BIOLOGICAL RECOXXOISSAXCE AT FLATHEAD LAKE. 139 



dred feet above the water. This is a great fishing resort for the In- 

 dians on the reservation, and one seldom visits the place without seeing 

 several tepees on the bank some place near. The oeprey is as industri- 

 ous as the Indian, and is seldom absent from the scene when one visits 

 the rapids. 



The moraine at the lower end of the lake is worthy of more extended 

 notice. Between it and the lake is a level plain. At the western end, 

 where the plain is widest, it separates the moraine from the lake by a 

 distance of about two miles. Eastward the hills come almost to the 

 water's edge, separated only by a narrow strip of level land. 



This level plain shows clearly two terraces, with evidences of a third 

 higher upon the hillside. The terraces correspond with similar terraces 

 at the northern end. Here one is beautifully shown at Sliter's, near the 

 Station. 



The lake has therefore had two, possibly three levels other than that 

 at present. 



The moraine is 450 feet above the level of the lake, at the place where 

 the wagon road crosses near Poison. There are probably several places 

 higher than this. The railroad survey crosses the moraine about midway 

 between the Pend d'Oreille river and the mountains. Their readings 

 show the height at the river to be 84 feet less than that at the place 

 selected for passage. The engineers preferred the higher passage be- 

 cause the lower necessitatd doubling back in order to get down on the 

 southern side. 



The w-agon road winds back and forth in its passage over. The lake 

 is invisible until the traveler reaches the crest of the hill, when it comes 

 suddenly before him in all its beauty. The view of the lake proper 

 is obscured by the islands and peninsula, which practically cut the lake 

 in two. The view of the lake from any other point is better than that 

 from the lower end. 



The banks of the lake do not afford as much shelter for invertebrate 

 life as would at first seem apparent. The southern third, cut off by the 

 islands, is shallow, nowhere of greater depth than twenty feet. The 

 eastern part of this bay, formed by the peninsula projecting from the 

 Mission mountains, is very marshy, with muddy bottom. Rushes and 

 weeds grow abundantly, offering an excellent harbor for smaller life. 

 This is the largest marshy region around the lake. Between the mouth 

 of Flathead river and the mouth of Swan river, along the northern shore, 

 is another marsh in the spring, of peculiar nature. At the water's edge 

 is an embankment of a more or less rocky nature. North of this em- 

 bankment is a shallow marsh, about two miles long and a quarter to a 

 half mile wide. WTien the lake rises, as it does in the spring, from ten 

 to twelve feet, the water flows over the embankment, and into the low 

 land. As the lake recedes the imprisoned waters cannot escape, and 

 offer a fine breeding place for mosquitoes for some time, until the waters 

 evaporate or filter through the soil to the lake region. Most of the re- 

 maining banks are rocky, precipitous at the water's edge, with or with- 

 out a gravelly beach. The bottom generally is reported to be rocky, 

 with little mud. This report comes from the captain of the boat Klon- 



