WATONWAN AND MARTIN COUNTIES. 483 



Chains of lakes, j 



Manyaska, similar to the last in their extent and trend; Hunger lake, in sections 17 and 8, about 

 a mile long from south to north; Temperance lake, close north of the last, of similar length, but 

 trending from southwest to northeast; Fox lake, three and a half miles long from east to west, and 

 from a fourth to a half of a mile in width, lying at the south side of sections 31 , 32 and 33, of Fox Lake 

 township; an unnamed lake, a mile long from east to west and half a mile w ide, mostly in section 

 31. north of the west end of Fox lake; the Big Twin lakes, together extending two and a half miles 

 from southeast to northwest, in sections 13, 12.11 and 2, Elm Creek; Cedar lake, about three miles 

 long from south to north, with an average width of a half mile, lying mainly in sections 36, 25 and 



24, Cedar; three other lakes, each abouta mile long, in sections 13, 12 and 1, Cedar; three unnamed 

 lakes, varying from a half to three-fourths of a mile in length, and all trending from southeast to 

 northwest, situated in Odin, Watonwan county, the first being mainly in the north half of section 

 26, the second in the west part of section 15, and the third extending through the northwest corner 

 of section 10; a lake, one mile long from east to west and a half mile wide, in sections 5 and 6; a 

 small lake at the northwest corner of section 6, Odin; and Mountain lake, two miles long from 

 northeast to southwest and nearly a mile wide, situated two miles southeast from Mountain Lake 

 depot and village. 



The series of four lakes mentioned in Lake Belt township, lies somewhat west of the direct 

 course of this chain of lakes, and may be regarded as a branch of it; and two miles east of this 

 lake-belt, another series of lakes, very plainly a branch of the West chain, diverges from it, and 

 reaches almost due north twelve miles from Tuttle's and Alton lakes. This series, connected at 

 its south end with the West chain, includes in order from south to north. Clayton lake, a mile or 

 more in extent, lying mostly in sections 21 and 16. Tenhassen; Babcock lake, about a mile long 

 from southwest to northeast and more than half as wide, in sections 17, 8 and 9, and Eice lake, 

 three-quarters of a mile long, at the west side of section 4 of the same township; Pierce lake, about 

 a mile in diameter, in sections 27 and 28, and a long and narrow lake, reaching from section 10 to 

 section 7, in Rolling Green; Swan lake, a half mile long, in section 31, Fraser: and Eagle lake, 

 close northeast of the last, covering nearly all of section 29 and portions of the adjoining sections, 

 two miles in length, with trend from northwest to southeast. To these, as a continuation of this 

 branch, ought perhaps to be added four other lakes, which are situated four to nine miles farther 

 north, varying from a half mile to one mile in length, and principally included in sections 36 and 



25, Galena, and sections 18 and 7, Waverly. 



Besides the lakes thus enumerated as constituting the three chains of lakes and this branch 

 series, which lies midway between the Central and West chains and is connected with the latter, 

 Martin county has only three other lakes of noteworthy size, namely, Ash and Calkins lakes, each 

 about one and a quarter miles long, in the south part of East Chain township; and another of 

 similar extent, in sections 16, 9 and 8, Elm Creek. 



The West chain of lakes, like the East and Central chains, extends through a region of mod- 

 erately undulating till, the direct deposit of the ice-sheet, with no noteworthy areas, nor unusually 

 thick included layers, of water-deposited gravel and sand. The lakes of the south half of this 

 western series, and of its branch from Tuttle's to Eagle lake, lie only ten to twenty feet below the 

 average hight of the adjoining land, which rises in long, gentle slopes from their shores. North- 

 ward, in Cedar, Odin and Mountain Lake townships, the contour is nearly like that along the 

 East and Central chains, the lakes being bordered by bluffs of till, of moderate or often steep 

 ascent, thirty to forty feet high, whose crest is at the general level of the slightly undulating drift- 

 sheet. In Mountain lake an island, which has given this name, rises with steep shores and table- 

 like top, about forty feet above the lake, having similar outlines with the surrounding bluffs and 

 upland. Much of this lake is now filled with grass and reeds. 



It seems difficult to explain the origin of these remarkable lake-basins 

 in the drift, for, so far as they extend, they have the aspect of eroded 

 valleys, such as have been commonly formed by the rivers of this region, 

 but they sometimes are separated by divides of till as high as the country 

 around. Thus they no longer form continuous channels, which must have 



