USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 10
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entering Clay County, the valley deepens, and at their confluence has a depth of one hundred feet, which still further increases until along the boundary line between Clay and Buena Vista Counties, it reaches a depth of two hundred feet. Just as the valley enters Cherokee County, it turns to the southward and becomes 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 exposures of strata of any kind have been found in the valley of the Little Sioux or any of its branches.
Floyd River .- This river rises upon the drift in O'Brien County, and flow- ing southward enters the region of the bluff deposit a little north of the center 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 evidently so named from the fact that considerable exposures of the red Sioux quartzite occur along the main branches of the stream in Minnesota, a few miles north of our State boundary. Within this 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 occasional 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 stream meets with remarkable obstructions from the presence of Sioux quartzite, which outcrops directly across the stream, and causes a fall of about sixty feet within a distance of half a mile, producing a series of cas- cades. For the first twenty-five miles above its mouth, the valley is very broad. with a broad, flat flood plain, with gentle slopes occasionally showing indistinctly defined terraces. These terraces and valley bottoms constitute some of the finest
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
agricultural land of the region. 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 one hundred to nearly two hundred feet high above the stream. At rare intervals, about fifteen miles from its mouth, the cretaceous strata are found 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 location for dams insecure.
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 pecul- iarity 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 continuous from the south boundary line of the State to Sioux City, a distance of more than one hundred miles in length, varying from three to five miles in width. This alluvial plain is estimated to contain more than half a million acres of land within the State, upward of four hundred thousand 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 val- leys modified to a much greater extent by the underlying strata. For the lat- ter reason, water-power is much more abundant upon them than upon the streams of the western system.
Des Moines River .- This river has its source in Minnesota, but it enters Iowa before it has attained any size, and flows almost centrally through it from northwest to southeast, emptying into the Mississippi at the extreme southeast- ern 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 exposures produce several small mill-sites. The valleys vary from a few hun- dred yards to half a 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 subcarboniferous limestone and gypsum. From a point a little below Fort Dodge to near Amsterdam, in Ma- rion County, the river runs all the way through and upon the lower coal-meas . ure strata. Along this part of its course the flood-plain varies from an eighth to half a mile or more in width. From Amsterdam to Ottumwa the subearbon- iferous limestone appears at intervals in the valley sides. Near Ottumwa, the sub- carboniferous rocks pass beneath the river again, bringing down the coal-measure strata into its bed ; but they rise again from it in the extreme northwestern part
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
of Van Buren County, and subcarboniferous strata resume 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 formation of the valley.
The principal tributaries of the Des Moines are upon the western side. These are the Raccoon and the three rivers, viz .: South, Middle and North Riv- ers. The three latter have their source in the region occupied by the upper coal-measure limestone formation, flow eastward over the middle coal measures, and enter the valley of the Des Moines upon the lower coal measures. These streams, especially South and Middle Rivers, are frequently bordered by high, rocky cliffs. Raccoon 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 out those deposits and the middle coal measures alone. The valley of the Des Moines and its branches are destined to become the seat of extensive manufactures 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 river has its source in Hamilton County, and runs almost its entire course upon the border of the outcrop of the lower coal meas- ures, or, more properly speaking, upon the subcarboniferous limestone, just where it begins to pass beneath 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 terror to travelers from the earliest settle- ment 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 Hancock County, in the midst of a broad, slightly undulating drift region. The first rock exposure is that of subcarbon- iferous 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 in Louisa County. Below the junction with the Cedar, and for some miles above that point, its valley is broad, and especially on the northern side, with a well marked flood plain. Its borders gradually blend with the uplands as they slope away in the distance from the river. The Iowa furnishes numerous and valua- ble mill sites.
Cedar River .- This stream is usually understood to be a branch of the Iowa, but it ought, really, to be regarded as the main stream. It rises by numerous branches in the northern part of the State, and flows the entire length
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
of the State, through the region occupied by the Devonian strata and along the trend occupied by that formation.
