History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history, Part 10

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918

USA > Iowa > Cass County > History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history > Part 10

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The State lies wholly within, and com- prises a part of, a vast plain, and there is no mountainous or even hilly country within its borders; for the highest point is but 1,200 feet above the lowest point; these two points are nearly 300 miles apart, and the whole State is traversed by gently flowing rivers. A clearer idea of the great uniformity of the surface of the State may be obtained from a statement of the gen- eral slopes in feet per mile, from point to point, in straight lines across it.

Per Mile.

From N. E. corner to S. E. cor- ner of State. 1 ft. 1 in. From N. E. corner to Spirit Lake, 5 ft. 5 in. From N. W. corner to Spirit Lake, 5 ft. From N.W. corner to S.W. cor- ner of the State .2 ft.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

Per Mile.

From S. W. corner 'to highest ridge between the two great rivers (in Ringgold county) .. 4 ft. 1 in. From the highest point in the State (near Spirit Lake) to the lowest point in the State (at the mouth of DesMoinesriver) 4 ft.

We thus find that there is good degree of propriety in regarding the whole State as belonging to a great plain, the lowest point of which within its border, the south- eastern corner of the State, is only 444 feet above the level of the sea. The aver- age height of the whole State above the level of the sea is not far from 800 feet, although it is a thousand miles from the nearest ocean.

These remarks are, of course, to be un- derstood as applying to the State as a whole. On examining its surface in detail, we find a great diversity of surface by the formation of valleys out of the general level, which have been evolved by the actions of streams during the unnumbered years of the terrace epoch. These river valleys are deepest in the northwestern part of the State, and consequently it is there that the country has the greatest di- versity of surface, and its physical features are most strongly marked.

The greater part of Iowa was formerly one vast prairie. It has, indeed, been estimated that seven-eighths of the surface of the State was prairie when first settled. By prairie it must not be inferred that a level surface is meant, for they are found in hilly countries as well. Nor are they confined to any particular variety of soil, for they rest upon all formations, from those of the Azotic to those of the Creta-

ceous age, inclusive. Whatever may have been their origin, their present existence in Iowa is not due to the influence of cli- mate, of the soil, or of any of the under- lying formations. The real cause is the prevalence of the annual fires. If these had been prevented fifty years ago, Iowa would now be a timbered country. The encroachment of forest trees upon prairie farms as soon as the bordering wood- land is protected from the annual prairie fires, is well known to farmers throughout the State. The soil of Iowa is justly famous for its fertility, and there is prob- ably no equal area of the earth's surface that contains so little untillable land, or whose soil has so high an average of fer- tility. Ninety-five per cent. of its surface is capable of a high state of cultivation.

LAKES AND STREAMS.

Lakes .- The lakes of Iowa may be prop- erly divided into two distinct classes. The first may be called drift lakes, having had their origin in the depressions left in the surface of the drift at the close of the gla- cial epoch, and have rested upon the undis- turbed surface of the drift deposit ever since the glaciers disappeared. The others may be properly termed fluviatile or allu- vial lakes, because they have had their origin by the action of rivers while cut- ting their own valleys out from the surface of the drift as it existed at the close of the glacial epoch, and are now found resting upon the alluvium. By "alluvium" is meant the deposit which has accumulated in the valleys of rivers by the action of their own currents. It is largely composed of sand and other coarse material, and

HISTORY OF IOWA.

upon that deposit are some of the best productive soils in the State. It is this deposit which forms the flood plains and deltas of our rivers, as well as the terraces of their valleys. The regions to which the drift lakes are principally confined are near the head waters of the principal streams of the State. They are consequently found in those regions which lie between the Cedar and DesMoines rivers, and the Des Moines and Little Sioux. No drift lakes are found in Southern Iowa. The largest of the lakes to be found in the State are Spirit and Okoboji, in Dickinson county, Clear Lake in Cerro Gordo county. and Storm Lake in Buena Vista county.

SPIRIT LAKE .- The width and length of this lake are about equal, and it contains about 12 square miles of surface, its north- ern border resting directly on the boun- dary of the State. It lies almost directly upon the great water-shed. Its shores are mostly gravelly, and the country about it fertile.

