Idaho. The railway on the left is 

the Great Northern line that runs from Great Falls 

by way of Helena to Butte. At East Helena the 

Northern Pacific crosses a number of long-distance 

electric-power transmission lines which extend from the large power 

plants at Great Falls, Canyon Ferry, and Hauser <Lake, to Helena, 

Butte, and Anaconda, furnishing light and power not only for 

municipal purposes but also for the great mining and smelting plants 

at or near these towns.

The traveler has now arrived at Helena, the capital of Montana 

and a division terminal of the railway, and while the 

engine is being shifted he may be interested in reading a sketch of the early history of the city by 

Adolph Knopf.1 -

Helena.

Elevation 3,955 feet. 

Population 12,515. 

St. Paul 1,131 miles.

1 Helena is situated in Lewis and Clark 

County at the eastern foot of the Continental Divide. Its history dates from 

1864, when the town sprang into existence 

as the result of the finding of extraordinarily rich gold-bearing placers where it 

now stands. At that time Virginia City, 

on Alder Gulch, 125 miles to the south, 

was the great center of population in 

Montana, as the discovery of gold there 

in almost fabulous quantities in the previous year had drawn many people into 

the region. In the spring of 1864 reports 

reached Alder Gulch of a great strike in 

the Kootenai Valley, and among those who 

had .taken the trail for the new Eldorado 

was a party of four prospectors under the 

leadership of John Cowan. They had 

crossed the Continental Divide west of the 

site of Helena when they learned from a 

party of returning prospectors that Kootenai was "played out." They then decided to turn eastward and continue prospecting, but after a season's fruitless effort 

they proceeded toward Alder Gulch, determined to make one more attempt to 

discover gold on a small creek at which 

some indications of precious metal had 

been obtained on the outward journey. 

As one of them expressed it, "That little 

gulch on the Prickly Pear is our last 

chance"; and the place thus became 

known to the party as Last Chance Gulch

before the actual discovery of its wealth 

was made. Gold in paying quantities 

was found here about July 15,1864.

The news of the discovery spread 

quickly and the town grew with the 

rapidity characteristic of placer camps. 

On October 30 a meeting was held for the 

purpose of appointing commissioners to 

lay out a town, as well as to adopt a name 

for the settlement. During the following 

winter 115 cabins were erected in the 

gulch, and within two years the town 

had a population of 7,500. In 1867 the 

telegraph had been extended to Helena 

from Salt Lake City.

Helena, aided by its situation 140 miles 

from Fort Benton, the head of navigation 

on the Missouri, soon became the chief mart 

of commerce in Montana. Virginia City, 

then the Territorial capital, had. already 

passed its zenith, but it was not until 1874 

that the seat of government was permanently removed to its northern rival.

Gold to the value of $16,000,000 was 

taken from the gravel of Last Chance 

Gulch, mostly before 1868. In the fall 

of 1864 gold-bearing quartz veins had 

been discovered 5 miles south of Helena 

at the heads of Oro Fino and Grizzly 

gulches, branches of Last Chance Gulch. 

The finding of placer and lode gold were 

thus nearly contemporaneous. The finding of gold in its bedrock source stimu-
122 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

On leaving Helena the traveler has a good view of the setting of 

the city at the mouth of Last Chance Gulch,' with the prominent

lated the quest for the precious metals all 

over the^Territory.

Silver-bearing lead ores in the vicinity 

of Wickes, Jefferson, and Clancy, 20 

miles southeast of Helena, were discovered simultaneously with the finding 

of the gold placers. The Gregory lode, 

one of the earliest finds, was located in 

1864, and here, in 1867, was built the 

second smelter established in Montana.

By 1870 the placers had been largely 

exhausted and a period of stagnation set 

in,' for lode mining could not flourish 

without adequate and cheap transportation. The great need of the Territory at 

this time was an adequate system of railway transportation, connecting with the. 

centers of civilization. Freight rates 

during the first decade were an enormous 

drain on the resources of the Territory, 

costing between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000 

every year, even after the population 

had shrunk to 18,000. The chief overland transportation route was Missouri 

River, by which steamers could reach 

Fort Benton during high-water stages. 

But this period of high water lasted from 

four to six weeks only, and steamers were 

often forced to stop at the mouth of the 

Yellowstone, 450 miles distant. On the 

completion of the Union Pacific Railroad 

in 1869, much of the traffic was diverted 

to this route, Corinne, Utah, being the 

initial point for freight bound for Montana. This, however, involved a haul 

by teams of 450 miles, and the tolls were 

oppressive, costing $37.50 for each wagon 

from Salt Lake to Helena.

In 1883 the Northern Pacific Railway 

was completed to Helena, and the first 

train crossed the Continental Divide west 

of Helena on August 7 of that year. The 

arrival of the first regular train at Helena 

on July 4,1883, was the occasion of a great 

celebration; but the special feature of the 

day was the departure of the first "bullion train," carrying 1,000,000 pounds of 

silver bullion from Montana's mines.

During the later part of 1883 the 

Helena & Jefferson Railroad was built. 

This line, which is now a part of the

Havre-Butte branch of the Great Northern Railway, connected Helena and 

Wickes, 20 miles apart. The lead smelter 

at Wickes was rebuilt and enlarged, so 

that it was for some years the most extensive reduction plant in Montana and 

drew ores from a large area, including the 

Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho. In 1889 

it was shut down and dismantled. The 

same fate has overtaken the many small 

smelters built in the region tributary to 

Helena, and at present the only smelter 

in operation is the East Helena plant of 

the American Smelting & Refining Co.

The period from 1883 to 1893 comprises 

the years during which a large output of 

silver and lead was maintained. The 

gold obtained from veins during this 

period came largely from the district at 

the heads of Oro Fino and Grizzly gulches 

and from the Marysville district, 17 miles 

northwest of Helena, which began to 

come into prominence in 1880. At present mining activity is, on the whole, at 

a rather low ebb throughout the region 

tributary to Helena, the annual production fluctuating around $1,000,000. The 

total yield in gold, silver, lead, and 

copper aggregates between $150,000,000 

and $200,000,000.

Helena lies on the south side of a great 

dome-shaped uplift, whose center is some- where north of the Scratch Gravel Hills, 

which can be seen on the right (north) 

from Helena. The rocks dip away from 

the center of this uplift, but there are 

many minor folds or wrinkles on the 

flanks of the dome that in places even 

produce dips in the opposite direction. 

About Helena the general dip is toward 

the south, whereas at Mullan Pass it is 

toward the southwest. The rocks about 

Helena are broken by a number of faults, 

which in general ray out like the spokes 

of a wheel from the center of the uplift. 

The rocks here are much like those exposed about Threeforks, but they have 

been intruded in many places by masses 

of igneous rock that have come up from 

below, and they have been altered by 

the heat and pressure thus developed.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 123

peak Mount Helena on the west. About 2* miles out the railway 

crosses the Great Northern line to Great Falls and Havre, and near 

this crossing the Red Mountain branch of the Northern Pacific turns 

to the south to a mining district up the valley of Tenmile Creek. 

Beyond milepost 3 Fort Harrison, the largest military post in the 

State, is seen on the left (south).

Just west of Helena begins the long grade to the summit of Mullan 

Pass. The ascent, 1,618 feet, is accomplished in about 20 miles.

From. Clough Junction, just beyond Birdseye, a branch line leads

northward to Marysville,1 one of the most productive mining camps

in this vicinity, situated just below the crest of the

seye' Continental Divide, about 17 miles northwest of

Elevation, 4,231 feet. TT 1

st. Paul 1,139 miles. -Helena.

The rocks in the Front Range in the vicinity of 

Mullan Pass lie on the southwest flank of the great dome whose center 

is north of the Scratch Gravel Hills. The regular southwestward dip 

of the rocks away from the center of this dome is interrupted by a 

small syncline (a downward fold of the rocks) which lies west of the 

summit and also by many intrusions of igneous rock, some of which 

are of great extent, whereas others are small and have had little effect 

upon the general structure. As the rocks on the east side of the 

summit dip toward the range, the westbound traveler passes over 

the several formations in ascending order.

The rocks are poorly exposed about Birdseye and Clough Junction, 

and the traveler will have difficulty in identifying the Belt series and 

the Cambrian and Devonian formations. Near milepost 11 the

1 The prosperity of the Marysville mining camp has hinged largely on the fortunes of the Drumlummon mine, the 

oldest, most steadily operated, and most 

productive property of the district The 

Drumlummon lode was discovered in 

1876 by Thomas Cruse, who had been 

working some placers along Silver Creek 

below the present site of Marysville, and 

.the mine was gradually developed by 

him until 1880, when a 5-stamp mill was 

erected. In 1882 the property was sold 

to an English company known as the 

Montana Mining Co. (Ltd.) for $1,500,000. 

During the operations of this company 

$15,000,000 worth of gold and silver was 

extracted. In the early nineties the 

property became involved in protracted 

litigation, and in recent years the mine 

haa been worked only intermittently. In 

1911 the property was sold to the St.

Louis Mining & Milling Co., which commenced to rehabilitate the milling plant, 

to operate the old workings, then badly 

caved, arid to search for new ore bodies.

Other notable mines in the district 

are the Belmont, Cruse, Penobscot, Bald 

Butte, Empire, and Piegan-Gloster. The 

district has produced about $30,000,000.

The presence of ore at Marysville is 

due to a small mass of granite that has 

been-forced up from below through the 

limestone and shale of the Belt series. 

Some of the ore was probably deposited 

soon after the intrusion, but tihe richest 

veins are supposed to have been formed 

at a later date. The sedimentary rocks 

around the granite have been so thoroughly baked that they are changed into 

hard flinty rocks known as hornstone. 

The ore occurs along the contact of the 

granite and the horns tone.
124 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Austin.

massive light-colored Madison limestone (Carboniferous) will attract 

attention on account of its many exposures on the hill slopes. West 

of the limestone is an intrusive mass of granite (quartz monzonite), 

which is very extensive, being the same as that which constitutes 

the mountains about Boulder and the summit over which the Northern Pacific passes east of Butte. It is noteworthy on account of the 

peculiar way in which it weathers. Some parts seem to be harder 

than others and less subject to the action of the weather, and these 

parts stand up as towers and pinnacles. The projecting crags are 

particularly numerous and fantastic in the vicinity of Austin.

The railway engineers, in order to obtain a regular grade to the 

summit, found it necessary to make large loops, and the open country 

about Austin gave them the opportunity they desired. Just east of the station two stretches of track, 

Elevation 4,771 feet. one above the other, are visible on the right. The

St. Paul 1,144 miles. ' . & .

steepness of the grade may be appreciated by listening 

to the laboring of the engine or by looking back after making the 

sharp turn above Austin. The track here runs along the contact of 

the limestone and the granite, and such localities are generally 

favorable for the deposition of ores. Many prospect pits have been 

sunk in search of the precious metals, but apparently without success. 

Above the great loops near Austin the track winds in and out, up the 

ravines and around the spurs, steadily climbing on the Madison limestone until it arrives at the east end of the Mullan tunnel. Originally 

the road was carried over the summit, but on the completion of the 

tunnel the high line was abandoned. The upgrade continues

through the tunnel, which is 3,875 feet long, and 

Blossburg. reaches the highest point at Blossburg, at the far 

Elevation 5,573 feet. enc[ T^g tunnel was constructed entirely in the '

St. Paul 1,151 miles. . /

granite, although the limestone extends to the eastern 

portal and the sandstone and shale of the Cretaceous appear only a 

short distance west of the other portal.

The traveler has now crossed the backbone of the continent, and 

as he starts down the Pacific slope and looks back at the summit he 

is probably surprised at the smoothness of the tops and the absence 

of the rugged features which most people have, in their minds, 

associated with Mullan Pass 1 and the Continental Divide. 

1 The first authentic account of a trip 

through Mullan Pass is that contained in 

the report of the Government engineers 

who, in 1853, conducted systematic explorations in order to find the best route 

for a Pacific railroad. This expedition, 

under the command of Gov. Isaac I. 

Stevens, of Washington Territory, established field headquarters at the old mission of St. Mary (now Stevensville), in 

the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula. 

From this camp engineers explored the 

passes through the mountains and reported on their feasibility for railroad 

construction.

The two men connected with this work 

who are best known to the public were 

Capt. George B. McClellan, who had
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 125

West of the summit the rock is not well exposed, partly for the 

reason that it is shale (Cretaceous) which is not hard enough to form 

ridges or knobs. This shale is the youngest rock crossed by the railway in this vicinity. It lies in the middle of the great syncline previously referred to and constitutes the core of the fold. West of 

this place the rocks should be crossed in reverse order, but they are 

so badly faulted and cut by intrusive masses that it is very difficult 

to determine the structure. The most prominent rock on this side 

of the fold is the Madison limestone which is quarried at Calcium, 

between mileposts 26 and 27, and burned into lime.

West of Calcium the rocks are badly broken by faults so that it 

is almost impossible to identify the various formations from the 

moving train, but near milepost 28 there is a prominent ledge of 

quartzite (Quadrant) on the right (north) which carries at its top a 

valuable bed of rock phosphate. Analysis shows this rock to contain

from 40 to 60 per cent of phosphate of lime. This material is valuable 

as a fertilizer, and the United States Geological Survey has been 

actively engaged in the last few "years in mapping deposits of such 

rock. It is described by R. W. Stone below. 1

charge of surveys on the Pacific coast and 

who afterward came into prominence in 

thQ Civil War, and Lieut. John Mullan, 

who was in charge of an exploring party 

in the Rocky Mountains and who later 

achieved local distinction through the 

building of a military road from Fort 

Benton to Walla Walla. (See p. 131.)

Late iri the summer of 1853 Lieut. 

Mullan made a scouting expedition to 

Fort Benton and from that place to 

Musselshell River by way of the Judith 

Basin. He tried to induce some Indians 

to guide him through a low pass that had 

been reported west of the place where 

Helena now stands, but the Indians were 

on a hunting trip for their winter supply 

of meat and could not be induced to join 

him. Failing in this, he ascended the 

Musselshell and crossed the Big Belt 

Mountains to the site of Helena. He 

crossed the summit west of this place on 

September 24, 1853, with little difficulty, 

through what is now known as Mullan 

Pass. Twenty years later the same route 

was followed by the locating engineers of 

the Northern Pacific and the original line 

was built across the summit at this place.

1 The bed of phosphate rock just east of 

Elliston ia over 5 feet thick and carries

61.6 per cent of tricalcic phosphate. Detailed examination has shown that within 

8 miles of Elliston, on the north of the 

railway, there is available within easy 

mining depth approximately 86,000,000 

tons of rock phosphate, or an equivalent 

of 5,440 acres underlain by a bed 4 feet 

thick. The phosphate is in a definite 

layer and is interbedded with other rocks, 

as coal is. At Elliston the phosphate bed 

is nearer the railway than elsewhere in 

western Montana. Phosphate is found in 

the same formation in the hills 5 miles 

north of Garrison; near Philipsburg, a 

town at the end of the branch south of 

Drummond; at Lime Spur; and at Melrose, 30 miles south of Butte.

When rock phosphate was discovered in 

the Rocky Mountains a number of years 

ago, the United States Geological Survey 

undertook the determination of the geographic extent and quantity of available 

material. It has been found that rock 

phosphate occurs in the mountains of 

Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, 

in quantities so stupendous that when 

expressed in tons the amount is almost 

inconceivable. The estimated total in 

the areas examined in the years 1909- 

1913 is approximately 7,777,000,000 long
126 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Avon*

At Elliston the red shale of the Kootenai (Lower Cretaceous), followed by the dark shale of the Colorado, is visible on both sides of

the valley. A short distance below the town there is a

Elliston. large area of dark-red lava (rhyolite) which extends

Elevation 5,061 feet, as far as milepost 35. From this point westward for

St. Paul 1,160 miles. ... r ., ni .? , , . .

some distance the valley is much br.oader than it is 

near Elliston, and at some stage of the Tertiary period contained a 

lake. The sediment deposited in this lake can be seen on the right 

(north) along the track as far as Avon (see sheet 18, p. 134), except 

where a sharp ridge of rhyolite east of the town 

extends from the right and just crosses the railway 

Elevation 4,702 feet. track_ Beyond Avon Little Blackfoot River enters

St. Paul 1,169 miles. . J n 111- -, i ' 

a rugged canyon, at first in red rhyolite and then in 

thin-bedded red sandstone of the Belt series (Algonkian). These 

rocks continue a short distance beyond milepost 41 and are separated 

from the Cretaceous rocks to the west by a small mass of igneous 

rock (andesite) that has been intruded along the fault.

The lowest formation of the Cretaceous and the first to be seen in 

traveling westward is the Kootenai, which is visible on the left. 

This formation, characterized by bands of bright-red shale, is only a 

few hundred feet thick and is overlain by Upper Cretaceous rocks 

which extend continuously from this place to Garrison. This overlying formation is undoubtedly the same as the Colorado shale farther east, but its composition is different. In the eastern localities it 

is mostly a dark shale with only here and there a bed of thin sandstone, but along the Little Blackfoot it is composed of a succession 

of beds of sandstone and shale with sandstone predominating.

tons, or triple the quantity of anthracite 

mined in Pennsylvania in the last century. When all the known deposits in 

these four States have been examined in 

detail, the estimated available tonnage 

will considerably exceed these figures.

The most noteworthy characteristic of 

western rock phosphate is its oolitic texture. (Oolite, from the Greek, meaning 

egg stone, is applied to certain limestones 

whose texture suggests the roe of a fish.) 

The rock is composed of rounded grains 

ranging in size from the tiniest specks to 

bodies half an inch or more in diameter. 

The freshly mined rock usually has a 

dark-brown or black color, but the weathered material found along the outcrop is 

a light or dark gray with a whitish to 

bluish coating that has a tendency to 

concentrate in a netlike pattern. Bock 

phosphate is appreciably heavier than 

ordinary limestone, and some varieties

give off a fetid odor when struck with a 

hammer.

On account of the high cost of transportation the present market of the western phosphates is confined to the Pacific 

coast States. In 1914 the western phosphate field furnished 5,030 tons, valued 

at $15,488, or an average price of $3.08 a 

ton. This is about one-fifth of 1 per cent 

of the total phosphate production of the 

United States, which in 1914 amounted to 

2,734,043 long tons, valued at $9,608,041.

Phosphate rock is converted into more 

soluble phosphates for use in the manufacture of fertilizers by "treatment with 

sulphuric acid. As this acid can be made 

from smelter fumes which ordinarily go 

to waste, the proximity of phosphate deposits to the great smelting centers of the 

West is likely to prove beneficial not only 

to the miners of phosphate but also to the 

smelter men and the farmers.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 17

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic

Sheet of that name.

lll'ao' MONTANA

A Stream deposits (alluvium)

B Sand, grave!, and volcanic ash (lake beds)

[Dark shale and sandstone i Colorado shale) 

E \ Sandstone and red shale (Kootenai formation)

[impure limestone and quartzite (Ellis formation)

Quaternary 

Late Tertiarv

Upper Cretaceous 

Lower Cretaceous 

Jurassic

impure limestone (Quadrant formation) 

mestone 'Madison)

i Devonian 

Cambrian 

Algonkian

K Limestone and shale

L Shale, sandstone, and limestone i Belt series

R Lava flows, rhyohte

S Granite, intrusive

T Lava flows, andesite

 ffS (7 *\J AV- ?*l? ^-~^> v£

The distances front St. Paul. Minnesota, are'shooon every 10 miiei

The crossties on the railroads are spaced ! mite apart

 (Sheet A/0-/6)
. THE. NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 127

The Cretaceous beds dip gently in various directions, but in general 

they lie nearly flat and constitute the bottom of a great sag or syncline 15 to 20 miles wide. Although this syncline is flat and broad, 

it has been subjected to much minor folding or wrinkling, which 

locally has tilted the beds or even broken them, where the pressure 

has been more severe.

The Cretaceous rocks are much softer than the older rocks, and 

weathering has reduced them to low hills and 

rounded slopes that are a marked feature of the 

st'Tauf i,is24mne!: topography in the vicinity of Garrison. At this village the old main line is joined by the more recent

line through Butte.

LINE WEST OF GARRISON.

The famous Deer Lodge Valley, which is so conspicuous on the Butte 

line, continues west of Garrison as far as Drummond, but for some 

distance it is not apparent from the train. When viewed from some 

commanding eminence the valley is distinctly outlined, but when 

seen from the river level the immediate bluffs conceal and obscure the 

background, so that the traveler will probably fail to recognize the 

broader, more open valley in the bottom of which the stream has cut 

its present channel. The broad valley is underlain by soft Cretaceous rocks similar to those which border it on both lines above their 

junction at Garrison. As explained on page 115, the bottom of the 

valley bulged up north of the place where Garrison is now located. 

Clark Fork had already established a meandering course on the sediments, rilling the old lake basin, and when the bulge occurred the 

stream simply persisted in its old course, cutting deeply into the 

underlying harder rocks and preserving all its former sinuosities. The 

railway can not follow the swings of the stream, because they are too 

short, so it strikes straight through, tunneling wherever necessary. 

The St. Paul road lies near the Northern Pacific on the left.

- Halfway between mileposts 53 and 54 there is a sign on the left 

which calls attention to the fact that here on September 8, 1883, was 

driven the last spike that established the connection between the 

eastern and the western ends of the Northern Pacific Railway. , The 

event was celebrated in an elaborate manner, and prominent people> 

including William M. Evarts (as orator), Henry M. Teller, Secretary 

of the Interior, and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, were present. The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad, in 1869, had been celebrated by 

similar ceremonies at Promontory, west, of Ogden, Utah, and the 

gathering in Montana marked the completion of the second great 

transcontinental line. Since that time other roads have been constructed across the continent without creating any marked attention, 

bu to these two roads were the pioneers and the completion of each 

was an event of nation-wide importance.
128 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

-, The rocks north of Garrison are mostly of Cretaceous age and correspond to the Colorado shale, which is exposed in the bluff south of 

Billings. At Billings the formation consists of dark shale containing 

many marine fossils, but about Garrison it is composed largely of 

sandstone, conglomerate, and tuff, and no marine fossils have been 

found in it. The kind of material composing the formation and the 

character of the fossils indicate shore conditions and fresh or brackish 

water, instead of the salt water that prevailed farther east. North of 

Garrison the Cretaceous rocks are cut by igneous rocks that have 

been forced up through them in great masses and in narrow dikes. 

The most prominent igneous mass that can be seen from the train'is 

one that crosses the track at milepost 56. This rock has been quarried for material with which to riprap the slopes of the roadbed 

where it is washed by the stream. At milepost 57 there is a high, 

rocky wall on the left composed of sandstone in which there is the 

standing stump of a tree. It is now silicified but remains as a mute 

record of a time, long ago, when this country, now so barren of timber, was covered with trees several feet in diameter. About halfway 

between mileposts 57 and 58 is the mouth of Gold Creek, the creek 

upon which gold was first discovered in Montana. 1 The placers 

are at Pioneer, 5 miles up the creek, and it is reported that at least 

$12,000,000 has been taken from them. They are still producing in a 

small way. Cretaceous rocks form the surface here, but they are 

generally soft and give rise to low hills and gently rounded slopes.

At the station of Gold Creek the valley floor merges into the 

rolling upland that stretches far northeastward to the foot of the 

Garnet Range, which is composed of Paleozoic limestones and quartzites. At milepost 61 the valley 

widens, and 2 miles farther west the harder rocks 

disappear and the valley floor and the slopes are 

composed solely of the lake beds, which mantle all the 

older formations. The lake beds continue to milepost 68, where the 

Cretaceous rock is again visible on the north.

Gold Creek.

Elevation 4,201 feet. 

Population 730* 

St. Paul 1,187 miles.

1 It is reported that gold was first discovered in Montana in 1852 by a half-breed 

named Francois, but better known to his 

associates as Benetsee. On his return 

from the gold fields of California Benetsee 

began prospecting on what is now known 

as Gold Creek, in Powell County. He 

found some gold, but did not obtain 

enough to pay for operations. ''

The finding of gold at this locality soon 

became known among the few mountaineers in the country, and in 1856 a party on 

their way from the Bitterroot Valley, 

where they had spent the winter trading

with the Indians, visited Gold Creek and 

found more gold than Benetsee had been 

able to obtain, but not enough to induce 

them to remain.

Desultory prospecting was done in the 

years following the visit of this party, but 

without any definite result until 1862, 

when rich pay gravel was discovered. 

Soon after this the extraordinarily rich 

placers of Alder Gulch, at Virginia City

(1863), and Last Chance Gulch, at Helena

(1864), were discovered, and these so far 

overshadowed the deposit on Gold Cjeek 

that it was almost forgotten.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 129

Drummond.

Drummond lies at the intersection of two very broad, flat valleys, 

one along the main line of the Northern Pacific and 

the other leading off to the southwest along a branch Elevation3,967feet. . ° . . . . . '°. -

Population 383* line running to the mining district 01 rhilipsburg. 

st. Paul 1,200 miles. These valleys are filled with lake sediments, which 

show that a great lake existed here in Tertiary time.

In the region above Drummond the rocks form a great flat syncline, 

with the Cretaceous occupying a wide area in the middle. In this 

central region the rocks were only slightly disturbed, but near Drummond, on the margin of the basin, the rocks are thrown into great folds 

which carry the limestone and quartzite beds of the Carboniferous and 

Devonian high into the mountain tops. In fact the Garnet Range 

consists of a series of such folds, trending in a northwesterly direction, 

which become more and more complicated toward the northwest. 

Clark Fork cuts into the foothills of the range west of Drummond,

and the great folds can be seen and studied from the moving train.

From Drummond the railway follows closely the axial line of a large

syncline for a distance of about 7 miles. The youngest rocks exposed

FIGURE 28. Diagram of fold west of Drummond, Mont. Clark Fork flows near the middle of a 

great basin, and the Madison limestone is folded back upon itself in the hill on the south.

in this trough are the bright-red and maroon shale and sandstone of 

the Kootenai. The rim of the syncline is formed of the Madison limestone, which 3 miles west of Drummond forms conspicuous cliffs on 

the south and can be seen on the north in the tops of the high wooded 

hills about 2 miles distant from the track.

To a point about 3 miles below Drummond the valley is still called 

the Deer Lodge Valley, but at that point the walls close in, especially 

on the left, and thence down to Missoula it is known as Hell Gate 

Canyon. It is probable that this name originated in the vicinity of 

Missoula, but it is now applied to the whole of the canyon.

At the entrance to the canyon, near milepost 74, the Madison limestone caps the high hill on the south and makes a picturesque setting 

for the stream and valley at its foot. This cliff can best be seen from 

a point near milepost 75 late in the afternoon, when the slanting rays 

of the sun bring out every detail of the towers and pinnacles of the 

rugged cliff. The limestone appears to lie horizontal, just as it was 

laid down on the bed of the ocean, but when studied carefully it is 

found to be turned completely over, as shown in figure 28. The over95558° Bull. 611 15 9
130 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

turning of the side of the syncline was probably produced by a strong 

thrust from the southwest which not only caused the rocks to fold in 

the form of a trough, but continued and pushed the rocks composing 

the side of the fold far toward the middle of the basin.

Below the cliff of limestone the stream is very tortuous, winding 

from side to side of the synclinal basin in which it is flowing. The 

railway originally followed all the crooks and bends of the stream, 

but now it pursues nearly a straight course, cutting through the 

points and bridging the stream, or diverting its course where diversion 

could be accomplished readily. The deep cuts across the projecting 

pouits in the bends of the stream afford an excellent opportunity 

to see the dark-red shale of the Kootenai formation, which is exposed 

in the middle of the trough.

At milepost 79 the river, accompanied by the railway, turns to the 

southwest and cuts across the rim of the syncline, which is made up 

of hard, massive limestones and quartzites (Carboniferous). As 

these rocks always make rugged and picturesque canyon walls, it 

is well for the traveler who wishes to obtain a good view to be ready, 

as it takes only a minute or two to pass through the interesting part 

of the gorge. Just below milepost 79 the railway crosses the Quadrant quartzite, which makes little showing on the hill slopes. This 

is soon passed, and then the massive layers of the Madison come 

into view. As the course of the road changes more toward the northwest, the limestone beds can be seen rising in great cliffs on the left, 

but beyond another bend to the west they appear in all their ruggedness in the wall on the right. The limestone, stained red or 

rather splotched with red, rises on both sides to a height of 500 or 

600 feet; and the rock is carved into the most fantastic shapes, such 

as pillars, needles, towers, and minarets in fact almost every form 

the imagination can conceive. The combination of rugged forms 

and striking colors gives to this canyon a character of its own that 

would be hard to duplicate in any other region. The limestone on 

the southwest rests against a mass of lava (andesite), which covers 

much of the country southwest of the river and is exposed in its 

bluffs in the vicinity of the next station, Bearmouth.

Opposite Bearmouth a small stream, Bear Gulch, enters the river 

from the right. Here gold-bearing gravel was discovered in October, 

1865, by a party under the leadership of Jack KeyBearmouth. nolds. In the two years following its discovery 

Elevation 3,8:3 feet, it produced $1,000,000, and later the yield was 

increased to many times that amount. The placers 

are no longer worked, but it is said that gold-bearing 

quartz veins have been found which may some day bring new activity 

to this region.
THE NORTHEBN PACIFIC KOUTE. 131

West of Bearmouth the lava forms the walls of the canyon for a 

distance of 2 miles to the mouth of Harvey Creek, a small stream 

entering the river from the south. Opposite and a little below the 

mouth of this creek there is a syncline extending to the northwest. 

The rocks in the middle of this basin are the red shale and sandstone 

of the Kootenai, rimmed about by lower and older formations, the 

lowermost of which are the limestones and quartzites of the Carboniferous.

About Blakeley siding and for several miles west of it the rocks 

on both sides of the canyon are red shale or argillite and red sandstone 

belonging to the Spokane shale (Algonkian). This is the first appearance in the westward journey down Clark Fork of this red argillite, 

which makes most of the walls of Hell Gate Canyon from Blakeley 

siding to Missoula.

Blakeley siding is well within Hell Gate Canyon, the principal

highway by which the white man in the early days and the Indian 

before him crossed this mountainous region. The first permanent 

wagon road in this part of the country was built in this canyon in 

1859-1862, and is known from its builder as the Mullan road. Its 

construction is intimately associated with the early development of 

the country, and a more extended account is given below. 1

1 Hell Gate Canyon is one of the great 

natural thoroughfares of the continent. 

Through this canyon the Flatheads and 

other tribes of the West journeyed to the 

plains annually to hunt the buffalo, and 

through its winding trails crept the 

stealthy Blackfeet on their numerous 

forays against their more peaceful neighbors on the west.

In 1853, when the Government engineers were exploring the various passes of 

the Kocky Mountains to find the most 

feasible route for a Pacific railroad, they 

also planned for a military road which 

should connect Fort Benton, then the 

head of navigation on the Missouri and 

the most prominent post on the east side 

of the mountains, with Fort Walla Walla, 

which was of equal prominence on the 

Pacific slope. Lieut. John Mullan was 

the most ardent advocate of a military 

road, but he was ably seconded by Gov. 

Stevens, the leader of the expedition.

The location of such a road east of the 

Bitterroot Valley (Missoula) was easily 

determined, but the country west of that 

valley afforded the greatest obstacles, 

so in 1854 Mullan explored three possible

routes across the Cceur d'Alene Mountains 

in order to determine the best location. 

These were (1) Clark Fork, Lake Pend 

Oreille, and Spokane (the town of Spokane 

was not then in existence); (2) the St. 

Regis and Cceur d'Alene valleys; and (3) 

the Lolo trail.

Lewis and Clark had already passed 

over the Lolo trail and had given so 

graphic a picture of its difficulties that it 

was not very seriously considered by 

Mullan, who devoted most of his energies 

to the other two routes. The route first 

mentioned, along which the Northern 

Pacific Railway was subsequently built, 

was partly explored by Mullan in 1854, 

but unfortunately th,e attempt was made 

in May, when the snow in the mountains 

was melting rapidly, and he had great 

difficulty in crossing the streams. He 

persisted, however, on his course down 

Clark Fork until he reached Lake Pend 

Oreille (pronounced locally pon-do-ray), 

but here he found it practically impassable on account of high water, so he reluctantly gave up this route as impracticable. 

Mullan then explored the St. Regis and 

Cceur d'Alene valleys and decided that
132 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Beyond Blakeley siding the canyon walls are composed of the 

Spokane shale (Algonkian), and its dark-red color is visible at many 

places. It is well exposed in a cut by the side of the road, at milepost 87, in a projecting point known as Medicine Tree Hill.

Some Paleozoic limestone and quartzite are to be observed on the 

right (north) at intervals for the next 5 or 6 miles, and then the walls 

of the canyon are made up almost entirely of the red Spokane shale. 

