22<) The American Geologist. October. 1893 
NOTE ON CRETACEOUS IN NORTHERN MINNE- 
SOTA. 
By Horace V. Winchki.l. Minneapolis, Minn. 
In 1887 Cretaceous shale was found by the writer on the 
Little Fork, Big Fork or Bowstring and Rainy Lake rivers* 
in the northern part of Minnesota. A few fragments of fos- 
sils and two or three cycloid fish scales, together with lignite 
and brown coal fragments were all the organic remains that 
were noticed at that time. The presence of lignite in the 
drift of the southern portion of the state and the blue clay 
itself had suggested the idea of the former presence of Cre- 
taceous sediments over some portion of the northern half of 
Minnesota, before their actual discovery, and the opinion had 
been expressed by the state geologist that the area north of 
the Hight of Land had all been covered by the Cretaceous 
ocean. A summary of the Cretaceous in Minnesota is given 
by Dr. C. A. White in his "Correlation Paper 1 ' (Cretaceous). 
Bulletin 82 of the U. S. Geological Survey. 
Since 1887, however, there have been no further localities 
noted until recently. The discovery of the vast hematite de- 
posits of the Mesabi range has stimulated exploration work in 
this unsettled region, and new facts have been brought to 
light bearing upon the distribution of Cretaceous sediments. 
In the fall of 1892 the attention of the writer was directed 
by Mr. Uno Sebenius to a test pit sunk for iron ore in the 
northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 20, Twp. 
58 N., R. 19 W., Fourth principal meridian. Mr. Sebenius had 
collected fossils from the material thrown out of this pit. 
These he kindly placed at my disposal, and they, with others 
which I myself collected at the same spot, were sent to Dr. C. 
A. White, of the U. S. National Museum, who examined them 
with the aid of Mr. T. W. Stanton, and sent me the following 
letters in reference to them : 
Washington, D. C, March 24th, 1893. 
Mr. Horace V. Winchell. 
Dear Sir: I have examined the small collection of fossils which you 
obtained from the Mesabi range in northern Minnesota, and, although 
they are all in an imperfect condition, I do not hesitate to refer them to 
the Upper Cretaceous. The following genera are represented by the 
*Sixteenth Annual Report, Minnesota Geol. Nat. Hist. Survey, pp. 
403, 401, 406, 409, 430, 431, 434. 
