USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County Wisconsin 10847607 > Part 3
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After having considered our climate in general we may say something of the variations observed in different parts of the
21
TOPOGRAPHY
county. These variations depend entirely on local conditions. They are more perceptible in summer than at any other season, although some of them are observed at all seasons. In regard to temperature the places along the Mississippi enjoy some advan- tages over places farther from the river. There is more circula- tion of air and a greater uniformity of temperature. This may be ascribed to the width and uniform trend of the valley, and also to the amount of evaporation constantly going on upon the whole surface of the river. Frosts late in spring and early in the fall prove very often severe and destructive in the narrow valleys among the bluffs and upon the lands bordering on Beef River, while little or no damage is done along the Mississippi. The same impunity being observed, though in a less degree, upon the cleared lands on the bluffs, it can only be ascribed to the stronger motion of the air, and the advantage of the river localities over those on the bluffs must be due to the rising vapors which com- municate some of their latent heat to the objects with which they come in contact. The northern, especially the northeastern part of the county being open and perhaps from one to two hundred feet above points on the Mississippi, has, on the whole, a tempera- ture similar to that observed on the bluffs. But in the absence of figures based upon actual and correct observations we must be content to state that the variations of temperature in different parts of the county are, though not imperceptible, yet not very important. As the other changes are dependent on temperature, at least to a considerable degree, we may dismiss them with the same remark. -
22
GEOLOGY.
GEOLOGY.
There are a few difficulties confronting me in, the geological description of this county, which I would rather candidly state in the very beginning, than leave to the reader to surmise in the end.
1. I am not a very deep geologist, for although I have read considerably on the subject, and have occasionally tried to apply the information thus acquired, I never had time to make this a special study. Hence some of the petrifacts or fossils which I have come in possession of, or found in other collections, have tended to shake some of the theories, that I had formed and so I find myself in a state of doubt, when I am required to be posi- tive.
2. There being no mines, and up to time but few artesian wells, nor competent scientific observations on the boring of the latter, I submit, that the chances for reliable observations are not very extensive, and but little of our supposed knowledge is ac- quired by actual investigation.
3. While it might be comparatively easy to follow the example of others, and to make a bold display of scientific names, and leave it to the reader to get through it as well as he might, I consider this course rather unfair, as it seems to discourage most persons from further investigations in this matter. But I confess that it is not so very easy to write plain and popular, probably because people of plain common sense have left such matters too much to those who were in the habit of using scientific terms, because these terms were to themselves perfectly clear and comp- rehensible, which they are not to other folks. -
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
The main features of the formation of rocks in our bluffs are:
a. The rocks appear almost always in regular strata, with little or no dip in the masses.
b. The same kind of rock is found at about the same relative elevation.
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24
GEOLOGY.
that at the time of this disintegration and deposition of particles, the temperature of the earth and atmosphere was considerably higher than at present, but whether it was fluctuating according to the seasons, is uncertain. The higher temperature, and conse- quent evaporation and precipitation, much more rapid and copious than at present, would afford some explanation of the phenome- na connected with the formation of sandstone, except the pres- ence of animal remains in it. If these remains belonged to living organisms, it might be asked, whether these or any organ- isms of their kind could exist in a temperature much higher than the present, one that would work disintegration of crystalline rocks. The next question would be of the cause of the disappearance of the water that covered the deposits. Before this disappearance, the precipitation of the limestone as a mass upon the foundation of sandstone must have taken place. Limestone is not merely a mechanical aggregation like sandstone, but a chemical combina- tion. We cannot refute the supposition that the lime must have been held in solution in the superincumbent waters for a long time. There must have been a time when the water did no longer contain this solution or when it was suddenly drawn off. But it would be reasonable enough to suppose that the deposition ceased before the draining took place, since there is still a crust of earth above the limestone, for which there seems no cause more natural than a similar deposition out of the water. As an explanation of the matter it is supposed, and very probable, that after the form- ation had taken place, the whole was by slow degrees elevated to its present absolute level, that the water following the inevitable law of gravitation, flowed off to a lower place, and that thence- forth erosion and abrasion began to work out the inequalities of the surface. There are many indications in this neighborhood and in other places not far away, that at some time the whole of the country was covered with a deep crust of ice, or, as we say, with glaciers. It has been found to be the nature of a glacier to move from the higher to a lower place, very much as a mass of molten metal would run down an inclined plain. The higher levels being colder, the snow and other precipitations congeal and accumulate there until they press upon those beneath or on lower levels, and push them slowly down the incline, and, unless the
25
GEOLOGY.
