USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 45
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SEC. 5. Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
ARTICLE XV.
SECTION 1. The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
-
306
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF COUNTIES AND CITIES WITH GUBERNATORIAL AND PRESIDENTIAL VOTES.
Note .- The Republican or Democratic majority in each county is given as between Smith and Mallory. Green- back majority is only given when the vote for Allis exceeds the others, and is taken from the highest vote.
GOVERNOR. 1877.
PRESIDENT. 1876.
Smith.
Mallory.
Allis.
Maj.
Hayes.
Tilden.
Maj.
Adams
580
233
116
R.
347
981
442
R. 539
Ashland.
86
163
D.
77
109
189
D. 80
Barron
459
203
53
R.
256
644
257
R. 387
Bayfield.
40
34
2
R.
6
86
74
R.
12
Brown
1387
1740
1015
D.
353
2755
3647
D.
892
Buffalo
1075
810
76
R.
265
1186
1162
R.
24
Burnett.
336
24
R.
312
285
28
R.
257
Calumet
450
1130
389
D.
680
1012
2145
D. 1133
Chippewa.
685
693
589
D.
18
1596
1774
D.
178
Clark
449
153
816|
G.
367
1255
660
Ř.
595
Columbia
2048
1597
118
R.
451
3532
2493
R. 1039
Crawford.
806
1008
146
D.
202
1355
1604
D. 249
Dane
3613
3903
614
D.
290
5435
5726
D. 291
Dodge.
2333
4267
381
D. 1934
3236
6361
D. 3125
Door
477
126
283
R.
351
1095
596
R.
499
Douglas
21
28
D.
7
42
67
D
25
Dunn .
1174
407
412
R.
767
2033
894
R. 1139
Eau Claire.
1208
805
597
R.
403
2266
1785
R. 481
Fond du Lac
3086
3414
1249
D.
328
4845
5660 D. 815
Grant.
2620
1938
1037
R .
682
4723
3198
R. 1525
Green.
1823
849
580
R.
974
2601
1735
R.
866
Green Lake.
879
896
215
D.
17
1739
1514
R. 225
Iowa.
1461
1175
1021
R.
286
2651
2348
R.
303
Jackson
802
391
521
R.
411
1507
718
R.
789
Jefferson
1917
2418
296
D.
201
2874
4134
D. 1260
Juneau
1045
883
463
R.
162
1714
1458
R. 256
Kenosha.
938
907
51
R.
31
1610
1432 R. 178
Kewaunee
247
558
20
D.
311
561
1654
D. 1093
La Crosse.
1968
1115
524
R.
853
2644
2481
R.
163
La Fayette.
1409
1300
269
R.
109
2424
2299
R.
125
Lincoln.
27
15
169
G.
142
71
174
D.
103
Manitowoc.
1365
1951
98
D.
586
2700
3908
D. 1208
Marathon.
301
755
746
D.
454
668
1796
D. 1128
Marquette.
447
730
76
D. 283
697
1112
D. 415
Milwaukee.
5843
6388
1228
D.
545
9981
12026
D. 2045
Monroe
1102
1096
1019
R.
6
2558
2030
R. 528
Oconto
1059
764
157
R.
295
1813
1174
R. 639
Outagamie.
777
2005
992
D. 1228
1859
3608
D. 1749
Ozaukee
437
1579
17
D. 1142
583
5480
D. 1897
Pepin.
521
171
123
R.
350
836
394
R. 447
Pierce.
1523
545
408
R.
978
2135
985
R. 1152
Polk.
916
363
60
R.
553
1019
362
R. 650
Portage
1080
917
728
R.
163
1855
1794
R.
61
Racine.
2304
1906
112) R.
3981
3560
2880] R.
680
COUNTIES.
307
GUBERNATORIAL AND PRESIDENTIAL VOTES-1877-1876-Continued.
COUNTIES-Continued.
Smith.
Mallory.
Allis.
Maj.
Hayes.
Tilden.
Maj.
Richland
1201
729
705
R. 472
2038
1591
R. 447
Rock
3375
1620
781
R. 1755
5755
2814
R. 2893
St. Croix
1558
1489
93
R.
