The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-01-07

1 Guns ~ - ottto&SC0 ~ ~ <DC0AuuAotkOu6 ~ -
rious heights above 10 present water level nf
the Mississippi IN This vicinity of Uniones, or
river nuscles- The shells Of thsss bedsars suf
6cienty well preserved to indicat2 their spe-
cies, and are such as inhAbit the river ct the
present time. There have not been wanting
coaiectures - 10 the esigi. a these aeeanals-
tons. Among the most common ra4 the sage
| suggestion of national clam bakes of the Sacs
and Foxes, or their remote sntecedents .
theory which, in country redolent With larger
game, has not even the basis Of vague tradi
ton, and is rather insulting to the memory of
those ancient hunters, who were not Known to
be fond Of such small deer
The extent Of these deposits, however, in
dicate that the shells grew and Aourished sx
actly where they are found to-day. The we'd
known gregarious and sedentary habits Of the
river clam (which. like its happy cosener Of
the sea, is averse to unnecessary changes of
residence) is sufficient evidence Of
Another thing is also indicated which is
very interesting, viz: the lor water marx of
the Mississippi at the time these shell beds
were formed. The grading Of the Keokuk L
Ft Madison R. r. exposed one of these she'll
beds, near the mouth of Prices Creek, at the
height Of about twelve feet above the present
water level. Many citizens used these shells,
though not very web adapted for the purpose,
upon their garden walks, &c. There is an
other such shell bed as Nauvoo, twenty-five
feet above the present water level. There is
also on the land of Captain Ballinger, at San
dusky, another similar accumulation of shells
along the top of the Hill on which his resi-
dence is located. which is about eighty feet
above the present level of the Mississippi.
Here good sized trees are growing upon the
shell bed
These deposits surely indicate at least three
successive levels, at which the river must have
unmistakably as il mural tablets had been
erected in time past and inscribed with char
acters to indicate the low water mark Of the
period, by the pains taking hand of the high
est civilization
These shells are so we'll preserved, even
though covered quite specifically with earth
and loan, as to show that at no very remote
period the river presented in this vicinity
very different aspect from that at present ex-
hibted. For instance, when the deposit at
Saavoo was formed and low water mark was
twenty five feet above the present level, of
course, Montrose Bottom was throughout irs
extent under water: and that mal,sm dppro-
briam, the Keokuk Rapids, did not exist;
but there vas placid lake like expansion Of
the river, the outline of which may be traced
in casting the eye round the bluff encircled
expanse Of rich alluyium, known as Montrose
Prairie, now dotted with so many thriving
farms, bearing evidence in its surface vegetar
ton to-day, that it has sprung from the va
ters- A similar emergence seems to be going
on at the present time, of the Alexandra bot
tom, which stretches for miles to the South
and West OF the moath OF the Dies Moipes.
This prairie bottom is still visited by the wa
ters of the river, and win continue to be so
until Nature grades down Keokuk Rapids,
and allows the Mississippi to find lower
level.
Again at the time the she'll bed at San
dusky was formed, eighty feet above the pres
ent level OF the river, what was then the APP
pearance of the river At keokuk. At no very
distant date, there was u rocky barrier stretch
ing across from the Eastern TO the Western
side of the river in this vicinity, probably
between this point and Warsaw, At least ninety
feet in height, over which, perhaps, the
mighty waters plunged in . picturesque fall
which was the 81. Anthony-or Niagara ofthat
period, and must have given grand dreams of
magnificent water power and town-ste devel-
opments to the aborigines, we're they as keen
after such advantages as We But Nature
went on quietly sapping the foundations Of this
old-time wonder and il has passed away like
summer dream.
II is not always the case that such
rocky barrier gives rise to fall or rapid,
las the river below may be graded up to
| the barrier gradually with sand and loose
material, which gives way readily enough
as the rocky barrier yields,) but gives rise
10 deep pools, succeeded by sandbars. or
rapids, according to the nafare Of the river
| bed below.
| Lake Pepin and Lake Ss Croix, on the
Upper Mississippi-those lovely lake. ike ex-
pansions Of the river--seem to be such deep
| pools, in which the Great Eastern might
float. Lake Pepin, indeed, the shore dwell
ers have vague notions of being bottomless.
Most rivers are, perhaps, series Of pools,
caused by the greater resistance afforded by
some strata, over @othen which the waters
pass, nature thus afording the first hints of
slack water navigation.
/ This passing away Of great lAad Mszls of
the past, which may have appeared sufficient
| ly permanent, gives . sense of insecurity ~
to the present arrangements but the ebert
bed which forms the present rocky barrier is
A formation which yields slowly to wearing
influences, assisted even by the Government
scoop, which worked here 80 many years,
ind possibly removed the loose matesial
nearly as fast as it was washed down from
show. yfsxs tsgI&3 esq % gs4A
It is question open to discussion which
way will the Rapids extend ~ the rock wears
awsy1-up Or down the eFivsfs Nsre shs rocks
forming the botsom of fsthss. river horizontal,
thsrs would be, little, officially ia dseidirs
this; bat the ebert bed forming the lower part
Of the Keokuk limestone, OF rather that poF.
ton oft which aabtds ~ natstisf Resistance
passes above the wsAee ct Nauvoo, and is .
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