ice be melted at the lowest point, it may be pushed up an oppos- ing declivity. The force of this moving weight was irresistible, and even the hard rocks had to succumb. It is said that two such operations happened and were instrumental in shaping the sur- face of the country. We find it remarkable that there are no act- ual traces of the second one of these ice-floods, as we might call them, in the opposite hills along the Mississippi in our immediate neighborhood. But in the eastern and northern part of the county we find traces of its agency in the rounded form of ridges and even of higher hills, in the flattening of the surface and the absence of high continuous bluffs, while we meet more frequently with drift-hills, instead of solid bluff spurs. A glacier in its movements among hills and mountains would shove along masses of fractured rock and of earth, while it very often carried on its surface boulders, detached pieces of outcropping rock formations, which at the disappearance of the ice were left scattered about.
In the foregoing I have endeavored to present a few of the ideas prevalent among professional men, by whom I mean such as have made geology their particular study. For myself and most other people, who had no particular opportunities in such matters, the conclusion that the repetition of certain forms or shapes of hills or mountains may be caused by the similarity, both of elements and arrangement, of their constituent parts, is almost inevitable. This repetiton of forms is strikingly prevalent among our bluffs, and, as far as actual explorations go, they con- firm this conclusion. It must, however, be admitted that they are not by any means so thorough, as to remove all possible doubts. In the following extracts, copied verbatim from Vol. IV of "Geology of Wisconsin," (being actually the report on the Geological Surveys of the State of Wisconsin,) I present to the readers the opinions of others, whose claim of superiority over myself in such matters I do not care to dispute, although I pro- pose to reserve my own private opinion. In the course of these reports I shall have occasion to revert to the metal which at pre- sent causes the chief excitement all over the Northwest, and of which a spell has come over Buffalo County also.
RANGE TEN WEST.
Town 18. This is a fractional township of fourteen sections,
26
GEOLOGY.
lying along the Mississippi and consisting of sandy bottom land, intersected with sloughs.
Town 19, Buffalo. This township is very hilly and rough; the ridges are from 300 to 400 feet above the Mississippi, and are well timbered with large white oaks, and much smaller timber of second growth. The farms are confined to the valleys and the crest of the ridges. About two-thirds of the town is covered with Potsdam sandstone, and the remainder with Lower Magnesian limestone, which has sometimes a thickness of 200 feet.
Town 20, Cross, (in part). The interior of the township is oc- cupied by the valley of the Trempealeau river which is from one to two miles wide, being about one-half meadow land and one- half large elm timber. The remainder of the township is very hilly and cut up with deep ravines. The town is well watered by numerous small streams and the soil is rather sandy. The form- ation is chiefly Potsdam.
Town 21, Glencoe. This township is very hilly, the central part being occupied by a ridge dividing Muir Creek from the Waumandee River. The ridge is about 580 feet above the Mississippi and is capped by about 100 feet of Lower Magnesian limestone. Muir Creek occupies the eastern part of the township; it has a wide and well-cultivated valley, with rich, black soil, in some places rather swampy. The formations are Potsdam and Lower Magnesian in nearly equal proportions.
RANGE ELEVEN WEST.
Township 19. This is a fractional township through which the Mississippi runs from Section 6 to 36, bordered with high and precipitous cliffs. Nearly all of the town consists of high rolling ridge land lying from 500 to 600 feet above the river. It is well timbered with large white oak and small timber. In the north- east quarter of Section 9, the geological section from the ridge to the bed of the river is as follows:
FEET.
St. Peter's sandstone. 50. Lower Magnesian limestone 200.
Potsdam sandstone 350.
Total from ridge to bed of river 600. The Lower Magnesian is the principal surface rock.
27
GEOLOGY.