The valley of this river, in the upper part of its course, is narrow, and the sides slope so gently as to scarcely show where the lowlands end and the up- lands begin. Below the confluence with the Shell Rock, the flood plain is more distinctly marked and the valley broad and shallow. The valley of the Cedar is one of the finest regions in the State, and both the main stream and its branches afford abundant and reliable mill sites.
Wapsipinnicon River .- This river has its source near the source of the Cedar, and runs parallel and near it almost its entire course, the upper half upon the same formation-the Devonian. In the northeastern part of Linn County, it enters the region of the Niagara limestone, upon which it continues to the Mississippi. It is one hundred miles long, and yet the area of its drain- age is only from twelve to twenty miles in width. Hence, its numerous mill sites are unusually secure.
Turkey River .- This river and the Upper Iowa are, in many respects, un- like other Iowa rivers. The difference is due to the great depth they have eroded their valleys and the different character of the material through which they have eroded. Turkey River rises in Howard County, and in Winnesheik County, a few miles from its source, its valley has attained a depth of more than two hundred feet, and in Fayette and Clayton Counties its depth is increased to three and four hundred feet. The summit of the uplands, bordering nearly the whole length of the valley, is capped by the Maquoketa shales. These shales are underlaid by the Galena limestone, between two and three hundred feet thick. The valley has been eroded through these, and runs upon the Trenton limestone. Thus, all the formations along and within this valley are Lower Silurian. The valley is usually narrow, and without a well-marked flood plain. Water power is abundant, but in most places inaccessible.
Upper Iowa River .- This river rises in Minnesota, just beyond the north- ern boundary line, and enters our State in Howard County before it has attained any considerable size. Its course is nearly eastward until it reaches the Mis- sissippi. It rises in the region of the Devonian rocks, and flows across the out- crops, respectively, of the Niagara, Galena and Trenton limestone, the lower magnesian limestone and Potsdam sandstone, into and through all of which, except the last, it has cut its valley, which is the deepest of any in Iowa. The valley sides are, almost everywhere, high and steep, and cliffs of lower magne- sian and Trenton limestone give them a wild and rugged aspect. In the lower part of the valley, the flood plain reaches a width sufficient for the location of small farms, but usually it is too narrow for such purposes. On the higher surface, however, as soon as you leave the valley you come immediately upon a cultivated country. This stream has the greatest slope per mile of any in Iowa, consequently it furnishes immense water power. In some places, where creeks come into it, the valley widens and affords good locations for farms. The town
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
of Decorah, in Winnesheik County, is located in one of these spots, which makes it a lovely location ; and the power of the river and the small spring streams around it offer fine facilities for manufacturing. This river and its tributaries are the only trout streams in Iowa.
Mississippi River .- This river may be described, in general terms, as a broad canal cut out of the general level of the country through which the river flows. It is bordered by abrupt hills or bluffs. The bottom of the valley ranges from one to eight miles in width. The whole space between the bluffs is occupied by the river and its bottom, or flood plain only, if we except the occasional terraces or remains of ancient flood plains, which are not now reached by the highest floods of the river. The river itself is from half a mile to nearly a mile in width. There are but four points along the whole length of the State where the bluffs approach the stream on both sides. The Lower Silurian formations com- pose the bluffs in the northern part of the State, but they gradually disappear by a southerly dip, and the bluffs are continued successively by the Upper Silurian, Devonian, and subcarboniferous rocks, which are reached near the southeastern corner of the State.
Considered in their relation to the present general surface of the state, the relative ages of the river valley of Iowa date back only to the close of the glacial epoch ; but that the Mississippi, and all the rivers of Northeastern Iowa, if no others, had at least a large part of the rocky portions of their valleys eroded by pre-glacial, or perhaps even by palæozoic rivers, can scarcely be doubted.
LAKES.
The lakes of Iowa may be properly 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 glacial epoch, and have rested upon the undisturbed surface of the drift deposit ever since the glaciers disappeared. The others may be properly termed fluvatile or alluvial lakes, because they have had their origin by the action of rivers while cutting 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, as the others rest upon the drift. By the term 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 upon that deposit are some of the best and most productive soils in the State. It is this deposit which form 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. We consequently find them in those regions which lie between the Cedar and Des Moines 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
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
Dickinson County ; Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo County ; and Storm Lake, in Bunea Vista County.