The Algonkian rocks are supposed to be the oldest sedimentary rocks 

exposed in the Rocky Mountain region. Very few fossils occur in

these afforded the best route. In selecting the Coeur d'Alene route he was 

influenced by its directness and by the 

fact that the summit is not especially 

rugged nor difficult of access, but he 

failed to realize the severity of the winters 

on this exposed mountain pass. That in 

later years he regretted this choice is 

shown by the following statement: "I 

have always exceedingly regretted that 

it was my fortune to examine this route 

[Clark Fork] at so unfavorable a period, 

for I have been convinced by later data 

that it possessed an importance, both as 

regards climate and railroad facilities, 

enjoyed by no other line in the Rocky 

Mountains between latitudes 43° and 

49°." The building of the Northern 

Pacific Railway down Clark Fork seemed 

to justify his conclusion, but it must be 

remembered that at a later date this same 

company built a branch road over almost 

the exact route selected by Mullan up 

St. Regis River, and that only a few years 

ago the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 

Railway Co. built its main line along 

nearly the same route. This all goes to 

show that railway building since the days 

of Lieut. Mullan, or even since the building of the Northern Pacific main line, has 

changed, and that now directness of line 

may be the controlling condition, and the 

crossing of mountain ranges a mere 

incident.

Although explorations for a military 

road were made and a route selected in 

1854, actual construction was delayed 

several years. Mullan was on the ground 

ready to begin work in that year, under 

general orders from the War Department, 

but trouble with the Indians throughout 

eastern Oregon and Washington prevented, and he passed another year without accomplishing any work on his 

favorite project.

In March, 1859, Congress appropriated 

$100,000 for the construction of the road, 

and work was begun by Mullan at Walla 

Walla on June 28 of the same year. The 

road extended northeastward from Walla 

Walla to the Cceur d 'Alene Valley. The 

first year the road was cleared, so as to be 

passable by wagon, from Walla Walla to 

the headwaters of the St. Regis. The 

next spring Mullan began work where it 

was stopped the previous autumn and 

pushed the construction up Clark Fork to 

Missoula and then up Hell Gate Canyon 

as far as Garrison. From this point it 

followed Little Blackfoot River along the 

original line of the Northern Pacific to 

Mullan Pass, down on the east side to the 

vicinity of Helena, and thence north to 

Fort Benton. By the end of the season 

the party reached the eastern terminus,

but it is needless to say that this great 

stretch of road was little more than a trail, 

and much work was needed before it was 

really passable.

The summers of 1861 and 1862 were 

spent by Mullan in going back over the 

line building bridges, making cuts where 

the canyons were narrow, and relocating 

the road about Cceur d'Alene Lake, where 

the ground proved to be soft and marshy.

The road thus built had a length of 624 

miles through the roughest part of the 

Rocky Mountains and cost $230,000. It 

was never used to any extent for military purposes and soon fell into decay, 

except where it was kept up by the local 

authorities. About 20 years later it 

was supplanted by the Northern Pacific 

Railway.
THE NOBTHEEN PACIFIC BOUTE. 133

them, but those that have been found are fresh-water forms, indicating that the sediment forming the rocks was deposited in a lake or 

lakes.

Many of the beds of sandstone are beautifully ripple marked, showing that the water in which the sand was deposited was so shallow 

that the waves piled up the sand in ripples or ridges. They also show 

cracks, indicating that at times the water receded, allowing the 

material composing the bottom of the lake to dry and crack irregularly, as mud deposited along a stream to-day will crack when it 

dries. Another indication of shallow water, or of no water at all, 

is the preservation of the prints of raindrops, which, after the millions 

of years that have elapsed since these rocks were mud on the shore 

of some lake, indicate the direction from which the storm came that 

drove along the coast. ' This may not be of great importance, but it 

illustrates how well nature has preserved the record of events of that 

far-off tune, if only we will learn to interpret it.

The Spokane shale is well exposed in the portals of the tunnel

between mileposts 94 and 95 and can be seen to good advantage from

the observation car. From Bonita to Missoula the

Bomta- walls of the canyon are steep and high but not particuEievation 3,594 feet. lariy rugged. They are composed almost entirely of

St. Paul 1,224 miles. J °& J L J .

the Spokane shale, which supports a much heavier 

growth of pine trees than the other formations. This is particularly 

noticeable on the south side of the canyon, or on the northward facing 

walls. The difference in the vegetation on the two sides is due to the 

difference in the amount of moisture conserved. The northward 

facing slope is not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, and hence the 

moisture in the soil is not readily evaporated and trees thrive better 

than they do on the opposite side. 

Below Clinton the character of the canyon is much the same as it

is above that place. The hills range from 1,500 to 

Clinton. 2 ,000 feet in height above the stream, and the 

Elevation 3,490 feet, slopes are everywhere strewn with the'de'bris of the

St. Paul 1,231 miles. f i < ,1 o i

red snale 01 the Spokane.

Bonner (see sheet 19, p. 144), at the mouth of Blackfoot River, is

noted for its lumbering industry, being the location

Bonner. of some large sawmills. The river has been dammed

Elevation 3,321 feet, below the mouth of the Blackfoot, affording about

St. Paul 1,242 miles. , ,. , . ' . 1 ° . .

4,000 horsepower, which is converted into electricity 

and transmitted to Missoula and the towns of the Bitterroot 

Valley.

At Bonner the traveler again comes upon the route of Lewis and 

Clark, for on his return trip Lewis ascended Hell Gate Canyon as far 

as this point and then turned to the north up Blackfoot River. Six
134 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Missoula.

Elevation 3,223 feet. 

Population 12,869. 

St. Paul 1,248 miles.

miles west of Bonner, Hell Gate Canyon terminates abruptly/ and a 

short distance beyond this termination is situated the flourishing town 

of Missoula.

From the station at Missoula a good view may be obtained of the 

steep side of the valley, which rises like a mountain on the east. The 

knob north of Hell Gate Canyon is Jumbo Mountain, 

and the larger mass south of the canyon is University 

Mountain. The slopes of these mountains are free 

from trees and brush, and on looking closely it will be 

seen that they are marked by many horizontal lines 

(fig. 29) which become very prominent when they are covered by a

slight fall of snow. These 

lines have attracted general attention, and many 

theories regarding their 

origin have been suggested. Some have supposed that they are stock 

trails, but it is now generally agreed that they are 

undoubtedly beach lines 

cut by a body of water that 

occupied the broad valley 

in which Missoula is situated and also many other 

valleys in this part of the 

mountains. According to the markings on the valley walls, the water 

must have been nearly 1,000 feet deep where Missoula now stands.2

Missoula, one of the most important towns of western Montana, is 

situated on a broad plain, at the lower end of Bitterroot Valley, which 

extends southward for a distance of at least 75 miles. It is the junction of a branch line of the railway which runs up the Bitterroot Valley 

to Stevensville, Hamilton, and Darby. At Missoula is located the 

University of Montana, and a little below the town, on the opposite

FIGURE 29. Horizontal beach lines on Mount Jumbo, as seen 

from railway station at Missoula, Mont.

1 The east wall of the valley at Missoula 

is so abrupt and regular that it at once 

suggests a fault that is, the mountain has 

risen with relation to the valley or the 

valley has dropped with relation to the 

mountain. Farther south, as "Waldemar 

Lindgren has shown, .the Bitterroot Valley is bounded on the west by a great 

fault along which the rocks of the mountain have been raised or those on the east 

depressed, forming the long, straight 

Bitterroot Valley. The effect of the 

movement on these two fault planes, if

they are continuous along both sides of 

the valley, is the depression of the block 

of strata between them forming the floor 

of the Bitterroot Valley, as illustrated in 

figure 23 (p. 112). As the hard rocks 

under the valley are poorly or not at all 

exposed, the evidence of the fault at 

Missoula is to be found only in the topography.

2 The horizontal beach lines that are so 

well shown along the railway at Missoula, 

in the Jocko Valley, and at Plains, below 

Trout Creek, in the valley of Clark Fork,
BULLETIN 6H SHEET No. 18

MAP OF WESTERN MONTANA. SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF KNOWN TERTIARY LAKE BEDS

THESE INDICATE THE FORMER PRESENCE OF MANY SMALL LAKES OR A FEW LARGE LAKES WITH NUMEROUS

BRANCHES EXTENDING INTO THE MOUNTAIN VALLEYS

Scale 500,000

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch 

f .... 'P ... .

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from Si Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

Thickness

in feet 

A Stream deposits 'alluvium) Quaternary

B Clay, volcanic ash, and sand (lake beds) 3,000 Middle Tertiary 

C Shale and sandstone (Colorado formation) 1,500 Upper Cretaceous 

d sandstone (Kootenai formation) 1,500 Lower Cretaceous 

limestone and quartzite (Ellis

H < formation) 8001- Carboniferous

[Massive blue limestone (Madison) l.OOOj

K Limestone and shale 2,700 [Cambrian 

L Red sandstone and shale (Spokane

formation of the Belt series) 3,000 Algonkian

Q Lava flows, basalt

R Lava flows, rhyolite

S Granite, intrusive

T Lava flows, andesite and dacite

V Diorite, intrusive
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC EOTJTE. 135

side of the river, is Fort Missoula, one of the principal military posts 

in the mountain region.

and also off the railway in the Bitterroot 

Valley and across the divide north of 

Ravalli were undoubtedly formed by a 

continuous body of water that at soine 

recent geologic date occupied these valleys. On account of the excellent development of the beaches of this lake at Missoula, it has been named Lake Missoula. 

(See map on sheet 19, p. 144.)

Lake Missoula must have occupied the 

valley at a very recent date, for the faint 

shore lines would have been entirely 

obliterated if the lake had been here long 

ago, and little or nothing would have 

remained to tell of its existence. However, although it was geologically recent, 

it existed many, many years ago, probably 

long before the Indians began to roam over 

these hills and mountains.

Lakes are transient features and are due 

to some interference with the normal 

development of the drainage system of the 

region. What then occurred in this 

region to change the drainage and to cause 

the ponding of the streams at Missoula to a 

depth of 1,000 feet? The altitude of the 

highest beach line that has been observed 

is about 4,200 feet at Stevensville, in the 

Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula, and 

as the altitude of Missoula is about 3,200 

feet, the depth of the water must have 

been about 1,000 feet.

When the beaches are traced northward and westward, they are found to 

terminate just in front of the southernmost extent of the great glacier that came 

down from the north. As the beaches 

thus show a definite relation to the ice 

front and as they seem to correspond in 

time with the glacial epoch, it seems altogether probable, if not certain, that Lake 

Missoula was due to the damming of Clark 

Fork by the ice. The great glaciers that 

swept down from Canada at this time are 

known to have occupied all the mountain 

valleys to the north, filling them to depths 

which range from a few hundred to perhaps thousands of feet. One lobe of this 

mass of ice came down the Flathead Valley as far as the Northern Pacific Railway 

at Dixon, and another down the broad

valley from Bonners Ferry, on the Kootenai, by Sandpoint to the vicinity of 

Spokane. The intermediate valleys in 

the Cabinet Range have not been examined in sufficient detail to say whether or 

not they were also filled with ice, but it 

seems probable that at least some of them 

afforded avenues for the southward flow 

of small tongues of ice nearly or quite to 

Clark Fork.

All the evidence points to the conclusion that the main valley of Clark Fork in 

the vicinity of Pend Oreille Lake was 

effectively blockaded by the ice, and that 

the low valleys to the north were shut off 

as avenues of escape for the waters of the 

upper valleys. Such a dam would necessarily be inconstant, allowing the depth 

of water to fluctuate considerably, and 

consequently many shore lines would be 

cut on the rocks; but none of them would 

be strongly marked, as the water was not 

held long enough at any one level to permit deep cutting. The shifting of the 

positions of the several ice lobes would 

also tend to produce a difference in level of 

the outlet and a corresponding change in 

level of the surface of the water. As the 

glacial epoch waned the ice probably 

grew thinner and thinner and the lake 

shrank in a corresponding manner, until 

at last the present outlet was opened and 

the water disappeared.

Although the general history of Lake 

Missoula is about as sketched, a number of 

facts now known indicate that many modifications may be necessary when the final 

history of the lake is written. The "most 

difficult to harmonize with the theory 

given above is the difference in the height 

of the beach lines in the several valleys. 

Thus at Stevensville, in, the Bitterroot 

Valley, they extend up the valley wall to 

an altitude of 4,200 feet; north of Dixon 

beach lines are well developed up to 3,950 

feet; at Plains they can be traced up to an 

altitude of 3,100 feet, but above that level 

the hills break away and it seems certain 

that the uppermost terraces are not represented ; near Trout Creek they apparently 

cease at 3,500 feet; and on St. Regis River
136 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The first permanent settlement in this region was made in 1841, 

when Father De Smet founded the Mission of St. Mary at the point 

where Stevensville is now located. He established the mission for the 

Salish or Flathead Indians, who then occupied the valley but who later 

were transferred farther north to a reservation which is crossed by the 

Northern Pacific in the vicinity of the towns of Ravalli and Dixon. 

Father De Smet was joined in 1843 by Father Anthony Ravalli, who 

labored faithfully with the Indians throughout a long and busy life. 

These two priests had great influence on the early settlement of this 

region, and their services have been commemorated by the naming of 

towns in their honor.

It was to the entrance of the canyon above Missoula that the name 

Hell Gate was first applied. The Blackfeet Indians, residing on the 

plains east of the mountains, were noted fighters; and many were the 

forays they made through this canyon on the more peaceful Flatheads 

on the west. The French traders and trappers, on account of the 

devastation wrought by the marauding parties that emerged from the 

mouth of the canyon, called it Porte d'Enfer, which may be translated 

Hell Gate.

The isolation of Missoula in the early days and its distance from the 

outside world are well illustrated by the slowness of returns from some 

of the elections; thus it is reported that the settlers in the Bitterroot 

Valley who voted in the presidential election of November, 1856, did 

not know the result until April, 1857, when an Oregon paper describing 

how Buchanan had been elected was brought into the valley. 1

no beach, lines have been found, but extensive terraces that probably record the 

height of the water and should be correlated with, the uppermost beach lines in 

other valleys are well developed at 

Haugan and Saltese, at an altitude of 

3,450 feet. It ia true that some of these 

altitudes have not been accurately determined, but there seems to be a gradual 

decrease in the altitude of the terraces 

toward the northwest that indicates a 

depression of the earth's crust in that 

direction since the beaches were formed, 

or a rise in the surface toward the southeast. Such a movement is also indicated 

by the recent canyon cut by Clark Fork 

between Missoula and the mouth kof St. 

Regis River.

Glacial Lake Missoula had so transient 

an existence that very little of the sediment deposited in its waters can now be

identified, and it ia possible that some of 

the sand and clay noted as Tertiary lake 

beds were laid down in Lake Missoula.

1 Oregon, which was organized as a 

Territory by act of Congress in August, 

1848, included what is now the county of 

Missoula, Mont. By. an act of Congress 

approved March 2, 1853, the Territory of 

Oregon was divided, and the country including Missoxila County became a part 

of the Territory of Washington. In December, 1860, Spokane County, which 

had included this region, was divided, 

and Missoula County was organized, with 

the county seat at the store of Worden & 

Co. Missoula County remained in Washington Territory until Idaho was organized, on March 3, 1863, when it became 

a part of Idaho Territory. On the organization of Montana, in 1864, Missoula 

County became a part of that Territory.
THE ISTORTPi:ER]ST PACIFIC ROUTE. 137

As the train leaves Missoula, the traveler can obtain on the left 

(south) a good view of Lolo Peak, a high summit of the Bitterroot 

Range, which lies south of the Lolo trail that played so important a 

part in the early exploration of this country. He can not, however, 

see much of the Bitterroot Valley, for the view is obscured by some 

low hills on the south side of the river.

The railway runs through a broad valley, with low, rolling hills on 

the right composed of Tertiary lake beds in which, near milepost 121, 

low-grade coat is being mined in a small way. The fault beach lines 

of glacial Lake Missoula, which are so prominent on the side .of 

Mount Jumbo, can be followed with the eye along the north side of 

the valley for several miles.

At De Smet, 7 miles west of Missoula, the road branches, one line

turning to the left (west) and following Clark Fork to Paradise, with

a branch across the mountains to the Coeur d'Alene

DeSmet. mining district, and the other, the old main line, 

Elevation 3,237 feet, turning sharply to the right and reaching Jocko

St. Paul 1,255 miles. & V ,1 n ^ £i mu- Valley through the Coriacan Defile. This narrow 

pass is reported to have been an Indian highway and it takes its 

name from Chief Coriacan, of the Flatheads, who was surprised and 

killed here by the savage Blackfeet.

The railway winds around the hills, through cuts in the Tertiary 

lake beds, and passes over the Marent viaduct, which has a height

of 226 feet. It continues up through a narrow gulch 

Evaro- in the Belt series until finally it reaches a broad flat 

Elevation 3,971 feet. a^ Evaro, near the summit of the ridge. This place

St. Paul 1,265 miles. 1^.1-. j £ ^ .1 1T v

was formerly on the boundary ol the Flathead Indian 

Reservation. A -few years ago each Indian was allotted a certain 

amount of land, and the remainder of the reservation was ^thrown 

open to settlement. On this summit and in the descent on the 

farther side the road runs through the pine forest that formerly 

covered much of the country, but it soon emerges into the broad, 

flat Jocko Valley, in which there are some fairly good 'farms. At 

milepost 16 an excellent distant view can be obtained of the terminal 

moraine which once marked the extremity of a small glacier that 

descended from the canyon hi the range to the right. The plan of 

the moraine can not be seen from the train, but close inspection 

would show that the ridge of rocky fragments comes down from the 

canyon wall on one side and loops around and unites with the wall 

on the opposite side of the creek. As can be seen from the train, 

the moraine is built up to a height of about 100 feet. The mountains 

on the right (east), though not so high as the Mission Range, which 

can be seen farther on, are steep and rugged, towering above the 

valley to the height of several thousand feet.
138 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEBN UNITED STATES.

Arlee is one of the towns that have begun to grow since the reservation was thrown open to white settlers. It lies in 

Arlee' a broad valley containing rich agricultural land and 

Elevation 3,094 feet, ^i doubtless in time become an important farmSt. Paul 1,276miles. . . . .... ,T n i

ing center. A familiar scene in this valley is shown 

in Plate XIX, A (p. 119).

Just below Arlee faint beach lines can be seen on the right (east) 

near the base of the hill, and a short distance farther on a terrace of 

fine light-colored sediment is prominent on the same side of the road. 

This terrace can be followed with the eye as far as the canyon by 

which the river escapes from the valley. It is composed of brownish 

clay and sand and is supposed by some to be the sediment deposited 

at the bottom of Lake Missoula, or it may have been deposited by the 

present stream when it was ponded by a greater volume of water 

flowing down Flathead River from the melting glaciers to the north.

The broad valley in which the railway is situated is surrounded on 

all sides by rocky walls, through one of which the stream draining the 

valley has cut a deep gorge. Such a basin is seldom, if ever, produced 

in the normal development of a stream, but is common in the mountainous part of Montana. It is supposed to have been formed by 

the depression of the bottom of the basin, thus leaving the walls 

standing high above the valley floor.1

The rocks exposed in the walls of the canyon belong to the Belt 

series and consist largely of quartzite and argiUite. In many protected places in the canyon the white sand and clay deposited by the 

flooded Flathead River can be seen, showing that this body of water 

filled not only the valleys where they are wide, but also the narrow 

canyons connecting them.

At Ravalli the valley is narrow, but the hills are smooth and comparatively low. A stage line runs from this place north 30 miles to 

Poison, at the lower end of Flathead Lake, where 

connection is made with boats for Kalispell and other 

towns on the Great Northern Railway. Ravalli is the 

distributing point for a large part of the Flathead 

Much of the best land for agriculture lies across the

Ravalli.

Elevation 2,714 feet. 

St. Paul 1.286 miles.

Reservation.

1 It is possible to account for the formation of the basin in this manner, but how 

did the stream cut the canyon at the outlet? There are three possible answers to 

this question. (1) The movement of deformation was so slow that the stream cut 

the rock faster than it was uplifted. 

(2) The basin was formed so rapidly that 

the water was ponded, forming a lake. 

This lake rose until the water flowed over 

the rim, and the stream thus formed cut 

the present gorge, permitting the water to 

escape. (3) The valley was filled with

sediment, and the stream draining it simply cut down through the soft material 

and trenched the barrier of hard rock 

below. During this period the stream 

removed the great bulk of sediment with 

which the basin had been filled. Which 

of these explanations fits the case in hand 

can not be told without a detailed study 

of the region, but each process should 

have left certain marks, if it has occurred, 

and it is through the study of these characteristic marks that the question can be 

answered. 
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 139

ridge north of the station and extends from St. Ignatius to Flathead 

Lake. A large part of this area is to be irrigated by the United States 

Reclamation Service.1

St. Ignatius, 4 or 5 miles northeast of Ravalli, is one of the Catholic 

missions early established in this region.2 It was originally located farther down Clark Fork, but in 1854 was removed by Father Hoecken to 

its present position, on a fertile plain at the foot of the Mission Range, 

which affords an abundant supply of good water for household use 

and for irrigation.

Half a mile north of Ravalli is the southeast corner of the Montana 

National Bison Range, which is surrounded by a specially woven 

wire fence that can be seen for several miles north of the track. The 

range, which is under the management of the Biological Survey of the 

United States Department of Agriculture, includes both prairie and 

mountains and is over 30 square miles in extent. The buffalo herd 

now numbers 75, besides which there are a few antelope, deer, and 

other large game animals.

Just beyond Ravalli, at milepost 31, the traveler can obtain a 

charming view of the rugged tops of the Mission Range on the right 

(northeast). This view includes the highest peaks of the range and 

is the most nearly alpine scenery to be found along the Northern 

Pacific Railway in the Rocky Mountains.

1 Nestling between the towering peaks 

of two ranges of the Rocky Mountains, the 

Flathead Indian Reservation occupies 

one of the world's most beautiful valleys. 

A few years ago the allotment of land to 

the Indians was completed, and the remaining agricultural lands were opened to 

white settlement and nearly all filed on.

The Reclamation Service is building an 

irrigation system to cover about 150,000 

acres of land in this region. The average 

elevation is 3,000 feet above sea level, and 

the temperature ranges from 30° below 

zero to 100° above zero. The soil is clay, 

gravelly loam, and forest loam, and fair 

crops of hay, grain, and fruits are frequently produced on it without irrigation, 

the average annual rainfall being about 16 

inches. With irrigation, alfalfa, all kinds 

of grain, vegetables, and fruits in great 

variety suited to this elevation and latitude are produced in abundance.

The Indians are allowed to sell a portion 

of their allotments, and farms may also be 

purchased from white settlers at fair 

prices. The lands bordering Flathead 

Lake, which has more than 50 miles of

shore line within the reservation, are 

being subdivided by the Government 

into summer-resort tracts of 2 $ to 5 acres 

and will be sold at some future date.

This valley undoubtedly has a great 

future as a residential section. It is 

located near the south end of Glacier 

National Park, between two great transcontinental railway lines. In summer 

the valley is gay with flowers. The 

mountain slopes are covered with fir, 

larch, and pine trees; the glaciers on 

their summits sparkle in the sunshine, 

and at their bases lakes of emerald and 

sapphire delight the eye and provide the 

angler with his favorite sport.

2 The first Catholic mission in this 

region was established in 1841 at St. 

Marys, in .Bitterroot Valley. The next 

was the Creur d'Alene mission, founded 

in 1842 in the Coeur d'Alene Valley, some 

100 miles to the west. St. Mary's mission 

suffered severely from the raids of the 

Blackfeet Indiana, and in 1850 the 

property was sold and the mission abandoned. The next mission to be established was that at St. Ignatius.
140 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The terraces of soft material, resting against slopes composed of the

Belt series, show almost continuously along the valley of Jocko River,

first on one side and then on the other, growing

Dlxon' stronger downstream. .They reach their best develEievation2,531 feet. Opment at Dixon, where the Jocko joins Flathead

St. Paul 1,293 miles. *. ' J

River, which comes down irom the north. 1ms 

river drains Flathead Lake, which lies 26 miles to the north and is 

one of the largest bodies of fresh water lying wholly within the 

United States. The river is navigable for small steamers from 

Dixon up to a point within a short distance of the lake, where 

rapids stop further progress.

At Dixon the material deposited in Lake Missoula is fine white 

sand and clay, being the "rock flour," or fine rock powder, which 

a glacier grinds from its rocky bed and which is carried off by the 

streams, giving them a milky appearance. It was brought down by 

Flathead River from the immense glacier that long ago occupied the 

entire valley of Flathead Lake and the country farther north, where 

the town of Kalispell now stands. This material was deposited in 

the waters of the lake in thin layers (laminBe) that give to the cut 

edges of the material a banded appearance. It is probable that the 

glacier occupying Flathead Valley reached at its greatest extension 

nearly or quite to the place now occupied by the town of Dixon, but 

there is no evidence that it passed farther down the valley.

At milepost 40 a more extended view than that 'obtained farther 

up the valley can be had of the Mission Range, including its highest 

summit, McDonald Peak, and a small glacier lying in a deep amphitheater on the north face of the peak, where the ice is sheltered from 

the rays of the midday sun. This is the only glacier in the Rocky 

Mountains that can be seen from the Northern Pacific trains. (See 

PI. XIX, B, p. 119.) This noble range marks the eastern boundary 

of the Flathead Reservation and is the western limit of a broad wilderness of mountain ranges that extend to the margin of the Great 

Plains and include farther north the rugged mountains of the Glacier 

National Park. The Mission Range was named from the Roman 

Catholic mission established at St. Ignatius, near its base, in the 

early fifties. The range can be seen by the traveler from a point a 

little west of Dixon to McDonald, and if the weather is clear the 

view can be relied on to hold the attention, especially from early in 

October until late in June, when the rugged outlines of the range are 

veiled under a shining cover of snow. The nearest peaks are about 

24 miles away and rise to heights of a little more than 10,000 feet 

above sea level, or about 7,500 feet above the railway.

This chain of mountains lies on the east border of the broad grassy 

plains of the Flathead Valley and extends in a remarkably straight 

line due north and south for nearly 60 miles. The straightness of 

the mountain front and the sheer abruptness of its rise to heights of
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. ' 141

7,000 feet above the low, flat plains at its base make a topographic 

contrast that is rarely equaled in any other part of the Rockies. 

This remarkably abrupt front is due to the mountain range being a 

single huge block of the earth's crust raised and tilted to the east and 

broken away from the block underlying the lowlands of the Flathead 

Valley, the unusually straight front of the mountains corresponding 

closely with the plane along which this break took place.

The hills on both sides of the railway are made up of rocks of the Belt 

series, which show little variety in the different beds of which it is composed or in the positions in which they lie. The valley walls are generally dark, and they are fringed on one side or the other by remnants 

of the lake terrace, which can always be identified by their light color.

In the lower part of the valley, between Dixon and Paradise, the 

railway follows the banks of the river for several miles, and the 

traveler can obtain many attractive views of the broad river and its

wooded islands, set off by the dark background of the rugged hills.

Near Perma the river turns to the left and cuts a narrow canyon 

through the ridge which, above this place bounds the valley on the 

left. In this part of its course the Belt series is cut by many dikes 

and sheets of igneous rock (diorite), showing that at one time there 

was considerable disturbance in the region. The most prominent of 

these igneous sheets shows in a bold hill on the north side of the river, 

nearly opposite milepost 50. The igneous material was intruded between the layers of the sedimentary rocks, which subsequently have 

been turned on edge, and the diorite now forms a conspicuous outcrop for a number of miles to the north.

At Perma .another sill of the same sort as that described above

crosses the river almost at the station, making a loop through the

cliffs immediately to the left and then crossing the

erma' river about 1£ miles farther west. This loop is

st^Paunac^mUes' causec^ by the folding of the sheet of igneous rock,

together with the inclosing sedimentary beds, into a

great anticline, but the bedding is so obscure that the fold can not

be traced from the train.

Twenty miles to the north is Camas Hot Springs, a small settlement where bath houses and hotels are maintained for the use of 

summer visitors who wish to bathe in the warm mineral water.

Below Perma the canyon is deep and narrow, and its walls are very 

precipitous. Just beyond milepost 55 the railway crosses to the 

north side of Flathead River, at a point where several diorite sills 

are conspicuously exposed. From this point to Paradise the valley 

has high, rocky walls that rise 1,500 to 2,500 feet above the valley 

floor. The rocks are dark brownish red, but the large masses of 

broken rock below the cliffs are a much brighter red and give to the 

valley the appearance of being decorated with great red banners 

that are caught up at the base of the cliffs and stream down to the
142 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

valley bottom in long, graceful curves. The walls are rugged and 

picturesque, but there is little or no variety, and one soon tires of 

watching the selfsame combination of river, talus slopes, and cliffs. 

The river, however, is really worth attention and presents many 

charming views of the clear water, almost turquoise-blue, sweeping 

around willow-covered islands and between the stately pines that 

dot the river's bank. (See PI. XX.) The terrace of soft material 

doubtless once continued throughout the canyon, for here and there 

can be seen remnants of the white clay that vary the monotonous 

red of the valley walls.

At milepost 62 Flathead River unites with Clark Fork, sometimes

called Hell Gate or Missoula River. The low-grade line of the railway,

which leaves the main line at De Smet, follows the

ara ise. winding course of Clark Fork and at Paradise, a short

st^paunsi^miiM distance below this milepost, connects with the main

line. Paradise is a district terminal and so becomes

the stopping place of many of the freight crews. The traveler, like

others who have gone over this road before him, may wonder

for what reason the name Paradise was given to this narrow, rugged

valley. The writer has no suggestions to offer, except that even

this valley may have looked like a paradise to some unfortunate

individual who had been obliged to cross the adjacent mountain

country, or who had perchance been lost in the intricate mazes of

its deeply cut ravines.

At Paradise -the change is made from Mountain to Pacific time, 

one hour earlier.

The valley of Clark Fork between Paradise and Plains has about 

the same character as that of Flathead River above Paradise. The 

rocks are similar, belonging to one of the oldest sedimentary formations known in this country (Prichard). The low terrace which 

is so conspicuous at Dixon and which is there composed largely of 

fine material scoured from the bedrock by the glacier that came 

down Flathead Valley still persists below Paradise, or, rather, remnants of it can be seen here and there on both sides of the valley; 

but the material is pink, partaking more of the color of the local 

rocks and in places containing gravel beds of considerable thickness.

To the traveler interested in the geologic history of this region 

some of the most instructive features of the topography are small 

deltas or terraces in the side gulches at a height of fully 400 feet 

above the level of the track. A typical example can be seen on 

the right (north) just beyond milepost 1. Evidently these deltas 

mark the mouths of small streams that at one time flowed into a 

lake whose surface was at the level of the terrace. The lake must 

have been very transient to have left no other evidence of its existence, and probably it was merely a low stage of the body of water 

called glacial Lake Missoula.
U. 3. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

VIEW DOWN FLATHEAD RIVER FROM KNOWLES, 

Remnants of terraces on both sides of the stream afford a pleasing contrast to the more rugged slopes above. Clark Fork 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

CABINET GORGE, IDAHO.

Clark Fork here passes through a chasm which it has cut in red shale and sandstone (Striped Peak formation). Th

dip gently to the right. Photograph copyrighted by Haynes, St. P
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 143

Plains, formerly known as Horse Plains because it is situated in 

the rnidst of a broad prairie that was used as a pasture ground for 

Plains horses belonging to the trading posts of the Hudson's 

TM 4.- oxoo, 4. Bay Co., is a sort of oasis in the desert of rocky Elevation 2,482 feet. J ' J

Population 481. canyons along Clark Fork. Here the valley opens 

st. Paul i,325 miles. and terraces are well developed, especially one about 

170 feet above river level. East of the station the terrace shows on 

the north, but west of the town a large remnant of the terrace, 

equally well developed, can be seen across the river on the south.

Faint beach lines also appear on the high, smooth hill slope back 

of Plains, but it is probable that the lines visible from the railway 

are not the highest in this region, the others being obscured by the 

timber and brush growing on the higher hills.

One of the most striking features of the valley of Clark Fork is 

the fairly regular succession of narrow canyons and broad valleys,

without any apparent reason so far as the action of the stream is 

concerned. These changes are not due to differences in the hardness of the rocks, for as a rule all the formations of the Belt series 

have about the same degree of resistance to erosion; but they are 

due to great breaks or faults in the rocks. These faults have broken 

the crust of the earth into huge blocks, some of which have been 

raised, some lowered, and some tilted over so that one edge is very 

much lower than the other. These dropped or tilted blocks form 

the broad valleys, and the raised blocks or the upper edges of the 

tilted blocks have proved to be serious obstructions in the pathway 

of the river, which has succeeded in cutting only narrow canyons 

through them. This explains the broad valley at Plains and the 

narrow canyons which lie directly above and below that place.

