History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 47

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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which have been improved. Hence, the location of a flouring mill, on one of these branches, is an intimation to the geologist that at that point one of his boundary lines crosses that stream. Around these points gathered the first village settlements. Preston is located where the water-power formed by the descent of the river from the Shakopee on to the Jordan induced the construction of mills. The water-power at Chatfield is formed in the same way. Near Fillmore the branches of Root River, known as Der and Bear Creeks, afford good water-powers by their descent from the lower Trenton to the St. Peter. Mills have been built at both points. On the south branch of Root River, above Forestville, the stream leaves the Trenton, and the waterfall has been improved in the same manner at Baldwin's Mill. The same fact is illus- trated by a large number of eastward flowing streams, in the eastern border counties, between Fillmore county and the Falls of St. Anthony at Minneapolis. Of course, rapids are also likely to be formed, especially in small streams, when pass- ing through the areas of rock of uniform hard- ness. Such water-powers, and others that are formed by the construction of dams, do not fall into this class.

While the immediate valleys of Root River and its tributaries are apt to be rocky, the country that spreads out in either direction, after leaving the valleys, is not rough. It is rolling, or undulating. In the eastern portion the rocks are covered by a heavy deposit of rich, clayey loam, known as the loess, which fills up many depressions, and lends a uniform and remarkable fertility to the soil. It constitutes the soil. The farms are all well drained, naturally. The county contains no lakes. In York township there is a slough which on some maps is represented as a lake. It is about a quar- ter of a mile across. The Trenton area is dis- tinctly separated, topographically, from that of St. Peter and the lower formations. From the Tren- ton to the Lower Magnesian the surface descends by a step or terrace, about 125 feet. Some of the Trenton areas are isolated from the main area, and constitute small tables or mounds, which are well known as "Trenton mounds" in the early reports. Some travelers have referred them to the agency of the ancient "mound builders," and a good many of the residents, who are not aware of the geolog- icil causes that have produced them, still believe that they are artificial instead of natural. From some of the elevated Trenton areas overlooking

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the river valleys, magnificient views of landscape may be had. From the elevated Trenton area in Newburg township, the eye looks over the valley of Root River, and can almost discern the Trenton bluffs on the opposite slopes of Root River in the northern part of the county. From the peninsula of the Trenton running north between Camp and and Willow Creeks, in Preston township, the vil- lage of Fountain is plainly discernible across the valleys of the south branch of Root River and Watson's Creek, with a wide expanse of alternating timber and prairie between, while on either side is a broad, undulating valley of prairie land. On the east is Camp Creek valley, and on the west is that of Willow Creek. These valleys are deep and wide, but owing to the thickness of the loess loam, the slopes are gentle and broad, and, in the fall of the year, when the industry of the farmer is exhibited in the plowing of his wheat fields, and the threshing of his last crop, in every direction may be heard the rattle of threshers, often running by steam, and may be seen a hundred teams pre- paring for the next harvest. Another magnificent view may be obtained from the Trenton peninsula on sections ten and fifteen in Carrolton. From here the view extends north over the valley of Root River to the Trenton bluffs along the north boundary of the county, a distance of over forty miles, and toward the south over the valley of the south branch of Root River, looking over Preston and Lanesboro, which are situated within the river bluffs, so far below the general level of the coun- try that they can be seen, but a short distance be- fore reaching them. Further down Root River valley, the gorge in which the river runs becomes wider, being at Rushford about two miles in width, with fine farm lands in the bottoms. The bluffs are rounded off with age, and have a thin soil, generally turfed, though showing frequent rock exposure. The river is there 565 feet below the tops of the bluffs, as measured by aneroid. At Whalan, in Holt township, the river is, by the same measurement, 470 feet below the top of the Trenton terrace on section twenty. Whalan's Bluff is 250 feet high above the river. At Lanes- boro, in Carrolton, the river is 285 feet below the immediate river bluffs, which consist wholly of the Lower Magnesian formation, and about 440 feet below the top of the Trenton terrace on section twenty, Holt. At Preston the river at the stone mill is 335 feet below the Trenton terrace, which forms the general level about a mile south of the

