302 GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION TO THE BOCKY MOUNTAINS. 



THE STATE OK MINNESOTA. 



By I'l.Y 8. (iKANT. " 



Topography— The topographic features of Minnesota may be briefly 

 summed up, for its western three-quarters, as being a moderately 

 undulating, sometimes nearly Sat, and occasionally billy expanse. 

 The only exceptions to this topographic character arc the northeastern 

 and southeastern corners of the State, the former being almost moun- 

 tainous, and the latter deeply eroded valleys, often destitute of drift. 

 The northwestern corner is a part of the valley of the Red River of the 

 North, and is extremely Hat and monotonous. It is made up super- 

 ficially of deposits from the glacial lake, Agassi/, and -well represents 

 an area which is topographically young, the river courses having but 

 just begun* to cut shallow narrow channels in the unconsolidated mate- 

 rials. The extreme northeastern part of the State has little drift, and 

 is very rough and broken in outline, the ragged summits of hills of 

 Crystalline rocks giving many hold features to the landscape. In the 

 southeastern corner the Mississippi river and its tributaries are 

 inclosed by bluffs from 200 to 600 feet (61 to 183 m.) in height; these 

 bluffs consist of nearly horizontal Paleozoic rocks. 



The average elevation of the State is somewhat over L,200 feet (306 

 m.) above sea level. The only part that can be termed at all moun- 

 tainous is the district between bake Superior and the Canadian 

 boundary. Mere three parallel ranges of hills trend northeastwardly, 

 and rise- in some places to an altitude of 2,200 feet (071 m.). The most 

 broken country is that immediately bordering on Lake Superior, where, 

 in from 2 to 10 miles (3 to 1(1 km.) back from the shore, the land rises 

 over 1,000 feet (305 m.). The region around the sources of the Missis- 

 sippi has an altitude of 1,700 feet (518 m.), and in the northwest-central 

 part of the State a gentlerange of hills (the Leaf hills) rises to a height 

 of 1,750 feet (533 m.). The Coteau des Prairies, an elevated region in 

 the southwestern portion of Minnesota, is from 1,800 to 1.000 feet (549 

 to 57!) m.) above sea level. 



Lakes- and rivers.— The water area of Minnesota is Larger than that 

 of any other State of the Union, being 5,637 square miles,t or nearly 

 one-fifteenth of the whole area of the State. The total number of lakes 



"Compiled largely from the reports of the Geological and Natural History Survey 



of Minnesota. 



t This estimate does not include any part of Lake Superior 



