PIPESTONE AND ROCK COUNTIES. 537 



Elevations, Quartzyte.J 



Mean elevation. The following figures express the estimated mean elevation of the town- 

 ships of Pipestone and Rock counties: 



Pipestone county. ./Etna, 1,825 feet above the sea; Rock, 1.800; Burke, 1,700; Osborne, 

 1,625; Fountain Prairie, 1,810; Grange, 1,775; Gray, 1,740; Elmer, 1,650; Altona, 1,700; Troy, 

 1,660; Sweet, 1,660; Eden, 1,650. The average of these figures is 1,715 feet. 



Bock county. Battle Plain, 1,550 feet above the sea; Vienna, 1,520; Magnolia, 1,490; Kan- 

 aranzi, 1,175; Denver, 1,620; Mound, 1,575; Luverne, 1,480; Clinton, 1,440; Rose Dell, 1,600; 

 Spring Water, 1,525; Beaver Creek, 1,450; and Martin, 1,440. The average for Rock county is 

 1,510 feet above the sea. 



Soil. But a very small portion of these counties is unsuited to farm tillage. The soil is 

 generally composed of the till, or boulder-clay which is so stony as to interfere with plowing 

 only in the rolling tract of the Coteau, in small areas, in the northeastern corner of Pipestone 

 county. And even there the stony knolls. are interspersed with fertile valleys and slopes thit af- 

 ford good pasturage. In central Rock county, extending from the mound north westward, and in 

 eluding some parts of Denver and Rose Dell, the surface is rocky, and the soil thin. With these 

 exceptions, these counties are among the best in the state for all farming. In the most of Pipe- 

 stone county, and in the northern part of Rock county occasional stones are found in the soil, but 

 these become less frequent toward the south, and in the southern part of Rock county no stones 

 at all appear on the surface, the soil being the same as the loam soils of the southeastern part of 

 the state, consisting of a fine clay that varies in thickness, sometimes reaching ten or twenty feet. 



Timber and fuel. From the vicinity of Luverne to the state line and farther south, timber 

 is nearly continuous in a narrow belt along the Rock river. Its most abundant species are cot- 

 tonwood, soft maple, white elm and white ash; box-elder and bur oak occur less frequently; and 

 bass is absent. Wild plums, grapes and gooseberries are plentiful. Many beautifully spreading 

 elms, fully 60 feet in hight, grow beside this river near Luverne. Farther to the north timber is 

 found sparingly and in occasional groves along the Rock river. On the tributaries of this stream 

 in Rock county, and on Split Rock and Beaver creeks, timber is absent or very scanty. 



Mr. J. F. Shoemaker states that the following species of trees and shrubs have been ob- 

 served by him in this county: White elm, white ash, cottonwood, willows, soft maple, box-elder, 

 hackberry, bur oak, prickly ash, smooth sumach, frost grape, Virginia creeper, climbing bitter- 

 sweet, wild plum, choke-cherry, black raspberry (common on the Mound), wild rose, thorn, June 

 berry, prickly wild gooseberry, black currant, wolf-berry and elder. 



Owing to the scarcity of wood, nearly all the immigrants, especially in Pipestone county, 

 excepting in or near the villages and stations of the railroads, burn hay for their only fuel, which 

 is best when cut before frost, or at the same time as for feeding. The cost of cutting and stack- 

 ing this hay is $1 to $1.50 per ton. 



THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 



Bed quartzyte. The only known bedded rock in these counties is a red 

 quartzyte, probably the equivalent of the New York Potsdam sandstone, but 

 which Dr. C. A. White, of the Iowa survey, has designated the Sioux quartz- 

 yte, as it is seen to outcrop in the extreme northwestern corner of Iowa. 

 Of this the largest exposures are in Rock county, but the best known is at 

 the famous "pipestone quarry," near the center of Pipestone county. 



As this locality has become somewhat famous on account of the ex- 

 tensive use made of the red pipestone by the Indians, and the difference of 

 opinion expressed by scientists as to its origin and age, the following re- 

 sume will be of interest: 