Spirit Lake .- The width and length of this lake are about equal, and it contains about twelve square miles of surface, its northern border resting directly on the boundary of the State. It lies almost directly upon the great watershed. 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 projection within a few rods of Spirit Lake, where it receives the outlet of the latter. Okoboji Lake extends about five miles southward from Spirit Lake, thence about the same distance westward, and then bends northward about as far as the eastern projec- tion. The eastern portion is narrow, but the western is larger, and in some places a hundred feet deep. The surroundings of this and Spirit Lake are very pleasant. Fish are abundant in them, and they are the resort of myriads of water fowl.
Clear Lake .- This lake is situated in Cerro Gordo County, upon the watershed between the Iowa and Cedar Rivers. It is about five miles long, and two or three miles wide, and has a maximum depth of only fifteen feet. Its shores and the country around it are like that of Spirit Lake.
Storm Lake .- This body of water rests upon the great water shed in Buena Vista County. It is a clear, beautiful sheet of water, containing a surface area of between four and five square miles.
The outlets of all these drift-lakes are dry during a portion of the year, ex- cept 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 existence of embankments on their borders, which are supposed to be the work of ancient inhabitants. These embankments are from two to ten feet in height, and from five to thirty feet across. They are the result of natural causes alone, being referable to the periodic action of ice, aided, to some extent, by the force of the waves. These lakes are very shallow, and in winter freeze to the bottom, so that but little unfrozen water remains in the middle. The ice freezes fast to everything upon the bottom, and the expansive power of the water in freezing acts in all directions from the center to the cir- cumference, and whatever was on the bottom of the lake has been thus carried to the shore, and this has been going on from year to year, from century to century, forming the embankments which have caused so much wonder.
SPRINGS.
Springs issue from all formations, and from 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
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
to the peculiar fissured and laminated character and great thickness of the strata of the age of the Trenton limestone which underlies 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 soluble mineral substances.
ORIGIN OF THE PRAIRIES.
It is estimated that seven-eighths of the surface of the State was prairie when first settled. They are not confined to level surfaces, nor to any partie- ular variety of soil, for within the State they rest upon all formations, from those of the Azoie to those of the Cretaceous age. inelusive. Whatever may have been their origin. their present existence in Iowa is not due to the influ- ence of climate, nor the soil, nor any of the underlying 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 eneroachment of forest trees upon prairie farms as soon as the bordering woodland is protected from the annual prairie fires, is well known to farmers throughout the State.
The soil of lowa is justly famous for its fertility, and there is probably no equal arca of the earth's surface that contains so little untillable land, or whose soil has so high an average of fertility. Ninety-five per cent. of its surface is tillable land.
GEOLOGY.
The soil of Iowa may be separated into three general divisions, which not only possess different physical characters, but also differ in the mode of their origin. These are drift. bluff and alluvial. and belong respectively to the deposits bearing the same names. The drift occupies a much larger part of the surface of the State than both the others. The bluff has the next greatest area of surface, and the alluvial least.
All soil is disintegrated rock. The drift deposit of Iowa was derived, to a considerable extent, from the rocks of Minnesota : but the greater part of Iowa drift was derived from its own roeks. much of which has been transported but a short distance. In general terms the constant component element of the drift. soil is that portion which was transported from the north. while the inconstant elements are those portions which were derived from the adjacent or underlying strata. For example, in Western Iowa, wherever that cretaceous formation known as the Nishnabotany sandstone exists. the soil contains more sand than elsewhere. The same may be said of the soil of some parts of the State occu- pied by the lower coal measures. the sandstones and sandy shales of that forma- tion furnishing the sand.
In Northern and Northwestern Iowa, the drift contains more sand and gravel than elsewhere. This sand and gravel was, doubtless, derived from the
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cretaceous rocks that now do, or formerly did, exist there, and also in part from the conglomerate and pudding-stone beds of the Sioux quartzite.
In Southern Iowa, the soil is frequently stiff and clayey. This preponder- ating clay is doubtless derived from the clayey and shaly beds which alternate with the limestones of that region.
