EXCAVATIONS AND EMBANKMENTS. 91 



of clay and sand, intermixed with gravel and pebbles, as lower down. It is probably wooded 

 as far as Miniwakan lake, and at the final crossing by the train near the source of one of its 

 forks, was even then noticeable for its deep valley and steep banks. 



Mouse river is a large stream of water, and, after the Red river of the North, is the most import 

 ant river on the route between the Mississippi and Missouri. It flows in a deep, wide valley, 

 upwards of 200 feet below the prairie level, with a width of bottom varying from a half to two 

 miles; is wooded, and sometimes heavily wooded, with a growth of elm, oak, ash, and probably 

 with other woods. Its high and steep banks, of about the same formation as belongs to the 

 Shayeime, are cut by deep coulees, extending back from the river ten and fifteen miles, having 

 generally a fertile soil and scattered trees. These coulees are difficult of passage with wagons, 

 and the construction of a railroad across them would be attended with heavy embankments and 

 culvert masonry, and with great expense. The location of the line has been so chosen as to 

 head them. At Mouse river a coarse, gray sandstone crops out, and may furnish some fair 

 building-stone. Near by, at the Butte Maison de Chien, examined by Mr. Lander, he reports an 

 abundance of excellent sandstone for building. 



Mouse river is about 120 feet wide, and was, apparently, as much as seven feet deep, and is 

 navigable for a long distance, and possibly quite to Red river. The information obtained in 

 regard to it was, from one source, that no obstruction to its navigation existed as far down as its 

 mouth ; from another source, that there was one intervening rapid. Its navigability would be 

 of service in transporting materials, and its valley, with many fertile and pleasing locations, 

 offers greater inducements for settlement than are to be found for a long distance on either side 

 of it. 



The interval remaining to the high plateau hiding the valley occupied by the railroad from the 

 Missouri, is by the River of the Lakes, a tributary of Mouse river small, but possessing in its 

 deep, wide valley and coulees much of the same character. It is wooded for only a small extent. 

 From the head of the River of the Lakes, a favoring and singular coulee breaks the Plateau 

 du Coteau du Missouri, and, with a grade not exceeding forty feet per mile, the line passes 

 through to the bottom lands of the Missouri. 



From the commencement of the Bois des Sioux prairie to Missouri river, the earth-work would 

 not be heavy, nor of an expensive nature. An average embankment of seven feet would cover 

 the earth-work. The excavation of the Bois des Sioux prairie is easy, approaching and bordering 

 on the Shayenne; boulders and stones are often mingled with the soil, adding to the expense of 

 removal ; and this last character of formation is, at intervals, met with all along the line, while, 

 in general, the substratum appears to be a clayey loam. 



Of rock excavation there is none. Except in crossing the divide, grades need not exceed 

 thirty feet per mile, and will rarely be so great. 



The Bois des Sioux will require a bridge of 140 feet; the Wild Rice river 120 feet; a small 

 stream near Wild Rice river should be spanned by a hundred-foot truss, and James river will 

 require 120 feet of bridge. 



The culvert masonry will be small in amount; but care should be taken in side-ditching, and 

 the prairie embankment should always be as high as four feet, both to obtain a dry and firm road 

 bed, and for the disposal of the winter snows. 



Wood will be scantily furnished from the route of the road for its construction. The Bois des 

 Sioux and Wild Rice rivers will furnish a small amount. The Shayenne will furnish sleepers 

 for 200 miles of the way, single rail. We do not know that James river will furnish any. 

 Wooded lakes occasionally aid in the supply. Mouse river is liberally wooded, and I think may 

 be depended upon to furnish 200 miles with sleepers. The connexion with the Mississippi and 

 Red rivers at one end, and with the Missouri at the other, will make up any deficiency in the 

 superstructure; but the Missouri bottoms furnish little but the sweet cotton-wood, a soft, porous 

 and inferior wood, and not to be used when other can be obtained at a reasonable expense. 