70
1775
1736
R. 39
Sauk
1826
922
574
R.
904
3395
2201
R. 1194
Shawano
269
605
92
D.
336
582
873
D. 291
Sheboygan.
1598
1737
750|
D.
139
3224
3633
D. 409
Taylor.
195
254
53
D.
59
240
246
D.
6
Trempealeau.
2483
731
176|
R. 1452
2360
790
R. 1570
Vernon
1678
416
846
R. 1262
2764
1117
R. 1647
Walworth
2904
1374
160
R. 1530
4212
1970
R. 2242
Washington.
994
2187
187
D. 1993
1321
3047
D. 1726
Waukesha.
2484
2388
276
R.
96
3129
3335
D. 206
Waupaca.
1473
990
772
R.
483
2642
1592
R. 1050
Waushara
1282
257
377
R. 1025
2080
548
R. 1532
Winnebago
2068
2238
1887
D.
170
5092
4426
R. 666
Wood ..
247
196
601
G
354
658
745
D.
87
CITIES.
Appleton.
231
522
201
291
549
911
D. 362
Beaver Dam.
320
361
6
D.
41
357
465
D. 108
Beloit
377
109
240
R.
268
745
627
R.
118
Berlin
219
197
36
R.
22
456
312
R.
144
Buffalo
25
17
R.
8
14
31
D.
17
Centralia.
16
5
97
G.
81
64
93
D.
29
31
128
33
D.
97
229
294
143
D.
65
475
572
D. 97
Columbus
210
123
R.
87
254
212
R.
42
Eau Claire.
620
459
250
161
1205
1013
R. 189
Fond du Lac.
862
884
520
D.
22
1382
1542
D. 160
Fort Howard.
150
85
195
G.
45
669
288
R.
81
Grand Rapids
50
42
110
G.
60
121
191
D.
70
Green Bay.
432
333
181
99
696
647
R.
49
Hudson
226
207
R.
19
250
224
R.
26
Janesville
771
605
31
R. 166
1036
848|
R.
188
Kenosha.
281
314
42
D.
33
514
544
D.
30
La Crosse
712
671
351
R.
41
1085
1549
D.
464
Madison ..
740
1057
D.
317
834
1252
D. 418
Manitowoc
349
284
17
R.
61
660
512
R. 148
Menasha.
146
311
67
D.
165
291
344
D.
53
Milwaukee.
4816
5027
1050
D.
211
8218
9625
D. 1407
Mineral Point.
260
249
21
R
11
348
324
R.
24
Neenah.
115
146
376
G.
230
511
385
R.
126
New London.
84
125
118
D.
41
206
208
D. 2
Oconomowoc
172
167
24
R.
5
222
238
D. 16
Oconto
270
311
6
D.
41
399
506
D. 107
Oshkosh.
724
954
375
D.
230
1496
1910
D. 414
Plymouth
69
127
28
D.
58
7
D.
160
366
532
D. 166
Prairie du Chien
155
267
3
D.
112
215
377
D. 162
Prescott.
87
61
10
R
26
143
108
R. 35
Racine.
1052
921
82
R.
131
1672
1324
R. 348
Ripon.
270
239
33
R.
31
397
333
R.
64
Shawano.
55
73
13
D
18
87
83
R.
4
Sheboygan.
248
440
68
D.
192
575
873
D. 298
Stevens Point
252
270
145
D.
18
423
563
D. 140
Watertown
232
687
164
D.
445
372
1295
D 923
Waupaca ..
210
49
20|
R.
161
280
52|
R. 2:28
Wausau.
76
170
300
G.
1301
210
595 D.
385
3
R.
R.
3
Portage
245
405
13
D.
Chilton
Chippewa Falls.
GOVERNOR. 1877.
PRESIDENT. 1876.
POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.
STATES AND TERRITORIES.
Area in, square Miles.
1870.
1875.
Miles R. R. 1872.
STATES AND TERRITORIES.
Area in square Miles.
1870.
1875.
1872.
States.
States.
Alabama
50,722
996,992
1,671
Pennsylvania.
46,000
3,521,791
5,113
Arkansas ..
