GENERAL PHYSICAL FEATURES. 123 



Elevations.] 



the sea, and the adjoining land is flat, with but a slightly greater elevation. 

 The thousand foot contour-line in the southeastern and northeastern 

 corners of the state runs very near the Mississippi river and lake Superior 

 respectively, but in the northwestern corner it is separated from the valley 

 of the Red river of the North by an intervening tract of flat land thirty or 

 forty miles wide, and above it the same plain extends a great distance 

 further east. In the southwestern corner of the state the Rock river, and 

 the tributaries of the Big Sioux river, pass the state line with an elevation 

 of about 1300 feet above the sea. The surrounding country is about 200 

 feet higher, and a few miles further northeast, on the Coteau des Prairies, 

 the general level is from 1800 to 1900 feet above the sea. The lowest 

 portion of the state is in close proximity to the highest, which latter is in 

 the Mesabi range north of lake Superior and attains an altitude of a little 

 more than 2200 feet above the sea. 



The general surface of the state slopes from the north-central portion 

 in all four directions towards its distant and opposite corners, although 

 there are greater elevations in the northeastern and in the southwestern 

 corners. The region west of Itasca lake rises somewhat more than 1600 

 feet above the sea, and the Leaf hills in Otter Tail county about 1700 feet. 



The great trough which crosses the state from northwest to southeast 

 formed by the Red river of the North, the Minnesota and the Mississippi 

 rivers, has its greatest elevation at Brown's Valley, which is 975 feet above 

 tide. The thousand foot contour-line which bounds the valley on the north- 

 east enters Minnesota from Manitoba about forty-five miles east of the Red 

 river of the North. Its general course is nearly south to lake Traverse. 

 It passes along the immediate bluffs of that lake and Big Stone lake, and 

 thence follows the bluff's of the Minnesota nearly to New Ulm, where it 

 begins to turn northward through northern Nicollet county. Thence it 

 crosses the counties of Sibley, McLeod, Wright, and the eastern part of 

 Stearns. It crosses the Mississippi about six miles above Sauk Rapids. It 

 thence passes tortuously through Sherburne, Isanti, Kanabec and Pine 

 counties, leaving the state where the St. Croix river begins to form its 

 eastern boundary. On the south side the same contour line begins at the 

 foot of Big Stone lake and, following the bluff's of the Minnesota nearly to 

 New Ulm, it thence winds its way over the prairies of Brown and Waton- 



