3HO THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Surface features. 



New Haven. This town is more broken than Oronoco, and more timbered, and from the 

 same causes. 



Quincy. This town is almost entirely one of smooth undulating prairie, there being a rather 

 abrupt ascent from the northeastern portions to the soutli western, brought out prominently in the 

 neighborhood of the drainage valleys. Some scattered oaks and aspens are found in the eastern 

 sections between the Whitewater and its northern branch. 



Viola. This is mainly a high and undulating prairie, its southern border being about thir- 

 teen hundred feet above the sea. Toward the north the surface descends abruptly to the valleys 

 as the outcroping rock changes from the Trenton limestone to the St. Peter sandstone. Some of 

 the streams that rise near the center of this township take their origin from small elevated 

 marshes that lie on the high prairie. 



Haverhill. This township is similar to the last, but its general slope is in the opposite direc 

 tion. 



Cascade. This township has great variety of surface, with considerable timber in the north- 

 western and southwestern portions, but by far the larger part is naturally prairie. Much of the 

 timber is small, especially at some distance from the streams. 



Kalmar. About one-half of this township was originally covered with timber, a large tract 

 in the northwestern portion being very heavy and valuable for fuel. The bluffs of the river 

 which crosses it are rocky and frequently perpendicular seventy-five to one hundred feet. 



Dover. With the exception of scattered thickets of small trees of aspen or oak this town- 

 ship is one of prairie. Most of it is high, but it has a conspicuous valley running east and west, 

 through the center, occupied by the Whitewater river. Some of the highest land in the county is 

 n the southern part of this township. 



Eyota. The most of this township is also high prairie like the southern part of Dover; in its 

 western portion it has a broad belt of heavy timber about the southern tributaries of Bear creek- 

 Along its southern boundary it is somewhat broken by the headwaters of some of the branches of 

 Root river. 



Marion. A considerable portion of this township is rolling and lightly timbered ; the up- 

 lands are prairie. The valleys have a sandy soil, but the prairies have a clay soil. 



Rochester. Much of this township is timbered, generally with scattering oaks, sometimes 

 with a variety ot heavy timber. The valleys are sandy and gravelly, but broad and generally tilled. 

 The uplands are sometimes prairie and have a clayey soil. The bluff-slopes ate not generally 

 rocky, but are often turfed from top to bottom. 



Salem. Much of this township is covered with timber, which is often rather brush than 

 trees, consisting of oaks, hazel and aspens. The uplands sometimes bear marshes which furnish 

 source to the branches of the Zumbro. 



Elmira. This is a town of mixed wood and prairie. Its eastern and southern portions are 

 more broken, and descend rather quickly to the valleys which drain them ; the northern and west- 

 ern portions are high with scattering timber. The upland is set off from the lower prairies by a 

 conspicuous bench that rises abruptly about a hundred feet, its upper line being about twelve 

 hundred feet above the sea. 



Orion has much timber along the valley of Boot river. This valley is about two hundred 

 feet below the uplands, and is about a mile wide. 



Pleasant Grove. The valley of Root river is here also about two hundred feet below the up- 

 lands, but it is narrower and more precipitous than in Orion. In the center of this township is a 

 large area of timber. 



High Forest. This is nearly all prairie, but has some wood along the streams. The valley 

 of Root river is less deep, but its banks are sometimes rocky. 



Rock Dell. The banks of the Zumbro, in the northern part, are steepand rocky, but those of 

 the Root river are in the drift deposits. This town in general is one of high undulating prairie, 

 with occasional small marshes. 



Timber. When first settled this county had a large amount ot native 

 heavy timber, and also much in the condition of "openings". Some of it 

 has now been cut, but it is not probable that the standing trees are less 



