INVESTIGATIONS IN MINNESOTA AND NORTH DAKOTA. 361 
‘gradually to the northward. The soil is a deposit of fine sand and 
Jay, the surface of which is generally free from bowlders. The narrow 
valley that the river now occupies has been cut down by erosion from 
50 to 75 feet below the surrounding country. Concerning the forma- 
tion of the valley or flood-plain, there is abundant evidence everywhere 
to show that it has been the bed of a great inland lake. 
} Moorhead, Minn., July 25.—Fished in the Red River of the North, 
north of that city. The river here is 75 feet wide and very crooked and 
‘ uddy. ’ It looks like a great drainage ditch, filled with foul, muddy 
water. The color of the water is very light, owing to the great quan- 
tities of very fine light clay held in suspension. The bed of the river 
is of clay, very uneven, and worn in parallel grooves. The banks are 
of mud, which, along the water’s edge, is soft and deep. The imme- 
diate banks of the river are about 10 feet above the water and are 
covered with a natural growth of ash, elm, oak, box-elder, and maple. 
‘There appears to be little or no vegetable life in the stream, not even 
growing in the water’s edge. The great amount of sediment of fine 
‘clay in the water appears to be detrimental to both animal and vege- 
table life, and especially to the latter. No water insects or larvie were 
found. A few crawfish were taken, and one empty clam shell was 
observed. The river was seined with a 45-foot seine, which brought to 
the shore sufficient numbers of a few specimens of fishes to indicate 
that they were reasonably abundant. Moon-eyes, or skipjacks, were 
in greatest abundance; goggle-eyes and suckers were common; two 
‘species of catfish were reported numerous by local fishermen; one large 
ling (Lota lota macuiosa) was taken; minnows and darters were rare; 
Hybopsis storerianus was common and very large. 
_ Grand Forks, N. Dak., August 9.—The Red River was pretty thoroughly 
Sseined at a point 2 miles above the town. The water was not sc deep 
‘as where it was examined at Moorhead, Minn. The general character 
of the river remains about the same. The shore lines and flood plains 
are of the same fine, adhesive mud, and the bottom is of the same tough 
bowlder clay. The water here has not only cut a ditch through the loose 
fine material of the lake sediment, but it has worn several feet into the 
tout clay at the bottom. There is no vegetation in the muddy water, 
but the flood-plain and the banks seem well adapted to the growth of 
trees, which cover many miles with a growth of elder, basswood, iron- 
wood, and oak. At the city of Grand Forks, 2 miles below the point 
where the river was examined, the Red River of the North is joined by 
the Red Lake River from the northeast. The country between these 
rivers, for several miles from their union, is of river deposit, and has 
= covered by a dense growth of large deciduous trees. The water 
of the river is usually very muddy. The depth of the water is pretty 
even throughout the summer, but in the spring the water frequently 
tises 30 feet or more on account of ice gorges. 
There are several local fishermen here, who fish principally with trot 
. 
