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taries are so steep and the ravines are so narrow and sharp as to prevent 
cultivation and they are in most places forested. The frequent occurrence 
of large trees, one hundred to two hundred years old, in the bottom of the 
ravines, indicates that the present rate of downward corrasion is very 
slow, and that possibly the dissection of the region in the drift area was 
mostly accomplished during the period of ice melting and the succeeding 
period of bare ground, before the surface was covered with vegetation. 
Culture.—The alluvial lands in the valleys are chiefly occupied by corn 
fields. The broken upland areas between the ravines are inconvenient for 
farming but many of the small fields produce good corn, oats and hay, 
especially hay. The only way by which cuts, fills, and bridges can be 
avoided in road building is to run the roads on the narrow divides between 
the heads of ravines. Coal mines are numerous. Along the front of the 
Wabash bluffs shale and coal are accessible near the surface and four 
large brick and tile factories have been established. The new industries 
have multiplied the population of West Terre Haute by five in ten years, 
and have caused three considerable villages to spring up from nothing in 
the same time. 
State Normal School, 
Terre Haute, Ind. 
