43°30′N 91°00′W / 43.5°N 91°W / 43.5; -91
164-548: The Driftless Area , also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau , is a topographical and cultural region in the Midwestern United States that comprises southwestern Wisconsin , southeastern Minnesota , northeastern Iowa , and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois . The Driftless Area is a USDA Level III Ecoregion: Ecoregion 52 . The Driftless Area takes up a large portion of
328-642: A U.S. Army by Native Americans. The British demanded the establishment of a Native American barrier state at the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812 , but American negotiators rejected the idea because Britain had lost control of the region in the Battle of Lake Erie and the Battle of the Thames in 1813, where Tecumseh was killed by U.S. forces. The British then abandoned their Native American allies south of
492-550: A contentious political battleground region of Wisconsin in the past decade. Divided almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats, the area has bucked national trends by remaining relatively liberal despite a widespread shift in rural areas toward the Republican Party. But Republicans have steadily made gains in the area, with Trump winning the area in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Democrats have won some House, gubernatorial, and State Supreme Court races in
656-460: A house, clearing the ground, and planting crops. A number of means facilitated the legal settlement of the territories in the Midwest: land speculation , federal public land auctions , bounty land grants in lieu of pay to military veterans, and, later, preemption rights for squatters. The "squatters" became "pioneers" and were increasingly able to purchase the lands on which they had settled for
820-437: A place where even a pond can naturally form. There are also very few dams in that the valley walls and floors are very often fissured or crumbly, or very porous, providing very poor anchors for a dam or making it difficult to keep any kind of reservoir appropriately filled. There are no real waterfalls , but some very strong springs bear the name. A modern, man-made characteristic is the comparatively twisty nature of highways in
984-629: A presence at Fort McCoy in Monroe County between Sparta and Tomah , immediately south of the Black River State Forest . The property is used mainly for military training exercises, although troops have also been based there for deployments overseas. The Coulee Region portion of the Driftless Area comprises much of Wisconsin's Western Upland geographical region. The most rugged part of Wisconsin's Driftless area
1148-628: A stream to its confluence with the main-stem Mississippi can reach well past 650 feet (200 m) in only a few miles. The Waukon Municipal Airport is reliably established as being 1,281 feet (390 m) above sea level. The Army Corps of Engineers maintains a river level in Pool 9 of about 619 feet (189 m) above sea level, which covers Lansing . Maps and signs issued by the Iowa Department of Transportation indicate Waukon and Lansing are 17 miles (27 km) apart on Iowa Highway 9 . This
1312-485: A study by professors at the University of Minnesota Duluth , Lake Superior may have warmed faster than its surrounding area. Summer surface temperatures in the lake appeared to have increased by about 4.5 °F (2.5 °C) between 1979 and 2007, compared with an approximately 2.7 °F (1.5 °C) increase in the surrounding average air temperature. The increase in the lake's surface temperature may be related to
1476-612: A substantial diversion of water from the Great Lakes Basin and the Saint Lawrence River, reducing the inflow of fresh water into the North Atlantic with possible impacts to ocean currents and climate . The Mississippi River trench is one of the few places in the Driftless Area where the bedrock is very deep below the surface, and is overlaid by large amounts of sediment. As home to the formation of
1640-593: A substantial portion of the gorge of the Upper Mississippi, this enormous quantity of sediment goes down at least 300 feet (91 m) under the present riverbottom at the confluence of the Wisconsin River . In contrast, as the Mississippi exits the Driftless Area "between Fulton and Muscatine , [... ( Pool 13 )], it flows over or near bedrock." "The course of the upper Mississippi River along
1804-467: A sunken body will bloat it with gas, causing it to float to the surface after a few days. But Lake Superior's water is cold enough year-round to inhibit bacterial growth , and bodies tend to sink and never resurface. Joe MacInnis reported that in July 1994, explorer Frederick Shannon's Expedition 94 to the wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald discovered a man's body near the port side of her pilothouse, not far from
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#17327655981761968-544: A supernatural being who lived in the sky and was believed to have created the world and the Huron people. At death, Hurons thought the soul left the body to live in a village in the sky. Chippewas were a deeply religious people who believed in the Great Spirit. They worshiped the Great Spirit through all their seasonal activities, and viewed religion as a private matter: Each person's relation with his personal guardian spirit
2132-543: A written form of language. In the 16th century, the natives of the area used projectiles and tools of stone, bone, and wood to hunt and farm. They made canoes for fishing. Most of them lived in oval or conical wigwams that could be easily moved away. Various tribes had different ways of living. The Ojibwas were primarily hunters and fishing was also important in the Ojibwas economy. Other tribes such as Sac, Fox, and Miami, both hunted and farmed. They were oriented toward
2296-933: Is Heartland . Among the Native Americans , Paleo-Americans cultures were the earliest in North America, with a presence in the Great Plains and Great Lakes areas from about 12,000 BCE to around 8,000 BCE. Following the Paleo-American period is the Archaic period (8,000 BCE to 1,000 BCE), the Woodland Tradition (1,000 BCE to 100 CE), and the Mississippian Period (900 to 1500 CE). Archeological evidence indicates that Mississippian culture traits probably began in
2460-570: Is Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest , which contains some state-owned land, but is mostly private, controlled by state conservation easements. Around 85% of the Driftless Area lies within Wisconsin, comprising much of the southwestern quarter of the state. The border is defined by the catchment of the Chippewa River on the north, and somewhat west (or east, depending on if the southwestern portion of Wisconsin's Central Plain
2624-522: Is brackish . Lake Superior has a surface area of 31,700 square miles (82,103 km ), which is approximately the size of South Carolina or Austria . It has a maximum length of 350 statute miles (560 km ; 300 nmi ) and maximum breadth of 160 statute miles (257 km; 139 nmi). Its average depth is 80.5 fathoms (483 ft; 147 m) with a maximum depth of 222.17 fathoms (1,333 ft; 406 m). Lake Superior contains 2,900 cubic miles (12,100 km ) of water. There
2788-603: Is 13 feet but was recorded as high as 23 feet during the 2018 flood which was declared a statewide emergency. Many community members were rescued by boats sent by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources . Days later, when two dams in Ontario, Wisconsin broke, it produced flood water downstream in Readstown, Wisconsin , Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin , and Gays Mills, Wisconsin . The history of this portion of
2952-447: Is 600 feet (183 m) above sea level . Until approximately 1887, the natural hydraulic conveyance through the St. Marys River rapids determined the outflow from Lake Superior. By 1921, development in support of transportation and hydroelectric power resulted in gates, locks, power canals and other control structures completely spanning St. Marys rapids. The regulating structure is known as
3116-489: Is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. Lake Superior's size reduces the severity of the seasons of its humid continental climate (more typically seen in locations like Nova Scotia ). The water surface's slow reaction to temperature changes, seasonally ranging between 32 and 55 °F (0–13 °C) around 1970, helps to moderate surrounding air temperatures in
3280-475: Is a drop of more than 660 feet (200 m) in less than 20 miles (32 km) (and this along a very minor tributary of the Mississippi). "The role of isostatic rebound on the process of stream incision in the area is not clearly understood." There are many small towns in the Driftless Area, especially in river valleys, at or upstream from the Mississippi. Small towns in a deep steep valley going down to
3444-452: Is a multi-agency cooperative effort to restore the landscape. The main issues are water pollution from agricultural and animal runoff, and erosion. Many farmers in the region utilize contour plowing , strip cropping , and other agricultural practices to reduce soil erosion due to the hilly terrain. Water pollution is critical in karsted regions such as this, in that it can degrade or destroy prime cold water fish habitat. Soil erosion presents
