Box 23, Folder 6: Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin 1855, Third Edition

12. [Table showing the length in miles of one degree of latitude and one degree of longitude in Wisconsin].

X-Capt. T.J. Cram, U.S. Topographical Engineer. *-Determined by the author.

13.

There are no mountains, properly speaking, in Wisconsin; the whole being one vast plain, varied only by the river hills, and the gentle swells or undulations of country usually denominated "rolling". This plain lies at an elevation of from six to fifteen hundred feet above the level of the ocean.

The dividing grounds between the valleys usually attain but a slight elevation above the surrounding country; and consequently, it frequently happens that a lake or marsh is drained in two opposite directions, and sends its waters towards the ocean at widely different points.

The highest lands are those forming the dividing ridge between the waters of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, which about the source of the Montreal river attains the elevation of eleven hundred and fifty feet above the level of Lake Michigan. It gradually diminishes in elevation as we go west from this point until, at the western boundary of the state it is only about five hundred feet above the same level.

From the summit of this water shed there is a great plain sloping off towards the south and south west.

This inclination is interrupted in the region of the lower Wisconsin and Neenah rivers, where we find another ridge extending across the state, from which proceeds another gently descending slope, drained mostly by the waters of Rock river and its branches. These slopes indicate, and are occasioned by, the dip or inclination of the rocky strata beneath the soil. The Wisconsin hills and many of the bluffs along the Mississippi river often attain the height of three hundred feet above their base, and the [blue mound] was ascertained by Dr. Locke, by barometrical observations, to be one thousand feet above the Wisconsin river at Helena (1124 above Lake Michigan). B/M/

The surface is further diversified by the Platte and Sinsinawa Mounds, but these prominent elevations are so rare that they form very marked objects in the landscape, and serve the traveler, in the former unsettled condition of the country as guides by which to direct his course.

14.

The cliffs along the eastern shore of Green Bay extend through the counties of Brown, Calumet, Fon du Lac, & Dodge, forming a bold encampment not unlike that known as the "Mountain ridge" in western New York and the adjacent part of Canada. This remarkable up-lift of the solid limestone strata is very conspicuous on the border of Lake Winnebago, & at Iron Ridge. From the crest of this ridge the general slope of the country (as well as the dip of the strata) is towards Lake Michigan, or a little south of east.

The country immediately bordering on Lake Superior has a very abrupt descent towards the lake; hence the streams entering that lake are full of rapids and waterfalls, being comparatively worthless for all purposes of navigation, but affording a vast superabundance of water power.

This power will all be needed at some future time to aid in the development of the [illegible] vast stores of wealth now lying idle in the deep forests and mineral deposits there to be found.

15.

There is another very remarkable ridge of irregular and broken land, usually called "the pots and kittles". Commencing on the peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan it extends in a south-westerly direction, occupying an intermediate position and maintaining in parallel course with the Mountain Ridge and the Lake. In many places the ground seems to have sunk [to] leaving a round deep hole suggesting the popular name of "[Pots [ash/and?] kettles."] At other places steep narrow ridges are formed studded with boulders or large rounded masses of rock.

These attain their greatest elevation in the south west part of Washington County where there are several prominent peaks. The highest of these is a remarkable conical hill 824 feet above Lake Michigan on which are these ancient artificial mounds.* The ridge crosses Bark river near the Nagowicka lake, and thence passing in the same general direction, through Walworth county, into the State of Illinois. The irregular and broken appearance of this ridge is probably owing to the soft and easily decomposed limestone rock of which it is composed.

A large proportion of the materials of which it is composed consists of fragments of a whitish porous limestone.

*-In consideration of the interest I manifested in this prominent feature of this part of the state by measuring its altitude and [observe?] its ancient mounds it has been named Lapham's Peak.

16.

No part of the United States not even the [the] world renowned Hudson river, exceeds the valley of the Upper Mississippi [Valley] in the beauty and grandeur of its wild natural scenery. From the south line of the state to the falls of St. Anthony, there is one continued series of fine, picturesque bluffs and hills of constantly varied form and features. Their bold and prominent character at point is reduced and softened down by gently sloping and partially wooded lawns at another. Occasionally there [these?] cliffs are so steep and narrow as strongly one of the runs of ancient castles of the [feudal?] lords of a by-gone age in a distant land.

The traveler is not awed by the overpowering majesty and grandeur of mountain scenery, nor worried by monotony of a level country; but he every where finds that proper medium which is always agreeable and always interesting. The calm and gently flowing waters of the river reflect these beautiful shores, as in a glossy mirror, thus doubting their effect upon the beholder. Artists have exhausted their efforts in the endeavor to transfer to their canvass the charms of the upper Mississippi, but the panorama fails to afford a correct idea of their exceeding loveliness.