514" THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Lime. Bricks. Peat. 



miles north of Jackson. These yield white lime, of which he usually burns 

 two kilns, each containing about a hundred bushels, yearly. It is sold at 

 forty to fifty cents per bushel. Other lime-burners of Jackson county are 

 Andrew Monson, in Belmont, and Ole Solem, in Christiana. No lime is 

 made in other parts of this county nor in Cottonwood county, not because 

 of scarcity of limestone boulders, which are plentiful, but because this re- 

 gion has little timber, fuel being consequently too expensive for this use. 



On the southwest side of Spirit lake, white lime is burned from bould- 

 ers by A. Kingman, who sells it at seventy-five cents per bushel, oak wood 

 being worth $5 per cord. 



Bricks. The only brick-making that has been done in these counties 

 is by Major H. F. Bailey, at the west side of the Des Moines river about a 

 quarter of a mile south of Jackson. A kiln of bricks was made here about 

 ten years ago, but none afterward till 1879, when another kiln of 100.000 

 was burned. These are red bricks of good quality, and are sold for $8 per 

 M. No sand is mixed with the clay, which is dug a few rods northeast 

 from the kiln, at a hight of six to twelve feet above the river. The soil at 

 the surface is removed to a depth of two or three feet, and the next five or 

 six feet are yellow clay, free from gravel, and levelly stratified. 



Peat. An exploration of the peat of southern Minnesota was made in 

 1873 by Prof. Winchell, whose descriptions, in the second annual report of 

 this survey, embrace the following notes pertaining to Cottonwood county. 



Mountain Lake. " Near Mountain Lake station, on land of A. A. Soule, a coarse turf-peat 

 covers the surface of a dry slough to the depth of ten to eighteen inches. Near a spring, along 

 the side of this slough, which is tributary to Mountain lake, the surface quakes and the peat is 

 thickest." 



"Around Mountain lake the land is low. and is flooded in the wet season. This low land 

 contains considerable peat for some distance out toward the lake. The surface shakes under the 

 tread. It is covered in the summer with a tall grass, which much resembles the wild rice, yet 

 the softest places, where the peat occurs purest, are furnished with a short grass. Peat here is 

 two or more feet thick. The land examined is owned by A. A. Soule." This peat, taken two 

 feet below the surface, analyzed by Prof. 8. F. Peckham, was found to contain, when air-dried, 

 8.69 per cent, of hygrometric water, 31.90 of organic matter, and 59.41 of ash (No. 1).* He esti- 

 mated a hundred pounds of it to be equivalent to forty-two pounds of oak wood. 



Lakeside. ''Sec. 24; land of 8. O. Taggart. In a dry slough, covering many acres, the sur- 

 face consists of a turf-peat, to the depth of about a foot, passing into black mud and sand. The 

 very top is fibrous and even spongy." The analysis of this, by Prof. Peckham, gave 10.80 per 

 cent, of hygrometric water, 16.33 of organic matter, and 72.87 of ash (No. 2); a hundred pounds 

 being equivalent to twenty-one pounds of oak wood. 



Peat is again found farther west in the same township, also on "land of S. O. Taggart, 5 

 miles east of Windom. In a narrow spring ravine, where water stands or slowly runs throughout 



*Number refer to the table of analyses of these peat ashes, by Prof. Peckham on page 516. 