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#17327655981763608-467: Is also called the Ocooch Mountains . Largely rural in character, land cover is forest, farmland, and grassland/pasture; modest wetlands are found in river valleys, and along the Mississippi. Row crop farming is less encountered than elsewhere in the state. Away from the Mississippi, Wisconsin, and other major rivers, much of the terrain is gently rolling, supporting dairy farms. In other areas,
3772-546: Is also interested. The Driftless Area contains more than half of the world's algific talus slopes , a type of small, isolated ecosystem. These refugia create cool summer and fall microclimates which host species usually found further north. They contain at least one endangered species , the Iowa Pleistocene Snail , and a threatened plant, the Northern monkshood . The Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge
3936-449: Is an unusual record of environmental nitrogen buildup. It may relate to anthropogenic alternations to the regional nitrogen cycle , but researchers are still unsure of the causes of this change to the lake's ecology. As for other Great Lakes fish, populations have also been affected by the accidental or intentional introduction of foreign species such as the sea lamprey and Eurasian ruffe . Accidental introductions have occurred in part by
4100-488: Is characterized "by the absence of glacial drift deposits, the sculpted topography, and the presence of the ancient limestone immediately beneath the soil and in cliff outcroppings." The Minnesota Driftless Area did not reach the Twin Cities or any areas to the north or west of them; rather, the Twin Cities marked the edge of glaciation, with substantial terminal moraines overlying the region. The largest protected area
4264-484: Is enough water in Lake Superior to cover the entire land mass of North and South America to a depth of 30 centimetres (12 in). The shoreline of the lake stretches 2,726 miles (4,387 km) (including islands). The lake boasts a very small ratio (1.55) of catchment area to surface area, which indicates minimal terrestrial influence. American limnologist J. Val Klump was the first person to reach
4428-971: Is fed by more than 200 rivers, including the Nipigon River , the St. Louis River , the Pigeon River , the Pic River , the White River , the Michipicoten River , the Bois Brule River and the Kaministiquia River . The lake's outlet at St. Marys River has a relatively steep gradient with rapids. The Soo Locks enable ships to bypass the rapids and to overcome the 25-foot (8 m) height difference between Lakes Superior and Huron. The lake's average surface elevation
4592-601: Is included) of the north-south line of the Wisconsin River . Where the Wisconsin River turns west to join the Mississippi, the area to the south, including the whole of Grant County as well as most of Lafayette County , are part of the Driftless Area. The rugged terrain comprising most of the Driftless Area is distinct from the rest of Wisconsin, and is known locally as the Coulee Region. The steep ridges, numerous rock outcroppings, and deep, narrow valleys in
4756-581: Is made from unpasteurized milk. Organic dairy generally fits best with a grass-based milk production system. The bioregion's economic and cultural characteristics were federally recognized with the granting of the Upper Mississippi River Valley (UMRV) viticultural area, the largest designated winemaking region in the country, by the Treasury Division's Tax and Trade Bureau in 2009. The petition for designation maintains
4920-510: Is the area between the historical foreground of European invasion and occupation and the background of Indian defeat and retreat. White specifically designates "the lands bordering the rivers flowing into the northern Great Lakes and the lands south of the lakes to the Ohio" as the location of the middle ground. This includes the modern Midwestern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan as well as parts of Canada. The middle ground
5084-469: Is the deepest lake in the United States and deeper than Lake Superior, Crater Lake's elevation is higher and consequently its deepest point is 4,229 feet (1,289 m) above sea level.) While the temperature of the surface of Lake Superior varies seasonally, the temperature below 110 fathoms (660 ft; 200 m) is an almost constant 39 °F (4 °C). This variation in temperature makes
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5248-438: Is the rising of fishflies , a kind of mayfly endemic to the Mississippi valley in the region. These are aquatic insects attracted to light, which rise by the millions as adults to mate, only to die within hours. Wildlife is abundant with opportunities for hunting whitetail deer and wild turkey . Fishing, particularly for brown trout , brook trout , and rainbow trout in tributaries, and species such as channel catfish in
5412-717: The Algonquian language family. Some tribes—such as the Stockbridge-Munsee and the Brothertown —are also Algonkian-speaking tribes who relocated from the eastern seaboard to the Great Lakes region in the 19th century. The Oneida belong to the Iroquois language group and the Ho-Chunk of Wisconsin are one of the few Great Lakes tribes to speak a Siouan language. American Indians in this area did not develop
5576-532: The Arikara , Hidatsa , Iowa , Kaw (or Kansa) , Kitsai , Mandan , Missouria , Nez Perce , Omaha , Osage , Otoe , Pawnee , Ponca , Quapaw , Santee , Wichita , and Yankton . The nomadic tribes of the Great Plains survived on hunting ; some of their major hunts centered on deer and buffalo. Some tribes are described as part of the "Buffalo Culture" (sometimes called, for the American bison ). Although
5740-650: The Army Corps of Engineers with a problem that requires them to dredge the Mississippi River shipping channels to keep them open. Trout Unlimited is part of this effort, if only because of the superb cold-water streams the region supports. A symposium was held in October 2007 in Decorah, Iowa , "to share the results of research, management and monitoring work in the Driftless Area." The Nature Conservancy
5904-486: The Blackfoot , Arapaho , Assiniboine , Cheyenne , Comanche , Crow , Gros Ventre , Kiowa , Lakota , Lipan , Plains Apache (or Kiowa Apache), Plains Cree , Plains Ojibwe , Sarsi , Shoshone , Stoney , and Tonkawa . The second group of Plains Indians (sometimes referred to as Prairie Indians) were the semi-sedentary tribes who, in addition to hunting buffalo, lived in villages and raised crops. These included
6068-477: The Boaz mastodon , a composite skeleton of two separate mastodons found in the 1890s in southwestern Wisconsin . Although evidence exists that mastodons inhabited mostly coniferous spruce forests associated with the taiga biome , it is likely that most or all of the Driftless Area was at times covered by tundra and permafrost during periods of glacial maximums . The Midwest Driftless Area Restoration Effort
6232-605: The Door Peninsula . The hypothesis posits that the flow of the ancient Wyalusing River was ultimately captured by the ancestral Mississippi River to the south when that river eroded through the Military Ridge near Wyalusing State Park , possibly as a result of an ancient ice sheet in a previous continental glaciation blocking the Wyalusing River to the east. The resulting proglacial lake would have filled
6396-579: The Edmund Fitzgerald ". According to other sources, the full Ojibwe name is ᐅᒋᑉᐧᐁ ᑭᒋᑲᒥ Ojibwe Gichigami ("Ojibwe's Great Sea") or ᐊᓂᐦᔑᓈᐯ ᑭᒋᑲᒥ Anishinaabe Gichigami (" Anishinaabe 's Great Sea"). The 1878 dictionary by Father Frederic Baraga , the first one written for the Ojibway language, gives the Ojibwe name as Otchipwe-kitchi-gami (a transliteration of Ojibwe Gichigami ). In
6560-820: The French and Indian War , the British anglicized the lake's name to Superior , "on account of its being superior in magnitude to any of the lakes on that vast continent". Lake Superior empties into Lake Huron via the St. Marys River and the Soo Locks (Sault Ste. Marie locks). Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by area and the third largest in volume, behind Lake Baikal in Siberia and Lake Tanganyika in East Africa . The Caspian Sea , while larger than Lake Superior in both surface area and volume,
6724-639: The Grand Island National Recreation Area ) in Michigan. The larger cities on Lake Superior include the twin ports of Duluth, Minnesota , and Superior, Wisconsin ; Thunder Bay , Ontario; Marquette, Michigan ; and the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan , and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario . Duluth-Superior , at the western end of Lake Superior, is the most inland point on the Saint Lawrence Seaway and
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6888-593: The Great Lakes region . The West North Central Division includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, several of which are located, at least partly, within the Great Plains region. Chicago is the most populous city in the American Midwest and the third-most populous in the United States. Chicago and its suburbs , colloquially known as Chicagoland , form
