Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820: Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
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Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820: Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
Great Lakes (North America); Mississippi River -- Sources; Northwest, Old -- Description and travel
_Crystallized Calcareous Spar._--This mineral occurs, in minute
rhomboidal crystals, in the calcareous rock of the Island of
Michilimackinac. Sometimes these crystals fill cavities or seams of the
rock, or are studded over the angular surfaces of masses of vesicular
limestone of that island. I also found this mineral at Dubuque's mines,
and in small crystals in the metalliferous limestone bordering the Fox
River, between the post of Green Bay and Winnebago Lake, where it is
associated with iron pyrites and blende.
Subs. 2.--_Compact Limestone._
In proceeding northwest of Detroit, this mineral is first observed, in
situ, on an island in Lake Huron. It is afterwards found to be the
prevailing rock along the south and southwest shores of Lake Huron. In
many places, it incloses fossil remains. Sometimes it is _earthy_, as at
Bay De Noquet, a part of Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, where it contains
very perfect remains of the terrebratula. (Parkinson.) In other places,
no remains whatever are visible, and the structure is firm and compact;
or even passes, by a further graduation, into transition-granular, of
which, it is believed, the west shores of Lake Michigan afford an
instance. It is most commonly based upon sandstone, which also contains,
in many places, the fossil organized remains of various species of
crustaceous animals, and of vegetables, sometimes, coal, &c.
Subs. 3.--_Agaric Mineral._
This mineral substance occurs in crevices and cavities in the calcareous
rock of the Island of Michilimackinac, Michigan.
Subs. 4.--_Concrete Carbonate of Lime._
1. _Calcareous Sinter._--In the form of _stalactites_ and _stalagmites_,
in a cave situated near Prairie du Chien, on the Upper Mississippi.
2. _Calcareous Tufa._--A remarkable formation of tufa is seen on the
east banks of the Wabash River, near Wynemac's Village, about ten miles
above the junction of the Tippecanoe. It extends for several miles, and
is deposited to the thickness of thirty or forty feet above the water,
forming cliffs which are covered with alluvial soil and sustain a growth
of forest trees. The precise points of its commencement and
disappearance were not observed. The structure is cellular or vesicular,
and resembles, in some places, a coarse dried mortar. It is very light,
and possesses a white color in inferior situations, but the surface is
somewhat colored by fallen leaves and other decaying vegetation. It
imbeds fluvatile shells and some vegetable remains, the species of which
have not been ascertained. The opposite, or west side of the river
consists of a kind of puddingstone, or caschalo, made up of pebbles of
quartz, &c., cemented by carbonate of lime, of a yellow color and
translucent. This beautiful aggregate is overlayed by a stratum, of
fifteen or twenty feet in thickness, of diluvial soil. These localities
fall within the limits of the State of Indiana; but on territories still
occupied, if not owned, by the aborigines.
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