The breaking into blocks and then the tilting of these blocks 

into various attitudes seem to have been the movements that gave 

to this region its distinguishing structural features. 1 In some of

1 East of the Mission Range the rocks 

are thrown into great folds or tilted along 

faults having a general northwesterly 

trend, but West of that range the structure is less regular and the folds and faults

directions. As a rule, the rocks are not 

very severely folded, and most of the 

faults are of the type called normal faults, 

due to tension or stretching of the earth's 

crust, but some of them are distinctly of

FIGUEE 30. Normal faults (A} and overthrust fault (B). Arrows indicate direction of movement.

do not have a common direction, as they 

do farther east. In the area about Plains 

the structure is broadly simple and yet is 

rendered complex in detail by minor 

faults and folds that trend in different

the overthrust type, due to horizontal 

stresses of compression. The two kinds 

of faults are illustrated in figure 30.

In a normal fault the rocks slip in such 

a way that they occupy a greater hori-
144 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED- STATES.

these blocks, as, for example, the one which lies between Plains 

and Thompson Falls (see sheet 20, p. 152), the rocks are slightly 

bent into broad, open folds. .The structure in'this block is represented by figure 31.

The rocks in sight east of Plains belong to the Prichard formation, 

which dips to the west and passes below water level, and at Plains 

the thin-bedded gray quartzite and argillite of the overlying (Ravalli) formation come into view. This formation continues with 

fairly regular dip to a point about one-half mile beyond Weeksville. 

At this place the Newland limestone, overlying the Ravalli, appears, 

dipping in the same direction and at about the same angle as the

FIGURE 31 Great folds in the rocks between Plains and Thompson Falls, Mont.

Ravalli. Within a short distance the dip flattens, and at milepost 

15 is reached the point toward which the beds dip from both directions; that is, the axis of the syncline. The beds here are nearly 

horizontal, but toward the west they begin to rise, and near milepost 18 the Newland limestone disappears from track level, though 

still present in the tops of the hills, and the Ravalli 

Eddy* formation beneath it again comes into view. From

Elevation 2,437 feet. fofe place past Eddy an(J Frost t ^ moutti of 

St. Paul 1,340 miles. m, x * Inompson Kiver, near milepost 26, the cliffs are 

made up of Ravalli rocks thrown into folds or wrinkles too small to 

be shown in the diagram (fig. 31). The walls in this part of the canyon are probably more rugged and more nearly vertical than those 

of any other part of its course.

'Beyond Thompson River the dip of the rocks brings the outcrop 

of the Newland limestone down from the tops of the hills (see fig. 31),

zontal space after the movement than 

they did before the faulting occurred, as 

shown by the diagram. An overthrust 

fault is generally produced by the breaking of a fold. The fold and fault are due 

to compression in the earth's crust, and 

the result of the movement is that the 

older rocks are shoved upward and forward over the younger rocks, thus giving 

them an inverted relationship. Another 

result is that the faulted mass occupies 

less space than it did before the movement began.

In the region west of Missoula there 

have probably been two principal movements (1) a movement of compression, 

which threw the rocks into broad folds, 

the compression in some places, as in 

the Glacier National Park, being so 

intense as to produce a great overthrust fault; and (2) a movement of tension or stretching, by which the somewhat folded mass of rock was broken by 

a great many normal faults, a few of 

which are shown on the accompanying 

maps.
GLACIAL LAKE MISSOULA, HEMMED IN BY A BARRIER OF ICE 

ON THE NORTH

BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 19

/-..:."-, ':. iiVao' 11**° MONTANA

t r-J ^ ; fe Camas /[

\/TC^ v^ . .

)1 Nx\') A

\ w /? /

2 4v\

~ "f %

i*7'

0'

Tertoo

Toole 

StRegisJct.

A Stream deposits (alluvium), 

glacial di*ift, and sediment 

deposited in glacial Lake 

Missoula

B Glacial moraine

(,' Clay, volcanic ash, and sand

flake beds) 3,000 Tertiarv

I) Red sandstone and shale

(SpoJtane formation) 3,800 

F Impure limestone (Newland) 4,800 

G Quartette and shale

(Ravalli quartzite) 2,500 

H Rluish-miartzite and shale

Diamond PointX \

(.Prichard formation) 8,000

1 In places formations D, F, 

G, and H, have not been 

separated and the entire 

mass is called simply 

Belt series -i Scale 500,000 

,1 Diorite, intrusive Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch

1...9

Contour interval 200 feet
THE NOBTHEEN- PACIFIC ROUTE. 145

but at this place it extends for only a mile or so and is cut off by a 

fault that trends about N. 20° W. and crosses the railway near milepost 29. As shown on the map, this fault separates the Newland 

limestone on the east from the Ravalli quartzite on the west.

On approaching Thompson Falls the traveler can see on his right 

a hill, and, if his eyesight is particularly good, he may be able to 

detect on its summit a steel tower erected by the United States 

Forest Service. On this tower during the summer is stationed an 

observer, who with powerful glasses watches for forest fires. As he 

can see on all sides for a distance of 50 miles, if the weather is clear, 

he is generally able to detect a fire soon after it starts and to notify 

the nearest ranger by telephone. Forest fires, especially such as 

swept through these mountains in 1910, not only burn a great 

amount of valuable timber but may also destroy towns along thenpathway, with considerable loss of life. Under the present system 

of observers on high stations and an efficient organization for fighting fire, the destruction of timber has been greatly reduced and the 

loss of life nearly eliminated.

The town of Thompson Falls took its name from the falls of the 

same name, which were discovered in 1809 by David Thompson, the 

explorer and astronomer of the Northwest Fur Co. 

The water here falls 50 or 60 feet over resistant ledges 

of the Ravalli formation. It is estimated that with 

proper installation 40,000 horsepower could be generated at this fall. A dam is now being constructed, 

and electric power is to be furnished to the mountain division of the 

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, 35 miles to the south. It is 

reported that any surplus power may be utilized in a similar manner 

by the Northern Pacific Railway.

West of Thompson Falls the bluffs on the right recede so far from 

the river that the rocks composing them are unrecognizable from the 

tram, but the Ravalli formation 1 shows at railway level dipping

Thompson Falls.

Elevation 2,458 feet. 

Population 325. 

St. Paul 1,351 miles.

1 The northern Rocky Mountains are 

made up largely and in some places 

wholly of the formations constituting the 

Belt series. These formations consist of 

sandstone, shale, and limestone, but the 

limestone is generally a small part of the 

entire mass. The sandstone is in many 

places changed to quartzite and the shale 

to argillite (a hard, slaty shale). These 

rocks were first studied in detail by 0. D. 

Walcott in the Belt Mountains, east of 

Helena, Mont., and hence are known as 

the Belt series.

95558° Bull, 611 15 10

Very few fossils occur in the series, and 

those that have been found bear very 

little resemblance to the Cambrian faunas 

with which they should be most closely 

related. The only traces of animal life so 

far discovered in the sandstones and argil - 

litea are a few fragments of a small crustacean and the trails of worms. The limestones are crowded with peculiar corallike forms, which Walcott has recently 

determined to be fossil algfe similar to 

the algae now growing in. some of the lakes 

of New York. Walcott concludes from
146 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

toward the west, and across the river the Newland limestone is present 

in the tops of the hills. This formation appears to be flat, but that 

is because the traveler is looking at the edge of beds that dip directly 

away from him. This relation of limestone and quartzite to the river 

and railway holds in a general way from Thompson Falls to Noxon. 

At Kildee, near milepost 37, the railway crosses the river, and from 

this point to Trout Creek there are two lines; the "high line" keeps 

up on the bench away from the river and the "low line" runs near 

the stream. The latter affords many interesting views of the river, 

which flows in a gorge cut a hundred feet or so in the floor of the old 

broad valley.

a study of the fossils mentioned that the 

large region in Montana, Idaho, and Alberta, Canada, underlain by the Belt 

series was during their deposition a continental area on which the sediments 

were deposited by rivers or in shallow 

lakes. The appearance of the rocks confirms this view, for all of them, even including many of the thick beds of limestone, are ripple marked, showing that 

they were deposited in shallow water. 

In places the argillite contains mud 

cracks and prints of raindrops, which 

could have been made only when the soft 

material was above water level and exposed to the drying effect of the atmosphere or the beating of the storm. By 

piecing together measurements made in 

several places, it is estimated that the 

Belt series, so far as it has been seen, is 

from 25,000 to 30,000 feet thick; but the

base has not yet been found, and its real 

thickness may not be very much greater.

In this great mass of material certain 

parts, on account of their composition 

and association with other beds, can 

readily be separated and identified in 

the areas in which they have been studied; but other parts have no characteristics by which they can readily be distinguished, and consequently different 

workers have classified them in different 

ways.

The two units most easily identified 

are the Newland limestone, which Walcott first recognized in the Belt Mountains, and the Helena limestone, which 

he named from its occurrence at the capital of the State. The general section 

along the Northern Pacific Kailway, according to F. C. Calkins and J. T. Pardee, 

is as follows:

Formations composing the Belt series along 

the Northern Pacific Railway.

Thickness 

in feet.

Helena: Limestone, dark blue or 

gray, weathering buff......... 2,400

Empire: Shale, greenish gray, or 

quartzite..................... 600

Spokane: Shale or argillite, with 

some sandstone, all deep red... 1,500

Greyson (Striped Peak): Shale, 

dark gray or green, with some 

white quartzite................ 3,000

Newland: Limestone, blue, thin 

bedded, but with some heavybedded buff layers............ 2,200

Ravalli: Quartzite, with some 

dark bluish or greenish shale.. 2,000

Prichard: Shale, dark bluish, interbedded with sandstone; base

not exposed................... 8,000

19, 700

The rocks of the belt series occur along 

the Northern Pacific Railway from the 

Bridger Mountains on the east to Sandpoint on the west. In the eastern part of 

this area they form the core of most of the 

mountain ranges, but west of Bonita they 

are the only hard rocks to be seen, with 

the exception of a few intrusive masses, 

to Pend Oreille Lake. They form the 

mountains of Glacier National Park and 

extend along the Rocky Mountains from 

the southern boundary of Montana, south 

of Butte, far into Canada, covering a territory about 500 miles long by 200 miles 

wide at the widest place.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 147

This part of the valley of Clark Fork was not seen by Lewis and 

Clark, but it was discovered soon afterward by the agents of the 

various fur companies, then exceedingly active in exploring new territory, and later it was examined in detail by the Government engineers.1

1 Soon after the return of Lewis and 

Clark the adventurous agents and explorers of the fur companies were engaged 

in examining every valley in the Northwest for fur-bearing animals and selecting 

sites for trading posts on almost every 

navigable stream and lake. Most of 

these advance guards of white civilization kept no record of their wanderings, 

but two of them, Alexander Henry and 

David Thompson, connected with the 

Northwest Fur Co., left excellent notes of

their explorations and their dealings with 

the Indians in the northern United States 

and southern Canada in the early years of 

the nineteenth century. Alexander Henry 

was a fur trader with only one ambition, 

to further the interests of the Northwest 

Fur Co.; but David Thompson was an 

astronomer and scientific explorer, and 

his notes afforded much more accurate 

data regarding the character of the 

country and the location of important 

places than those of almost any other man 

who traversed this region in the early 

days. The territory covered by these 

men was largely the same, but Thompson 

explored the region about Clark Fork and 

Pend Oreille Lake, while Henry was engaged in trade with the Indians at the 

head of the Columbia.

In 1806 Thompson descended Kootenai 

River to about the place where the 

present Idaho-Montana line crossed that 

stream and proceeded southward along 

an old Indian trail across the Cabinet 

Mountains to Pend Oreille Lake. He 

reached the outlet of Clark Fork into 

Pend Oreille Lake September 9 and built 

a trading post on the point just north of it. 

This post he called Kullyspell House, 

from the name of an Indian tribe. In 

the modified form of Kalispell this name 

is now applied to a thriving town on the 

Great Northern Railway, near the north 

end of Flathead Lake. So far as known, 

this was the first visit of a white man 

to Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork. 

From Kullyspell House Thompson explored the valley down past Sandpoint 

as far as Priest Rapids and up Clark Fork 

and Flathead River to Dixon, where the 

Flathead reaches the railway from the 

north. On one of these trips up the river 

he established another trading post near 

the falls that were subsequently named 

in honor of their discoverer. This post he 

called Saleesh House, from the native 

name for the Flathead Indians. After 

the establishment of these trading posts 

Thompson continued westward to the 

Columbia, and he was the first white man 

to pass down that stream from the mouth 

of Priest River to Pasco, where the 

Northern Pacific Railway now crosses the 

river.

Although the fur traders explored the 

valley of Clark Fork as early as 1806, their 

reports were made only to the officials of 

the companies, who had no interest in 

promoting settlement, and consequently 

the public had little information concerning this interesting region until it was 

examined by the Government engineers 

who in 1853-54 explored it thoroughly to 

find the best route for a Pacific railroad. 

In 1853 Lieut. R. Sax ton passed this way 

on his route from the Pacific coast to the 

headquarters of the expedition in the 

Bitterroot Valley. Saxton proceeded 

up Columbia River and across country 

to Pend Oreille Lake, which he reached 

August 12. He found that, owing to the 

high, steep mountains, it was impossible 

to pass around the south end of the lake, 

and he had considerable difficulty in 

skirting the north end, where Hope is now 

situated. He then proceeded up Clark 

Fork, but he found the route very rough 

and difficult, for the stream in many 

places swung so close to the bluffs as to 

make it necessary for the party to find a 

way over the rough mountain sides. 

After passing Thompson Falls and ascending Flathead River to the site of Dixon, he 

went up the Jocko and crossed the summit 

at the head of the Coriacan Defile to St. 

Mary (Stevensville), in Bitterroot Valley.
148 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The railway, from the point where it crosses Clark Fork to Tro.ut 

Creek, follows the outcrop of the Ravalli formation, which dips to 

the left; and it is probable that the hills on the left are composed of 

the next higher formation, the Newland limestone, but they are so 

far distant and so nearly covered with trees that it is doubtful if the 

traveler will be able to distinguish formations.

Just beyond milepost 50 the train crosses Big Beaver Creek, a 

large stream joining the river from the south, and a little farther on 

Vermilion Creek enters from the other side. The valley of the 

Vermilion is particularly interesting, for at its mouth there is a 

marked delta, visible from the train on the high line, which is 320 

feet above the present river level. This delta could have been built 

only when the valley of Clark Fork was filled with water up to that 

altitude, and it probably marks some stage possibly a closing 

stage of glacial Lake Missoula. The reason why the valley of 

Vermilion Creek contains a more pronounced feature of this kind 

than the adjacent tributary valleys is that it connects at its head 

by a low pass with a valley draining into Kootenai River to the 

north. Through this low pass a large stream evidently flowed from 

the north at some time in the remote past. At that tune all the 

Kootenai Valley, the next valley to the north, which is followed by 

the Great Northern Railway, was filled with an ice sheet that came 

down from the north, blocking all the previously existing watercourses and discharging at least part of its waters through the valley 

of Vermilion Creek. The sand and gravel carried by this stream 

were dumped into Lake Missoula when it stood 320 feet above the 

present level of Clark Fork. This was doubtless only a temporary 

outlet, else more material would have been brought down, possibly 

enough to completely fill the valley of Clark Fork.

At Trout Creek the hills on the south are composed of the Newland

limestone, which dips toward the river at an angle of 40°. It is

probable that this is the same belt of limestone as

Trout Creek. ^at which was seen on the left at a point just below

Elevation 2,374 feet. Thompson Falls, and it is undoubtedly the same as

St. Paul 1,372 miles. r ' J ., .

the limestone which occurs on the south side of the 

valley as far as Noxon.

A short distance beyond Trout Creek the river makes a decided 

bend to the left and swings against the bluffs on that side. The 

railway follows the river and at milepost 59 is close to the mountain 

side, which is nearly bare, having been swept clean of trees in the 

great forest fires of 1910. On one of these smooth slopes horizontal 

beach lines are visible. They can be identified up the slopes to a 

height of 1,200 feet above the river, or 3,500 feet above sea level, but 

beyond that height no trace of such markings has been found. The
THE NORTHEBN PACIFIC BOUTE. 149

uppermost beach line here probably corresponds with the highest 

one observed near Missoula and Dixon and, as these beach lines were 

formed by the same body of water and therefore must have been 

horizontal, it is almost certain that the crust of the earth has been 

tilted since the disappearance of the lake, the surface about Missoula 

having been raised 1,000 feet above that at Trout Creek, as explained 

on page 134.

Just beyond milepost 59 the roadway is cut in the base of a high 

cliff which is composed of Newland limestone lying nearly horizontal. 

The argillites and quartzites showing across the river and in the 

pyramidal island in the stream are vertical, hence there must be a 

fault between them which coincides in a general way with the course 

of the river.

Near milepost 67 a charming view is to be had of the cliffs on the 

south, which stand like a huge castle with battlemented walls.

The Newland limestone is exposed almost continuously along the 

river from milepost 59 to Noxon and for some miles beyond. It is 

generally horizontal or dips slightly to the northwest. 

Noxon. Nearly opposite milepost 74 Bull River joins Clark 

Elevation 2,187 feet. York from the north. This tributary valley is const. Paul 1,388 miles. . -, -, -i i i , n v ,1 ,1 i ,1 nected by a broad, deep trench directly through the 

Cabinet Mountains with the valley of Lake Creek, affording in glacial 

time a direct outlet for the great mass of ice that kept crowding down 

from the northern country. In this great trench the ice at its maximum was at least 2,000 feet deep. As soon as it emerged into the 

more open valley of Clark Fork it was reinforced by a large ice tongue 

that came down by Sandpoint and deployed up the Clark Fork valley. 

These two masses blended and filled the valley from Pend OreiUe 

Lake to Noxon, forming an effective barrier across the pathway of 

the stream. Behind this barrier the body of water known as glacial 

Lake Missoula accumulated. In its passage up the valley the glacier 

left abundant evidence of its presence and work by the scouring which 

the valley received, the scratches on the rocks, and the bowlders of 

granite and other crystalline rocks which it carried into this area. 

The bowlders were not only dropped upon the valley floor, but many 

of them were left stranded on the valley wall up to a height of at 

least 2,000 feet above the stream.

Beyond Bull River there is little of interest for some distance.

The valley walls are composed of Newland limestone, 

Heron, Mont. which dips gently downstream. Just beyond mileEievatkm 2^67 feet. post 87 a few mjies west of Heron, the train crosses

St. Paul 1,398 miles. IO T- TIT 111 the State line into Idaho, the boundary being indicated by a signboard.
150 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

To those who remember Idaho in their school geographies as a 

small pink block, shaped like an easy chair facing east, it may be of 

interest that this State, which in 1890 added the fortyIdaho, fifth star to the constellation on the flag, is nearly as 

large as Pennsylvania and Ohio combined and larger 

than the six New England States with Maryland included for good 

measure. It is divided into 33 counties, the smallest of which is half 

as large as the State of Rhode Island and the largest exceeds the 

combined area of Massachusetts and Delaware.

Idaho covers an area of 83,888 square miles, divided principally 

between the Rocky Mountain region and the Columbia Plateau, only 

a small part, in the southeast corner of the State, lying in the Great 

Basin. In elevation above sea level the State ranges from 735 feet, 

at Lewiston, to 12,078 feet at the summit of Hyndman Peak. It is 

drained by the Columbia mainly through Snake River and its tributaries, and has an annual rainfall of about 17 niches, the range in a 

single year at different places being from 6 to 38 inches.

The industries of the State are chiefly agriculture, stock raising, 

and mining. Hay, wheat, oats, and potatoes are the principal crops. 

A large area is cultivated by irrigation. The mineral production 

includes gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. The output of lead in 

1913 was valued at $13,986,366, that of silver at $6,033,473.

The population of Idaho in 1910 was 325,924.

A short distance west of the Idaho line the Newland limestone, 

which has formed the walls of the valley for the last 10 or 12 miles,

dips below water level, and the quartzites of the 

Cabinet, Idaho, overlying formation (Striped Peak) appear. These 

Elevation 2,173 feet, rocks are so much harder than the limestone that 

st Ppaun°o4 miles, the river has succeeded in cutting through them only

a narrow, tortuous passageway known as Cabinet 

Gorge (PI. XXI, p. 143). The river pours its whole volume through a 

crooked defile not over 100 feet wide, and it is estimated that 40,000 

horsepower could be developed here with the natural flow of the 

stream. The gorge is soon passed, so that those who wish to see it 

should keep a close watch on the right as soon as they cross the State 

line. Beyond Cabinet station as far as milepost 91 there are many 

cuts in bright-red and green argillite and thin beds of sandstone 

(Striped Peak formation) overlying the Newland limestone. These 

mark the middle of a broad, flat syncline, which crosses the river in 

a north-south direction. Farther west the rocks dip upstream, and 

at the railway bridge the top of the Newland limestone may be seen 

on the north bank of the river.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 151

The village of Clark Fork is situated at the head of the delta which

Clark Fork has built where it enters Pend Oreille Lake. Below the

village the track winds about in the broad plain of

Clark Fork. the river bottom, skirting shallow bays and swamps

Elevation 2,094 feet, and winding among rocky islands that rise here and

st^Paun^ia miles, there in the delta plain. The rocks are limestone

(Newland), dipping up the stream toward the axis

of the syncline, but about 2 miles from the village the whole of the

limestone has risen above water level, and the underlying red argillites and quartzites (Ravalli) are exposed in the cuts.

West of milepost 97 the traveler may get glimpses here and there

of Pend Oreille Lake, but it is not until the train approaches Hope

that an unobstructed view may be obtained. If it

Hope, is a clear day, the waters ripple in the sunshine

Elevation 2,087feet, against a dark background of rugged mountains,

Population 215. , °, .. ,, . . , ±1,11 *. j- st. Paul 1,421 miles, out if the air is hazy the lake seems to disappear in 

the distance between misty walls that rise on either 

side. One can but wonder what lies beyond that rocky gateway and 

long to board the little steamer lying at the dock and explore its 

remotest reaches. The broad expanse of water along the north 

shore is broken by several wooded, rocky islands that add greatly to 

the charm of the picture.

The French term pend (pendant) d'preille means literally earring 

and was doubtless given to this lake by the early French explorers 

on account of its peculiar shape; but some authorities say that the 

name was originally given to a tribe of Indians because of their custom of wearing earrings and then was applied to the lake because 

these Indians inhabited its shores.

The lake is about 50 miles long and from 2 to 15 miles wide, and 

it is said to be very. deep. As it is long and narrow and lies between 

mountains 2,000 to 3,000 feet high, it must, if the reported depth of 

water is correct, occupy a canyon rivaling in size and depth the 

Grand Canyon of the Colorado, in Arizona.

On the shore of the lake, near the place where Hope now stands, 

were once the main trails that led into the Kootenai country to the 

north. Over these trails supplies for the mining camps and goods 

for trade with the Indians were taken in and cargoes of precious furs 

brought out, but the traffic has ceased and the trails have become 

impassable. Hope is built on the side of a mountain so steep that 

its streets occupy levels 300 feet apart. It is important now as the 

site of a large sawmill and as a port for the small traffic on the lake.

The rocks back of Hope belong to the Prichard formation, which 

extends for about 7 miles, but they are cut by many dikes of granite 

similar to the great mass west of Sandpoint. The rocks also show
152 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

greater metamorphism (changes due to pressure or to heat) toward 

this mass of granite, and on this account do not bear a close resemblance to those of the same age farther east.

Beyond milepost 111, west of Oden (see sheet 21, p. 160), the valley 

between the Cabinet Range on the east and the Selkirk Range on the 

west is a broad plain. Down this great valley a glacier once forced 

its way from Canada past Bonners Ferry and extended many miles 

south along the route followed by the Northern Pacific to Spokane.

On -approaching Sandpoint the railroad skirts the extreme west

end of Pend Oreille Lake, but in this part of the lake the shores are

generally low, and the view is not so striking as that

Sandpoint. obtained from Hope. From Sandpoint the mounEievation 2,096 feet, tain slope on the opposite (south) side of the outlet

st.PpaurM37 miies. °f the lake, by reason of its gentleness and.smoothness,

is so different from those generally seen along Clark

Fork, although composed of the same kind of rock, that it calls for an

explanation. This long ridge does not rise abruptly from the water

level at its north end, like the mountain slopes on the other side of

FIGURE 32. Profile of mountain slope east of Sandpoint, Idaho. Ice moved in the direction indicated 

by the arrow and scoured the slope smooth.

the lake, but rises gradually to a height of 2,000 feet above the 

lake. The profile as seen from Sandpoint is represented in figure 

32. The explanation of the gentle slope is that the great glacier 

which once came down the valley from the north and which probably 

had a depth of more than 1,000 feet, passed far up on the slope of 

this mountain and possibly completely overrode it. This mass of 

ice, with its embedded rocky fragments, ground off all irregularities 

of the mountain side, leaving it a gently inclined slope from bottom 

to top. The direction of the moving ice is indicated on the diagram 

by the arrow.

At Sandpoint the Great Northern and the Spokane & International (Canadian Pacific) railways approach the Northern Pacific, 

but the Great Northern at its point of nearest approach is 2 miles 

from the lake and can not be seen from the tram.

South of Sandpoint the railway crosses the lower end of Pend 

Oreille Lake on a steel and concrete viaduct 4,769 feet long. From 

this viaduct may be obtained, if the day is clear, a comprehensive 

view of the mountains east of Pend Oreille Lake. The significant 

feature of this mountain mass is not its height or its ruggedness,
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 20

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the. Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White. Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. C. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

A Stream deposits (alluvium) 

and glacial drift 

E Red sandstone and shale 

(Striped Peak formation); 

probably equivalent to the 

Spokane formation farther 

east

F Impure limestone (Newland) 

Quartzite and shale (Ravalli 

quartzite)

H Bluish quartzite and shale 

(Prichard formation)

In places formations E, F, G, 

j and H, have not been separated and the entire mass is 

called simply Belt series

J Granite, intrusive

8,000

Scale 500,0(53 

Approximately 8 miies to I inch

5 10 15 '- - * ' . t j r

10 15 20

Contour interval 200 feet

ELEVATIONS IN FEET ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVt

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The cro3Sties on the railroads are spaced I mi'e apart

_______.________ ._

116 oo'

20Miles / __/

SOKilOmeters

es

e» > v . «^% r

\ W

rf^71

115 30'
THE ETOETHEEN PACIFIC EOUTE. 153

but the evenness of its summits, as if the region were a vast plateau. 

As this is the country through which the westbound traveler has 

just come, he appreciates that such is not the case, but the mountains are made up of ridges of nearly the same height, the tops of 

which, at a distance, blend so as to appear like a flat-topped mountain.

The even crests of such ridges and mountains are supposed to 

have been formed when the land was low lying and in fact nearly 

a plain (a peneplain).1 At that tune there were no mountains in 

this region and the surface was as flat as the prairies of North Dakota 

and probably much nearer sea level.

For some distance after crossing Pend Oreille Lake the railway 

skirts the base of the mountain on the left (east), and the cuts through 

the low spurs reveal the granite in many places. On. some of these 

ledges, even from the moving train, glacial striae (scratches in the bedrock made by rock fragments embedded in the ice and forced along 

under enormous pressure) may be seen. The direction of these 

scratches is parallel with the railway and shows that the glacier 

moved up the valley toward Spokane.

The railway crosses the valley, cutting through many knolls of 

gravel and sand deposited by a stream which flowed from the end of

1 The constant tendency of almost all 

natural processes going on at the surface 

of the earth is to wear away the high 

land and to reduce the continent toward 

sea level. As these processes are always 

at work wearing away the higher points 

of the land, it follows that in time the 

surface of the land would be reduced to 

a plain were there no counteracting forces 

at work. The forces that tend to interfere, with the reduction of the surface of 

the earth are those that produce movement within the crust, for such movements are almost always accompanied by 

elevation at some point, and when this 

occurs the reduction process is of necessity begun anew and carried on all over 

again. If, however, crustal movements 

do not occur for a long time, the surface 

of the earth is reduced nearly to a plain 

that stands near but not at sea level. 

Such a surface has been named a peneplain (meaning "almost a plain"). In 

most regions the process of reduction in 

the past has been interrupted by the 

elevation of those particular parts of the 

crust before the surface waa greatly 

reduced, but in certain places the process seems to have been carried nearly 

to its limit and a peneplain produced. 

If after the formation of such a peneplain the land is uplifted evenly over a 

wide area, the peneplain, instead of 

being near sea level, will form an upland 

or plateau. As such an elevated tract is 

always vigorously attacked by streams, 

canyons will soon be cut back from the 

edge of the plateau or from the mouths 

of the streams, and, as time goes on, 

these canyons will reach farther and 

farther back into the upland and new 

canyons will be established, until finally 

all the even surface of the peneplain will 

be cut away and instead of a plain or 

peneplain it will be a hilly upland or a 

mountainous belt, its character depending on the amount of the uplift. Despite 

the fact that the region has lost its even 

surface, the hills or mountains will have, 

for a long time, about the same height, 

and their summits will be but little 

below the surface of the old peneplain. 

In other words, the country is a dissected 

plateau, but to an observer at a distance 

the even crest lines of the ridgea still 

appear like the level top of the plateau.
154 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

the glacier during the retreat of the ice from its farthest southward 

extension. Near milepost 24 can be seen on the west a slope of 

massive granite that has been laid bare by the ice and has been 

smoothed and rounded by the same agent. Such bosses of rounded 

rock have been called by the French "roches moutonne'es" (sheepback rocks), and this term has now come into common use in this 

country.

All the indications thus far observed point clearly to the occupation 

of this valley by the ice. The small lakes which abound in the district

afford still further evidence of the presence of a 

Cocolalla. glacier and the consequent rearrangement of all the 

Elevation 2,228feet, drainage lines. Cocolalla Lake occupies a depression 

s^Pau^MMrnJies hemmed in by hills of gravel that was deposited by

the ice or by water flowing directly from the front of 

the glacier. South of Cocolalla the valley is more or less swampy 

(another indication of a recently established drainage system), and 

the granite lies on the west. Farther south the granite can be seen on 

the east side of the track, hence it probably underlies most of the 

valley; but, if so, it is well concealed in places by glacial drift.

The village of Granite is appropriately named, for the granite is 

well exposed there. A short distance beyond the station the railway

crosses a high bridge over what appears to be a deep, 

Granite. irregular channel scoured out by the ice, and the 

Elevation 2,269 feet, knobs of granite, scored and rounded, rise about it in 

s^Paun^sginiies a^ directions. After passing through a small tunnel

in this rock, the train emerges into an open driftcovered plain strewn with bowlders of granite broken from the ledges 

near the tunnel and carried southward by the ice. Many of these 

bowlders are 20 feet in diameter, and they occur along the track for a

distance of 7 miles from the village of Granite.

Although there are many lakes in this general region, they can not 

be seen from the train for the reason that they are near the margins of 

the hills, whereas the railway keeps the middle of the valley. From 

a point near Athol there appears to be an opening in the mountain 

wall which bounds the valley on the east. In this break lies the 

upper or south end of Pend Oreille Lake. The lake is easy of access 

from this direction and small steamboats will take one to almost any 

place along its shores. Spirit Lake lies on the west side of the valley, 

and a little farther south is Fish Lake. The largest lakes, Pend 

Oreille, Hayden, and Coeur d'Alene, are on the east and south sides of 

the valley. All these bodies of water have resulted apparently from 

the damming of the lateral valleys by sand and gravel brought down 

by the glacier
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 155

Athol.

Elevation 2,400 feet. 

Population 281. 

St. Paul 1,465 miles.

The Spokane International Railway approaches the Northern 

Pacific line on the right near milepost 43, runs parallel with it for some 

distance, and finally goes under it between mileposts 

46 and 47, beyond Athol, and disappears on the left. 

Originally this valley was covered with a growth of 

scrubby pine and it was not supposed to be suitable 

for agricultural or horticultural pursuits, but in recent 

years fruit trees have been successfully grown, and now apple orchards 

stretch along the railway for many miles. Although the valley is 

continuous, there is a constriction near Lone Mountain and a division 

of the drainage. The water north of this place finds its way into the 

Columbia by way of Clark Fork, whereas that to the south reaches the 

same trunk stream through Spokane River. Near milepost 51 Lone 

Mountain is a conspicuous object on the right (west). It rises to a 

height of about 1,000 feet above the plain. To judge from the bare 

rocks exposed about its base, the ice has abraded its foot, but whether 

or not the glacier passed over its summit is an open question.