village. At Isinours station the river runs 145 feet below the top of the Shakopee limestone which forms there the brow of the immediate river bluffs. At Forestville, the height of the country, north of the village, above the river, is 285 feet. The immediate river bluffs are 190 feet above the mill pond. At Chatfield, the river is about 222 feet below the general level of the country. At Fillmore, the prairie upland is 200 feet above the river level. From Fountain to Isinours station, the track of the Southern Minnesota railroad de- scends 401 feet, passing from the upper Trenton to the St. Lawrence, and entering the latter forma- tion about twenty-five feet, the rocks all Iving nearly horizontal. At Weisbeck's Mill, on Deer Creek, section eleven, Spring Valley, the river is 205 feet below the general level of the country. There is here a little drift, but the cut is mostly in the Galena and Trenton limestones. The vil- lage of Fountain is about 350 feet higher than the terrace, at Preston, on which the Stanwix House stands. These measurements might be multiplied, but enough have been given to show the unevenness of the surface, due to erosion. The rocks lie everywhere nearly horizontal. The varied topography of the county is due to the in- fluence of running water and atmospheric forces, on the rocks, combined with their alternations of limestone with soft sandstone. The limestones are firm, and resist these forces much longer than the sandstones. They alternate in the following man- ner, in descending order.

Trenton limestone. St. Peter sandstone.

Shakopee limestone.

Jordan sandstone.

St. Lawrence limestone.

St. Croix sandstone.

The limestones form the prominent features in the topography. They have the most frequent outcrops. The project along the summits of the bluffs, and constitute the brows of benches or terraces that diversify the county. The sandstones never, or very seldon, appear in the tops of the bluffs. They outcrop in sheltered nooks, or below the line of the limestone exposure. They are more likely to be hid by soil and turf. The lower Trenton contains, besides about twenty feet above the St. Peter sandstone, a layer of easily eroded green shale, which, outcropping by roadsides, in- troduces a series of springs and muddy spots, be- ing impervious to water, that invariably follows

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that boundary line wherever it goes. It with- stands the disintegrating action of the elements even more successfully than the limestones them- selves. For that reason it protects that portion of the Trenton which lies below it, long after that which lies above it has been entirely denuded. The strike of the upper Trenton is often driven back several miles from that of the lower Trenton. The lime rock which lies below this shale is about twenty feet thick. The singular Trenton mounds, which have already been mentioned, are composed of the lower Trenton protected by a greater or less thickness of the green shale, and a portion of the St. Peter sandstone. Instances of the wearing down of the Trenton and St. Peter formations are seen in almost every square mile in the loam-cov- ered area along the outrunning strike of the Trenton.

Throughout the Trenton area are found a great many depressions that are well known as "sink- holes." These consist of broken down spots in the drift or loam, where it had been spread over a pre-existing canon in the rock. In some places they are very numerous, but are confined, so far as known, with but a single exception, to the Trenton areas. They throw some light on the condition of rocky surface prior to the period which witnessed the spreading of the drift. The rock was wrought, at least in Fillmore county, in very much the same manner as we now see it along the river gorges- The immense valleys of erosion which we see, not only in Fillmore county, but also through- out the tract that has been denominated the "Driftless area," were excavated before the glacial period. When the streams of the present time run in such gorges they have been so located by the exigencies of surface drainage and erosion since the glacial cpoch. That these gorges ante- date the glacial period is shown by their existence beneath the glacial drift. These "sink holes" some- times occur in lines, and with increasing fre- quency and size toward a large valley, and at last coalesce so as to form a continuous valley, though frequently without running water, that becomes tributary to the larger gorge. These gorges un- der the drift can sometimes be traced for some dis- tance by a series of successive "sink-holes," Some- times streams are lost in them, and reappear at lower levels. There are several well-known sub- terranean passages in the county. Lost Creek, in Jordan township, and the Brook Kedron, in Sum- ner, both have underground passages for several

miles. Canfield Creek, south of Forestville, runs underground about twelve miles, and, finally, the south branch of Root River sinks on the northeast quarter of section nineteen, Forestville, and runs underground, except in high water, to about the center of section twenty-one, where it reappears again. These underground passages are in the area of the Trenton. They indicate the corru- gated surface the country presented prior to the overspreading of the drift and loess loam. The Trenton cannot be supposed to have been any more subject to such causes as produced this channeling in the rock than the other formations of the Lower Silurian. There is some reason, how- ever, why these gorges are found almost entirely confined to that limestone. As has been said, the rest of the Lower Silurian consists of alternating sandstones and limestones, which conduces to their breaking down laterally, the sandstones easily crumbling out. The Trenton limestone, on the other hand, while it has a thickness of 160 feet, more or less, has, near its base, a bed of impervious shale, which prevents the downward infiltration of surface water, and protects the underlaying sand- stone, Hence the erosions that operate laterally, in tearing down the other Lower Silurian forma- tions, are occupied, in the Trenton limestone area, in cutting narrow perpendicular gorges. For this reason the Trenton area is everywhere the highest in the county. From the eastern boundary of the Trenton, looking east, one beholds a broad land- scape lying several hundred feet, in some places, below him, the effect of the more rapid denudation of the rocks of that portion of the county. Into such narrow gorges neither the drift nor the loess loam, however deposited, would enter with such compactness as to close up the pre-existing water courses; and when partially closed up, as they were wherever "sink holes" have since appeared, they have been undergoing ever since a process of re-excavation. This process is revealed in the oc- casional collapsing of the surface soil, and the for- mation of a new "sink hole," and in the enlargement of others, since the settlement of the county.