OKOBOJI LAKE .- This body of water lies directly south of Spirit Lake, and has somewhat the shape of a horse-shoe, with its eastern projectiou within a few rods of Spirit Lake, where it receives the out- let of the latter. Okoboji Lake extends about five miles southward from Spirit Lake, thence about the same distance westward, and it then bends northward about as far as the eastern projection. The eastern portion is narrow, but the western is larger, and in some places 100 feet deep. The surroundings of this and Spirit Lake are very pleasant; fish are abundant in them, and they are the re- sort of myriads of water-fowl.

CLEAR LAKE .- This lake is situated upon the water-shed between the Iowa and Cedar rivers. It is about 5 miles long, 2 or 3 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of only 15 feet. Its shores and the country around are like that of Spirit Lake.

STORM LAKE .- This lake rests npon the great water-shed in Buena Vista county. It is a clear, beautiful sheet of water, con- taining a surface area of between 4 and 5 square miles. The outlets of all these drift lakes are dry during a portion of the year, except Okoboji.

WALLED LAKES .- Along the water-sheds of Northern Iowa great numbers of small lakes exist, varying from half a mile to a mile in diameter. One of the lakes in Wright county, and another in Sac, have each received the name of "Walled Lake," on account of the embankments on their borders, which are supposed to be the work of ancient inhabitants. These embank- ments are from 2 to 10 feet in height, and from 5 to 30 feet across. They are the result of natural causes alone, being refer- able to the periodic action of ice, aided to some extent by the action of the waves.

These lakes are very shallow, and in win- ter freeze to the bottom, so that but little unfrozen water remains in the middle. The ice freezes fast to everything on the bot- tom, and the expansive power of the water in freezing acts in all directions from the center to the circumference, and whatever was on the bottom of the lake has been thus carried to the shore. This has been going on from year to year, from century to century, forming the embankments which have caused so much wonder.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

Springs issue from all the geological formations, and form the sides of almost every valley, but they are more numerous, and assume proportions which give rise to the name of sink-holes, along the upland borders of the Upper Iowa river, owing to the peculiar fissued and laminated charac- ter and great thickness of the strata of the age of the Trenton limestone which under- lies the whole region of the valley of that stream. No mineral springs, properly so- called, have yet been discovered in Iowa, though the water of several artesian wells is frequently found charged with soluable mineral substances.

Rivers .- The two great rivers, the Mis- sissipi and Missouri, from the eastern and the western boundaries, respectively, of the State, receive the eastern and western drainage of it. The Mississippi with its tributaries in Eastern Iowa drain two- thirds of the State, and the Missouri with its tributaries drain the western third. The great water-shed which divides these two systems is a land running southward from a point on the northern boundary line of the State, near Spirit Lake, in Dickinson county, to a nearly central point in the northern part of Adair county. From the last named point this highest ridge of land between the two great rivers continues southward, without change of character, through Ringgold county, into the State of Missouri; but it is no longer the great water-shed. From that point another ridge bears off southward, through the counties of Madison, Clarke, Lucas and Appanoose, which is now the water-shed.

All streams that rise in Iowa occupy, at first, only slight depressions of the land,

and are scarcely perceptible. These uniting into larger streams, though still flowing over drift and bluff deposits, reach consid- erable depth into these deposits, in some cases to a depth of nearly 200 feet from the general prairie level.

The greater part of the streams in West- ern Iowa run either along the whole or a part of their course, upon that peculiar deposit known as bluff deposit. The banks even of the small streams are often five to ten feet in height and quite perpen- dicular, so that they render the streams almost everywhere unfordable, and a great impediment to travel across the open country where there are no bridges.

