History of Wabasha County, Minnesota, Part 3

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn. cn
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Winona, Minn. : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1222


USA > Minnesota > Wabasha County > History of Wabasha County, Minnesota > Part 3


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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"On the West Albany creek are John Hoffman's mill, with two run of stone for custom work, and E. Brandt's mill with two run of stone for custom work.


"At Millville a fine water power is available. A seven foot dam would give a fall of fourteen feet, capable of running twenty-four run of stone.


"Another good power exists at Zumbro Falls, where was formerly a mill. "On Indian creek, Watopa, is a small mill owned by John Hitchcock. It has about twelve horse-power, with a fall of ten feet; two run of stone for flour, one being an "automatic mill" for grinding middlings; of Knowlton and Dolan, Logansport, Ind .; one Leffel wheel.


"On Dady's creek, N. E. 1/4, Sec. 34, Greenfield, is Mark Hitchcock's mill. This has a turbine wheel of eighteen inches, but cannot run constantly; one run of stone; twelve horse-power.


"On West Indian creek, Sec. 16, Highland, S. Appel owns a flouring mill with two run of stone, of which one is for feed. It has a turbine wheel, with twelve feet head of water. Another good power is two miles below Appel's mill, where formerly was a mill. This is in the west part of Sec. 5, Highland."


Wabasha County, particularly in the eastern half, participates in the gen- eral character of surface that is typical of the general area of this vicinity. The valleys are deep and rock-bound, though the ruggedness of rocky bluffs is alleviated by the heavy covering of loam with which the whole country is mantled. The valley of the Zumbro is one of the chief elements in the topog- raphy of the county. This valley is so wide and so deep that it suggests a thecry of erosion and a force of water once operating in it which have no adequate proportion to the small stream that now occupies it. The streams that now discharge into it add material to the flood plain of the main valley, while the Zumbro itself seems to be unable to carry away the detritus they bring into it. The valley is therefore apparently being filled rather than excavated. Along the immediate river banks, within the general margin of the rock bluffs, is a belt of alluvial flat land which lies about 400 feet below the upland plateaus north and south. This alluvial flat is sometimes two miles wide, and in the lower part of the valley is terraced by successive flats higher and higher above the river, the highest being at Kellogg, sixty-five above the depot, or 767 feet above the sea.


These upland plateaus are undulating, or rolling, their roughness increas- ing with proximity to the little water-courses. These smooth undulations are due partly to the changes of the strata of the underiying rocks, partly to the incomplete filling up of pre-existing rock-gorges by the deposit of the loam, or the drift, and partly to the effect of drainage and re-excavation since the deposit of the loam. Nowhere are these irregularities of upland surface so disposed, at this time, as to enclose lakes. If such lakes were ever so produced in Wabasha County, they have been drained by the wearing down of their . original outlets. The nature of the contours, however, warrants the belief that Wabasha County uplands were never diversified by lakes, but the surface on


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HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY


which the loam was deposited was one that had been for many ages sufficiently eroded by drainage to prevent the accumulation of standing waters; the loam itself accommodating itself to the original contour, and on being brought finally to constitute the surface of the county, taking the same, or nearly the same, plan of drainage.


Lake Pepin, which borders Wabasha County, lies in the gorge of the Mis- sissippi River, of which it is an enlargement. It extends from the mouth of Chippewa Rver, northward nearly twenty-two miles. It is from one to two and a half miles wide, and covers about thirty-eight and a half square miles. The maximum depth of the lake is fifty-six feet, but most of it is twenty to thirty- five feet deep. The cause of this lake is the delta of the Chippewa River, which is covered with modern flood plain. deposits. The Chippewa, flowing at a steeper grade than the Missssippi, has deposited more and coarser debris than the Mississippi could remove. This material has formed a sort of natural dam, which has filled the great gorge above with water, thus forming the lake. The depth of Lake Pepin makes it apparent that the gorge has been filled with the main stream to a depth of at least thirty to fifty feet since the dam was laid down. The delta at the head of the lake, formed by the deposits brought down by the Mississippi itself, and not carried away, is still growing, thus forcing the head of the lake further south. The lake must have originally extended much further upstream toward Prescott. Certainly the head of the lake was not long ago at least five miles further upstream at Hagar, Wis., and Red Wing, Minn. The Dakota Indians are said to have traditions regarding this. Below Red Wing three large and several small lakes lie between the distributory chan- nels of the lake. The water in the northwestern end of Laké Pepin has been shoaled to less than half the depth it must have had originally, indicating the process by which the lake will be eventually filled up and obliterated. It has been stated that Lake Pepin had varied notably in level within historic times. This is upon the basis of stumps of trees in the channel of the Mississippi at Red Wing, Minn., though it is possible that these stumps indicate only the changing of the channel. It is thought that the French explorers found the main Chip- pewa flowing into what is now Beef Slough, which empties into the Beef River above Alma. The change from this channel to the present channel would cause the level of the lake to rise somewhat.


