USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 3
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None of the above formations are found in Wisconsin. It approaches within about 100 miles east, south and west. In those days, Wisconsin was a peninsula, projecting southward in the region of the carboniferous deposits, and was dry land amidst the marshes and shallow seas.
FOSSIL FORESTS. COAL ORIGIN .- The great coal measures have generally been formed from the vegetation of the locality. It is assumed, from the evidence extant, that the foundations of the great coal deposits were originally great forests.
At Parkfield colliery, near Wolverhampton, in 1844, in the space of about one-fourth of an acre, the stumps of seventy-three trees, with roots attached, were found. The trees were all broken off close to the roots, and from measurements, must have been from one to eight feet in circumference, and from eight to thirty feet in length. The trees were all converted into coal, and were flattened to the thickness of one or two inches. Similiar fossil forests have been found in the coal fields of Nova Scotia.
ANCIENT FORESTS. PEAT DEPOSITS .- Ancient forests belonging to a later period have been found in beds of peat. From numerous evi- dences, it is established that some kinds of peat have their origin in the destruction of forests. At Blair-Drummond, the peat stratum is from eight to ten feet in depth, and in some places even twenty feet. Many of these trees were felled by the ax of the Romans, when they were in possession of the country, which is proved by the "corduroy" roads which led from one camp to another, and the finding of the camp kettles at the bottom of the peat deposit.
LIFE .- The new relations between the sea and the land, occasioned by the non-trespassing of the former, produced during this age marked changes in the character of life. The atmosphere was both warm and damp, which conditions were favorable to the mammoth vegetable growth, as well as being favorable to a more pronounced animal life.
27
CARBONIFEROUS AGE.
ORIGIN OF BITUMINOUS COAL .- While, during the great Coal Age, the land vegetation flourished in great and luxuriant abundance, Dame Nature was kindly storing it away for the use of future ages. Large portions of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Mis- souri, Arkansas, and Texas had not then emerged from the sea. The land oscillated near the sea level, sometimes being above and some- times below, forming extensive marshes and lagoons. At the stages when the surface stood just above the level of the sea, the vegetation of the period grew in unparalleled luxuriance. Floating vegetation also formed on the lagoons and lakelets, and contributed to the plant deposit.
The vegetable matter was thus prevented from decay by the pre- serving qualities of the water, and in this manner there gathered during the lapse of time, beds of great thickness. At length, through changes of the earth, the sea returned, bringing with it detrital material, and spreading it over these great vegetable beds. Repeated growths, attended by repeated oscillation, covered the vegetable deposits and multiplied the coal seams, thus giving rise to the great coal measures.
ASSOCIATE IRON STRATA .- Associated with the coal series we find interstratified beds of iron ore, the origin of which is the indirect result of the marsh vegetation of the period.
AREA OF IRON DEPOSIT .- The larger portion of the coal fields of the world belong to this system of formation. It is estimated that 40,000 square miles of the earth's surface are now covered by productive coal fields.
RIVERS .- According to the Devonian system, the Alleghany mount- ains were islands and coral reefs during the Devonian period.
There were no large rivers at this time. The valleys of the Hud- son, the Connecticut, the Mississippi, and the St. Lawrence were merely outlined. The interior Mediterranean opened south into the Gulf of Mexico, and north into the Arctic sea, covering a large portion of the present continent with shallow lagoons, separated by low, sandy areas.
UPHEAVALS .- During the Peruvian period* of this age, the pro- nounced settling of eastern portions of the United States was followed by epochs of great upheavals. The rock waves that formed the Appalachian mountains, with their thousands of feet of fractured rock, bear evidence of those great events.
*See Le Conte, Elements of Geol., p. 400.
REPTILES OF THE MESOZOIC ERA.
CHAPTER X.
THE AGE OF REPTILES.
EUROPEAN geologists have divided this age into three groups, viz : (1), the Triassic, because in Germany there are three distinct sub- divisions; (2), the Jurassic, on account of its remarkable display in the Jura mountains; and, (3) the Cretaceous, on account of its English and French-chalk deposits.
The American Mesozoic era is divided into: (1), the Jura-Trias, and, (2) the Cretaceous.
AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION .- The Triassic series is overlapped upon the Atlantic and Gulf borders, and in the western plains and mountains, but does not closely approach Wisconsin. The Jurassic series occurs in the same region, but in the Missouri and Mississippi valleys it extends east, covering the portions of Iowa and Minnesota bordering upon our stare. The Wisconsin deposit is supposed to be Cretaceous drift from Minnesota, as it only appears upon the northwestern edge of our state.
