The Red Lakes are single basin lakes 

 with very regular shorelines virtually without 

 protected bays or coves . (Sisters Bay on Upper 

 Red Lake, east of the "Narrows", is the only 

 prominent bay) . The maximum depth of Lower 

 Red Lake was reported to be about 40 feet and 

 the average depth between 20 and 25 feet. The 

 maximum depth of Upper Red Lake was re- 

 ported to be about 14 to 18 feet with an average 

 of 8 to 10 feet. 



TTie shores of Lower Red Lake and the 

 southern shore of Upper Red Lake are habitable . 

 The northern shore of Upper Red Lake is low 

 and marshy with fairly dense aquatic vegetation 

 and generally is not suited for human habitation. 

 A very small number of white settlers live near 

 the shores of Upper Red Lake, outside of the 

 reservation boundaries . The inhabitants of the 

 shore areas of waters within the reservation 

 boundaries are exclusively Indian. 



No hydrographic or limnological surveys 

 have been made of the Red Lakes prior to 1938 . 

 Dr . Samuel Eddy of the University of Minnesota 

 made a few observations on Lower Red Lake on 

 August 5 and 6, 1933, which he summarized in a 

 letter as follows: turbidity with Secchi disk, 1 

 meter; pH (hydrogen -ion concentration) at sur- 

 face 8.5, at 8 meters 8.0; dissolved oxygen at 

 surface 8.3 p. p.m., at 8 meters 8 p. p.m. 

 Bottom samples were collected but not studied. 

 Dr. Eddy stated that mayfly larvae, Hexagenia, 

 were abundant in the deeper waters . The sur- 

 face waters of Upper Red Lake contained 5 p.p. 

 m, of free carbon dioxide, 147.5 p. p.m. bi- 

 carbonates, and the pH was 8 .5 on September 4, 

 1938. In another letter Dr. Eddy observed: 

 "This lake (Lower Red Lake) is relatively shal- 

 low and without any thermal stratification . 

 From my casual observations it seems to be 

 similar to several other lakes which we have 

 surveyed in more detail. These lakes consti- 

 tute a type which are among our most productive 

 lakes, due to the shallow condition and the fact 

 that the entire bottom is available for food pro- 

 duction for fish." 



The 1938 investigation entailed no limno- 

 logical studies. 



HISTORY OF THE RED LAKES 



FISHERIES 



The Red Lakes were reported to have 

 been so heavily populated with fish before 1918 

 that each year vast quantities of various species 

 died and were beached along the shores . The 

 principal species, the walleye Stizostedion 

 vitreum vitreum (Mitchill), was reported to have 

 been small and scrawny ("razor-backed") and 

 the flesh poor. S. A. Selvog (1925?), the first 

 State Superintendent of the Red Lakes fisheries, 

 reported that in 1917 and 1918 these pike "did 

 not compare on the market with the pike from 

 other waters, and averaged scarcely a pound in 

 weight. It is not uncommon now to take pike 

 weighing four to six pounds and frequently more, 

 and a shipping box can be filled with half the 



number of pike necessary in the beginning 



the quality of fish in Red Lake has been materi- 

 ally improved by the removal of a part of the 

 abundant supply." In an earlier report (1922) 

 he stated, "In 1918 it required from 125 to 137 

 walleyed pike to fill a box of 150 pounds, where- 

 as during the season of 1922 the number re- 

 quired for the same sized box is from 70 to 85, 

 indicating a marked increase in the average 

 size of the fish . It also appears that during 

 recent seasons dead fish have not been obseirved 

 in any great numbers around the shores of the 

 lake in the summer time ... ." 



Albert C. Klancke (1929), then State 

 Supervisor of Commercial Fi shing, wrote, "It 

 has been demonstrated that the taking of the 

 pike, at least, from the waters of Red Lake, 

 has increased the size and quality of the remain- 

 ing fish . This was realized after a few years of 

 operations." 



Prior to the fall of 1917 the only fish- 

 ing activities on Lower and Upper Red Lakes 

 were conducted by the Indians of the Red Lake 

 Reservation as a source of food. Whitefish and 

 sheepshead for use during the winter were sun 

 dried, or salted and smoked by the majority of 

 the Indian families . The laws of Minnesota at 

 that time prohibited the commercial exploita - 

 tion of the fishery resources of any of the inland 

 waters of the State . 



