NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



109 



Mountains. One of the most remarkable features of these dykes 

 is the numerous and extensive veins of native copper which cha- 

 racterize them. Subsequent convulsions, and the demolition of 

 these ancient dykes, by storms and tempests, have scattered along 

 its shores abundant evidence of the metal and its ores and vein- 

 stones, which have attracted notice from the earliest time. The 

 geology of its southern coasts may be glanced at, and inferred, 

 from the subjoined outlines. 



!2! 



!i 





^^<^^^ 



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Porcupine Mountain Range. 



Le Pointe. Fond du Lac. 



Geological outline of Lake Superior. 



The teachings of topography, applied to commerce, are wonder- 

 ful. A longitudinal line, dropped south, from this point, would 

 cross the Mississippi at the foot of Lake Pepin, and pass through 

 Jefferson city on the Missouri. When, therefore, a ship canal 

 shall be made at St. Mary's Falls, vessels of large tonnage may 

 sail from Oswego (by the Welland canal) and Buffalo, through a 

 line of inter-oceanic seas, nearer to the foot of the Rock}^ Mount- 

 ains, by several hundred miles, than by any other possible route. 

 A railroad line from Fond du Lac west to the Columbia valley, 

 would also form the shortest and most direct transit route from 

 the Pacific to New York. Such a road would have the advantage 

 of passing through a region favorable to agriculture, which cannot 

 but develop abundant resources. 



