578 GEOLOGY OF CENTRAL WISCONSIN. 



Maequeite and Waushaea Counties, and Geeen Lake County, 



JSTOETH OF THE FoX ElVEE. 

 (Atlas Platu XIV, Aeea B.) 



This district lies chiefly to the north and west of the Pox river, towards which it slopes 

 steadily from the summit of the difiding ridge in western Waushara and southena 

 Adams counties. It includes a total area of about 1,239 square miles. Throughout the 

 region the Potsdam sajidatone seems to be the surface formation everywhere, except in 

 the few places wliere the crystaUine rocks come to the surface, and in one or two Umestone- 

 capped bluffs. The sandstone, however, is not frequently exposed, being for tlie most 

 part very deeply buried beneath the glacial drift, or Champlain lacustrine clays, the 

 •former occurring in portions of the region in a morainic condition, and of unusual tliick- 

 ness. It is not possible to be ceri^ain that the superficial deposits do not in places rest 

 directly upon the crystaUme rocks without intervening sandstone, but the laiown facts 

 render such an hypothesis improbable. 



This region, though similar in its basement rook and general sandy soil to the central 

 plain of Adams and Juneau counties, differs from it in being without tlie plaiu-hke 

 character, presenting as it does a steady descent fr-om northwest to southeast of over 

 3(X) feet, and a surface in general much roughened by morainic drift. Another strildng 

 difference is found in the absence of the castellated outhers that characterize the Adams 

 and Juneau district. A few small ones dot the summit of the high ground in north- 

 western Marquette county and the adjoining part of Waushara, but these are of 

 rounded shape, compaiatively stout, and without the ft-agile appearance of the more 

 western peaks. Further east, the outliers disappear altogether. The general south- 

 eastward descent gives that direction to the many tributaries of the Fox, which, as al- 

 ready described, are large, clear and rapid streams, furnishing many excellent Arater- 

 powers. In places quite large areas are level, as for instance Burr Oak prairie, in west- 

 em Waushara county, but these are but small portions of the whole district. In the 

 town of Mount Morris and the adjacent country, northeast of Wautoma, Waushara 

 county, is a small district which owes its irregularity of surface chiefly to subaerial ero- 

 sion of the rocky strata, presenting the ordinary phenomena of deep and narrow val- 

 leys. Southeastern Marquette county includes a small part of the south side of the 

 Pox river basin, in the towns of Paokwaukee, Buffalo and MonteUo. The character of 

 this area is similar to that of the rest of the region, the sandstone outcrops being some- 

 what more frequent, but the surface m general much heaped up with drift. 



The soU of the region is largely sandy. This sand, however, though originally com- 

 ing, without doubt, from the Potsdam sandstone, is directly derived from the glacial 

 drift, which has also contributed much calcareous and clayey matter. Thus it comes 

 that, although based upon the sandstone, and presenting in many places a very sandy soil, 

 excellent farming land is by no means uncommon in these counties. In the eastern 

 towns of Waushara county, where the red Champlain clays make up the body of the 

 soil, much very excellent land is found. Except in the clay region of eastern Wausha- 

 ra, where hard wood (ash and elm) is plenty, the only timber is for the most part the 

 small oak growth that characterizes most of Central Wisconsm, the oaks becoming 

 mingled with pines towards the north. 



Prom what has been said, it will be seen that the exposures of horizontal strata axe 

 not frequent. The Kme bluff's of the town of Springfield, in the northwestern corner of 

 Marquette county, have already been described. On Sec. 15, T. 19, R. 11 E., Waushara 

 county, the high gromid known as Mount Morris reaches into the limy layers that 

 underUe the Mendota limestone. On top of the hUI, 240 feet above Mount Morris post 

 office, are exposed 3 feet of tliin layers of coarse-grained, yellowish, firm sandstone 



