A Recent Visit to Lake Itasca — Upham. 291 



ing up the dense young poplar growth upon thousands of acres 

 where the ground beneath was thickly strown with the trunks of a 

 former generation of poplars that had fallen years ago after being 

 killed by fire. Many scattered trees and groves of red and white 

 pines were also overrun by this fire, which was carried by the gale 

 up the pitchy trunks and fanned into masses of flame enveloping 

 the branching tops like hugh torches. Now these trees, scorched 

 and blacke^^ed, witli all that remains of their foliage withered, 

 stand dead, awaiting the slow decay of many years and the ravages 

 of wood-eating worms and insects, to lay them low. Large tracts 

 of forest composed of many species were killed, and through their 

 leafless branches the sun shines down on the rank young shoots 

 and seedlings which during the past summer have sprung up to 

 replenish the loss. 



The first frost of this fall in the vicinity of Itasca was two 

 nights before I left Osage on this trip, and on the morning when 

 we started ice was frozen an eighth of an inch thick. Lookiug for 

 the effect of these frosts on the rankly grown and still green leaves 

 of the young oaks, bass wood, and other species, I saw no imme- 

 diate harm produced, except in the case of the ash shoots, whose 

 foliage was withered, seeming to be nearly as tender to the frost 

 as the dahlias of our gardens. Ten days later all the decidu- 

 ous trees were in their brightest autumn coloring of red, yellow and 

 russet brown. 



Tall game is occasionally found in these woods. Hundreds of 

 moose are killed every year, mostly by the Indians, but their num- 

 bers are said to be increasing and to exceed the deer, which are 

 also plentiful. But the elk, which supplied the aboriginal name 

 of Itasca, have retreated to the northwestern edge of Minnesota 

 where a few are said to survive in the neighborhood of Roseau 

 lake and river. The caribou ranges south westward to the Rainy 

 river, but probably not to Itasca. Among the fur-bearing ani- 

 mals are the black bear, lynx, wolf, mink, muskrat, skunk and 

 otter. Beavers, which were formerly plentiful, are now wholly 

 driven away or very rare. 



This article may well close with a notice of the relationship 

 of Itasca and Elk lakes, which has supplied the aboriginal name 

 of the latter. Rev. J. B. Gilfillan, of White Earth, tells us that 

 the Indians call Elk lake Gahukegumag^ meaning "water which 

 juts off to one side." And so this lake is outlined on Nicollet's 



