Year: 1865

Louis ninety miles this sandston


abuts against the Iron Mountains, ant
here has an altitude of eight hundred
feet above the Mississippi river. Thi


rock which is at the surface of tn,
country at Lake Pepin, has dipped
south and gone down FIVE hundred fee


below Dubuque, and going south ha.
farther plunged-is eighteen hundred
feet below ST. Louis, and comes to-da,
again at the Iron Mountains. W.
might now proceed and trace this rocl
along the. Ozark Mountains, and tint
growing upon it the great yellow pin,
regions of south Missouri, through
Kansas where it has again gone dowI
four or FIVE thousand feet below
great basins of coal measures, anC
again comes to-day along the eastern
TANKS of the Rocky Mountains. We
may come round by st. Paul and find
this rock several hundred feet below
the falls Of st. Anthony, and pass on
to the great trap ranges at Lake Supe.
rior and find this sandstone shingling
up the sides of these ranges of prima
ry rocks. Go to Chicago and find this
rock about five hundred feet below the
bottom of the recent artesian well Dor,
ed near that city, which well was eight
hundred feet deep. Go to Pittsburg
and find this sandstone about three
thousand feet below the city, find il
rising in the Alleghanies, and spread
ing through the State of New York.
Wherever this rock comes to day this
trilobite that is among the "oldcst in
habitants of our globe, is found in
his tomb formed of lime and sand, prob.
ably in kind of mortar that hardened
and embalmed his remains by a pro.
cess far superior to that used on the
Egyptian Kings now forming the dried
mummies Of the pyramids.


The Mississippi river has cut its
way down in this rock two hundred
feet about Lake Pepin, and coming
south the strata are exposed in the
bluffs that are newer, and gradually
shingle over this Older rock. 1t NAV
be asked what was the condition OF
our globe at the time these trilobites
lived and sported in the waters of an
ocean that had its floor over five hun
dred feet below the present site of Du.
buque? We must suppose that this
ocean was being supplied with sedi.
mentary matter by rivers that trans
ported the wearing down of continents,
similar to the sediment now daily be-
ing carried out of the mouths of the
Mississippi, Danube, Rhine, and other
rivers that are carrying out sediment
and spreading it over the floors of our
present oceans.


1t is known that the central part of
the Atlantic ocean is plateau, cover
ed with about two thousand feet of
water that the deep waters are along
the shores of the continents. The
gulf stream along the Atlantic coast
follows a valley one hundred miles
wide, and seven thousand feet deep.
Beyond this rises the plateau, which
extends within two hundred miles of the
opposite continent. This gulf stream is
a river in the ocean, and it appears
that at the north end of this great val
ley are found the great banks of New
foundland, and it is evident that a part
of the abrasion Of the rocks to form
the typographical system of the coun-
try about Dubuque, has been carried
out of the mouth of the Mississippi,
has been drawn in the gulf stream,
swept north and the heavier portions
deposited to form these banks, while
the lighter material was carried out in
the vast eddy formed by the ocean cur
rents in the center of the Atlantic, and
was there deposited in comparatively
still water, and in this way has been
formed this plateau. Suppose that we
go back to the time when the deep cuts
were being made by the Mississippi
river about Lake Pepin in this Potsdam
sandstone we shall see that the sedi.
mentary matter that was being carried
out of the Mississippi river, and by
the gulf stream was principally sand,
the proper material to form on the floor
of the Atlantic strata of sandstone.
Suppose we consider this sedimentary
matter about the time this corralline
limestone was being cut down between
the Sinsinawa Mound and the table
lands Of Iowa, six hundred feet along
this line have been removed, and we
shall see that this gulf stream is car
rying out the proper material to lay
down a strata Of limestone on the floor
of the Atlantic. Suppose we consider
this sedimentary matter when the clay
shales Of the coal measures are being
worn down along the valley of the
Ohio, and opposite st. Louis, we find
the gulf stream supplied with a mate.
rial to lay down a strata of shale on
the floor of the Atlantic. We will
now suppose the basin of the Atlantic
raised twenty-five hundred feet and
what do we sea plateau Of dry land
two thousand miles wide, surrounded
by deep seas which are now the val
leys of the gulf streams. We will
suppose this plateau commences to be
abraded to form valleys and ridges
and the sedimentary matter that is
worn down from the land deposited il
these seas that they are gradually
filled up that the salt water of the
seas, by continual dilutions of the
streams from the land loses its saltness
and these seas become lakes; thai
these lakes swarm with animal life


that the remains of these animals art
buried in these fresh water deposits


that the strata Of limestones, sand
stones, and shales forming this plateau
are gradually being worn down in q
valley and ridge system, these lake,
are gradually being filled with sedi
ment, in which is buried animal life
and forming what is known to geolo
gists as tertiary basin, name appli
ed to the most recent deposits of clay
sand and shells. Now, by following
out this train Of reasoning we shall


be directed to an explanation Of whar
is known as the tertiary basin Of Ne
braska, known to the pioneers as thu
"bad lands" North and South range