Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1884-08-20
.E],D]UCA1' ION Al,
G. d. BELDEN, EDITOR.
: AT recent meeting Of the Academy Of
Natural Sciences Minneapolis,

= At q recent meeting Of the Academy Of
Natural Sciences, Minneapolis, '..5#
TIE SURFACE FEATURES OF MINNESOTA
were described by Mr.. Warren Upham,
ASSISTANT on the geological survey, the
CONCLUSION y, OF The parer being very near
OF Minnesota may be briefly summed up:
Its western three-fourths as being a mod
erately undulating, sometimes nearly fiat,
put occasionally hilly expanse, gradually
descending from the cOteau DIES prairies
an a. the leaf hills, each between !, 900 and
S,uOO Ieet above the sea, to One-half that
helghth. or from 500 to 1000 feet above
the sea IN the long fiat basin of the Red
river valley and to the same height along
the valley OF the Mississippi from Mime
apolis to st. Cloud. The only exceptions
to this smoothly undulating or rolling and
rarely Allly contour are the southeast
part OF the State where the Mississippi
and its tributaries are enclosed by bluffs
from 200 to 800 feet high, which you all
nave probably seen ina journey between
here and Lacrosse and the northwest shore
OF Lake Superior and the part of Mime.
sofa lying north of this lake and east of
vermillion lake in this northeast part of
the State. A very bold rocky highland
rises 400 to 500 feet above Lake Superior
within from one to five miles back from
it's shore line all along the distance of $50
miles from Duluth to Pigeon Point, the
most eastern extremity of Minnesota.
while farther north are many hill ranges.
200 to 500 feet high, mostly trending from
northeast to southwest or from east
to west. The most Jagged of these lines
OF rugged peaks and ridges of rock near
the shore OF Lake Superior from Temper
ance river to Grand Marais is called the
Saw Teeth mountains and second range
OF hills rising from the more elevated re-
gion lying half way between the lake and
the north boundary is called the Mesabi
range. The height of Lake Superior is
6OS feet above the sea and of the higher
OF the!Saw Teeth mountains 1900 to 900
feet, Cartoons Peak being $3.50 feet above
the sea, or 927 feet above Lake Superior.
About one and half miles distant the
Racabi range, south of Vermillion lake
and eastward, is found by Prof. Winchell
to be from 1900 to 1900 feet above the
sea, being the highest land in Minnesota
A few more attitudes, illustrating that
the lay of the land through this state IS
low and that the water of the Mississippi
river at the southeast corner of Mime
sofa is $40 feet above the level of the sea,
Lake Pepin. 664; St. Paul, 6S5; top of the
Falls of St. Anthony, 800; Mississippi
river at St. Cloud, 962; at Brainerd, l, i52;
head OF Pokegana falls, 1865; Lake Win
nebagoshish, 1890; Leech lake, 1899; Cass
lake, 1900; Itaska lake, about 1900; high
est point of the Leaf hills, 1000 to about
l.75O; OF the Coteau des Prairies, 1900 to
about 1850; at Lake Traverse, $40, and
Big Stone lake, 962; Lake Benton, 1, 754;
Lake SbnfoH ohort I AK. Horo,, 1oI,
,403; Mile Laos, ,246, and Lake Mime
tonka 922. The averag elevation of the
state of Minnesota can not be less than
1000, which is 80 feet above the plain
of modified drift on which Minneapolis
is built, and it may be found when care
fully estimated throughout, even as high
as quarter of a mile, 1890 feet, above
the sea. This is about half the average
altitude of the whole United States, which
is approximately 1900 feet above the sea,
but probably no State east of the Missis-
sippi has so great an an elevation as MIN
nesota. The nearest to our height are
New Hampshire and West Virginia,
equal to this State and Wisconsin and
Michigan, each of which have mean
height about two-thirds as great. Hum
boldt estimated the mean height of all
North America to be l, 500, and of Europe,
1,34O feet.
POPULATION STATISTICS.
In connection with this paper Prof. Up
ham stated the population of Minnesota
to be nine to the square mile, while the
average population of the United States
is seventeen to the square mile. In Great
Britain the population is $50 to the square
mile; France, 1870; Germany, 200; Norway,
ID; Sweden, rs; China. 100; India, no;
Japan, more than 200; Massachusetts and
Rhode Island, 200; New York, 100; Hi:
nois, SO; Iowa, 20. The lakes in Minnesota
number 10000, Of which the largest is
Red lake, containing $40 square miles,.
and the largest lake in the United States,
strictly an inland lake, except two. Mile
Lac is next in size, and Leach lake next.
Minnetonka is one-eighth the size of Red
lake.