WINONA COUNTY. 245 



Elevations.] 



Elevations on the Winona and St. Peter division, Ghicaqo and Noi thwestern railway. 



Distances in miles Mights in feet 

 from Winona. above the sea. 



Low water in the Mississippi river at Winona 632 



Top of rail on draw-bridge 662 . 5 



Winona, passenger depot 660 



Winona, railroad yard and freight depot 641 



Minnesota City 5.9 668 



Stockton 11.31 745 



Lewiston 18.30 1203 



Utica 22.74 1162 



St. Charles 29.35 1131 



Mean elertttion of the county. From the contour-lines shown on the 

 county map the average elevation of each township has been estimated, as 

 follows: 



Dresbach, 1000 feet above the sea; Richmond, 1050; New Hartford, 

 1050; Homer, 1050; Pleasant Hill, 1125; Winona, 825: Wilson, 1050; Wis- 

 coy, 1050; Rollingstone, 925; Hillsdale, 1075; Warren, 1125; Hart, 1100; 

 Mount Vernon, 1075; Norton, 1100; Utica, 1150; Fremont, 1125; White- 

 water, 1050; Elba, 1075; Saint Charles, 1175; and Saratoga, 1150. The 

 mean elevation of Winona county, derived from these figures, is, approxi- 

 mately, 1070 feet above the sea. 



Soil and timber. The soil and subsoil of the county are everywhere formed 

 of the loess-loam, the former being a superficial modification of the latter. 

 On the uplands, where the general surface is undulating or rolling, the sur- 

 face soil has become blackened and also thickened in the depressions, and 

 perhaps somewhat pebbly with limestone and chert or quartzy te fragments 

 on the hillsides, and the latter especially along the brows of the hills which 

 face the south sun and the prevailing winds. In the main valleys the loess- 

 loam is thicker than on the uplands, and it has been worked over and depos- 

 ited a second time by the drainage incident to the several valleys. The 

 terraces that are seen in the lower parts of the valleys gradually lose their 

 distinctness in ascending the valleys, and finally become merely a thickened 

 talus along the foot of the rocky bluffs, occasionally showing still their hight 

 and original continuity in island-like areas in the sheltered portions of the 

 valleys. They descend from the upper levels gradually, about at the rate 

 of descent of the valleys themselves. The soil of these terraces is generally 

 very fertile, but sometimes an exposure of their stratification shows their 

 lower'portions to consist of sand. 



