xxxii 



INTRODUCTION. 



carried, it indicates that in the soil of the sandy region there are sixteen per cent, 

 more insoluble silicates, seven per cent, less saline matter, 0*79 per cent, less calca- 

 reous matter, and six per cent, less organic matter, than in the calcareous district ; 

 amounts which evidence a great superiority in the quality of the latter over the 

 former. 



Through the drift region, occupying the interior of the Chippewa Land District, 

 in Wisconsin, and especially in the pineries, the soil partakes, to a considerable 

 extent, of the same siliceous character. Where the intrusive rocks reach the sur- 

 face, it has been modified and improved by more fertilizing saline intermixtures. 

 A large proportion of this District, especially towards the summit levels, is inter- 

 spersed by lakes, morasses, and bogs, and around these the lands are generally too 

 wet for cultivation, except under an expensive system of drainage, which cannot be 

 expected to be undertaken in a new country where good land is so easily obtained. 



The Lake Superior country presents four principal varieties of soil : a drift soil, 

 similar in its ingredients to that just mentioned ; a red clay and marly soil, preva- 

 lent over the high plains bordering the coast, and the corresponding lands on the 

 adjacent islands ; a trap soil, of limited extent, near the foot of the igneous outbursts, 

 and finally, alluvial bottoms, which are confined almost exclusively to a small body 

 of land on the east fork of Bad River. 



The drift soil prevails through the high lands, elevated six hundred to one thou- 

 sand feet above the level of the lake ; also over the high grounds of the promontory, 

 west of Chegwomigon Bay, at a height of three hundred to six hundred feet, and 

 the higher points of the neighbouring Apostle Islands. These lands, owing to their 

 inferior siliceous soil, and the abundance of erratic blocks disseminated over them, 

 are hardly fit for cultivation. 



The trap soils, which support a growth of sugar maple, oak, and other hard woods, 

 are next in richness to the alluvial lands. They are found chiefly on high ridges and 

 slopes, which, at the east and west ends of the District, are only a short distance 

 from the lake shore ; but on the waters of Bad River and the Brul£, they recede 

 three-fourths of the distance back towards the sources of their various branches. 



With these trap soils of the Lake Superior country, may be classed the lands in 

 the vicinity of Big Bull Falls, and south of Beaulieau's Rapids, on the Wisconsin 

 River ; the Pokegoma country, bordering the lake of the same name, in Minnesota ; 

 the immediate vicinity of the Falls of St. Croix ; and a portion of the Snake, Kettle, 

 and Little Rock River country : since the soil at these localities originates from 

 rocks of similar composition. 



The red clay and marl lands, occupying the high plains skirting Lake Superior, 

 are characterized particularly by the predominance of oxide of iron, from which they 

 derive their colour, and which amounts to four and a half per cent., or nearly one- 

 half of the weight of the saline matter ; it is always a retentive soil, from the abun- 



