GEOLOGICAL REPORT 



OP THE COUNTRY ALONG THE PACIFIC RAILROAD AND THE SOUTH 

 WESTERN BRANCH, FROM ST. LOUIS TO THE WESTERN BOUNDARY 

 OF THE STATE, IN NEWTON COUNTY. 



IT has been our object, in making this survey, to examine 

 into all the available resources of this part of the State, and 

 especially those designed to furnish a people with sustenance 

 and wealth, and provide a surplus for trade and exportation ; 

 as a dense and wealthy population, and a surplus of produc 

 tions, are the real elements of Kailroad profits as well as national 

 power and progress. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



That portion of Southern Missouri extending from Newton 

 county in the south-west, to Ste. Genevieve in the south-east, 

 usually represented as the eastern extremity of the Ozark 

 Mountains, is, in fact, a table land varying from 1,000 to 1,500 

 feet above the ocean. In the west it is sufficiently undulating 

 to be well drained, while in the south and east it sometimes 

 rises into ridges and knobs of moderate elevation. 



From this table land, the country descends by moderate 

 slopes in every direction. On the northern slope are the head 

 waters of the Sac, Pomme de Terre, Niangua and Gasconade, 

 flowing into the Missouri ; on the east, the Meramec and the 

 Big, flowing into the Mississippi ; on the south, the waters of 

 the St. Francois, the Current, and the White and its tributaries, 

 descending towards Arkansas ; and Spring River and Shoal 

 Creek, on the western slope. 



The valleys of the numerous streams which flow from this 

 table land are at first but little depressed below the general 

 level ; but the farther they descend, the deeper and wider they 

 become, until they expand into broad alluvial bottoms bounded 

 by bluffs more or less precipitous. 



