Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1867-08-02
The Mississippi Valley.

AOoo W LII. mCDoWCL, VI w. ]ouio,
will be found quite interesting:
The great Cuvier, in his work on
the revolution of the Globe, and his
vast researches in the fossil remains
in and on the surface of our earth,
laid the foundation of our present
geological science; and the upheaval
of his mighty genius, like the noun
tains, broke the strata of former
opinions, and swept from the records
of science all preconceived notions
on the subject. The Noachian, or
aqueous formation of the globe, with
all its pretensions to authority, is no
longer consulted, and the learned
Bishop Burnet, Button and Warner
are looked upon as bigoted faction,
while De Luc, La Place, Hutton and
Darwin are the authorities whose
opinions are based on the granite of
Cuvier; and the great Author of
Creation has marked His footprints
on the rocks Of departed ages whose
period of duration is not to be cal
culated or measured by figures or
time. Hutton measured the strata
On the opposite sides of the noun
tains of his native Scotland, and
marked the high granite peak that
was thrust between, and marveled
yet could but believe, that the high
upheaval had broken the strata, when
he found them so exactly to CORE
spond and fit the opposite sides of
the mountains. The same popularity
of formation | have observed in my
own country. both in the Allegheny
and the Rocky Mountains; but the
most beautiful exhibition of these
truths is to be found in the rent of
the plain in Middle Kentucky, where
the earth has been rent and the Ken
lucky River runs in the fssure be-
tween. At every bend in that beau
tiful stream there are corresponding
excavations and projections which. if
brought together, would exactly unite,
although mile apart, and at opposite
sides of the river-each stratum ex-
actly corresponding, and giving the
strongest proofs of having been rent
asunder by some terrible convulsion
of nature.
The great Valley Of the Mississippi
has been the result of the last great
revolution of our globe, and the tow
ering mountains which bound it cor
respond with the present knowledge
on the subject of geology. The most
reliable authors on that subject are
Alexander Won Humboldt Agassiz,
Lyle, Hitchcock and John Pye Smith.
In the early existence of this valley
the vast expause lay undisturbed for
ages, while the strata were forming
by alternate elevations and depres.
sions; but when the Allegheny, the
Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains
rose, these strata were broken and
heaved from their position, and re-
ceived an inclination to the great
common center; and the very spot
on which Cairo stands is the center
OF this stupendous gift of God to
man. The Allegheny and Cumber.
land Mountains rose first, and heaved
up the strata, inclining them to the
north; but when the North, in its
giant formation of the granite region
north of the great lakes, and the
Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains
were upheaved, the strata were heav
ed back again, boundaries were giver
to the lakes, the beds of the Ohio
the Upper Mississippi and Missouri
were formed, and their waters forced
, through the hill countries of the State
of Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
and the ocean. The researches OF
Agassiz and other authors prove this
proposition conclusively, til at tn,
strata upheaved first by the Allegheny
and last by the Rocky Mountains
point from the Allegheny south ant
west, while the northern strata show
most conclusively that the last grea
throe of the earth has inclined tn,
strata south, and their dip is to thi
point.
, The resources of the Mississippi
Valley in minerals, the most valuable
, in nature, excepting the preciou
3 metals, are more abundant than in an,
country on the globe-for the mos
valuable, although not the most pre-
cious, is found in every direction, bu
most abundantly in Missouri. Th
s iron OF Iron county, Missouri, woul
supply the whole earth for thousand
of years, with the best metal ever ex
, tracted from her bosom, while Illinoi
has more coal aud lead than all tn
earth beside, easy of access, and O
: the purest quality, and our terrific
: ries north of the lakes abound i
: more copper than will ever be eA
E hausted by the human race in al
coming time. Our great rivers, run
Y ming from North to South, furnish tn
richest alluvial soil, susceptible o.
4 higher cultivation, and producing
f greater variety of agricultural pre-
ductions than any valley that can b
found elsewhere. As we leave tn
a tropical regions of the South and pre-
It ceed northward, at every degree W
s find a difference in adaptation of so
b and climate not possessed by an
g other valley in the world. From th
IS entrance of the mighty stream, wit
0 its hundred bayous, proceeding NJ
4 ward, embracing the Red River an
/ the Arkansas, we find richer sol
and better adapted to the growth 0
sugar, cotton and corn than any Ian
e On the globe. The lint of the cotto
i rrodpooI ~, +ho Dod ood rho n on