8 DEVILS LAKE, NORTH DAKOTA. 
WESTERN SECTION. 
This broad section formerly extended from La Rose Ferry, at the 
eastern end of the United States reservation on Grahams Island, 
westward to Minnewaukan, 11 miles distant. The area to the west 
of Grahams Island is now dessicated and covered by a growth of wild 
grass and weeds, with a narrow channel, not deeper than 3 feet, run- 
ning northerly to the northwestern extremity of the island toward the 
old course of the Mauvaise Coulée. The drying up of the straits at 
Spaldings Ferry and at a point midway between there and the mouth 
of the coulée forms two small detached bodies of water, the remnant 
of the tributary arm of this section. Only skiffs or gasoline launches 
with a draft of 18 inches or less can pass through this portion of 
Devils Lake. The bottom consists of soft black mud, 2 to 3 feet deep, 
sustaining a growth of weeds that continually entangled the pro- 
peller, forcing frequent halts. The greatest depth found was 7 to 8 
feet, the average 3 feet. 
The shores along the southern margin of Grahams Island consist 
of wide mud flats, in many localities over 50 feet in width, but the 
southern shore presents a narrower stony littoral and a nearer ap- 
proach to the conditions found in the main section. The average 
density of water was 1.005 and temperature 74.3° F. 
WATERS ADJACENT TO DEVILS LAKE. 
To determine the conditions obtaining in neighboring lakes relative 
to the character of the water, fauna, flora, and other factors impor- 
tant in the study of fish life, brief examinations were made of the fol- 
lowing: 
Court or Spring Lake.—This is a small sheet of fresh water sit- 
uated one-eighth mile from Little Mission Bay beyond the roadway 
and its western bank and inclosed on all sides by wooded hills which 
protect it from storms that sweep Devils Lake. Its area is approxi- 
mately one quarter section. No bottom soundings could be made, but 
a depth of 8 feet and over was found by one of the members of the 
party swimming about and “ sinking.” A muddy bottom was found 
in the center. Small stretches of sandy shore here and there alter- 
nate with the rushes and aquatic plants that protect the littoral. 
Shrubbery and woods approach the water’s edge and uncultivated 
land surrounds this beautiful sheet of water hidden among the hills. 
The temperature found July 25, 1907, at 11.30 a. m., was 73.5° F., the 
density being 1.000. 
No recession of the water was noted, and there were no evidences 
of the conditions obtaining in the big lake situated but a few rods 
away. The lake is fed by bottom springs, its level is 20 feet above 