At Ramsey, a station directly south of Lone Mountain, the railway is double tracked, the eastbound track diverging to the left, 

to unite again with the westbound track at RathRamsey. drum, the next station to the west. In going westward the tram gradually approaches the mountain 

mass on the right, and at Rathdrum it is only a 

few hundred feet from the foot of the hill. Here the rock is a schist,1 

but whether the schist is of Archean age and therefore older than the 

Belt series, or whether it is the Belt, or some younger 

formation greatly changed, is a question that has not 

been settled. At Rathdrum the Northern Pacific 

crosses over a new line the 'Idaho & Washington 

Northern Railway. West of the crossing the railway 

runs near the hills on the north for a long distance, but on the left 

it overlooks the valley of Spokane River, which is spread out like a 

map before the eyes of the traveler. Most of the valley bottom is 

farming land, but some of it is too gravelly to be 

of much value for agriculture. The valley is particularly beautiful as seen from a point a little west of 

Hauser. From Hauser a branch line runs to Post 

Falls and Cceur d'Alene, at the foot of Cceur d'Alene 

Lake, and there is steamboat service on the lake and railway connection

Elevation 2,340 feet. 

St. Paul 1,472 miles.

Rathdrum.

Elevation 2,212 feet. 

Population 725. 

St. Paul 1,478 miles.

Hauser, Idaho.

Elevation 2,140 feet. 

Population 382.* 

St. Paul 1,485 miles.

1 Schist is a rock in which, a parallel or 

foliated structure has been developed by 

shearing or by pressure, a process generally accompanied by more or less recrystallization of the material composing it

in layers parallel to the cleavage. Schists 

may have been originally sedimentary or 

igneous rocks, but if the schistosity is 

well developed tha original character of 

the rock is generally obliterated.
156 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

from its upper end to the Cceur d'Alene mining district, 1 described 

below by F. L. Ransome, and thence across the mountains to Missoula. 

Between mileposts 66 and 67 the railway crosses the line between 

the States of Idaho and Washington, the exact point being indicated 

by a sign at the roadside.

The State of Washington has a land area of 66,836 square miles. 

It was admitted to the Union in 1889. In 1910 it had a population

of 1,141,990. Owing to its position on the coast, the 

Washington. first settlement in what is now Washington was

made at a comparatively early date. The places 

to be occupied first were the posts of the Hudson's Bay Co. Of 

these Fort Vancouver, on Columbia River, established in 1824, was 

the headquarters; and Forts Walla Walla and Nisqually were outlying posts to the east and north, respectively.

1 The Coeur d'Alene district, whose 

minea yield about one-third of the lead 

produced in the United States, and supply, 

by value, about 85 per cent of Idaho's 

annual output of metals, lies high on the 

western slope of that northward prolongation of the Bitterroot Range which 

is sometimes called the Coaur d'Alene 

Mountains. It is to turn the flank of this 

lofty barrier that the main line of the 

Northern Pacific swings northwestward 

down the valley of Clark Fork and then 

westward by Pend Oreille Lake.

From the east the district is served by 

a branch of the Northern Pacific which 

leaves the main line at De' Smet (change

at Missoula) and, following the old Mullan 

wagon road, crosses the range by a high 

pass at the head of St. Regis River. From 

Spokane, on the west, the traveler may 

choose an all-rail route via the OregonWashington Railroad & Navigation Co. 's 

line around the south end of Coeur d 'Alene 

Lake, or he may proceed by one of three 

railway lines to the town of Coeur d 'Alene, 

at the north end of the lake, and there 

embark on a steamer which connects at 

Harrison with the trains of the OregonWashington Railroad & Navigation Co.'s 

line to Wallace, in the heart of the district. 

Were it not for the mines, the Cceur 

d 'Alene district would be nearly as complete a wilderness now as when Mullan 

constructed his road across the mountains 56 years ago. It contains almost no 

arable land, and the timber, while good

enough for mining purposes, would probably not have been sufficient inducement 

to bring railways into the region. Mining 

is the one paramount industry of the district, and upon it all others depend. 

Approximately 5,000 men are employed 

in the mines and concentrating works, 

and the total population of the district is 

estimated at 12,000.

Wallace, the principal town and the 

seat of Shoshone County, contains 3,000 

people and is situated at the confluence 

of Canyon and Ninemile creeks with the 

South Fork of Creur d 'Alene River. This 

situation and the fact that it is the terminus of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & 

Navigation Co. 'a line from the west and 

the Coeur d'Alene branch of the Northern 

Pacific Railway from the east make it the 

chief distributing point of supplies for 

the district.

Although the Mullan road passed 

through what is now the most productive 

part of the district, 20 years elapsed 

before anyone realized that the steep, 

thickly forested hillsides visible from the 

road concealed great deposits of leadsilver ore. It was not until 1884 that 

attention waa called to the mineral resources of the region by the exploitation 

of the gold-bearing gravel and quartz 

veins on Prichard Creek, in the northern 

part of the district. Discovery of the 

lead-silver veins on the South Fork of 

Cceur d'Alene River soon followed, and 

by 1888 these had overshadowed the gold
THE FOETHEEN PACIFIC EOUTE. 157

For a number of years the hunting and trapping of fur-bearing 

animals was the chief occupation, but gradually the forest was cleared 

away and farms established. From the necessity of getting rid of the 

heavy forest developed the lumber business, which from the earliest 

settlement down to the present time has been the leading industry 

of the State. In 1909 the value of the timber and lumber products 

was $89,000,000.

Agriculture at first flourished only along the Sound, west of the Cascade Mountains, where rain is abundant; and the eastern, semiarid part of the State was utilized only for the grazing of cattle, 

horses, and sheep. Recently much of the land in the Yakima and 

Wenatchee valleys and along the Columbia has been reclaimed by 

the construction of irrigation works, and now it is renowned the world

deposits in productiveness and value. 

Since 1903 the district has produced considerable copper and of late years increasing quantities of zinc.

The production of Shoshone County 

(which is practically that of the Coeur 

d'Alene district) for 1913 was as follows: 

Gold, $81,749; silver, 9,337,109 fine 

ounces; copper, 5,097,894 pounds; lead, 

296,740,946 pounds; and zinc, 21,415,565 

pounds, valued in all at $20,767,410. 

The total value of all the metals produced 

in the district since mining began is approximately $262,608,000.

The mines that have been most productive of lead-silver ore during the past 

few years are the Bunker Hill and Sullivan, Morning, Hercules, Last Chance, 

Senator Stewart, Standard-Mammoth, 

and Hecla. The Tiger-Poorman, at 

Burke, once a large producer, has been 

worked out. The Standard-Mammoth is 

also nearly exhausted, but a continuation 

of the ore body has been found in the 

adjoining Greenhill-Cleveland mine. 

The one large copper mine of the district, 

the Snowstorm, has yielded ore of the 

gross value of about $11,000,000.

The rocks in which the Coeur d'Alene 

ores are found belong to the Belt series. 

These beds in the Cceur d'Alene district 

have been crumpled into folds and have 

been intruded by masses of molten material (magma) which, on cooling, solidified 

as a granitic rock known as quartz monzonite. During or after the solidification 

of the igneous rock the region was traversed by great cracks or fissures along some 

of which took place movements amounting to thousands of feet, producing what 

the geologist terms faults. In other places, 

where the disturbance was less, hot solutions, probably connected with the intrusion of the granitic rock, deposited the 

ores, partly as fillings of open cracks but 

largely as replacements of the adjacent 

rock by chemical processes. After the 

intrusion of the granite and the formation 

of the deposits of ore, an uneven layer of 

rock, probably some thousands of feet in 

thickness, was gradually removed by the' 

action of weather and streams. This 

erosion exposed the once deeply buried 

granite and the ore.

The principal mineral of the lead-silver 

ores is galena (sulphide of lead) which in 

this district invariably contains some silver. Other common minerals of metallic 

luster associated with the galena are pyrite (sulphide of iron), pyrrhotite (magnetic sulphide of iron), chalcopyrite (sulphide of copper and iron), and sphalerite 

(sulphide of zinc). The characteristic 

waste mineral of nonmetallic luster associated with galena, that is, the gangue 

of the ore, is siderite (carbonate of iron).

The ores, as mined, carry, as a rule, 

from 5 to 50 per cent of lead and from 

3 to 45 ounces of silver to the ton. All 

but the highest grades are concentrated 

in the district, by milling, to a product 

containing about 50 per cent of lead 

and from 15 to 55 ounces of silver to the 

ton.
158 GUIDEBOOK OP THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

over for the quality of the apples produced. In many districts fruit 

raising has been carried to the extreme, and now there is a tendency 

to the greater cultivation of alfalfa and grains. One of the most 

interesting features of the agricultural development of Washington 

has been the transformation of the lava plateaus of the central and 

eastern parts of the State into great fields of wheat that stretch for 

miles without a break. The success of dry farming in this region 

made Washington one of the great wheat-raising States of the 

country. In 1909 its yield of wheat was worth $35,000,000, and its 

forage crops $17,000,000.

Washington produces yearly metals valued at $1,000,000, but 

the chief mining industry has been and still is the mining of coal. 

Coal was first mined in 1860 in Whatcom County, and a little later 

near Issaquah, in King County, but shipment to San Francisco did 

not begin until 1871. Since that time many mines in several fields 

have been developed, and the industry of mining grew rapidly until 

it reached its maximum in 1910. It declined then because Washington coal came into direct competition with the fuel oil of California. It is estimated that in 1913 fuel oil replaced 5,000,000 tons 

of coal in the markets tributary to Puget Sound. The value of the 

coal mined in Washington in 1913 was $9,243,137.

The products of the State are valued about as follows: Manufactured products (1909), $220,000,000; agricultural products (1909), 

$103,000,000; mining products (1913), $17,000,000.

Beyond the State line the railway continues along the north side 

of the valley, but the valley is not so wide as it is farther east. Apple 

orchards are numerous and in places extend along the track for 

miles without a break.

Near milepost 76 the hills on the right (north), which are in plain 

view, take on a different aspect, and a close inspection shows that 

they are capped by a flat-lying mass of dark rock. This is the 

Yakima basalt, one of the principal lava sheets of the great Columbia 

River basalt which, together with that of nearly the same age in the 

Snake River valley of Idaho, constitutes one of the most extensive 

lava plains in the world. The lava flooded all of central and southern Washington and large areas in Oregon and Idaho, and the traveler 

will see little else in the way of hard rocks from Spokane to the east 

foot of the Cascade Mountains. It flowed against the mountains on 

the east, and fiery streams extended up the valleys heading in this 

range. Although some of the lava lies east of Cosur d'Alene Lake, 

it is uncertain how far it went in the Spokane Valley, for it has been 

covered by the glacial gravel. The exposure just noted is the first 

to be seen by a traveler coming from the east.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 159

Between mileposts 77 and 78, west of Irvin, the railway crosses 

Spokane River, the water of which is so beautifully clear that every 

object on the bottom is plainly visible. Near this point the military 

road constructed by Lieut. Mullan crossed Spokane River. This 

road entered the main valley from the southwest, east of the present 

city of Spokane, and then extended up the valley to Cceur d'Alene 

Lake.

West of the railway bridge the surface of the country to the south 

is littered with large bowlders composed of many kinds of hard rock, 

which the ice brought down from the north. From their abundance 

it is supposed that these bowlders mark the point of greatest advance 

of the ice and are in the nature of a terminal moraine, although no 

distinct ridge or other characteristic topographic feature has been 

left in the valley, as is usual at the extremity of a glacier.

Although the basalt covers most of the country in this vicinity, 

it did not engulf all the hills, for the highest knob on the north, Little 

Baldy, composed of schist, stood above the molten flood that rolled 

into this region from the west. The low hills on the left are composed wholly of basalt, which also shows near the river in the outskirts of the city of Spokane. Here it can be seen at close range as 

the train passes through the deep cuts on its way to the station. 1

1 Spokane River has been beset by 

many difficulties in carving its present 

channel. At the time the great flood of 

lava inundated the region, there was 

evidently a deep valley here which was 

flooded with the molten material. This 

inundation did not come as one great 

wave, but doubtless flood succeeded 

flood with fairly long intervals between 

until the lava was piled up to a great 

thickness, 'nearly obliterating the original channels.

When the outpourings of lava ceased, 

the water found an outlet in part along 

the old courses, but in most localities the 

eruptions changed the face of the entire 

country, so that the streams were compelled to carve for themselves new valleys 

in the hardened lava. This process, was 

well along when the great glacier, laden 

with the rocky fragments it had plucked 

from the valley walls, swept down the 

valley. The materials carried by the 

glacier were distributed by the streams 

flowing from the ice front and scattered 

over the entire valley, filling it to the 

height seen to-day. Thus for the second

time the stream was obstructed and its 

valley greatly modified, but with the 

disappearance of the ice it again set to 

work to carve a valley suitable for a 

stream of its size. Work was begun near 

its mouth, but gradually its gorge has 

been extended upstream until the fall, 

which marks the point where active 

cutting is in progress, has reached its 

present position in the city of Spokane. 

Here the river makes a series of plunges 

over precipitous slopes of basalt. Originally this formed a beautiful fall as the 

swirling waters broke against the dark 

rocks in their downward plunges, but now 

the stream has been obstructed for the 

third time by a dam, and the water has 

been diverted by man for the production 

of power. The beauty of the falls is gone 

forever, for in seasons of drought there is 

scarcely a trickle where once the river 

leaped and boiled in its mad rush over 

the jagged rock. To-day the water drives 

great turbines that generate 30,000 horsepower for municipal uses and for operating mines and mills in the Coeur d'Alene 

district.
160 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Spokane, Wash.

Elevation 1,919 feet. 

Population 104,402. 

St. Paul 1,505 miles.

Spokane (spo-kan') is a division terminal of the Northern Pacific 

Railway, and is the center of an extensive agricultural and mining 

region that is frequently referred to as the " inland 

empire of the West." A settlement was early established at this place, and in 1881 it was incorporated 

as Spokane Falls, but later the second part of the 

name was dropped. The city is served by main hues 

or branches of all the transcontinental railroads crossing the States 

of Washington and Oregon, including the Canadian Pacific. Fort 

Wright, one of the more modern military posts of the Government, 

is attractively situated on the bluffs of the river just below the city 

limits, but is not visible from the train.

On leaving the station at Spokane (see sheet 22, p. 164) the train 

runs down the broad valley for some distance, but not within sight 

of the falls, and then turns to the left up the valley of Latah Creek. 

Here there are extensive hillside cuts on the left, exposing beds of 

dark sand and gravel, which were evidently derived largely from the 

basalt and were washed into this side ravine by floods that came 

down the main valley. This is evident from the way in which the 

gravel is bedded.1

The valley of Latah Creek, as well as that of Lake Creek, up which 

the railway goes, is marked by a number of well-developed terraces 

that were doubtless formed at the same time as or soon after the 

formation of the delta described above, and a correct interpretation 

of their meaning would throw much light on the conditions prevailing

1 Careful inspection shows that the sand 

and gravel is cross-bedded and that the 

cross-bedded layers dip to the south, up 

Latah Creek. Figure 33 represents the 

edges of the beds as they are exposed in 

the side of the cut. This sandy material

top of the bed A and laid down as a thin 

layer on the sloping surface AB. This 

action was continued until the basin of 

the side stream was filled to the line AC. 

The main stream was then deprived of 

this dumping ground, for that was filled

FIGURE 33. Cross-bedding in glacial gravel on Latah Creek 1 mile west of Spokane, Wash.

was deposited as a delta that is, the 

material was washed into the side valley, 

then occupied by a lake, and at first was 

laid down on the slope AB. The point A 

marks the surface of the water, above 

which the material could not be piled. 

Additional material was carried along the

to the same height as the river channel, 

so the gravel was dropped in the main 

valley, building it up to the height of D. 

At this new height the process was i, 

peated until the side valley was filled to 

the line DF and eventually to the highest point the water reached.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 21

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. C. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

IDAHO-WASHINGTON

A Glacial outwash gravel and sand 

B lava flows (Yakima basalt)

Quaternary 

Tertiary

F Impure limestone i Newland) 4,800 

G Quartzite and shale ! Ravalli quartzite > 8,000 

H Bluish quartzite and shale 

(Prichard formation) ,. Algonkian 

(Belt series) In places formations F, G, and H, 

have not been separated and the 

entire mass is called simply Belt 

series

I Granite, gneiss, and schist

Scale SOOiOOS 

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch

10 IS TOMiles

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crosstiGs on the railroads are spaced I mile apart

mati on H 

man Lake

Coeur tf'-Alene La/re

Sheet fl/o^^ 117
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 161

at that time, but unfortunately no one has studied them carefully 

enough to read their history in detail.

The bedrock on all sides is the basalt, which consists either of hard, 

dense rock that represents the interior of a lava flow or the more 

scoriaceous material of the upper part caused by the expansion of 

steam.1

Although the flows of lava were very extensive, either the molten 

material did not completely engulf the hills composed of older rocks, 

or the lava that buried them has since been removed, uncovering the 

schist at the surface over small areas. Such an area can be seen on 

the left (east) just before reaching Marshall (see fig. 34), and there are 

other areas farther on. 

The schist is easily dis- " i M I M " ij ^i .in ii 11 ii _J<^-' 11 1,1,1 fj,- _'-[ y* » ( . \u" i 'i'[J'i f 'j V t-i^-U. jyj

tinguis^Ue by its light

color. Such occurrences ^'^x-:^ff-^^^

FIGURE 34. Island of gneiss or schist in the lava (Yakima 

basalt) near Marshall, Wash:

of old rocks in the midst 

of the flood of lava are 

found only near the margins of the lava plain, where the depth of the once molten material was never great or where the underlying surface was particularly hilly.

From Marshall a branch of the Northern Pacific runs southward 

to the Palouse country. , Two other railways that run parallel with 

the Northern Pacific between Marshall and Spokane 

can be seen on the right. The nearer line is that of 

the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. 

and the other is the Spokane, Portland & Seattle 

Railway. Just beyond milepost 98 the Northern 

Pacific crosses both these lines and continues on their right to Cheney, 

the next station.

Marshall.

Elevation 2,137 feet. 

Population 757.* 

St. Paul 1,514 miles.

1 Molten lava, as it issues from the earth, 

is always charged with steam. While the 

lava remains underground the steam can 

not escape, but when the lava reaches the 

surface the pressure is relieved and the 

steam expands and collects in bubbles, 

which rise to the surface and burst, giving 

off the clouds of vapor that always rise 

from a moving flow of lava. Many bubbles, however, can not escape, and they 

become, as it were, frozen in the upper 

part of the flow, giving it a vesicular or 

honeycombed appearance, as can be seen 

from the train in many places.

95558° Bull. 611 15 11

Columnar jointing, perpendicular to 

the cooling surfaces and therefore nearly 

vertical, is the most universal and striking structural feature of the basaltic flow. 

The columns vary greatly in size and 

regularity of form, their diameters ranging from a few inches to 6 feet. Cross 

sections of the most perfect prisms are as 

a rule pentagonal (five-sided) or hexagonal (six-sided), and polygons of four, 

seven, or eight sides are also common. 

Columns, such as those described above, 

may be seen in almost every good exposure of the hardened lava.
162 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Cheney.

Elevation 2,345 feet. 

Population 1,207. 

St. Paul 1,521 miles.

Tyler.

Elevation 2,301 feet. 

Population 421*. 

St. Paul 1,532 miles.

Near Cheney a branch line turns to the north and runs to Medical 

Lake and Coulee City., in the heart of the Big Bend country, so called 

because it lies inside of the great westward bend of 

Columbia River. The two railways just mentioned 

lie only a short distance to the left, but beyond 

Cheney they bend to the east and can not be seen 

again from the Northern Pacific line, although they 

parallel this line to Columbia River near Pasco. Cheney is situated 

on the great lava plain of eastern Washington. Near the railway 

the traveler sees little but bare rock, but he can catch glimpses here 

and there of the low rolling hills that constitute the great wheat belt 

of this part of the State. The railway follows in a general way a 

slight depression in the surface, but the traveler may 

be surprised at riding over such a wide stretch of 

country without seeing any flowing creeks or even 

creek channels. In humid regions there is a creek 

channel hi every valley. Even in the arid country 

of the Southwest there are established watercourses, which, though 

frequently or generally dry, take care of the occasional flood waters; 

but here there are only shallow irregular valleys, and no stream 

channels are to be seen. True there may be here and there, strung 

out in a more or less definite line, a series of shallow basins holding 

swamps or even shallow lakes, but these have no outlets above 

ground, and if they are connected at all the connection must be by an 

underground channel. It is evident that during most of the year 

there is little running water in this region, as the annual precipitation 

decreases from 18 inches at Spokane to 7 inches at Pasco. Most of 

this is absorbed by the soil,1 and the remainder finds its way into the 

open layers between the sheets of dense laya and reappears as

springs in some neighboring canyon or coulee.

A possible explanation of the peculiar scouring of the surface rocks 

into basins without any definite stream channels is that it was done 

by ice. This subject is more fully considered in the footnote given 

on page 163.

1 F. C. Calkins states: "It [the soil] is 

BO porous that rain or melted snow is 

quickly absorbed by it, so that a smaller 

proportion is lost by run-off or by evaporation from puddles than would be lost if 

it were more clayey and impervious, and, 

on the other hand, it is not loose enough 

to allow the water to sink rapidly and 

become unavailable, as it does in a deep 

sandy soil. The spaces between the 

particles of the fine loam are so small that

the water is held in them by adhesion 

or capillary attraction and yields to the 

force of gravity only slowly and to a comparatively small extent."- Therefore a 

large proportion of the slight precipitation is kept sufficiently near the surface 

to be used by the growing wheat, and 

successful grain culture is possible with 

a rainfall that would be insufficient in a 

soil of less advantageous physical constitution.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 163

rap*

At Fishtrap there are a number of small hills on both sides of the 

track which appear, to one familiar with glacial topography, to be of 

glacial origin. When examined closely they are 

found to be composed of light-colored clay or shale 

which is very different from the material deposited 

by ice. The peculiar hununocky form of the hills is 

due to the softness and fineness of the material composing them and 

to the peculiarities of erosion in a semiarid climate. Few if any 

watercourses are developed in the hills, hence they have no regular 

pattern or arrangement. The rains are infrequent, only a few gullies 

are established, and the development of such gullies tends to produce 

isolated conical mounds rather than low continuous ridges, such as 

would be produced in similar material in more humid regions.

As the material composing these hills is fine and evenly bedded, 

it was probably deposited in a body of standing water, and as its 

age, so far as the evidence has been obtained, corresponds in a general way to that of similar beds (Ellensburg formation) in the Yakima 

Valley, it is considered to be a part of that formation. The bulk of 

the sediment deposited in this great lake was dropped near shore in 

the vicinity of the Cascade Mountains, and only the finer material 

was carried as far east as Fishtrap. This was deposited over the 

basalt in a thin sheet, which has been largely removed, leaving isolated outliers like those described above.1

Near milepost 123 there is some rough country that shows on a 

small scale the effect of erosion on the sheets of basalt. . In a more 

humid region most of the sharp edges of the tables would be rounded 

off and the slopes would be gentle and regular, but in a semiarid 

country each remnant of a lava sheet or other hard bed of rock stands 

up sharp and distinct as steps on the hillside or as isolated tables or 

mesas on a small scale. Thus the sheets of lava were not swept away

1 Although, there is litile doubt about 

the origin of the Fishtrap Hills, there is 

considerable uncertainty in the minds of 

geologists as to whether there has ever 

been an incursion of the northern glaciers 

into this region. The fact which leads to 

the belief that ice once occupied this 

country is the presence, far southwest of 

Spokane, of bowlders of granite and quartzite 12 to 20 inches in diameter. These 

bowlders are not numerous, but occasionally the traveler, if his sight is sufficiently 

acute, may catch glimpses of them, even 

from the swiftly moving train. Generally 

the presence of such bowlders is taken as 

a certain indication of the former occupation of the country by ice, but it has 

not yet been satisfactorily determined

whether these bowlders were brought directly by the glacier and were dropped 

from its moving mass, whether they were 

floated along on cakes of ice in a large 

lake, or whether they were simply washed 

out over this plain from the ice front when 

it was in the vicinity of .Spokane. If the 

bowlders here were as numerous and as 

large as the bowlder? in North Dakota west 

of Missouri River there would probably 

be no question as to their glacial transportation, but in the State of Washington 

they are so few in number and are scattered over so wide an extent of country 

that some doubt naturally arises as to 

whether moving ice was the vehicle by 

which they were transported to their present resting places.
164 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Sprague.

Elevation 1,906 feet. 

Population 1,110. 

St. Paul 1,546 miles.

layer by layer, as one peels an onion, but were cut through in many 

places, leaving rugged remnants here and there that make a distinct 

type of badland topography.

The railway descends into a pronounced valley and reaches the 

town of Sprague, named for Gen. J. W. Sprague, 

a former manager of the Pacific coast division. Railway shops formerly here have been removed and the 

town is now dependent on the dry farming of the 

adjacent uplands.

The train runs down the valley and at a distance of 3 miles from 

Sprague comes to the upper end of Colville Lake. This strip of 

water adds a pleasing variety to an otherwise rather monotonous 

landscape, but it lacks the picturesque setting of trees and mountains 

that give to the lakes farther east their charm and beauty. The 

railway curves in and out around the projecting spurs of basalt on 

the west shore to a point near the outlet of the lake and there turns 

more to the west and crosses the basaltic plateau.

Many bowlders of foreign material such as granite and quartzite 

may be observed near the south end of the lake and along the line 

westward at least as far as milepost 138, but it is doubtful if any can 

be found beyond that point.

Ritzville, the largest town between Spokane and Pasco, is the center 

of a rich agricultural district. This is a part of the great wheat belt 

of eastern Washington that has been so wonderfully 

developed by dry-farming methods. About a mile 

beyond Ritzville a branch line turning to the right 

(west) and known as the Ellensburg cut-off has been 

graded and is said to be ready for the rails. When 

this line is completed it will not only open up a large area of farming 

land but also give a line to Ellensburg, west of Columbia River, 100 

miles shorter" than the present route. 1

Ritzville.

Elevation 1,822 feet. 

Population 1,859. 

St. Paull,570miles.

1 The traveler may wonder why the 

Northern Pacific, having Puget Sound 

as its objective point, should bend so far 

to the south after leaving Spokane and 

then turn to the north after crossing Columbia River at Pasco. The first intention of the company was to build a line 

to Portland down Columbia River, as 

well as a line to Puget Sound across the 

Cascade Mountains, and a coast line connecting Portland and Puget Sound. At 

the time it was decided to recommence 

construction, in 1879, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. had built a line 

from Portland up the south bank of Columbia River to Wallula, at the mouth of

Walla Walla River. In order to hasten 

construction of the main line of the 

Northern Pacific it was decided to utilize 

this line for the transportation of material 

for that part of the through line which 

lies east of Pasco and to postpone for a 

time the construction of the line along 

the north bank of Columbia River and 

that across the Cascade Mountains. Immediately after the main line was completed, in 1883, the construction of the 

line across the Cascade Mountains by way 

of the Yakima Valley was begun. The 

controlling reason for swinging the line 

so far to the south was to make the connection with the Oregon Railway & Naviga-
BULLETIN 611 SHEEET No. 22

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White. Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

\ 17* 30 Sheet No. 21 WASH IN GTO N

A Glacial outwash gravel and sand

D Light-colored clay (Ellensburj? formation) ' Tertiary 

E Lava flows (Yakima basalt; ; < Miocene'

J Gneiss and schist

Scale 

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch

Contour interval 200 feel

ELEVATIONS IN FEET ABOVE MZ

The distances from St P*ul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crosatita on the railroads are spaced 1 mile apart
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 165

Lind.

Elevation 1,364 feet. 

Population 831. 

St. Paul 1,587 miles.

Beyond Ritzville are the stations Essig (see sheet 23, p. 168), Paha, 

and Ruby, but there is'little of interest until, as the train descends a 

valley at milepost 164, the main line of the Chicago, 

Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway is seen on the left. 

This road diverges from the main line of the Northern 

Pacific at De Smet, a short distance west of Missoula, 

and crosses the Coeur d'Alene Mountains by a more 

direct route than that of the Northern Pacific by Pend Oreille Lake. 

At Lind the two roads are on opposite sides of the valley, but a mile 

below the town the St. Paul road crosses the Northern Pacific on a 

substantial steel and concrete viaduct. Below the crossing the 

St. Paul line keeps down the valley, but the Northern Pacific climbs 

the slope beyond the creek so as to pass into another valley draining 

to the south. In ascending this ridge it is interesting to note that 

in a number of cuts where the rocks are well exposed the basalt is 

overlain by white silt or clay and fine sand that covers the entire 

hillside and conceals every irregularity of the hard rock beneath. 

This material has been taken as indicating the presence of a lake in 

glacial time, similar to glacial Lake Missoula, but the absence of 

lines of stratification (bedding) shows that the material has had a 

different origin. The question of the origin is bound up in the 

general Tertiary history of this region. 1

After reaching the summit at Providence the railway begins the 

long descent of a little valley which leads eventually into the open 

plain above Pasco. This is one of the least interestProvidence. mg stretches, so far as scenery is concerned, along the 

Elevation 1,549 feet. Northern Pacific, for the valley is so narrow that the

St. Paul 1,505 miles. . , ; / . . .J ,

views irom the train give no idea of the character of 

the upland. The valley is carved in basalt, which shows in. places 

in rugged ledges, with the white loess mantling everything.

tion Co.'s railroad, as stated above, but 

there were other reasons, such as the 

possibilities of obtaining large traffic in 

the Yakima Valley and the fact that any 

crossing of Columbia River above Pasco 

involved much heavier grades and more 

expensive construction than the present 

crossing. The construction of the line by 

the Northern Pacific along the north 

bank of Columbia River was delayed so 

long that Congress declared a forfeiture of 

that portion of its charter and of the accompanying land grant, arid it was not 

until 1908 that a railroad was constructed 

along the north bank of the Columbia by 

the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway

Co., a corporation owned jointly by the 

Northern Pacific and the Great Northern 

companies.

1 The Tertiary history of Oregon and 

Washington begins before there was a 

Cascade Range, at a time when the territory now occupied by that range, as well 

as much of the region lying to the east, was 

a lowland in which shallow estuaries extended for long distances from the coast, 

while to the east were fresh-water lakes. 

In these shallow waters and on the low 

land near them was laid down a thick 

series of beds of shale, sandstone, and coal, 

now known as the Swauk and Roslyn formations, of Eocene (Tertiary) age. The
166 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Near milepost 192 a branch line of the road enters the valley-from 

the right and gradually descends along the valley wall. This branch 

unites with the mam line at Connell and serves to 

connect this place with Coulee City and the Big Bend 

country to the north.

Below Connell the valley walls grow more rugged, 

and at Cactus siding (milepost 200) a very prominent 

wall of lava is seen on both sides of the valley, but more particularly

Connell.

Elevation 845 feet. 

Population 778.* 

St. Paul 1,615 miles.

deposition of these beds was interrupted 

by a flow of basaltic lava which was the 

beginning of a great series of flows that 

reached their maximum development in 

the succeeding Miocene epoch.

Sheet after sheet of basaltic lava was 

poured out over a territory 250,000 square 

miles in extent that included the greater 

part of Washington, all of eastern Oregon, 

part of California, and a large area in the 

Snake River valley of Idaho. (See map 

of Columbia River plateau on sheet 23.) 

It is probable, however, that the eruptions in the Washington area began at a 

somewhat earlier date than those of the 

Snake River plains of Idaho, which seem 

to have 'been in part contemporaneous 

with the last flows that occurred along 

Columbia River.

It is a generally accepted view that 

the molten rock was forced up through 

great cracks or fissures in the crust of 

the earth. This conclusion is based 

mainly on the following evidence: (1) 

The volume and extent of the lava 

floods are so enormous that it is difficult 

to conceive of their eruption from ordinary craters; (2) the rarity of the fragmental materials known as tuffs, breccias, 

etc., indicates a welling up through fissures without the explosive action characteristic of crater eruptions; (3) old fissures through which the floods of lava 

came forth have been discovered fissures 

now filled with the cooled and hardened 

basalt in observable connection with overlying sheets of lava.

The basalt was not poured forth in one 

great outburst, but is made up of a great 

number of layers or individual flows 

which in places are thousands of feet in 

aggregate thickness. About 20 such flows 

are exposed in some of the bluffs of Columbia River. Each one represents- a distinct outpouring of lava, the eruptions 

being separated by intervals of time, some 

of which must have endured for centuries, 

for they are marked by beds of soil in 

which trees grew to considerable size 

before being charred and buried by later 

flows. The eruptions of lava, especially 

in the later stages of activity, were separated also by periods in which other 

materials accumulated, consisting of volcanic ash and beds of sand, clay, and 

gravel laid down in lakes or rivers.

In addition to the massive flows that 

constitute the greater part of the formation there are beds of fragmental volcanic 

material, such as bombs and smaller angular fragments of lava. Such materials 

have either been thrown up to great 

heights and rained down upon the surrounding country, or, mixed with hot 

water, have flowed over the surface as 

mud. The fragmental materials are not 

so widely distributed as the massive flows.

