SOIL AND VEGETATION. With the exception of a rocky area in the Penokee highland and an area of poor sandy soil in the central part of the State, the soils of Wisconsin are of good quality. In the northern and eastern sections they are composed of glacial drift and alluvium, forming a rich sandy or clayey loam, while in the southwest there is a very fertile soil formed by disintegration of Silurian limestone. The southern and western parts of the State belong to the prairie region, but in the north and east there are extensive forest belts, which, however, have been much depleted. The forests are largely coniferous—pine, fir, and hemlock—but there is a considerable admixture of deciduous trees, especially on the southern and eastern outskirts, and the composition of the forests in general re sembles that of the northern Appalachian region.
GEor.onr. The whole State is of very ancient formation. the uppermost strata hieing of Silu rian or Devonian age. In the north central por tion there is a large area of Archnau granites, gneiss, syenite, and other crystalline rocks be longing chiefly to the Laurentian period. They are bounded on the north by rocks of the Al gonkian system. which extend to the shores and under the bottom of Lake Superior. On the south the Archa'an rocks disappear under ex tensive beds of Potsdam sandstone which cover a large area in the central part of the State, and which in turn disappear under the Silurian strata. The latter extend along the entire west ern shore of Lake Alichigan and across the south ern boundary into Illinois, with isolated patches along the banks of the Mississippi. The most widely exposed member of the series is the Niagara limestone, whose northern escarpment, a continuation of the Niagara escarpment, forms the southern wall of the diagonal valley occu pied by Green Bay and the lower Wisconsin River. The Pleistocene ice sheet extended far
beyond the limits of Wisconsin. and covered the greater part of it with a layer of drift, but left a large. isolated driftless area in the south western quarter of the State. The most impor tant mineral deposits are lead and iron ores. The former are found. associated with zinc and eopper, in the Galena or Trenton limestone in the northwestern part of the State. a ml the iron ores in the Clinton series in eastern Wisconsin, and in the Archaean and „klgonkian regions the mirth. Granite, sandstones, and limestones are abmulant, and cement rock occurs in the neighborhood of Milwaukee. Diamonds have Leen found in the glacial drift in various parts of the State.
ININc. Wisconsin is rising in importance as an iron-mining State. In 1901, 73856S long toms of ore were obtained. waking the State seventh in rank. There were 725.496 tons of red hematite and 13.372 tons of brown hematite. The ore is obtained mainly from the flogebie and Menominee ranges in the northern part of the State. From the early days of the settlement of the State lead has been mined in the southwestern counties. Increasing quantities of limestone are quarried, the value of the output in 1901 being $1.225,148. Granite and sandstone are also quar ried. Bricks and tiles are manufactured from local clays, the value of these products in 1901 being $1,234,144.