THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTER. 
41 
Just beyond Buffalo the traveler can obtain on the left the first 
extended view across the prairies and lowlands of the valley of 
Sheyenne River. 
This broad stretch of country is well farmed, and 
the fields of grain are a sure indication of its prosperity. 
Near Tower City (see sheet 5, p. 44) the railway is located in a 
broad flat that is only imperfectly drained by the headwaters of 
Maple River, as described on page 43; and then 
Tower City. 
Elevation 1,194 feet. 
Population 452. 
St. Paul 294 miles. 
begins the long, steady ascent to the summit of Alta 
Ridge, which can be seen in the distance from Oriska. 
This ridge, one of the most pronounced topographic 
features that will be seen between the Red River 
valley and Missouri River, is capped by drift which represents the 
crossed by the Northern Pacific Railway 
just west of Crystal Springs. It lies upon 
the Coteau du Missouri and is closely as- 
sociated with the Altamont moraine, the 
high coteau front serving as a wall or dam 
which held back the ice in its forward 
movement. The great amount of material 
in these outer moraines and the large size 
of the hills indicate that the edge of the 
great ice sheet probably remained against 
the coteau for a considerable time. South 
of the Northern Pacific Railway the Gary 
pias raed ica with the Alta- 
mont e some places they 
cine but in ‘ers they are nearly 
The glacier at the time 
the 08 moraine was built extended as 
far south as it did during the greatest ex- 
tension, but the lobe was narrower, aver- 
not more than 80 miles in width, 
and the point of division between this 
lobe and the Minnesota ~ had receded 
to the North Dakota 
The next stage in i recession of the 
ice front is not marked by a single large 
and well-defined moraine, but by a belt 
ridges indicates that the ice front fluctu- 
ated back and forth across the belt. The 
ridges of the Antelope moraine are crossed 
by the Northern Pacific line between 
S. Dak., but the point of division ieee. 
a 
the two great lobes had not changed its 
position appreciably from that which it 
occupied in the Gary substage. The 
Antelope moraine is here regarded as in- 
cluding the Kiester moraine, which has 
been recognized only for a few miles south 
of the Northern Pacific Railway and east 
of James River. 
next important moraine, which has 
been called the Waconia, is crossed by 
the railway between Eckelson and Fox 
lakes and forms the divide between Hud- 
the formation of the Gary morain 
glacier at this stage of the retreat extended 
only a few miles across the State line into 
South Dakota, and its lobe, which at one 
time extended to the mouth of James 
iv as so reduce e scarcely 
iécupnisable and Seleed the next halt had 
disappeared. 
o more halts in the recession of the 
western margin of the ice are recorded 
along the Northern Pacific line, but these 
were doubtless of slight duration and did 
not produce separate moraines south of 
the railway. The moraine marking the 
earlier of these halts is supposed to be the 
same as a moraine at Fergus Falls, Minn., 
and therefore is called by that name. It 
is well developed in Alta Ridge, 6 miles 
east of Valley City. The second moraine 
is the low ridge east of Buffalo. When 
the southern part of Red River valley 
became flooded with water, and Lak 
Agassiz was formed. 
