HOUSTON COUNTY. 231 



Material resources.] 



Throughout the county are numerous springs, some of which are very large, and gush out 

 along the valleys. The\ seem to be the outlets of subterranean streams. Those above Riceford 

 furnish the water for the flouring mills at that place. There is also a large one on section 17, 

 Caledonia, three miles south of Sheldon. They seem to frequent an horizon about eighty feet 

 below the top of the St. Lawrence limestone, and indicate a shaly, or otherwise impervious, layer 

 there in that formation. 



MATERIAL RESOURCES. 



The rocks of the county do not contain any valuable minei'als. They 

 are everywhere abundantly exposed, and are quarried at many places for 

 ordinary building-stone and for quicklime. 



Building stone. At Spring Grove the Lutheran society is building a 

 large church, of brick, the basement being from the Trenton, in layers 

 of four to six inches, taken from quarries near the village. The heavy 

 trimmings are from the St. Lawrence limestone. The quarries are owned 

 by George Timansen and Ole Tosteiison. 



The Toledo woolen mill, of Fletcher & Williams, section 5, La Crescent, 

 is built of the St. Lawrence, quarried near. 



At Caledonia the St. Lawrence is extensively used for building, quar- 

 ried about a mile east of the village. The German Catholic church is the 

 principal structure made of it, being also the largest in the place. The 

 county jail is a fine building of the same, the courses being about ten 

 inches thick, rubble dressed, with trimmings of the same. The business 

 blocks of Nicholas Koob, J. J. Belden, John Krantz, Joseph Vossen, Jacob 

 Bouquet and Nix Erstine are also constructed of the same stone. The 

 quarries are owned by John Molitor, J.ohn Dorsh, Anton Molitor, Widow 

 Cunningham and John Aiken. 



On section 24, Spring Grove, Mr. K. Gilbertson has a two-story stone 

 residence on his farm, quarried from the Trenton. 



At Money Creek, Harvey Chapel has a quarry that furnishes good stone 

 for building, though much of that which is used is taken from the surface 

 near the tops of the bluffs, having been loosened and broken up by the 

 weather. 



On the N. E. J section 11, Caledonia, is Mrs. M. Brown's stone house, 

 built of magnesian limestone. 



Mr. J. Kline has a fine farm-house of stone taken from the St. Lawrence, 

 on section 19, Union. Near Mr. Kline's quarry is another owned by Henry 



