NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



281 



butternut, bitternut, hickory, hack- 

 berry, black cherry, ironwood, cotton- 

 wood, and willows. In the coolees 

 occur wild plum, sumach, hazel, dog- 

 wood, bur and scarlet oaks. 



Streams clear, rapid; river mostly 

 sluggish and muddy; springs cold. 



800 to 1000 ft. 



Sleepy Eyel 10 mi. north. 



Chicago and Northwestern R. R. 

 at Ft. Ridgeley. 



Nicollet County.— C. 0. R. 



* Alexander Ramaey State Park. (C3.) 

 About 100 acres at the junction of 

 Ramsey Creek with the Redwood River 

 on the south side of the Minnesota 

 River valley in Redwood County. 

 The park includes \ mi. of river gorge 

 below the falls together with the tribu- 

 tary gorge of Ramsey Creek. There 

 are precipitous granite cliffs on both 

 sides of the streams and on these the 

 red cedar is very common. 



In the bottoms of the gorges there is 

 a dense deciduous forest made up 

 principally of white and slippery elms, 

 box elder, basswood, ironwood, Ken- 

 tucky coffee tree, hackberrj^, and sugar 

 maple. 



Streams clear, rapid. 820 to 1000 ft. 

 (a) Redwood Falls, 1 mi. north. 

 Chicago and Northwestern R. R. 

 About 1 mi. southwest from North 

 Redwood. Redwood County, Minn.— 

 C. 0. R. 



*Horace Austin State Park. (B3.) 

 A tract of fifty acres adjoining the city 

 of Austin. Situated in the valley of the 

 Cedar River and embracing many 

 heavily wooded islands. Glacial till 

 with exposures of Cretaceous clays in 

 which Angiospermous and Gymnosper- 

 mous fossils occur. Underneath the Cre- 

 taceous are exposures of Devonian 

 shales and sandstones. 



Deciduous forest in the river valley, 

 made up principally of elm, basswood, 

 bur and scarlet oak, ash, poplar, Ijlack 

 cherry, crab apple, soft maple, sugar 

 maple and red cedar. 



Historical records show that in 1840, 

 the fauna embraced, Virginia deer, 

 elk, black bear, and bison, but these 



have long since disappeared and at 

 present it consists principally of squir- 

 rels, cottontail rabbit, woodchuck, 

 ground squirrel, and other small rodents. 

 Streams somewhat polluted, mod- 

 erate; 1150-1225 ft. 



(w) Austin^. Chicago, Milwaukee, 

 and St. Paul R. R. 

 Mower County.— C. 0. R. 

 *Minneoj)a Stale Park. (B3.) A 

 tract of land originally comprising 60 

 acres, but recently increased to 114 

 acres; located at the confluence of 

 Minneopa Creek with the Minnesota 

 River. The name is contracted from 

 Sioux words — Minne-hinhc-nopa — which 

 mean water falling twice, or two water- 

 falls, according to Upham (4). Rolling 

 upland, precipitous river bluffs, gorges, 

 and flat river bottoms. 



The park is situated at the south end 

 of the "Big Woods," which ex-tended 

 northward over 100 mi, from this point. 

 Borders of the upland prairie with heavy 

 deciduous forest in the creek and river 

 valleys consisting of white elm, bass- 

 wood, ironwood, bur oak, slippery elm, 

 black ash, box elder, sugar maple and 

 white ash. 



The fauna is somewhat varied, em- 

 bracing coyote, red fo.x, raccoon (all 

 three rare), muskrat, gray and red and 

 fox squirrels, cottontail rabbit, wood- 

 chuck, skunk, and several species of 

 ground-squirrel. 

 800 to 900 ft. 



(a) Mankato +, 4 mi. W. North- 

 western R. R. 



Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul 

 R. R. at (w) Minneopa. 

 Blue Earth County, Minn.— C. 0. R. 

 *]Vhilewater State Park^. (B4.) 

 This park is located in the western part 

 of Winona County between the towns of 

 St. Charles and Elba and when com- 

 pleted will embrace 25G0 acres. It 

 lies in the valley of the Whitewater 

 River, near the border of the driftless 

 area, and is therefore of great interest 

 both geologically and biologically. Ex- 

 tremely rugged topography; upland 

 areas covered with loess; deeply eroded 

 river valley with steep, heavily wooded 