The bluff soil is that which rests upon, and constitutes a part of, the bluff deposit. It is found only in the western part of the State, and adjacent to the Missouri River. Although it contains less than one per cent. of clay in its composition, it is in no respect inferior to the best drift soil.
The alluvial soil is that of the flood plains of the river valleys, or bottom lands. That which is periodically flooded by the rivers is of little value for agricultural purposes ; but a large part of it is entirely above the reach of the highest floods, and is very productive.
The stratified rocks of Iowa range from the Azoic to the Mesozoic, inclu- sive ; but the greater portion of the surface of the State is occupied by those of the Paleozoic age. The table below will show each of these formations in their order :
SYSTEMS.
GROUPS.
FORMATIONS.
AGES.
PERIODS.
EPOCHS.
THICKNESS. IN FEET.
Post Tertiary
Drift.
10 to 200
Cretaceous
Inoceramous bed.
50
Lower Cretaceous.
Woodbury Sandstone and Shales.
130
Nishnabotany Sandstone.
100
Coal Measures.
Middle Coal Measures.
200
Carboniferous.
St. Louis Limestone
75
Subcarboniferous.
-
Kinderhook beds.
175
Devonian ..
Hamilton
Hamilton Limestone and Shales
200
Upper Silurian.
Niagara
Niagara Limestone.
350
Cincinnati
Maquoketa Shales
80
Trenton.
Trenton Limestone.
200
Lower Silurian
St. Peter's Sandstone.
80
Primordial.
Lower Magnesian Limestone.
250
-
Potsdam Sandstone.
300
Azoic
....
Huronian
Sioux Quartzite.
50
-
Galena Limestone ..
250
Keokuk Limestone ...
90
Burlington Limestone.
196
Lower Coal Measures.
200
Upper Coal Measures
200
-
THE AZOIC SYSTEM.
The Sioux quartzite is found exposed in natural ledges only upon a few acres in the extreme northwest corner of the State, upon the banks of the Big Sioux River, for which reason the specific name of Sioux Quartzite has been given them. It is an intensely hard rock, breaks in splintery fracture, and a color varying, in different localities, from a light to deep red. The process of metamorphism has been so complete throughout the whole formation that the rock is almost everywhere of uniform texture. The dip is four or five degrees to the northward, and the trend of the outcrop is eastward and westward. This
122
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
rock may be quarried in a few rare cases, but usually it cannot be secured in dry forms except that into which it naturally cracks, and the tendency is to angular pieces. It is absolutely indestructible.
LOWER SILURIAN SYSTEM.
PRIMORDIAL GROUP.
Potsdam Sandstone .- This formation is exposed only in a small portion of the northeastern portion of the State. It is only to be seen in the bases of the bluffs and steep valley sides which border the river there. It may be seen underlying the lower magnesian limestone, St. Peter's sandstone and Trenton limestone, in their regular order, along the bluffs of the Mississippi from the northern boundary of the State as far south as Guttenburg, along the Upper Iowa for a distance of about twenty miles from its month, and along a few of the streams which empty into the Mississippi in Allamakee County.
It is nearly valueless for economic purposes.
No fossils have been discovered in this formation in Iowa.
Lower Magnesium Limestone .- This formation has but little greater geo- graphical extent in Iowa than the Potsdam sandstone. It lacks a uniformity of texture and stratification, owing to which it is not generally valuable for building purposes.
The only fossils found in this formation in Iowa are a few traces of crinoids, near McGregor.
St. Peter's Sandstone .- This formation is remarkably uniform in thickness throughout its known geographical extent ; and it is evident it occupies a large portion of the northern half of Allamakee County, immediately beneath the drift.
TRENTON GROUP.
Trenton Limestone .- With the exception of this, all the limestones of both Upper and Lower Silurian age in Iowa are magnesian limestones-nearly pure dolomites. This formation occupies large portions of Winnesheik and Alla- makec Counties and a portion of Clayton. The greater part of it is useless for economic purposes, yet there are in some places compact and evenly bedded layers, which afford fine material for window caps and sills.
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