The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-01-14

TmE PRAIRIE AuD 1rs t01MAfrO
The great alluviai feature 1t the lfsuissipp
Valley and Of the West, 10 the psairis.
I The bluf formation, - II is called BY some
| consists Of ths matseial undsrlyins ahs mai
ries, as it is cut through BY onr water courses
giving rise to benches or bluffs Of more o
less uniform level outline-so Characteristic o
the Upper Mississippi, the Missouri and thei
tributaries.
The vastness Of our prsiries il we'll know
extending East to Lake Erie, West 70 th,
slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and to tn,
North stretching far away across the valley o
} the Saskatchewan to the frozen region
around Lake Athabasca This bluff deposi
capping the headlsnds and rocky banks of tn,
Mississippi is comparatively thin, but in tn,
interior and to the West it varies from sixt,
to two hundred fest in thickness. This de
post consists Of Rne silicious clay and sandy
loan, furnishing the best material for the rich
est soils, when mingled with suf6ciency o
vegetable mould. 1t is indeed, the finest silt
and has been deposited in quiet waters, con
tanning in many places the organic remains o.
lacustrine and land shells in immense guam
titles, which are very wen preserved, not.
withstandng their very thin and perishable
nature, these remains form a striking con-
trast to the organic or marine forms
The absence of surface salt SO characteristic
of the Steppes of Northern Asia (the analogue
! indeed of our rrairies, on the Eastern copti-
nent, seems 10 indicate also the fresh water
| origin of the most or our prairie formation as
strkingly as the absence of marine shells.
Vegetable remains are seldom found in this
! deposit, and only occasionally the bones Of
mammals; the bones of the mammoth and
mastodon are sometimes found within it. The
great deposit at Council Bluffs, and St. Jo.
on the Missouri, consist of essentially the
same material WHICH forms the bluffs at Keo-
kuk, the character of which is sufficiently
| familiar to the citizens of this place through
grading enterprises, rs also by the deep ru,s
formed by rains which are sometimes formi.
dable chasms lying in wait for the unwary as
he ascends to some of the more notable eleva-
tions around this city.
This immense bluff formation is the SUBJ
stratum ofthe prairies covered by surface
mould of greater or less thickness arising
from the decay of recent vegetation. IL is
only along our water courses, the cts ofcom
mon roads aad RAILROADS, and BY occasions
deep wells, that we learn the depth and charac-
fer ofthis deposit. 1t has been spoken Of as the
analogue Of the Loess fthe Rhine, but 1t is
more like the immense alluvial formations
which give rise to the Psmpas ofSouth Amer
ca, the Steppes ofNorthern Asia and the Des-
erts of Arabia and of Africa, at least in part,
the present peculiarities Of which are deter
mined by climatic and other influences
The outlines Of these ancient lakes, from
whose quiet water this great deposit of finely
comminuted earthly matter has settled. i
would nat De, perhaps, difficult to trace. The
elevated lands, called by Nieolet coMcau des
hairies, was probably in the North and West
the shore at one time of this great inland sea
or chain of lakes the waters of which had
probably three outlets - one to the frozen
ocean of the North, another along the general
course Of the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf,
the other by the line Of the present lake
drainage, through the river of thousand
aslaLQs, to lle Atlantic.
Let Us suppose ourselves standing on the
shore of Lake Michigan, and look of upon
that beautiful sheet Of water, its dancing
waves lit by simmer sun, on one hand
while, on the other, mimic prairie sea rip
Piles 10 our feet We see the gentle melting
of the prairie into the lake. The eye suggests
almost all that the cultivated Imagination can
picture of the past for do we not, in the
present sunlight behold that ancient inland
SEA, with Its nultitudRous waves, stretching
far away to the West and South But look
to the East, and is not the future depicted as
vividly as the past upon the surface of that
lake With but slight collnsion of fancy,
the billowy, waving grass is before us, and
there is no sheen of silver, purple or gold
that the leaping wave can catch from the sun,
which the prairie may not render - the BIZ.
lowy waves, tue simmer of s,lyery leaves,
the npdding clumps of golden rods and sun
flowers, the fash of the painted cup or purple
cone flowers
The monotonous grandeur Of the prairie has
| much the aspect of sea, which resemblance
is heightened rather than impaired by the low
swelis which produce the variation of roll.
ing prairie.
Much speculation has arisen upon the gen
eral question of prairies, theif origin and
perpetuatlon; but geologists have pretty much
settled into the conviction Of their laoustr,ne
origin. There are many now densely tim
bered districts, however. which have been for
= series Of years during the allavial period
under water. The difference in this case is
attributable to the more sudden and complete
withdrawal Ct the water, whereas in the case
Of the prairies, the exceedingly gradual sub.
sidence of the water allowed FIRST only SUBJ
aqueous grasses and plants to grow, a., for
instance, the wild rice, which even yet thrivss
around the lpw shores and lagoons Of our
Northern Lakes so oluxuriantly.
In the course of time the prairie grass,
thriving peculiarly in permanently damp stu
ations, assumed possession of the soil, which
it still retains, forming heavy and continu-
ally increasing turf, to the exclusion Of all
plants and trees except such as can germinate
and grow under such unfavorabie circan-
stances The consequence continues that no
forest species Of tree or shrub can vegststs Its
seeds even, until the turf is removed BY the
piov or other aReneiea Prof J. Hal ~