Box 4, Folder 5: Miscellaneous Typewritten Letters

1874.

March 16. Went to Oconomowoc at 4 P.M., thence to Minnewoc Farm. Surveyed orchard and looked over trees. Trees 40 feet apart, 40 are missing.

March 17. Oconomowoc to Madison.

[March 18] At Madison [to?]

March 20. At Beloit, 11 1/2 A.M.

Sandstone ledge S. of 3d Lake. Boulders large and numerous, then smaller (at Oregon). Between Oregon and Brooklyn, boulders of limestone--Drift, sandy. Approaching Evansville, drift more gravelly.*** With Prof. Chamberlin in the afternoon and evening.***

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Milwaukee, April 16, 1874.

Dear Brother--

*** I am now perfecting arrangements for the continuance of our geological survey which will be prosecuted by three or four parties in as many different parts of the state. I hope to get Maj. T.B. Brooks to explore for iron in the region of the Menomonee river.*** His report just published, of the Lake Superior Iron District is very valuable.

I am very sorry I could not go to Chicago to hear Mr. Proctor's lecture. Hope his visit will be the means of directing attention to scientific subjects in your city.

Yours very truly,

I.A. Lapham.

Col. Sam'l Stone.

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Milwaukee, May 28, 1874.

Dear Sir--

I made no note of the aurora of April 7, 1874, and can give no definite information as requested in your circular. But I noted a very interesting phenomenon at Whitewater June 26, 1873,

1874.

which may interest you and hence I send the enclosed.

Yours truly,

I.A. Lapham.

Capt. E.W. Howgate Acting Signal Officer.

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Auroral Arch

Observed at Whitewater, Wis., June 26, 1873, by I.A. Lapham, L.L.D.

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(Sketch)

At 9h. 10m. P.M. June 26, 1873, at Whitewater, Wisconsin observed a beautiful arch of mostly white light, stretching mostly across the heavens from east to west. About one third of the arch of each extremity was a continuous band of light, while the intermediate or central portion consisted of short columns rapidly moving from east to west, apparently converging towards a point at the south. The motion was quite rapid, one column following another like a file of soldiers marching from one camp to another.

At 9h. 15m. the arch having passed still further southward the columns reappeared, but now converging in an opposite direction, as shown in the figure the apparent center towards which they converged being towards the north.

At 9h. 30m. the phenomenon had nearly ceased; only a streamer of their white light remained at the west. It was followed by an auroral light at the north that continued during the night.

By the rules of perspective it will be obvious that the tops of these columns, being furtherest from the eye, will have a less apparent motion and hence although they maintain their parallelism with each other, they will appear to converge upward [upwards].

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When the plane in which they are moving is north of the observer the convergence will be towards the south; when the eye is directly in this plane of motion only the ends of the column can be seen; and when this plane cuts the earth south of the observer the convergence will be toward the north.

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Milwaukee, July 23, 1874.

Dear Brother--

*** I send today by express a few bottles of our river water, though I fear you may not find the same things in it that you formerly found. The bayou where we got the "16 'ers:" has been filled up and built on with houses. Tanneries, distilleries[a] and slaughterhouses have vitiated the water. You may, however, find something of interest.

Yours truly,

I.A. Lapham.

Col. Sam'l Stone.

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Milwaukee, Sept. 22, 1874.

Dr. Edmund E. Andrews,

Dear Sir--

First, in reply to your favor, just received, allow me to express my regret at your ill health, and the hope that it may nor be serious or of long duration.

I have frequently heard of mounds representing the elephant, but have never been so fortunate as to find one or find a person who has surveyed one so as to be sure of the fact. I am fully prepared, however, to believe, that such may exist, on account of the very modern appearance of the mastodon discoveries. Should you ascertain the exact locality of such a mound, please

1874.

inform me, so that I may find it. Mr. Strong, now engaged in our Geological Survey, is looking for them.

Yours truly,

I.A. Lapham.

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The Great Elephant Mound By I.A. Lapham, Milwaukee, Wis. (Sketch).

The recent discovery of an image, made by the ancient mound-builders, probably intended to represent the form of an elephant, is one of considerable geological importance. It evinces a knowledge of some of this family then existing upon this continent (either the mammoth, or the mastodon) or that these people had retained a traditional knowledge of the animals with which their ancestors might have been familiar in Asia. This latter suggestion is so very improbable that we must adopt the other alternative; to wit., that the mastodon and the mound-builders existed in Wisconsin at the same time. We thus bring the geologist and the antiquary together; the duties of the one ceased and the other commence with the epoch of the mound-builders.

If we take away that portion of this mound which may be supposed to represent the trunk, it will be seen that the remainder could hardly be supposed to be in imitation of the elephantine form; and though there is no indication that this could be accidental we must hesitate about adopting so important a conclusion until other mounds shall be found having a similar form. Though many are reported by casual observers, it is usually found upon examination and correct survey that the actual form does not suggest the form of an elephant.

If we may judge from the greater decay exhibited by the

1874.

bones and teeth of the fossil elephant or mammoth we must conclude that they became extinct before the last mastodon was destroyed. While many full skeletons of the mastodon have been found in the northern United States, no skeleton of the elephant has been brought to light. Usually the more enduring teeth are all that remains to tell the story of its former existence.

Hence we concluded that the mastodon was continued in existence long after the disappearance of the elephant,--and if the mound-builders ever saw either it must have been the mastodon rather than the elephant. No full skeleton of a mastodon, having been found in Wisconsin, we may infer that this unwieldly animal became extinct here long before it became extinct further south.

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Oquawka, Ill., November [17] 16, 1874.

Mr. I.A. Lapham,

Dear Sir--

I never had the pleasure of your acquaintance or correspondence, but your name seems to me like that of an old acquaintance.

When I first commenced the study of botany*** I was fortunate enough to obtain a copy of the 2d volume of the Trans. Ill. Agr. Soc. containing your catalogue of plants. The great number of plants enumerated as being found in our state greatly surprised me, then, but I afterwards found that many more occurred within our limits and I have thought we might have a more complete list published.*** Those underlined in the catalogue enclosed I have not heard of being found in the state except in your cata