CHAPTER XVII. 



THE GEOLOGT OF MURRAY AND NOBLES COUNTIES. 



BY WARREN UPHAM. 



Situation and area. Murray and Nobles counties (plate-pages 21 and 

 22) lie in the southwest part of Minnesota, the former being in the second 

 tier of counties north of the Iowa line, from which it is separated by the 

 latter. The east boundary of these counties is 210 miles west from the 

 Mississippi river at La Crosse; their extent from east to west is 30 miles; 

 and from their west boundary to the line between Minnesota and Dakota 

 is 20 miles, this width being occupied by Pipestone and Rock counties. 

 The distance from Minneapolis and Saint Paul southwest to Currie in Mur- 

 ray county, measured in a straight line, is about 140 miles; and to Worth - 

 ington in Nobles county, about 155 miles. 



The most important towns and villages of Murray county are Currie, 

 on the Des Moines river near the foot of Lake Shetek, in Murray* township; 

 Avoca in Lime Lake township, and Hadley in Leeds township, on the Black 

 Hills branch of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railway; and 

 Fulda in Bondin township, on the Southern Minnesota division of the Chi- 

 cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway. The county seat and largest town 

 of Nobles county is Worthington, on the Saint Paul & Sioux City (C., St. P., 

 M. & 0.) railway. Hersey and Bigelow are small villages on this line of 

 railroad; and Rushmore and Adrian are considerable towns on its Sioux 

 Falls branch. 



Each of these counties is a rectangle thirty miles long from east to 

 west and twenty-four miles wide; so that together their extent from north 



