CHAPTER XXII I. 



THE GEOLOGY OF RICE COUNTY.* 



BY N. H. WINCHELL. 



Hit nation and area. Rice county is situated in the triangle between the 

 Mississippi and that part of the Minnesota which flows northeastward, and 

 nearly in the center. Northfield, near the northern boundary, is thirty-eight 

 miles from St. Paul, and the eastern boundary of the county is about the 

 same distance from lake Pepin. Faribault, at the forks of the Cannon 

 river, the county seat, is about fifty miles south from St. Paul. The area of 

 the county, which includes twelve sections more than fourteen government 

 townships, amounts to 322,560.70 acres, of which 11,054.83 acres consist of 

 water. The county is represented by plate 31. 



SURFACE FEATURES. 



Natural drainage. The main artery 'of surface drainage is the Cannon 

 river, which flows nearly northeasterly through the central portions of the 

 county. This stream, which moves with a smooth current, receives the 

 Straight river from the south at Faribault, thus nearly doubling its volume. 

 The Cannon river rises in the lakes at Shieldsville, a few miles northwest 

 of Faribault, at an elevation of about 1090 feet above the sea, and after a 

 circuitous route through Le Sueur county, enters the county again at a 

 point about seven miles from the point at which it left it. Throughout its 

 course it passes through numerous lakes, and its main channel in Rice 

 county, before its union with the Straight river, is widened out in the form 

 of lakes at four places. It has the aspect in this part of its course of hav- 

 ing once been occupied by a larger stream than the present Cannon river. 

 Thus the Cannon river carries off the surplus v/aters from most of the lakes 



*Prof. L. B. Sperry, late of Carleton college, made a preliminary report on Rice county in 1877, but in the further 

 working out of the geology ol the county it became necea-uiry w add so much to his report that he could not fairly be 

 held responsible for it. His report has been used as a basis lor this. 



