The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1908-01-16
NORTH DAKOTA SOILS DISCUSSED
Dr. Leonard Of the State University Gives Report on Dakota
Soils"-Rchest Soil Composed of Glacial Sediment
Glacial Drift Soils Cover Portion Of State

The following article by. DR.. Leon
ard Of the state university on North
Dakota Soils" is part of the annual
report Of the Grand Forks State Fair
association, and contains some inter-
esting facts relative to the soil of the
state. The report in full follows:
North Dakota Soils.
Soils are formed by the disintegra.
ton and decay of rocks. All rocks
when exposed at the surface soon
break up into loose materials and
produce soil. The agencies which
Aring about this change are many,
some of them mechanical and some
chemical. Among them may be men.
toned heat and cold, and the freezlrg
of water in the crevices and pores of
the rock. The chemical effect Of
water is also a very important fac
ter in rock decay. largely through It's
power Of dissolving out certain solu-
BILE constituents. When these are re-
moved the rock gradually crumbles
and passes into loose debris. t
1t is customary to distinguish be-
tween soil and subsoil. The most
obvious mark of distinction between
them is usually the darker color Of
the soil, due to the presence of hui
mus or vegetable mold, which be-
comes most apparent when the, sol!
is moist. Since the formation of hui
mus depends upon the decomposition
Of organic matter derived partly
from the roots, partly from the leaves
and stems of plants growing and dy-
Ing on the soil, its accumulation near
the surface is natural. The subsotl
is often coarser in texture and con-
tains little or no organic matter. Prac-
,tically all the soils of the state have
been formed in one of four ways, and
on the basis of their origin may be
classified as follows: ~ Lccustrine
or lake sediments; (2) glacial drift
soils; (3) residual soils; (4) allu-
vial soils.
I. Soil Formed Of Lake Sediments.
Some of the riches and most pro-
ductive soils in North Dakota are
composed of the sediments laid down
in old glacial lakes. The largest of
these lakes occupied what is now
known as the Red River Valley. The
rivers flowing into it brought their
loads of mud and sand, and these ma
terials were distributed over the bot
tom Of the lake by the waves and cur
rents. Thus were formed the rich
soils of Richland, Cass, Trail, Grand
Forks. Walsh and Pembina counties.
composed of locustrine silt and con-
tanning fine sand, clay, powdered
limestone and carbonaceous matter.
In some localities they are quite
sandy, in others they form rather
tough clay or gumbo, while in still
other places they are a sandy clay ':r
loan.
Locustrine soils were also formed
in a smaller glacial lake which ally
south and west of the Turtle noun
tains. It extended west and south as
far as Minot and Velva, east as far
as Rugby and north across the inter-
national boundary into Manitoba. The
soils formed on the bottom of this
lake thus cover the greater part of
Bottineau and McHenry, and adjoin-
ing portions of Rolette, Pierce and
Ward counties.
(2) Glacial Drift Soils.
These cover. by far, the larger part
of the state. and are the result of the
work Of the great ice sheet which
once occupied the region. It is now
known that northern North America
was at one time buried under vast
continental glacier, as Greenland is
to-day, which moved down from the
Hudson bay region as far south as
the Ohio river and the Missouri river
at st. Louis and Kansas City. When
after some hundreds or thousands of
years the glacier melted and disap.
peared 1t left deposit Of clay, sand,
gravel and boulders which form a
mantle covering the bed rock. To
this Heterogeneous material left by the
ice the name drift is applied. It va
ries in thickness from a foot and less
to several hundred feet. The drift
underlies the locustrine deposits of
the Red River valley and the Mouse
river country, and forms the soil of
the remaining portions of the state
with the exception Of the southwest
ern corner, where the drift is absent.
These soils are formed in large
part of materials derived from the
underlying bed rock, but mingled with
this material Is rock -four and coarser
particles and fragments ground from
the surface over which the glacier
moved and transported, often long dis.
tances. The ingredients of the North
Dakota drift are many of them de.
rived from the limestones and gran.
tie rocks Of Manitoba. The fertility
of many of the drift soils is due to
the fact that they contain the con.
stituents of plant 1ood-the line, pot
ash, and other salts-in the proper
proportion, and have also been en-
riched by decayed vegetation.
Residual Soil.
These are confined to the south.
western corner Of the state. where