The shores of Lake Pepin are partly the high rock bluffs of the Mississippi gorge, partly the Mississippi terraces, and partly the very low modern deposits made by streams and waves. The larger stream deposits are the deltas of the Mississippi and Chippewa, at the head and foot of the lake, respectively, and the smaller deltas of Rush River near Maiden Rock and Isabell Creek at Bay City. Other notable features of the low shore lines are the spits, made by waves and currents. Pairs of these spits converge in V-shaped points or cusps, enclosing triangular swampy areas. There are cusps at Stockholm and Maiden Rock on the Wisconsin shore, and even better ones at the Point au Sable, Cen- tral Point and Lake City cusps on the Minnesota shore.


The Zumbro River by piling up the material which it has through count- less ages brought down from the upper Zumbro Valley, has doubtless assisted in the creation of Lake Pepin, by fretting the Mississippi currents, and thus depriving of an unobstructed outlet the material from the Chippewa which flows from the east several miles above.


Lake Pepin is 664 feet above the sea at average tide-level, and the Mis- sissippi River at the southern boundary of the county is 650 feet, the river falling fourteen feet in the distance of about eighteen miles. The highest land in the county is about 1,200 feet above tide. Such elevation is reached in the western part of Mount Pleasant, and in the southwestern part of Elgin, in each case lying over a small area of the Trenton limestone. There is another area of equal elevation north and northwest of Plainview, extending somewhat into Elgin and Highland townships. It is presumed that this last is produced


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HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY


by an accummulation of drift-clay, below the loam, rather than by the preser- vation of any part of the Trenton formation. A tongue from this area extends southeastward into Winona County, in Whitewater Township, and there it is highly improbable that any part of the Trenton exists.


The elevations on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in Wabasha County, are as follows: Lake City, 705 feet above the sea level; Reed's Land- ing, 682 feet; Wabasha, 712 feet; Midland Junction, 695 feet; Kellogg, 702 feet; Weaver, 674 feet; Minneiska, 672 feet; Midland Junction, 695 feet; Glas- gow, 716.5 feet; McCracken, 732 feet; Theilman, 743 feet; Tracey, 756 feet; Keegan, 759 feet; Millville, 787 feet; Garrett, 792 feet; Hammond, 805 feet; Funk, 820.5 feet; Zumbro Falls, 836 feet; Summit, grade, 895 feet; Depression, grade, 868; Mazeppa, 935; Forest Mills, 970; Summit, grade, 986; Zumbrota, 980.


Mean elevation of Wabasha County. The various townships of the county may be estimated to have the following average elevation above the sea, viz: Mount Pleasant, 1100 feet; Lake, 1000; Pepin, 1050; Wabasha, 740; Chester, 1025; Gillford, 1100; West Albany, 1000; Glasgow, 915; Greenfield, 800; Ma- zeppa, 950; Zumbro, 1050; Hyde Park, 1025; Oakwood, 985; Highland, 1025; Watopa, 900; Minneiska, 675; Elgin, 1125; Planview, 1135. If Lake and Wabasha together be taken as the equivalent of one town, with areas propor- tioned as three to one, and Pepin and Minneiska be considered together equal to another town, each forming one half, the mean elevation of the county will be found to be about 1065 feet.


