344 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH. 
The Red River of the North is the only large stream within the bor- 
ders of the United States that finds a northern outlet for its waters. 
Its course is down a long, gentle slope culminating in a low watershed 
that separates this system from that of the Mississippi on the south, 
east, and west. This divide in no place reaches the dignity of a moun- 
tain range, but is low, and in places broad and level, and is composed 
entirely of drift brought down from the northeast and north during 
glacial times. Maps represent the Red River of the North as the 
outlet of Lake Traverse and as a broad, marshy river in its upper 
course. Butit is not the outlet of this lake nor has it been for many 
years. Neither is it broad and marshy as a river. 
It is evident that the long trough occupied by Lake Traverse, Big 
Stone Lake, the Minnesota River, and the Mississippi River was at one 
time a magnificent waterway draining an inland lake greater in area 
than Lake Superior. This old river channel has been scooped out 150 
to 200 feet below the surrounding country, and is 1 or 2 miles wide, 
retaining this width with remarkable constancy throughout its 300 miles 
or more of length. 
TRAVERSE AND BIG STONE LAKES. 
These two large lakes occupy that part of the valley of “River War- 
ren” that lies between the parallels of 45° 15’ and 45° 55/ north. This 
section of the valley is over 14 miles wide, and of an average depth of 
145 feet. The general direction of the valley is north and south, 
although the middle of this section is strongly curved to the west. The 
two lakes are about 5 miles apart, separated by sediment piled a few 
feet above the surface of Traverse Lake. This deposit separating the 
two lakes is not, however, the divide between the two river systems; 
the main divide or highest land lies to the north of Traverse Lake. 
Entering the valley from the west, about a mile below Traverse Lake, 
is the Little Minnesota River. This stream has worn for itself a valley 
extending to the northwest commensurate with its size and eroding 
power; upon reaching the broader valley, it lost its power to erode 
and at once began to deposit its sediment, which it extended across the 
valley dividing and separating the two waters, thus forming two lakes 
from the one that already existed, or perhaps damming the stream 
before Big Stone Lake had been formed. 
It is quite evident from the following that after the Minnesota River 
had ceased to be the outlet of Lake Winnipeg, the entire valley of 35 
miles, forming the semicircle from the head of Lake Traverse to the 
foot of Big Stone Lake, was one lake: 
(1) The granite outerop at the foot of Big Stone Lake resisted erosion 
to so great an extent that during the full discharge of water down this 
passageway it was left projecting above that part of the bed farther 
