BROWN AND REDWOOD COUNTIES. 563 



Natural drainage.] 



Besides these, the Minnesota river receives from these counties several small creeks, from 

 one to five miles in length, the longest being Crow creek, five miles east of Redwood Falls, and 

 Wabashaw creek, in Sherman, the most northeast township of Redwood county. 



The most important of the small creeks that empty into the Redwood river in the county of 

 this name is Ramsey creek, five miles long, in the south part of Delhi, the outlet of Ramsey lake. 

 Its junction with the Redwood is about a half mile north of Redwood Falls. 



Numerous creeks of considerable size join the Cottonwood river from the south in southern 

 Redwood county, including Plum creek, which flows by Walnut Grove; Pell creek, in the west 

 part of Lamberton; Dutch Charley's creek, which flows within a mile south of Lamberton, and 

 after receiving Highwater creek, a large tributary, unites with the Cottonwood about two miles 

 east of this station; and Dry creek, which joins this river in the southeast corner of Charlestown. 

 Through this distance of twenty-five miles, the Cottonwood river has no affluent from the north. 



In Brown county the Cottonwood receives only one noteworthy tributary from the south, 

 namely, Mound creek, which has first a northeast and then a northwest course, the latter extend- 

 ing about four miles among inorainic hills to its mouth, two miles east of the west line of this 

 county. Sleepy Eye creek, the largest branch of this river, comes into it from its north side, in 

 the east part of Leavenworth. This flows easterly, approximately paral'el with the Cottonwood 

 river, and three to ten miles from it, through a total length of about thirty miles, the first twenty- 

 five of which are in Redwood county. 



On the south side of the Big Cottonwood river, another companion stream, the Little Cotton- 

 wood river, also flows in a nearly parallel course easterly through the south part of Brown county, 

 being from two to seven miles distant from the Big Cottonwood along its extent of more than 

 thirty miles. It joins the Minnesota river two miles beyond the east line of this county. It 

 receives no tributary of considerable size in its whole course. 



Lakes. Both these counties have frequent lakes, and also sloughs, or marshy tracts, many 

 of which are covered by water during the wet portions of the year. In Redwood county the most 

 notable lakes are Ramsey lake, one mile long from west to east, in Delhi; Goose and Swan lakes, 

 at the northwest side of Underwood township, each about a mile long; two lakes, three-quarters 

 and half a mile in length, in Kintire; Horseshoe lake, curved, more than a mile long, in West- 

 line; Hall lake, a mile in length from northwest to southeast, in Gales; Willow and Rush lakes, 

 each a half mile or more in length, in Willow Lake township; the Three lakes, which give this 

 name to the township in which they are situated; and Hackberry lake, three-fourths of a mile 

 long, in the north part of Brookville. 



Among the lakes of Brown county are Lone Tree lake, a half mile long, in section 9, Eden; 

 Sleepy Eye, Cross and Mud lakes, respectively one and a half miles, one mile and a half mile in 

 extent, in Home township; Boy's lake, a mile long from northwest to southeast, in the northeast 

 part of Burnstown; a lake of similar size and trend in section 6, Bashaw; Rice lake, a mile long 

 from north to south, in the southwest part of Stark; Bachelor lake, of smaller size in the same 

 township three miles farther northeast; lake Hummel or Clear lake, a mile long from north to 

 south, in the northeast part of Sigel; lake Hanska, seven miles long from northwest to southeast, 

 and from an eighth to two-thirds of a mile wide, in Albin and Lake Hanska townships; lake 

 Armstrong and Broom lake, farther northeast in Lake Hanska township, each about a mile long 

 and trending southwesterly; lake Linden and another lake situated in sections 11 and 14, Lin- 

 den, each exceeding a mile in length, with north to south trend, and lake Emerson, two miles 

 long from west to east, crossed by the south line of this township. These lakes occupy hollows 

 in the drift-sheet and many of them have neither outlet nor inlet. 



Topography. These counties have almost universally a smooth, gently 

 or moderately undulating surface of unmodified glacial drift or till. Some 

 portions are nearly flat, and the whole country has this appearance when 

 overlooked in any broad, far-reaching view; but mostly the contour is in 

 broad swells of various extent, hight and direction, generally without any 

 uniformity in trend, and sometimes oval or nearly round. 