Where the surface is not broken by too great ruggedness, as it is in prox- imity to the numerous ravines and along the bluffs of the Zumbro, Whitewater, and the Mississippi, the soil is uniformly good; and even when the roughness is quite unfavorable, or the sides of the hills are quite steep, the soil still is capable of producing all the crops of ordinary agriculture. The loam which spreads over the entire county is strong and fertile in all the qualities of a good soil. It is only in the immediate vicinity of the standstone bluffs that the soil is too light for reliable farming. In these places the sand is superficial, and has worked down from the bluffs since the deposition of the loam which in many cases is seen to underlie the sandy surface. The loam itself is not sandy, in general, but clayey, and is easily carried in suspension by moving water. Yet in its ordinary condition it is hard to get into suspension. It is impervious. The rains that fall upon it are more effective in disturbing it, and removing it, in the act of fallng, than in the erosion that follows. An ordinary sand or gravel would be easily undermined and carried to lower levels by the surface wash that sometimes is poured upon this loam, while the loam can be attacked by erosion only on its very surface. It is so fine and so tenacious that the surface. film susceptible of such attack is very thin. If the surface be covered by vegeta- tion the loam is practically immobile under ordinary rains and wash.


The loess loam is the basis of the soils and subsoils of Wabasha County and forms the immediate surface. Sometimes this loam is stratified and fine, yet exhibiting thin laminae of sand. Sometimes in the uplands it seems to graduate into pebbly clay, and this into stony clay, and the stony clay then is the till, which underlies the clay in large areas throughout the county. This structure would result from the decay in situ of the rocks underlying the county; and but little if any of such disturbed, decayed, rock-material can be said to exist in this county. Its substance seems to have been worked over, perhaps several times, by water and by ice, thus reproducing itself with modi- fied features in different localities. Nothwithstanding these variations, its usual and characteristic qualities, at the surface, is that of a fine, sticky, impervious, yellowish clay.


There is, as mentioned, a blue, stony clay underlying large areas in Wabasha County, including the most of Chester and Gillford, and the high- lands in Mazeppa, Zumbro, Elgin, Plainview and Highland. It is probably more extensive still, running into Lake and West Albany, and even into Pepin, but


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HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY


its limits cannot be defined with accuracy. It is hid by a canopy of yellow, fine loam. Its former existence over areas that now do not show it, is proven by the occurrence of an occasional foreign boulder in the ravines where every other trace of it has been destroyed. How thick this clay may be is unknown, but it seems to be, in some places, from twenty-five to forty feet. The region between the Clearwater and the Zumbro rivers, however, does not generally have this blue clay, the loam only being found in deep wells, and having an average of about thirty-five feet. The existence of this clay at Plainview was one of the factors that determined the final site of the village. The village was first started two miles further east, under the name of Greenville (in 1855), but as no good wells were found the town was unsuccessful; while at Plainview, the blue clay there present furnished water at about thirty feet and attracted new settlers, and even the residents from Greenville. In this clay is frequently found wood and other vegetation. This, however, was not the only factor in the fall of Greenville and rise of Plainview. Greenville was within the "Half Breed Tract," and the uncertainty of land titles, as well as the difficulty of getting water, kept investors away. -


There is a little foreign gravel on the washed surface near the top of the ravine (over the brink of the bed-rock), near the schoolhouse, in Section 28, Pepin.


On the shore of Lake Pepin, at Lake City, are large boulders of gabbro, 3-4 feet across.


Several large boulders are to be seen in Section 18, Gillford, and drift- gravel and stones occasionally everywhere west of that.


A deposit of drift-clay may be seen in the road near Millville.


Drift-clay and gravel can be seen in the southeast corner of Plainview, section 25. One large boulder of gneiss lies in the road on section 35.


There is a large amount of foreign drift, in the form of gravel and boulders, about Mazeppa, sometimes also gravelly clay. It is of the color of the loam and is mixed in the bottom of the loam.


The Zumbro and the Mississippi are bordered by alluvial terraces. These consist, usually, and conspicuously, of gravel of foreign origin, the washings from the frayed edge of the sheet of till that once seems nearly to have cov- ered the whole county.


At Zumbro Falls there is a sandy irregular terrace (15-20 feet) which, near the bottom, shows sand. In the higher bluffs is coarse gravel, mingled with fallen pieces of the limestone strata; the gravel itself also consisting largely of limestone of the same kind.


The village of. Millville is on a terrace that rises thirty feet above the depot, or 817 feet above the sea, and forty-eight feet above the river at high water.


