Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-02-13
SURVEY OF WIS
C0NSaN,
BY PROF.. pAHIELs.

containing an area of about $500 square
miles. Having formerly published de-
scrlptlons OF the more prominent physi-
cal features of the country, it is not ne.
cessary to give them further notice.
The order of succession, position, and
relative thickness Of the rocks of the dis
trIct will be seen on an inspection Of the
following vertical section
lst, Clay, from 10 to SO feet thick
say 25 feet.
I'd, Thin bedded hard white limestone
800 feet.
Sd, Shale of blue or brown color.
4th, Thick bedded gray lines sone 200
feet.
9Th, Thin bedded blue or brown lime
stone, with layers of shale, 80 feet.
9th, Yellowish thick bedded limestone
50 feet.
9TH, Sandstone of various colors, gen.
orally light gray, or red, 40 feet.
9th, Limestone with intercalations of
sandstone.
The qualification of these beds is con-
formable, or very nearly so. The whole
series have south westerly dip at the
rate of about ten feet to the mile.
Perhaps the most interesting deposite,
geologically considered, and which, as
yet, has been but little studied, is the
Clay. 1t attains its maximum thickness
IN the southwestern portion Of the dis
trict, where it assumes the form of pipe
clay, presenting several distinct beds. -
The included fossils, which are often
found in great abundance, proves this 10
be OF fresh water origin. But the fos-
sils of greatest interest peculiar to this
deposite, are the gigantic bones which
have at several places been found imbed-
ded IN it. Those found at Fairplay be-
longed to an Elephant and Mastodon,
and similar ones were dug up at Potosi.
The remains of an elephant have also
been discovered at Sextonvisle, Richland
County. Shese discoveries prove that
in ages immeasurably remote the Ele-
plant and Mastonon roaned over Wis
ccnsin, and found favorite places of re-
freshment and repose on our hills and
valleys, and even upon the sites Of our
populous towns. The antiquity of their
era may be imagined when to quote the
language of the Report, ''the lakes and
rivers from which they drank are now
dry and the forests amid which they
wandered, and upon whose luxuriant
vegetation their colossal forms were fed
have disappeared forever" Reader! our
prairies We're not always prairies nor
was the 'gnarled oak" chief forest tree.
The silent processes of change, opera
ting from age to age, level the s'everlas-
ting hills" turn mountains and rocks to
dust, lift continents from the bosom OF
oceans, alter climates and the conditions
| Of organic existence, fitting for new, and
uniting old creations, which enjoy their
epoch, reach their eliminating point, de-
cline and pass away like dream. This
is the law Of progressive Development
the grand metempsychosis of Nature
We speak Of our Indi,n mounds as an
cient; and, relatively, they are--but
compare them with the age of these gil
gantic mammalia! Yet these mammalia
are themselves but recent creations il
geological chronology. 1t is but proper
to add, that very recent discoveries seem
to settle the origin of the human race as
contemporaries with the mastodon. Eos.
sill human teeth and number Of perfect
skulls have been found in the Swabiar
Alps during the past year in strata o.
the mammoth period, proving the crea.
ton or the human race at period very
much earlier than has generally been De.
lieved or admitted.
The Clay seems 10 have been formed
by the decempositors of the rock whose
place it occupies. Its peculiar charac
teristic is its fresh-water origin ant
render it quite certain that lake once
covered large portion of the district
whose bottom was two or three hundred
feet higher than the present level Of the
Mississippi. There is no "drift,n pro
perly--that is, sand, gravel, bowlder's
&c.-in any part Of the district; nor a
ny evidence Of dinavial action, so mani
fest over large portion of the State
Had such depositors covered the mining
country, the discovery of mineral had
possibly, never been made. It is, indeed
probable, that at the drift period the mi
ming region was an extensive island, up
on whose shores impinging iceberg
dropped their loads OF igneous debris
Judging from the present appearance 0
that deposit along IFS eastern margin.
| But we cannot give place 10 any ex
tended notice of the several stratas.-
Their mineral contents and practical val
ne, are the main objects of The Report
Let us examine for little, some of ths
facts of especial importance it has pref.
ty definitely established mining, unit
quite recently, has been confined to the
i"UpperMagnesian Limestone, ''of Owen
This is known as the s:lead rock y i'm.
mediately underlying which is the Blue
Fossiiferous Limestone, differing from
| it entirely in composition, texture, SC
Now it has been generally supposed thai
the metallic veins would be lost wher
the blue limestone was reached, with NJ
hope of finding them beneath. The sur.
yey has established the fact that extsn,