7052-594: The Haitian Revolution and together with the fact that France could not effectively defend Louisiana from a possible British attack, he sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Meanwhile, the British maintained forts and trading posts in U.S. territory, refusing to give them up until 1796 by the Jay Treaty . American settlement began either via routes over
7216-549: The Kansas City metro area , the Columbus metro area , and Greater Cleveland . The region's economy is a mix of heavy industry and agriculture, with extensive areas forming part of the United States' Corn Belt . Finance and services such as medicine and education are becoming increasingly important. Its central location makes it a transportation crossroads for river boats, railroads, autos, trucks, and airplanes. Politically,
7380-578: The Louisiana Purchase , and establish trade and U.S. sovereignty over the native peoples along the Missouri River . The Lewis and Clark Expedition established relations with more than two dozen indigenous nations west of the Missouri River. The Expedition returned east to St. Louis in the spring of 1806. The Midwest has been a key swing district in national elections, with highly contested elections in closely divided states often deciding
7544-753: The Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with their cessation of the majority of their holdings in North America to the Kingdom of Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris (1763) . In 1673 the Governor of New France sent Jacques Marquette , a Catholic priest and missionary, and Louis Jolliet , a fur trader , to map the way to the Northwest Passage to the Pacific. They traveled through Michigan's upper peninsula to
7708-500: The St. Louis, Missouri area and spread northwest along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and entered the state along the Kankakee River system. It also spread northward into Indiana along the Wabash , Tippecanoe , and White Rivers. Mississippian peoples in the Midwest were mostly farmers who followed the rich, flat floodplains of Midwestern rivers. They brought with them a well-developed agricultural complex based on three major crops— maize , beans , and squash . Maize, or corn,
7872-406: The Treaty of Paris , Spain was given Louisiana ; the area west of the Mississippi. St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve in Missouri were the main towns, but there was little new settlement. France regained Louisiana from Spain in exchange for Tuscany by the terms of the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800. Napoleon had lost interest in re-establishing a French colonial empire in North America following
8036-480: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, is a coalition of sustainable-agriculture farmers, processors, distributors, chefs, planning commissions, and other participants. The project seeks to define the culinary identity of the region and further direct the development of agritourism . Fine-grained silica sand is typical of the Driftless and is mined for use primarily in hydraulic fracturing , commonly known as "fracking". Due to
8200-430: The Upper Midwest forest–savanna transition . The eastern section of the Driftless Area in Minnesota is called the Blufflands , due to the steep bluffs and cliffs around the river valleys. The western half is known as the Rochester Plateau, which is flatter than the Blufflands. The Coulee Region is the southwestern part of the Driftless Area in Wisconsin. It is named for its numerous ravines. Never covered by ice during
8364-406: The Upper Mississippi River dates back to an origin "as an ice-marginal stream during what had been referred to as the ' Nebraskan glaciation .'" This is an outdated and abandoned period in the Pre-Illinoian Stage . The level of erosion often exposes Cambrian limestone of about 510 million years of age. Evidence from soil borings and recent lidar imagery in the lower Wisconsin River valley in
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#17327655981768528-400: The Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve . Storms that claimed multiple ships include the Mataafa Storm in November 1905 and the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 . Wreckage of SS Cyprus —a 420-foot (130 m) ore carrier that sank on October 11, 1907, during a Lake Superior storm in 77 fathoms (460 ft or 140 m) of water—was located in August 2007. Built in Lorain, Ohio , Cyprus
8692-504: The Wisconsin Glaciation involved several major lobes of the Laurentide Ice Sheet: the Des Moines lobe, which flowed down toward Des Moines on the west; the Superior lobe and its sublobes on the north; and the Green Bay lobe and Lake Michigan lobes on the east. The northern and eastern lobes were in part diverted around the area by the Watersmeet Dome, an ancient uplifted area of Cambrian rock underlain by basalt in northern Wisconsin and western upper Michigan . The southward movement of
8856-403: The last ice age , the area lacks the characteristic glacial deposits known as drift . Its landscape is characterized by steep hills, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and karst geology with spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams. Ecologically, the Driftless Area's flora and fauna are more closely related to those of the Great Lakes region and New England than those of
9020-420: The 17th century, the first French explorers approached the great inland sea by way of the Ottawa River and Lake Huron; they referred to their discovery as le lac supérieur (the upper lake, i.e., above Lake Huron). Some 17th-century Jesuit missionaries referred to it as Lac Tracy (for Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy ). After taking control of the region from the French in the 1760s following their defeat in
9184-481: The 2020s. Corresponding to the southeast geological region of Minnesota , the colloquial "Driftless Area" (though the whole region was glaciated) begins at about Fort Snelling . Starting as a narrow sliver against the Mississippi, it widens to the west as one goes south. The western boundary is the Bemis-Altamont moraine. Another more easily located reference to the western boundary is the approximate line of Minnesota State Highway 56 . The upland plateau lies west of
9348-593: The Appalachian Mountains or through the waterways of the Great Lakes. Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh ) at the source of the Ohio River became the main base for settlers moving into the Midwest. Marietta, Ohio in 1787 became the first settlement in Ohio, but not until the defeat of Native American tribes at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 was large-scale settlement possible. Large numbers also came north from Kentucky into southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The region's fertile soil produced corn and vegetables; most farmers were self-sufficient. They cut trees and claimed
9512-400: The Compensating Works and is operated according to a regulation plan known as Plan 1977-A. Water levels, including diversions of water from the Hudson Bay watershed, are regulated by the International Lake Superior Board of Control , which was established in 1914 by the International Joint Commission . Lake Superior's water level was at a new record low in September 2007, slightly less than
9676-429: The Driftless Area are in marked contrast with the rest of the state, where glaciers have modified the landscape. The hilly unglaciated landscape is well represented in Wisconsin's Coulee Experimental State Forest , Wildcat Mountain State Park , Governor Dodge State Park , Perrot State Park , and the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. Karst topography is most prominent in Wisconsin. Eagle Cave in Blue River, WI and Cave of
9840-405: The Driftless area suggests that the river in the valley once flowed eastward, rather than its existing westerly course toward its confluence with the Mississippi River. This has led to the hypothesis that the ancient Upper Mississippi River (also named the Wyalusing River) at one time flowed east through the Wisconsin River valley and into the Great Lakes / Saint Laurence River system somewhere near
10004-456: The Driftless area was covered by or bordered by Glacial Lake Wisconsin during the Wisconsin glaciation . The steep-sided rocky bluffs present in Roche-a-Cri State Park and Mill Bluff State Park are Cambrian outliers of the Franconia cuesta to the southwest and were once islands or sea stacks in the ancient lake. The flat plain in which these bluffs lie is located in the southwest portion of Wisconsin's Central Plain geographic region, and
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#173276559817610168-402: The Driftless-like region, covers 24,000 square miles (62,200 km). Retreating glaciers leave behind material called drift composed of silt, clay, sand, gravel, and boulders. Glacial drift includes unsorted material called till and layers deposited by meltwater streams called outwash . While drift from early ( pre-Illinoian ) glaciations has been found in some parts of the region, much of
