GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 297 



The following data may be added as corresponding with the forty- 

 third parallel : the Mississippi, at Dubuque, 580; the Missouri, at Sioux 

 City, 1,01)3. 



By selecting in succession the corresponding elevation from these dif- 

 ferent lines, we will obtain the vertical topography along tour <litterent 

 meridians, beginning in each case at the nortii and running south, one 

 or two additional numbers being introduced where it is iiossible to ex- 

 tend the line. 



The line of the ]\lifimfifi>ppi. — Rainy Lake, 1,035 ; the divide between 

 the Rainy Lake and Mississip[»i f3asiiis, (about) 1,700 ; Leech Lake, l,ooO ; 

 Brainard, 1,205 ; Saiut Paul, 080; Dubuque, 5Sj; Davenport, 5 8; iSaiut 

 Louis, 375. 



Alonq a line correspondlnq very nearly with the ninefy-si.vlh meridian. — 

 Pembina, 700 ; Moorhead,'903 ; Lake Traverse, 000; Sioux City, 1,003; 

 Omaha, 900 ; mouth of Kansas River, 048. 



Along or near the ninety-eighth meridian. — Devil's Lake, 1,407 ; James 

 River, at the North Pacilic crossing, 1,303; same river, at Skinner's cross- 

 ing, 1,260; the Missouri, at Yankton, (about) 1,130; Lone Tree, on the 

 Union Pacilic road, 1,030; Foi't Marker, on the Kansas Pacific road, 

 1,4S4. 



Along ornear the one hundred and first meridian . — The Missouri, at the 

 mouth of Heart River, 1,700 ; the same river, at Fort Sully, 1,398 ; North 

 Platte station, on the Union Pacific road, 2,789 ; Buffalo station, ou the 

 Kansas Pacific roa<i, 2,078. 



It is apparent from these figures that the plain or plateau from which 

 the Up))er Mississii)pi gathers its waters is elevated considerably above 

 the region north and northwest of it, and that it is separated from the 

 western plains of Dakota and South wecteru Minnesota by the much 

 lower valleys of Red and Minnesota Rivers. 



In passing south along the ninety-sixth meridian, which corresponds 

 very nearly with the line of Red River, after passing Lake Traverse, 

 we do not again descend to the same level until we reach Omaha, on the 

 Missouri River, showing that the waters of the Big Sioux are gathered 

 from a plain elevated consi<leral)ly above the level of Lake Traverse. 

 It is therefore evident, as hei'etofore stated, that there is a broad and 

 somewhat elevated swell extending southeast from the Coteau des 

 Prairies, which, though spreading out into broad and apparently level 

 prairies, continues for a considerable distance into Northwestern Iowa. 



Another, and perhaps the most important, fact, learned from the fig- 

 ures along these north and south lines is that the plains of Nebraska 

 and Kansas, after we have passed a short distance into the interior, are 

 more elevated, and more rapidly ascending (westward) than any portion 

 of Dakota east or northeast of the Missouri ; in other words, that as 

 we move northward — say, for example, along the one hundred and first 

 meridian — we descend, and this descent continues far into the British 

 Possessions ; not ttiat it is by any means uniform, but that as we pass 

 from onf plain to another, or from one basin to another, we descend, as 

 a general rule. 



&^ 



MINNESOTA. 



As before indicated, this State consists of two districts differing 

 widely in regard to the covering and character of the surface, and also 

 with respect to their agricultural resources. The northeastern portion, 

 embracing probably one-third of the entire area, being covered almost 

 entirely with coniferous forests, is partially interrupted by bogs and 



