FeatherstonhavgWs Geological Report. 127 



shore the other side of the valley can seldom be seen on ac- 

 count of the intervening islands, or bluffs, as they are more 

 generally called) are from 300 to 400 feet high, consisting of 

 horizontal strata of alternating cherty limestone and sandstone, 

 the principal ledges of which mark, for great distances, the con- 

 tinuity of beds, giving thus a particular character to the bluffs ; 

 these are frequently prolonged into extended escarpments, 

 and at other times are broken and rounded off by the weather 

 into sharp peaks and grotesque castellated appearances, at the 

 termination of the small vales, or coulees, from 500 to 1 ,000 

 yards wide, which come in at right angles to the river, but do 

 not usually extend far into the land. Sometimes other coulees, 

 parallel to the valley, come into these last again, for the dis- 

 tance of 800 yards from the valley. Beyond them the land is 

 generally level, forming a very extensive plateau of country. 

 The soil, from the admixture of lime, sand, and vegetable 

 matter, is of a superior kind, as is proved by the rank vegeta- 

 tion, and the luxuriant growth of trees on the pleasing slopes 

 and vales of this very beautiful country. These various mod- 

 ifications of the surface are to be attributed to the denuding 

 power of the ancient floods which have passed over the face 

 of the country, and the agency of the weather acting upon 

 them during long periods of time. Among the most remark- 

 able of these peaks is a sort of truncated cone, on the right 

 bank, called Cap a Vaisle by the old French settlers, on account 

 of the wild onions which grow in the bottom of the adjoining 

 valley, which appears to extend far up into the country The 

 first stream of any importance on the right bank, beyond this 

 cape, is the Upper loway,* then Root river ; on the left bank 

 the Bad-axe river flows through a very beautiful valley ; be- 

 tween this stream and Racoon river is a small prairie, but a 

 more extensive strip of low land of this character is found a 



* I found the rivers very erroneously put down, and Lake Pepin disproportionately 

 long on the maps. In the chart of the Indian country east and west of the Mis- 

 sissippi, which accompanies this report, I have endeavored to adjust these mistakes. 