10332-452: The Endeavors of Government, or Fear of Indians has kept them properly within Bounds." The British had a long-standing goal of establishing a Native American buffer state in the American Midwest to resist American westward expansion. With victory in the American Revolution the new government considered evicting the squatters from areas that were now federally owned public lands. In 1785, soldiers under General Josiah Harmar were sent into
10496-411: The French and British, conflicts and treaties with the United States both during the Revolutionary War and after , and its ultimate clearing/erasure throughout the nineteenth century. European settlement of the area began in the 17th century following French exploration of the region and became known as New France , including the Illinois Country . The French period began with the exploration of
10660-431: The French and the British into competition with each other to their own benefit. The Indian demand for certain kinds of cloth in particular fueled this competition. This, however, changed following the Seven Years' War with Britain's victory over France and the cession of New France to Great Britain. The British attempted to establish a more assertive relationship with the Indians of the pays d'en haut , eliminating
10824-402: The Hudson's Bay Company name. Many towns around the lake are current or former mining areas, or engaged in processing or shipping. Today, tourism is another significant industry: the sparsely populated Lake Superior country, with its rugged shorelines and wilderness, attracts vacationers and adventurers. Lake Superior has been an important link in the Great Lakes Waterway , providing a route for
10988-428: The Midcontinent Rift, and there are several amethyst mines in the Thunder Bay area. Lava erupted from the rift and formed the black basalt rock of Michipicoten Island, Black Bay Peninsula, and St. Ignace Island . In the most recent geological history, during the Wisconsin glaciation 10,000 years ago, ice covered the region at a thickness of 1.25 miles (2 km). The land contours familiar today were carved by
11152-511: The Mississippi are at risk every 50 to 100 years or so of a major flood, as with the wreck of Gays Mills, Wisconsin , in August 2007, or the holding of the levee in Houston, Minnesota , (on the South Fork Root River ) at the same time. Metropolitan areas have flood walls ( See 2007 Midwest flooding ). In August 2018, the region yet again experienced record-breaking flooding in valley towns such as Coon Valley, Wisconsin , La Farge, Wisconsin and Viola, Wisconsin . The Kickapoo River flood stage
11316-399: The Mississippi is available, with ice fishing in winter. The Driftless Area is part of the Mississippi Flyway . Many birds fly over the river in large flocks, going north in spring and south in autumn. There are very few natural lakes in the region, these being found in adjoining areas of glacial till, drift, and in moraines; the region is extraordinarily well drained, and there is rarely
11480-399: The Mounds , near Blue Mounds, WI , are better known examples. The Driftless Area is located in all or part of Pierce , Pepin , Eau Claire , Buffalo , Trempealeau , Jackson , La Crosse , Monroe , Juneau , Vernon , Richland , Sauk , Crawford , Iowa , Dane , Green , Grant , and Lafayette counties. If the less restrictive definition of the Driftless Area is used (which includes
11644-411: The Ohio country to destroy the crops and burn down the homes of any squatters they found living there. But overall the federal policy was to move Indians to western lands (such as the Indian Territory in modern Oklahoma) and allow a very large numbers of farmers to replace a small number of hunters. Congress repeatedly debated how to legalize settlements. On the one hand, Whigs such as Henry Clay wanted
11808-534: The Plains Indians hunted other animals, such as elk or antelope , bison was their primary game food source. Bison flesh, hide, and bones from bison hunting provided the chief source of raw materials for items that Plains Indians made, including food, cups, decorations, crafting tools, knives, and clothing. The tribes followed the bison's seasonal grazing and migration. The Plains Indians lived in teepees because they were easily disassembled and allowed
11972-683: The Wisconsin River were carved through the bedrock during the sudden draining of Glacial Lake Wisconsin at the end of the last ice age . Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest ) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau . It occupies the northern central part of the United States . It
12136-720: The Wisconsin River, which drained Glacial Lake Wisconsin , and Glacial River Warren (whose bed is occupied by the Minnesota River ), which drained the colossal Glacial Lake Agassiz . There was ample water to dig a very deep, hundreds-of-miles-long gash into the North American bedrock where the Upper Mississippi River now flows. The climate is humid continental , displaying both the cool summer and warm summer subtypes as one travels from north to south. The United States Department of Agriculture has
12300-528: The Wyalusing River valley until it overtopped the Military Ridge, ultimately carving through the ridge and draining the lake. This resulted in the ancient Upper Mississippi River changing course and flowing south toward the Gulf of Mexico , instead of east into the Saint Lawrence River and the North Atlantic Ocean . The stream capture hypothesis for the Upper Mississippi River would have produced
12464-483: The advance and retreat of the ice sheet . The retreat left gravel, sand, clay and boulder deposits. Glacial meltwaters gathered in the Superior basin creating Lake Minong , a precursor to Lake Superior. Without the immense weight of the ice, the land rebounded , and a drainage outlet formed at Sault Ste. Marie, becoming today's St. Mary's River. The first people came to the Lake Superior region 10,000 years ago after
12628-782: The alliance it created. In the meshed French and Algonquian system of trade, the Algonquian familial metaphor of a father and his children shaped the political relationship between the French and the Natives in this region. The French, regarded as the metaphoric father, were expected to provide for the needs of the Algonquians and, in return, the Algonquians, the metaphoric children, would be obligated to assist and obey them. Traders coming into Indian villages facilitated this system of symbolic exchange to establish or maintain alliances and friendships. Marriage also became an important aspect of
12792-459: The area, as it was the outlet for Glacial Lake Duluth , forerunner to Lake Superior , when the eastern outlet was blocked by the continental ice sheet. All major rivers in and adjacent to the Driftless Area have deep, dramatic canyons giving testimony to the immense quantity of water which once surged through them as a result of the nearby melting Glaciers associated with the miles-high Ice sheets during recurring Ice ages . Other examples include
12956-520: The arrival of Europeans, the Anishinaabe made themselves middle-men between the French fur traders and other Native peoples. They soon became the dominant Native American nation in the region: they forced out the Sioux and Fox and won a victory against the Iroquois west of Sault Ste. Marie in 1662. By the mid-18th century, the Ojibwe occupied all of Lake Superior's shores. In the 18th century, as
13120-603: The booming fur trade supplied Europe with beaver hats , the Hudson's Bay Company had a virtual monopoly in the region until 1783, when the rival North West Company was formed. The North West Company built forts on Lake Superior at Grand Portage , Fort William , Nipigon, the Pic River, the Michipicoten River, and Sault Ste. Marie. But by 1821, with competition harming the profits of both, the companies merged under
13284-814: The broad Interior Plain between the states occupying the Appalachian Mountain range and the states occupying the Rocky Mountain range . Major rivers in the region include, from east to west, the Ohio River , the Upper Mississippi River , and the Missouri River . The 2020 United States census put the population of the Midwest at 68,995,685. The Midwest is divided by the U.S. Census Bureau into two divisions. The East North Central Division includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of
13448-511: The broader Midwest and central Plains regions. The steep riverine landscape of both the Driftless Area proper and the surrounding Driftless-like region is the result of early glacial advances that forced preglacial rivers that flowed into the Great Lakes southward, causing them to carve a gorge across bedrock cuestas , thereby forming the modern incised upper Mississippi River valley. The region has elevations ranging from 603 to 1,719 feet (184 to 524 m) at Blue Mound State Park , and together with
13612-471: The conflict, the British government was forced to compromise and loosely re-created a trade system that was an echo of the French one. While French control ended in 1763 after their defeat in the Seven Years' War, most of the several hundred French settlers in small villages along the Mississippi River and its tributaries remained, and were not disturbed by the new British administration. By the terms of