This deposit is of a slightly yellowish ash color, except when darkened by decay- ing vegetation, very fine and silicious, but not sandy, not very cohesive, and not at all plastic. It forms excellent soil, and does not bake or crack in drying, except limy concretions, which are generally dis- tributed throughout the mass, in shape and size resembling pebbles; but not a stone or a pebble can be found in the whole deposit. It was called "silicious marl" by Dr. Owen, in his geological re- port to the Government, and he attributes its origin to an accumulation of sediment in an ancient lake, which was afterward drained, and the sediment became dry land. Prof. Swallow gives it the name of "bluff," which is here adopted; but the term, "la- custrine" would have been more appro- priate. The peculiar properties of this deposit are that it will stand securely with a precipitous front 200 feet high, and yet is easily excavated with a spade. Wells dug in it require only to be walled to a point just above the water-line. Yet, com-

HISTORY OF IOWA.

pact as it is, it is very porous, so that water which falls on it does not remain at the surface, but percolates through it; neither does it accumulate within it at any point, as it does upon and within the drift and the stratified formations.

The thickest deposit yet known in Iowa is in Fremont county, where it reaches 200 feet. It is found throughout a region more than 200 miles in length, and nearly 100 miles in width, and through which the Missouri runs almost centrally.

This fine sediment is the same which the Missouri once deposited in a broad depression in the surface of the drift that formed a lake-like expansion of that river in the earliest period of the history of its valley. The extent of the deposit shows this lake to have been 100 miles wide and more than twice as long. The water of the river was muddy then as now, and the broad lake became filled with the sediment which the river brought down. After the lake became filled with the sediment, the valley below became deepened by the con- stant erosive action of the waters, to a depth sufficient to have drained the lake of its first waters; but the only effect then was to cause it to cut its valley out of the deposits its own muddy waters had formed. Thus along the valley of that river, so far as it forms the western boundary of Iowa, the bluffs which border it are composed of that sediment known as bluff deposit, forming a distinct border along the broad, level flood plain, the width of which varies from five to fifteen miles, while the orig- inal sedimentary deposit stretches far in- land.

Chariton and Grand rivers rise and run for twenty-five miles of their course

upon the drift deposits alone. The first strata that are exposed by the deepening valleys of both these streams belong to the Upper Coal Measures, and they both continue upon the same formation until they make their exit from the State, (the former in Appanoose county, the latter in Ringgold county,) near the boundary of which they passed nearly or quite through the whole of that formation to the Middle Coal Measures. Their valleys deepen gradually, and 15 or 20 miles from the river they are nearly 150 feet below the gen- eral level of the adjacent highland. When the rivers have cut their valleys down through the series of limestone strata, they reach those of a clayey composition. Upon these they widen their valleys, and make broad flood plains or "bottoms," the soil of which is stiff and clayey, except where modified by sandy washings. These streams are prairie streams in their upper branches and tributaries, but flow through woodland farther down. The proportion of lime in the drift of Iowa is so great that the water of all the wells and springs is too " hard " for washing purposes, and the same substance is so prevalent in the drift clays that they are always found to have sufficient flux when used for the manufac- ture of brick.

Platte river belongs mainly to Missouri. Its upper branches pass through Ringgold county. Here the drift deposit reaches its maximum thickness on an east and west line across the State, and the valleys are eroded in some instances to a depth of 200 feet, apparently, through this deposit alone. The term " drift deposit " applies to the soil and sub-soil of the greater part

HISTORY OF IOWA.

of the State, and in it alone many wells are dug and our forests take root. It rests upon the stratified rocks. It is composed of clay, sand, gravel and boulders, promis- cuously intermixed without stratification, varying in character in different parts of the State.

One Hundred and Two river is repre- sented in Taylor county, the valleys of which have the same general character of those just described. The country around and between the east and west forks of this stream is almost entirely prairie.

Nodaway river is represented by east, middle and west branches. The two for- mer rise in Adair county, the latter in Cass county. These rivers and valleys are fine examples of the small rivers and valleys of Southern Iowa. They have the general character of drift valleys, and with beautiful undulating and sloping sides. The Nodaway drains one of the finest agricultural regions in the State, the soil of which is tillable almost to their very banks. The banks and the adjacent nar- row flood-plains are almost everywhere composed of a rich, deep, dark loam.