EFFECTS OF UPHEAVAL .- The Appalachian revolution caused marked changes in the geography of the country, as well as in the climate. The ocean contracted, and mountain ranges appeared from the depth of the sea, causing diverse atmospheric currents, thus inaugurating new climate conditions.
TRANSFORMATION OF SPECIES. -- The transformation of the geography of the country, together with the new climate conditions, produced an extraordinary and sudden change of living species, which has no fossil- iferous parallel in life history.
REPTILES .- The new life era was characterized by the enormous development of the Reptilian species. They were not only monsters in size, but were monstrosities in form. In the waters were great swimming saurians, with the combined characteristics of both fish and lizard, while monsters of the combined character of the whale and croco- dile were numerous.
The monstrous plesiosaurus had a turtle-like body, a snake-like head, and cetacean paddles. *
During this age the sea, the air, and the earth, were peopled and ruled by these monsters. Amphibians that are now represented by frogs, and such diminutive animals, were then represented by laby- rinthodonts of an extraordinary size.
The sea saurians were from seventy to eighty feet in length, while the smaller species were from thirty to forty feet in length, but had
*Wis. Geol., Vol. 1, 226.
30
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
powerful bodies. The dinosaurs were of elephantine proportions' and were thirty to forty feet in length, while the Atlantus-aurus, that lived in western regions, had a total length of 100 feet. Crocodilians were several times the length of the modern species, while the huge turtles were fifteen feet across, and were among the lesser attractions of this great menagerie of reptiles.
REPTILIAN BIRDS .- Solenhofen is the earliest known fossil bird. The celebrated solenhofen was possessed of full clothing of feathers, was armed with teeth, and had a long vertebrated tail, with the caudal feathers attached on both sides, two to a joint. At this early date, there was remarkable diversity between these birds, notwithstanding their reptilian affinities .*
MAMMALS .- In the Triassic period, we find Marsupiatat type of mammals,¿ which were the lowest of the class, and possessed reptilian features.
FISHES .- The fish type during thi speriod also had reptilian feat- ures. This character lingered through the Mesozoic era, and only died away in the beginning of the Tertiary age, and was superseded by the Teliost type.
DIVERSITY OF VERDURE .- During the Carboniferous age the Acrogeus§ predominated, and in the Jura-Trias the Gymnosperms; dur- ing the Cretaceous epoch, the first known forms of Angiosperms, the Oak, the Poplar, the Maple, Beech, Hickory, Willow, Sycamore, Sassa- fras, and Tulip trees, as well as the Sequoia|| and Palms, adorned the earth.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE AGE .- During this period, there were detached basins along the Atlantic border, while an immense bay occupied the Lower Mississippi valley and extended north as far as Cairo, Ill. A large arm of the sea reached north from the Gulf through the region of the plains to the Arctic sea. Between the Paleozoic lands of the western mountain region were several interlocked seas or bays. The line of sea deposit nearly approached us on the west during the Cretaceous period.
*Prof. Marsh discovered a new type of tooth birds-the Odontornithes. They belong to two distinct orders: One corresponding to the Struthious birds of the present day, represented by the Ostrich species, with abortive wings and incapable of flight. This bird has an elongated bill set with sharp conical teeth, fixed in grooves, similar to the lower reptilian types. The other was similar to our ordinary bird, with extraordi- nary powers of flight, and armed with a long bill with conical teeth inserted in distinct sockets, similar to the higher reptilian types.
+Purse-bearing animals.
#Prof. Owen divided these animals into five tribes. With the exception of one American and one Malayan genus, all known existing marsupials belong to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.
$Tree Ferns.
| Coniferous trees of the Cypress family. The gigantic redwood trees of California are one species of this family.
31
THE AGE OF REPTILES.
At this time, the waters advanced nearly across Minnesota, filling up the inequalities of the earth, and eroding the surface with carbonaceous and calcareous sediment.
MOUNTAIN RAISING AND IGNEOUS EJECTIONS. - At the close of the Jura- Trias epoch, there appeared an epoch of mountain lifting. The great event of the epoch was the elevation of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The igneous ejections which marked the period are found from Nova Scotia to North Carolina.
CHAPTER XI.
TERTIARY AGE.
