482 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Chains of lakes. 



width, crossed by the line between sections 17 and 18; lake Sisseton, nearly a mile long, at the 

 west side of the town of Fairmont; Lake George, three-quarters of a mile long, at the east side 

 of section 6; Buffalo lake, at the east side of sections 31 and 30, liutland; the Twin lakes, about 

 a mile farther north; lake Charlotte, in section 17, liutland; High lake, at the southeast corner 

 of section 7; Martin lake, a mile long from south to north and a third of a mile wide, lying on 

 the line between sections 5 and 6, Rutland; a lake, nearly a mile long, at the east side of sections 

 31 and 30, Westford; and Perch lake, in sections 19 and 18 of this township. 



The shores and the country on both sides of the Central chain of lakes, as of the East chain, 

 consist of till, which soon rises to a moderately undulating expanse that has a bight thirty to 

 forty or fifty feet above the lakes Though forming a very distinct, straight series, they do not 

 occupy a well-marked continuous valley; but its width varies from one mile or more to less than 

 an eighth of a mile, and it is in three places interrupted by water-divides at whose lowest points 

 the slopes of till reach ten to fifteen feet above the adjoining lakes. Silver and Iowa lakes are 

 the headwaters of South creek, and have their outlet by a stream that runs east nearly along the 

 state line to the south end of the East chain. The middle part of the Central chain, reaching 

 twelve miles from Summit lake to the Twin Jakes is tributary to Center creek; and its portion 

 farther north, excepting Perch lake, is within the belt drained by Elm creek. 



Iowa and Silver lakes have the same level, which is nearly that of Summit lake. Mr. William 

 H. Budd, of Fairmont, states that the descent from Summit lake to Wilmont lake is three feet; 

 thence to Bardwell lake, probably ten feet; thence to Mud and Amber lakes, still water; thence 

 to Hall's lake, about two feet; to Budd's lake, again about two feet; to lake Sisseton. oue foot; 

 and to lake George, one and a half feet. Buffalo lake and the Twin lakes, lying north of Center 

 creek, and lake Charlotte, tributary to Elm creek, are reported by Mr. Budd to be at about the 

 same level with lake George, being some six feet higher than Center creek at a half mile farther 

 east, and about twenty feet below Summit, Silver, and Iowa lakes at the southern end of this 

 chain. From lake Charlotte to Martin lake, the fall is about two feet, and the remaining lakes 

 of the series, north of Elm creek, have approximately the same hight. 



East Chain lake, though raised by its dam, has a depth of only fifteen feet, and probably 

 none of the lakes of that chain are much deeper. The maximum depths of some of the lakes in 

 the Central chain are reported as follows : Iowa lake, fifteen feet ; Silver lake, about fifty feet, 

 being the deepest of this series, as none of its other lakes, and perhaps no other iu this county, 

 exceeds half this depth ; Hall's lake, twenty or twenty-five feet; Budd's lake, sixteen feet ; and 

 lake Sisseton, eight feet. 



The West chain of lakes is less distinctly connected than the East and Central series, from 

 which it also differs in having the longer axes of some of its lakes transverse to the course of the 

 chain, and in having shorter series of lakes joined with it as branches. Its south end is Tuttle's 

 lake, which is crossed by the state line, about four miles west of Iowa lake, the south end of the 

 Central chain. Thence the West chain reaches northwesterly twenty miles, then northerly nine 

 miles, and then northwest and west eight miles, to Mountain lake in Cottonwood county, its whole 

 extent being thirty-seven miles. From the middle of the south line of Martin county, it extends 

 through the townships of Tenhassen, Lake Belt, Manyaska, Fox Lake, Elm Creek and Cedar, in 

 this county, crossing its north line five miles from its northwest corner; through Odin, the most 

 southwest township of Watonwan county; and into Mountain Lake township in Cotton wood county. 

 It is tributary, in its successive portions from south to north, to the East fork of the Des Moines 

 river, to Center and Elm creeks, and to the South fork of \Vatomvan river. This H'est chain 

 comprises about twenty-five lakes, in the following order from south to north: Tuttle's lake, on 

 the state line, about four miles long from northeast to southwest and averaging a mile in width, 

 reaching in Martin county from the south side of section 31 to the north side of section 28, Ten- 

 hassen; Alton lake, one and a half miles long and one-fourth to two-thirds of a mile wide, in sec- 

 tions 20, 19 and 18, of this township; Button or Swan lake, Clear, Fish and Buffalo lakes, each nearly 

 a mile long, and together stretching west-northwest four miles, from near the northeast corner of 

 section 25 to the northwest corner of section 21, Lake Belt, which takes its name from these four 

 lakes; Holmes lake, at the north side of sections '2 and 3, and Goose lake, lying mostly in section 

 1 of the same township, each about one and a half miles long, trending from east to west and 

 southwest; Prairie lake, in sections 15, 22 and 21, and Mauyaska lake, in sections 20 and 19, 



