606 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Minnesota River rises in Roberts County, S. Dak., where it is 

 known as the Little Minnesota. It flows southeast and empties into 

 the head of Big' Stone Lake, where, at its mouth, it is nothing more 

 than a small creek. Throughout its entire length its course is tortu- 

 ous, its current sluggish, and its bottom muddy. Big Stone Lake is 

 nothing more than the remains of an ancient glacial river bed. It 

 varies in width from a mile to 1A miles and is about 40 miles in length, 

 its greatest extent being from northwest to southeast. It is shallow 

 everywhere, the greatest depth not supposed to exceed 20 feet, and the 

 average less than 10. Lying in the prairie region, there is no timber 

 except a narrow belt along its shores, and even this has been nearly 

 all removed by the settlers in the vicinity. At the southern end of Big 

 Stone Lake the Minnesota River again emerges, not any larger than 

 when it entered. It still has a muddy bottom and takes a very wind- 

 ing course. It continues to flow southeast until it reaches Mankato, in 

 Blue Earth County, where it changes its course to due north and finally 

 northeast, until it empties into the Mississippi near St. Paul. At Man- 

 kato it has a bed about 525 feet wide, which it fills during high water, 

 but during the greater part of the year the stream is not more than 40 

 feet wide and li feet deep on an average. The current is not swift? 

 averaging during low water 1J feet per second and at high water sel- 

 dom gains a velocity exceeding 3 feet per second. The river bottom at 

 Mankato is sandy and gravelly, as might be judged from the banks, 

 which are in many places made up of sand and gravel. Except when 

 the water is disturbed by rains it is clear, comparatively free from 

 aquatic vegetation, and quite pure above the city of Mankato. Below 

 the city it is very much contaminated by sewage, where, during low 

 water, very few of the higher forms of aquatic animals are found. 



Minnesota River has but two northern tributaries of any importance, 

 Pomme de Terre and Chippewa rivers. From the south it receives Lac 

 qui Parle, Yellow Medicine, Redwood, Cottonwood, and Blue Earth 

 rivers, the latter emptying into the Minnesota near where the Minnesota 

 makes the bend in Blue Earth County. Blue Earth River, which rises 

 in northern Iowa, is the largest tributary of the Minnesota. At Man- 

 kato it has a bed which is 200 feet in width, but the stream during the 

 dry season narrows down to a mere brook not more than 10 feet in 

 width on the ripples and having a depth of 6 inches or less. Notwith- 

 standing, there are holes in which fish can live the entire year, and at 

 the proper season bass and pike fishing is excellent at various places. 



The bottom is generally sandy or gravelly, and in a few places it is 

 covered with bowlders. The water is pure but warm. 



Miuneopa Creek is a very small brook which enters the Minnesota 

 River from the south, 4 miles above Mankato. At certain seasons 

 it becomes almost dry, but at one place there is a large hole and a 

 waterfall, when the stream is running, and in this there are some fishes. 

 Those referred to below were taken near the falls, known as Minneopa 

 Falls, 