NAME. - Tertiary is the term applied to all the strata of the earth's crust above the Cretaceous rocks, except the superficial beds recently raised to distinct groups. Tertiary is synonymous with Canozoic, and is divided into three divisions, viz. (1), the Pleisocene; (2), the Miocene and, (3) the Eocene Periods.
FORMATION OF LAKES .- The effect of the general elevation at the close of the preceding age caused the sea to return to the borders of the present continent. Great lakes formed in the interior of the conti- nent, and carried on the work of sedimentation, in a manner comparable to that of the ocean.
It is suggested by Prof. Chamberlain that this period in the American continent might appropriately be designated as the Great Lake age. Innumerable groups of lakes marked the period of the age, and their deposits cover large areas of the Great Plains and Cordeleron region, embracing large portions of the Tertiary deposits.
LIFE OF THE AGE .- At the commencement of the Tertiary age, there dawned a new life era, which was occasioned by the favorable conditions which followed the retiring sea. The pure waters of the lakes, the shallow shores, bays and land-locked armlets, afforded both attraction and protection for all kinds of animals and birds. Tertiary forests and groves were in those days similar to those of our own warm temperate zone.
Animal life became transformed and modernized. The huge reptilian monsters and monstrosities no longer ruled the land and the sea. *
*It is suggested by Prof. Chamberlain that the cold produced by the Post-Cretaceous elevation brought about the transformation of the reptilian species.
32
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
The great reptilian Dinosauria* gave place to the still-greater mammalian Dinoscerous .¡ The whole reptilian class at the beginning of the Tertiary age gradually sank to subordinate places.
MOUNTAIN MAKING .- The quietude of the age was disturbed at the close of the Eocene period, which caused a moderate elevation along the Atlantic. The Coast range was formed at the close of the Miocene period, which involved the whole western area, while, at the close of the age, there was a general continental elevation which lifted the whole several hundred feet above the present altitude. The elevation at the north of the continent was more pronounced, and is estimated at from 1000 to 2000 feet above its present position.
IGNEOUS ERUPTIONS .- From the Miocene period to the Quaternary age the western mountain range was in moderate igneous activity. At the same time, South America, Europe, and Southern Asia experienced similiar activities. The Tertiary age might well be called the age of eruptions.
*The wonderful order of extinct lizards found in the lower Cretaceous beds. They were gigantic reptiles, and stood upon four strong limbs.
+This was a gigantic animal of elephantine proportions, and armed with three pairs of short stout, horns, one on the nose, one on the cheeks, and one on the forehead. It resembled the Rhinoceros of the present day.
,
CHAPTER XII.
INTERVAL BETWEEN DEVONIAN AND GLACIAL PERIODS.
LEVELING OF HEIGHTS .- Isle Wisconsin from its very beginning was much exposed to the combined incessant atmospheric elements and the waging of the oceanic battles, which agencies decomposed the exposed portions and washed the sediments into the sea, and became the foundation of the adjacent lands. During this interval the mount- ainous Archean portion of the state was cut down from its lofty heights essentially to its present altitude. The thousands of feet which the northern portion of the state once attained are now nowhere more than 2000 feet above the sea.
CARVING OF THE PLAINS .- When the southern portion of the state emerged from the ancient sea it presented an exceedingly plain, smooth surface. During the wear of the ages, the plains were channeled and carved into hills and valleys, by running streams .* In the ancient Laurentian period, the upheavals predetermined the greatd rainage system. After the Laurentian period, as from an elevated center, the waters have through all subsequent ages been shed towards all points of the compass, upon the surrounding lower lands.
DEPTH OF ANCIENT CHANNELS. - The Mississippi river channel is now at least 100 feet above the ancient bed. Loose material was found at a depth of 170 feet, while sinking a well at La Crosse, and at Prairie du Chien, at a depth of 147 feet. The Rock river, at Janesville, is estimated at 250 feet above the ancient bed, which fact strengthens the belief that the ancient depth of the Mississippi was greater than that indicated. According to the observation of Mr. Strong, the valley was filled during the drift period to a height varying from fifty to seventy- five feet above its present surface. t
THE BASIN OF LAKE MICHIGAN .- It is maintained by certain geol- ogists that the great basin now occupied by Lake Michigan was. caused by glacial excavations during the era next under consideration. Others, on the contrary, maintain that the great basin is only a slightly modified river valley, whose outlet was blocked up by glacial debris, and not in any manner due to glacial action. According to Dr. New-
*A large area in the southern portion of the state was not subjected to the Glacial periods.
