THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 45 
A few miles west of Eldridge (see sheet 6, p. 46) is the eastern front 
of a low plateau known as the Coteau du Missouri,! which is mentioned 
in all the accounts of early explorations in this part 
Eldridge. of the country. Doubtless in passing across the 
Elevation 1,563 feet. Country on foot or with a wagon train the Coteau 
StPaul scl eas, loomed up as a formidable obstacle, but the railway 
_ traveler of to-day, unless his attention is particularly 
directed to it, would probably cross it without realizing that it is a 
prominent topographic feature. 
At milepost 103 the train begins the ascent of the east front of the 
Coteau, and it reaches the summit just east of Windsor. A compari- 
son of altitudes shows that this summit is almost ex- 
Windsor. actly 300 feet above Eldridge and 435 feet above 
Elevation 1,864 feet. Jamestown. In a mountainous region a ridge 300 
St Paulawanies, feet high is hardly worth considering, but in eastern 
North Dakota a plateau of this height is of the first 
magnitude. The commanding position of the Coteau can better be 
appreciated by a view eastward from milepost 108, at the east end of 
the deep summit cut. This view commands a wide expanse of undu- 
lating plain, which is backed in the distance by the low swell of Alta 
Ridge, east of Valley City. 
As shown on the sketch map on sheet 5 (p. 44), a small moraine 
marks the face of the Coteau north of the railroad. It is probable 
that this is represented by the deep till in the summit cut east of 
Windsor, but the features visible from the train are not strikingly 
morainic in character. 
The glacial features along the line of the railway are not well 
marked, but from Cleveland nearly to Medina there are many 
Cleveland. indications, in the form of hummocks and undrained 
basins, of the morainic character of the topography. 
Beyond this belt the country is gently rolling. 
scarcity of ranch houses is an indication that this 
Elevation 1,874 feet. 
Medina. is what was formerly called the ‘‘short-grass coun- 
Elevation 1,816 feet. try,” but now, in the days of successful dry farming, 
<omepes ars it has achieved a very different reputation. 
Near Crystal Springs the aspect of the country 
appears to be distinctly morainic in character, but no definite ridge 
1 Coteau is a French term signifying a | ing the edgeofaplateau. Such an escarp- 
small hill or hillock. In the northern | ment is usually dissected, so that ata dis- 
part of the United States it was generally | tance it resembles a range of hills. The 
applied by the early French travelers to | Coteau des Prairies and Coteau du Mis- 
a range of hills or to th tf souri are escarpments of this character. 
£ 
