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THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY.
stages, and the analyses of our great rivers are incomplete, but, strange as it seems, no other analyses of their waters have been found, after diligent search.
SAMPLES.
- (a) Ottawa river; sampled March 9, 1854, before the melting of the snow, at head of St. Anne lock; water was pale amber yellow, free from sediment and derived from a region of crystalline rocks covered with forest and marsh vegetation.[1]
- (b) St. Lawrence river; sampled March 30, 1854, before the melting of the snow, on the south side of the Pointe des Cascades, Vaudreuil; water was clear, colorless, and represents the drainage of areas of glacial drift, crystalline rocks and paleozoic sediments, clarified by passage through great lakes.[1]
- (c) Mississippi river;[note 1] sampled in the autumn of 1887 at very low water, in the main channel above the mouth of the Missouri; water represents drainage from areas of glacial drift, crystalline rocks and paleozoic sediments, including large expanse of limestone and cultivated lands.
- (d) Missouri river;[note 1] sampled on the same day as the preceding; water represents drainage most highly charged with the soluble salts of the more recent and little consolidated geologic formations; potash was no doubt present but was not determined.
- (e) Mississippi river;[note 1] six miles below the mouth of the Missouri; sampled on the same day as the preceding in the current of Mississippi water as shown by a float dropped on taking sample c; sample represents Mississippi and Missouri waters, apparently with excess of the latter.
- (f) Mississippi river;[note 1] twelve miles below the mouth of the Missouri, above St. Louis; sampled on the same day as the preceding in the current indicated by the float; sample represents Mississippi and Missouri waters apparently more thoroughly mixed.