In addition to the timbered areas, a great proportion of the county is covered with bushes which are composed of hazel, aspen, oak (two sorts), an 1, where these are wanting, a species of low willow which seems to come up first after after the prairie fires are stopped. After the wil -. low, hazel and oak and aspen gradually come in, and in time convert the original prairie to a bushy

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or timbered region. Over a great deal of the county this process is going on. There are thou- sands of acres of young native timber not exceed- ing five or six inches in diameter.

The general elevation of the county above the sea may be seen from the following points along the Southern Minnesota railroad :

Rushford Depot. 711 feet

Lanesboro Depot. 831 feet

Isinours Station 888 feet

Fountain Depot. 1,289 feet

Grand Meadow, Mower County 1,325 feet

SOIL AND TIMBER .- The soil of the county is generally very fertile. The immediate surface is a loam. This varies in color and composition, as well as in origin. That portion of the county cov- ered with the northern drift has primarily a drift soil, which consists of gravelly clay. Where this forms the immediate surface, which is the case only on knolls and on the brows of the river bluffs, it affords a soil of an ashen color, if dry. In tim- bered belts it is more stony, or gravelly. In the open prairies, and in low grounds, it is covered with a loam. This is believed to have resulted from the natural decomposition of the coarse ma- terials of the drift, under the calcining influence of the prairie fires, and the frosts of ages. It has never been seen stratified, or arranged with any regularity that would indicate its having been de- posited either by standing or running water. In most cases, especially on the open prairie, it is nearly black. As it is mingled with the drift clay it becomes lighter colored. In the low grounds it is much thicker, and also of a black color. Over- lapping the drift area, in a belt about five miles wide, is a soil formed by the mingling of the loess loam with the drift. The loess loam is later than the glacial drift, and in the process of deposition it is modified by contact with the drift clay. The loess loam is indistinctly stratified, though it usually appears massive, and consists of fine, often clayey sediment, The soil derived from it, us- ually sandy and light colored, or rusty, is some- times so clayey as to make, when wet, a fine and very slippery mud. The soil derived distinctively from the loess loam covers at least one-half of the county, and is supposed to extend to the Missis- sippi River. It makes a rich and apparently a strong soil, as it supports & cropping of wheat from year to year. It is impossible to define its western limit. If it were derived from a long-

standing inland lake, some beach lines would be found indicating its western boundary. No beach lines have been found. That it was deposited from standing water can hardly be questioned. It thins out westwardly gradually, passing through a confused or mixed condition, resulting from the mingling of the drift materials with the sediment, or by its overlapping the drift. While the essen- tially loess loam soil of the eastern part of the county can be distinguished easily from the drift soil of the western, no line of demarkation sepa- rating them has been noticed. A line drawn from the southeast corner of Bristol to the northeast corner of Jordan would roughly set off the area that has a distinctively loess loam soil. West of that is a belt five or six miles wide, in which the loess loam soil mingles with the drift soil. The rest of the county toward the west is occupied with a distinctively drift soil, or drift loam soil.

The following list embraces such native trees and shrubs as were seen in the survey of the county. The trees are arranged in the estimated order of frequency. The area covered by native timber is steadily increasing :

Burr oak. Quercus. macrocarpa. Michr.

Red Oak. Quercus rubra. L. ( ?) [This is the oak that is abundant as underbrush, and small trees. It often forms thickets skirting the outlines of a prairie. ]

Aspen. Populus tremuloides. Michr. [Gen- erally small, and on the borders of prairies. ]

White Oak. Quercus alba. L. (Common in the timber in Spring Valley and Jordan town- ships, and generally along the valleys of the prin- cipal streams. ]

Wild Plum. Prunus Americana. Marsh.

