362 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



lioes. Catfish, suckers, moon-ej^es, and wall-eyed pike are the most 

 comniou varieties. The catfish grow to a large size. Both genera, 

 Ameiiu'Ufi and letalurus, are common. One small Etheostoma was taken. 

 Two large turtles (too large to be preserved and hence unidentified) were 

 captured with the seine. 



Otter Tail River, Breekenridge, Minn., July 23. — This is one of the 

 largest eastern tributaries of the Red River of the North. It rises in 

 a county of the same name, about 50 miles east of Breekenridge. At 

 Breekenridge it joins the Boise de Soux to form the Red River. The 

 Boise de Soux is a continuation in the valley of the Red River, but the 

 Otter Tail is by far the larger stream. The Otter Tail River is a stream 

 75 to 90 feet wide and 4 to 6 feet deep, though in many places it is much 

 deeper. The current is swift (4 miles per hour), and there is always a 

 good supply of water, since the river is the outlet of several lakes, the 

 largest of which. Otter Tail Lake, has an area of 20 or 30 square miles. 

 The water is turbid and never clear, even during low water, since the 

 sediment carried is a very fine light-colored clay. 



The stream rises in a very level or basin-like drift area, flows through 

 drift soil its entire length, noMhere reaching hard bedrock. The course 

 of the stream is exceedingly tortuous. The bed is of smooth, hard 

 clay in the swifter portions, with sand and gravel in other places. 

 The deeper i)ortions of the stream and the shores and eddies are of 

 mud, covered with sand and gravel a few inches deep. The bed and 

 the channel change slightly with every high rise of water. The banks 

 will average 20 feet in height and are steep and but little eroded. The 

 country is level, and the stream has simply eroded the drift to that 

 depth. The drift deposit here is comparatively free from bowlders. 

 Water vegetation is very scant, although mints and cress grow in 

 shallow water along the shores. The banks are lined with small trees 

 and shrubs; willows and box-elders grow to the water's edge. 



The stream was fished northeast of the town of Breekenridge, about 

 a mile above the Great Northern Railroad bridge. The chief difficul- 

 ties in collecting are the swift current and steep banks. The 15 and 

 45 foot seines were used, but fish life was not found to be abundant. 

 Among the food-fishes taken and those reported most common were 

 suckers {Moxostoma macrolepidotum duquestiei), rock bass {Amhloplites 

 rupestris), and two varieties of cattish {Ameiiirus nehulosus and letalurus 

 punctatus). One specimen of the former weighing about 5 pounds Avas 

 taken. Temperature of water, 79°. 



Cheyenne River., Lisbon, N. Dal., July 26. — The Cheyenne is the 

 largest western tributary of the Red River, and rises about 45 miles 

 southwest of Devil Lake in Wells County, near the source of the James 

 or Dakota River. The two streams flow parallel with each other, about 

 40 or 50 miles apart, one on either side of a low divide. For 180 miles 

 the Cheyenne flows in a southeasterly direction. At Scovill, 10 miles 

 below Lisbon, the course suddenly changes to northeasterly and con- 



