Geological Surface Features of Sauk County. 513 
Pursuing our course for another mile, we come to another 
ascent, but much more gradual than the previous, so that, while 
gradually reaching a height of about sixty feet above the level 
of the oak-opening, this rise is distributed over about half a 
mile. This slope has a few vegetation elements peculiar to 
itself, namely: Anemone patens, var. Nuttalliana, Linaria 
Canadensis, (Enothera rhombipetela, Aster multiflorus, A. 
oblongifolius, Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, and Castilleia sessili- 
fiora. 
On the whole, however, the character of the vegetation here 
is transitional; being intermediate between that of the oak¬ 
opening below and the undulating prairie above. The flora of 
the latter as it stretches now for several miles to the north and 
east is peculiarly uniform. The Gramineae predominate here 
at all times, and among them we may mention as characteristic 
the following: Andropogon furcatus, A. scoparius, Chrysopogon 
nutans, Sporobulus asper, Bouteloua hirsuta, and Festuca 
tenella. 
In the northeastern part of the town we find a depression in 
this plain, sinking to about twenty feet below the general level 
of the surrounding prairie, and, as the soil, which is light and 
sandy on the latter, here has a larger proportion pf clay and 
loam, the vegetation has, aside from greater luxuriance, some 
forms that nowhere else form such prominent features, as: 
Agrostis scabra, A. perennans, Asclepias Cornuti, Viola peda- 
tifida, and Ranunculus rhomboideus. In the southwestern part 
of the town we have a smaller area of similar vegetation. 
Turning now to the west we are met by another sudden rise; 
this is more considerable than any preceding. 
We stand at the foot of the bluff region which is here com¬ 
posed of a series of well-worn sand-stone bluffs rising about two 
hundred feet above the adjoining high prairie and partly capped 
by magnesian limestone. 
Two separate branches of the general bluff system of Sauk 
county enter the town; the one cutting off the northwest corner 
and barely reaching into the limestone horizon, the other en¬ 
tering about the middle of the west line and covering the 
greater part of that tier of sections down to the southwest cor- 
