22 OUT TO LAKE ILE A LA CROSSE 



stream to a fair height and were wooded chiefly 

 with spruce and poplar. The poplars, with 

 fresh-bursting tiny leaf, were now delicately 

 green, against ground strewn with long-lain 

 brown autumn leaves, and amidst symmetrical, 

 formally erect, darker coloured spruce trees. 



Crooked River and Beaver River have the 

 reputation of being difficult to navigate in 

 summer, as there are then many shallow stone- 

 foul rapids ; but in the big flood waters of 

 spring — feet above the common mark, and cover- 

 ing most of the danger spots — we overcame all 

 without serious trouble, finally running Grand 

 Rapid, the last and heaviest rapid on this stretch 

 of water, with a fall of about 25 feet. 



Thereafter we found ourselves in easy slacken- 

 ing current flowing between banks which were 

 low, and led on through a widening valley. 

 Opposite Lac la Plonge, and towards its mouth, 

 the river widens out and passes through a series 

 of marshes and lakes before emptying into lie 

 a la Crosse Lake. Through those marshes and 

 lakes the river turns and twists on its course 

 between low, narrow banks which in many 

 places scantily divide it from the flooded main- 

 land on either side. 



I have come rapidly down those waters in 

 describing them, but in reality halt was made in 

 many places to investigate the shores, or an 

 inland lake, in carrying out research. During 

 the ten days taken to cover the total distance — 

 which was some 140 miles — thirty-two specimens 

 were collected between Big River and He k la 

 Crosse Lake, and were skinned and carefully 



