STATE GEOLOGIST. 13 



the state, approximately; while about one-third, lying at the south 

 and southwest, and reaching in the Red river valley to the inter- 

 national boundary, as also the part of this valley farther north to 

 lake Winnipeg, is prairie. The line dividing these areas, having 

 an almost wholly timbered region on its northeast side, and a re- 

 gion on its southwest side that is chiefly grassland, without trees 

 or shrubs, excepting in narrow belts along the larger streams and 

 occasional groves beside lakes, runs as follows. Entering the 

 state from the north about fifteen miles east of Emerson and St. 

 Vincent, it extends south-southeastward to Red Lake Falls, thirty- 

 six miles east of Grand Forks; thence southeast and south, to the 

 east end of Maple lake; thence southwesterly along this lake, and 

 from it south to the Sand Hill river; thence southeasterly to the 

 White Earth Agency; thence southerly, by Detroit and Pelican 

 Rapids, to Fergus Falls, which is situated half-way from the north 

 to the south line of the state; thence southeasterly, in a less direct 

 and regular course, through Douglas, Stearns, Meeker, McLeod and 

 Sibley counties, to the Minnesota river, and along that stream to 

 Mankato and South Bend; thence easterly by Janesville, Water- 

 ville and Morristown, to Faribault; thence northerly, turning back- 

 ward, to Minneapolis and Anoka, the loop thus formed, enclosing 

 Wright, Carver, Scott, Le Sueur, and parts of adjacent counties, 

 being the boundary of the area well known as the Big Woods; 

 thence easterly, passing through Ramsey and Washington counties 

 to Stillwater and Hudson, where it enters Wisconsin. 



The Big Woods are principally made up of the following species 

 of trees, arranged by Prof. Winchell in the estimated order of their 

 abundance: white or American elm, basswood, sugar maple, black 

 and bur oaks, butternut, slippery or red elm, soft or silver maple, 

 bitternut, white and black ash, iron-wood, wild plum, June-berry, 

 American crab-apple, common poplar or aspen, large-toothed pop- 

 lar, tamarack (in swamps), box-elder, black cherry, cotton wood 

 (beside rivers and lakes), water beech, willows, hackberry, paper or 

 canoe birch, yellow birch, white oak, and red cedar. Farther north- 

 ward white, red and jack pines, black and white spruce, balsam fir 

 and arbor-vitge are conspicuous in the forest, intermingled with 

 deciduous trees. Its shrubs include prickly ash, smooth sumach, 

 frost grape, Virginian creeper, climbing bitter-sweet, red and black 

 raspberries, choke-berry, prickly and smooth gooseberries, black 

 currant, and species of cornel, wolf berry, honeysuckle, elder, vibur- 

 num, and hazel-nut. 



