350 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Elevations. Soil and timber. 



Miles from Feet above 

 St. Paul. the sea. 



Crossing of creek (grade) 123.2 1285 



Summit (grade, cutting 5 feet), 124.0 1300 



Le Roy, 125.4 1280 



State line (natural surface and grade), - 126.0 1263 



Elevations on the Austin and Mason City branch of the C/iim'j'j, Milu- "</,* nnd St. Paul rail/ray. 



Austin Junction, 99.8 1194 



Rose creek (water). 103.1 1165 



Rose creek (grade), 103.1 1185 



Summit (grade), 104.6 1212 



Depression (grade) 109.3 1185 



Lyle, 110.5 1199 



At state line (grade), 110.9 1186 



Mean elevation of the county. Estimates of the average hight of the 

 townships of this county are as follows: Racine, 1,300 feet above the sea; 

 Franklin, 1,320; Bennington, 1,325; Le Roy, 1,300; Pleasant Valley, 1,350; 

 Grand Meadow, 1,360; Clayton, 1,360; Lodi, 1,325; Sargent, 1,360; Dexter, 

 1,360 ; Marshall, 1,330 ; Adams, 1,275 ; Waltham, 1,340 ; Red Rock, 1,270; 

 Windom, 1,240; Nevada, 1,230; Udolpho, 1,260; Lansing, 1,225; Austin, 

 1,200; Lyle, 1,190. The mean elevation of Mower county is approximately 



I 



1,300 feet above the sea. 



Soil and timber. The county is distinctively one of prairie, yet it has 

 considerable timber along the streams. This is particularly the case along 

 the Upper Iowa river in the southeastern part of the county along the 

 eastern tributaries of the Root in Frankford, and along the Cedar crossing 

 the whole width of the county. There is also an important tract of timber 

 in Nevada township. 



The soil of Mower county is everywhere dependent on the nature 

 of the drift. The underlying rock has affected it only so far as it may 

 have mingled with the general mass. It is hence primarily a gravelly clay, 

 that being the character of the subsoil throughout the county. This gravelly 

 clay, however, is not now prominently displayed as the immediate soil of the 

 surface. Indeed, the farmer in plowing rarely penetrates to it. It lies below 

 a rich loam usually at depths varying from zero to two or three feet, or even 

 more. The surface soil itself, which has resulted from it through the agency 

 of theforces of the atmosphere and of vegetation, is of a dark color, and in 

 general may be designated a clayey loam, or a sandy loam, depending on the 

 nature and completeness of the local dm mage. In low grounds this loam 

 is thick and of a dark color. It is also apt to be more clayey in low ground 



