96 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Eames, i8A6. 



in a few years thereafter but one white man, a government officer, could be 

 found in the whole region. Respecting the lignites of southwestern Minne- 

 sota, Mr. Eames says that he has no hesitation in recording his conviction 

 that large deposits of good coal will be found there, " the stratum having a 

 course southeast of the Big Cottonwood river, thence northwest to the 

 Redwood river, crossing the Minnesota river at or near that point, also 

 west of the Cottonwood, and having a bearing west of north. The out- 

 crop of the formation can only be seen at a few points, as it has many 

 local upheavals, and corresponding depressions." 



Mr. Eames mentioned the iron ore at Vermilion lake, in the vicinity ot 

 the stream known as Two rivers. He describes it as lying in two ridges, 

 nearly parallel, one being of haematite with jasperoid, quartzo.se and 

 serpentine rocks, and the other of magetite of very good quality, the latter 

 being north of the former. The iron is said to be exposed at two or three 

 points, between fifty and sixty feet in thickness, presenting quite a mural 

 face. 



Passing down the lake Superior shore as far as Temperance river, he 

 has a few words concerning the metalliferous character of the rocks at 

 numerous places. 



. Mr. Eames' second report purports to give "reconnoissance in detail, of 

 the northern, middle and other counties in Minnesota," comprising fifty-eight 

 octavo pages. After presenting a brief outline of the different formations or 

 systems of rocks that form the crust of the earth, he adds remarks on the 

 igneous, the coal-bearing and the sandstone and limestone rocks of the state ; 

 also on peat; on mineral and fissure veins; on agricultural chemistry: on a 

 geological reconnoissance "in detail", of the counties of St. Louis, Lake, 

 Itasca, Cass, Todd, Otter Tail, Douglas, Stearns, Morrison, Benton, Sher- 

 burne, Redwood, Cottonwood, Ramsey and Washington, together with 

 results of assays and thermometrical and barometrical observations in the 

 months ot June, July and August. He describes Pokegama falls as 

 formed by an exposure of Potsdam sandstone (quartzy te), or the lowest of the 

 Lower Silurian rocks. It presents a mural exposure of twenty feet above 

 the level of the stream, and one-eighth of a mile in length, having a course 

 15 south of west. A similar fall is described on Prairie river, six or seven 



