144 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 100 



rolling topography. A portion of it is locally known as the 

 " Big Ridge." For about twenty miles its eastern border 

 is followed by Indian creek flowing south. The creek then 

 turns and flows east into the Raccoon river, passing within 

 one-fourth mile of Wall lake, the w.aters of which flow sev- 

 eral miles to reach it. Wall lake is situated just south of the 

 turn in Indian creek. It has an irregular outline, does not 

 exceed ten feet in depth at the deepest part, and in general 

 is shallow, covering an area of about nine hundred and sixty 

 acres, or approximately two square miles. It gets its name 

 from an irregular " wall " of glacial boulders or " nigger- 

 heads," which were piled around its shores by the ice ex- 

 pansion of winter and the break-up in spring. Only small 

 portions of the " wall " remain, most of it having been long 

 since hauled away for barn foundations. 



Wall lake and the Boyer river are connected by a depres- 

 sion which appears to be a pre-glacial channel of the Boyer 

 river. This broad flat valley extends directly across the Wis- 

 consin moraine. It extends southwesterly from Wall lake 

 to the Boyer river, passing to the south of the town of Wall 

 Lake. The two miles of this valley next to the Boyer river 

 are lower than the banks of the Boyer and this depression is 

 flooded by back-water from the Boyer river every spring and 

 some years very frequently during the summer. The sum- 

 mer of 1915 it was full of water all summer, but in ordi- 

 nary years the water runs out very slowly, leaving the 

 '' Goosepond," as it is locally known, dry during late fall and 

 winter. In times of extreme high water, which occur every 

 five to ten or fifteen years, the waters from the Boyer entirely 

 flood the very low divide at the east end of the " Goosepond " 

 and flow into Wall lake, thus mingling the waters of the Mis- 

 souri and Mississippi drainage systems, sufficiently so that 

 aquatic forms of life could pass from one to the other. An 

 elaborate plan for draining the " Goosepond " is now being 

 projected. 



Since the " Goosepond " is nearly always flooded in the 

 spring, it is a favorite resort of the migrating waterfowl and 



