460 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
the great lakes or the Mississippi, to the remotest markets of the earth 
without reshipment. 
The Baraboo bluffs form the backbone of the county—the northern slopes 
of which are drained by the Baraboo river; the southern slopes give rise to 
numerous tributaries of the Wisconsin. There are no marshes or lakes of 
any great extent in the county, its central elevation being sufficient to se¬ 
cure thorough drainage, and no considerable stream can be found within its 
limits which does not flow with sufficient rapidity to furnish numerous 
water powers along its course. 
The northern border of the county rests upon the Potsdam sandstone of 
the lower silesian, which dipping to the south, in the central part, com¬ 
mences passing under the lower magnesian limestone. The western limit 
of the drift formation passes in a line from northeast to southwest through 
the county. This gives a great variety of soil and surface adapted to a 
wide range of agricultural products. 
In the vicinity of Devil’s lake we find evidence of a vast upheaving 
power which has broken up the strata of the Potsdam sandstone, highly 
vitrified in that locality, forming deep anti-clinal valleys. 
While the soil of the county is comparatively free from detached rocks 
which hinder cultivation, except in some parts of the bluffs, yet good 
quarry stone is found in almost every neighborhood. Lime of an excellent 
quality for concrete is burned in the central and southern portions of the 
county. 
The only mineral known to exist at present in quantities sufficient to be 
profitably worked is iron. That is found in different localities in the 
county, but it is only worked at present in the town of Ironton. The work¬ 
ings at that place are surface workings, situated on a side hill, and have 
been pushed until a breast of twenty feet is obtained, and no bottom has 
been reached. The supply seems to be inexhaustible. It is brown hemetite, 
* 
and yields about seventy-five per cent, from the furnace. 
Last year 1,300 tons of iron were manufactured, and the present furnace 
has a capacity for 2,000 tons annually. Competent judges pronouce it equal 
to Lake Superior iron. It lies in the midst of a rich agricultural region, 
heavily timbered, and a profitable market is opened for the wood as it is 
cleared from the land. The iron finds its market in Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
Iowa and Illinois, in the order named. 
Good clay for brick is found wherever it is needed; near Baraboo a cream 
colored brick is made equal in quality to the celebrated Milwaukee brick. 
Probably the most romantic scenery in the state of Wisconsin is found 
within this county; Devil’s lake is surrounded by rocky cliffs, five hundred 
feet in height; the Dells, the upper and lower narrows, and the Baraboo 
bluffs, are renowned for their scenery, and are yearly the resort of many 
thousands of visitors. 
The county is heavily timbered especially on the southern side of Bara- 
