144 



MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The g-eologist, with these 

 basaltic cliffs for a text, can 

 take us back in imag-ination 

 to the time when the earth 

 opened, and from beneath 

 the powers of fire forced up 

 the molten lava which now 

 forms the extensive " trap 

 dykes" which traverse this 

 section of the country; and 

 then in more recent periods 

 show us the roaring- torrent 

 of the river, as it slowly 

 wore away the g-orge 

 through which it now flows, 

 while in some of the eddies 

 stones revolving with the 

 motion of the water grad- 

 ually^ cut out and polished 

 the "potholes," or "wells," 

 which are now found near 

 the village of Taylor's Falls 

 and regarded as such curi- 

 ^^; li osities. These "well s," 



Below the Dalles. bored into the solid trap 



rock, vary from six inches to four or five feet in diameter and from 



two to thirty feet in depth, and in their grooved and waterworn sides 



give evidence of the method by which they were made. 



If we follow a short distance down the river, we reach a different 



scene; the trap rock with its fantastic forms is left behind, and we 



are confronted with cliffs of wliite or colored saiulstoniv towering 



above us per 



pendicularly; y^, J 



and here our 



instructor 



can point out 



to us the for- 

 ces of nature 



still at work, 



for we find the 



springs and 



little streams 



trickling 



down the face 



of the cliff, 



gradually 



cutting it 



back in pla- 

 ces in the 



form of a nat- 