52,198
484,471
25
Rhode Island ...
1,306
217,353
258,239
136
California ..
188,981
560,247
1,013
South Carolina ...
29,385
705,606
925,145
1,201
Connecticut.
4.674
537,454
820
Tennessee.
45,600
1,258,520
1,520
Delaware ..
2,120
125,015
227
Texas.
237,504
818,579
865
Florida ..
59,268
187,748
466
Vermont
10,212
330,551
675
Georgia.
58.000 1,184,109
2,108
Virginia.
40,904
1,225,163
1,490
West Virginia
23,000
442,014
485
Indiana.
33,809
1,680,637
3,529
Wisconsin
53,924
1,054,670
1,236,729
1.725
Iowa ..
55.045
1,191.792
1,350,544
3,160
Total States.
1,950,171 38,113,253
59,587
Kentucky
37,600
1,321,01]
1,123
Louisiana
41,346
726,915
857,039
539
Maine ..
31,776
626,915
87]
Arizona
113.916
9,658
393
Massachusetts
7,800 1,457,35] 1,651,912
Dakota.
147,490
14,181
Dist. of Columbia.
60
131,700
Idalio ..
90,932
14,999
Mississippi
47,156
827,922
990
Montana ..
143.776
20.595
2,580
75.995
123,993
-246,280
828
Utalı
80.056
85.786
375
New Hampshire.
9,280
318.300
790
Wyoming
93.107
9,118
498
New Jersey.
8.320
906,096 1,026,502
1,265
Total Territories.
965,032
442,730
1,265
North Carolina ..
50,704 1,071,361
1,190
Ohio
39.964 2,665,260
3,740
Oregon
95,244
90,923
159
Aggregate of U. S .. 2,915,203 38,555,983
60,85 .?
* Last Census of Michigan taken in 1874.
* Included in the Railroad Mileage of Marylard.
PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD ; POPULATION AND AREA.
COUNTRIES.
Population.
Date of Census.
Area in Square Miles.
Inhabitants to Square Mile.
CAPITALS.
Population.
China
446,500,000
1871
3,741.846
119.3
Pekin.
1,648,800
British Empire.
226,817,108
1871
4,677,432
48.6
London ..
3,251,800
Russia ..
81,925,400
1871
8,003,778
10.2
St. Petersburg
667,000
United States with Alaska ..
38,925,600
1870
2,603,884
7.78
Washington
109,199
France ..
36,469,800
1866
204,091
178.7
Paris ..
1,825,300
Austria and Hungary
35,904,400
1869
240.348
149.4
Vienna
833,900
Japan.
34,785,300
1871
149,399
232.8
Yeddo ..
1,554,900
Great Britain and Ireland.
31,817,100
1871
121,315
262.3
London
3,251,800
German Empire
29,906,092
1871
160,207
187.
Berlin
825,400
Italy
27.439,921
1871
118,847
230.9
Rome.
244,484
Spain .
16,642.000
1867
195 775
85.
Madrid .
332,000
Brazil ..
10.000.000
3,253,029
3.07
Rio Janeiro.
420,000
Turkey
16,463,000
672.621
24.4
Constantinople
1,075,000
Mexico.
9,173,000
1869
761,526
Mexico
210,300
Sweden and Norway.
5,921.500
1870
292.871
20.
Stockholm
136,900
Persia.
5,000.000
1870
635,964
Teheran
120,000
Belgium
5,021,300
1869
11,373
441.5
Brussels
314,100
Bavaria.
4,861,400
1871
29,292
Munich
169,500
Portugal
3,995,200
1868
34,494
115.8
Lisbon.
224,063
Holland
3,688,300
1870
12,680
290.9
Hague ..
90,100
New Grenada
3.000,000
1870
357,157
8.4
Bogota ...
45,000
Chili ..
2,000,000
1869
132,616
15.1
Santiago.
115,400
Switzerland. Peru ..
2,500,000
1871
471,838
Lima ..
160,100
Bolivia.
2,000,000
497,321
Chugnisaca.
25,000
Wurtemburg
1,818,500
1871
7,533
Stuttgart
91,600
Denmark
1,784,700
1870
14,753
120.9
Copenhagen.
