HISTORICAL SKETCH. 37 



1 823, Keating.] 



A feature which struck us was the abundance of fragments of primitive rocks which are 

 strewn in this valley ; they were for the most part deeply imbedded in the ground, and bore but 

 few traces of attrition ; their bulk was very large. For a while we doubted whether we were not 

 treading upon a crust of a formation of primitive rocks, which pierced through the superincumbent 

 formations ; but a close observation evinced such a confusion and diversity in the nature of the 

 primitive blocks, as well as such signs ot friction, as satisfied us that these were out of place; 

 still they appeared to warrant the geologist in his prediction, that the party was approaching to a 

 primitive formation, and that certainly the valley of the St. Peter had been one of the channels 

 through which the primitive boulders had been removed from their original site. This assertion 

 was fully substantiated two days afterward by the discovery of the primitive rocks in situ. A very 

 considerable swell between the river and the right bank of the valley was supposed to be formed 

 by the primitive rocks rising to a greater level than usual. If it be occasioned by an accumulation 

 of fragments and boulders, as the nature of its surface might lead to believe, it is a very interest- 

 ing feature in the valley. 



In traveling up the valley of the Minnesota river, on the south side, 

 various interesting observations were recorded, respecting the fauna and 

 flora of the prairies, from which is the following extract: 



Among the birds observed on the prairie, besides the sand-hill crane, are the red-bird, black- 

 bird, yellow-headed black-bird, the black-breasted tern, the last of which was very abundant. 

 Mr. Say shot the female of the Mergus cucullatus and a blue-winged teal. Among the reptiles, 

 besides the common garter-snake, there was one with lateral red spots. A coluber like the melan- 

 oleueus, but spotted, and similar to that found on the Missouri, was killed on these prairies. In 

 several of the marshes the huts of the muskrat were found very abundant. The herbarium was 

 enriched by the addition of a beautiful specimen of the Lilium Philadelphicum, which was still 

 seen flowering, though it had nearly ceased to bloom. Another great ornament of the prairies is 

 the Lilium superbum. The Gerardia was still occasionally seen. This plant is, as we were 

 informed, considered by the Indians to be a specific against the bite of a rattlesnake ; the root is 

 scraped and the scrapings applied to the wound ; it is said that, if used upon a recent wound, a 

 single application will suffice. The boulders which are so common in the valley of the St. Peter, 

 are but seldom seen on the prairies. 



No further geological notes are made till reaching the Redwood river, 

 when he makes the statement that its banks "are formed of a fine white 

 sandstone." It is probable that he mistook at a distance, the white kaolin 

 bluffs which occur at that point, derived from the decomposition of the 

 granite in situ, for sandstone. There is a little sand in the Cretaceous at that 

 point, but there are no bluffs of white sand. The red pipestone was said to 

 exist on its banks at three days' journey from its source. 



No primitive rock in situ was noted, although it occurs at frequent inter- 

 vals between New Ulm and Big Stone lake, till he reached a point several 

 miles above Patterson's rapids. He notes " a very interesting fragment of 

 rock" at the place where the Redwood joins the Minnesota, said to be forty 

 or fifty feet in circumference, evidently out of place, of an enormous mass, 

 and irregular hemispherical form, cleft by lightning. This mass was said 

 to be granitic, presenting "very distinctly the appearance of a formation of 



