History of Grand Forks County : with special reference to the first ten years of Grand Forks City, including an historical outline of the Red River Valley

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: State Historical Society of North Dakota
• Subjects: Glacial Lake; Grand Forks; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/38962

0 V, N Kit A 1. 1) EPC II I l'T I ON 9 The more recent land belt covering the glacial till of the valley, is the great bed of lacustrine and alluvial silt, that lias filled its lower depression and extends from Wahpeton to Winnipeg. This forms the flat valley plain. In this county the formation extends from eight to twelve miles west from the river. Above the bedrock, according to Upliam's view, most of the formation of the valley plain consists of glacial beds, with lacustrine clay above them that was brought into the lake by the streams while this ancient body of water.was falling to low levels, and the remainder of the soil to the surface is alluvial, haying been deposited by Red river duri.ig its flood stages. But little of the sediments of the lake were deposited upon the midway slope, as this tract was much exposed to the erosion of the waves. Some of the soil was doubtless eroded from the eastern border of the Elk Valley delta. This land belt is marked by many successively lower beach ridges, formed by the waves during as many periods of pause made by the receding waters while the lake was being drained nw&y. While the lake stood at its highest stage about five-sixths of the area of the county was submerged beneath the water. The western shore-line lay along the foot of the hills, about 35 miles west of the river. Only the upland district and parts of the ridge in Agnes and Inkster townships, which formed a chain of islands that was continued nearly through Walsh county, alone remained above water. The physical cause of this great glacial lake was wholly dependent upon the closi ig stages of tlie Ice age. When the ice- sheet was melting away, year by year, its southern margin stretched across the valley of Red river, thus forming a barrier to the pent up waters that prevented them from flowing away in the direction that the natural slope of the land would have led them. The lake finally drained away by successive stages, marking either side of the valley with many recurring beach lines, or gravel ridges, at lower and lower levels. ARTESIAN WELLS. Grand Forks county does not seem to lie within the limits of any of the artesian basins of the Dakotas. Its flowing wells are small ones and none of them go to bedrock. They are, perhaps, nearly all confined to the valley plain and obtain their supply from the drift. There are a few witli small flow in and around Ojata, several around Manvel and many in the Forest river drainage area in the northern part of the county. Two inch pipe is generally used, and Mie wells vary, approximately, in depth, from (50 to 270 feet. Efforts to obtain flowing water on the higher land have not been successful. The water of these weils is sometimes good hut apt to be more or less saline. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.