The quantity of material poured out 

during this period" was enormous. The 

greatest thickness of the lava and associated deposits is not less than 4,000 feet, 

but if it averages only 500 feet thick over 

the entire area, seemingly a very moderate 

estimate, it would make a mass of 24,000 

cubic miles, or a cube nearly 30 miles in 

height. Even this great volume may be 

far less than that actually poured out.

Coincident with the later stages of the 

lava eruptions occurred a subsidence of 

the area east of the present Cascade Range, 

and a large lake was formed, in which accumulated material derived from the land 

area on the west. Before the basaltic 

eruptions had ceased a great volcanic disturbance occurred in the Cascade region 

and lava of another kind (andesite) waa
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE XXII

A. WHITE BLUFF OF THE COLUMBIA, 20 MILES ABOVE PASCO, WASH.

Composed of white volcanic ash (Ellensburg formation), Man on horseback on top of bluff indicates size of

bluff.

r 7iV'/v* '

* f <*'.*., . > -t~/i<j

B. COLUMNAR LAVA AT CACTUS SIDING, 5 MILES SOUTH OF CONNELL, WASH.

On cooling the lava has formed columns or prisms which in places are remarkably regular. The columns stand 

at right angles to the cooling surface of the flow.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

MOUNT ADAMS, AS SEEN FROM THE NORTHERN PACIFIC TRAINS N

Cold and severe, the volcanic cone stands above the broad platform of the Cascade Range, which is an older featu
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 167

on the right (west). This cliff is about 150 feet high and in the lower

Mesa.

Elevation 687 feet. 

Population 366.* 

St. Paul 1,625 miles.

part shows beautiful columnar structure (see PI. 

XXII, jB), but the columns are small, and they may 

not be visible from the train. The rugged walls continue as far as Mesa, but beyond that station the valley opens and the walls are lower and have lost much

of their rugged character.

poured forth. The eruptions were accompanied by explosions, which produced 

large quantities of tuff, volcanic ash, and 

pumice. While the volcanic eruptions 

were in progress, the rocks of the Cascade 

region were folded and crushed and somewhat uplifted, and the streams, made more 

powerful by the increase in grade due to 

the uplift, carried vast quantities of the 

andesltic material eastward to the lake 

basin previously described. In this body 

of fresh water the waste material was deposited as mud, sand, or gravel, together 

with some sheets of basaltic lava that 

apparently marked the last expiring gasp 

of the giant forces which had previously 

poured forth such irresistible floods of this 

material. In the Yakima Valley the beds 

thus laid down have been named the 

Ellensburg formation. Here the sediments are coarse, indicating nearness to 

the margin of the lake and to the source of 

supply, but farther out in the basin, according to I. C. Russell, the material 

deposited in this lake is largely white silt, 

composed chiefly of volcanic dust and ash 

that were blown out of the new set of 

volcanoes which then were active to the 

west. This material is exceedingly fine 

and forms the White Bluff on Columbia 

River some distance .above Pasco (PI. 

XXII, A) and the isolated hills at Fishtrap.

Up to the close of the lake period of central Washington the Cascade Range, as it 

is known to-day, did not exist. ' During 

the deposition of the Ellensburg formation 

the area now occupied by the range was 

being worn down by streams, and finally 

it reached that state of low relief v that is 

called a peneplain. Its surface was then 

not very far above sea level and it bore 

little resemblance to the region as it is 

known at the present time.

The great uplift of the Cascade Range 

came as the closing event in the Tertiary

history or the opening chapter in the Quaternary. These mountains were not 

formed, by a volcanic outburst,' although 

such events were of common occurrence 

in this country, but they are the result of 

a gradual uplift of this part of the earth's 

crust, which produced a great arched plateau about 5,000 feet above sea level.

Volcanic activity was not entirely suspended in this region, and here and there 

venta were formed from which poured 

forth lava and volcanic ash, and large 

cones were built upon the surface of the 

deeply eroded plateau. These are the 

great conical peaks which are such majestic features of the Cascade Range.

The next great epoch in the geologic 

history of this region was that of glaciation, when great ice sheets came down 

from the north and also from the local 

mountains. The plain of the Columbia 

was invaded by two ice masses one from 

the northeast by way of Spokane, and the 

other coming down the valley of Okanogan (o-kan-og/an) River and then across 

the immediate canyon of the Columbia 

That great river in this time of flood was 

temporarily diverted to a course near Coulee City, but on the retreat of the ice it 

resumed its original channel. The great 

cold of the glacial epoch left large parts of 

this region without a cover of vegetation, 

and much of the soft material laid down 

in the lake previously described was 

picked up by the winds and whirled away 

to the east, where it finally settled as a 

mantle over the entire region. As the 

winds which transported the dust were 

not markedly periodic and as the fine material settled particle by particle like 

snow, the deposits are homogeneous and 

not marked by lines of stratification.

Such, therefore, seems to have been the 

mode of origin and the manner of distribution of the white earth, generally called 

by geologists loess.
168 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Eltopia.

Elevation 598 feet. 

Population 252.* 

St. Paul 1,634 miles.

If it is a hot day in midsummer when the traveler passes down the 

coulee, he may wonder whether the great flows of basalt are not still 

heating the surface. The plain of the Columbia, 

which he is rapidly approaching, has a reputation for 

great heat in the summer, but as it does not show a 

corresponding high temperature in the other parts of 

the year it seems obvious that the great heat is caused 

by the configuration of the mountains and their effect on the movement of the atmospheric currents.

South of Eltopia (see sheet 24, p. 172) the canyon followed by the 

railway becomes shallower and finally merges with the broad plain of 

Columbia River. The lava underlies the plain but dips more rapidly 

toward the south than the slope of the surface, and at Pasco, as shown 

by drill records, it lies more than 200 feet below river level. This 

plain is composed of soft clay and sand (Ellensburg formation) and 

back from the river, where irrigation is impossible, it is nothing but 

a sagebrush desert. In places the regular surface of the plain is 

interrupted by low dunes of sand which have drifted up the slope from 

the channel of the Columbia. The traveler may wonder what can 

subsist in so desolate a land if he has not yet learned that in many 

places water can be procured by digging and that the soil stores up 

enough moisture to raise fair crops when properly cultivated. The 

climate of the region is semiarid, the precipitation being from 6 to 12 

inches a year. The temperature ranges from a minimum of 10° below 

zero in winter to 110° above zero in summer.

Pasco is a division terminal of the railway and the center of a large 

irrigated district lying above the town and on the east side of the river. 

The shade trees and green lawns of the town are in 

striking contrast to the brown sagebrush of the surrounding country.

Immediately after leaving the station at Pasco the 

train is upon the great bridge that spans the swirling 

waters of the Columbia, 1 one of the great rivers of the continent a

Pasco.

Elevation 389 feet. 

Population 2,083. 

St. Paul 1,651 miles.

1 One of the most interesting parts of 

the history of the exploration of the northwestern part of the United States is the 

story of the discovery of the mouth of the 

Columbia, or rather of the failure to find 

it by the many navigators \vho sailed up 

the western shore for the very purpose of 

discovery.

In 1788 an English captain discovered 

and named Cape Disappointment, just 

to the north of the river's mouth, without 

recognizing in the inlet to the south the 

mouth of the greatest river on the coast. 

In 1789 two Boston trading ships, the

Washington and the Columbia, under the 

command of Capt. Robert Gray, visited 

the coast for a cargo of furs. Gray thought 

he saw indications of the mouth of a large 

river in latitude 46° 10' but did not stop 

to investigate, and after completing a 

voyage around the world his vessel, the 

Columbia, was again dispatched to the 

Pacific coast in 1791. He spent the winter at Nootka Sound, on Vancouver Island, 

and in the spring cruised south from the 

Strait of Fuca in search of the river 

which he thought he saw three years 

before. On his way he met the English
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 23

THE GREAT LAVA PLATEAU OF COLUMBIA RIVER. STRETCHING SOUTHWARD ACROSS OREGON 

AND EASTWARD NEARLY TO YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

I 9°30 ;

119° WASHINGTON

EXPLANATION

D Clay and sand (Ellensburg formation) 

E Ijiva flows (Yakima basalt)

Scale 500,000 

Approximately 8 miles to I inch

L.9 ....?..-.. 'P .... '

O5 10 IS 20 25 30Kilome1 

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles \ 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced 1 mile apart

20Miles

lers

1I9°30' SheetA/oZb 119° l!8°3o'
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 169

river that is fed from the melting snows on the mountains of most of 

the northwestern part of this country and a large part of the mountain 

region of Canada.

Although the Northern Pacific crosses Columbia River only a few 

miles above the mouth of Snake River, the junction of these two 

streams can not be readily seen from the train, but the OregonWashington Railroad & Navigation Co.'s bridge which crosses just 

below the Snake is clearly visible. When the traveler reaches this 

point in his westward journey he has been out of St. Paul only 48 

or 50 hours, but when Lewis and Clark camped at the mouth of the 

Snake in October, 1805, they had been gone from St. Louis 18 months. 

At that time the ownership of Oregon Territory was uncertain and 

most of the men, if not the leaders themselves, believed that they 

were on foreign soil, as many entries in their journals refer to what 

they expected to do when they returned to the United States.

The first white man to explore the Columbia above the mouth of 

the Yakima (yak'i-ma), which enters a few miles west of Kenncwick, was David Thompson, who made a trip down the river from 

Spokane in the year 1811.

Soon after passing Kennewick, a thriving town grown up in the 

center of a rich irrigated district on the south side of 

the river, the train crosses a branch line of the 

Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. that 

runs up the valley of Yakima River as far as North 

Yakima.

After the dull, monotonous sagebrush plain above Pasco, the 

orchards and fields of green alfalfa are a pleasing sight. The fields 

first seen are those on the lowest bottom of the river, 

but as the railway reaches Vista it is running on a 

second terrace which is also irrigated and under a 

high state of cultivation.

Kennewick.

Elevation 372 feet. 

Population 1,219. 

St. Pan! 1,654 miles.

Vista.

Elevation 576 feet. 

St. Paul 1,659 miles.

expedition under Capt. Vancouver going 

north to explore Puget Sound. Gray informed the commander of one of these 

vessels of his belief that a large river 

entered the ocean near latitude 46°, but 

as the English captain had just passed 

that point in clear weather and had seen 

no indication of a river he gave no credence to Gray's report.

Gray persisted in his search and was 

rewarded by finding the river's mouth as 

he had expected and by sailing over the 

bar on May 11, 1792. Gray named the 

river after his ship, and although for a 

time the name Oregon, given by Jonathan

Carver to the river in 1778, was employed, 

it was soon abandoned and Columbia 

came into general use.

Gray's discovery and the careful and 

accurate entry in his log book of the circumstances connected with it were 

largely instrumental in later deciding in 

favor of the United States the controversy 

with Great Britain over the ownership of 

Oregon Territory. Gray's services to his 

country are commemorated by the names 

of Grays Bay and Grays Point, on the 

river nearly opposite Astoria, and of 

Grays Harbor, a commodious bay on the 

Washington coast farther north.
170 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Although the Northern Pacific Railway in a general way follows the 

valley of Yakima River, it does not adhere closely to that stream, 

but cuts across country, thereby avoiding a big bend. Along this 

ctit-off there is no irrigation and the country is desolate in the extreme. Before water was put upon the Yakima Valley it was a 

sagebrush plain just as extensive and just as desolate as the one here 

traversed. Water is the wizard that has transformed this desert 

into a land of blossoms, and as time goes on more and more of the 

waste places of the earth will be redeemed in this manner.

Not only is the surface of the country from Vista to Kiona monotonous, but the rocks, while interesting in so far as they record the 

past history of the region, are monotonous and poorly exposed. As 

explained on page 165, the rocks in this part of the valley consist of 

sandstone and shale formed from sediment laid down in lakes or on 

the surface of the land, interspersed with great sheets of lava (basalt) 

that covered most of the country. The lava was not poured out in 

a single flow, but the entire region is underlain by a succession of 

lava sheets. The. shale and sandstone are soft and in only a few 

places show at the surface, but the outcrops of the sheets of basalt 

are marked by dark ledges along the hill slopes and the streams of 

rock fragments that descend from them.

At Kiona the railway approaches Yakima River, 

and just after passing the station the traveler can 

obtain a good view down the valley, which includes 

well-cultivated farms and the bridge of the OregonWashington Railroad. 

A short distance west of Kiona the valley is much restricted and 

all irrigation ceases. The river is bordered by rugged walls of basalt,

a good view of which can be

obtained from milepost 31 

by looking back from the rear 

of the train. From this point 

of vantage it will be seen that 

the valley is not smooth and 

regular, sloping gently from 

the tops of the ridges to the 

river bank, but that it is compound, consisting of a rather broad outer 

or upper valley and an inner rocky gorge cut in the floor of the large 

valley. The shape of the valley is represented by the accompanying diagram (fig. 35), in which the outer broad valley is represented 

by the section ABC and the inner valley by the sharp! cut at D. 

Usually such an arrangement is considered as indicative of two 

periods of valley cutting under somewhat different conditions, but

Kiona.

Elevation 525 feet. 

Population 291.* 

St. Paul 1,675 miles.

FIGURE 35. Section of Yakima Valley east of Prosser, 

Wash., a valley within a valley.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 171

Prosser.

Elevation 671 feet. 

Population 1,298. 

St. Paul 1,691 miles!

here the forms have not been studied with sufficient care to make 

a determination possible. There is so great a difference in the hardness of the basalt and the soft sandstone associated with it that the 

inner valley may be due to a harder and much more massive bed of 

basalt near the bottom and not to different conditions of erosion.

About Prosser there is a large area of land under irrigation and in 

a high state of cultivation. It is. a pleasing change from the dark 

or dull-gray color of the barren areas to the brilliant 

green of the fields of alfalfa, grass, or oats; from the 

stunted vegetation of the sagebrush plains to the 

thriving orchards which stretch away in the distance 

almost as far as the eye can see. Tt is no less pleasing 

to pass from the dry plains of the sun-scorched desert, where clouds 

of dust fill the air, to a land where running water is seen in every 

irrigation ditch and the land is so covered with rich vegetation that 

there seems no chance for it to become dry and parched. 1

The railway runs some distance back from the river through irrigated fields, but gradually climbs to a terrace which shows on the 

left about a mile beyond Byron. This terrace is 

Byron. doubtless built of the soft material washed into the 

valle7 bJ the streams, but the amount of such material is variable, as the basalt appears at railway level 

in a number of places. On a clear day the high peaks of the Cascade 

Range, 100 miles away, can be seen from the vicinity 

of Pasco, but the distance is so great that at first 

sight the traveler may be disappointed in them. A 

better view can be obtained near milepost 58, 6 miles 

beyond Mabton, but even from this place the peaks 

are not as striking objects as they are from the region about Toppenish, farther northwest.

Mabton.

Elevation 725 feet. 

Population 666. 

St. Paul 1,703 miles.

1 The Yakima Valley has been aptly 

characterized as "Washington's vale of 

plenty." It is a region of small farms 

intensively cultivated and contains some 

of the most valuable agricultural lands in 

the world. Its farm homes are attractive, 

and in variety of crops and profitable 

yields it ranks favorably with southern 

California. A number of lakes on the 

headwaters of the streams of the Yakima 

drainage basin are being converted into 

storage reservoirs, and it is estimated that 

when the work is completed the water 

supply will be sufficient to irrigate about 

500,000 acres. The land lies in a succession of valleys, and its reclamation will 

be accomplished by units. At the present time two units are practically completed the Tie ton, embracing approximately 34,700 acres near North Yakima, 

and the Sunnyside, covering about 

100,000 acres some 6 miles below.

This valley is the home of the big red 

apple, and its fruit lands range in value 

from $300 to $1,200 an acre. The soil 

consists of volcanic ash and gravel. Hop 

and vegetable growers vie with the neighboring fruit growers, and forage crops and 

dairying are also very profitable. The cost 

of water right on the Sunnyside unit is $52 

an acre, and on the Tieton unit $93 an 

acre. The Government land has all been 

filed upon, and farms can be acquired now 

only by purchase from private owners.
172 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Alfalfa.

Elevation 723 feet. 

Population 81.* 

St. Paul 1,717 miles.

After passing Empire (see sheet 25, p. 176), Satus, Toppenish Ridge, 

and Alfalfa the traveler can get a full view of Mount Adams, far to 

the west. Although it is here more than 50 miles 

distant, its great height (12,307 feet above sea level) 

makes it conspicuous. (See PL XXIII, p. 167.) To 

one unaccustomed to judging of the magnitude of distant mountains, the first view of Mount Adams may be 

disappointing, but after watching it for some time and comparing it 

with objects near by the observer will find that its enormous bulk becomes more apparent. How cold it seems in its eternal pall of white! 

The mountain looks like some patrician of old, holding himself erect 

and aloof from all surroundings! Long ago it was an^active volcano 

emitting molten lava, but its activity ceased, and for unknown ages 

the mountain has stood the cold, calm, rugged peak it is to-day. 

Just beyond Mount Adams and from many points of view hidden by 

it is Mount St. Helens, which within the memory of the white man 

has showed signs of volcanic activity. It is apparent that the volcanoes of the Cascade Range, while possibly extinct, have not been 

so for a great length of time. That they may be only smoldering is 

indicated by the recent outburst of Lassen Peak, in California, 

which stands along the same line of volcanic disturbance.1 Mount 

Adams remains a magnificent spectacle, until the view of it is shut 

off by the Atanum Ridge, north of Parker. Although 

the country about Toppenish lies within the Yakima 

Indian Reservation, it is well watered by ditches that 

receive their supply from the river in the vicinity of 

the next ridge, which can be seen in the distance. 

The land is well cultivated, though not so intensively as that covered 

by the Sunnyside reclamation project across the river.

While enjoying the beautiful spectacle of Mount Adams, the 

traveler should look a little farther to the north where, if the atmosphere is clear and no cloud banners intervene, he may be fortunate 

enough to catch a view of the summit of Mount Rainier (Tacoma),

Toppenish.

Elevation 765 feet. 

Population 1,598. 

St. Paul 1,721 miles.

1 The view from Alfalfa or Toppenish 

gives to the traveler an excellent idea of 

the height and character of the Cascade 

Range and of the volcanic cones which 

project above its apparently even crest 

line. In order, however, to understand 

fully the relations of these cones and the 

character of topography of the platform 

upon which they are built, it ia necessary 

to know something of the geologic history 

of the range and of the conditions which 

have tended to produce its present form.

After the great lava sheets were spread 

out and somewhat deformed by folding,

the region was subject to the action of 

the elements, and the rain and streams 

reduced the surface to a nearly uniform 

plain only a slight distance above sea 

level. From this plain the present Cascade Range was formed by a gradual uplift of the surface along the axis of the 

mountains. This upward movement continued until the surface was raised to a 

height of 4,000 feet above sea level in the 

south and about 8,000 feet in the north, 

In this uplifted mass the streams carved 

deep channels or canyons, almost destroying the plateau and leaving only the
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 24

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall. Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of [hat name.

L..9

Scale 500,000

Approximately 8 miles to 1 inch 

.?.... 'P .- ... '

20Miles

10 15 2O 25 SOKilometers

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crosstles on the railroads are spaced! mile apart

EXPLANATION

Thickness 

in feet

A Stream deposits (alluvium) ' Quaternary

D Clay, sand, and gravel (Ellensburpr formation) 300l Tertiary 

E Lava flows (Yakima basalt) 2,000-4,000j (Miocene)

120" II9'30' 119'
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC BOUTE. 173

Wapato.

Elevation 865 feet. 

Population 400. 

St. Paul 1,729 miles.

14,408 feet in altitude, the highest peak of the Cascade Range, but 

this view gives him little idea of the magnitude and grandeur of the 

mountain.

The great sheets of basalt that underlie the Yakima Valley are in 

places thrown into low folds by pressure in the crust of the earth 

exerted in a north-south direction, and consequently 

the folds trend at right angles to that direction, or 

nearly east and west. As these folds bring up the 

hard basalt, they make ridges or mountains across 

the country, the length of the ridge depending on the 

the extent of the fold. The big ridge lying to the south of the railway from Kennewick to Mabton is supposed to be of this character, 

although its structure has not been accurately determined. This 

broad upland, from its original cover of abundant and nutritious 

bunch grass, is known as Horse Heaven. The next ridges to the 

north are Toppenish Ridge west of the river and Snipes Mountain on 

the east. These appear to be parts of one general line of disturbance 

but are separate folds. In Snipes Mountain the arch is so low that 

the basalt is scarcely visible under the cover of the Ellensburg 

formation.

The next anticline to the north, which lies north of Toppenish, is 

known west of the river as Atanum Ridge and east of the river °as 

Rattlesnake Ridge. The Yakima has made a deep, 

narrow cut, called Union Gap, through this ridge 

north of Parker. At the south entrance to the gap 

the Northern Pacific crosses the North Yakima 

branch of the Oregon-Washington Railroad. The 

gap is about a mile in length, and the sheets of lava at the south 

entrance dip toward the south at an angle of about 20°. The opposite dip on the north side of the fold is not so apparent, for it is 

much steeper and in some places the layers are crushed and overturned, so that the dip is toward the south.

Parker.

Elevation 930 feet. 

Population 823.* 

St. Paul 1,733 miles.

high summits to mark its once even surface. When seen from a distant point, 

as from Toppenish, the tops fall into line 

and have the appearance of an unbroken 

upland mass.

At the same time that the streams were 

engaged in trenching the mountains, 

vents were formed here and there along 

the range, through which ash and lava 

reached the surface 'and were deposited 

on the platform of the range. As lava 

flow succeeded lava flow, and showers of 

ash fell upon the area surrounding the

vent, a cone was gradually built up, 

forming the present high peaks. These 

volcanic cones between Canada and Columbia River are Mount Baker, Glacier 

Peak, Mount ^Rainier (Tacoma), Mount 

Adams, and Mount St. Helens.

The view from Alfalfa or Toppenish 

shows clearly that Mount Adams rests on 

the platform called the Cascade Range, 

but that it is not really a part of that 

range, but rather an excrescence upon the 

apparently rounded, tree-covered surface 

of the plateau.
174 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

In a region in which the annual precipitation is so small (8.9 

inches) as it is in the Yakima Valley the quantity of. water flowing 

in the streams and available for irrigation is of the utmost importance.. 

In order to determine the volume of water in Yakima River the 

United States Geological Survey maintained for a number of years 

a gaging station in Union Gap, but for the last six years the station 

has been near Wapato, a few miles below the gap. By means of a 

small car swinging from a steel cable the engineer is able to measure 

the velocity of the current at a number of points across the stream, 

and from these measurements, together with other measurements 

of the cross section of the river, compute the volume of water available for irrigation and the development of power. 1

North of Union Gap the valley broadens into a parklike country, 

all of which is under irrigation and highly cultivated, except near 

the river, where the land is excessively wet. The original Yakima 

City was situated just above Union Gap, and the station, the only 

remaining structure on the site, can be seen near milepost 86. 

Trouble arose between the railway and the town promoters and the 

station was abandoned, and a new station, called North Yakima, 

established about 4- miles north of the old one. With the growth 

of the new town of North Yakima the older settlement soon died out. 

North Yakima is the largest town in central Washington and is 

the commercial and social center of the Yakinia Valley, one of the 

largest areas of irrigated land in the West and one 

that is noted the world over for the fine fruit which it 

produces. The valley, although semiarid, 2 is well 

supplied with water from Yakima River and its tributary, Naches River, both of which head in the Cascade 

Range, where the snowfall is abundant. Fruit raising is the principal 

occupation, but there are also broad fields of grain, alfalfa, and hops, 

indicating that the farmers feel the necessity of a diversity of crops,

North Yakima.

Elevation 1,078 feet. 

Population 14,082. 

St. Paul 1,741 miles.

1 A gaging station has been maintained 

in this vicinity since November, 1896. 

It shows a mean annual flow of 4,640 

second-feet (a second-foot means 1 cubic 

foot per second), which equals 3,360,000 

acre-feet (an acre-foot is 43,560 cubic 

feet, or the quantity required to cover 1 

acre to the depth of 1 foot).

About 1,500 river-measuring stations 

similar to the one at Union Gap are now 

maintained by the United States Geological Survey on the more important 

streams in the United States and in the 

Hawaiian Islands. The data collected 

at these gaging stations are of prime importance in developing the water resources of the country and are used in 

designing and operating power and irrigation plants, city waterworks, and other 

works whose establishment and successful operation depend on a knowledge of 

the quantity of water flowing in surface 

streams.

2 According to the United States 

Weather Bureau, the mean annual precipitation in the Yakima Valley from 

1893 to 1903 was 8.9 inches, divided as 

follows: Winter, 4 inches; spring, 2 

inches; summer, 0.7 inch; autumn, 

2.2 inches.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. YAKIMA CANYON, WASH.

The hard basalt rapidly breaks down under the influence of the weather, and the broken fragments largely

conceal the underlying rocks.

B. COLUMNAR ANDESITE NEAR YAKIMA CANYON, WASH.
U. G. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

BEAUTIFUL LAKE KEECHELUS, WASH. 

The heavy forest covers the mountain slopes down to the w
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC BOTJTE. 175

so that in case of an oversupply of one they will have another to fall 

back upon.

The volcanic rocks that border the Naches Valley and extend within 

a few miles of North Yakima furnish an interesting example of a 

recent lava flow. The hummocky surface of this plateau between 

Naches River and Cowiche Creek, although in places covered by sagebrush and bunch grass, exhibits the essential features of a cooling lava 

flow, and at many points on its borders the characteristic jointing 

due to contraction on cooling is shown in rare perfection. (See PI. 

XXIV, 5.)

North of North Yakima the railway crosses Naches River and then 

passes through Yakima Ridge in a short canyon cut in the thick layers 

of basalt, which have here, as in the other ridges to the south, been 

folded into a low anticline.1

1 After having .traveled up Yakima 

River for nearly 100 miles and passed 

through a number of basalt ridges, the 

traveler may be surprised at the apparent 

disregard of the stream for the ridges and 

valleys. As stated previously, the principal arches and troughs into which the 

rocks have been bent trend in a nearly 

east-west direction, and if the streams followed similar courses they would encounter little difficulty in reaching their destinations. But instead of following the 

synclinal valleys Yakima River flows 

almost due south and crosses in this part 

of its course no less than seven ridges of 

arched or upturned basalt. What made 

the stream select its present course, and 

why did it persist in this course across the 

arches of hard rock when it might have, 

found an outlet to the Columbia on the 

east by an open synclinal valley?

In order to answer this question it will 

be necessary to go back in imagination to 

a time before the ridges were formed, when 

the Ellensburg formation (sand, gravel, 

and volcanic ash) was laid down in a shallow lake on the Yakima basalt. Finally 

the lake was filled or there was an uplift 

of the region which changed it to a land 

area. Over this newly made land streams 

flowed down the slope dn their way to 

the sea. In this epoch Yakima and 

Columbia rivers were formed, before the 

great arches in the rocks had been produced. After the streams were well established, in about the same courses that 

they follow to-day, a great north-south 

pressure wrinkled the rocks into a series 

of broad, shallow troughs and rather short 

arches. Many persons think of such a 

movement as having occurred suddenly 

and as having crumpled the rocky layers 

as leaves of paper may be crumpled in the 

hand. If the movement had been sudden, then the southward-flowing stream 

would have been dammed wherever one 

of the arches crossed its pathway, and 

Yakima River, instead of flowing as it 

does to-day, would have been broken into 

a number of separate streams, each of 

which would probably have found an outlet to the east into Columbia River. As 

this did not happen, it seems evident that 

the movement was not rapid, but was so 

slow that the stream cut the rock away as 

fast as it was forced up. As the downward cutting of a stream in hard rocks is 

done very slowly, it follows that the arching of the strata must also have been a 

very slow process, probably occupying 

thousands of years. Although the movement was slow, it persisted until some of 

the arches attained an altitude of 2,000 or 

3,000 feet; but the stream maintained its 

course and now presents the apparently 

anomalous feature of cutting directly 

through ridge after ridge, disregarding the 

structure or topography of the region.
176 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Selah.

Elevation 1,108 feet. 

Population 1,524.* 

St. Paul 1,744 miles.

The canyon is short and north of the ridge lies Selah Valley, one 

of the prettiest valleys in this part of the country. The land is rolling 

or even hilly along the sides of the valley, but water 

is carried in a high-line canal, so that all the hills and 

slopes below it are highly cultivated, and orchards 

extend as far as the eye can see. The basalt dips 

under the valley, but a little farther north it rises 

above water level, and the river has cut a sharp canyon with vertical 

walls from 50 to 70 feet high. The main canyon, which begins near 

milepost 99 (see PL XXIV, A) is cut through three separate but 

parallel ridges of basalt, each of which was produced by a low uparching of the lava, as shown in figure 36. At the entrance to the 

deeper part of the canyon the great sheets of lava, each representing 

an individual flow, rise more steeply toward the north, their dip 

(20° or 25°) corresponding in a general way with the south slope of 

the ridge. The walls of the canyon increase in height until at milepost 103, where the railway crosses the river, they are nearly 2,000 

feet high. Here the rocks are about horizontal, indicating that this

FIGUEB 36. Fold in basalt north of Roza, Wash., as seen from a point near Wymer, looking southeast.

is the middle (axis) of the fold, frjom which the beds dip in opposite 

directions. North of the axis the layers of basalt dip 30° or 35° to 

the north.

The northward dip continues to Roza, near milepost 106, where 

two lateral valleys entering on opposite sides of the river mark the 

depression or trough between the ridges. Toward the east the ridge 

south of Roza extends for a long distance, but in the other direction 

it dies down rapidly, and in a distance of 5 or 6 miles has disappeared.

Beyond Roza the beds of lava rise northward about 30° up the slope

of Umptamnn Ridge, which is a few hundred feet higher than the one

south of Roza. The axis of the fold is reached about

Roza' milepost 109, sand beyond this point the beds can be

Elevation 1,258feet. seen £0 bencl over in a great arch; but the traveler is

St. Paul 1,756 miles. , » . '.

so close to the rocky wall that it is impossible for him 

to obtain a satisfactory idea of the size or shape of the fold until he 

has gone some distance past it. At Wymer siding, between mileposts 

110 and 111, a good view of the fold on the east side of the river can 

be obtained by looking directly back from the rear of the tram. 

(See fig. 36.) From this point the fold is seen to be unsymmetrical, 

with the steepest dips on the north side.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 25

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. G. S. Topographic

Sheet of that name.

Sheet No- 26 I 20°30'

10 IS 20 25 30Kilometers /

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul. Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles

A Stream deposits (alluvium) |

C Lava flows (Tieton andesite))

D Gravel, sand, and clay (Eilensburg formation) 1,5001 Tertiarj

E Lava flows (Yakima basalt) 2,000-4,000] (Miocene)
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC EOUTE. 177

All the lava folds crossed so far in the Yakima Valley are either 

steepest on the north side or overturned, like that of Atanum Ridge 

at Union Gap. This overturning toward the north indicates that 

when the folds were produced the thrust came from the south, and it 

continued not only until the beds were arched but until the arch was 

pushed over, so that the beds on the north side stand nearly vertical 

or dip steeply toward the south. The northern limit of this fold is 

marked by the valley of Umptanum Creek (see sheet 26, p. 186), 

which enters the river near milepost 114.

North of Umptanum Creek lies Manastash Ridge, which, like the 

others already crossed, is an arch in structure; but the fold is much 

flatter than those down the river, and its shape is not apparent from 

the train. The layers of basalt rise gradually northward from the 

mouth of Umptanum Creek, and they appear to be nearly horizontal 

in the great Beavertail Bend between mileposts 115 and 118. The 

axis of the fold is more than a mile north of this bend and not far 

from milepost 120, where the railway again crosses to the east side 

of Yakima River. From this crossing the layers' of rock descend 

rapidly northward, and the great sheets of basalt that form the walls 

of the canyon for more than 20 miles dip below water level and the 

train emerges upon another broad flat that seems to be even more 

extensive than the one at North Yakima. This also is mostly under 

cultivation, and the view on the right as the tram leaves the canyon 

is particularly charming, as one looks off to the distant mountains 

across a wide stretch of fertile fields and orchards, crossed here and 

there by lines of tall trees planted as windbreaks.

Although much hard rock is exposed in the Yakima Valley stone

suitable for building material is very scarce. The basalt is a lasting

material, but its dark color renders it unsuitable for

a ' buildings and it is used only for foundations and

st.Taui ijSi for road metal- For the latter use i1} is admirably 

adapted. On the north slope of Manastash Ridge, 

about 2 miles east of Thrall, the sandstone of the EUensburg formation has been hardened by the pressure that arched and overturned 

the basalt so as to make it a very good building stone, and it has 

been utilized in some of the business blocks of EUensburg.

