Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-12-30
RIVERS ONCE FLOWED NORTH
MISSISSIPPI y SOME OF MINOR
STREAMS CHANGED COURSES.
Investigations by the GeoIogists-Jn-
certainty az to the History of
Some of the Strcnms-Rc-
cent Discoveries

/ NLti liz LlL-S.$SlIi! river WIS tLIO-tl
for the dividing line between Illinois and
| what later became Iowa II was probably
picked upon rs Il well marked line Liable
10 stay where it was put on the map and
not apt 10 wander of and get lost. requlr-
irS the services of Il relief expedition TO
lind and relocate 1t, rs recently happened
i'll the case of the owa-Missouri state line.
As 4 matter of fact, recent experiences
Lave proved that rivers are 10 better
boundaries OF political divisions than land
lines. y striking example of their insta-
hIilty. says the Dies Moiues Leader. WIS
shown at VermiIIion. where. when the
South Dakotaus voted 10 drink nothing
but water. the Missouri. probably tj Re
n'Cve from them any temptations to drink
HE small amount Of water mixed i'll us
sand. OblisinSiy cut of u part of Nebraska
and lett II on the South Dakota side As u
result. tnirSty citizens OF South Dakota
were enabled TO drink their favo-ite .her-
ti"Ses Tor some years AMI II required the
Icii0n OF two state legislatures 10 correct
the line.
The Mississippi has been Just about as
careless in the matter of keeping where it
was intended to run. and 10 this day II cN-
ttcistS lis OWN discretion in the matter OF
running east or west OF Fulton. the scene
Q: the late bloody war Of NOodmen. where
,Ee Iowa militia are said 10 have GtilaStly
irvadcd the cncmy's country and TO have
Only Retired when they found themselves
badly o~utEumhered II the river had only
stuck TO its former course east of Fulton
that city would not now lie Il portion OF
the private kingdom OF the valiant Gov
ernor Tanner and the Iowa soldiers might
have fought with rather than against the
citizens of that town.
The biologists employed by the govern
ment and the officers OF the Iowa geological
survey have been looking up the past his
tory of the Mississippi river and they md
that il has been accustomed TO wandering
over a; considerable portion of Iowa and
Illinois in the bysone ages. In the last
few centuries il has settled down to 4
quiet and rather uneventiul life, staying
close to home. but in its present course
the river Is IL relatively young stream
Some parts of it are older than others
and in n portion of its course it is SuS-
pected that it formerly ran north rather
than south In fact. the present MisSiS-
Sippi has been made up of several former
rivers. The general line of the river has
been a drainage channel for a long time:
So long, in fact. that even the geoologists
who like to speak carelesSly of ten or u
hundred thousand years as mere minutes.
or fractions of time, are content to speak
of it with respect. Probably ever since
the cretaceouS seas left the region. perhaps
earlier. there has been some sort of Il river
in the region. Before that time the ALE
Eheny, mountains are thought 10. have eN-
tended west across the course of the Mis-
sissippi. connecting with the mountains OF
Arkansas. When they sank the waters
of the interior found an outlet TO the Gulf.
which then, and for a long time after.
probably extended as far north as Cairo.
In these early days, which are known
rather indefinitely as in preslacial time or
just before the ice age. the Rock OF Ini-
nOlS river WAS DrODaplN the main stream
of that region. Probably both streams ex-
listed. as well as something answering to
the Iowa and the Cedar. The course Of
the Mississippi above Davenport was oc-
Mississippi of that time probably flowed
north rather than south and some who
have studied the matter think that even as
far south as Dubuque this was true.
Most of the important rivers of the Unit
ed States did flow north then. The upper
ably as Fort Buford. ran off toward the
Arctic ocean. The main tributary of the
river. which had the Missouri valley from
its mouth TO ST. Louis. Between Fort Bu-
ford and Eermillion the Missouri valley is
would not have appeared on any good and
correct maps The rivers of Mark Han
into the lakes. They brought with them
the waters of the New and kanawha riv-
ers. so that even 4 portion of North Caro-
lima drained into the st. Lawrence. IL
preglacial man studied geography in those
DAYS he must have had queer looking maps.
The first time the ice came down from
the North !. left such feeble marks that
its effect upon the rivers cannot be posi-
lively stated. The second ice sheet. which
is called the kansan. because it never
got any further down than Northeastern
Kansas. but settled down there and died
of old age. came in from the northwest
1t doubtless reversed the upper Mississippi
and seems to have pushed the lower course
of the Mississippi. from Clinton south. far
to the eastward: perhaps as far as the
| lItlIlDlS river. mus dtltllTS d Spbti pll tI Ter
ritory to Iowa. This condition of things
lasted for some time. until the ice of the
northeast. the Illinois ice sheet. came into
the country to rectify things and pushed
the river over to the west again. and =
whole new series of school biographies had
to be made. This time the Mississippi left
il present course. at the mouth of the
Maquoketa river. from which point 1t took
a course south past Goose LAKE to Brook
lvn creek, down which it flowed to the
Wapsipinnlcon. 1t ran up this river to
near Dixon. where 1T cut across the coun-
try 10 Moscow on the Cedar. 1t occupied
the channel of this river 10 near Columbus
Junction. where 1t went up Long creek and
across the divide to Crooked creek. which
II turned into the Skunk river near Cop
pack. The Skunk river was not a very
big stream then: but with this increase
of water il broadened its channel rapidly.
The Mississippi left the valley. however,
and cut q channel of its own across Lee
county and back to its old valley above
Keokuk. 1t ran through this tortuouS
channel from Green Island to keokuk as
long as the ice covered the country to the
cast