12 DEVILS LAKE, NORTH DAKOTA. 



groves. Below that line are only smaller and scattered trees, of which Capt. 

 E. E. Heerman informed me that the largest found by him and cut a few years 

 ago had 57 rings of annual growth. Within the twenty-five years since the 

 building of Fort Totten this lake has fallen 9 or 10 feet, and it has fluctuated 

 4 feet under the influence of the changes in the average annual precipitation 

 of rain and snow during the past dozen years. 



The high stage reached by this lake about sixty years ago appears to have 

 been limited by an avenue of discharge eastward into Stump Lake, which rose 

 at the same time to within about 3 feet of this height. The latter and smaller 

 lake, receiving no large tributary and lying in a basin that nowhere extends 

 many miles from the lake, was prevented by evaporation from rising quite 

 so high as Devils Lake, which, during years of abundant rains and snows, re- 

 ceives a large tributary, the Mauvaise Coulee, draining a broad area that 

 ati-etches GO miles northwestward to the Turtle Mountain, The outlet from 

 Devils Lake into Stump Lake was nearly due eastward from Jerusalem, 

 situate'd on Lamoreaux Bay at the most eastern portion of the entire lake 

 shore. With an overflow at this point. Devils Lake may many times have 

 been raised to this beach by periodic variations in rainfall during the many 

 centuries since the ice age. 



At the time when the last ice sheet retreated, however, the confluent water 

 of Devils and Stump lakes were raised to a shore line which now has a slight 

 ascent from west to east, lying 21 to 25 feet above the low stage of Devils 

 Lake in 1889. This shore is traceable around both lakes, passing above the 

 watershed that now divides them. 



From the same authority are taken the following notes on eleva- 

 tion : 



Feet above 

 the sea. 



Devils Lake, surface of water, August 8, 1887 1, 431. (J 



Devils Lake, surface of water, in 1S89___ 1, 430 



Devils Lake, highest and lowest stages during the years 1880 to 



1889 1, 434-1, 430 



From notes of investigations : 



Devils Lake, bench mark, IT. S. G. S., June, 1883 1, 4.39. 08 



Devils Lake level by Bureau of Fisheries, August 21, 1907 1, 428. 6 



By these figures it will be observed that Devils Lake rose 5 feet 

 between 1880 and 1883, attaining its highest level, 1,439.08 feet, in 

 the latter year. Since then it has diminished steadily, dropping 9 

 feet in the succeeding six years and 1^ feet since the " dry year," 

 1889. The lake at present is at its lowest, and it is doubtful whether 

 any maximum seasonal fluctuation can cause it to attain the level of 

 1889. It is a matter of common knowledge that bays and tributaries 

 navigated by steamers in 1883 are now entirely desiccated or closed 

 to navigation. At that time the main body of the lake was re- 

 ported to have a depth of 35 feet. Soundings made in August, 1907, 

 by the Bureau of Fisheries, show a maximum depth of only 25 feet. 



In considering these data the apparent significance of plowed 

 land in connection with the drainage and precipitation must not 

 be overlooked. The recent lowering of the lake level has obtained 