Great-toothod Poplar. Populus grandidentata. Mich.r. [ Very frequently mistaken for the Amer- ican Aspen. ]

American Elm. Ulmus Americana. (Pl. Clayt.) Willd.

Bass. Tilia Americana. L.

White Ash. Fraxinus Americana. L.

American Crab. Pyrus coronaria. L. [ Com- mon along the margins of prairies and in open valleys. ]

Iron Wood. Ostrya Virginica. Willd. Red Maple. Acer rubrum. L.

Sugar Maple. Acer saccharinum. Wang.

[Common in the heavy timber in Spring Valley and Jordan townships. ]

Cottonwood. Populus monilifera. Ait.

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Black Cherry. Prunus serotina. Ehr. [Trees generally small. ]

Black Oak. Quercus tinctoria. Bart. ( ?) [Found in the heavy timber in the northwestern portion of the county. ]

Bitternut. Carya amara. Nutt.

Butternut. Juglans cinerea. L. [Seen most abundant in the heavy timber in the northwestern part of the county. ]

Wild Red Cherry. Prunus Pennsylvanica. L. Thorn Apple. Crataegus coccinea. L.

Cockspur Thorn. Crataegus Crus-galli. L. White Birch. Betula alba. Var. populifolia Spach. ( ?) |Trees small; generally on stony soil, or along rocky river banks. ]

Black Walnut. Juglans nigra. L. [In the heavy timber of the northwestern part of the county. |

Box Elder. Negundo aceroides. Manch.

Small Cedar. Juniperus Sabina. L. Var. procumbens. Pursh. ( ?) [ Along the rocky river bluffs. ]

White Pine. Pinus Strobus. L. An occa- sional large tree is seen along the river bluff's; but the most of it suitable for lumber has been cut.

Water Beech. Carpinus Americana. Mich.r. Shag-bark Hickory. Carya alba. Nutt. [Seen in the valley of Root River, and in the tributary gorges at Rushford. ]

Smooth Sumac. Rhus glabra. L.

Cornel. Cornus paniculata. L'Her.

Cornel. Cornus circinata. L'Her.

Wolfberry. Symphoricarpus occidentalis. R. Br. American Woodbine. Lonicera grata. Ait. Juneberry. Amelanchier Canadensis. Torr. and Gray.

Hazlenut. Corylus Americana. Walt.

High blackberry. Rubus villosus. Ait.

Red Raspberry. Rubus strigosus. Michc. Black Raspberry. Rubus occidentalis. L. Dwarf Wild Rose. Rosa lucida. Ehr.

Pipe Vine. Aristolochia Sipho. L'Her.(?) Grape. Vitis Cordifolia. Michr. Virginia Creeper. Ampelopsis quinquefolia. Michr.

Nine Bark. Spiraea opulifolia. L.

Sheep-berry. Viburnum lentago. L. Staghorn Sumac. Rhus typhina. L. Bittersweet. Celastrus scandens. L. Rose. Rosa blanda. Ait.

THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. The rocks of the county belong to the Devonian and to the Upper and Lower Silurian ages. The Cretaceous also appears in Sumner township, in the extreme northwestern corner of the county. They occur as arranged in the following order, with their ap- proximate thickness:

1. Cretaceous. . Thickness unknown, perhaps 100 feet, lying unconformably on the older rocks.

2. Upper Devonian. Hamilton .... 100 feet ?

3. Lower Devonian. Corniferous(?) 100 feet 4. Niagara of the Upper Silurian. 200-250 feet

5. Maquoketa (Cincinnati) of the Lower Silurian. 75-100 feet

6. Galena, of the Lower Silurian .. 75-100 feet

7. Trenton, of the Lower Silurian. . 160 feet

8. St. Peter, of the Lower Silurian. 122 feet

9. Shakopee, Lower Magnesian of the Lower Silurian . 75 feet

10. Jordan. Lower Magnesian of the Lower Silurian .. 25 40 feet

11. St. Lawrence, Lower Magnesian of the Lower Silurian. . . . 200 feet 12. St. Croix, of the Lower Silurian, exposed 375 feet

