100 Minnesota Academy of Science 



After his second summer's studies about his new home had 

 led him over into the Dakotas, he reported at the September 

 meeting in 74: — "an interesting account of what he saw in the 

 Black Hills. He described the Hills as running nearly parallel 

 north and south, flattened on the top in the north, rugged and 

 uneven in the south. He gave an account of the vegetation, 

 which, in the valley, is abundant. Among minerals he found iron 

 and gypsum abundant. He saw no gold and doubted its existence 

 in large quantities. The granite he spoke of as being nearly all 

 of the white feldspar variety and all of its constituents large, — 

 most noticeably the mica. The professor considered the Hills well 

 adapted for habitation." In the following November "Prof. Win- 

 chell gave a brief report of some explorations in Freeborn and 

 Mower County. Among other things he referred to his observa- 

 tion of Devonian and Cretaceous rocks, and the existence of the 

 white pine." At the last meeting of this second year of the Acad- 

 emy "Prof. Winchell gave a description of Bear Butte, in which 

 he gave some reasons for believing that the Butte is not trap, 

 properly so called, but more properly belongs to the metamorphic 

 series." 



With the opening of 1875 "Prof. Winchell spoke of the order 

 of the rocks which underlie the surface rocks in this vicinity" 

 and also "read an extract from the Detroit Post detailing some 

 of the ancient mining operations at Lake Superior." The variety 

 and alertness of his intellectual interests were further shown when 

 he "read a paper on the light in the zenith on the night of May 

 2d, caused by the burning of the lumber yard of Farnham and 

 Love joy." The newspapers began to notice the little meetings of 

 the Academy, as shown in a quarter column account of the July 

 meeting in which "Prof. Winchell furnished an interesting state- 

 ment concerning the peat bed found in Mower and Fillmore 

 counties last year, and supposed at that time to be coal. It ex- 

 tends over two-thirds of the counties and is on the high, dry land, 

 but exposed in bluffs along the creeks. The peat is formed at a 

 depth of about 40 feet, and is two or three feet in thickness. 

 Above and below it is a drift of clay and gravel unstratified. It 

 is not referable to alluvial deposit. If it were formed from the 

 glacial drift, it is difficult to explain its presence in that locality, 

 as there is drift above and below it." Reports, diagrams, and 