162,042
Venezuela.
1,500,000
368,238
Caraccas
47,000
Baden.
1,461,400
1871
5,912
Carlsrule
36,600
Greece ..
1,457,900
1870
19,353
75.3
Athens.
43,400
Guatemala
1,180,000
1871
40,879
28.9
Guatemala
40,000
Ecuador ..
1,300,000
218,928
5.9
70,000
Paraguay.
1,000,000
1871
63,787
15.6
48,000
Ilesse . .
823,138 718,000
1871
9,576
74.9
Monrovia
3,000
San Salvador ..
600,000
1871
7,335
81.8
Sal Salvador
15,000
Hayti.
572,000
10,205
56.
Port au Prince.
20,000
Nicaragua
350,000
1871
58,171
6.
Managua.
10,000
Uruguay ..
300,000
1871
66,722
6.5
Monte Video.
41.500
Honduras
350,000
1871
17.092
2.4
Comayagua
12.000
San Domingo.
136,000
17,827
7.6
San Domingo.
20,000
Costa Rica ..
165,000
1870
21,505
7.7
San Jose ..
2.000
Hawaii
62.950
7.633
80.
Honolulu.
7.633
Maryland
11.184
780,894
820
Colorado.
104,500
39,864
Michigan*
56,451 1,184,059 1,834,031
Minnesota.
83,531
439,706
598,429
Missouri.
65.350 1,721,295
New Mexico
121,201
91,874
Nevada.
112.090
42,491
52,540
593
Washington.
69,944
23,955
New York.
47.000 4,382,759 4,705,208 4,470
1,760
Kansas.
81,318
364,399
528,349
Territories.
Illinois
55,410 2,539,891
5,904
1,606
2,235
1,612
Miles R. R.
POPULATION.
POPULATION.
30,000
Liberia .
2,669,100
1870
15.992
166.9
Berne ..
36,000
Argentine Republic
1,812,000
1869
871,848
2.1
Buenos Ayres.
177.800
241.4
Quito
Asuncion.
2,969
277.
Darmstadt
5.3 4.
4.2
247.
7.8
165.9
Nebraska.
-John :6. Prinidée)
PLATTEVILLE.
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY AND SETTLEMENT PF T'TE LEAD REGION, WITH A GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND MENTION OF THE DRIFTLESS AREA.
AMONG THE ROCKA-
The narration, for which we are indebted to Plato. of part of the experiences of Solon the Athenian law-giver in Egypt, was for many centuries consid., ad fabulous ir its relation of the dis- appearance of the vast Island of Atlantis beneath the ocer ... "We respect the noble character of the Athenian sage too much to suspect him of misrepresentat 1 But the Egyptian hierarch, with whom we are less acquainted, might be supposed capable . : 1:„seminating travelers' stories, in regard to which, moreover, the priesthood were possibly then. vos deceived. Modern think-
ers are inclined to believe that the supposed fable carries with ome ~ ements of truth. It is not easy to follow the almost shadowy story of a lost land with su h precision as to establish its identity with this continent, but the position assigned to Atlantis by the Egyptians favors the idea, to which modern investigation is inclined, that our own America must have been known to the ancients way back in remote antiquity, and that its submersion beneath the waves had been recorded in curiously preserved traditions ; but we cannot pretend to determine what era in the upbuilding of this continent may have been indicated by that semi-apocryphal story.
Geology tells us of upheavals from the depths of the sea, to which we are able to trace an island now known to science as the Island of Wisconsin, which appeared at about the same time with several other islands, comprising parts of the Appallachian Ranges, and of New York, as well as probably other parts of the land now being covered with a population of millions, governed and to be governed by the United States of America.