13776-774: The continental glacier was also hindered by the great depths of the Lake Superior basin and the adjacent highlands of the Bayfield Peninsula , Gogebic Range , Porcupine Mountains , Keweenaw Peninsula , and the Huron Mountains along the north rim of the Superior Upland bordering Lake Superior. The Green Bay and Lake Michigan lobes were also partially blocked by the bedrock of the Door Peninsula , which presently separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan . Another factor that may have contributed to
13940-495: The datum. 2019 and 2020 set new high-water records in nearly every month. Historic low water The lake's lowest levels occur in March and April. The normal low-water mark is 0.33 feet (0.10 m) below the datum. In the winter of 1926 Lake Superior reached its lowest recorded level at 1.58 feet (0.48 m) below the datum. Additionally, the entire first half of the year (January to June) included record low months. The low water
14104-401: The decreasing ice cover. Less winter ice cover allows more solar radiation to penetrate and warm the water. If trends continue, Lake Superior, which freezes over completely once every 20 years, could routinely be ice-free by 2040 although more current data through 2021 does not support this trend. Warmer temperatures could lead to more snow in the lake effect snow belts along the shores of
14268-534: The deposition of loess. The sedimentary rocks of the valley walls date to the Paleozoic Era and are often covered with colluvium or loess. Bedrock , where not directly exposed, is very near the surface and is composed of "primarily Ordovician dolomite , limestone , and sandstone in Minnesota, with Cambrian sandstone, shale , and dolomite exposed along the valley walls of the Mississippi River." In
14432-623: The direct ancestors of the Ojibwe and Cree . The people of the Laurel complex (c. 500 BC to AD 500) developed seine net fishing, evidence being found at rivers around Superior such as the Pic and Michipicoten. The people of the Terminal Woodland period were evident in the area from AD 900 to 1650. They were Algonquian peoples who hunted, fished and gathered berries. They used snowshoes , birch bark canoes and conical or domed lodges. At
14596-445: The earth through fractured bedrock or a sinkhole, either joining an aquifer , or becoming an underground stream. Blind valleys are formed by disappearing streams and lack an outlet to any other stream. Sinkholes result from the collapse of a cave's roof, and surface water can flow directly into them. Disappearing streams can re-emerge as large, cold springs. Cold streams with cold springs as their sources are superb trout habitat. Due to
14760-691: The east, the Baraboo Range , an ancient, profoundly eroded monadnock in south central Wisconsin , consists primarily of Precambrian quartzite and rhyolite . The area has not undergone much tectonic action, as all the visible layers of sedimentary rock are approximately horizontal. Karst topography is found throughout the Driftless area. This is characterized by caves and cave systems, disappearing streams , blind valleys , underground streams , sinkholes , springs , and cold streams. Disappearing streams occur where surface waters sink down into
14924-506: The female line, while the others favored the patrilineal method. All tribes were governed under chiefdoms or complex chiefdoms. For example, Hurons were divided into matrilineal clans, each represented by a chief in the town council, where they met with a town chief on civic matters. But Chippewa people's social and political life was simpler than that of settled tribes. The religious beliefs varied among tribes. Hurons believed in Yoscaha ,
15088-582: The global climate change of the Little Ice Age . Their culture effectively ended before 1492. The major tribes of the Great Lakes region included the Huron , Ottawa , Ojibwe , Potawatomi , Ho-Chunk , Menominee , Sauk , Meskwaki , Neutrals , and the Miami . Most numerous were the Huron and Ho-Chunk. Fighting and battle were often launched between tribes, with the losers forced to flee. Most are of
15252-617: The government to get maximum revenue and also wanted stable middle-class law-abiding settlements of the sort that supported towns (and bankers). Jacksonian Democrats such as Thomas Hart Benton wanted the support of poor farmers, who reproduced rapidly, had little cash, and were eager to acquire cheap land in the West. Democrats did not want a big government, and keeping revenues low helped that cause. Democrats avoided words like "squatter" and regarded "actual settlers" as those who gained title to land, settled on it, and then improved upon it by building
15416-516: The growing influence of women in the fur trade also came the increasing demand of cloth which very quickly grew to be the most desired trade good. English traders entered the Ohio country as a serious competitor to the French in the fur trade around the 1690s. English (and later British) traders almost consistently offered the Indians better goods and better rates than the French, with the Indians being able to play that to their advantage, thrusting
15580-491: The incised Paleozoic Plateau of Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois has no evidence of glaciation. Numerous glacial advances throughout the world occurred during the most recent Quaternary glaciation (also known as the Pleistocene glaciation). The Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region of North America was repeatedly covered by advancing and retreating glaciers throughout this period. The Driftless Area escaped much of
15744-574: The incised tributaries to the Mississippi. The historic vegetation was mixed woodland, with occasional goat prairies on southwesterly facing slopes. In the western section is "an old plateau covered by loess [...] along the eastern border and pre-Wisconsin age glacial till in the central and western parts. The western portion is a gently rolling glacial till plain that is covered by loess in places." The counties involved include all or part of Dakota , Goodhue , Rice , Wabasha , Winona , Olmsted , Dodge , Houston , Fillmore , and Mower . Aside from
15908-480: The lack of glaciation of the Driftless area is the fractured, permeable bedrock within the Paleozoic Plateau underlying it, which would have promoted below-ground drainage of subglacial water that would otherwise have lubricated the underside of the glacial ice sheet. The dewatering of the underside of the ice sheet would have inhibited forward movement of the glacier into the Driftless Area, especially from
16072-470: The lake seasonally stratified . Twice per year, however, the water column reaches a uniform temperature of 39 °F (4 °C) from top to bottom, and the lake waters thoroughly mix. This feature makes the lake dimictic . Because of its volume, Lake Superior has a retention time of 191 years. Annual storms on Lake Superior regularly feature wave heights of over 20 feet (6 m). Waves well over 30 feet (9 m) have been recorded. Lake Superior
16236-743: The lake, especially in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan . Two recent consecutive winters (2013–2014 and 2014–2015) brought high ice coverage to the Great Lakes, and on March 6, 2014, overall ice coverage peaked at 92.5%, the second-highest in recorded history. Lake Superior's ice coverage further beat 2014's record in 2019, reaching 95% coverage. The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale in Michigan. Isle Royale contains several lakes, some of which also contain islands. Other well-known islands include Madeline Island in Wisconsin, Michipicoten Island in Ontario, and Grand Island (the location of
16400-463: The lake. With 78 crewmembers dead, their sinking marked the largest loss of life on Lake Superior to date. SS Edmund Fitzgerald is the last ship that sank in Lake Superior, 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) from Whitefish Point in a storm on November 10, 1975. The wreck was immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot in his ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald " . All 29 crew members died, and no bodies were recovered. Edmund Fitzgerald
16564-518: The lakes. The Native Americans ended being the main losers in the War of 1812 . Apart from the short Black Hawk War of 1832, the days of Native American warfare east of the Mississippi River had ended. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark Expedition that took place between May 1804 and September 1806. Launching from Camp Dubois in Illinois, the goal was to explore
16728-708: The land, then sold it to newcomers and then moved further west to repeat the process. Settlers without legal claims, called "squatters", had been moving into the Midwest for years before 1776. They pushed further and further down the Ohio River during the 1760s and 1770s and sometimes engaged in conflict with the Native Americans. British officials were outraged. These squatters were characterized by British General Thomas Gage as "too Numerous, too Lawless, and Licentious ever to be restrained", and regarded them as "almost out of Reach of Law and government; Neither
