58 
may do uniform work. All the lines in both directions should be well 
marked with flags and buoys, so that there may be a check on the distance 
and alignment every 80 rods. Or the alignment might be directed by a 
man from the shore, who, standing on a little elevation, could guide a boat 
over a line from one to two miles long. The check in distance at every 
quarter-mile line would, I think, insure sufficient accuracy. After sketch- 
ing in the work of Professor Drybread’s party I made about 100 five and 
ten-feet soundings between those made by Professor Drybread, so that the 
five and ten-feet contour lines were run in from soundings that were only 
about 40 rods apart. 
At first thought one would suppose that 600 soundings would be suffi- 
cient to show well the topography of the lake bed. With this data 
Professors Eigenmann and Drybread attempted to draw contour lines that 
would represent the lake bed, but they found many questionable points. 
Almost every one of the quarter-mile areas not sounded furnished doubt- 
ful regions. In exploring these doubtful regions I made about 100 deep- 
water soundings and recorded about 75 shallow-water soundings, 
made while running out the outlines of sand bars. In work on the sand 
bars record was made of stakes located, and not of the hundreds of trial 
soundings necessary to follow the edges of the bars. The question-points 
for the north half of the lake are nearly all answered. But the record 
made by the sounding rod or line is not quite satisfactory. I discovered 
_mistakes enough in the work done to make me wonder if there were not 
mistakes that I did not discover. 
During the summer the lake water is more or less turbid with vegetation 
and animal life. so that even in shoal water one can gain but little in- 
formation through the sense of sight. In the autumn or early spring the 
water is clear and the shallow water can be traced easily by the eye. I 
shall not feel satisfied with the work until I can confirm all shallow-water 
work by the sense of sight. Nearly SOO soundings have been made and 
doubtless 200 more will be necessary to give a satisfactory idea of the 
irregularities of the bed of Lake Maxinkuckee. 
The deepest water found was 85 feet, in the northwest quarter of the 
southwest quarter of section 22, and the water over the west half of the 
northwest quarter of section 22 is for the most part over 60 feet in depth, 
and the east half of the southeast quarter of section 21 seems to be coy- 
ered with water over 60 feet deep, the deep basin of the lake being the 
west half of the west half of section 22 and the east half of the southeast 
