CHAPTER II. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN THE WISCONSIN AND 

 MENOMONIE RIVERS. 



I devoted the month of October to a reconnoissance of the rocks between these 

 rivers ; but only a small portion of so large a field could be personally examined by 

 our party in so short a time. The Michigan survey had been partially brought up 

 to the state line on the Menomonie, by Houghton, Foster, and Burt. The surveys 

 in Wisconsin, of 1839 and 1847, had progressed easterly so far as the meridian of 

 Fort Winnebago, leaving a space of unexplored territory which it was interesting 

 to examine. Increase A. Lapham, Esq., an engineer and geologist of Milwaukie, 

 who has for many years attentively examined the geology of the southeastern part 

 of Wisconsin, liberally contributed his observations to me, and they are, so far as I 

 know, the only authority on the rocks south of Lake Winnebago, and east of Rock 

 River. With the limited examinations made by myself, the observations of Mr. 

 Lapham were of the highest value in elucidating, by means of the rocks on the 

 south, those I was studying on the north. I take this opportunity to express my 

 obligations to him, and to state that his examinations, made entirely on private 

 account, are extensive and correct. 



My route was from Sheboygan to Fond du Lac (of Lake Winnebago), thence by 

 Oshkosh, and down the Fox River (or Neenah) to Green Bay. Here I was joined 

 by Dr. S. E. Beach, of Appleton, as an assistant, who proved himself a good observer 

 and woodsman, and a valuable acquisition to the expedition. From Green Bay we 

 passed along its western shore to the mouth of the Oconto, and up the same to its 

 sources. Returning, we made a portage to Lake Shawano, ascended Wolf River to 

 the falls, and thence descending Wolf and Fox Rivers, reached Oshkosh on the 

 1st of November. 



On this route of the Oconto and Wolf Rivers, we saw no mountains ; only a few 

 low, rocky bluffs, and some gentle drift-hills, knobs, and terraces. The surveyors 

 say that the country, from Lake Shawano to Green Bay, presents no hills, but only 

 gradual swells, and a rich soil, inclined to be wet. The Indians, who furnished us 

 maps of the portages, laid down some mountains north and east of Lake Shawano, 

 but from the highest points we saw, being from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 