The cooling and contraction of the globe is credited with having diminished its diameter by about 180 miles, and a diminution so great might easily account for the fatal depression of Atlantis ; but that shrinkage occurred at a time when human life was not possible. The popular reader will not so readily perceive how the inevitable continuance of the same process would account at a later date for the resurrection of the land which we now inhabit. The chief geologist of Wisconsin, Mr. T. C. Chamberlin, tells with a simple eloquence, which science advanced as his cannot always command, the story of the rocks upon which the greatness of this nation is securely builded ; and, in trying to embody the main facts of the earth's revelation in this history, we shall endeavor to follow in the footsteps of the eminent Professor, though with the modesty and diffidence of a learner, venturing to deal with presentations which have tasked the powers of masters whose dictum is accepted by the world of learning.
The first cooling, whose catastrophe may have been attended by the submergence of Atlantis, if we may imagine a race of Salamanders rejoicing in extremes of temperature, was a comparatively general reduction of warmth and bulk, in which the earth's surface was sufficiently ductile or elastic to participate without fracture; but later, when the superficial coating of our molten globe had become more rigid, nature was constrained to work by other methods ; the granite rocks, incapable of contraction, otherwise, in such a degree as would meet the changing conditions . of the body which they enfolded, and subjected to pressures, compared with which, the vastest
A
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310
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
applications of mechanic force by human agency, sink into insignificance, bent under the ocean until the outer shell touched the shrunken kernel ; and then the semi-rigid envelope, heated in every particle by the compression, changed and wrinkled its mighty form, projecting its peaks above the surface of the ocean as a series of granitic islands, whose shores sloped more or less declivitously toward the depths of the sea. There are folds in the strata, observable to-day, which indicate the long-continued application of a power capable of creasing and bending adamant just as irresistibly as the hand of man may crumple paper.
Could we suppose an Alexander Selkirk possible on our inhospitable Island of Wisconsin, he would look abroad upon a limitless but comparatively shallow sea, in which, possibly, was yet no sign of life, vegetal or animal, and his island home would necessarily present to him a bleak and desolate rock, without shrub, grass, soil or insect, if we may assume that the uplifted crystal- line mass had not commenced its process of disintegration.
The phenomena of building anew the Western Hemisphere can be studied in Wisconsin as- advantageously as on any part of this continent, and the writing on the wall of rock is so clear and precise that the wayfarer, even though a fool, may not err if he will patiently unravel the legend which the globe offers for our acceptance. Strong winds, dashing waves, evaporation and precipitation, with some chemical conditions of the atmosphere that helped to disintegrate the exposed surface of rock more rapidly than would be possible now, acting upon stone similarly compacted, gave back to the ocean a vast aggregate of detritus worn from peak and precipice by those unceasing forces, to form the vast deposit of sandstone now known as the Potsdam, which ranges according to the convolutions of the sub-oceanic surface upon which it lodged, in thickness from a few feet to more than e thousand feet. The superimposed layers have each their own revelation to make clear; some of them in fossils which the human eye can readily decipher ; others in forms so minute that the microscope is needed to unlock its mysterious message from a' world possibly pre-Adamite.
Suppose the State cut through to the level of Lake Michigan, east from the Mississippi River in Grant County, we find the formations which prevail throughout Wisconsin, and tar be- yond its borders, always attesting the regularity with which Dame Nature prosecutes her designs. The Lower Magnesian limestone gives us the first record of life found in this region, hitherto, after the disintegrated gneiss or granite had in some degree solidified beneath the waters as sand- stone, and the thickness of that stratum is remarkably even throughout our imagined cutting ; the limestone following the form of the underlying rock, and having suffered bui little from abrasion, protected as it must have been by its coverlet and base of supplies, the sea. Elsewhere this formation is much less regular in depth, as it follows the contour line preceding its deposit, and lies irregularly. Grant River has cut down into this bed of limestone at about 350 feet above the level of Lake Michigan, but the banks of the Father of Waters reveal the same form- ation at an elevation of about 200 feet. Our supposititious section runs east and west through the county of Grant about seven miles north of Lancaster, crossing the head-waters of Platte River.
