IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. £05 



four miles from the northwest corner, flows south and south- 

 west, crossing the west line about seven miles from the south- 

 west corner, where it soon empties into the Des Moines river. 

 White Fox creek is the only tributary of any size. 



Boone river has cut quite a deep channel below the general 

 surface and the bluffs are quite precipitous. The bottoms are 

 very narrow, and in many places the river has cut through the 

 land, leaving quite steep banks on either side. At the top of 

 the bluffs the general surface plain begins and continues until 

 another stream is reached. 



This portion of Iowa was invaded by the Wisconsin glacier, 

 so the topography of the country is, geologically speaking, 

 quite young. The soil is a dark rich loam, somewhat sandy in 

 many localities. Below it is the Wisconsin drift, a j'^ellowish 

 till varying from five to twenty feet in thickness. The Wis- 

 consin drift is well exposed along the bluffs of Boone river. 

 From Jewell Junction to Blairsburg and northward there is a 

 chain of low hills known as the moraines of the Wisconsin 

 glaciers. Below the Wisconsin drift are beds of sand and gravel 

 which may probably be correlated with the "Buchanan 

 gravels. " The Kansan drift is well exposed at Webster City, 

 varying from five to ten feet. It rests upon a sandstone of the 

 St. Louis stage. In the south part of Webster City, on Brewer 

 creek, there are three quarries from which a considerable 

 amount of quite serviceable building stone are takeu, both 

 sandstone and limestone. Beds of the latter are below and 

 occur in heavy ledges. Farther south in Webster township 

 the upper Carboniferous is exposed. Some cannel coal is mined 

 in that locality. 



It is along Boone river that the forest of Hamilton county 

 is found. The timber area covers a territory of about twenty - 

 five miles long and varies from one-half to three miles in width. 



The native forest consisted of some very valuable timber, 

 but little of it remains standing with the exception of some 

 tracts that have been reserved. From these groves an observer 

 may form an idea of the extent and value of the original forest, 

 that greeted the early pioneer. It was along the timber that 

 our civilization and early colonization began, for upon it the 

 early settler depended for the material to build a home, the 

 rails to protect his crops, and fuel for his fireplace. 



The timber, at present, is practically of a second growth 

 with the exception of some large trees that were not fit for the 