Ellensburg is the end of a division and a prosperous town in the

broad Kittitas Valley, which stretches far to the

EUensburg. east along Manastash Ridge. It is served not only

Elevation 1,518 feet, by the Northern Pacific but also by the Chicago,

st^Paun^miies. Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, which gives it an

advantage over most of the other towns of the

Yakima Valley. Owing to the altitude, the land is much better

95558° Bull. 611 15 12
178 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

suited to the raising of hay and to dairying than that of the lower 

valley.

A little north of Ellensburg Mount Stuart, far to the north, stands 

up as a narrow, jagged crest carrying much snow. This view is 

not so imposing as that of Mount Adams seen from a point farther 

down the valley, but the summits here are much narrower than 

that of Mount Adams and the mountain has a more rugged outline. 

The railway is bordered by broad meadows of timothy or clover 

and by fields of oats or wheat that roll in great billows under the 

strong wind that at times sweeps down the valley from the mountains. 

About a mile from the station the St. Paul Eailway is visible on the 

right, having crossed Columbia River by a route leading directly 

west from Connell.

The bluff on the right near milepost 4 is composed of the Ellensburg formation, which overlies the great flows of basalt and is composed of white clay (in most places volcanic ash), sand, and gravel. 

This material is only partly consolidated, but it stands in steep 

bluffs, as can be seen on the right. The material is so soft and the 

slope so steep that in carrying water along the bluff to irrigate lands 

lower down the valley a timber flume had to be built along the 

entire face of the bluff a distance of more than 2 miles. This 

gives an idea of the elaborate and expensive work that must be 

done in many localities in order to obtain the necessary water for 

irrigation. Not only is the first cost of such a flume great, but the 

maintenance is a considerable item of expense which must be met 

every year.

Just after passing milepost 7 the train crosses Yakima River,

here a small stream but beautifully clear and pure, and then it

follows the river bottom, in some places on the bank

orp' of the stream and in others back at the foot of the sSlSS: bluff as tne river swings from side to side °f its

flood plain. Near milepost 10 the railway again 

crosses the river, and the St. Paul road is on the other side under 

a high bluff, in which is exposed a prominent band of white volcanic 

ash. At the first sharp curve north of the river crossing the basalt 

is at track level, but it rises up the stream with the soft, stratified 

beds of the Ellensburg formation which rest upon it and which rise 

in the same direction and at the same rate.

The canyons south of this place have been cut by Yakima River 

through low rolls or folds in the basalt, but none of these folds have 

been of sufficient magnitude for the river to reach the base of the 

lava sheets; but north of Ellensburg the whole series of rock formations has been turned up like the rim of a basin, and the canyon 

which begins at Dudley, 10 miles above Ellensburg, is the cut made
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 179

by Yakima River through the basalt of this rim. Figure 37 shows

the gradual rise of the basalt northward and its final disappearance

in the hilltops far above river level.

In some parts the canyon is bounded by rugged walls of basalt

which makes it somewhat picturesque, but in general there is little 

to attract attention except the interesting geologic 

section that is exposed here. In places the canyon

Elevation 1,803 feet, opens out and the sides are covered with scattered

St. Paul 1,794 miles. f . . . . , .

pine trees that are but the mnge 01 the great mantle 

of forest that covers all of the Cascade Range except the highest

Bristol.

FIGURE 37. Section showing structure of Yakima basalt north of Ellensburg, Wash. The basalt rises 

from a level below Yakima River near Dudley and is far above track level at Teanaway.

summits and that once extended unbroken to the shores of the 

Pacific Ocean. The basalt rises steadily and near milepost 18 the 

whitish sandstone and clay of the underlying older formation makes 

its appearance in cuts along the St. Paul road, on the opposite shore 

of the stream.

The traveler should be prepared to see Mount Stuart on the right 

(north) as the train emerges from the canyon, for the view, if the 

weather is clear, is superb and lasts for only a few minutes.1

The white sandstone of the Roslyn formation is visible in a low 

bank on the right near the old station of Teanaway. It rises toward

1 Mount Stuart is the culminating peak 

of a spur which extends eastward from the 

main crest of the Cascade Range. The 

summit of the peak rises to an altitude of 

9,470 feet, or 7,600 feet above the railway 

at Teanaway station. This granite peak, 

with its deeply carved spires and crags, 

more or less covered with snow throughout 

 the summer, is the most striking feature 

in the varied scenery of the region; but 

its wildest and grandest scenery lies hidden within its own fastnesses.

The southern face of the mountain is a 

precipitous slope, rising 5,000 feet or more 

above the creek which flows at its foot. 

The lower part of this wall can be scaled 

at several points, but by only one route 

has the highest peak been attained by the 

mountain climber. This peak is so acute 

that the greater part of the available

space is taken by the United States Geological Survey triangulation monument 

which crowns its summit.

On the north side of Mount Stuart are 

broad and deep amphitheaters, in which 

lie small glaciers and glacial lakes, draining northward into Icicle Creek. The 

glaciers immediately below the main 

peak are mere remnants, some of them 

only a few hundred yards across; yet 

these exhibit most of the characteristic 

features of larger ice streams.

It is apparent that Mount Stuart is 

different from Mount Adams, which, as 

seen from a point near Toppenish, consists essentially of a gigantic cone resting 

upon the broad platform of the Cascade 

Range. Mount Stuart, as can be seen 

from Teanaway, is rugged in the extreme 

and consists of a serrate ridge with one
180 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

the north, like the formations observed in the canyon, and it forms 

the southward-facing slope of the great ridge on the right. The red 

rocks on the mountain side on the left are the Teahaway basalt, 

which underlies the Roslyn formation and is of Eocene age. The 

layers of basalt in this mountain are not horizontal but are turned 

up on edge, so that the relation of the Teanaway to the Roslyn is not 

apparent.

The valley here was formerly covered with dense forest, in striking 

contrast to the valley lower down, where there were few trees of any 

kind until the country was settled.

Near Clealum a heavy-bedded white sandstone, underlying some 

coal beds, dips to the south with the same slope as the side of the valley, and consequently it covers the entire hillside. 

Three coal tipples are in sight from the tram. Some 

coal is produced here, but most of it comes from 

mines farther from the main line of the railway. 

From Clealum a branch line leads to the right to 

Roslyn, where are situated the mines of the Northern Pacific and 

also of companies that are mining coal for sale. The Roslyn coal 

field is one of the most valuable in the State. It has made its reputation largely because of the cleanness of the coal and its good quality 

for steam raising and for domestic use. The Northern Pacific Co. 

uses the coal mined here for all its locomotives and stationary engines 

between the Stampede tunnel on the west and Butte and Helena on 

the east. Clealum has also been the supply point for the three 

principal gold-mining districts in central Washington. 1

Clealum.

Elevation 1,920 feet. 

Population 2,749. 

St. Paul 1,802 miles.

high point. The difference in the form of 

the two peaks is due to differences in 

materials and in mode of formation.

Mount Stuart consists of a great mass of 

granite which long ago was forced up 

through the rocks from below but probably never reached the surface. Before 

Tertiary time this great mass, together 

with the surrounding sedimentary and 

igneous rocks, was deformed by earth 

movements and possibly was uncovered 

and carved into mountains, though the 

record is not complete enough to determine that with certainty. The surface of 

the country was finally reduced to a lowland, except the granite mass, which 

owing to its hardness was left projecting 

about 1,000 feet above the plain. Late in 

Tertiary time the Cascade Range was 

formed by a great uplift of the rocks, and 

then the streams began their present work 

of cutting it away. Great canyons were

eroded in the uplifted mass, and the pinnacles and towers of the jagged crest of 

Mount Stuart have been formed merely

by the removal of adjacent material.

Thus while Mount Adams is a mountain of construction, Mount Stuart is a 

mountain of erosion. No better representatives of the types could be found 

than these two peaks of the Cascade 

Range.

1 The coal-bearing rocks of the Roslyn 

field lie in an open trough or syncline, the 

axis of which extends in a northwesterly 

direction parallel with the main valleys 

of the region. The Roslyn formation, 

which contains the coal beds, is about 

3,000 feet thick, but the coal occurs in 

the upper part alone, and for this reason 

the coal beds are much less extensive than 

the formation which carries them. So 

far as known they are restricted to an 

area about 7 miles long by 3£ miles wide,
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 181

West of Clealum the railway follows the north bank of the river 

under the cut bank of an extensive terrace of gravel, which is doubtless the outwash from the glacier that once occupied Clealum Valley. 

The road then bends sharply to the south around a narrow point of 

the terrace that has been protected from erosion by a projecting 

boss of the Teanaway basalt. In the early days of railroading in 

the Yakima^ Valley this was known as Deadman's Curve, from the 

number of fatal accidents that occurred here, but now with the use 

of block signals the danger has been removed.

About a mile west of this curve the railway crosses Clealum River, 

which drains a large valley heading far to the north and containing 

Clealum Lake, a body of water 4 miles long and nearly a mile wide. 

At the outlet of this lake the Reclamation Service has constructed a 

low dam to raise the level of the lake and make a storage reservoir. 

It is proposed to increase the height of this dam and thus impound 

a much larger volume of water for use in the lower valley. As the 

railway rounds the next point of the terrace and crosses the river a 

corresponding point is seen on the left, as if at one time there had 

been a continuous ridge across the valley at this place. This ridge 

has many of the characteristics of a terminal moraine, including a 

steep face upstream against which the ice front may have rested, a 

hummocky surface in that part lying to the left (south) of the track, 

and bowlder clay at the bottom of the cut near the railway. These 

features, together with the flat, smooth floor of the valley above, 

indicate that at a certain stage of the glaciation of this region a large 

body of ice came down the tributary valley now occupied by Kachess

extending from a point just a little east 

of Clealum northwestward nearly to Clealum Lake. Along the northeastern limb 

of the syncline the coal beds are well 

known, as the principal bed has been 

mined out throughout most of that area, 

but on the southwest side the rocks are 

badly covered, and although considerable 

drilling has been done the extent of the 

workable coal is somewhat problematic. 

So far only one bed, the Boslyn, has 

been worked; another bed of workable 

thickness underlies the Boslyn, but its 

extent and value have never been determined . The Boslyn bed is remarkably 

regular in thickness and composition 

throughout the district, but the quality 

of the coal improves regularly from Clealum westward toward the mountains. 

The average thickness ranges from 4 feet 

4 inches to 4 feet 9 inches. The bed is 

not all clear coal but contains a number

of partings of bony coal. Government 

analyses show that the heating value of 

the coal ranges from 11,950 to 12,980 

British thermal units.

The Boslyn district contains some of 

the largest mines west of Mississippi 

Biver, and the field as a whole is the most 

productive in the State. Its output for 

the year 1913 was 1,334,155 short tons, 

or more than one-third of the coal produced by the entire State.

The gold-mining districts in central 

Washington are the Swauk, Peshastin, 

and Negro Creek, and lie from 18 to 24 

miles northeast of Clealum. Placer gold 

has been found in all these districts, but 

the Swauk is particularly noted for the 

coarseness of the gold. Large nuggets 

have been found here, one being worth 

$1,100. Gold was discovered in this 

region in 1860, and at least $2,000,000 

worth has been produced.
182 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Lake and extended down Yakima Valley to this point. Here it 

rested for a while, pushing out in front the clay and rock fragments 

that it had ground off the rocky bed over which it had moved, and 

then the water flowing from the ice carried sand and gravel and 

spread them in a somewhat irregular sheet above the till.

Besides the moraine just described, one lies, at the lower end of 

Kachess (ka-chess') Lake and another just below Keechelus (kee'chelus) Lake. These show that the glacier, after retreating several miles 

up the branching valley, came to a halt and probably readvanced a 

little, piling up the rocky material hi each valley as a terminal 

moraine. Kachess Lake, the largest lake in the region, is a beautiful 

sheet of water nearly 6 miles long and a mile wide. A wagon road 

extends to the lower end of the lake, but the upper part is still encircled by unbroken forest, which covers the inclosing mountain slopes 

to a height of 3,200 feet above the lake. The deep basin in which 

the lake lies was scoured out by the glacier that once occupied this 

valley. The outlet of the lake has been dammed by the Reclamation 

Service and the level of the water raised several feet, thereby increasing the amount of stored water available for irrigation.

The mountain side on the left (south), which can be seen to good 

advantage in the journey up the broad valley above the moraine, 

consists of schist (the Easton schist), which is the oldest geologic 

formation that will be seen in the Cascade Mountains. Its exact 

age has not been determined, but it is supposed to be Carboniferous 

or older. It is a part of the great foundation upon which the Tertiary sediments and lavas were laid down. The rocks on the right 

(north) are the Teanaway basalt, which covers large areas east of 

the summit of the range. Near milepost 36 the sheets of lava that 

make up this formation are well exposed in the high mountain summit just north of Silver Creek. The sheets of lava here dip away 

from the valley and they make a rugged mountain front, the steepness of which has been greatly accentuated by the scouring that the 

old glacier has done along the bottom of the slope.

Easton, which lies at the foot of the steep climb up to the Stampede 

tunnel, is mainly a place for helper engines to wait until their services 

are needed in pushing up the grade. The broad valley 

Easton. which the railway has been following for some distance 

Elevation2,176feet, contuiues directly ahead to Kachess Lake, but just 

beyond Easton the road swerves to the left and 

appears to plunge directly into the hillside. From the 

bottom of the valley the reason for this change of route is not apparent, 

but from any commanding summit in the neighborhood it may be seen 

that Easton is situated at the junction of two valleys, each of which 

has a width of nearly 2 miles. The chief difference in the valleys is 

thaf they are not at the same level. The Kachess Valley has an alti-
THE NOETHEEN PACIFIC EOUTE. 183

tude of 2,150 feet, whereas the old floor of the Yakima Valley, represented by the tops of the hills above Easton, is 350 feet higher. It 

is clearly evident that for some reason the Kachess Valley has been 

deepened below that of Yakima River, and that the latter is now 

cutting a narrow trench in its old valley bottom in order to reduce its 

grade to that of the stream which it joins near Easton. These changes 

seem to be connected in some way with the occupation of the valleys 

by glacial ice, but the manner in which it has been accomplished has 

not been worked out.

Both the Northern Pacific and St. Paul roads follow the river 

through the narrow gorge above Easton, where the stream boils and 

tumbles over the rocky ledges toward the open valley below. The 

sand and gravel carried down by the stream are constantly grinding 

away the hard rocks, but it is a slow process, and many generations 

will pass before the obstruction is removed. The narrow gorge is short, 

and beyond it the railway enters the relatively open valley above.

As the Northern Pacific crosses the summit of the range near Stampede Pass, about 9 miles from Easton, it climbs at a steep grade. The 

St. Paul road, which is here on the right, crosses at Snoqualmie Pass, 

11 miles farther north. A short distance beyond Easton the railway 

enters the great mass of andesitic lava flows and tuffs that in this 

region make up the great bulk of the Cascade Range.

From a scenic point of view the climb to the pass is not striking, for 

the traveler sees only rounded mountain slopes thickly covered with 

timber and the broad valley equally well protected by a tangle of dense 

vegetation. It is reported that bowlders of granite and similar rocks 

have been found perched on the mountain sides from 1,200 to 1,700 

feet above the bottoms of the valleys. These indicate that at some 

early stage of the glacial epoch the glaciers were much more extensive 

than they were at a later stage when the moraines previously described 

were formed.

One of the most striking features of the valley is the low pass on the 

right, leading to the upper end of Kachess Lake. This pass has an 

altitude of about 2,500 feet and doubtless was an outlet for either the 

drainage of the upper Yakima Valley or that of Kachess Valley, on 

the east. Its cutting and abandonment are doubtless connected with 

the trenching of the old valley of the Yakima above Easton, but the 

conditions which resulted in these changes have not been determined.

This valley, like the two next east, is occupied by a lake (Keechelus 

Lake) which doubtless had its origin in the erosive action of the glacier that evidently lay for some time in the lake basin and built the 

moraines around its lower end. Many beautiful views of Keechelus 

Lake may be obtained, either from the wagon road that follows the 

eastern bank or from the St. Paul Railway, which overlooks it on the 

west. (See PI. XXV, p. 175.)
184 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

After a long climb the railway reaches Martin, the last station on the

east side of the range, and a short distance beyond turns sharply to

the left and faces the east portal of the Stampede

Martin. tunnel. At this point there are visible on the right

Elevation 2,781 feet, remnants of the old line, which wound up to the

St. Paul 1,823 miles. , . , ' , , r ..

top of the mountain belore the tunnel was built.

The Stampede tunnel is nearly 2 miles long. So many trains pass 

through it that great difficulty has been experienced in keeping it 

free from smoke and gas, but now an enormous fan has been installed 

at the west end, in a building which the westbound traveler will see 

on his right as the train emerges from the tunnel. It is expected that 

this fan will free the tunnel of smoke and gas in a very short time.

Stampede Pass has an elevation above sea level of about 3,600 feet,

but the long tunnel enables the railway to cross the range at a much

lower level. In order to maintain a regular grade

Stampede. down the west side of the range, the track winds in

Elevation 2,852 feet. anj ou^ an(j around spurs in a most confusing manSt. Paul 1,826 miles. , . t , -, -, ±-

ner to one who is endeavoring to keep directions or to 

see the mountains. From Stampede two lines of rails are visible far 

below on the left, which seem to belong to another road, but later it 

appears that they are part's of a large loop which the Northern Pacific 

is forced to make in order to get down the mountain side.

The mountain slopes are generally smooth and round, and the thick 

mantle of trees and brush covers all except here and there a lava cliff 

or an old scar that marks the passage of some forest fire.1 The outlook is confined generally to the valley of Green River, which the 

railway descends, but at one place, if the weather is favorable, a 

fleeting glimpse may be caught of the towering white cone of Mount

1 The traveler from the train can get 

only a very imperfect idea of the character of the country, for he is looking at it 

from a position below the level of the 

mountain tops and hence can not see its 

upper surface. Although it is not possible to see much of the Cascade Range, a 

study of the contours on sheets 26 and 27 

will show that the mountain summits on 

both sides of the railway are at nearly the 

same elevation, ranging from 4,000 to 

6,000 feet above sea level. It will show 

also that the range is not sharp crested, 

like those in the vicinity of Helena and 

Butte, but a broad plateau which has been 

so cut into by the streams that its originally regular surface has disappeared, 

leaving only a labyrinth of narrow branching valleys and steep-sided hills.

Sheet 26 also shows the location, about 

12 miles south of the Stampede tunnel, of 

Naches Pass (altitude 4,923 feet) and the 

old Naches trail, which was the first road 

to be opened across the Cascade Range 

north of Columbia River. The early explorers learned of this route from the Indians and utilized it in their wanderings 

around the headwaters of Yakima River. 

It was not, however, used to any great 

extent until the rush of homeseekers 

about 1850 made it desirable to find a 

shorter route to the Puget Sound ports 

than that by way of Fort Vancouver, on 

Columbia River. Accordingly in 1853 

the Naches trail was made passable for 

wagons, though probably a pretty rough 

road, and many settlers found their way 

to the Sound by this route.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 185

Rainier. This view may be had on the right while rounding the 

extreme point of the loop about 2 miles west of Stampede. The 

mountain is in view only for a moment and then is hidden by the 

nearer slopes.

The rocks in the valley of Green River are the same as those seen on 

the east side. They consist of lava flows and beds of volcanic tuff that 

have been tilted in various directions. These rocks are known as the 

Keechelus andesitic series and most of them are of Miocene age. 

They represent the great floods of lava and fragmental material that 

were poured out before the Cascades were formed. They now form 

part of the broad platform upon which the great volcanic cones of 

Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens are reared.

The train runs down the mountain slope on the left side of Sunday 

Creek to the junction of that stream with Green River, which comes 

from the south. At present the road makes a long loop up Green 

River, but a new line is being constructed that will cut off this loop. 

The valley of Green River, as well as that of Sunday Creek, is broad 

and rounded and shows clearly that it has been cleared and modified 

by a glacier. The development, maximum extension, and retreat 

of the glaciers of this region are described below by Bailey Willis.1

1 Glacial development began in the 

high mountains. The climate, at one 

time milder than that now existing, gradually though not continuously increased 

in severity. As cold seasons grew longer 

and warm ones shorter, snow banks in 

the shadows of high peaks increased in 

volume and drifts accumulated in hollows less protected from the sun. As they 

grew, the snow banks consolidated to ice, 

and, flowing downward, became glaciers. 

Each canyon received an onward-moving 

ice stream proportionate in size to the 

tributary area above it.. The air was 

chilled, precipitation increased, and glaciers extended, and thus the effect of 

climatic change was accelerated. The 

mountains became mantled with white, 

except over sharp, wind-swept peaks and 

ridges. Issuing from the foothills, the 

glaciers spread and adjacent ones coalesced, forming broad piedmont glaciers. 

A piedmont glacier (that is, a glacier 

at the foot of the mountain) is related 

to the mountain or alpine glaciers which 

feed it as a lake is related to its tributary 

streams.

Three great piedmont glaciers met in 

the Puget Sound basin. One was fed

from the Olympic Mountains, on the west; 

a larger one gathered along the base of 

the Cascade Range, on the east; the largest flowed south from the area between 

Vancouver Island and the mainland of 

British Columbia and poured a great 

mass of ice westward into the Strait of 

Juan de Fuca and another into Puget 

Sound. Tongues of these piedmont glaciers advanced along the valleys until 

opposing ice streams met and coalesced. 

Then the ice mass deepened, as water 

may deepen in a lake. Land divides 

became peninsulas and isolated hills 

stood as islands. Hills of the Puget 

Sound basin were finally submerged, the 

ice reaching a thickness of 2,500 feet or 

more in the present site of Admiralty 

Inlet, the main channel leading to Puget 

Sound, and the southern extremity of the 

ice sheet spread beyond Tacoma and 

Olympia on the south and west.

Finally the glaciers ceased to increase 

in the mountains and to deepen in the 

valleys as the climate changed either to 

milder seasons or to less precipitation, or 

both, a change due to ultimate causes, 

which, like those that brought on glaciation, are not understood. Then followed
186 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN" UNITED STATES.

Lester.

Elevation 1,626 feet. 

Population 405.* 

St. Paul 1,839 miles.

Although the railway is steadily descending as it follows Green 

River, the canyon grows no deeper, for the reason that the westward 

slope of the top of the plateau in which it is cut is 

about the same as the grade of the stream. In the 

vicinity of Lester the stream flows about 3,000 feet 

below the tops of the highest hills on either side, and 

this depth is maintained for a considerable distance. 

Hot Springs (see sheet 27, p. 196) was once a noted resort, with a 

large hotel on the right of the track; but a number of years ago 

the hotel was destroyed by fire, and it has not been 

Hot Springs. rebuilt. Green River is now utilized by the city of 

Elevation 1,545 feet. Tacoma for its water supply, and great care is exerSt. Paul 1,841 miles. . , . rr J. t n A - mi cised in keeping the stream tree irom pollution. The 

intake of the waterworks will be seen lower down the stream.

Below Hot Springs the timber was originally very heavy, but most 

of it has been cut off or burned, and the traveler can obtain a very

inadequate idea of a virgin Washington forest from 

Maywood. what he sees along this route. In many places, howEievation 1,347 feet, ever, the second growth is very dense, and it would

St. Paul 1,846 miles. ' & , J ' .

be difficult to force one s way through it. In this 

vicinity the traveler gets his first good view of the luxuriant growth 

of ferns that characterizes the forests of the coastal belt of Oregon and 

Washington. (See PI. XXVI, p. 194.) The rocks, although much 

obscured by vegetation, are similar to the lava flows and breccias 

that occur near the summit of the range and also on 

Humphrey. fae eas^ Q^Q jn ^e Green River valley the rocks 

Elevation 1,224 feet, have been smoothed and rounded by the glaciers 

that formerly flowed down the valley and spread out 

on the plain below. The smooth and open character of the valley 

continues down as far as Eagle Gorge, but beyond that place the 

river enters a narrow, steep-walled canyon that in no 

respect resembles the valley higher up. The contour 

map shows that a broad valley continues below Eagle 

Gorge to Barneston, but that neither the river nor 

the railway follows it. From the arrangement of 

the valleys it is evident that Green River, at some time in the

Eagle Gorge.

Elevation 1,110 feet. 

Population 304.* 

St. Paul 1,854 miles.

an epoch during which the ice melted 

earlier and more rapidly in the lowlands, 

later and lingeringly in the canyons of 

the ranges. The piedmont glaciers 

shrunk till they parted, and each mantled the foothills of its parent range. The 

margins of the glaciers consisted of masses 

of stagnant ice buried beneath accumulations of gravel, sand, and loam, and

hardy vegetation may have flourished in 

soil upon the ice. Rivers flowed on the 

glaciers, through tunnels in them, and 

from beneath them. Ice-bound lakes 

were formed in embay men ts of the hills. 

Changes succeeded one another frequently, and each phase of ice and stream 

and lake left a meager record of its existence in deposits of detritus.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 26

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

Base compiled from United States Geological Survey Atlas 

Sheets, from railroad alignments and profiles supplied by 

the Northern Pacific Railway Company and from additional 

information collected with the assistance of this company

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

lower left corner is mapped in detail on the U. S. C. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

WASH1NGTON

EXPLANATION

A Stream deposits (alluvium) and glacial drift Quaternary 

B Granite (Snoqualmie)

C Lava Hows (mostly Keechelusandesiticseries)[_ Tertiary 

D Sandstone, shale, etc. {Ellensburg and Guye I (Miocene) 

formations) i

E Lava flows (Yakima basalt)

F Sandstone and shale, with coal beds (Roslyr

and Manastash formations), younger Eocene 

G Lava flows (Teanaway basalt) and dikes I Tertiary 

H Lava flows (Kachess rhyolite) 

I Sandstone (Swauk and Naches formations), 

older Eocene

rpme rocks, probably Carboniferous
THL s'OETHEEN PACIFIC EOUTE. 187

past, flowed in this valley instead of in its present course below Eagle 

Gorge. 1

1 The old and new valleys of Green 

River afford an excellent example of 

changes that may take place in the drainage system of a country as a consequence 

of the invasion of a glacier. The river 

valleys on the "west slope of the Cascade 

Mountains are in general well developed, 

showing that the streams have occupied 

them for a long time. The original course 

of Green River below Eagle Gorge was 

doubtless north by way of Page Mill and 

Barneston, for the present canyon below 

Eagle Gorge is so narrow that it must have 

been formed comparatively recently. The 

relative size of the two valleys is shown in 

figure. 38, which represents a cross section 

about 3 miles below Eagle Gorge.

To divert a stream intrenched in a 

valley from 2,000 to 3,000 feet deep must, 

have required a formidable barrier. Such 

a barrier could have been produced only

The exact manner in which the ice 

blocked this outlet of Green River is a 

matter of speculation, but probably the 

glacier came down the Sound after the 

local glaciers in Green and Snoqualmie 

valleys had melted back from the mountain front and crowded up the valley of 

Green River until it completely blocked 

that valley with a great dam of ice, hundreds and possibly thousands of feet in 

thickness. This barrier seems to have 

been sufficient to raise the water of Green 

River until it flowed over a low divide 

that must have existed between the Green 

River valley and a small stream flowing to 

the west past Palmer Junction. Beyond 

this divide the river found an unobstructed outlet which it at once proceeded 

to deepen and which it finally cut below 

the level of the former outlet by Barneston. By the time the ice had disappeared

FIGURE 38. Section showing size and shape of the valley of Green River below Eagle Gorge, Wash., compared with the valley the river abandoned when it was blocked by ice.

in one of four ways (1) by a landslide 

 which filled the valley below the point 

of diversion; (2) by a lava flow occupying 

a similar position; (3) by a fault across 

the valley and the sudden upward movement'of the land below the fault; or (4) 

by the blocking of the valley by ice. If 

the change were due to any one of the 

first three of these causes there should 

remain in the old valley some traces of 

the barrier, but, as no such features have 

been observed, it must be concluded that 

ice was the agent that caused the change. 

Ice would leave no permanent barrier, 

and so no surface indications would be 

expected, except the ordinary deposits 

that are made by a glacier. Evidence 

of this kind is abundant and clearly shows 

that the region was deeply covered with 

ice at a recent geologic date.

Green River had become so deeply intrenched in its new course that it persisted, and it remains to this day in the 

new valley it was thus compelled to 

occupy.

Although this change occurred during 

the Great Ice Age, geologically it was 

very recent, as is shown by the narrowness and steepness of the new part of the 

gorge. Time enough has not elapsed for 

the river to broaden its channel, and this 

difference the traveler will doubtless 

realize as the train passes from the open 

valley in the vicinity of Eagle Gorge into 

the dim shadows of the narrow canyon 

below, in which there is barely room for 

the track between the river and the 

bluffs, and even to make this passage 

deep rock cuts and many crossings of 

the stream are necessary.
188 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

That part of the Green River valley below Eagle Gorge has all the 

features characteristic of newly cut gorges in fairly hard rocks. It is 

narrow and tortuous and the stream abounds in tumbling cascades 

and pools of deep water. It is a beautiful glen in which the rocks 

are covered with delicate mosses and draped with ferns whose graceful 

fronds sparkle with mist from the numerous cascades.

Just after passing milepost 81 the traveler can see the head gate 

of the Tacoma waterworks, and the deep-blue pool above, which 

certainly looks as if no polluting substances had ever affected it. 

After being accustomed to the water supplied to some of the eastern 

cities the traveler may envy these Pacific coast towns their nearness 

to mountain sources and the never-failing water supply they can procure there. Seattle also draws its supply of water from the Cascade 

Mountains, but as it is taken from Cedar River, the next stream on 

the right (north), neither the intake nor the conduit are visible from 

the train.

At Palmer Junction the Northern Pacific divides into two branches, 

the older line turning to the left (south) and going by way of Buckley 

to Tacoma, which at the time of the completion of the railway, was 

its western terminus, and the other turning slightly to the right and 

going to Seattle by way of Auburn. 1

1 The original plan of the Northern 

Pacific was to build on the north side of 

Columbia River from the mouth of Snake 

River to Kalama and thence northward 

to Puget Sound. That part of the road 

from Kalama to Tacoma was the first to 

be constructed, the first train reaching 

Tacoma on December 16, 1873. Financial difficulties forced a suspension of

operations for some time, but in 1880 

building was resumed and actively 

pushed from Mandan, N. Dak., westward 

and from the mouth of Snake River eastward. The line along Columbia River 

from Kalama to Snake River had not yet 

been touched, but it was thought that if 

the line east of Snake River could be 

completed, boat service on the river 

would accommodate the traffic until the 

company was strong enough financially to 

undertake the building of that line. In 

the meantime a franchise for the construction of a road along the south bank of the 

Columbia had been obtained by the Oregon Railway & Navigation Co., and traffic 

arrangements had been entered into 

between this company and the Northern 

Pacific for the joint use of this line from 

Wallula to Portland. While these negotiations were under way the construction 

of the main line was carried on rapidly, 

and the last spike connecting the eastern 

and western sections was driven a little 

west of Garrison in September, 1883.

As early as 1876 a line was built from 

Tacoma up Puyallup River to the Wilkeson coal mine for the immediate purpose 

of procuring coal, and ultimately as a 

part of the Cascade branch, which the 

Northern Pacific, even at that early date, 

was considering a necessity. Work on 

this branch was suspended during the 

reorganization of the company in the 

years 1873-1879 and also while the' company was bending all its energies to the 

completion of the main line in 1880- 

1883. Finally work was begun on this 

branch in earnest in 1884, but owing to 

the delay in constructing the Stampede 

Tunnel, the first train over the line did 

not r^ach Tacoma until July 3,1887. In 

1883 the railroad from Seattle to Auburn 

and Puyallup was built by a company 

of local capitalists, but later it was taken 

over by the Northern Pacific. The last 

cut-off constructed was the road from Palmer Junction to Auburn, which now gives 

a direct line from St. Paul to Seattle.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 189

About a mile east of Palmer Junction the railway enters one of 

the productive coal fields of the State, though little coal or evidence 

of coal mining can be seen from the train. Several 

mines have been developed, however, south of the 

river, within a distance of 3 or 4 miles, and one or 

two mines to the north. 

Between Palmer Junction and Kanaskat the Northern Pacific 

is crossed by a branch of the St. Paul road which leads to several 

mining towns along the mountain front and terminates at Enumclaw, on the Tacoma line of the 

northern Pacific, 10 miles to the south. The mountains end abruptly at Kanaskat and give place to a 

The glacial drift on this plain is underlain by shale, 

sandstone, and coal beds, which belong to the Puget group and 

which are of about the same age as the Roslyn 

(Eocene) formation on the other side of the Cascade 

Range, but few of the rocks are exposed at the surface. 

There are two large coal mines at Ravensdale, one of 

which can be seen on the left (south) as the train 

passes through the village. 1

As the presence of coal beds means that swamps prevailed at one 

time in this region, it is reasonable to suppose that vegetation flourished in that far-off time much as it does to-day. Careful search has 

shown that plants did grow luxuriantly then, and their fossil forms 

are so well preserved that the botanist has been able not only to distinguish the species that grew here, but to determine from the kind of 

plants the climate that must have prevailed. In the note below F. H. 