Next above the Lower Magnesian limestone, we find St. Peters sandstone, so called from one of its best exposures, which has evidently suffered from abrasion in many parts of its sur- face, and is found cropping out on the Mississippi banks as well as on the sides of Grant River, though still far below the Platte. Trenton limestone, moderately rich in fossils, attests an era in which life had risen to more various formations, beautiful as though some cunning and skilled artist, with an unbounded wealth of resource, had fashioned and imbedded them to minister in after ages to the æsthetic sense in man. The head-waters of the Platte cut through and into this. formation, which reaches an elevation little more than 300 feet on the Mississippi at our imagined line, but is found at an altitude of nearly 500 feet on Grant River, our base line being always the level of Lake Michigan. Galena limestone follows next in order, and the name is significant at once as to its place of first identification, and as to the valued mineral with which it was. charged. The stratum has been abraded in many localities until it fails even to put in an ap- pearance ; as for instance, at our imagined line bisecting the bank of the Mississippi, but east of that point the stratum asserts itself, cut through with greater or less pertinacity by streams.
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that have long since found a grander channel. That deposit caps the ranges in the vicinity of Grant River, and further east along the head-waters of the Platte, rising east of that point to an elevation of about 700 feet on the eastern boundary line of the county.
The fact that this region did not suffer from glacial denudation and was not enriched by morainic drift, gives to our line of bisection special value in ascertaining readily the surface con- tour of the land before that era of refrigeration, allowing always for erosion by the atmosphere and rains and rivers. For that reason, we will follow another imagined bisection of the county due north and south, near the eastern boundary. North of the center of the line, the Potsdam sandstone rises above the level of Michigan Lake, and gradually ascends to an elevation of about four hundred feet, not far from the northern limit of the county, descending thence by denuda- tion to about three hundred feet at the boundary. Although this sandstone is not rich in fos- sils, it would be folly to assume that life was not plentiful on this planet while this vast stratum was being deposited ; the more sensible conclusion is that the stratum was not well adapted to the preservation of the forms of life which passed into its keeping. The Laurentian rocks, upper and lower, which constituted the first Island of Wisconsin, were sedimentary, and their formation must have preceded the sandstone mentioned by a term which human investigation has never yet defined; yet the Laurentian rocks hold within their embrace many evidences which are satisfactory to men of scientific attainments, that vitality of a low order preceded their deposi- tion, and some fossils have been found in America and in Europe, which, it is claimed, set that question forever at rest. Some careful investigators doubt the organic character of the alleged fossils, and we are not prepared to decide, where doctors disagree ; but, inasmuch as our supposed section of Grant County does not reveal the systems of rocks named from their great develop- ments in the valley of the St. Lawrence, we will proceed with our brief disquisition on the strata actually found in that region, which we endeavor to describe. Wisconsin River has cut its course through the Potsdam sandstone, and numerous streams of less dimensions have left their marks in unmistakable characters, hewn out of the same body, which is entirely denuded of all such overlying strata as may elsewhere be found. The same order of succession as has been noted in the line east and west-Lower Magnesian limestone, St. Peters sandstone, Trenton limestone and Galena limestone in the same relative position-is still observable, but superim- posed upon these we find preserved in the Platte Mounds, at an elevation not less than seven hundred feet above the level of Lake Michigan, the formation known as Cincinnati or Hudson River shale, capped by a remnant of Niagara limestone. Blue River has its course bottomed on St. Peters sandstone, while Trenton and Galena limestones form the superincumbent layers, and this regularity in the movements of natural forces enables the student to apply himself, with much economy of resource, to unfold the wealth of mineral possessions, which, in our own time and in the near future, will become the heritage of the human family.
From the writings and tracings of Prof. Chamberlin, we are permitted to supplement our scanty delineation of the State, as represented in the geological features of this region, by adding a general though brief description of the State as a whole, and of the upheaval and formations that have contributed the material bases of our national wealth.
