Appendix—geological survey. 
4 7 1 
The different formations from the Wisconsin river south to the state line, 
in what is known as the “ lead district,” were described in my report of last 
year. North from this, to town 21, the surface rock may be divided into two 
beds; one of limestone, from 200 to 250 feet thick, where there has been no 
denudation; the other of sandstone, from 400 to 500 feet thick. The lime¬ 
stone is known as the “Lower Magnesian,” the sandstone as the “ Potsdam.” 
The sandstone, which underlies the limestone, is the lowest member of what 
is known as the Silurian system, and is resting'on what is known as the 
“Azoic formation,” that is, the old crystalline rocks which come to the sur¬ 
face, as before stated, north of town 21. 
With this brief geological description of my field of labor, I will proceed 
to describe what I have found in it of practical value, and what, by further 
explanation, may lead to important practical results. To the north of the 
Wisconsin river, and consequently beyond the northern boundary of what is 
known as the “ lead district,” I find this limestone as the surface rock, giving 
us at first its whole thickness, with occasionally a thin layer of the upper 
sandstone on the highest points, but gradually thinning out as we follow it to 
the north. Although beyond the limits of the mineral district of the south¬ 
ern part of the state, and in a geological formation altogether below that in 
which the ore deposits are found there, I find the same geological arrange¬ 
ment, so far as the grouping of north and south, and east and west belts are 
concerned. That is, although the geological formations are entirely lost 
here, yet the same system of grouping or arrangement of mineralized belts, 
is distinctly preserved. In town nine there is a belt of country very much 
stained with the oxide of iron, and presenting on the surface other indications 
of being good mineral ground. At Orion, in Richland county, some attempts 
at mining have been made, and some pretty good prospects for lead have 
been discovered. West of Orion, iron seems to predominate, although mixed 
too much with foreign material to be good ore. Still farther west on the same 
belt in Crawford county, copper ore in different places has been found, and 
several thousand pounds taken out and sold. But outside of a strong color¬ 
ing of the rocks, clays and soil with the oxide of iron, and here and there a 
little lead, iron or copper, there is nothing to warrant the expectation of very 
heavy deposits of ore of any kind; although in places, especially near Orion 
considerable may be found. The countiy is very much broken, and other¬ 
wise unfavorable for extensive ore deposits, notwithstanding the abundant 
evidences it affords of being in a mineral region. 
Extending north from this belt we find the streams, all of which are com¬ 
ing from the north, heading up into a well defined belt, or elevation of land, 
strongly marked with the evidences of physical disturbance, or changes in 
the character and composition of the rock, and as we approach it through 
Richland county, along the centre of this anticlinal, the evidences of a min¬ 
eralized belt continue to increase as we reach the point of intersection. To 
the east, and for several miles beyond where it intersects this north and south 
anticlinal, it presents physical characters peculiar to such belts of rock. 
Between the city of Baraboo and Sauk Prairie on the south, this belt forms 
