368 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Hood-plaiii is from a lialf to tlireequaiters of a mile wide, and is over- 

 grown with a heavy growth of large timber — ash, elm, and oak — with 

 thick underbrush of hazel and wild cherry. The stream is well filled with 

 fislies rich in variety; hundreds of si)ecimens were taken at every haul 

 of the seine. The most plentiful are chubs, pickerel, minnows, and 

 suckers. Notropis hudsonins was particularly numerous and very large 

 in size; a number of fine darters were also taken. 



Turtle River, Manvel, N. Dal:, August 18. — This is a small grassy 

 stream that flows into Morse Slough, a bayou of the Red River of the 

 North. The banks and bed of the stream are of soft mud covered with 

 leaves and grasses. But few fishes were taken, and these were covered 

 with parasites. 



Detroit Lake, Detroit City, Minn., August 21. — This is one of the most 

 beautiful lakes in northwestern Minnesota. It has an area of 5 or 6 

 square miles and the water is deep and clear. It is surrounded by 

 high wooded banks of drift deposit, varying greatly in structure, which 

 gives the lake an exceedingly irregular outline. It is connected by 

 canals (made along natural waterways) with Lakes Sally and INlelissa, 

 these two lakes lying more than 6 feet below the surface of Detroit 

 Lake. All, especially Detroit Lake, are well stocked with the game- 

 fishes common to this section of the country. Bass, pickerel, wall-eyed 

 pike, pike perch, and ring perch are abundant, and on this account the 

 lake is fast becoming a favorite resort for the angler and tourist. 



Minneivaul-an, or Devil Lal'e, August 5. — This is an isolated body of 

 water lying just beyond the divide that separates the Red River system 

 from the Devil Lake region. It occupies the lowest jiart of a large 

 basin 50 miles long by 30 miles broad, and being in a district where 

 there is but little rainfall, and receiving no large tributaries, it is 

 rapidly drying up. About the lake, from 1 J to 2^ miles from the 

 present shore line, the country is an old lake bed which the vegetation 

 has not yet covered, and the shells, pebbles, and sands of the lake are 

 lying undisturbed and bare. North and east of the lake a considerable 

 expanse of country presents the unmistakable signs of having been 

 recently submerged, while on the higher rises of ground forest trees 

 grov^. These elevations were islands, and idainly show the old water- 

 lines. On the south hills rise to the height of 250 to 400 feet, and are 

 heavily timbered. 



The lake is not deep, soundings showing from 22 to 35 feet. There is 

 a difference in the temperature of the water between the bottom and top 

 of the lake of about 2 degrees, the to]) being 70 and the bottom 77. To 

 the northeast the land is low, indicating an active outlet for the lake when 

 the depth of water was much greater than at present. I was informed 

 by good authority that a few years ago the lake was well stocked with 

 fishes, pickerel being by far the most abundant species. It is also said 

 that these fish were taken with hook and line during the winter season 

 in great numbers, piled up, and sold literally by the cord. Now a pick- 



