WATONWAN AND MARTIN COUNTIES. 475 



Elevations. Soil.; 



The highest land of Watonwan county is either the east part of the 

 quartzyte ridge in sections 19 and 30, Adrian, or the southwest corner of 

 the county, both of which are nearly 1,300 feet above the sea. Its lowest 

 land is where the Watonwan river passes out from this into Blue Earth 

 county, at a hight of about 960 feet above the sea. The mean hights of the 

 townships of this county are approximately as follows: Madelia, 1,025 feet 

 above the sea; Fielden, 1,050; Antrim, 1,100; River Dale, 1,040; Rosendale, 

 1,060; South Branch, 1,120; Nelson, 1,075; Saint James, 1,120; Long Lake, 

 1,150; Adrian, 1,150; Butterfield, 1,200 ; and Odin, 1,240. From these esti- 

 mates the mean elevation of Watonwan county is found to be 1,110 feet, 

 very nearly, above the sea. 



In Martin county the greatest altitude is attained at the west side of 

 Lake Fremont township, about 1,400 feet above the sea; and the lowest 

 points of this county are at its east line where Elm, Center and South 

 creeks are 1,050 to 1,075 feet in elevation. The townships of this county, 

 with their mean hights approximately estimated, are: Nashville, 1,125 

 feet above the sea; Center Creek, 1,140; Pleasant Prairie, 1,200; East Chain, 

 1,240; Westtord, 1,150; Rutland, 1,175; Fairmont, 1,200 ; Silver Lake, 1,230 ; 

 Waverly, 1,175; Frazer, 1,200; Rolling Green, 1,240; Tenhassen, 1,250; Ga- 

 lena, 1,200; Fox Lake, 1,240; Manyaska, 1,260; Lake Belt, 1,275; Cedar, 

 1,260 : Elm Creek, 1,300 ; Jay, 1,325 ; and Lake Fremont, 1,350. The mean 

 elevation of Martin county, deduced from these figures, is 1,225 feet. 



Soil and timber. The soil of Watonwan and Martin counties, like that 

 of a vast region extending from them on all sides, is very fertile, easily 

 worked, and well adapted for the cultivation of all the staple agricultural 

 products of this latitude. A black, clayey, and slightly sandy and gravelly 

 loam, from one to three feet thick, forms the surface, which is nearly every- 

 where sufficiently undulating to carry away the waters of heavy rains and 

 snow-melting. Boulders are scattered very sparingly over the entire area 

 of these counties, but scarcely anywhere are objectionably numerous. This 

 soil and the subsoil of yellowish gravelly clay are the till, or unmodified 

 drift of the glacial period. They are somewhat porous on account of their 

 considerable proportion of sand intermixed, causing them to absorb much 

 moisture from rains and give it up readily to vegetation. The principal 

 crop of Watonwan county, as generally northward through this state, is 



