634 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Topography. 



smooth slopes, only 30 to 50 feet in hight. The most prominent hills seen 

 in this county are south of lake Sakata, one to two miles east of Water- 

 ville. They were found by Nicollet to be 134 feet, according to the barom- 

 eter, above this lake, which makes their tops 1137 feet above the sea. 



West of this moraine, the greater part of the county is slightly or mod- 

 erately undulating till, approximately level, to the valley of the Minnesota 

 river. The bottom of this fertile and beautiful valley is from 200 to 225 

 feet below the general level. The tops of its bluffs of till are from a half 

 mile to two miles, and between Ottawa and Le Sueur four miles, distant 

 from the river. Within these bluffs are high terraces of modified drift, the 

 largest of which, called "Le Sueur prairie," extends five miles south from 

 Le Sueur, with a width that varies from two to four miles ; terraces of 

 Shakopee limestone, underlain by Jordan sandstone, occurring at Ottawa 

 and from Kasota south to Mankato; and bottomlands, which are usually 

 from an eighth to a fourth or half of a mile wide, but attain a width of one 

 and a half miles for a distance of three miles in the north part of Kasota. 



The contour of the drift-sheet between the eastern moraine and the 

 Minnesota valley varies from moderately undulating or rolling to nearly 

 flat. Its most uneven portion is a belt near the south side of the county, in 

 Elysian, Washington and Kasota, extending westerly from Waterville and 

 Elysian to German lake and lakes Jefferson, Washington and Emily. The 

 undulations and swells here are mostly from 25 to 50 feet high, having 

 smooth outlines and long slopes; but between lakes Tetonka and Elysian 

 the surface is in part quite irregularly broken in small hills and short 

 ridges, which one and a half miles northeast of Elysian are about 75 feet 

 high. This belt is apparently a moraine formed on the south side of the 

 ice-lobe during a pause in its recession.. 



The south part of Kasota, from lake Washington four miles west to the valley of the Min- 

 nesota river is only slightly undulating, with the highest portions 5 to 15 feet above the lowest. 

 Cordova, Lexington, Derrynane and Lanesburg are moderately undulating, with crests 20 to 30 

 or 40 feet above the hollows and frequent lakes. These townships show a somewhat gradual 

 change from the morainic contour on their east side to the slightly undulating and in some por- 

 tions nearly level surface of Cleveland, Sharon and Tyrone in the range next west. 



Elevations, Minneapolis & Saint Louis railway. 

 From Robert Angst, assistant engineer, Minneapolis. 



Miles from Feet above 

 Minneapolis. the sea. 



New Prague 42.6 975 



Montgomery .50.0 1063 



Mulford's siding 54.6 1060 