16892-400: The landscape. Prairies also occurred on steep slopes with south or southwest aspect ( see goat prairie ). Natural fire, which has long been vigorously suppressed, was essential for the regeneration of such prairies. Evidence of ancient extinct ice age animals that once inhabited the Driftless Area has been discovered over the years. An example of extinct Pleistocene megafauna in the area is
17056-667: The largest metropolitan area with 10 million people, making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in North America , after Greater Mexico City , the New York metropolitan area , and Greater Los Angeles . Other large Midwestern cities include Columbus , Indianapolis , Detroit , Milwaukee , Kansas City , Omaha , Minneapolis , Wichita , Cleveland , Cincinnati , St. Paul , St. Louis , and Des Moines . Large midwestern metropolitan areas include Metro Detroit , Minneapolis–St. Paul , Greater St. Louis , Greater Cincinnati ,
17220-459: The location of Native American settlements near the headwaters of the Wabash River , but on November 4 they were routed in battle by a tribal confederation led by Miami Chief Little Turtle and Shawnee chief Blue Jacket . More than 600 soldiers and scores of women and children were killed in the battle, which has since borne the name " St. Clair's Defeat ". It remains the greatest defeat of
17384-467: The lower Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean. The Ojibwe name for the lake is gichi-gami (in syllabics : ᑭᒋᑲᒥ , pronounced gitchi-gami or kitchi-gami in different dialects), meaning "great sea". Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote this name as " Gitche Gumee " in the poem The Song of Hiawatha , as did Gordon Lightfoot in his song " The Wreck of
17548-625: The lowest depth of Lake Superior on July 30, 1985, as part of a scientific expedition, which at 122 fathoms 1 foot (733 ft or 223 m) below sea level is the second-lowest spot in the continental interior of the United States and the third-lowest spot in the interior of the North American continent after Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada (1,503 ft or 458 m below sea level) and Iliamna Lake in Alaska 942 ft or 287 m. (Though Crater Lake
17712-489: The margin of the Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota is believed to have been established during pre-Wisconsin time, when a glacial advance from the west displaced the river eastward from central Iowa to its present position." Other rivers affected by this geologic process are: Although lying just to the north of the Driftless Area, the Saint Croix in Wisconsin and Minnesota is another important river that affected
17876-569: The middle ground was introduced in Richard White's seminal work: The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815 originally published in 1991. White defines the middle ground like so: The middle ground is the place in between cultures, peoples, and in between empires and the non state world of villages. It is a place where many of the North American subjects and allies of empires lived. It
18040-571: The minimum price thanks to various preemption acts and laws passed throughout the 1810s-1840s. In Washington, Jacksonian Democrats favored squatter rights while banker-oriented Whigs were opposed; the Democrats prevailed. In 1791, General Arthur St. Clair became commander of the United States Army and led a punitive expedition with two Regular Army regiments and some militia. Near modern-day Fort Recovery , his force advanced to
18204-703: The most frequently mined. Notable production includes gold from the Hemlo mine near Marathon , copper from the Keweenaw Peninsula and the Mamainse Point Formation , iron from the Gogebic Range , silver at Silver Islet , and uranium at Theano Point. The mountains steadily eroded, depositing layers of sediments that compacted and became limestone , dolomite , taconite and the shale at Kakabeka Falls . The continental crust
18368-490: The most inland port in the world. Among the scenic places on the lake are Apostle Islands National Lakeshore , Brockway Mountain Drive on the Keweenaw Peninsula , Isle Royale National Park , Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park , Pukaskwa National Park , Lake Superior Provincial Park , Grand Island National Recreation Area, Sleeping Giant (Ontario) and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore . The Great Lakes Circle Tour
18532-740: The most powerful and dominant tribes were the Dakota or Sioux , who occupied large amounts of territory in the Great Plains of the Midwest. The area of the Great Sioux Nation spread throughout the South and Midwest, up into the areas of Minnesota and stretching out west into the Rocky Mountains. At the same time, they occupied the heart of prime buffalo range, and also an excellent region for furs they could sell to French and American traders for goods such as guns. The Sioux (Dakota) became
18696-659: The most powerful of the Plains tribes and the greatest threat to American expansion. The Sioux comprise three major divisions based on Siouan dialect and subculture: Today, the Sioux maintain many separate tribal governments scattered across several reservations, communities, and reserves in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Montana in the United States, as well as Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan in Canada. The theory of
18860-533: The mouth of the Michipicoten River, nine layers of encampments have been discovered. Most of the Pukaskwa Pits were likely made during this time. The Anishinaabe people (an ethnic grouping including the Ojibwe/Chippewa ) have inhabited the Lake Superior region for over five hundred years and were preceded by the Dakota , Meskwaki (Fox) , Menominee , Nipigon, Noquet and Gros Ventres . After
19024-541: The national result. From 1860 to 1920, both parties tried to find their presidential and vice presidential candidates from the region. One of the two major political parties in the United States, the Republican Party , originated in the Midwest in the 1850s; Ripon, Wisconsin , had the first local meeting while Jackson, Michigan , had the first statewide meeting of the new party. Its membership included many Yankees out of New England and New York who had settled
19188-410: The native peoples who lived along the route were generally friendly, and that the natural resources of the lands in between were extraordinary. New France officials led by LaSalle followed up and erected a 4,000-mile (6,400 km) network of fur trading posts. The fur trade was an integral part of early European and Indian relations. It was the foundation upon which their interactions were built and
19352-434: The nomadic life of following game. When Spanish horses were obtained, the Plains tribes rapidly integrated them into their daily lives. By the early 18th century, many tribes had fully adopted a horse culture . Before their adoption of guns, the Plains Indians hunted with spears , bows , and bows and arrows , and various forms of clubs . The use of horses by the Plains Indians made hunting (and warfare) much easier. Among
19516-465: The northern tip of Lake Michigan. On canoes, they crossed the massive lake and landed at present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin . They entered the Mississippi River on 17 June 1673. Marquette and Jolliet were the first to map the northern portion of the Mississippi River. They confirmed that it was easy to travel from the St. Lawrence River through the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico by water, that
19680-1032: The open door, "fully clothed, wearing an orange life jacket, and lying face down in the sediment". In February 2024 it was announced that wreckage from the Arlington was discovered from a sinking in 1940. More than 80 species of fish have been found in Lake Superior. Species native to the lake include banded killifish , bloater , brook trout , burbot , cisco , lake sturgeon , lake trout , lake whitefish , longnose sucker , muskellunge , northern pike , pumpkinseed , rock bass , round whitefish , smallmouth bass , walleye , white sucker and yellow perch . In addition, many fish species have been either intentionally or accidentally introduced to Lake Superior: Atlantic salmon , brown trout , carp , chinook salmon , coho salmon , freshwater drum , pink salmon , rainbow smelt , rainbow trout , round goby , ruffe , sea lamprey and white perch . Lake Superior has fewer dissolved nutrients relative to its water volume than
19844-563: The open prairies where they engaged in communal hunts for buffalo (bison) . In the northern forests, the Ottawas and Potawatomis separated into small family groups for hunting. The Winnebagos and Menominees used both hunting methods interchangeably and built up widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rockies, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico , and east to the Atlantic Ocean. The Hurons reckoned descent through
20008-514: The other Great Lakes and so is less productive in terms of fish populations and is an oligotrophic lake . This is a result of the underdeveloped soils found in its relatively small watershed. It is also a reflection of relatively small human population and small amount of agriculture in its watershed. However, nitrate concentrations in the lake have been continuously rising for more than a century. They are still much lower than levels considered dangerous to human health; but this steady, long-term rise
