Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-11-03
MINING DEPARTMENT.

Having satisfied myself of the geological
position of the region along the Mississippi
near St. Paul. | started on the morning
for Dunleith. A few miles out of st.
Paul, and we were leaving the vast prai-
ries of Minnesota, and entering a sparsely
timbered country, which continued TO
thicken until we were fully into the woods.
Nothing of geological interest, except now
and then boulder, or a knoll of potsdam
sandstone appearing through the DRIFT, at
tracted my attention, until we reached
the North Pacific junction. Here the
Azoc rocks first made their appearance
in small, narrow ridges, almost every
| ridge presenting a different variety. A
short distance farther. and we cross the
! St. Louis River, and commence to go
slowly down a grade of fifteen fleet to the
mile, with high banks of clay on one side,
| and the beautiful falls of the st. Louis on
. the other. Here in these falls we certainly
| find one Of the magnificent water powers
of the Northwest Such stream, with its
source among the springs and lakes of the
northwestern Lanventian Hill, with a fall
of fvo hundred feet, extending for miles
over the upturned edges of plutonic and
metamorphic rock, cannot fail to become,
sooner or later, an element of power in
building up and enriching the region round
about it.
But what at this place attracted my at
tention most, was ridge of slate, not
much, if any, inferior to those of Yer
mont. These states are easily quarried,
are in abundance, and will doubtless make
good roofing material. In the coming his
tory of the Mississippi Valley, when the
northern regions of Wisconsin and Mime
sofa will fail to honor the present annual
draught of hundreds of millions Of lumber
upon their pine forests. (and that time will
Gomez these slate quarries will become
vastly important in furnishing roofing ma
terial that will take the place of pine shin
giles. This slate formation is not far from
the line that separates Minnesota from
Wisconsin, and will in all probability ex
tend into our State. If | had time to
spare, would have settled this question
before left, but | must hasten on.
Just beyond where the azoic rocks are
first seen, we begin to descend gradually
into the basin of Lake Superior, these
rocks forming as it were the outer rim OF
the lake. The scenery here is grand and
full of interest Evidences of the physical
conditions that brought about these chan
gcs in the earth's surface, especially this
great depression, may be traced to-day in
legble lines through the imperishable
granite that bound the waters of this in
land sea. The man who brings to this
place the theory that this trough that
h Odds the waters of the lake is only the
furrow of the glacial ploughshare, that is,
that it has been scooped out by glacial &C
ton, will find it inadequate to explain the
facts that will meet him on the shore
The gradual dip of the rocks toward the
lake, for several miles back on every side,
together with the lines of plutonic action
parallel with the trend of the shores, point
enthusiastically to its plutonc origin.
/ When we reflect on the fact that Lake
| Superior is 400 miles long, l60 broad
wiki main depth of 98S feet, and has a
superficial area of thirty-two thousand
square miles, we are prepared to admit
that the forces which first lifted this vast
tract of country, and then let it down
over a thousand feet below its level, are
none of the ordinary forces of nature.
There is a vast amount of interesting
information to be obtained here at Duluth
and find my note book well crowded with
items of important information and facts
for future reiererence. But my passage is
paid TO Bayfield, the whistle of the boat
has called the passengers on board, and
they are loosing her cable from the dock
1t is beautiful evening, with the wind
blowing little fresh from the northeast,
and standing on the upper deck, ones
overcoat is not burden. Having passed
around the peir now being built out into
the lake by the enterprising people of Du-
lnth, We are steaming up the lake, or down
the lake. | know not which, not far from
the nci tn shore. The shore seems to be
following well defined line not far from
east northeast and west southwest, and
conforming to the bearing of an elevation
of land a few miles back from the shore,
and to which the land from the shore
gradually rises. This elevat on, however,
gains a little to the south as it approaches
the west end of the lake, and forms the
backgrou of the city of Duluth
In looking over the bearings OF the prin-
cipal assures taken in this elevation back
of Duluth before [ left, find that they
uniformly follow the same line Of bearing
with the elevation and the lake, and sug-
gests the idea that this eev tion to the
north of the lake, and the depression OF
the bottom of the lake, are only parts Of
the same system of plutonic action. But
these observations, made from the upper
deck of steamboat, and at a distance Of
several miles, must be taken as only ap
proximations TO the truth. | will now re-
tire to my stateroom, and try to be ready
tomorrow to enter on the work for which
came here-that is, a careful examina
ton of the country back of the sou tt
| shore.
| J. MURRIsH