The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1882-04-01

prlupe, 1oledo, ONO; Daniel y j Baker
D A Robertson, Geo E Nettleton and R R
Nelson, of this county and State; and BENZ
Thompson, Edmund Rice, James Stinson
and VIM. Fl Newton of Minnesota,
VIM. ii. Newton was appointed Agent
and Attorney in fact. Twenty lots in diff
ferent parts of the town were donated by
the company for churches, thirty-two for
schools, half a block for county buildings
Superior being the county seat of Douglas
county, two blocks for public park and
two blocks, appropriately situated, for q
cemetery"
1t will be seen that las has been before
stated, the idea of building city here is
not new one, but owing to National f.
nancial reverses, the effects of the great
civil war, and the hitherto unfruitful efforts
to secure railroad outlets, it is left to us of
today to carry forward and reap the bene.
fits of the plans laid by the clear headed
founders of the embryo city, years ago.
With our now acquired railroad facilities
our march onward and upward will be a
sure and rapid one.
AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS.
The different varieties of soil in this re-
gitu are described in the following extracts
taken from Owens Geological Survey:
"The Lake Superior country presents
four principal varieties of soil a drift soil;
a red clay and marty soil, prevalent over
the high plains bordering the coast, and
the corresponding lands on the adjacent
islands; trap soil, Of limited extent, near
the foot of the igneous outbursts, and final
ly, alluvial bottoms, which are confined
almost exclusively to the valleys of the nu-
me:ous streams emptying into the lake,
The drift soil prevails through the high
lands, elevated six hundred to one thousand
feet above the level of the lake; also over
the high grounds west of Chengwomigon
Bay, at the height of three hundred to six
hundred feet. and the higher points of the
neighboring Apostle Islands.
"The trap soil, which support growth
Of sugar maple, oak, and other hard woods,
are next, in richness to the aluvial lands.
They are found chiefly on high ridges and
slopes, which, at the east and west ends of
the district, are only a short distance from
the lake shore; but on the waters of Bad
River and the Brule, they receede three
fourths of the distance back towards the
sources Of their various branches.
The red clay and mari lands, occupying
the high plains skirting Lake Superior are
characterized particularly by the prepond,
erance of oxide of iron, from which they
derive their color, and which amounts to
four and half per cent, or nearly onehalf
Of the weight of the saline matter; it is al
ways a retentive soil, from the abundance
of argillaceous earth witch enters into its
composition; hence, these red clay and
mari lands are often wet, particularly when
defended from the direct rays of the sun by
the dense growth Of cedar, balsam, spruce,
birch, and hemlocll that usually covers
them. Still, these lands are not so wet but
that by clearing and a judicious system of
husbandry, they would soon become suffic-
iently dry 70. most kinds of crops and gard
en- vegetables. They may be compared in
quality to the red lands Of Maryland and
Virginia, which border the Potomac River,
in Montgomery and London counties, which
by deep subsoil ploughing and proper
system of drainage, produce wheat crops
that can hardly be excelled. The larger
portion of the Lake Superior basin is occu-
pied by these red clay and mari lands. The
general elevation of the red clay plains
above Lake Superior is about two hundred
feet They are, for the most part, level,
with a gentle slope towards the lake, cut,
however, into deep, abrupt gullies in the
Immediate vicinity of the streams.
"The bulk of the land as yet cultivated in
this country, is what is known as the red
clay soil; and it has proved productive in
the highest degree. Vegetables of the lar
gest size and finest quality are grown in it;
and for the production of wheat, rye, barley
and oats, it CANNOT be surpassed; forty
bushels of wheat to the acre is the average
Oh thesh anus, and in many instances they
have yielded fifty bushels"
In the immediate vicinity of Superior the
soil is of this red clay variety, and to un
derstand its productive qualities one should
see the crops on the ground at harvest
time. as the writer did last season. But
we have for twenty miles around Superior
three kinds of land, not differing materially
in productiyeness, if properly titled. These
are the red clay, which is so much impreg
mated with lime, that it almost comes un-
der the denomination of mari. The tama-
rack swamp. which is a mixture of red clay
with large portion of decayed vegetable
matter, which with the action of water has
changed its color to black, and will be our
best meadow land. And what is usually
termed the hard wood land, generally con-
tanning mixture OF sand or gravel, and
bearing the oak, ash elm, sugar maple,
yellow birch, &C. This soil, producing as
it does luxuriant grasses, will make stock
growing profitable source OF income to
the farmer.
OUR MINERAL RESOURCES.
Perhaps in this connection we can do no
better than to again copy from a review OF
this subject, published some time since, and
which still holds good. The article says
"A praminent resource of this portion OF
the lake region is its valuable mineral de-
posites Beginning at the Michigan Stale
line, heavy copper-bearing trap range
extends from the lake shore in a southwest
direction, crossing Bad river and continu-
ing southwest as far as township AZ north,
range II west, between the Nemakogan
and the Tetogotic rivers. This range offers
every inducement to the operating miner.
: In the rear of this range, and extending
through a district of country parallel, and
nearly as far to the westward, is the iron
bearing range, which promises to be an
unlimited source of wealth to this part OF
the State.
"From the Apostle Islands starts anoth-
er copper range, not yet fully explored,
running in southwest direction, parallel
with the two ranges previously mentioned
and which in time will prove to be equally
valuable.
"Three other ranges of this character, in
the vicinity of Flag, Cranberry, and Iron
rivers, affording exposures of rock IN very
few places, but from the finding of masses
of copper in the vicinity, it is safe to con