INVESTIGATIONS IN MINNESOTA AND NORTH DAKOTA. 355 



Appleton the bed of the stream is 30 feet wide, with a Hood-plain 

 three-quarters of a mile wide. The stream receives the waters of 

 several small lakes and tributaries, making an average depth of from 

 1 to 3 feet. The numerous ripples are shallow, broad, and rapid. In 

 many places the bottom is thickly covered with a rank growth of water 

 vegetation. This grass and weeds fasten to and about the sides of the 

 rocks, reaching a length of from 2 to 3 feet, and forming a thick green 

 mass which entirely hides the bed of the stream, thus affording a 

 splendid place of concealment for small fish, two or three sjiecies of 

 which appear to be particularly fond of this retreat. 



The bed of the stream is smooth, with nothing to offer obstruction to 

 the seine except a few granite bowlders. Collections were made Just 

 below the mill on the north side of the town, where the sti-eam literally 

 swarmed with fish. At this place a high dam is built across the river, 

 which, however, is provided with a fish-ladder, the practical working of 

 which is good. It consists of strong board boxes, 2i by 4 feet and 14 

 inches deep, arranged in series, so that fish can easily pass from one to 

 the other. When the Avater was drawn from the topmost box it was 

 found to contain nearly 200 fish of various sizes, and others before the 

 water was withdrawn could be seen j^assing from one box to another, 

 and from the last box into the j>ond above. Crowded about the foot of 

 the ladder were swarms of fish, princii)ally Catostomus, Pimephales, and 

 Hyhopsis. A recent law ()f Minnesota requires the owners of dams to 

 build and maintain fish-ladders of this pattern ; and it is hoped that 

 the law will be rigidly enforced. 



Chippewa River, Montevideo, Minn., July 19. — The Chippewa River 

 is another northern tributary of the Minnesota, and, like that river, 

 shows signs of having served as a waterway when the supply of water 

 was much greater than at present, the valley being totally out of pro- 

 portion to the size of the present stream. The area drained by this river 

 is much greater than that drained by the Pomme de Terre, being 1,800 

 or 1,900 square miles. Montevideo is near the mouth of the stream and 

 the country around is much broken and eroded, the higher lands stand- 

 ing as points or knobs from around which the soil has been removed by 

 erosion. The stream at Montevideo has a broad valley well overgrown 

 with maples, elms, box-elder, and birch, some of which reach a consid- 

 erable size and might almost be designated as forest trees. The stream 

 flows in a southwesterly direction between the banks of drift, which 

 are 40 feet apart. The depth of the water is about 6 feet. The bed 

 and the banks are of mud for the most part. Three-quarters of a mile 

 below Montevideo a ford was found at a deep, swift ripple, where the 

 bed was of sand and gravel. Patches of waterweed along the edges 

 and in the swifter water were the prevailing vegetation. A few crawfish 

 were taken, and a large bed of clams was discovered, from which were 

 taken four species. 