Town 20, Cross, (in part. ) This town is well watered by Eagle Creek and its branches in the central part, and by the Wauman- dee River in the western part. The other parts of the town are very hilly, and consist of dividing ridges lying about 550 feet above the streams. The soil on the ridges is clay, which in some places is suited to the manufacture of brick. One brick yard was seen in the southeast quarter of Section 32. The valley of the Waumandee is from a mile to a mile and a half wide, and well settled; the soil is largely of quaternary origin, and is very fertile. The formations are Portsdam one-third Lower Magnesian two-thirds.
Town 21, Waumandee, (in part.) The valleys of the Wau- mandee and its tributaries occupy a large part of this town and afford much good agricultural land. The hills are not so high or so steep as in the country further south. The ridges are well tim- bered. Formations, Potsdam two-thirds, Lower Magnesian one- third.
RANGE TWELVE WEST.
Town 20, Milton, (in part.) This is a fractional town lying along the Mississippi, which runs from Section 6 to 34. There is a strip of flat sandy land about two miles wide lying between the river and the inclosing, which is cultivated next to the bluffs; the soil there containing more clay. About one-fourth of the township has the Lower Magnesian for the surface rock, and the remainder is Potsdam.
Town 21, Belvidere, (in part.) This town consists chiefly of high ridge land, much intersected with ravines. The divide be- tween Beef River and the Waumandee passes through the town and has a pretty uniform elevation of about 600 feet above the Mississippi. The ridges are wide and well settled, with clay soil and white oak timber. The Lower Magnesian is the principal formation.
Town 22, Alma (in part.) The southern half of the town is similar to Town 21. Beef River flows through the town from Sec- tion 2 to 19. Its valley is about a mile and a half wide, rather swampy and chiefly devoted to hay meadow. The farms are on the terraces which form the foot of the bluffs on either side of the river. The town is well watered by numerous small streams. The formations are Potsdam and Magnesian in nearly equal parts.
28
GEOLOGY.
Town 23, Modena. The greater part of the town is valley land, with high ridges in the western and northern part. It 18 not as thickly settled as the country farther south, and the soil is much more sandy. The height of the dividing ridges in this town is about 530 feet above the Mississippi, and they are well-timbered with white oak. The formations are Potsdam, covering two-thirds. of the town, and Lower Magnesian the rest.
Town 24, Canton. There is a high narrow dividing ridge of Lower Magnesian in the southern part of the town. The rest of the town is covered with a sandy soil, and slopes to Bear Creek, which has a very wide and swampy valley, consisting chiefly of meadow land and some tamarack. There is some very good farm- ing land.
RANGE THIRTEEN WEST.
Town 22, Nelson (in part.) The southern and western parts are occupied by the wide sandy valleys of Beef River and Beef Slough, in which the soil is very poor except at the foot of the bluffs. Trout Creek, which runs through the northeast part of the town, has a long and well cultivated valley, from a quarter to a half mile in width. There are some high limestone ridges in Sections 2, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 22, which are timbered with white oak ; the rest of the town has the Potsdam for the surface rock.
Town 23, Nelson (in part.) This town consists of high lime- stone ridges in the central and southern parts ; the northern part is occupied by Little Bear Creek and its tributaries. The soil is very sandy in the valleys but clay on the ridges. The formations are Potsdam and Lower Magnesian in nearly equal parts.
RANGE FOURTEEN WEST.
Towns 22, 23 and 24, Western parts of Nelson and Maxville. This particular situation is not mentioned in the Geol. Report as far as these towns lie in Buffalo County. There is indeed nothing to be said about them, except that no part contains any consid- erable hills, and that in fact so much of them as is contained within this county is on the sandy prairies along Beef Slough and adja- cent bottoms, and in these bottoms themselves.
REMARKS:
Any one conversant with the situation of the towns mentioned
29
GEOLOGY
will know that whoever reported the above may have been a com- petent geologist, but was rather at sea concerning the towns. A glance at the county map will show, that Sect. 9 of Township 19 North of Range 11 West, is just east of the Village of Fountain City, its southwest corner reaching down into the same. As there is a specification for this section differing from the common reports on the bluffs in the county, I found it advisable to refer to the sit- uation.
The Geol. Report further says : .
BUFFALO COUNTY.
