The Kcivec/iazuan tn Minnesota. — Elftnia?!. 95 
distinct in character from that, in other parts of this region. 
Each moraine as seen from a distance forms a range of irregu- 
lar hills from fifty to two hundred feet above the surface in 
its immediate vicinity. 
The Highland moraine, when viewed from the south, ap- 
pears more abrupt, with a greater difiference in elevation be- 
tween it and the land southward than is seen from the north. 
With the other moraines the abruptness is seen on the north 
side. The moraine formed l)y the union of the Highland and 
Itasca moraine is abrupt on both sides. 
Upon a closer examination it is found that in approaching 
the Highland moraine from the south, the land in general is 
devoid of any marked difference in elevation or roughness 
beyond that due to the position of the bedrock. The moraine 
is sharply defined and generally rises suddenly in hills one 
hundred and fifty feet high. The belt of irregular hills, in 
which occur numerous kettle holes over fifty feet deep, varies 
in width from one-half mile to five miles. Toward the north 
the hills are less prominent, rarely more than fifty feet higher 
than the land immediately beyond the moraine whose north- 
ern limit is thus not well defined. 
The Itasca moraine west of range 12 west is not extensive 
but it increases in extent toward the east, forming a belt of 
hills from two to five miles wide, rising from twenty to seven- 
ty-five feet above the land to the south and twenty-five to two 
hundred feet above the land north of it. The northern 
boundary of the moraine is well defined while the southern 
boundary merges into the non-morainic drift. 
East of T. 59 N., R. 8W.,the united Itasca and Highland 
moraines, hereafter designated the Itasca — Highlantl moraine, 
have their northern and southern boundaries sharply dis- 
tinguished. This belt averages three miles wide in its. entire 
extent and forms the highest land within the first fifteen to 
thirty miles north of lake Superior. 
The Mesabi moraine is not extensive in its western con- 
fines. It reaches its maximum devel()i)ment in T. 60 N., R. 
8, 9 and 10 W., and T. 61 N., R. 8 W. In these localities it 
varies from one-half a mile to four miles in width. Eastward 
the moraine is (|uite limited in extent until it reaches Hungry 
Jack lake where its hills are very conspicuous. Like the 
