OLMSTED COUNTY. 



Water-power.] 



327 



dip slightly toward the southwest. The layer ol clay forms a nearly 

 level floor of which the southern and western sides are lower than the 

 others. The water consequently appears at the surface on these sides. 

 These springs are frequently of large size. The phenomenon of a row ot 

 springs some distance up the side of a bluft, while the base of the bluff 

 furnishes no springs, is by no means a rare one. Spongy earth, and some- 

 times calcareous tufa, are apt to collect about these springs. When filled 

 with water the earth is soft and very miry. In former times where the 

 roads crossed such spots, bad mudholes were formed. They have now been 

 generally tapped and drained, though they are still occasionally met with 

 on the less-traveled roads. 



Water-power. Olmsted county is more than usually favored with good 

 water-power. This results from the large number of streams, the swift- 

 ness of their currents and the favorable nature of the banks and bottom. 

 The Zumbro river, in some of its affluents, has a descent of about three 

 hundred and fifty feet within the county, from Rock Dell to Oronoco, while 

 the main stream descends about two hundred feet in the same distance. 

 The Root river falls three hundred feet within the county in passing through 

 Rock Dell, High Forest, Pleasant Grove and Orion townships. 



Water-power mills in Olmsted county. 



There is quite a number of unimproved water-powers in the county; 

 some are between Rochester and the north boundary of the county, where 

 the difficulties of the banks prevent their ready improvement. There are 