There are two small outliers of St. Peter's sand stone in the southern part of the county on the ridge between Eagle Creek and the Trempealeau River.
1. This is a large outlying area, comprising parts Sects. 2, 3, 10, and 11 in T. 19 R. 11 equal to one square mile. It only manifests its presence by making the soil more sandy, in occasional bould- ers and fragments of sand stone, and in a few outcrops in place.
2. There is a small area, equal to about half a section, on the same ridge, and a short distance north of area No. 1. The greater part of it lies in Section 35, T. 20 R. 11.
Remarks :- By consulting the " Atlas of Buffalo County " we find that area No. 1 above described is between the east and west branches of Eagle Creek in the town of Cross.
Area No. 2, immediately north of the other, is somewhere close to the sources of Schoepp's Valley Creek in the town of Wau- mandee.
The report continues:
The above are new discoveries, and serve as connecting links between the outcrops south of the La Crosse River and those in Pierce County.
The following table shows a section of a mountain not too far from our county :
SECTION NO. 1. TREMPEALEAU MOUNTAIN. Feet.
1. Heavy bedded, unfossiliferous sand stone. 40.
2. Intercalations of magnesian limestone and sand 20.
3. Sandstone layers, with lines of cross stratifications '19.
30
GEOLOGY.
4. Layers of yellowish concretionary sandstone 3.
5. Heavy bedded, yellow sandstone. Layers 2 to 6 feet thick 45.
6. Thin bedded, brown, yellow and white sandstone 11. ..
7. Thin, yellow, argilaceous shales, with traces of dicello- cepalus 10.
8. Soft and friable green sandstone. 12.
9. Heavy bedded, red and yellow sandstones 20.
10. Hard and compact sandstone, containing considerable lime 9.
11. Concretionary sandstone, containing green sand. 3.
12. Thin bedded, yellow sandstone, with frequent green layers 33. 13. Band of green clay. 1.
14. Alternations of green and red sand stone. 6.
15. Compact green sandstone. 5.
16.
Soft and friable green sand 9.
17. Sandstone containing scales of mica, and indistinct fossils 3.
18. Ferruginous sandstone 20.
19. Thin bedded, soft green sandstone, with intercalations of green clay from two to four inches thick. 30.
20. Heavy bedded, brown, calcareous sandstone 10.
21. Soft and friable sandstone, with mica and green sand 12.
22. Friable sandstone, with indistinct trilobites 6.
23. Loose green sand 2.
24. Heavy bedded, yellow and gray sandstones, containing large quantities of finely comminuted white Lingula shells 80.
25. Slope of hill, sandstone to water in the Mississippi. 25.
Total Thickness of Section 434.
From Vol. IV, " Geology of Wisconsin: "
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
The formations of the territory described in this report are confined to the Lower Silurian age, with the exception of the Quaternary. The following general section, taken from Prof. Dana's Manual, embraces the present received order of geological periods and epochs in North America, and to it is added another
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GEOLOGY.
80 feet at Bay City, 120 feet at Diamond Bluff and sinking below the level of the Mississippi a few miles below Prescott.
Trempealeau Mountain, of which a section is given above, is the most noteworthy specimen of this formation. Of other points as lithological character, stratification and such things it is the place to speak in a compendium on geology, but not here.
One thing almost escaped my notice. The Geol. Survey, Vol. IV, page 49 gives a sketch of the Cascade in NE & Sect. 7, T. 23, R. 13. The locality is well known in the northwestern part of the county, and presents a very good exposure of Potsdam sandstone: The sketch is only remarkable for its clumsiness and general want of exactness and artistic execution.
The "Economical Products" of this formation are summed up as follows: 1, Iron; 2, copper; 3, building stone; 4, artesian and mineral wells.
1. Iron. This mineral, says the Geol. Survey, is quite abun- dant in the counties of Richland, Crawford and Vernon. But since the publication of the work this mineral has been discovered in many places in Dunn, Eau Claire and Chippewa counties, and, last but by no means least, in several places in Buffalo county. So far, May 1887, we have abundant excitement, but no reported re- sults. If, however, such results should be published before this book has gone through the press, they will be either included in, or annexed to it.
