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
The ARCHED ROCK is an isolated mass of self-sustaining rock, on the
eastern facade of cliffs; it offers one of those coincidences of
geological degradation in which the firmer texture of the silicious and
calcareous portions of it have, thus far, resisted decomposition. Its
explanation, is, however, simple: The apex of this geological monument
is on a level, or nearly so, with the Fort Holmes summit. While the
diluvial action, of which the whole island gives striking proofs,
carried away the rest of the reticulated or magnesian limestone, this
singular point, having a firmer texture, resisted its power, and remains
to tell the visitor who gazes at it, that waters have once held dominion
over the highest part of the island.
Before dismissing the subject of the geological phenomena of this
island, it may be observed that it is covered with the erratic block or
drift stratum. Primitive or crystalline pebbles and boulders are found,
but not plentifully, on the surface. They are observed, however, on the
highest summit, and upon the lower plain; one of the best localities of
these boulders, exists on the depressed ground, leading north, in the
approach to Dousman's Farm, where there is a remarkable accumulation of
blocks of granite and hornblende drift boulders. The principal drift of
the island consists of smooth, small, calcareous pebbles, and, at deeper
positions, angular fragments of limestone. Sandstone boulders are not
rare. Over the plain leading from the fort north by way of the Skull
Rock, are spread extensive beds of finely comminuted calcareous gravel,
the particles of which often not exceeding the size of a buck-shot,
which makes one of the most solid and compact natural macadamized roads
of which it is possible to conceive. Carriage wheels on it run as
smoothly, but far more solid, than they could over a plank floor. This
formation appears to be the diluvial residuum or ultimate wash, which
arranged itself agreeably to the laws of its own gravitation, on the
recession of the watery element, to which its comminution is clearly
due. It would be worth transportation, in boxes, for gravelling
ornamental garden-walks. The soil of the island is highly charged with
the calcareous element, and, however barren in appearance, is favorable
to vegetation. Potatoes have been known to be raised in pure beds of
small limestone pebbles, where the seed potatoes had been merely covered
in a slight way, to shield them from the sun, until they had taken root.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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