368 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
flood-plain is from a half to three-quarters of a mile wide, and is over- ! 
grown with a heavy growth of large timber—ash, elm, and oak—with > 
thick underbrush of hazeland wild cherry. The stream is well filled with 
fishes rich in variety; hundreds of specimens were taken ait every haul 
of the seine. The most plentiful are chubs, pickerel, minnows, and 
suckers. Notropis hudsonius was particularly numerous and very large © 
in size; a number of fine darters were also taken. 
Turtle River, Manvel, N. Dak., August 18.—This is a small grassy 
stream that flows into Morse Slough, a bayou of the Red River of the 
North. The banks and bed of the stream are of soft mud covered with 
leaves and grasses. But few fishes were taken, and these were covered 
with parasites. 
Detroit Lake, Detroit City, Minn., August 21.—This is one of the most | 
beautiful lakes in northwestern Minnesota. It has an area of 5 or 6 
square miles and the water is deep and clear. It is surrounded by 
high wooded banks of drift deposit, varying greatly in structure, which | 
gives the lake an exceedingly irregular outline. It is connected by 
canals (made along natural waterways) with Lakes Sally and Melissa, 
these two lakes lying more than 6 feet below the surface of Detroit 
Lake. All, especially Detroit Lake,.are well stocked with the game- | 
fishes common to this section of the country. Bass, pickerel, wall-eyed 
pike, pike perch, and ring perch are abundant, and on this account the 
lake is fast becoming a favorite resort for the angler and tourist. 
Minnewaukan, or Devil Lake, August 5.—This is an isolated body of 
water lying just beyond the divide that separates the Red River system 
from the Devil Lake region. It occupies the lowest part of a large 
basin 50 miles long by 30 miles broad, and being in a district where 
there is but little rainfall, and receiving no large tributaries, it is 
rapidly drying up. About the lake, from 14 to 24 miles from the 
present shore line, the country is an old lake bed which the vegetation 
has not yet covered, and the shells, pebbles, and sands of the lake are 
lying undisturbed and bare. North and east of the lake a considerable 
expanse of country presents the unmistakable signs of having been 
recently submerged, while on the higher rises of ground forest trees 
grow. These elevations were islands, and plainly show the old water- 
lines. On the south hills rise to the height of 250 to 400 feet, and are 
heavily timbered. 
The lake is not deep, soundings showing from 22 to 35 feet. There is 
a difference in the temperature of the water between the bottom and top 
of the lake of about 2 degrees, the top being 79 and the bottom 77. To 
the northeast the land is low, indicating an active outlet for the lake when 
the depth of water was much greater than at present. I was informed 
by good authority that a few years ago the lake was well stocked with 
fishes, pickerel being by far the most abundant species. It is also said 
that these fish were taken with hook and line during the winter season 
in great numbers, piled up, and sold literally by the cord. Nowa pick- 