At Kellogg the highest terrace, composed of gravel and sand, is that which accompanies the Zumbro, sixty-five feet above the railroad grade, or 767 feet above the sea, and 106 feet above Lake Pepin. This shows a descent, in this terrace level, from Millville to Kellogg, of fifty feet. At Kellogg there is another flat forty feet lower, and this descends irregularly to the plain on which Kellogg is situated. The only permanent terrace here is the uppermost one, the other plains apparently being liable to fluctuation, and to blending, by a gradual descent, with the present flood-plain. The top of this higher terrace here is of gravelly sand with but a slight covering of loess.


Along the Mississippi there is an important terrace-flat, rising from forty- five to fifty feet above the river. Kellogg is situated on it, where it seems to be about fifty feet above the river. Wabasha, likewise on the terrace, is fifty-four feet above the river, and Lake City depot is forty-one.


The alluvium occurs in the valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries where these have formed flood plains. Its thickness is unknown, but presum- ably averages between 25 and 50 feet. The coarser alluvium of the smaller


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HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY


streams and of the fan formed at the mouth of the Zumbro generally contains abundant water, the supplies being available to shallow wells and furnishing sufficient quantities for domestic and farm purposes. The alluvial deposits of the Mississippi include a considerable amount of silt, and the supplies of water are consequently smaller.


The rock formations present the features customary in this region.


Of the upper formations of the Ordovician system only the Platteville lime- stone, here about 10 feet thick, is represented in the county. It caps the eleva- tion known as Lone Mound and occurs on the highest uplands southwest of Plainview along the southern border of the county. It carries very little water and is to be considered as a source of supply only for "wet weather open wells."


The St. Peter sandstone, which in this county is about 100 feet thick, lies beneath the Platteville limestone on Lone Mound and on the high land near Plainview and outcrops over a considerable area of the uplands in the vicinity of this village. Owing to the fact that it occurs only on the higher lands, where its waters can escape to lower levels, it is not commonly a source of water supply in Wabasha County, though it would furnish water in moderate amounts to wells on the upland about Plainview and in parts of Mount Pleasant Town- ship.


The Shakopee dolomite underlies a considerable part of the uplands, espe- cially in the west and south. It has a thickness of about 35 feet and is gen- erally less than 50 feet and rarely over 100 feet below the surface. It is reached by domestic and farm wells, to which it will yield small supplies.


The New Richmond sandstone, which is about 20 feet thick, outcrops on the uplands several miles back from the bluffs of the Mississippi and the Zumbro. It affords small supplies of hard water to the wells penetrating it.


The Oneota dolomite, which is very similar to the Shakopee, forms the upland crests and upper parts of the cliffs along the Mississippi and Zumbro valleys. It carries some water in its joints, bedding planes, and solution chan- nels, and at a distance from its outcrops usually yields enough for farm purposes.


The Jordan sandstone, which in this region is a buff or yellow sandstone 100 to 120 feet thick, outcrops in the lower parts of the cliffs. It forms an important water-bearing bed and will yield good supplies to deep wells almost anywhere in the county. The water from this formation fails to rise to the surface, except perhaps in the Zumbro Valley.


The St. Lawrence formation, which consists of shales and limestones with some sandstone beds, is exposed at the base of the cliffs and lies beneath the flood plains of the Mississippi and the lower portion of the Zumbro, having a maximum thickness of about 230 feet .. It will yield only small amounts of water.


The Dresbach sandstone is estimated to be about 50 feet thick in this county. It will yield large quantities of water, which is confined by the St. Lawrence formation under pressure sufficient to lift it nearly or quite to the surface.


The underlying shales and sandy layers have a thickness, according to the section of the Wabasha well, of about 150 feet, and according to the section of the Lake City well considerably greater. These are not important as a source of water, but serve to confine under artesian pressure the water in the sub- jacent sandstone. The underlying porous Cambrian sandstone is 225 feet or more thick and will yield large volumes of water that rises nearly or quite to the surface.


Beneath the sandstone just described, according to the evidence of the Lake City well, there are 320 feet or more of red shale, sandstone, and quartzite which are not water bearing. Underlying these will be found the granite, which is likewise void of available water.


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HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY


The railroad well at Lake City, drilled in 1882 by W. E. Swan, for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, disclosed some interesting features. The sand and gravel (alluvium) extended down 207 feet; the blue sand and shale (lower part of the St. Lawrence), extended under that 68 feet; the sandstone (Dresbach) and gray sand shale extended under that 127 feet; the yellow and gray sandstone extended under that 88 feet; and the red shale and quartzite extended under that 320 feet; making a total investigation of 820 feet beneath the surface. At that early date, Mr. Swan stated that the red clastic series was never known to add materially to the water supply furnished by overlying beds, and he advised the withdrawal of the drill whenever it was reached.