2. Copper. No discovery was ever made of this mineral up to present time.
3. Building Stone. A very good article of building stone is obtained from the dolomite layers of the Potsdam, which are usu- ally found about one hundred feet below the surface of the forma- tion. Numerous quarries exist everywhere in the county, but the exact or chemical nature of the stone has nowhere been ascer- tained up to the present time.
Sand suitable for mortar, plastering, etc., can be obtained readily from any part of the Potsdam formation. The only ob- jection to it is that it is sometimes of too fine a grain for some kinds of mortar. Much of this sand is perfectly white and very pure and probably adapted to the manufacturing of glass.
4. Artesian Wells and Mineral Waters. Until lately there were no wells of this character in this county. During the year 1886
33
GEOLOGY.
some were based upon the bluff between- Alma and Little Wau- mandee, of which I obtained the following two reports:
1. On the farm of John Wilk, on the NE + of the NW } of . Section 16, T. 21, R. 12, in the town of Belvidere.
Clay or drift. 17 feet.
Limestone 50
Sandrock. 59
Flintstone (Chert?) . 42
Limestone. 75
Sandrock.
62
Total depth 305 feet.
2. On the farm of George Muehleisen on the SW } of NW } of Sect. 23, T. 21, R. 12, in the same town:
Clay or drift.
43 feet.
Hard sandstone
3 ¥
Sand (soft stone or loose)
16
Hard limestone 63
Black volcanic rock. (Perhaps Iron?) 15
Soft limestone
102 :
Sandstone.
63
Total depth. 305 feet.
Notes :- a. The water does not rise above the surface of the earth, but is pumped up by a windmill.
b. Well No. 1 is on a higher part of the bluff about 2.3 miles north west of No. 2.
c. The report was made by the owners who are not experts.
d. No. 1 reports 28 feet of water, but nothing of tubing.
LOWER MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE.
The composition of the Lower Magnesian is somewhat liable to variation in different parts of the formation. Usually, however, it is a highly magnesian limestone, and its average composition is as follows:
Carbonate of lime. 51.
Carbonate of magnesia. 41.
Water, insoluble matter, oxide of iron and alumina ... 8.
Total. 100.
In the country bordering on the Mississippi, above the Trem-
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GEOLOGY.
pealeau River, the Lower Magnesian does not contain nearly so much chert and other silicious material as in the southern part of the state. Calcite is, however, of more frequent occurrence. In the bluffs near Fountain City, in Buffalo County, (and near Alma also,) it exists in small irregular layers and masses of a few inches in diameter, quite transparent and cleavable, filling cavities of the rock and sometimes giving it a brecciated appearance. The north- ern outcrop of the Lower Magnesian forms an extremely irregular line. Beginning with Township 16, Range 1, East, it may be traced westward nearly to the mouth of the La Crosse River, about 6 miles. From here to the Trempealeau River is a wide tract of country from which the formation has been nearly eroded, and remains only in thin and widely separated outliers.
On entering Buffalo County in its southeastern part, on ac- count of the increased height of the country and the gradual slope of the strata to the northwest, the Lower Magnesian limestone ap- pears in a thickness of from 100 to 200 feet, forming high cliffs and escarpments along the Mississippi from the Trempealeau to the Chippewa River.
The northern outcrop of the formation in Buffalo County lies parallel to the Mississippi and about 18 miles distant from it. (Where?) On approaching this line a marked change is seen in the topography of the country. The valleys are much wider, and the hills not so high or so steep as near the Mississippi. Probably this appearance results from the original thin deposit of the lime- stone near its line of outcrop; which being worn away sooner than in the south part of the county, the subsequent erosive action took effect on the softer Potsdam; thus in the same period of time mak- ing wide valleys in the northern part of the county and narrow ones near the Mississippi where the thickness of the Lower Mag- nesian Limestone was greater. .
THE ECONOMICAL PRODUCTS
of this formation are as follows: 1, Copper; 2, lead; 3, building stone; 4, lime.
1. Copper. There is no known indication of this mineral being present in this county.
2. Lead. The same may be said of this mineral, all rumors to the contrary notwithstanding. This formation, however, is said to contain the lead mines of Missouri.
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