39. Earthy carbonate of lead. Brigham's mine, Iowa County, Mich. Ter. Also, in small masses, of a yellowish white, dirty color, and great comparative weight, at several of the lead mines (diggings) in the more westerly and southern parts of the county.
4. Geological Outline of the Taquimenon Valley of Lake Superior. By Henry R. Schoolcraft.
The River Takquimenon originates on a plateau between the northern shores of Lake Michigan and the southeastern coast of Lake Superior. At a central point on this plateau, there lies a lake of moderate size, which, in the translated Indian phrase, is called Heartsblood Lake. A little to the west of this lake, and, perhaps, connected with it, originates the head stream of the North Manistic River of Lake Michigan, running southwest. Towards the northeast the Takwymenon takes its way, winding through level grassy plains, till it reaches the rim of the geological basin that circumscribes Lake Superior. The height of this point is conjectural. It is probably one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the lake.
To comprehend the geography of the region, it is necessary to advert to the fact that the sandstone formation, which appears in the picturesque form of the Pictured Rocks, is last seen in its range eastward at La Pointe des Grande Sable, where its surface is of a compact structure and dull red color. Between this locality and the bold cape of Point Iroquois, at the head of St. Mary's River, there intervenes an extensive formation of gravel, boulders, and sand. The length of this line of coast is about ninety miles, its breadth to the basinic rim, perhaps thirty. It is covered with small pines, spruce, birch, and poplar, with frequent sphagnous tracts and ponds; the lake shore, where the sands are continually accumulated, being higher than the interior portions. It has, from early days, been a favorite resort for beaver, from which it is called by the natives, Namikong, meaning, excellent place of beavers.
This tract of the Namikong is primarily due to diluvial formations, with a comparatively recent hem of lake action, consisting of sands and pebbles pushed up by the waves of Lake Superior. Through this tract, from the plateaux, four small rivers make their way to the lake. They are, in their order, from west to east, the river of Grand Mauvais, the Twin River, the Shelldrake, and the Tacquimenon, which enters the lake fifteen miles from Point Iroquois.
Of these streams, the Tacquimenon carries the largest body of water into the lake. It is already a stream of seventy feet wide, and three feet deep, when it reaches the rim of sandstone rocks referred to. Over these, it is plunged, at a single perpendicular leap, forty feet, falling like a curtain. It drops into a vast concavity in the sand rock, where the water is of unfathomable depth, black and still. I had reached this point in a canoe manned by Indians. They had urged their way up a very rapid brawling bed for six miles above the lower falls, and when we reached this still, deep, and dark basin, they said that care was required to keep from under the suction of the falling sheet.
The lower falls of the stream are probably twelve or fourteen feet. They are broken into several fan-shaped cascades, and present a picturesque appearance—an idea which has also impressed the Chippewas, for they refer to it as a favorite locality of fairies. Hence their name for it. Immediately below these falls the river winds about, making a peninsula, which is covered with deciduous trees and a fertile soil. The amount of water power at this point is such as must command attention whenever the country justifies settlement.
5. Suggestions respecting the Geological Epoch of the Deposit of Sandstone Rock at St. Mary's Falls. By Henry R. Schoolcraft.
Lake Superior presents to the eye the singular spectacle of a body of pure translucent water, five hundred miles in length from east to west, and one hundred and eighty or two hundred miles wide. This vast mass of water is thought to have an extreme depth—I know not on what principles—of nine hundred feet deep. It lies at an elevation of six hundred feet above the Atlantic ocean, at high water.