1UCE COUNTY 649 



Natural drainage.] 



that are scattered throughout the western half of the county, though some 

 of these waters seem to reach that valley by underground drainage, the 

 lakes having no visible outlets. In the southeastern part of the county 

 the north branch of the Zumbro rises in a long marsh which extends unin- 

 terruptedly to within a mile and a half of the Straight river. Prom that 

 point another similar marsh extends westwardly and is drained by a creek 

 into the Straight river. These marshes, and several others in the county, 

 are caused by the impervious nature of the underlying Hudson River and 

 Trenton shales, and mark the channels of glacial drainage. In a similar 

 manner the valley of Prairie creek, which once was one of voluminous dis- 

 charge, extends nearly as far southwest as to the valley of the Cannon river 

 west of Cannon City. It is there partially filled up with drift. 



To the most casual observer Rice county presents remarkable contrasts 

 in its drainage features. That portion which lies east and southeast of the 

 Cannon river is different from that portion lying to the west and northwest 

 of that valley. The former is undulating, in long and gentle swells, with 

 slow-flowing streams that are fringed with wide often marshy and quaking 

 low-lands. The streams are insignificant in comparison to the valleys 

 which they occupy; and they have a direct and well-established direction 

 of flow, without much tortuosity. Where they leave Rice county their 

 channels are sunk from one to two hundred feet below the general upland 

 level. The country here drained is alike without lakes and timber. The 

 latter is rolling in short and often steep and frequent hills that rise from 

 fifty to a hundred feet above the surrounding country. Among these hills 

 the crooked streams wander with every conceivable curve and change of 

 direction, often encountering small lakes, and receiving small tributaries 

 that drain others. They have no deeply eroded valleys, but run near the 

 average lowland level of the country where the present contours of surface 

 will permit. While there are frequent marshes here, they are isolated like 

 the lakelets, and have a similar relation to the drainage. In this part of 

 the county the precipitated moisture is retained by the more slow course 

 of surface drainage as well as by the more gravelly and sandy nature 

 of the surface drift materials. This part of the county also is heavily 

 timbered, a circumstance that not only produces, but also is favored by, a 

 greater amount of natural moisture within the drift-materials and on the 