At first the principal sources of water supply in addition to the springs and streams, were shallow wells dug into the surface deposits, after the manner in which the settlers from the eastern states had secured water from the sand and gravel deposits immediately beneath the surface of the soil in many regions in those states. But the inferior quality of the water found in the surface wells in Wabasha County, its liability to pollution, and failure in dry seasons, together with the fact that in some parts of the county it was almost impossible to obtain any water at all from surface wells, gradually led to the substitution of deeper drilled wells. In those parts of the uplands remote from the river valleys, the wells are commonly from 100 to 150 feet deep, but near the edges of the plateau many go to depths of 250 to 350 feet or even more. In the valleys, driven wells sunk into the alluvium to a depth of 20 to 75 feet afford the most common source of supply, but when large volumes are required, drilled wells are sunk into the underlying sandstones.


Springs emerge at numerous points along the base of the cliffs bordering the rivers, both from the sandstones and the limestones. Some are of con- siderable size, and are important sources of domestic and farm supplies. Springs also issue from the limestone on the uplands, but their volume is generally small.


Springs usually emerge from the top of an outcrop of an impervious for- mation. Thus the top of the St. Lawrence, essentially a shale formation, and the top of the Shakopee, a compact dolomite, mark the situation of most of the springs of the county.


Back from the Mississippi and Zumbro and Whitewater Rivers, water stands in wells at a considerable depth below the surface, and as lower sup- plies have been tapped the head has gradually been lowered. In the valley of the Mississippi River the water rises nearly to the surface, but it does not flow either in Lake City or 'in Wabasha, though flows are obtained at Red Wing to the north and Winona to the south. It is improbable that flows can be obtained by new wells at either Lake City or Wabasha, but it is possible that they could be procured along the Mississippi south of the Zumbro.


An inspection of the analyses shows no great difference in the quality of the underground water from different formations. The water from the Plain- view well, which comes largely from the Jordan sandstone, is better than that from the alluvium of Lake City, Wabasha, and Weaver.


The natural resources of the county are similar to those of several other counties in the southeastern part of the state. The soil is fertile and appar- ently very durable and almost inexhaustible. The timber is sufficient for fuel for the residents within the county and also supplies a quantity of hardwood lumber. Nearly every farm has a grove, either of natural growth timber or of planted trees. Material suitable for making red brick is found throughout the county. The making of cement blocks has proven successful. Some quarrying has been done, and some lime has been burned. A bed of porcelain clay is believed to exist in the northern part of Chester and Guilford. Gold has been washed frim the drift on the southeast quarter of section 25, Chester Town-


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HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY


ship, and at points southwestwardly to Zumbro Falls; also on section 6 and 27, Mazeppa.


NOTE .- A more detailed description of the Geological features of Wabasha County will be found in the "Geology of Minnesota," 1882-1885 (St. Paul, 1882) II, 1-19.


CHAPTER II.


ABORIGINAL REMAINS.


That Wabasha County has been the home of man through countless gen- erations is shown by its numerous earthworks. These earthworks follow the course of the waterways, being the more numerous along the Minnesota, Zum- bro, the Whitewater, and Indian Creek. The evidences are many that these mounds were not built by a race distinct from the Indians, but that the Mound Builders were in fact no other than the more or less immediate ancestors of the Indians found here by the whites. The relics found in them indicate a state of society and mode of life in every way identical to that of the Indian.


Much interesting material has been written on that subject, and N. H. Winchell's "Aborigines of Minnesota" contains, aside from general discussion of aboriginal inhabitants of Minnesota, a detailed description of some of the remains found in Wabasha County. Since that time many of these mounds have been obliterated by agricultural operations, road construction, spring time freshets and excavations by investigators. The following survey is reproduced from that work:


Zumbro Valley Mounds. S. W. 1/4, N. E. 1/4, and N. E. 1/4, S. E. 1/4, section 15, T. 110-10. This group and the one to the southwest, on S. E. 1/4, S. W. 1/4 of . the same section, were probably at one time connected. This group consists of 21 circular mounds, situated on a high plateau about 25 feet high, of cultivated land.




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