RIVER SYSTEMS AND GENERAL SURFACE SLOPES. 417 



greater than the actual distances from the sources to the Wisconsin 

 at the nearest points, and all of them have a very considerable descent, 

 making many rapids and falls over the tilted edges of schistose and 

 gneissic rocks, even down to within short distances of their junctions 

 with the main river. The streams on the west side head on the high 

 country along the line of the Fourth Principal Meridian, about 40 

 miles west of the Wisconsin, and at elevations from 200 to 300 feet 

 above their mouths; those on the east head on the divide between the 

 Wisconsin and Wolf, about 20 miles east, at elevations not very much 

 less. Reaching back, as these streams do, into a country largely tim- 

 bered with, pine, and having so large a descent, they are of great value 

 for logging and milling purposes. 



The second section of the Wisconsin river begins at Point Bass, 

 with a width of from TOO to 900 feet. The next sixty miles of its 

 course, to the head of the Dalles, is a southerly stretch, with a wide 

 bow to the westward, through sand plains, here and there timbered 

 with dwarf oaks, and interspersed with marshes. These plains stretch 

 away to the east and west for twenty miles from the river bottom, 

 gradually rising in both directions. Scattered over them, at intervals 

 of one to ten miles, are erosion peaks of sandstone from 50 to 300 feet 

 in height, rising precipitously from the level ground. Some of these 

 are near and on the bank of the river, which is also in places bordered 

 by low mural exposures of the same sandstone. The river itself is 

 constantly obstructed by shifting sandbars, resulting from the ancient 

 disintegration of the sandstone, which in the vicinity everywhere 

 forms the basement rock, but its course is not obstructed by rock 

 rapids. As it nears the southern line of Adams and Juneau counties, 

 the high ground that limits the sand plain on the west, curving south- 

 eastward, finally reaches the edge of the stream, which, by its south- 

 easterly course for the last twenty miles, has itself approached the high 

 ground on the east. The two ridges thus closing in upon the river 

 have caused it to cut for itself the deep and narrow gorge known as 

 the Dalles. In the second section of its course, the Wisconsin re- 

 ceives several important tributaries. Of those on the east, the princi- 

 pal ones are Duck creek and Ten Mile creek in the southern part of 

 Wood county; and the Little and Big Roche a Cris creeks, both in 

 Adams county. The two former head in a large marsh 25 miles east 

 of, and over 100 feet above, the main stream. The two latter head 

 on the high dividing ridge on the west line of Waushara county, at 

 elevations between 150 and 200 feet above their mouths. These 

 streams do not pass through a timbered country, but have very valu- 

 able water powers. Of those on the west, two are large and irnport- 

 Wis. SUB. 27 



