EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS 171 



TOPOGRArHY. 



Chatliani is situated on a plateau about two hundied and seventy-five feet above the 

 level of Lake Superior. The Station land lies in a valley formed by the action of 

 Slap Neck Creek, a rather rapid stream tlowing eastward and southward to the Au 

 Train river, into which it empties about six miles away. This creek enters the 

 quarter section near the northwest corner and divides it into two unequal parts. The 

 valley is one-half mile -wide and about sixty-five feet deep. The creek has left five 

 distinct terraces since it began to flow at its highest IcA'el. However, it is possible 

 that moving ice may have helped in carving out the valley about the time of 

 the last ice How. 



GEOLOGY. 



To make the geological conditions plain it Avill be necessary to state that the 

 eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula from Marquette southward to the Sturgeon 

 river is made up of seven different rock formations, which, beginning on the south 

 shore of Lake Superior are known as — first, the Potsdam sandstone; second, Calcif- 

 erous sand rock: third, Trenton rocks: fourtli, Hudson river rocks; fifth, Niagara 

 rocks; sixth, a very small area of the Onondaga rocks, and seventh, the Helderberg 

 rocks — about St. Ignace and Mackinac Island. These formations represent the oldest 

 sedimentary rocks found in the United States. 



For the most part these groups of rocks are covered more or less by the drift, 

 which consists of sands, gravels and clays spread over them during the ice period, 

 when the great northern glaciers covered this portion of North America. 



The Station is situated upon the second group of rocks south of Lake Superior, 

 known as the Calciferous sand rock, which here lies in nearly horizontal layers of 

 varying tliiekness and consistency. 



Many of the layers are hard and crystalline and make excellent building stone. 

 The stone for the ^lunising High School building was taken from an outcrop near 

 the railroad station. This outcrop extends across the south side of the Station 

 grounds. In the lower terraces the outcrop is very friable, easily decomposing into 

 soil of excellent quality. The following extract from the State Geologist, Dr. Alfred 

 C. Lane, may be quoted here as giving a good account of the geological conditions. 



"The valley, which is the main topographic feature, is a black muck flood plain, 

 and is bordered by a series of terraces, -which are sandy, with black soil tops. The 

 rock is exposed in gutters of the road and elsewhere. On the south side it is a 

 sandj' dolomite, and the same formation seems to continue at intervals for a mile 

 south, where there are hea^'y ledges exposed. On the north side the ledges exposed 

 in the ditch are more calcareous, that is, effervesces more freely in acids, and there 

 are some genuine streaks of clay shales. On the whole, therefore, the site affords a 

 considerable variety of exposure and soil, and while it is rather sandy, it is by no 

 means so light as farther north, and possiblv it might be classed as a light sandy 

 loam." 



Dr. C. P.ominger, State Geologist, in his Peport on the Palaeozoic Rocks of the 

 Upper Peninsula in 1872, page 107. makes the following statements: "We see at once 

 the greater value of the western districts, which rival any other part of the world in 

 mineral wealth. But I think, too, that the eastern part of the Peninsula has 

 enough of less striking sources of prosperity to make it a precious part of our 

 country and a desirable home for many. Already of high importance are the ex- 

 tended pine liuids, wliidi furnish us with excellent lumber, and will do so for a 

 great many years to come, particularly if more care should l)e taken to prevent the 

 fires which every year destroy thousands of acres of the finest forests." 



Not less valuable are the widely extended hardwood lands, stocked with excellent 

 timber for fuel and other purposes, to which up to the present time comparatively 

 little attention has been paid, but which soon will be in demand, with the rapid 

 increase of our iron industry. The ample water power of the rivers, the liuiestone for 

 the flux, sandstones for the buildings riglit at hand, and the lakes an open street 

 to all parts of the country, are advantages not found everywhere. 



With tlie clearing of the hardwood lands, a large area of fertile land will be 

 open for tillage. It Avill be perhaps said that the severity of the climate, is an 

 objection to the cultivation of these fertile lands. It is true the winters are much 

 longer there than in the south part of our State, and corn and wheat prove to be very 

 imcertain cro]is. but potatoes, oats and grass particularly grow as finely there as 

 further south, and the few farmers \\ho iiave settled here and there seem to be 



