PLATE XLVI. 



BENTON AND SHERBURNE COUNTIES, 1888. WARREN UPHAM. 



These counties are covered largely by the deposits of the western lobe of the 

 ice-sheet of Minnesota, either in the form of till or of washed sand and gravel. The 

 former prevails in Benton county and the latter in Sherburne. Still, the till of 

 Benton county has in some places a distinctly reddish hue, showing, apparently, 

 a mixture of the red element with the gray. This red element, combined with 

 absence of limestone boulders, is found in the western part of Benton county. All 

 the morainic patches, and other till of Sherburne county, which rise above the exten- 

 sive plains and knolls of gravel and sand, are of the gray. 



Sherburne county originally was thinly covered by a growth of black and bur 

 oaks, with an undergrowth of oak bushes and hazelnut, but along the streams and 

 in the township of Livonia was heavy timber, while in Benton county heavy timber 

 was spread over most of the county. White pine occurs scatteringly on the bluffs 

 of the Mississippi river, and a few localities northward through these counties, and it 

 becomes abundant, being often the principal forest tree, in the northeast portions of 

 Alberta and May wood. The tract of land between the Elk and the Mississippi rivers, 

 where they run parallel, was natural prairie. Such prairies also exist in the western 

 two-thirds of Langola, the northwest part of Watab, and in the south part of Minden 

 There is another in the west half of Orrosk. 



The only rocks known in these counties are granite and sandstone. The former 

 is well known for the stone suitable for construction obtained at Sauk Rapids and 

 at East St. Cloud, where it has been quarried for many years. The latter occurs in 

 the banks of St. Francis river, in Orrosk, where it rises thirty feet, more or less, above 

 the water, and has been used extensively for construction for many years. Further 

 up this river is a " yellowish limestone " reported. Sandstone also appears in the east 

 bank of the Mississippi river about three miles above Monticello, rising about twenty- 

 five feet above the river. All this sandstone is probably of the St. Croix formation, 

 and it is likely to be found under the most of Sherburne county. N. H. w. 



