438 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. X. 



of the parallel, it has an average width of 30 miles (General 

 Warren's map and G. M. Dawson's statement) ; toward Lake 

 Traverse it narrows rapidly, is a mile long along the lake, the 

 sides rising abruptly from the borders of the lake ; beyond this I 



lake, southward, it continues on, one to two miles wide, as the 1 



valley of the Minnesota River; and, where it joins the Missis- 

 sippi, the valley has four times the width of the Mississippi 

 valley above the junction (General Warren). 



4. All now agree that the wide part of the valley which ■ 

 stretches northward from Lake Traverse is lake-bottom prairie, I 

 that it was adopted by the Red River, not made by it 

 (Dawson) ; and that the part south of this lake is, as General 

 Warren first showed, the deserted highway of the overflowing 

 river and lake. 



5. The Red River lake-bottom valley is bordered much of 

 the way by abrupt sides rising 100 to 200 feet to the top of a 

 terrace-plain or plateau; and, similiarly, the Minnesota channel ■ 

 has sides usually 100 to 150 feet in height. 1 



6. Heiiihts above the sea-level : 



I 



(B. C. means Boundary Commission Report.) 



1. Lake-bottom. 2. Bordering 



prairie. plateau. 



Near 45° 30' N., between Big Stone ^ 



Lake and Lake Traverse (5 miles i 970 1,120 



apart) ) 



Near 47° N., at Fargo and Moorhead 900 1,050 (?) 



On the 49th parallel near Pembina ^ -q , /p n \ East side 989 



and St Vincent,* / '^ -^ West side 994 



Toward Lake Winnipeg 740 810 



Height of Lake Winnipeg (about 



the mouth of Red River, a great 



marsh) 710 feet 



* The height of the Lake of the Woods is 1048 feet (B.C.) ; of the 

 divide between it and the near-by head of Rosseau River, a westward- 

 flowing tributary of Red River along the 49th parallel region about 

 1078 feet (Dawson); edge of the plateau where it looks down on the 

 lake-bottom about Pembina, 90 feet less (B.C.), and hence about 988 

 feet; Pembina Mountain, on the west side, 210 feet above the lake- 

 bottom prairie, and hence 784+210=994 feet above the sea-leyel. Red 

 River as it flows in its channel is 20 to 60 feet below the surface of 

 the lake-bottom prairie; at Pembina, about 50 feet (Warren). 



I 

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1 