20172-565: The other Great Lakes began sailing in 1816. Ice closes the lake shipping from mid-January to late March. Exact dates for the shipping season vary each year, depending on weather conditions that form and break the ice. The southern shore of Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Michigan , and Whitefish Point is known as the " Graveyard of the Great Lakes "; more ships have been lost around the Whitefish Point area than any other part of Lake Superior. These shipwrecks are now protected by
20336-436: The paleozoic plateau, following the original drainage patterns. Overall, the region is characterized by an eroded plateau , with bedrock overlain by varying thicknesses of loess . Most characteristically, the branching river valleys are deeply dissected. The bluffs lining this reach of the Mississippi River climb to nearly 600 feet (180 m). In Minnesota, pre-Illinoian-age till was probably removed by natural means prior to
20500-577: The plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and famous conflicts with settlers and the US Army have made the Plains Indians archetypical in literature and art for American Indians everywhere. Plains Indians are usually divided into two broad classifications, with some degree of overlap. The first group were fully nomadic, following the vast herds of buffalo . Some tribes occasionally engaged in agriculture, growing tobacco and corn primarily. These included
20664-464: The position that the region is a cohesive whole for marketing wine, and is now used to market other products. In addition to wine-grape production and wine-making, the region, especially in southeast Minnesota, is known for apple, maple syrup, and honey production. Tobacco was also once a key crop of the Driftless, as its topography and sandy, nutrient-rich soil are suitable for its growth. The Driftless Region Food and Farm Project, in partnership with
20828-555: The practise of gift giving which they now saw as unnecessary. This, in combination with an underwhelming trade relationship with a surplus of whiskey, increase in prices generally, and a shortage of other goods led to unrest among the Indians that was exacerbated by the decision to significantly reduce the amount of rum being traded, a product that British merchants had been including in the trade for years. This would eventually culminate in Pontiac's War , which broke out in 1763. Following
20992-401: The presence of sandstone bedrock at or near the surface, sand mining is an industrial activity in the Driftless, with Wisconsin at the forefront of the industry. The sandstone contains quartz (silica) sand grains of the ideal hardness, shape, and size, which make it optimal for use in hydraulic fracturing by the petroleum and natural gas industries. The mining activity involves quarrying
21156-412: The previous record low in 1926. Water levels recovered within a few days. Historic high water The lake's water level fluctuates from month to month, with the highest lake levels in October and November. The normal high-water mark is 1.17 feet (0.36 m) above the datum (601.1 ft or 183.2 m). In the summer of 1985, Lake Superior reached its highest recorded level at 2.33 feet (0.71 m) above
21320-448: The processing of the pelts necessary to the fur trade. Women were integral to the fur trade and their contributions were lauded, so much so that the absence of the involvement of an Indian Woman was once cited as the cause for a trader's failure. When the French fur trade re-opened in 1716 upon the discovery that their overstock of pelts had been ruined, legal French traders continued to marry Indian women and remain in their villages. With
21484-514: The prominence of industry has raised concerns about impacts on water quality, air pollution caused by silica dust, noise and light pollution , heavy truck traffic, and the destruction of hills and ridges for which the region is known. Recently, industry changes have caused companies such as Hi-Crush, Covia , Superior Silica Sands— all with operations in Wisconsin—to liquidate their frac sand mines and declare bankruptcy. The Driftless Area has become
21648-520: The rapid movement of underground water through regions with karst topography, groundwater contamination is a major concern in the Driftless area. The Mississippi River passes through the Driftless Area between and including Pool 2 and Pool 13 . As rivers and streams approach their confluence with the Mississippi, their canyons grow progressively steeper and deeper, particularly in the last 25 miles (40 km) in their journey to their mouths. The change in elevation above sea level from ridgetops lining
21812-546: The region (as it was in other regions), with Wisconsin a major center. Under the La Follettes , Wisconsin fought against the Republican bosses and for efficiency, modernization, and the use of experts to solve social, economic, and political problems. Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third-largest freshwater lake by volume , holding 10% of
21976-422: The region falling mainly in zone 5a , with the northern fringe being 4b. A few patches in Wisconsin are 4a. Prior to European settlement in the 19th century, the vegetation consisted of tallgrass prairie and bur oak savanna on ridgetops and dry upper slopes, sugar maple - basswood - oak forest on moister slopes, sugar maple-basswood forests in protected valleys and on north-facing slopes, wet prairies along
22140-466: The region has generated much public interest in the organic and artisanal food market. Organic dairy and beef production is of particular economic significance to the Driftless. Organic Valley , the largest organic dairy cooperative in the United States, was founded and is headquartered in La Farge, Wisconsin. The region's cheese production boasts specialty cheeses such as raw-milk artisan cheese, which
22304-576: The region is composed of swing states , and therefore is heavily contested and often decisive in elections. The term West was applied to the region in British America and in the early years of the United States, when the colonial territories had not extended far from the Atlantic coast and the Pacific seaboard was generally unknown. By the early 19th century, anything west of Appalachia
22468-489: The region, such as in Kentucky , in contrast to the usually rigid east-west/north-south alignment elsewhere in the Midwest. Here, the roads switchback up stream valleys or travel over ridge tops. The route of U.S. Highway 20 through the Driftless, and particularly in Illinois, is a good example. The natural characteristics of the Driftless Area provide good conditions for growing crops and grazing livestock. In recent years,
22632-666: The retreat of the glaciers in the Last Glacial Period . They are known as the Plano , and they used stone-tipped spears to hunt caribou on the northwestern side of Lake Minong. The Shield Archaic peoples arrived around 5000 BC; evidence of this culture can be found at the eastern and western ends of the Canadian shore. They used bows and arrows, paddled dugout canoes, fished, hunted, mined copper for tools and weapons, and established trading networks. They are believed to be
22796-459: The rivers, and some mesic prairie on the floodplain farther back from the river. There were probably also oak forests that contained no sugar maple. Marsh and floodplain forests were also common on river flood plains. Prairie was restricted primarily to the broader ridge tops, which were unfavorable sites for trees due to thin soils and shallow bedrock, rapid drainage, and desiccating winds; all these conditions were also good for carrying fires across
22960-401: The rugged nature of the topography in the region is not conducive to farming, except on ridge tops and in river valleys. The sides of the ridges are often too steep for farming, and are usually forested. The Coulee Experimental State Forest near La Crosse was created in part to test soil conservation practices to prevent soil erosion in the hilly Driftless Area. The northeastern portion of
23124-429: The sandstone bedrock by blasting with dynamite , crushing the rock, washing, drying, and grading the resulting sand, and transporting the sand out of the region via barge or train. In 2017, there were 73 frac sand mines in operation in Wisconsin alone, and there are currently five operating industrial sand mines in Minnesota; the proliferation of sand mines in the region created new jobs and generated economic activity. But
23288-541: The scouring and depositional action by the continental glaciers that occurred during the last ice age, which produced significant differences in the topography and drainage patterns within the unglaciated area compared to adjacent glaciated regions. The region has been subjected to large floods from the melting Laurentide Ice Sheet and subsequent catastrophic discharges from its proglacial lakes , such as Glacial Lake Wisconsin , Glacial Lake Agassiz , Glacial Lake Grantsburg , and Glacial Lake Duluth . The last phases of
