The history of Wells County, North Dakota, and its pioneers : with a sketch of North Dakota history and the oregin [sic] of the place names

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Canada; Devils Lake; Glacial Lake; Mouse River; Nig; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/41287

508 Wells County History was formed in Manitoba which extended southward overflowing the Red River Valley to a great depth. Glacial Lake Souris also formed in the Oxbow of the Mouse River Valley which extends over into Canada. In Manitoba these are vast deposits of limestone which dissolved and mixed with the drift deposits which is essential soil element in producing wheat and other small grains. It is called silt. This dissolved limestone or rock flour is also the cause of hard water in our wells. All rocks were formed from the salt water of the ocean, bedrock in North Dakota is found many feet beneath the surface and in some parts is limestone, in other parts sandstone, and in still other parts is shale. Dakota sandstone is found at the base of the Cretaceous formations and when deep wells have been bored at Jamestown, Carrington and Devils Lake it was found at a depth of over 1,400 feet below the surface. The petrified forests of the Badlands belong to the Cretaceous or Chalk age. In North Dakota the rocks are Hard Heads (Nig- gerheads), Limestone, and Granite. They range in size from the smallest cobblestones to huge boulders weighing many tons. All rocks at the mouth of the Cannon Ball River are perfectly round, be they large or small. All sands and soils are composed of crushed or crumbled stones. There are two kinds of granite found in North Dakota, quartz and red granite. Granite is composed of Feldspar, Mica, Quartz, and sometimes Hornblend. Generally speaking there are three different kinds of topography or landscapes in North Dakota. First: The flat or level prairie region of the state which occupy the old lake bottom regions and which were covered with large bodies of water during the melting of the ice of the great ice sheet and which are perfectly flat and almost undrained by- streams and with an elevation of only 800 to 1,000 feet in the eastern part of the state. There are four of these regions in North Dakota—the Red River Valley, the Mouse River Valley, a small area in Dickey county, south of Oakes, a part of Ransom and most of Sargent county. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.