With the exception of the Cretaceous these for- mations have a strike across the county northwest and southeast. They have a gentle dip, at least theoretically, toward the southwest, though no general dip is perceptible. The oldest rock in the county is the St. Croix sandstone, which appears in the northeastern corner of the county. The latest, except the Cretaceous, is the Devonian, in the southwestern part of the county. The bound- ary between the Trenton and the St. Peter is the most accurately defined, owing to the terrace which marks it. The boundary between the St. Peter and Shakopee it is impossible to ascertain cer- tainly, because of the universality of the loam, which acts, in that respect, just the same as a heavy drift deposit, and also because of the per- sistency of the Shakopee compared to that of the St. Peter. When the friable rock is below a hard and persistent one, as the St. Peter below the Trenton, the boundary between them can be traced out easily by the resulting topography; but when the soft one is uppermost it wedges out im- perceptibly under the loam, or drift, and one can- not say when it is all gone. In the western part i of the county the boundary lines are all obscured

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by the prevalence of the drift. The Maquoketa shales have not been seen in the county. They are visible in the bluffs of the Upper Iowa River, at Lime Springs, about three miles south of the State line, and very probably continue through Fillmore county, in the strike of the Lower Silurian.

THE ST. CROIX SANDSTONE .- The area of the St. Croix sandstone is small. It only occupies the lower portion of the river bluffs, and the bottom land included between them, from the county line, near Rushford, to near Lanesboro. This bottom land is sometimes two miles, or more, in width, but it is an alluvial deposit, and never reveals the rock. The only visible outcrops are on the slope of the bluffs. This sandstone also enters the county, in a similar manner, in the valley of the south branch of Root River, and extends about three miles west of the county line.

Its general lithological character is all that can be learned of this rock from its exposures in Fill- more county. The opportunity for examination is very unfavorable. The bluffs, over the interval occupied by it, are almost universally turfed, and a heavy talus rises nearly or quite to the lower level of the St. Lawrence limestone. It is in gen- eral a light colored sandstone, with alternations of limestone, and some shale, in its upper portions. The sandstone layers crumble easily. Some of the beds are of a very coarse grain, but the quartz is generally white, almost transparent. The lime- stone layers are like that of the St. Lawrence, and contain a few fossils, none of which have been studied yet with care sufficient for a reliable spe- cific identification. At Whalan, about 95 feet of the St. Croix sandstone are included in the lower slopes of the bluffs. This thickness of bedding disappears below the river level before reaching Lanesboro. At Rushford, the sandstone, and talus which is supposed to consist mainly of sand- stone, rises 375 feet above the river. Near the upper portion of the sandstone, a conspicuous ter- race or line of frequent exposure, producing a shoulder, may be seen along the creek in entering Rushford from the south.

THE ST. LAWRENCE LIMESTONE .- This is the low- est portion of the Lower Magnesian formation of Dr. D. D. Owen. In the annual report for 1873, the geology of the Minnesota Valley is given. It is there announced that the great formation to which the name Lower Magnesian has been applied, con- sists of three distinct members-two limeetones

separated by a sandstone-and the names of the localities where these members have their char- acteristic outcrops, in that valley, were applied to distinguish them, as they will play an important part in working out the detailed geology of the eastern portion of the State. Since the publica- tion of that report, a similar subdivision of the Lower Magnesian has been discovered in the state of Wisconsin, and it is announced in the American Journal of Science and Arts, for June, 1875, by Prof. R, Irving, of the University of Wisconsin. The county of Fillmore lies intermediate between the two points at which this similar alternation of parts in the Lower Magnesian has been identified, and may throw some light on the question of the parallelism of these principal members. Fillmore county is separated from the Mississippi River by one county, Houston, which is twenty-four miles in width, east and west, and borders on the state of Iowa.

The area of this limestone is embraced in that which is, in general, assigned to the Lower Mag- nesian. Along the river bluffs, nearly to Rush- ford, it is found only in the lower portion of the limestone belt, as the Jordan sandstone and Shak- opee limestone are both preserved, and overlie it; but toward Rushford this limestone begins to be the only one that is found in the bluffs, the other members of the lower Magnesian having a strike across the country some miles in either direction away from the immediate valley. There are places, even further east still, where the overlaying Jordan and Shakopee are preserved and appear in the tops of the river bluffs. The St. Lawrence extends in the bluffs of the Root River to some distance above Isinours station, and nearly to the lower mill at Preston. The Valley of Watson's Creek at Isinours station is cut about twenty-five feet into the St. Lawrence. At Lanesboro the amount of the St. Lawrence visible is about 195 feet. At Whalan 155 feet are seen in the upper portion of Whalan's bluff. At Rushford the uppermost 190 feet of the bluffs are of the St. Lawrence. The thickness of the formation is not far from 200 feet. It constitutes the principal portion of the Lower Magnesian.

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History of Fillmore County, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Part 47

Author: Edward D. Neill Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Edward D. Neill
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: