INVESTIGATIONS IN MINNESOTA AND NORTH DAKOTA. 361 



gradually to the northward. The soil is a deposit of fine sand and 

 clay, the surface of which is generally free from bowlders. The narrow 

 valley that the river now occupies has been cut down by erosion from 

 50 to 75 feet below the surrounding country. Concerning the forma- 

 tion of the valley or liood-plain, there is abundant evidence everywhere 

 to show that it has been tlie bed of a great inland lake. 



Moorhead, Minn., July 25. — Fished in the Red River of the North, 

 north of that city. The river here is 75 feet wide and very crooked and 

 muddy. It looks like a great drainage ditch, filled with foul, muddy 

 water. The color of the water is very light, owing to the great quan- 

 tities of very fine light clay held in suspension. The bed of the river 

 is of clay, very uneven, and worn in parallel grooves. The banks are 

 of mud, which, along the water's edge, is soft and deep. The imme 

 diate banks of the river are about 10 feet above the water and are 

 covered with a natural growth of ash, elm, oak, box- elder, and maple. 

 There appears to be little or no vegetable life in the stream, not even 

 growing in the water's edge. The great amount of sediment of fine 

 clay in the water appears to be detrimental to both animal and vege- 

 table life, and especially to the latter. No water insects or larvjc were 

 found. A few crawfish were taken, and one empty clam shell was 

 observed. The river was seined with a 45-foot seine, which brought to 

 the shore sufficient numbers of a few specimens of fishes to indicate 

 that they were reasonably abundant. Moon-eyes, or skipjacks, were 

 in greatest abundance; goggle-eyes and suckers were common; two 

 species of catfish were reported numerous by local fishermen; one large 

 \m^ {Jjota lota maculosa) ^^% taken; minnows and darters were rare; 

 Hyhopsis storerianus was common and very large. 



Grand Forks, N. Bale., August 9. — The Red River was pretty thoroughly 

 seined at a point 2 miles above the town. The water was not so deep 

 as where it was examined at Moorhead, Minn. The general character 

 of the river remains about the same. The shore lines and flood plains 

 are of the same fine, adhesive mud, and the bottom is of the same tough 

 bowlder clay. The water here has not only cut a ditch through the loose 

 fine material of the lake sediment, but it has worn several feet into the 

 tough clay at the bottom. There is no vegetation in the muddy water, 

 but the flood-plain and the banks seem well adapted to the growth of 

 trees, which cover many miles with a growth of elder, basswood, iron- 

 wood, and oak. At the city of Grand Forks, 2 miles below the point 

 where the river was examined, the Red River of the North is joined by 

 the Red Lake River from the northeast. The country between these 

 rivers, for several miles from their union, is of river deposit, and has 

 been covered by a dense growth of large deciduous trees. The water 

 of the river is usually very muddy. The depth of the water is pretty 

 even throughout the summer, but in the spring the water frequently 

 rises 30 feet or more on account of ice gorges. 



There are several local fishermen here, who fish principally with trot 