+Maj. Warren, in the Am. Jour. of Sci., of Dec., 1878, maintained that the whole- Mississippi valley was excavated since the Glacial period. The evidence, however, is. overwhelmingly against such a view.
34
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
berry, the bed of Lake Michigan is a "broad, boat-shaped depression, sixty to eighty miles wide, descending more than 300 feet below the ancient bed of the Mississippi."
LAKE MICHIGAN'S DEPTH .- The present mud-bed of Lake Michigan is estimated at 300 feet below tide water, while from 100 to 200 feet is allowed for sedimentary accumulations on the bottom of the lake, as not only a sheet of glacial drift lies there, but the sediments of all ages. Geologists estimate that the rock bottom is at least from 400 to 500 feet below tide-water.
LAKE SUPERIOR'S BASIN .- Glancing at the greatest of the lakes, we find an irregular contour of margin and bottom, with a depth of more than 400 feet below ocean level. This great trough, or basin, was formed in ancient Keweenawan times, and was filled during the Cam- brian and Lower Silurian ages. This great basin was filled hundreds of feet above the present lake level, with sedimentary accumulations. Prof. Chamberlain concluded that this great basin was due: (1), to the combined drainage system, which carved the basin deeply; and, (2) to great glacial movements. *
*Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 258.
1219078
CHAPTER XIII.
QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE.
THE most remarkable of all the chapters in the earth's history is the Glacial period, whose history is legibly written in the great lake basins, the river beds and valleys, and engraved upon the rocks throughout the great northwest.
FIRST GLACIAL PERIOD.
ICE ACCUMULATIONS .- In the Tertiary age which preceded this epoch, the climate was warm, not only on the continent, but in the Arctic regions. The character of the inhabitants of the continent, as well as the existence of fauna and flora found in the Arctic regions, established the fact that the climate was principally warm.
The Quaternary age was ushered into existence and baptized in snow, followed by an exceptionally cold period. The climate was so rigorous that the snow-fall during the winter failed to disappear during the summer, thus the residue of snow was left over to form a foundation for the next snow-fall. Through these continued natural agencies, which may have lasted centuries, there accumulated an immense depth of snow upon the whole northern regions. According to established principles, well illustrated in the perpetual snow of the Arctic and Alpine regions, the accumulated mass solidified, by the pressure and natural tendency to cohere, aided by the penetrating waters above, which congealed below. Thus the immense snow-field became a great ice-sheet.
GLACIAL FLOWS .- The laws governing the flow of ice masses have repeatedly been demonstrated by such learned and able scientists as Agassiz, Forbes, Tyndall, and others. According to these authorities, the ice in large bodies is essentially similar to thick, heavy fluids, flowing faster over steep slopes and slower over lesser ones, frequently retarded by friction along the sides and bottom, while the flow is faster at the top and in the center.
ORIGIN OF GLACIAL CLIMATE .- While the agencies which produced the great glacial epochs are still subjects of inquiry and debate, the main authorities agree upon two classes of originating influences, viz .: (I), geographical changes emphasized by a northern elevation and extension of land, producing modifications of oceanic currents; and, (2) astro- nomical causes producing long, cold winters and short, hot summers, and the reverse. Perhaps a combination of the two causes created the glacial climate. *
*Wis. Geol., Vol. I. 287.
36
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
NºIX
FIRST GLACIAL PERIOD
-- J
RIV.
BLACK
MISSISSIPPI
FTLESS
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WISCONSIN
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RIV
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RUTER.
FIRST GLACIAL PERIOD. - HYPOTHETICAL.
-
37
QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE.
GLACIAL COURSE .- The great ice-sheet flowed slowly down from the north and northeast, then led away to the southwest by the Superior valley, and southward through the Mississippi valley. These great glacial streams in passing down the valleys excavated them more deeply. The northern portion of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron, where the glacier first invaded, is more deeply excavated than elsewhere. This is accounted for by the natural tendency of the ice to melt as it flowed southward.
DRIFTLESS AREA .- The Driftless area, in the southern portion of the state, shows that the great valleys east and west, aided by northern highlands, led away the advancing ice, thus protecting this portion of our state from the great ice drift. The Driftless area occupies a large area in central, southern and western Wisconsin, and includes a narrow strip of land west of the Mississippi, in Iowa and Minnesota, and a small portion in northwestern Illinois. The glacial stream was so gigan- tically immense that a portion of it passed over the highlands and de- scended its southern slope, penetrating to the central portion of the state, a distance of more than 100 miles .*
PERIOD OF ICE FLOW .- The duration of the first glacial epoch is unknown, but from the unmistakable evidence the period was of short duration. After the ice flow reached a certain stage, it melted back faster than it advanced, until it finally withdrew from our territory as well as from the Canadian highlands.