Nishnabotany river is represented by east and west branches, the former having its source in Anderson county, the latter in Shelby county. Both these branches, from their source to their confluence, and also the main stream from there to the point where it enters the great flood-plain of the Missouri, run through a region, the surface of which is occupied by the bluff deposit.

The West Nishnabotany is probably without any valuable mill-sites. In tlie western part of Cass county, the East

Nishnabotany loses its identity by becom- ing abruptly divided up into five or six different creeks. A few good mill-sites occur here on this stream. None, how- ever, that are thought reliable, exist on either of these rivers, or on the main stream below the confluence, except, per- haps, one or two in Montgomery county. The valleys of the two branches, and the intervening upland, possess remarkable fertility.

Boyer river, until it enters the flood- plain of the Missouri, runs almost, if not quite, its entire course through the region occupied by the bluff deposit, and has cut its valley entirely through it along most of its passage. The only rocks exposed are the upper coal measures, near Reed's mill, in Harrison county. The exposures are slight, and are the most northerly now known in Iowa. The valley of this river has usually gently sloping sides, and an in- distinctly defined flood-plain. Along the lower half of its course the adjacent up- land presents a surface of the billowy character, peculiar to the bluff deposit. The source of this river is in Sac county.

Soldier river. The east and middle branches of this stream have their source in Crawford county, and the west branch in Ida county. The whole course of this river is through the bluff deposit. It has no exposure of strata along its course.

Little Sioux river .- Under this head are included both the main and west branches of that stream, together with the Maple, which is one of its branches. The west branch and the Maple are so similar to the Soldier river that they need no sep- arate description. The main stream has

HISTORY OF IOWA.

its boundary near the northern boundary of the State, and runs most of its course upon drift deposit alone, entering the region of the bluff deposit in the southern part of Cherokee county. The two prin- cipal upper branches near their source in Dickinson and Osceola counties are small prairie creeks within distinct valleys. On entering Clay county the valley deepens, and at their confluence has a depth of 200 feet. Just as the valley enters Cherokee county it turns to the southward, and be- comes much widened, with its sides gently sloping to the uplands. When the valley enters the region of the bluff deposit, it assumes the billowy appearance. No ex- posures of strata of any kind have been found in the valley of the Little Sioux or any of its branches.

Floyd river .- This fiver rises upon the drift in O'Brien county, and flowing south- ward enters the region of the bluff deposit a little north of the centre of Plymouth county. Almost from its source to its mouth it is a prairie stream, with slightly sloping valley sides, which blend gradually with the uplands. A single slight exposure of sandstone of cretaceous age occurs in the valley near Sioux City, and which is the only known exposure of rock of any kind along its whole length. Near this exposure is a mill-site, but farther up the stream it is not valuable for such purposes.

Rock river .- This stream passes through Lyon and Sioux counties. It was, evi- dently, so named from the fact that con- siderable exposures of the red Sioux quartzite occur along the main branches of the stream in Minnesota, a few miles north of the State boundary. Within the

State the main stream and its branches are drift streams and strata are exposed. The beds and banks of the streams are usually sandy and gravelly, with occasionally boulders intermixed.

Big Sioux River .- The valley of this river, from the northwest corner of the State to its mouth, possesses much the same character as all the streams of the surface deposits. At Sioux Falls, a few miles above the northwest corner of the State, the streams meet with remarkable obstructions from the presence of Sioux quartzite, which outcrops directly across the stream, and causes a fall of ahout 60 feet within a distance of half a mile, pro- ducing a series of cascades. For the first 25 miles above its mouth, the valley is very broad, with a broad, flat flood-plain, with gentle slopes, occasionally showing indistinctly defined terraces. These ter- races and valley bottoms constitute some of the finest agricultural land of the re- gion. On the Iowa side of the valley the upland presents abrupt bluffs, steep as the materials of which they are composed will stand, and from 100 to nearly 200 feet high above the stream. At rare intervals, about 15 miles from its mouth, the creta- ceous strata are exposed in the face of the bluffs of the Iowa side. No other strata are exposed along that part of the valley which borders our State, with the single exception of Sioux quartzite at its extreme northwestern corner. Some good mill- sites may be secured along that portion of this river which borders Lyon county, but below this the fall will probably be found insufficient and the locations for dams in- secure.