Knowlton compares the fossil flora with that living in Washington at 

the present time. 2 0

Palmer Junction.

Elevation 869 feet. 

St. Paul 1,862 miles.

Kanaskat.

Elevation 859 feet. 

St. Paul 1,862 miles.

glacial plain.

Ravensdale.

Elevation 628 feet. 

Population 726.* 

St. Paul 1,SG7 miles.

1 The large coal tipple which the traveler can see on the left is used for hoisting coal up a slope about 1,500 feet long 

from the workings below. Three coal 

beds are being worked in this mine. 

The main slope leads down one bed and 

a rock tunnel has been driven from it to 

the other two.

The main bed ranges in thickness in. 

the mine from 4 feet 4 inches to 10 feet 

7 inches and where thickest is broken 

by many partings of shale and bone that 

make mining expensive and detract 

greatly from the value of the coal. The 

other two beds are 5 feet 7 inches and 7 

feet 10 inches thick, but contain much 

impure or dirty coal. The heating value

of the coal ranges from 11,290 to 11,850 

British thermal units.

The McKay coal bed, which is worked 

in a mine some distance away from the 

main line of the road, is about .5 feet 

thick and is all clear coal without partings. This coal has a heating value of 

12,210 British thermal units. Although 

this mine is less than a mile distant from 

the one near the track, it has not been 

possible to determine the relative positions of the coal beds, for the rocks are 

thrown into numerous folds and broken 

in many places.

2 The State of Washington now exhibits 

great diversity in soil and climatic conditions, with the result that it supports a
190 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTEBN UNITED STATES.

West of Ravensdale the railway pursues a westerly course, crossing under the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad and then following in a general way a slight depression in the drift without any 

marked features of relief.

Beyond Covington the valley deepens and becomes more restricted, 

and the railway cuts show that the valley has been excavated in a 

thick deposit of glacial gravel. This material, 

known as the Orting gravel, was deposited by 

streams flowing from the ice front of the Admiralty 

glacier (see p. 192) after it had retreated to a position 

farther north.

At milepost 102 is the State fish hatchery, which supplies fish fry 

for many of the streams on this side of the mountains. Soon after 

passing this point the train crosses Green River and is once more in a

Covington.

Elevation 361 feet. 

Population 145.* 

St. Paul 1,874 miles.

large and varied flora of not less than 

2,500 species of the so-called higher plants 

alone. As these soil and climatic conditions vary from place to place, there are 

many sharp, almost abrupt changes in the 

character of the vegetation. Thus the 

Cascade Eange, although only 6,000 or 

7,000 feet high, constitutes an effective 

barrier which relatively few plants are 

able to cross. On the east side of the 

mountains there is an arid transition area 

where the sagebrush plains of Columbia 

River give way to the slightly higher, 

treeless, grass-covered zone known as the 

bunch-grass prairies. Still higher and 

nearer the mountains is the yellow-pine 

belt. Here the forests are composed

mainly of the yellow or bull pine, with 

such undershrtibs as the pinebark, buckbrush, roses, and a tall huckleberry.

On the western slope of the Cascades 

the change in the character of the vegetation is marked. The dominant forest tree 

is_the red fir, which covers fully 90 per 

cent of the heavily timbered area, in 

places with a stand so dense that the sun 

can scarcely penetrate. In a narrow strip 

along the coast the dominant species is 

the Sitka or tideland spruce. In the bottom lands, mainly river valleys, the conspicuous trees or shrubs are the red cedar, 

giant cedar, white fir, large-leaved maple, 

Oregon ash, cottonwocd, western cornel, 

vine maple, crab apple, willows, the terrible devil's club, and salmonberry. On 

the gravelly prairies are the only species

of oak growing in the State, as well as the 

black pine and, until the middle of July, 

a carpet of brilliant flowers.

The fossil flora of this region, found 

mainly in more or less close association 

with the numerous coal beds, was also an 

exceedingly rich and diverse one, numbering, as at present understood, about 

350 species, with the probability that it 

may reach 400 or 500 species when fully 

known. Not a single one of these fossil 

species is now known to be living, although many of them belong to genera 

that are the same as or similar to those that 

make up the present flora. In view of 

the so-called accident of preservation, it 

is probable that the total fossil flora may 

have equaled the living flora in number 

of species.

The almost complete change in the 

character of the flora since the Puget 

epoch (Eocene) is well shown by the conifers. This group is now dominant in conspicuousness and number of individuals, 

whereas in Puget time it was almost negligible, being represented by only three 

kinds cypress, cedar, and juniper and 

these were so scarce that less than twenty 

examples out of many thousands of specimens have been observed. Another 

marked difference between the two floras 

is shown by the presence of palms in the 

Puget flora. Two very distinct kinds of 

palms have been found, one with rather 

small, feather-like leaves, and a huge fan 

palm, with leaves that must have been at
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE.

broad valley in which the. timber has been cleared away and farms 

established. To one not accustomed to the thick forests of the 

Pacific, slope, it is a relief to emerge from their dense shade and 

enter open country.

After crossing Green River and the broad valley in which it flows 

the train passes under a high bluff of gravel (Orting) on the south. 

The origin and geologic age of this gravel, as well as 

of the other formations of the drift in Washington, 

are discussed below by W. C. Alden.1 This gravel 

has been extensively used by the railway for ballasting the track. At Auburn the railway line 

across the mountains unites with the line from Portland to Seattle. 

The rest of the route is directly north down the valley to its junction 

with Black River, which is the natural outlet of Lake Washington.

Auburn.

Elevation 100 feet. 

Population 957. 

St. Paul 1,883 miles.

least 5 or 6 feet across. At present palms 

do not grow wild within a thousand miles 

of the Puget Sound region.

The traveler will doubtless be struck by 

the abundance of beautiful ferna now 

growing along the forest borders in the 

open, partly shaded locations. Ferns 

were also present during Puget time, 

though none that have been found are 

very closely related to the living forms. 

Tall, bushy horsetails (Equisetum) are 

conspicuous in many places, and the. 

group was represented in the fossil flora.

The deciduous-leaved plants, to judge 

from their fossil remains, were in the 

vast majority during Puget time and 

show much diversity. They included 

figs of several kinds, hackberries, mulberries, many willows, alders, birches, 

and oaks, a number of poplars, two species of pepper tree, elms, ashes, maples, 

magnolias, cinnamons, lam-els, plums, 

service berries, dogwoods, custard apples, 

chestnuts, crab apples, sumachs, bittersweets, blueberries, bush thorns, primroses, and others that are without wellknown vernacular names.

The Soimd country of Washington, at 

the time of deposition of the lower beds of 

the Puget group, is supposed, on account 

of the abundance of ferns, gigantic palms, 

figs, and a number of forms now found in 

the West Indies and tropical South America, to have enjoyed a much warmer climate than it does to-day; but the pres- 

. ence of sumachs, chestnuts, birches,

maples, dogwoods, sycamore, etc., in the 

upper beds of the group would seem to 

indicate an approach to the climatic conditions prevailing at present.

A number of fossil plants have been 

found to be common to the east and west 

sides of the Cascades. This would indicate that approximately similar conditions of climate and topography prevailed 

throughout this general area during the 

Puget epoch. The Cascade Range, as it 

.now exists, did not then intervene.

1 At a time which probably corresponds 

to the last or Wisconsin stage of glaciation 

in the eastern part of the United States, 

the mountains of Washington were largely 

covered with ice, and the Vashon lobe of 

the Cordilleran ice sheet extended southward from British Columbia into the Puget Sound basin. This glacier is believed 

to have attained a thickness of about 

2,500 feet.. The ice filled the depressions 

composing the Sound, from the foot of 

the Olympic Mountains on the west to 

the base of the Cascades on the east. On 

the south it reached and covered much 

of the plains south of Olympia. The ice 

of this glacier probably coalesced on the 

east with the local glaciers that descended 

the slopes and valleys of the Cascades.

The melting of these glaciers left deposits of clay, sand, gravel, and bowlders 

(the Vashon and Osceola drift), which 

may now be seen on the elevated tracts 

between and around the troughs of the 

Sound but which were not thick enough
192 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Below the point of junction the stream is known as Duwamish 

River, and this the road follows to the tidal flats of Elliott Bay at 

Seattle.

The broad valley at Auburn is distinctly different from the ordinary 

stream valleys of this region, in that it is wider than is required by 

such streams as now occupy it, it is flatter than valleys excavated by 

erosion, and it is open to tidewater at both ends Elliott Bay (Seattle) 

on the north and Commencement Bay (Tacoma) on the west. The 

floor of the valley is so flat that streams entering it build delta-like 

accumulations of sediment upon which the stream channel shifts 

from place to place. White River, next to Green River on the 

south and named because of the milky color of its water, derived 

from the glaciers of Mount Rainier, enters the valley a few miles 

above Auburn. Part of the stream at times turns south into Puyallup (poo-yal'up) River and reaches tidewater at Tacoma and the other 

part flows north and unites with Green River. The arrangement of 

the valleys and their peculiar connection with bays and similar indentations of the coast line strongly suggest that at one time this 

entire valley from Tacoma to Seattle was an arm of the Sound similar to but .smaller than Admiralty Inlet and that it has become a 

land valley simply by being filled with sediment brought down by 

the rivers from the Cascade Mountains.

Bailey Willis, who has made a careful study of the Puget Sound 

region, is of the opinion that the peculiar branching channels of the 

Sound could have been produced only by the submergence of a land 

on which a branching river system had formerly existed. If this 

view is correct, it is evident that many modifications must have been 

made, for a,peculiarity of the channels of the Sound is that they not 

only unite as the tributaries of a river system unite, but they separate 

in a most intricate fashion. Taken as a whole, the conclusion appears 

well founded, but there are many minor points that still remain to 

be explained.

to fill the deep depressions, BO that when 

free of ice these were occupied by marine 

waters. This drift is underlain by stratified sand and gravel (Douty gravel, 

Puyallup sand, and Orting gravel) deposited by waters from the melting of 

earlier glaciers. These deposits include 

lignite, formed from vegetation which 

grew upon the sand and gravel, and they 

are much weathered and eroded, showing 

that they were exposed during a long 

interglacial stage before being overridden 

and covered by the deposits of the glaciers mentioned above.

Beneath these sands and gravels lie 

deposits of stiff blue clay, mostly stratified but locally filled with subangular 

stones and large bowlders. These deposits, known as the Admiralty till, 

deposited by the Admiralty glacier, 

were laid down during an earlier stage 

of glaciation, when the Puget Sound 

basin was occupied by a lobe of the 

Cordilleran ice sheet, as at the Vashon 

stage. There are some suggestions that 

still earlier glaciers occupied the basin, 

but these are too indefinite- to be given 

much weight.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 193

Kent.

Elevation 53 feet. 

Population 1,908. 

St. Paul 1,888 miles.

The White River valley is largely given up to truck farming and 

dairying. The dairying industry centers about Kent, where there 

is a large plant for the manufacture of condensed 

milk. On the left (west) are the lines of the OregonWashington Railroad & Navigation Co., the St. Paul 

road, and the Interurban Electric Co.; on the right 

the town of Renton, perched partly on the hillside, 

about 2 miles distant. This is another coal-mining town in fact, 

coal mining is the chief business in many parts of the country back 

from the Sound. Renton is nearer tidewater than the other mining 

towns of the State, and the coal mined here has a fine reputation in 

the cities on the Sound as a clean fuel for domestic use.1

Between mileposts 11 and 10 the Black River branch on the right 

leads to Renton and other towns in that direction, and at milepost 

10 the Renton branch of the interurban trolley line crosses the St. 

Paul road and then crosses Black River, which is the outlet of Lake 

Washington. Beyond the crossing of Black River the railway is at 

the foot of the bluffs on the right side of the valley, and the hillside 

cuts expose, in several places, sandstone and shale (Puget group), 

but no coal beds occur in this part of the formation. This part of the 

valley is known as the Duwamish Valley. At its lower end the stream 

is actively engaged in filling the bay with the sediment which it carries. The work of the stream has been supplemented in recent years 

by civic activity in cutting down some of Seattle's hills and in reducing the grades in the business part of the city. On some of the streets 

the grade was lowered as much as 30 feet, and on others there was a 

corresponding fill. As the material on which the city is built is glacial 

drift, steam shovels were largely used for the excavation, but the 

methods used in hydraulic mining were employed to get rid of the 

large hill upon which the old Washington Hotel was situated. The railway crosses the wide tidal flats, which are being more and more utilized 

for business purposes, and reaches the Union Station at Seattle.

1 Renton is one of the oldest coalmining centers of this part of the country, 

as mines were opened here in 1874. 

This early activity can not be attributed 

to the quality of the coal, for that is of a 

much lower rank than those already 

described, but it is probably due to the 

nearness to tidewater, the cleanness of 

the coal, and its suitability for domestic 

use.

Two coal beds arc worked, and, like

most of the other coal beds of this region,

they are not lying flat, but dip at an

angle of about 12° to the southeast. The

05558° Bull. 011 15 13

coal is brought to the surface through a 

slope on one of the beds, and a rock tunnel in the mine connects with the other. 

Each bed is over 8 feet thick everywhere, but this is not all merchantable 

coal. The average heating value of the 

coal of these two beds is 11,290 and 10,060 

British thermal units.

The Renton coal, when exposed to the 

weather, slacks badly. On account of 

this property it is classed as stibbituminous coal, the next lower in the scale to 

bituminous coal, such as is mined at 

Roslyn and llavensdale.
194 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Seattle.

Elevation 24 feet. 

Population 237,194.. 

St. Paul 1,904 miles.

The most important natural feature at Seattle is the wonderful 

harbor, with deep water at the very door of the city. The depth of 

water is shown on the small map on sheet 27. Other 

features of interest are the steep water front and the 

way in which it has been modified and shaped for the 

use of man, and Lake Washington, which bounds the 

city on the east and is soon to be thrown open to the 

commerce of the world by the construction of a ship canal from 

Salmon Bay through Lake Union and across the narrow neck of land 

south of the State University. This will greatly increase the harbor 

facilities, and the fresh water of the lake will afford an efficient 

means of freeing ocean-going vessels of barnacles.

The State University is beautifully situated on the shore of Lake 

Washington, and its campus was utilized for the site of the AlaskaYukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. The city is well supplied with 

parks and connecting boulevards, and one of the finest views about 

the city is that of Mount Rainier* from the boulevard that follows 

the shore of Lake Washington.

' 1 Of all the mountain masses and rugged 

snow peaks in the region described in this 

book, none will compare with the beautiful majestic cone of Mount Rainier (PI. 

XXVII). This mountain giant is the 

dominating feature of this part of the 

Pacific slope. There may be other snowclad peaks that seem to pierce the sky, 

such as Adams, Baker, and St. Helens, 

but these are dwarfed beside the mighty 

.symmetrical cone of Rainier.

Mount Rainier (14,408 feet) is of about 

the same height as Pikes Peak, in Colorado (14,108 feet), or Mount Whitney, in 

California (14,502 feet), but it is superior 

in beauty to either, for it is not only a 

symmetrical cone but it can be seen from 

sea level and at close range, so that it 

stands out in all its massive grandeur. 

Mount Rainier when it comes into view 

from Tacoma, Seattle, or any other point 

along the winding channels of Puget 

Sound or from Lake Washington, reveals 

its full height, as there are no other peaks 

to obstruct the view or to detract from its 

commanding presence.

The early exploration of the Puget 

Sound region is a matter of some uncertainty and doubt. Apostolos Valerianus, 

an old Greek pilot in the service of Spain, 

better known by his Spanish sobriquet

Juan de Fuca, claimed to have discovered the main entrance to the Sound 

about 1600, but grave doubt has been 

cast upon his narrative and many believe 

that his account was pure fiction. The 

first reliable account of the Sound was 

written by Capt. George Vancouver, of 

the British Royal Navy, who in 1792 

mapped the Sound, named it after Peter 

Puget, one of his lieutenants, and also 

named many other natural features of the 

region, including Mount Rainier.

It is said that the original Indian name 

was Tacoma or Tahoma, meaning "big 

snow mountain," but Vancouver disregarded or did not know of the Indian 

usage and named the peak after Rear 

Admiral Rainier, of the British Navy. 

This name has been adopted by the 

United States Geographic Board. Nevertheless, there are many people who would 

gladly see the foreign name abandoned, 

even though usage has given it great 

weight, and the aboriginal name Tacoma 

revived.

Naturally, the high peaks of the Cascade attracted the attention of everyone 

who entered the region, and many were 

eager to scale them. The earliest record 

of mountain climbing was the ascent of 

Mount St. Helens in 1853. During the
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 611 PLATE XXVI

THE ALMOST IMPASSABLE TANGLE OF A WASHINGTON FOREST.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

MOUNT RAINIER, "MONARCH OF THE CASCADES, ' AS SEEN FROM THE BOULEVARD ON THE 

This mighty volcanic cone rises 14,408 feet above tidewater and nearly 10,000 feet above the general level of the Cas
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 195

Although Capt. Vancouver mapped and named Puget Sound in 

1792, there was no permanent settlement or even trading post in the 

region until 1833, when Fort Nisqually was built by the Hudson's Bay 

Co. on the ground now occupied by the city of Tacoma. This post was 

for many years, even up to the time it was purchased by the United 

States Government in 1869, the leading commercial place on the Sound 

and was surpassed only on the northwest coast by Fort Vancouver, on 

the Columbia, which was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Co.

Capt. Wilkes, when on his exploring expedition of 1840, landed at 

Fort Nisqually and sent a party inland to explore the country tributary to the Sound and to Columbia River. One party traveled southward and explored the Willamette (Wil-lam'et) Valley of Oregon, 

and another, under Lieut. R. W. Johnson, on May 29, 1840, crossed 

the Cascade Mountains by way of Naches Pass. This seems to have 

been the earliest passage by white men across the Cascades. At that 

time it was only an Indian trail, but in 1853 a road was cleared so that 

emigrants over the old Oregon Trail could make a short cut to the 

Sound instead of having to keep to the south along Columbia River.

following year parties reached the summits of Mount Hood, in Oregon, and 

Mount Adams. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to climb Mount Baker, 

but not until 1868 did a party reach the 

top.

Lieut. A. V. Kautz made an almost 

successful ascent of Mount Rainier in 1857, 

reaching within 1,000 feet of the summit. 

His trip, however, proved to be very important, for he established the existence 

of glaciers here, which up to that time 

had not been known in this country. 

The first expedition to reach the top of 

the mountain was that of Gen. Hazard 

Stevens and P. V. Van Trump, who attained the summit on August 17, 1870. 

In the same year S. F. Emmons and A. 

D. Wilson, at that time members of the 

Fortieth Parallel Survey, made a brief 

study of the geology of the mountain and 

of the glaciers on its side and reached the 

top October 17, just two months after it 

had been attained by Stevens and Van 

Trump. Since that time numerous ascents have been made, and each year 

the trip is gaining in popularity, especially since the mountain and some of the 

adjacent territory has been set aside as 

the Mount Rainier National Park. The 

base of the mountain can easily be

reached from either Seattle or Tacoma, 

and the views obtained on such a trip will 

ampty repay anyone for the journey.

Mount Rainier, like Mounts Adams, St. 

Helens, and Baker, and Glacier Peak, is a 

great volcanic cone built upon the summit of the Cascade Range by successive 

layers of material thrown out of its crater. 

The great height of these peaks has not 

been materially reduced by erosion, for 

the time since their formation has not been 

long enough to permit very effective work 

by the elements. Steam escapes from 

most of these old volcanoes, showing that 

the rocks are still hot at some distance 

below the surface. It is noted in the records of old Fort Vancouver, on Columbia 

River, that Mount St. Helens emitted 

smoke and ashes since the establishment of that post. The recent activity 

of Lassen Peak, in northern California, 

which is situated on the same general 

range of mountains, is another indication 

that volcanic activity in this region is not 

quite extinct.

The heights of the great volcanic peaks 

of Washington are as follows: Mount St. 

Helens, 9,697 feet; Glacier Peak, 10,436 

feet; Mount Baker, 10,750 feet; Mount 

Adams, 12,307 feet; and Mount Rainier, 

14,408 feet.
196 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

The first settlement in the vicinity of Seattle was made at Alki 

Point in 1851. This was named New York, to which somebody facetiously added the Chinook word "alki," meaning "by and by." On 

February 15, 1852, the claims which became the town site of Seattle 

were staked, but up to 1860 there were not more than 20 families in 

the town. The town of Tacoma was laid out in 1872, and since that 

date there has been the most intense though friendly rivalry between 

the two places.

The Puget Sound basin lies in what is called the moist district of 

Washington. It has an annual precipitation of 25 to 60 inches, threefourths of which occurs in the "wet season," from November to April. 

It is therefore intermediate between the extremely wet country of the 

coast, having an annual precipitation of 60 to 120 inches, and the 

dry belt east of the Cascade Mountains, where the annual precipitation 

is only 8 or 10 inches. The Puget Sound region is regarded by many 

unfamiliar with it as a region of excessive rainfall, but the figures given 

by the Weather Bureau show that the precipitation here is about the 

same as in southern Ohio. The mean annual temperature of Seattle 

for December, 1894, to December, 1903, was 52°. The maximum for 

that time was 96° and the minimum 3°.

Although the great forests that have made this part of the northwest coast famous are fast disappearing, lumbering continues to be 

the chief industry along the Sound, and millions of feet of lumber 

are each year sent east by the railways or shipped by vessel to various 

parts of the world.

Seattle has one of the finest deep-water harbors on the coast. As 

shown by the sketch map of Elliott Bay on sheet 27, the water deepens 

rapidly to 100 feet and then thec depth increases gradually and somewhat irregularly to 600 feet where the bay opens into the Sound.

The harbor facilities of Seattle and its position near the Strait of 

Juan de Fuca and also the inland passage to the north have made it 

the most advantageous place on the northwest coast for the center of 

the Alaskan trade and also for a large part' of the oriental commerce 

to the United States.
BULLETIN 611 SHEET No. 27

GEOLOGIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAP

OF THE

NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE

From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR 

David White, Chief Geologist R. B. Marshall, Chief Geographer

1915

Each quadrangle shown on the map with a name in parenthesis in the 

. lower left corner :s mapped in detail or. the U. S. G. S. Topographic 

Sheet of that name.

MAP SHOWING DEPTH OF WATER IN ELL10TT BAY,SEATTLE

WASHINGTON

KXPLANATION 

ISC surface materials

A Stream deposits (alluvium) ~] 

B Outwash t'Steilacoorn gravel' from retreating

Vaslion Glacier 

C Glacial drift (Vashon andOsceola), Wisconsin

3tage i> Quaternar

^ I

D Outwash ((Ming: pravel and Puyallup sand 

from Admiralty Glacier, shown by stippled 

pattern

E Glacial drift (Admiralty), pre-\Viscon?iii 

stage, represented by heavy line

' Lava flows (andesite of Cascade Range'., 

Miocene

Shale, Miocene

1 Sandstone and shale, with coy] beds ( 

group). Eocene 

llsCity 

-V.V SnoquQlfnierfeJ/s

' ' S70 ?ff£ST

Approximately 8 miles to I inch

Contour interval 200 feet

The distances from St. Paul, Minnesota, are shown every 10 miles 

The crossties on the railroads are spaced i mils apart

gjeGorge -.CouJarMtn

 Maywood . i
IMPORTANT PAPERS ON THE GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, 

AND HISTORY OF THE REGION TRAVERSED BY THE 

NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY. 

MINNESOTA.

COUES, ELLIOTT, The explorations of Zebulon M. Pike, vol. 1, New York, 1895.

NORTH DAKOTA.

HALL, C. M., and WILLARD, D. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Casselton-Fargo

folio (No. 117), 1905.

LEONARD, A. G., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Bismarck folio (No. 181), 1912. 

LEONARD, A. G., and SMITH, C. D., The Sentinel Butte lignite field, North Dakota

and Montana: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 341, pp. 15-35, 1909. 

TODD, J. E., The moraines of the Missouri Coteau and their attendant .deposits: U. S.

Geol. Survey Bull. 144, 1896.

UPHAM, WARREN, The glacial Lake Agassiz: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 25, 1896. 

WILLARD, D. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Jamestown-Tower folio (No. 168),

1909.

MONTANA.

BARRELL,'JOSEPH, Geology of the Marysville mining district, Mont.: U. S. Geol.

Survey Prof. Paper 57, 1907. 

CALKINS, F. C., and MACDONALD, D. F., A geological reconnaissance in northern

Idaho and northwestern Montana: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 384,1909. 

CALVERT, W. R., Geology of certain lignite fields in eastern Montana: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 471, pp. 187-201, 1912. 

 The Livingston and Trail Creek coal fields, Park, Gallatin, and Sweetgrasa

counties, Mont.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, pp. 384-405, 1912.

The Electric coal field, Park County, Mont.: IT. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, pp.

406-422, 1912. 

CHITTENDEN, H. M., The Yellowstone National Park: Cincinnati, The Robert Clarke

Co., 1895. 

COLLIER, A. J., and SMITH, C. D., The Miles City coal field, Mont.: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 341, pp. 36-61, 1909. 

HAGUE, ARNOLD, WEED, W. H., and IDDINGS, J. P., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas,

Yellowstone National Park folio (No. 30), 1896.

HANCE, J. H., The Glendive lignite field, Dawson County, Mont.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, pp. 271-283, 1912. 

IDDINGS, J. P., and WEED, W. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Livingston folio

(No. 1), 1894. 

KNOPF, ADOLPH, Ore deposits of the Helena mining region, Mont.: U. S. Geol. Survey

Bull. 527, 1913. . 

PARDEE, J. T., Coal in the Tertiary lake beds of southwestern Montana: U. S. Geol.

Survey Bull. 531, pp. 229-244, 1913.

 The glacial Lake Missoula, Jour. Geology, vol. 18, pp. 376-386, 1910.

PEALE, A. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Threeforks folio (No. 24), 1896. ;

STONE, R. W., and CALVERT, W. R., Stratigraphic relations of the Livingston formation of Montana: Econ. Geology, vol. 5, pp. 551-557, 652-669, 741-764,1910.

WALCOTT, C. D., Algonkian formations of northwestern Montana: Geol. Soc. America 

Bull., vol. 17, pp. 1-28,1906.

 Pre-Cambrian fossiliferous formations: Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 10, pp. 

199-244, 1899.

197
198 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

WEED, W. H., Geology and ore deposits of the Butte district, Mont.: U. S. Geol.

Survey Prof. Paper 74, 1912.

 The glaciation of the Yellowstone Valley north of the park: U. S. Geol. Survey 

 Bull. 104,1893.

 The Laramie and the overlying Livingston formation in Montana, with report

on flora, by F. H. Knowlton: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 105,1893. 

WEED, W. H., EMMONS, S. F., and TOWER, G. W., jr., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas,

Butte special folio (No. 38), 1897. 

WOODRUFF, E. G., The Red Lodge coal field, Mont.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 341,

pp. 92-107, 1909.

IDAHO.

RANSOME, F. L., and CALKINS, F. C., The geology and ore deposits of the Coaur 

d'Alene district, Idaho: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 62, 1908.

WASHINGTON.

BRETZ, J. H., Glaciation of the Puget Sound region: Washington Geol. Survey Bull.

8, 1913. 

CALKINS, F. C., Geology and water resources of a portion of east-central Washington:

U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 118,1905. 

EVANS, G. W., The coal fields of King County, Wash.: Washington Geol. Survey Bull.

3, 1912.

RUSSELL, I. C., A geological reconnaissance in central Washington: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 108, 1893. 

RUSSELL, I. C., and SMITH, G. 0., Glaciers of Mount Rainier, with a paper on the

rocks of Mount Rainier: U. S. Geol. Survey Eighteenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pp. 349-

424, 1898.

SMITH, E. E., Coals of the State of Washington: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 474, 1911. 

SMITH, G. O., Geology and water resources of a portion of Yakima County, Wash.:

U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 55, 1901.

 U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Ellensburg folio (No. 86), 1903.

 U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Mount Stuart folio (No. 106), 1904.

SMITH, G. 0., and CALKINS, F. C., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Snoqualmie folio

(No. 139), 1906. 

SMITH, G. 0., and WILLIS, BAILEY, Contributions to the geology of Washington: U. S.

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 19,1903. 

WARING, G. A., Geology and water resources of a portion of south-central Washington:

U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 316, 1913. 

WILLIS, BAILEY, and SMITH, G. 0., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Tacoma folio (No.

54), 1899.

. GENERAL.

COUES, ELLIOTT, History of the expedition under the c.ommand of Lewis and Clark,

4 vols., New York, Francis P. Harper, 1893. 

GANNETT, HENRY, Boundaries of the United States and the several States and

Territories, with an outline of the history of all important changes of territory:

U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 226, 1904. 

SMALLEY, E. V., History of the Northern Pacific Railroad, New York, G. P. Putnam'e

Sons, 1883. 

WHEELER, 0. D., The trail of Lewis and Clark, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1904.
GLOSSARY OF GEOLOGIC TERMS.

Alluvial fan. The outspread sloping deposit of bowlders, gravel, aud Band left by 

a stream where it passes from a gorge out upon a plain.

Andesite. A lava of widespread occurrence, usually of dark-gray color and intermediate in chemical composition between rhyolite and basalt.

Anticline. Arch of bedded or layered rock suggestive in form of an overturned 

canoe. (See fig. 20, p. 102.) (See also Dome and Syncline.)

Badlands. A region nearly devoid of vegetation where erosion, instead of carving 

hills and valleys of the familiar type, has cut the land into an intricate maze of 

narrow ravines and sharp crests and pinnacles. Travel across such a region is 

almost impossible, hence the name. (See Pis. VI-IX, pp. 62-63.)

Basalt. A common lava of dark color and of great fluidity when molten. Basalt is 

less siliceous than granite and rhyolite, and contains much more iron, calcium, 

and magnesium.

Bolson (pronounced bowl-sown7). A flat-floored desert valley that drains to a central 

evaporation pan or playa.

Bomb. See Volcanic bomb.

Breccia (pronounced bretch'a). A mass of naturally cemented angular rock fragments.

Crystalline rock. A rock composed of closely fitting mineral crystals that have 

formed in the rock substance as contrasted with one made up of cemented grains 

of sand or other material or with a volcanic glass.

Diabase. A heavy, dark, intrusive rock having the same composition as basalt, but, 

on account of its slower cooling, a more crystalline texture. Its principal constituent minerals are feldspar, augite, and usually olivine. Olivine is easily 

changed by weathering, and in many diabases is no longer recognizable. Augite 

is a mineral containing iron and magnesium and is similar to hornblende.

Dike. A mass of igneous rock that has solidified in a wide fissure or crack in the 

earth's crust. (See fig. 15, p. 95.)

Diorite. An even-grained intrusive igneous rock consisting chiefly of the minerals 

feldspar, hornblende, and very commonly black mica. If the rock contains 

much quartz, it is called quartz diorite. Quartz diorite resembles granite and is 

connected with that rock by many intermediate varieties, including monzonite. 

The feldspar in diorite differs from that in granite in- containing calcium and 

sodium instead of potassium. Hornblende is a green or black mineral containing 

iron, magnesium, calcium, and other constituents.

Dip. The slope of a rock layer expressed by the angle which the top or bottom of 

the layer makes with a horizontal plane. (See fig. 2, p. 17.)

Dissected. Cut by erosion into hills and valleys. Applicable especially to plains 

or peneplains in process of erosion after an uplift.

Dome. As applied to rock layers or beds, a short anticline, suggestive of an inverted basin.

Drift. The rock fragments soil, gravel, and silt carried by a glacier. Drift includes the unassorted material known as till and deposits made by streams flowing from a glacier.

Erosion. The wearing away of materials at the earth's surface by the mechanical action of running water, waves, moving ice, or winds, which use rock fragments and 

grains as tools or abrasives. Erosion is aided by weathering. (See Weathering.)

199
200 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Fault. A fracture in the earth's crust accompanied by movement of the rock on 

one side of the break past that on the other. If the fracture is inclined and the 

rock on one side appears to have slid down the slope of the fracture the fault is 

termed a normal fault. If, on the other hand, the rock on one side appears to 

have been shoved up the inclined plane of the break, the fault is termed a reverse 

fault. (See fig. 20, p. 102; fig. 23, p. 112, and fig. 30, p. 143.)

Fault block. A part of the earth's crust bounded wholly or in part by faults.

Fault scarp. The cliff formed by a fault. Most fault scarps have been modified by 

erosion since the faulting.

Fauna. The animals that inhabited the world or a certain region at a certain time.

Fissure. A crack, break, or fracture in the earth's crust or in a mass of rock.

Flood plain. The nearly level land that borders a stream and is subject to occasional 

overflow. Flood plains are built up by sediment left by such overflows.

