St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-06-23

| gion is more broken and irregular thar
any other part of the State, and tn,
streams have usually cut deep into
the rocks. Their descent is. quit,
rapid, and they furnish ample water
power at numerous points The Up
per Iowa runs through remarkably
picturesque valley, bordered by bluffs
which are from 800 to 400 feet high
and display variety of gracefully
curving slopes, interrupted by bolt
and striking precipices.
The western side of the State is
travcrsed by numerous water-courses,
which have a general direction at
right-anglcs to that of the principal
streams on the eastern side. None OF
them are navigable, unless it be the
Big Sioux, which forms part of the
western boundary of Iowa. In re-
gard to the topography of this portion
OF the State, we have but little infor
nation, and its consideration will be
deferred until future Report.
Although there are no elevations
within the borders of the State which
can be called mountains, yet there are,
in its northern portion, few isolated
rocks, or hills, to which the name OF
mounds" is given. These mounds
are small patches of rock which have
escaped the general denudating in
tlucnces which have removed the
rocky strata over great extent of
country and to considerable depth.
The region in which they occur is
nearly coextcnsive with that in which
lead has been found, and they are all
geologically identical, as they are
capped with the hard beds of the
Niagara group, and have, at their
bases, the soft shales of the Hudson
river group.
The most easterly of the mounds
are within the borders of Wisconsin,
and on the extreme eastern edge of
the lead region. These are the Blue
mounds, two dome-shaped eminences,
which rise in the midst Of the prairie,
and are quite conspicuous objects,
owing to their isolated position in
gentle undulating country: Farther
west are the Platte mounds, a group
Of three detached elevations, about
six miles northeast of Platteville.
Sinsinncwa mound, six miles east Of
Dubuque, is also in Wisconsin it is
59l feet above the Mississippi, at Dun
leith, and about 225 feet above the
general level of the prairie at its
base.
In the vicinity of Galena, in Hi.
nois, there are several similar mounds,
of about the same height as Sinsin-
newa. Pilot Knob, near the mouth of
Fever river, is conspicuous object
to those passing up and down the Mis-
sissippi, and has long been a well
known landmark to the pilot and
raftsman. Waddle's mound just east
of the city is horseshoe shaped elc-
walton, from the summit of which a
most beautiful view of the surround
ing country can be obtained, as, in
deed, is true of all the other mounds.
Other outlicrs of the Niagara in this
region are llincklcy's mound, Jack
sons mound, and others to which no
name has been given.
In the vicinity of Dubuque, Table
mound is conspicuous object. 1t is
situated about five miles southwest
of the city, and is elevated 472 feet
above the Mississippi, which is about
the height of the outcrop of the Niaga-
ra limestone encircling the city of
Dubuque, at distance of from six to
ten miles. The summit of Table
mound is fiat, narrow ridge extend
ing about 700 feet in an east and west
direction, and connected by low
spur running off to the southwest,
with the main ridge of the Niagara to
the south. Sherald's mound is anoth-
er elevation of a similar character ;
it lies in sections l3 and IA, Il. 90, X.
|. L. Like Table and Sinsinncwa
mounds, this also is elongated in an
east and west line as if the current,
by which the rocks were scooped out,
so as to leave these outlying masses,
had acted in one or the other of these
directions. The French mounds are
eminences between the middle and
south forks of the Little Makoqueta,
along the outcropping edges of the
Niagara i'll that region. They are
about $50 feet above the Mississippi,
while Sherald's mound is little over
900. The limit of the Niagara lime.
stone is distinctly marked by bold
bluff extending to the northwest, after
crossing the Little Makoqueta, up the
valley of Turkey river on the south
side of the stream, and gradually be-
coming less and less conspicuous in
that direction. This outcropping edge
is cut by numerous ravines, and worn
into long projecting points, in this di
rection but there are no isolated
masses, or mounds, which are distinct
enough to have received a specia
name. Asa geological fact, the forma
tion of the mounds by denudation vii
be noticed more at length in another
part of the Report, and some sections
will be given illustrating the facts
stated above.
The most striking topography o
the northwest is the predomiuance o
prairies, a name first applied by tn,
early French settlers, and now univer
sally adopted. to designate natura
grassland, in contradistinction to the
wooded region, or, as it is generally
called throughout the west, timber-land
or simply timber. Probably nne-tenths
of the eastern, and still larger pro
portion of the western half of the
State Of Iowa is prairie. The timber
is, in general, found skirting the
streams, while the prairie occupie.
the whole of the higher portion of til,
country, with the exception of here
and there an isolated group of trees
standing like an island in the mids
of the ocean.
In ascending from the level of 6
river to the high land in its vicinity
we first cross the bottom-land " OF
bottom the portion of the salley
which is level, and, being but littlt