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INVESTIGATIONS IN MINNESOTA AND NORTH DAKOTA. 355 
Appleton the bed of the stream is 30 feet wide, with a flood-plain 
three-quarters of a mile wide. The stream receives the waters of 
several small lakes and tributaries, making an average depth of from 
1 to 3 feet. The numerous ripples are shallow, broad, and rapid. In 
many places the bottom is thickly covered with a rank growth of water 
vegetation. This grass and weeds fasten to and about the sides of the 
rocks, reaching a length of from 2 to 3 feet, and forming a thick green 
mass which entirely hides the bed of the stream, thus affording a 
splendid place of concealment for small fish, two or three species of 
which appear to be particularly fond of this retreat. 
The bed of the stream is smooth, with nothing to offer obstruction to 
the seine except a few granite bowlders. Collections were made just 
below the mill on the north side of the town, where the stream literally 
swarmed with fish. At this place a high dam is built across the river, 
which, however, is provided with a fish-ladder, the practical working of 
which is good. It consists of strong board boxes, 25 by 4 feet and 14 
inches deep, arranged in series, so that fish can easily pass from one to 
the other. When the water was drawn from the topmost box it was 
found to contain nearly 200 fish of various sizes, and others before the 
water was withdrawn could be seen passing from one box to another, 
and from the last box into the pond above. Crowded about the foot of 
the ladder were swarms of fish, principally Catostomus, Pimephales, and 
Hybopsis. A recent law of Minnesota requires the owners of dams to 
build and maintain fish-ladders of this pattern; and it is hoped that 
the law will be rigidly enforced. i 
Chippewa River, Montevideo, Minn., July 19.—The Chippewa River 
is another northern tributary of the Minnesota, and, like that river, 
shows signs of having served as a waterway when the supply of water 
was much greater than at present, the valley being totally out of pro- 
portion to the size of the present stream. The area drained by this river 
is much greater than that drained by the Pomme de Terre, being 1,800 
or 1,900 square miles. Montevideo is near the mouth of the stream and 
the country around is much broken and eroded, the higher lands stand- 
ing as points or knobs from around which the soil has been removed by 
erosion. The stream at Montevideo has a broad valley well overgrown 
with maples, elms, box-elder, and birch, some of which reach a consid- 
erable size and might almost be designated as forest trees. The stream 
flows in a southwesterly direction between the banks of drift, which 
are 40 feet apart. The depth of the water is about 6 feet. The bed 
and the banks are of mud for the most part. Three-quarters of a mile 
below Montevideo a ford was found at a deep, swift ripple, where the 
bed was of sand and gravel. Patches of waterweed along the edges 
and in the swifter water were the prevailing vegetation. A few crawfish 
were taken, and a large bed of clams was discovered, from which were 
taken four species. 
