River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-11-30

ing TO stop its rotation, he is beinI
| backed off into space and his grasp
is growing feebler day by day.
The wearing action Of water and its
power Of transporting material held in
mechanical suspension are each grand
II illustrated here in oug own Valley
where the KinnIckinnie md its small
tributaries alone lave torn down and
handed over TO tile Miss ssippi more
Than sixty square miles IL rock over
sixty feet Iii thickness The gravel
beds and stony knobs in Ibis vicinity
and especially the sharp, rounded hills
and hoilows at Glover's station and at
Glenmont stand as silent witnesses Of
the transporting power Of frozen wa
ter, for they are the unioaded burdens
of that great bite ice stream which
moved out from Lake Superior upon
Minnesota and then turned southeast
ward sending long tongues mp our val
leys even beyond MIR. Burnett's trout
pond. The stream was SO thin, how
ever, as not to spread out upon the
tops of the mounds. | imagine the
view from Look Out Point at that
time must hive been one of grandeur
and suolimity strongly in contrast
with the beautiful picture it has to
present to-day.
A point would like to call attention
especially to is the part water has
played as solvent Of various kinds of
minerals and the work 1t has done in
transporting materials held in solu-
ton. Nearly all limestone owes it's
origin to carhonates of lime and mag
nesia dissolved out of pre-existing
rocks by the water and carried to the
sea where it was extracted by corals
and shell-bearing animals whose
stony coverings and framework were
subsequently pulverized by the waves
and deposited in beds. Iron ore beds
owe their origin to minute quanti-
ties of iron, originally disseminated
through the rocks, which the water
has dissolved out. through the instru-
mentality of plants. and carried into
estuaries and bays In the bottom or
which decaying vegetation liberated
sulphuretted hydrogen that again pre-
cipitated the iron ore into beds often
of great thickness and purity. Salt,
the ores of lead. copper, zinc, tin and
silver, and even gold to considerable
extent, have been gathered up from
their infinitesimal deposits within the
earth and laid down in aggregations of
sufficient magnitude to enable lis to
work them. Indeed, neaily all of the
rare and precious gems have been
crystalized from materials gathered in
a similar manner by ibis same agent.
Besides the work already mentioned,
water is an important az Mt in nearly
all volcanic and earthquake phenome.
ma.
Lastly, I must mention The part wa.
ter plays in living beings; for life
ranks among the largest .ctors in ge-
ological changes. There no form OF
life to which water is lot essential.
About three-fourths, br weight, OF
most animals consists OF T, while jelly
fishes, like watermeions, are more than
ninety-fve per cent. water. In all liv
ing beings water performs much the
same functions that It does in mani
mate nature. 1t is an instrument for
floating materials to and from the va
rious parts of the body, rather than a
constituent part OF it.
To sum up, in Il word, water has
been the Precipitation which relieved
the earth of the intense heat of hel
first labors. In committee with the
moon it revised our calendar, giving
us ten hours for sleep instead of two.
1t has uncapped the mountains and
spread them out for farms and chisel
ed passes through them for Pacific
railways. 1t has ransacked the earth's
interior for sapphires, emeralds and
rubies, for the precious metals and the
various kinds of ores. depositing them
in caves and assures or in massive
beds and afterward uncovering them
for use. 1t harvested the primitive
forests and garner them against the
advent of mind and steam. 1t moves
in heat-ladened currents to the coli
regions of the earth and returns to re.
lieve the torrid zone of its parching
heat. 1t is propelled in heated blood
streams to warm the surface of the
body and returns cooled to prevent in.
ternal fevers which without the pro.
vision would be inevitable. And, Fl.
nally. it transports food to and through
and waste products from the bolies OF
a world of living beings.
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