Flora. The assemblage of plants growing at a given time or in a given place.

Fold. A bend in rock layers or beds. Anticlines and synclines are the common 

types of folds. (See fig. 28, p. 129, and fig. 31, p. 144.)

Formation. A rock layer, or a series of continuously deposited layers grouped 

together, regarded by the geologist as a unit for purposes of description and 

mapping. A formation is usually named from some place where it is exposed 

in its typical character. For example, Denver formation, Niobrara limestone.

Fossil. The whole or any part of an animal or plant that has been preserved in 

the rocks or the impression left by a plant or animal. This preservation is invariably accompanied by change in substance, and from some impressions the 

original substance has all been removed. (See Pis. VI, A, p. 62; XI, B, p. 75.)

Gneiss (pronounced nice). A rock resembling granite, but with its mineral constituents so arranged as to give it a banded appearance. Most gneisses are metamorphic rocks derived from granite or other igneous rocks.

Granite. A crystalline igneous rock that has solidified slowly deep within the 

earth. It consists chiefly of the minerals quartz, feldspar, and one or both of 

the common kinds of mica, namely, black mica, or biotite, and white mica, or 

muscovite. The feldspar is the kind known as orthoclase, and may be distinguished from quartz by its pale-reddish tint and its property of breaking with 

flat shining surfaces (cleavage), for quartz breaks irregularly. The micas are

easily recognized by their cleavage into thin, flexible flakes and their brilliant luster.

Horizon. In geology any distinctive plane traceable from place to place in different 

exposures of strata and marking the same period of geologic time. A particular 

horizon may be characterized by distinctive fossils.

Igneous rocks. Hocks formed by the cooling and solidification of a hot liquid 

material known as magma, that has originated at unknown depths within the 

earth. Those that have solidified beneath the surface are known as intrusive 

rocks, or, if the cooling has taken place slowly at great depth, as plutonic intrusive or plutonic rocks. Those that have flowed out over the surface are known 

as effusive rocks, extrusive rocks, or lavas. The term volcanic rocks includes 

not only lavas but bombs, pumice, tuff, volcanic ash, and other fragmental 

materials or ejecta thrown out from volcanoes.

Lithologic. Pertaining to lithology, or the study of. rocks. (See also Petrology.) 

Pertaining to rock character.

Lode. An ore-bearing vein (see Vein); especially a broad or complex vein.

Loess (pronounced lurse with the r obscure). A fine homogeneous silt or loam 

showing usually no division into layers and forming thick and extensive 

deposits in the Mississippi Valley and in China. It is generally regarded as in 

part at least a deposit of wind-blown dust.
GLOSSARY OF GEOLOGIC TERMS. 201

Meander. To flow in serpentine curves. A loop in a stream. The term comes 

from the Greek name of a river in Asia Minor, which has a sinuous course. Most 

streams in flowing across plains develop meanders. (See PI. Ill, A, p. 11.)

Metamorphism. Any'change in rocks effected in the earth by heat, pressure, 

solutions, or gases. A common cause of the metamorphism of rocks is the intrusion into them of igneous rocks. Rocks that have been so changed are termed 

metamorphic.

Monzonite. An even-grained intrusive igneous rock intermediate in character 

between diorite and granite. It resembles granite.

Moraine. A mass of drift deposited by a glacier at its end or along its sides.

Oil pool. An accumulation or body of oil in sedimentary rock that yields petroleum on drilling. The oil occurs in the pores of the rock and is not a pool or 

pond iu the ordinary sense of these words.

Outcrop. That part of a rock that appears at the surface. The appearance of a 

rock at the surface or its projection above the soil.

Paleontology. The study of the world's ancient life, either plant or animal, by

means of fossils.

Peneplain. A region reduced almost to a plain by the long-continued normal erosion of a land surface. It should be distinguished from a plain produced by the 

attack of waves along a coast or the built-up flood plain of a river.

Petrography. The description of rocks, especially of igneous and metamorphic 

rocks, studied with the aid of the microscope.

Petrology. The study of rocks, especially of igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Placer deposit. A mass of gravel, sand, or similar material resulting from the 

crumbling and erosion of solid rocks and containing particles or nuggets of gold, 

platinum, tin, or other valuable minerals, which have been derived from rocks 

or veins by erosion.

Playa (pronounced plah'ya).. The shallow central basin of a desert plain, in which 

water gathers after a rain and is evaporated.

Porphyry. Any igneous rock in which certain crystal constituents are distinctly 

visible in contrast with the finer-grained substance of the rock.

Quartzite. A rock composed of sand grains cemented by silica into an extremely 

hard mass.

Rhyolite. A lava, usually of light color, corresponding in chemical composition to 

granite. The same molten liquid that at great depth within the earth solidifies 

as granite would, if it flowed out on the surface, cool more quickly and crystallize less completely as rhyolite.

Schist. A rock that by subjection to heat and pressure within the earth has undergone a change in the character of the particles or minerals that compose it and 

has these minerals arranged in such a way that the rock splits more easily in 

certain directions than in others. A schist has a crystalline grain roughly com- 

 parable with the grain of a piece of wood.

Sedimentary rocks. Rocks formed by the accumulation of sediment in water 

(aqueous deposits) or from air (eolian deposits). The sediment may consist of 

rock fragments or particles of various sizes (conglomerate, sandstone, shale); of 

the remains or products of animals or plants (certain limestones and coal); of the 

product of chemical action or of evaporation (salt, gypsum, etc.); or of mixtures 

of these materials. Some sedimentary deposits (tuffs) are composed of fragments 

blown from volcanoes and deposited on land or in water. A characteristic feature of sedimentary deposits is a layered structure known as bedding or stratification. Each layer is a bed or stratum. Sedimentary beds as deposited lie 

flat or nearly flat.

Shale. A rock consisting of hardened thin layers of fine mud.
202 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.

Slate. A rock that by subjection to pressure within the earth has acquired the 

property of splitting smoothly into thin plates. The cleavage is smoother and 

more regular than the splitting of schist along its grain.

Stratigraphy. The branch of geologic science that deals with the order and relations of the strata of the earth's crust.

Strike. The direction along which an inclined rock layer would meet the earth's 

surface if that surface were level. The outcrop (which see) of a bed on a plain 

is coincident with its strike.

Structure. In geology the forms assumed by sedimentary beds and igneous rocks 

that have been moved from their original position by forces^within the earth or 

the forms taken by intrusive masses of igneous rock in connection with effects 

produced mechanically on neighboring rocks by the intrusion. Folds (anticlines 

and synclines) and faults are the principal mechanical effects considered under 

structure. Schistosity and cleavage are also structural features.

Syncline. An inverted arch of bedded or layered rock suggestive in form of a canoe. 

(See fig. 28, p. 129.)

Talus (pronounced taylus). The mass of loose rock fragments that accumulates at 

the base of a cliff or steep slope. (See PI. XXII, B, p. 166.)

Terrace. A steplike bench on a hillside. Most terraces along rivers are remnants 

of valley bottoms formed when the stream flowed at higher levels. Other terraces have been formed by waves. Some terraces have been cut in solid rock, 

others have been built up of sand and gravel, and still others have been partly 

cut and partly built up. (See PL XX, p. 142.)

Till. The deposit of mingled bowlders, rock fragments, and soil left behind by a 

melting glacier or deposited about its margin.

Tuff. A rock consisting of a layer or layers of lava particles blown from a volcano. 

A fine tuff is often called volcanic ash and a coarse tuff is called breccia.

Type locality. The place at which a formation is typically displayed and from 

which it is named; also the place at which a fossil or other geologic feature is 

displayed in typical form.

Unconformity. A break in the regular succession of sedimentary rocks, indicated 

by the fact that one bed rests on the eroded surface of one or more beds which 

may have a distinctly different dip from the bed above. An unconformity may

indicate that the beds below it have at some time been raised above the sea

and have been eroded. In some places beds thousands of feet thick have been 

washed away before the land again became submerged and the first bed above 

the surface of unconformity was deposited. If beds of rock may be regarded as 

leaves in the volume of geologic history, an unconformity marks a gap in the 

record.

Vein. A mass of mineral material that has been deposited in or along a fissure in 

the rocks. A vein differs from a dike in that the vein material was introduced 

gradually by deposition from solution whereas a dike was intruded in a molten 

condition.

Volcanic bomb. A rounded mass of lava thrown out while in a hot and pasty condition from a volcano. A bomb, like a raindrop, is rounded in its passage through 

the air and may be covered with a cracked crust due to quick cooling.

Volcanic cone. A mountain or hill, usually of characteristic conical form, built up 

around a volcanic vent. The more nearly perfect cones are composed principally of lava fragments and volcanic ashes.

Volcanic glass. Lava that has cooled and solidified before it has had time to crystallize.
GLOSSAEY OF GEOLOGIC TERMS.

Volcanic neck. A plug of lava that formerly congealed in the pipe of a volcano. 

When the tuffs and lava flows that make up most of a volcano have been washed 

away by erosion the neck may remain as an isolated hill.

Volcanic rocks. Igneous rocks erupted at or near the earth's surface, including 

lavas, tuffs, volcanic ashes, and like material.

Weathering. The group of processes, such as the chemical action of air and rain 

water and of plants and bacteria and the mechanical action of changes of temperature, whereby rocks on exposure to the weather change in character, decay, 

and finally crumble into soil.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

ROUTE MAP.

For the convenience of the traveler the sheets of the route map are so folded and placed that he can 

unfold them one by one and keep each one in view while he is reading the text relating to it. A reference 

in parentheses is given in the text at each point where a new sheet should be unfolded.

SHEET 1. St. Paul to Cable, Minn.......................................... 20

2. St. Cloud to Verndale, Minn. (with map of Cuyuna iron range)..... 26

3. Wadena to Hawley, Minn. (with map of western and Superior ice

sheets of Minnesota)........................................... 32

4. Hawley, Minn., to Buffalo, N. Dak. (with map of glacial Lake

Agassiz)...................................................... 40

5. Tower City to Berner, N. Dak. (with map showing moraines formed

by the ice sheet that crossed North Dakota in Wisconsin time).... 44

6. Eldridge to Geneva, N. Dak...................................... 46

7. Driscoll to Sedalia, N. Dak...................................... 54

8. New Salem to Gladstone, N. Dak................................ 60

9. Lehigh to Sentinel Butte, N. Dak................................. 64

10. Beach, N. Dak., to Fallon, Mont................................. 68

11. Fallon to Joppa, Mont............................................ 72

12. Rosebud to Custer, Mont......................................... 78

13. Waco to Laurel, Mont. .......................................... 82

14. Park City to Dehart, Mont....................................... 86

15. Carney to Central Park, Mont..................................... 98

16. Manhattan to Stuart, Mont....................................... 1]2

17. Townsend to Elliston, Mont...................................... 126

18. Warm Springs to Clinton, Mont, (with map of western Montana showing distribution of known Tertiary lake beds)................... . 134

19. Turah to Weeksville, Mont, (with map of glacial Lake Missoula).... 144

20. Eddy, Mont., to Hope, Idaho.................................... 152

21. Oden, Idaho, to Spokane, Wash.................................. 160

22. Marshall to Ritzville, Wash....................................... 164

23. Essig to Vale, Wash, (with map of the great lava plateau of Columbia

River)....................................................... 168

24. Eltopia to Mabton, Wash........................................ 172

25. Empire to Wymer, Wash. ........................................ 176

26. Indio to Lester, Wash........................................... 186

27. Lester to Seattle, Wash, (with map showing depth of water in Elliott

Bay, Seattle)................................................. 196

205
206 ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATES.

Page. 

PLATB I. Relief map showing surface features of the western part of the United

States........................................................ 6

II. Minnehaha, "Laughing Water".................................. 10

III. A, Valley City, N. Dak., from the "high line"; B, The "high line"

across the valley of Sheyenne River, N. Dak.................... 11

IV. A, Badlands in the vicinity of Mandan, N. Dak.; B, Cracks produced

- by the burning of a bed of lignite............................... 52

V. A, B, Erosion forms of North Dakota.............................. 53

VI. A, Silicified stump in Pyramid Park, N. Dak.; B, The "prow of the

battleship," one of the buttes of Pyramid Park, N. Dak.......... 62

VII. A, View of the badlands of North Dakota; B, A bed of lignite 15 feet

thick in the canyon of Little Missouri River, N. Dak............ 62

VIII. A, B, Views of the badlands of North Dakota..................... 62

IX. A-D, Views of the badlands of North Dakota and Montana.......... 63

X. The great Triceratops, which in Lance time roamed through the forests of Montana and North Dakota............................... 74

XI. A, Bluffs of Lance formation on Yellowstone River west of Hysham, 

Mont.; B, Fossil palm leaf of Eocene age found near Hysham, 

Mont......................................................... 75

XII. A, B, Views in the sheep range of Montana......................... 76

XIII. A, Pompeys Pillar, Mont., as seen from the Northern Pacific Railway; B, Inscription made by Capt. Clark on Pompeys Pillar, 

July 25, 1806................................................... 77

XIV. Emigrant Peak, the sentinel guarding the northern approach to

Yellowstone Park.............................................. 90

XV. Rocky gateway which Rock Creek has cut through the Madison

limestone below Chestnut, Mont................................ 91

XVI. View looking west, from Homestake summit, Mont.................. 106

XVII. Silver Bow Canyon, Mont.......................................... 107

XVIII. Cliffs of Madison limestone at Lombard, Mont...................... 118

XIX. A, Summer camp of the Flathead Indians, a familiar scene in the 

Jocko Valley, Mont.; B, Glacier on the north slope of McDonald 

Peak, Mont................................................... 119

XX. View down Flathead River from Knowles, Mont.................... 142

XXI. Cabinet Gorge, Idaho............................................ 143

XXII. A, White Bluff of the Columbia, 20 miles above Pasco, Wash.; B,

Columnar lava at Cactus siding, 5 miles south of Connell, Wash... 166

XXIII. Mount Adams, as seen from the Northern Pacific trains near Toppenish, Wash..................................................... 167

XXIV. A, Yakima Canyon, Wash.; B, Columnar andesite near Yakima

Canyon, Wash................................................ 174

XXV. Beautiful Lake Keechelus, Wash................................. 175

XXVI. The almost impassable tangle of a Washington forest............... 194

XXVII. Mount Rainier, "monarch of the Cascades," as seen from the boulevard on the shore of Lake Washington, Seattle, Wash............ 195
ILLUSTRATIONS. 207

FIGURES.

FIGUBE 1. Section across Mississippi Valley between St. Paul and Fort Snell- Page, 

ing, Minn................................................... 11

2. Diagram showing northward rise of the rocks in the vicinity of

Minneapolis, Minn.......................................... 17

3. Diagram showing probable origin of many kettle holes........... 29

4. Section of Buffalo Biver delta, Minn........................... 34

5. Section of Herman beach ridge west of Magnolia, N. Dak........ 39

6. Gingko leaf................................................... 58

7. Diagram of Glendive anticline, Mont........................*... 68

8. Sun-bleached skull near Miles City, Mont....................... 70

9. Diagram showing the thinning out and coming in of formations

from Black Hills, S. Dak., to Billings, Mont.................... 75

10. Monument built by sheep herder............................... 77

11. Eagle sandstone north of Park City, Mont........................ 83

12. Cross section to illustrate the change in the formations between

Terry and Livingston, Mont.................................. 84

13. Cross section showing the rim of the mountains south of Livingston,

Mont........................................................ 89

14. Diagram showing the structure of Cinnabar Mountain, Mont...... 93

15. Dike cutting coal bed and sill intruded in a position to affect the

quality of the coal........................................... 95

16. Vertical fold in Madison limestone west of Chestnut, Mont........ 96

17. Upturned Madison limestone and associated rocks, forming the

Bridger Range, Mont.-............................:........... 98

18. Southeast side of the great synclinal basin north of Logan, Mont.. 99

19. Diagram to explain the course of Jefferson River west of Willow

Creek, Mont. v................................................ 101

20. Section of great anticlinal fold near Lime Spur, Mont ............ 102

21. Diagram of braided stream...................................... 104

22. Diagram of Continental Divide east of Butte, Mont.............. 107

23. Diagrams illustrating the ways in which the broad valleys of the

Rocky Mountain region were formed.......................... 112

24. Sections along Northern Pacific Railway between Durant and 

Drummond, Mont., showing probable mode of formation of Deer 

Lodge Valley................................................. 115

25. Section between Logan and Trident, Mont...................... 116

26. Faulted fold at Trident, Mont.................................. 117

27. Fold and fault in the rocks near Lombard, Mont.................. 118

28. Diagram of fold west of Drummond, Mont........................ 129

29. Horizontal beach lines on Mount Jumbo, as seen from railway station at Missoula, Mont........................................ 134

30. Normal faults and overthrust fault............................. 143

31. Great folds in the rocks between Plains and Thompson Falls, Mont. 144

32. Profile of mountain slope east of Sandpoint, Idaho............... 152

33. Cross-bedding in glacial gravel on Latah Creek 1 mile west of

Spokane, Wash............................................. 160

34. Island of gneiss or schist in the lava near Marshall, Wash........ 161

35. Section of Yakima Valley east of Prosser, Wash.................. 170

36. Fold in basalt north of Roza, Wash............................. 176

37. Section showing structure of Yakima basalt north of Ellensburg,

Wash...................................................... 179

38. Section showing size and shupe of the valley of Green River below 

Eagle Gorge, Wash., compared with the valley the river abandoned when it was blocked by ice.............................. 187

INDEX OF RAILROAD STATIONS.

A. Page.. Sheet. 

23 

2 

25 

21 

10 

10

Akron, Wash..........................

Aldrich, Minn......................... 26

Alfalfa, Wash......................... 172

Algoma, Idaho........................

Allard, Mont.......................... 65

Alien, Mont...........................

Almont.N.Dak....................... 55 8

Alta, N.Dak.......................... 5

Angora, N. Dak....................... 7

Anoka, Minn.......................... 17 1

Antelope,N. Dak..................... 58 S

Apple Creek, N. Dak.................. 7

Argo, Wash........................... 27

Arlee.Mont........................... 138 19

Athol, Idaho.......................... 155 21

Auburn, Wash........................ 191 27

Audubon, Minn....................... 31 3

Austin, Mont.......................... 124 17

Avon, Mont........................... 120 18

B.

Babb, Wash........................... 22

Badger, Wash......................... 24

Baileys, Minn......................... 1

Baker, Wash.......................... 26

Beach,N.Dak........................ 63 10

Bearmouth, Mont..................... 130 18

Beatrice, Wash........................ 23

Beaver Hill, Mont..................... 10

Becker, Minn.......................... 18 1

Bedford, Mont........................ 120 17

Belfleld,N.Dak....................... 61 9

Belgrade, Mont........................ 98 15

Belknap, Mont........................ ' 20

Berea,N. Dak......................... 5

Berner,N. Dak........................ 44 5

Big Lake, Minn............0 ........... 18 1

Big Timber, Mont..................... 86 14

Bighorn, Mont........................ 78 12

Billings, Mont......................... 81 . 13

Birdseye,Mont........................ 123 17

Bismarck, N. Dak..................... 51 7

Black River, Wash.................... 27

Blakeley, Mont........................ 131

Blatchford, Mont...................... 11

Bloom, N. Dak........................ 5

Blossburg, Mont....................... 124 17

Blue Grass, N. Dak................... 8

Bluflton, Minn........................ 26 3

Bonita,Mont.......................... 133 18

Bonner, Mont......................... 133 19

Borup, Wash.......................... 26

Bogle, N. Dak......................... 8

95558° Bull. 611 15 14

Page. Sheet.

Bozeman,Mont....................... 96 15

Brackett,N. Dak...................... 5

Bradley, Mont........................ 18

Brewer, Mont......................... 16

Brisbin, Mont......................... 90 15

Bristol, Wash......................... 179 26

Buffalo, N. Dak....................... 40 4

BullMountain, Mont.................. 78 13

Burleigh, N. Dak...................... 7

Butte, Mont........................... 107 16

Byron, Wash.......................... 171 24

C.

Cabinet) Idaho........................ 150 20

Cable,Minn........................... 19 1

Cactus, Wash......................... 166 23

Calcium, Mont........................ 125

Card well, Mont........................ 104 16

Careywood, Idaho..................... 21

Carney, Mont......................... 15

Casselton, N. Dak..................... 38 4

Cato, Mont............................ 11

CentralPark, Mont.................... 98 15

Chama, N. Dak....................... 10

Chandler, Wash....................... 24

Cheney, Wash......................... 162 22

Chestnut, Mont....................... 96 15

Chicory, Mont......................... 90 15

Clark Fork, Idaho..................... 151 20

Clarkston, Mont....................... 117 16

Clealum, Wash........................ ISO 26

Clear Lake,Minn...................... 19 1

Clermont, Mont....................... 11

Cleveland, N. Dak..........:......... 45 6

Clinton, Mont......................... 133 18

Clough Junction, Mont................ i23

Clow, Mont......'...................... 17

Cocolalla, Idaho....................... 154 21

Coker, Wash.......................... 22

Colgate, Mont......................... 10

Columbus,. Mont....................... 84 14

Concord, Wash........................ 22

Conlin, Mont.......................... 10

Connell, Wash......................... 166 23

Coon Creek, Minn..................... 17 1

Corwin Springs, Mont................. 92 15

Covington, Wash...................... 190 27

Crystal Springs, N. Dak............... 46 6

Cunningham, Wash................... 23

Curlew,N. Dak....................... 8

Curry, Mont........................... 10

Gushing, Minn........................ 24 2

Custer, Mont.......................... 78 12

209
INDEX OF RAILEOAD STATIONS.

D. Page. Sheet.

Daileys, Mont......................... 91 15

Dale,Minn:........................... 3

Darling, Minn....................... 1. 2

Dawson, N. Dak....:.................. 46 G

Dayton, Minn......................... 18 1

DeSmet, Mont........................ 137 19

Peer Lodge, Mont..................... 114 18

Dehart, Mont......................... 14

Demores,N. Dak..................... 63 9

Dempsey, Mont....................... 18

Denton, Idaho........................ 20

Detroit,Minn......................... 30 3

Dewey, Mont.......:................. f 12

Dickinson, N. Dak.................... 60 ' 9

Dilworth, Minn....................... 35 4

Dixon,Mont.......................... 140 19

Don, N. Dak.......................... 6

Dopelius, Minn....................... 3

Dower Lake, Minn.................... 2

Driscoll,N. Dak...................... 46 7

Drummond, Mont.........'........... 129 IS

Dudley, Wash........................ 26

Durant, Mont......................... Ill 16

E.

Eagle Gorge, Wash.................... 186- 27

Eagles Nest, N. Dak..........;....... 8

East Helena, Mont.................... 121 17

Easton,Wash.......................... 182 26

Eckdsan,N.Dak..................... 43 5

Eddy, Mont.......................... 144 20

Eland,N. Dak........................ 9

Eldridge,N. Dak..................... 45 6

Electric, Mont........................ 93 15

Elk River, Minn...................... 18 1

Ellensburg, Wash..................... 177 26

Elliston, Mont........................ 126 17

Elton, Mont.......................... 15

Eltopia, Wash........................ 168 24

Emery, Wash ......................... 23

Emigrant, Mont...................... 91 15

Empire, Wash........................ 172 25

Erie, Wash........................... 24

Essig, Wash.......................... 165 23

Eustis, Mont.......................... 16

Evaro, Mont........:................. 137 . 19

F.

Fallen, Mont.......................... 68 11

Fargo,N.Dak........................ 36 4

Fife, N. Dak.......................... 4

Finch, Mont.......................... 70

Fishtrap, Wash...................... 163 22

Flathead, Mont...°....'................ 19

Forsyth, Mont........................ 75 12

Fort Keogh, Mont.................... 70 11

Fort Snelling, Minn................... 10 1

Foster, Mont.......................... 13

Frazee, Minn.......................... 30 3

Frost, Mont........................... 144 20

Fryburg,N. Dak...................'.. 61 9

Furlong, Mont........................ 20

G.

Gardiner, Mont....................... 91 15

Garrison, Mont........................ 115 IS

Geneva, N. Dak...................... 6

Page. Sheet.

Gibbon, Wash........................ 24

Glade, Wash.......................... 24

Gladstone, N. Dak............,.'...... 59 8

Glendive, Mont....................... 65 10

Glenullen, N. Dak.................... 56 8

Glyndon, Minn....................... 35 4

Gold Creek,Mont..................... 128 18

Gordon, Mont.......................... 15

Granite, Idaho........................ 154 21

Gregory, Minn........................ 21 2

Gregson, Mont.....................:.. 16

GreyclifE, Mont.....;..:............... 86 14

H.

Hackney, Mont....................... 16

Haggart, N. Dak...................... 4

Haskell, Mont......................... 18

Hathaway, Mont...............'....... 72 11

Hatton, Wash......................... 23

Hauser, Idaho......................... 155 21

Hawley, Minn......................... 31 3

Hebron, N. Dak....................... 58 8

Heckman, Mont....................... 10

Helena,Mont......................... 121 17

Hell Gate, Mont....................... 18

Henry, Wash......................:... 27

Heron, Mont........................... 149 20

Hillside, Wash........................ 25

Hobart, N. Dak....................... 5

Hodges, Mont......................... 65 10

Homestake, Mont..................... 106 16

Hope, Idaho.......................... 151 20

Hoppers, Mont........................ 15

Horton, Mont......................... 11

Hot Springs, Wash..;................. 186 27

Howard, Mont........................ 76 12

Hoyt,Mont............................ 00 10

Humphrey, Wash..................... 1O> 27

Huntley, Mont.............'........... 80 . 13

Hysham, Mont......................... 77 12

I.

Indio, Wash........................... 26

lona, Mont............................ 10

Irvin, Wash........................... 159 21

J.

Jamestown, N. Dak................... 44 5

Joppa, Mont.............:............ 72 11

Jordan, Mont......................... 11

Judson, N. Dak............ ........... 53 -7

 K.

Kanaskat, Wash....................... 189 27

Kamm, Mont......................... 11

Kennedy, Wash ....................... 26

Kennewick, Wash..................... 169 24

Kent, Wash........................... 193 27

Keystone, Wash....................... 22

Kildee, Mont.......................... 146 20

Kiona, Wash.......................... 170 24

Kline, Wash..:........................ 22

Knife River, N. Dak.................. 8

Knowles, Mont..:..................... 19

Kohrs, Mont.......................... 18

Kootenai, Idaho....................... 21

Kountze, Wash........................ 26

Kurtz, N. Dak........................ 8
INDEX OF RAILROAD STATIONS. 211

L. Page. 

Ladoga, N. Dak.......................

Lake Park, Minn...................... 31

Laurel, Mont.'......................... 82

Lehich, N. Dak....................... 59

 Lemolo, Wash.........................

Lester, Wash.......................... 186

Lignite, Idaho.........:............... .

Lime Spur, Mont.......:.............. 103

Limekiln Spur, Mont..................

Lincoln, Minn......................... 24

Lind, Wash........................... 165

Little Falls, Minn..................... 22

Livingston, Mont...................... 88

Lockwood, Mont......................

Logan, Mont.......................... 99

Lombard, Mont....................... 118

Louisville, Mont.......................

Luce, Minn............................ 28

Lyons, N. Dak........................

M. 

Mabton, Wash........................ 171

McDonald, Mont...................... 140

McHugh, Minn........................

McKenzie, N. Dak.................... 49

Magnolia, N. Dak..................... 39

Mandan, N. Dak...................... 52

Manhattan, Mont...................... OS

Manitoba Junction, Minn.............. 31

Mapleton, N. Dak..................... 38

Marsh, Mont.......................... 68

Marshall, Wash........................ 161

Martin, Wash........'................. 184

Maywood, Wash...................... 186

Medina, N. Dak........................ 45

Medora, N. Dak....................... 62

Merrill, Mont.......................... 85

Mesa, Wash........................... 167

Miles City, Mont...................... 70

Miner, Mont........................... 92

Minneapolis, Minn..................... 16

Minnehaha Falls, Minn................ 10

Misko, Mont...........................

Mission, Mont......................... 88

Missoula, Mont........................ 134

Moab, Wash...........................

Monte, Wash................;.........

Moorhead, Minn....................... 35

Muir, Mont............................ 95

Murdock, Wash.......................

Murn, Mont...........................

Muskoda, Minn........................ 31

N. 

Nagos, Mont..........'.................

Nelsons, Wash:......... .............

New Salem, N. Dak................... 54

New York Mills, Minn................. 27

Newton, Mont..........:.............. 79

Nimrod, Mont.........................

Norpak, N. Dak.......................

North Yakima, Wash................. 174

Noxon, Mont.......................... 149

0. 

Oak Lake, Minn.......................

O'Brien, Wash........................

Oden, Idaho........................... 152

Sheet. 

6

3

13

9

27

26

21

15

2

23

2

15

13

16

 16

, 17

3

7

24

19

3

7

4

7

18 

3

10

22

26

27

6

9

14

23

11

15

1

1

14

15

19

21

 25

4

15

26

114'

19

26

8

3

13

IS

4

25

20

3

27

21

 

Oneida, Mont .................

Oriska, N. Dak. ...............

Or.vell.Mont..................

Osivego, N. Dak.. ..............

Otis, Wash....................

Ozoma, Idaho .................

P. 

Paha, Wash. ..................

Park City, Mont. ..............

Parker, Wash. ................

Parkvater, Wash. .............

Pasco, Wash. .................

Patcum, Mont. ................

Philbrook, Minn. ..............

Pipes tone, Mont. .........:....

Pomona, Wash. ...............

Prosser, Wash. ................

Q.

R. 

Race Track, Mont. ............

Ramsey, Idaho. ...............

Rancher, Mont. ...............

Randall, Minn. ................

Rankin, N. Dak. ..............

Rea, Mont... . .................

Ritzville,Wash...............

S.

Sanbom, N. Dak. . ............

Sauk Rat>ids. Minn............

Page.

....... 41

....... 1C5

....... 1S9

....... 142

....... 83

....... 173

........ 168

........ 27

........ 141

........ 25

....... 105

........ 143

........ 79

........ 171

....... 105

........ 114

....... 155

....... 76

........ 23

........ 155

........ 138

....... 1S9

........ 85

........ 21

........ 59

........ 104

........ 21

........ 176

........ 165

....... 20

....... 8, 15

........ 43

........ -77

........ 152

........ 102

........ 172

........ 20

Sheet. 

14

5

18

13

6

21

20

23

27

19

14

25

21

- 24

14

3

19

2

16

17

19

25

13

24

23

14

18

21

12

2

6

14

21

19

27

12

14

16

14

2

8

3

22

24

12

16

9

' 25

91

24

2

1

1

5

12

21

10

2

25

2
212 INDEX OF RAILROAD STATIONS.

Scoria,N. Dak. .................

Seattle, Wash. ..................

Sedalia, N. Dak .................

Selah,Wash.....................

Sentinel Butte, N. Dak .........

Shoshkin, Wash. ................

Sifton, N. Dak..................

South Heart, N. Dak. ...........

Spire Rock, Mont. ..............

Stampede, Wash. ...............

Staples, Minn.. ..................

Steele,N. Dak....... ............

Sterling, N. Dak. ................

T.

Thrall, Wash....................

Threeforks, Mont. ...............

Tokio, Wash ....................

Toston, Mont....................

Trident. Mont. ..................

Page.

...... 61

194

...... 176

...... 63

...... Ill

...... 55

...... CO

...... 105

...... 44

...... 160

...... 164

...... 86

...... 184

...... 25

...... 46

...... 48

...... 35

...... Ill

...... 61

...... 46

179

69

...... 178

...... 145

...... 177

...... 100

...... 172

...... 119

...'... 41

...... 119

...... 117

Sheet. 

19

9

27

7

25

9

11

26

6

16

8

16

17

20

9

6

15

16

5

21

22

14

26

2

6

7

4

15

16

. 9

25

7

26

6

26

11

26

20

26

16

22

25

16

5

17

15

16

Trout Creek, Mont. ...........

Turah, Mont..................

Tusler, Mont. .................

Tyler, Wash...................

U.

V.

Vale, Wash....................

Valley City, N. Dak. ..........

Verndale, Minn................

Vista, Wash. ..................

W.

Waldon, N.Dak;.............

Welch, Mont..................

West End, Mont..............

Whitehall, Mont. .............

Willis,Mont...................

Willow Creek, Mont. ..........

y.

s

z.

Zero. Mont .....................

Tage. 

....... 148

....... 162

....... 42

....... 26

....... 169

....... 26

....... 173

....... 113

....... 144

....... 39

....... 105

....... 64

....... 101

....... 45

....... 120

....... 176

20

19

20

11

11

5

23

5

21

20

2

24

13

3

25 

IS 

2 

14 

19

15 

21 

23

4

20 

16 

10 

IS 

15

6 

17 

23 

13- 

25

25

10

13

14

9

11

o

«*- 31i

v. A