Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1885-09-16

above tide water, are much pelow
the divides above described and,
also, the average level of the State.
The st. Louis river, IN It's COM
paratively short course OF about
two hundred miles, makes descent
of more than nine hundred feet,
six hundred feet of which is accom-
plishel within distance OF less
than seven miles, where the stream
comes rushing down the rocky
slope that bounds Lake Superior,
boiling and foaming with violence
that bids defiance to all other
schemes of navigation than that OF
floating logs cut fr,m rinerles on
the heights to to the saw mills at
Thomson, Fon du Lac and Duluth.
And even these huge timbers are
whirled and thrown about and
ground against the rocks by the
furious current, us though they
were bat toys, and come through
the boisterous ordeal stripped CT
every vestige of bark and lruisrd
and dinted almost beyond recognl-
ton by their respective owners.
The Missippi at its source is on an
elevation of fifteen hundred ard
seventy-five feet. At Brainerd the
low water mark is el.v hundred
and forty seven feet above sea lev.
ell; ut St. Cloud, nine hundred and
sixty.two feet; at st. Paul, six
hundred and sevcnty-two feet; and
at La Crosse, six Hundred and
twenty feet. Red river is a
swift stream with several falls and
rapids between its source and
and Breckenridge. In this part of
its course it makes descent of
about six feet. At Breckenridge
it's low water level is about nine
hundred and twenty feet, and
where it crosses the state line into
Manitoba seven hundred and sixty
seven feet. The Minnesota at Big
Stone lake is nine hundred and
ninety feet above tide water, seven
hundred and sixty six feet at Man
kato, and six hundred and seventy
four feet at ITS mouth.
It will be perceived that the val
leys are generally SO much lower
than the high lands as to afford
sufficient natural drainage for near
ly all localities in the State. There
are, however, more Or less extern
sive levels on all the divides, parts
of which are not thoroughly drain
ed. In the prairie REGIONS these
are sloughs and usually covered
with heavy growths of coarse grass
peculiar to wet lands, while in
woodlands they form the tamarack
swamps and cranberry marshes to
be described hereafter. Their aggre-
gate area, compared with that Of
the entire state, is Insignificant,
and most of them susceptible of
inexpensive drainage by ditching
or thing. A few instances occur,
however, in the wooded districts
of morasses where the mud is too
soft and deep to allow of their be-
ing drained and made available
for use except at great expence.
It will be understood that the
surface of the state is high plain
sloping to the northwest north of
curved line drawn from the head
of Lake Traverse, passing south
to red and Vermilion lakes, and
through the international bounda-
nv from the northwest corner Of
Cook county; and more gently to
the southeast south of such line.
That this surface is plowed into
burrows, of from two to eight hun
dred feetin depth and several miles
in width, by it's rivers and scanned
in all directions by the innumera-
BILE smaller streams which flow
across it at every possible angle.
The constant washing of storms
have rounded the approaches to
the water-courses, until the sides
of the slopes have have become
| succession of billowy undulations
resembling ranges of low hills
when viewed from below. That
the only fiat lands are on or near
the SUBMITS of the elevations and
in the bottoms of the valleys Dor
dering the streams, and are seldom
very extensive. That with the ex-
ception of a few localities no rocky
formations are to be met with; and
that groups of lakelets of all sizes
and of every conceivable shape,
are crowded together upon the
SUBMITS of the heights and occur
less frequently on the lower table
lands.
LAKES AND STREAMS
The number and character of the
lakes of Minnesota and their influence
upon the soil and climate render
them worthy of more extended notice
than they generally receive. None
of them are mere ponds OF water
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