RELIEF. 35 



noted that in general the changes in rehef are very rapid, and as a conse- 

 quence the district is extremely rugged in detail, diversified by hills and 

 many lakes, with an occasional muskeg. Over the greater portion of the 

 area we find east-northeast trending ridges alternating with valleys occupied 

 by long lakes, or chains of lakes, or streams. As a consequence, in 

 traversing the district from north to south one is continually ascending a 

 steep ridge to descend on the opposite side into a valley which is usually 

 occupied by a lake. 



The Vermilion district, considered broadly, may be divided into four 

 areas, each of which is characterized by a fairly distinct kind of topographic 

 development. T'hese are: 



(1) The area including the Giants range, which is tlie most prominent 

 topographic feature of the Vermilion district. 



(2) A broad area north and northwest of the Giants range, including 

 all the areas underlain by the iron-bearing formation. This is very rugged, 

 but the differences in altitude are not great. 



(3) An area of high plateau country southeast of the Giants range, 

 vuiderlain by gabbro. 



(4) A small triangular area at the extreme eastern end of the district. 

 The apex of the triangle is toward the west, and lies between the Giants 

 range on the north and the high plateau to the south. 



Mesabi or Giants range. — This is a fairly well-marked east-nortlieast 

 trending range of hills," which runs obliquely across the district. It forms 

 the backbone of the Vermilion district, although it is unsymmetrical and 

 divides the district into unequal areas. It enters the district in T. 62 N., 

 R. 12 W., and extends in an east-northeast direction along the Kawishiwi 

 River, south of Snowbank Lake and Cacaquabic Lake, and north of 

 Lake Gobbemichigamma to the east side of T. 65 N., R. 4 W., where it 

 leaves the distiict and enters Canadian territory. '' The maximum height 

 of this range is attained by a hill in sec. 28, T. 65 N., R. 4 W., already 



« This range has been known as the Mesabi for an unknown length of time by tlie Indiana 

 inhabiting this region, and has been so called in the reports of Western explorers or else translated by 

 them into Giants range. In late reports Prof. N. H. Winchell has applied the term Mesabi to a range 

 of hills lying south of that known as the Giants range proper, to which the above statements apply. 

 Winchell has his IMesabi and Giants range proper unite a short distance southwest of Birch Lake and 

 form the Giants range to the east. West of this point he discriminates the range into the Giants range 

 to the north and the Mesabi to the south. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey of Minnesota, Thirteenth 

 Ann. Eept., 1885, p. 22; Final Rapt, Vol. IV, 1899, p. 232. 



t>^. H. Winchell, Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey of Minnesota, Thirteenth Ann. Rept., 188.=;, p. 38. 