HISTORY OF IOWA.

Missouri River .- This is one of the muddiest streams on the globe, and its waters are known to be very turbid far toward its source. The chief peculiarity of this river is its broad flood-plains, and its adjacent bluff deposits. Much the greater part of the flood-plain of this river is upon the Iowa side, and continues from the sonth boundary line of the State to Sioux City, a distance of more than 100 miles in length, varying from three to five miles in width. This alluvial plain is esti- mated to contain more than half a million of acres of land within the State, upward of 400,000 of which are now tillable.

The rivers of the eastern system of drainage have quite a different character from those. of the western system. They are larger, longer and have their valleys modified to a much greater extent by the underlying strata. For the latter reason, water-power is much more abundant upon them than upon the streams of the western system.

Des Moines River .- This river has its sonrce in Minnesota, but it enters Iowa before it has attained any size, and flows almost centrally through it from north west to southeast, emptying into the Mississippi at-the extreme southeastern corner of the State. It drains a greater area than any river within the State. The upper portion .of it is divided into two branches, known as the east and west forks. These unite in Humboldt county. The valleys of these branches above their confluence are drift valleys, except a few small exposures of subcarboniferous limestone about five miles above their confluence. These ex- posures produce several small mill-sites.

The valleys vary from a few hundred yards to half mile in width, and are the finest agricultural lands. In the northern part of Webster county the character of the main valley is modified by the presence of ledges and low cliffs of the subcarbonifer- ous limestone and gypsum. From a point a little below Fort Dodge to near Amster- dam, in Marion county, the river runs all the way through and upon the lower Coal Measure strata. Along this part of the course the flood-plain varies from an eighth to a mile or more in width. From Amsterdam to Ottumwa the subcarbonifer- ous rocks pass beneath the river again, bringing down the Coal Measure strata into its bed; they rise from it in the ex- treme northwestern part of VanBuren county, and subcarboniferous strata re- sume and keep their place along the valley to the north of the river.

From Fort Dodge to the northern part of Lee county the strata of the Lower Coal Measures are present in the valley. Its flood-plain is frequently sandy from the debris of the sandstone and sandy shales of the Coal Measures produced by their removal in the process of the forma- tion of the valley.

The principal tributaries of the Des Moines are npon the western side. These are the Raccoon and the three rivers, viz: South, Middle and North rivers. The three latter have their sources in the re- gion occupied by the Upper Coal Measure limestone formation, flow eastward over the Middle Coal Measures, and enter the valley of the DesMoines upon the Lower Coal Measures. These streams, especially South and Middle rivers, are frequently bordered by high, rocky cliffs. Raccoon

HISTORY OF IOWA.

river has its source upon the heavy surface deposits of the middle region of Western Iowa, and along the greater part of its course it has excavated its valley ont of those deposits and the Middle Coal Measure alone. The valley of the Des Moines and its branches are destined to become the seat of extensive mannfac- turies, in consequence of the numerous mill-sites of immense power, and the fact that the main valley traverses the entire length of the Iowa coal fields.

Skunk river .- This has its source in Hamilton county, and runs almost its en- tire course upon the border of the outcrop of the Lower Coal Measures, or, more prop- erly speaking, upon the subcarboniferous limestone, just where it begins to pass be- neath the Coal Measures by its southerly and westerly dip. Its general course is southeast. From the western part of Henry county, up as far as Story county, the broad, flat flood-plain is covered with a rich, deep clay soil, which, in time of long- continued rains and overflows of the river, has made the valley of Skunk river a ter- ror to travelers from the earliest settlement of the country. There are some excellent mill-sites on the lower half of this river, but they are not so numerous or valuable as on other rivers of the eastern system.

Iowa river .- This river rises in Han- cock county, in the midst of a broad, slightly undulating drift region. The first rock exposure is that of subcarboniferous limestone, in the southwestern corner of Franklin county. It enters the region of the Devonian strata near the southwestern corner of Benton county, and in this it continues to its confluence with the Cedar

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Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co. Number of Pages: 918

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918