water stood only four hundred feet at its deepest point, which 

 was very shallow for so great a sea. 



Following the ice wall in its retreat, growing deeper and 

 deeper and more extensive as it proceeded northward, the 

 lake received great quantities of glacial drift from the melt- 

 ing glaciers, and by the simple process of gravitation, the 

 larger bodies such as boulders, stones and small pebbles fell 

 to the bottom, leaving the rich mineral mud to bury them 

 deep, the latter forming a splendid ground for plant life. 

 These dying, their remains and the mud mingling formed the 

 richest soil of the temperate zone. A great diversity of soil 

 quality was thus formed, but in nearly all cases, the land is 

 the kind to be worked with profit by the agriculturist. Spots 

 are found where the rich loam is underlaid by splendid bodies 

 of clay, fit for the manufacturer, making sure the supply of 

 building material for future generations. 



When the ice barrier had retreated far enough north, tak- 

 ing for its journey about a thousand years, the great lake 

 found a new outlet into Hudson Bay and rapidly drained it- 

 self, abating upon reaching the present boundaries of Lake 

 Winnipeg. 



In this way were formed the lands of the Red River valley, 

 of Beltrami, Koochiching and Northern Itasca counties with 

 their great possibilities for diversified farming. The many 

 inches of rich black loam give a promise, to be fulfilled in a 

 few years, of prosperous communities farming these acres, 

 nearly all of which are arable. 



FOREST FIRES REPORTED THIS SEASON. 



On the 19th of April, Ranger Vibert handled four brush fires. 

 Although these were small fires and quickly controlled, at 

 least one of them threatened to be disastrous. One of the 

 fires burnt within 30 feet of 40 thousand pounds of dynamite. 



So far the forester has received reports of 23 fires in the 

 field. A total acreage of 2,583 acres has been burnt over at 

 a loss of approximately $1,300. Of these 23 fires two have 

 been set by campers, two by settlers while they were clearing 

 land, two by section crews while burning right of ways, one 

 by settler burning slash, four by settlers burning brush and 

 five by settlers while burning meadow lands, 