23452-697: The southeastern suburban sprawl of the Twin Cities , Rochester is the main urban area. Additional communities include Red Wing , Lake City , Winona , La Crescent , Chatfield , Lanesboro , Rushford , Houston , and Caledonia . Glacial River Warren , in whose bed the Minnesota River now flows, entered the "Driftless Area" just downriver from present-day Minneapolis-Saint Paul , at Fort Snelling , over River Warren Falls , "an impressive 2700 feet (823 m) across and 175 feet (53 m) tall, over 10 times as wide as Niagara falls" (this has since receded to become Saint Anthony Falls ). The region
23616-472: The summer (cooler with frequent sea breeze formations) and winter, and creates lake-effect snow in colder months. The hills and mountains that border the lake hold moisture and fog, particularly in the fall. The rocks of Lake Superior's northern shore date back to the early history of the earth. During the Precambrian (between 4.5 billion and 540 million years ago) magma forcing its way to
23780-577: The surface created the intrusive granites of the Canadian Shield . These ancient granites can be seen on the North Shore today. It was during the Penokean orogeny , part of the process that created the Great Lakes tectonic zone , that many valuable metals were deposited. The region surrounding the lake has proved to be rich in minerals, with copper , iron , silver , gold and nickel
23944-432: The trade in both the Ohio River valley and the French pays d'en haut with the temporary closing of the French fur trade from 1690 to 1716 and beyond. French fur traders were forced to abandon most posts and those remaining in the region became illegal traders who potentially sought these marriages to secure their safety. Another benefit for French traders marrying Indian women was that the Indian women were in charge of
24108-403: The transportation of iron ore as well as grain and other mined and manufactured materials. Large cargo vessels called lake freighters , as well as smaller ocean-going freighters , transport these commodities across Lake Superior. Shipping was slow to arrive at Lake Superior in the 19th century. The first steamboat to run on the lake was the Independence in 1847, whereas the first steamers on
24272-484: The unglaciated southwestern portion of Wisconsin's Central Plain ), then Adams and portions of southern Wood and Portage counties are also included. La Crosse is the principal urban area wholly within the Driftless Area, while the larger Madison 's far western suburbs are located on the edges of the area. Small cities and towns are scattered throughout the region. Numerous Amish settlements are also located within Wisconsin's Driftless Area. The U.S. Army maintains
24436-415: The upper Midwest. The party opposed the expansion of slavery and stressed the Protestant ideals of thrift, a hard work ethic, self-reliance, democratic decision making, and religious tolerance. In the early 1890s, the wheat-growing regions were strongholds of the short-lived Populist movement in the Plains states. Starting in the 1890s, the middle class urban Progressive movement became influential in
24600-428: The west. In the adjacent glaciated regions, the glacial retreat left behind drift, which buried all former topographical features. Surface water was forced to carve out new stream beds. This process was absent in the Driftless Area, where the original drainage systems persisted during and after the ice age. Water erosion continued carving the existing gullies , ravines , stream beds, and river valleys ever deeper into
24764-409: The world's surface fresh water. Located in central North America, it is the northernmost and westernmost of the Great Lakes of North America , straddling the Canada–United States border with the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east and the U.S. states of Minnesota to the west and Michigan and Wisconsin to the south. It drains into Lake Huron via St. Marys River , then through
24928-436: Was a continuation of the dropping lake levels from the previous year, 1925, which set low-water records for October through December. During the nine-month period of October 1925 to June 1926, water levels ranged from 1.58 feet (0.48 m) to 0.33 feet (0.10 m) below Chart Datum. In the summer of 2007 monthly historic lows were set; August at 0.66 feet (0.20 m), and September at 0.58 feet (0.18 m). According to
25092-424: Was a system that would evolve over time. Goods often traded included guns, clothing, blankets, strouds, cloth, tobacco, silver, and alcohol. The French and Indian exchange of goods was called an exchange of gifts rather than a trade. These gifts held greater meaning to the relationship between the two than a simple economic exchange because the trade itself was inseparable from the social relations it fostered and
25256-406: Was battered so intensely by Lake Superior that the 729-foot (222 m) ship split in half; her two pieces lie approximately 170 feet (52 m) apart at a depth of 88 fathoms (530 ft or 160 m). Lightfoot sings that "Superior, they said, never gives up her dead". This is because of the unusually cold water, under 36 °F (2 °C) on average around 1970. Normally, bacteria decaying
25420-400: Was bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Some entities in the Midwest have "Northwest" in their names for historical reasons, such as Northwestern University in Illinois. One of the earliest late-19th-century uses of Midwest was in reference to Kansas and Nebraska to indicate that they were the civilized areas of the west. Another term applied to the same region
25584-410: Was considered American frontier . Over time the American frontier moved to west of the Mississippi River . During the colonial period, the upper-Mississippi watershed including the valleys of the Missouri River and the Illinois River , which were settled in the 17th and 18th century and called Illinois Country . In 1787 the Northwest Ordinance was enacted, creating the Northwest Territory , which
25748-413: Was formed in part by sediments falling to the bottom of Glacial Lake Wisconsin . This flat plain consists of sandy deposits and contains many bogs that were left over from Glacial Lake Wisconsin. Many of these bogs have been converted into cranberry marshes, helping to make Wisconsin a leader in cranberry production. The remainder of the sand plain consists of forest and irrigated farmland. The Dells of
25912-430: Was formed on the foundations of mutual accommodation and common meanings established between the French and the Indians that then transformed and degraded as both were steadily lost as the French ceded their influence in the region in the aftermath of their defeat in the Seven Years' War and the Louisiana Purchase . Major aspects of the middle ground include blended culture, the fur trade , Native alliances with both
26076-419: Was later riven , creating one of the deepest rifts in the world. The lake lies in this long-extinct Mesoproterozoic rift valley , the Midcontinent Rift . Magma was injected between layers of sedimentary rock , forming diabase sills . This hard diabase protects the layers of sedimentary rock below, forming the flat-topped mesas in the Thunder Bay area. Amethyst formed in some of the cavities created by
26240-430: Was launched August 17, 1907, and was lost on her second voyage hauling iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin, to Buffalo, New York , with the sole survivor among her 23 crew being Charles G. Pitz. In 1918 the last warships to sink in the Great Lakes, French minesweepers Inkerman and Cerisoles , vanished in a Lake Superior storm, perhaps upon striking the uncharted danger of the Superior Shoal in an otherwise deep part of
26404-512: Was officially named the North Central Region by the U.S. Census Bureau until 1984. It is between the Northeastern United States and the Western United States , with Canada to the north and the Southern United States to the south. The U.S. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois , Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Nebraska , North Dakota , Ohio , South Dakota , and Wisconsin . The region generally lies on
26568-402: Was part of his thinking every day of life. Ottawa and Potawatomi people had very similar religious beliefs to those of the Chippewas. In the Ohio River Valley, the dominant food supply was not hunting but agriculture. There were orchards and fields of crops that were maintained by indigenous women. Corn was their most important crop. The Plains Indians are the indigenous peoples who live on
26732-431: Was primarily carved out of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in order to protect these species and their associated ecosystems. Isolated relic stands of pines and associated northern vegetation are found in some locations where algific talus slopes exist. These trees survive in the cooler microclimate produced at these locations outside of their range further north. A noteworthy annual event
26896-413: Was the primary crop of Mississippian farmers. They gathered a wide variety of seeds, nuts, and berries, and fished and hunted for fowl to supplement their diets. With such an intensive form of agriculture , this culture supported large populations. The Mississippi period was characterized by a mound-building culture. The Mississippians suffered a tremendous population decline about 1400, coinciding with
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