INTERVAL BETWEEN GLACIAL EPOCHS .- Recent investigations of the great moraine; of the second glacial epoch, and comparisons between the first and second drifts, appear to have developed a pro- nounced harmony between drift phenomena and a modification of Croll's astronomical hypothesis. "Two periods of great eccentricity occurred about 200,000 and 100,000 years ago, respectively, with a period of low eccentricity between, and once since, in the midst of which we now are."į These two great stages of eccentricity are supposed to have furnished conditions favorable to the glacial epochs.
SECOND GLACIAL EPOCH.
Nature, during the interval, again accumulated in her great northern abode immense ice fields which, for the second time, moved grandly and majestically southward. This great ice tour was comparatively unim- peded, as it followed in the well-worn path of its predecessor. The great glacial movements which affected Wisconsin and the adjacent territory are designated as follows:
*Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 270. Annual report of Wis. Geol. Survey, 32. Winchell's Annual Report, Nat. Hist. Survey of Minn., 35. Am. Jour. of Sci., Dana's, 1878, 250. +Debris left in the track of glaciers.
#Wis. Geol., Vol. I., 287.
38
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
THE SECOND GLACIAL PERIOD
--
E.R
P PIE
IER.
RIV.
A LACT
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DR
AFTLES SS
WISCONSIN
RIV.
AREA
RIV
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THE EXTENT OF THESE MARGINAL LAKES IS UNDETERMINED
SECOND GLACIAL PERIOD. - HYPOTHETICAL.
CHIPPIWA RIV.
GLACIER
TRAVERSE ..
TGL
39
QUATERNARY, OR ICE AGE.
LAKE MICHIGAN GLACIER .- A great tongue of ice similar in form to the lake basin, but extending many miles farther east and west, took its mighty course southward and extended some distance into Indiana and Illinois. In Wisconsin, this glacier extended from Kewaunee county southward and parallel with the lake, through Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Washington, Waukesha, Jefferson, Walworth, Racine, and Kenosha counties.
GREEN BAY GLACIER. - Another ice tongue moved southward down the Green Bay and Rock river valley, spreading out and joining the Michigan glacier on the east. This glacier moved northwestward through Walworth county, then curved westward across the corner of Green county, then northward through Dane, Sauk, Adams, Waukesha, Portage, Waupaca, and Shawano counties, into Lincoln, where it joined the Keweenawan, in Chippewa valley glacier.
CHIPPEWA VALLEY GLACIER .- Then, from over the highlands from Keweenawa Bay, came another glacier and descended the Chippewa river. It formed a junction with the Green Bay glacier in Lincoln county, then ran southwesterly through Taylor and Chippewa counties, crossing the Chippewa river, thence it curved northward between Chippewa and Barron counties, then followed the watershed between the Chippewa and Numakagon rivers, nearly to Lake Superior.
LAKE SUPERIOR GLACIER .- The greatest glacier of them all was the Lake Superior glacier, which passed southwesterly through Lake Superior into Minnesota, and lightly touched the northwestern portion of our state. This glacier swept across the Mississippi river, south of St. Paul, and across the Minnesota river, thence northwest to an unknown distance.
TRACING ICE MOVEMENTS .- The great ice movements are deter- mined: (1), by the wear of the rocks; (2), by the abrasion which prom- inences have suffered; (3), by the direction in which the material is deposited; (4), by the trend of elongated domes of polished rock; and, (5) by arrangement of deposited material.
ORIGIN OF HILLS, KETTLES, AND RANGES. - The areas of hills, ket- tles, and ridges in the state correspond to the general direction of ice movements during the two epochs. During the great ice drift, an immense amount of drift accumulated at the foot of the melting mass, which was plowed up into massive ridges. Repeated oscillation gave rise to parallel ridges, and explains the complexity of the ranges. Whenever a great tongue of ice was thrust into the accumulated mass, jagged and broken lines were formed. It has been suggested by Mr. Charles Whittelsey, that the ice masses became incorporated in the drift, and, upon melting, caused deep depressions which was the origin of Kettles .* A large portion of them were undoubtedly caused by
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