The Gordon plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
Mostly sunny
Mostly sunny; warmer
Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
Chance of showers
Chance of showers
Showers likely
Gordon’s center stands about 1,520 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,470 ft to 1,630 ft, a difference of 160 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Mount Whittlesey, about 1,890 ft, 11 miles northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Gneiss and amphibolite (gneiss, amphibolite), from the Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old.
The section below crosses 9 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 47×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Paleoarchean, 3.2 to 3.6 billion years old. About 11 mi of the line.
Gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 5 mi of the line.
Granodiorite, granite. Age: Mesoarchean to Neoarchean, 2.6 to 2.9 billion years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Sandstone, siltstone. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Granite. Age: Mesoproterozoic, 1.1 to 1.1 billion years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 0.8 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 3 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
Gordon straddles the St. Lawrence Divide. Rain on the north side runs to Lake Superior; most of the rest goes to the Gulf of America.
From the center of town, a raindrop reaches the Gulf of America by way of Dingdong Creek, the West Torch, the Torch, the West Fork Chippewa, the Chippewa and the Mississippi: about 1,960 river miles. One that lands on the north side reaches Lake Superior by way of the Iron and the Bad River: about 65 river miles. From there it moves on through the Great Lakes, over Niagara Falls and down the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic.
Lakes on the way: Moonshine Lake, Lake Wissota and Holcombe Flowage.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Gordon; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