We have delineated the shallow sea that ebbed and flowed, obeying the impulses of the moon, where the State of Wisconsin now reposes in beauty and excellence, the loved home of a thrifty and prosperous people, but we will return to that point in our narrative, the better to present the picture of that upheaval to the popular mind. The sediment to which we are indebted for the Laurentian rock, is estimated to have been much more rapid in deposition than similar processes to-day, and a thickness of 30,000 feet is claimed by scientists as only a small remainder of a more vast formation, contributing its quota to the crust of the earth. Beneath the sea, this sediment accumulated in horizontal strata under circumstances that favored metamorphic action, the results of which are still visible. The time came when heat and lateral pressure, such as we have already mentioned, re-arranged the folds of the earth's mantle and began to pre- pare a dwelling-place for man. That nucleus of a nation may be called, for our own conven- ience, the Island of Wisconsin. The character. as well as the position and form of that rock,
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HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION
was probably changed in the act of upheaval, so mighty were the forces therein engaged. The sediment had been changed into crystalline rocks, widely dissimilar from the later sandstone, although compacted of the same elements. Thus we stand, as it were, in the presence of the Archæan or ancient rocks, otherwise known as the Azoic. The wonderous changes through which this metamorphic rock passed in attaining the eminence of an island in those seas, might well be supposed capable of obliterating all signs of vital organization, but, in other rocks which seem to be identified with this formation, it is asserted, with some authority, that fossils have certainly been found, and our investigations have hitherto been too narrow and restricted to entitle us to say with authority that there are no fossils in the Laurentian formation here. It is not possible to define accurately the extent of that island won from the domain of Neptune, but it is assumed to have filled a large area in the northern central part of our State, stretching beyond into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This was the primeval base upon which was to be erected an empire of the people, sacred to liberty and right. Other islands, at remote distances, were per- haps upheaved at the same instant with our own, to be banded together in one vast continent, for the noblest ends possible on earth, when the Laurentian era should have taken its place away back in the remotest antiquity with which life has been identified. We have no data whereby we can determine the altitude of these islands, upon which the rain descended and the floods came, beating with tempestuous violence; but, apart from the strata forced into positions almost approaching the perpendicular, and from which the cap or connecting fold has been abraded, we have the deep and wide-spread deposits of the Huronian period to tell us of the mountainous elevations from which that sandy detritus must have been torn away by wind-storms, rain, the beat of countless waves, and the never-ceasing disintegrating power of the chemic constituents of the atmosphere. We have, thus, our island lifting its head toward heaven, and the elements tearing down the inaccessible mountain peaks, to bridge the chasms and convert that island, with others widely scattered, into the broad expanse of prairie, mountain, valley, cataract, lake and river, which is to-day the world's wonder. Science may yet enable us to read this exquisite story of the earth as the home prepared for man, with fuller appreciation. It is not easy to imagine that, on an island thus builded, there could have been any form of vegetable life at the outset ; but, in the sea around its base, if we may judge from the carbonaceous matter incorporated with the deposits, there must have been an abundant marine flora, and, in the limestone accretions we find evidence of higher organizations. Life was in the waters surrounding our island, and the Great Artificer of the Universe was, through His laws, compelling the least of His animate creatures to prepare the way for their superiors in the army of being. Perhaps this statement of the case may savor of dogmatism, but we argue the presence of life in the waters from the limestone deposits left in testimony, as well as from the fact that the Laurentian rocks, which antedated this era by unnumbered centuries, are not certainly and entirely barren of fossils. The shales, sandstones and limestones of this period of deposition, aggregated many thousand feet in depth ; and, in due time, these also were upheaved and metamorphosed in that process, as the Laurentian had been, into crystalline and semi-crystalline rocks, known to us by various names and innumerable uses in the civilization by which we are surrounded. The Huronian rocks are compacted of quartzites, crystalline limestones, slates, schists, diorites, quartz-porphyries and other forms of metamorphic sediment. Graphite is the resultant from carbonaceous deposits, and magnetite, hematite and specular ores tell of the forms of life by which such means of wealth are brought within our ken ; the last-named deposits are so great as to give the name of the iron- bearing series to this upheaval. These several strata, contorted and folded by pressure and heat, added largely to the circumference of the island, from whose shores and heights they had been gathered, and the ceaseless activities of nature paused not one instant in preparing new formations. The nearest approach to a mountain in our State, is the upturned edge of the Huronian upheaval, which stretches for sixty miles, crossing Ashland County, bearing within its rampart a belt of magnetic schist through nearly the whole length of Penokee Range. The Menominee iron-bearing series, which extends into the northern part of Oconto County, is another important topographical and mineralogical feature in the Huronian formation. Barron
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