a 
XXXVI. REVEGETATION OF TRESTLE ISLAND. 
The piece of land I have named Trestle island lies in the 
southwest part of Lake Phalen, near St. Paul, Minnesota. The 
island consists of an East and a West section separated from 
each other by a twenty-five foot embankment of the St. Paul 
& Duluth Railroad. 
Tue SEASON OF 1898. 
Up to the spring of 1898, the road maintained a trestle over 
the shallow southeast bay of Lake Phalen in place of the present 
embankment. When the trestle was filled in between April 
10, and June 1, 1898, the gradually increasing weight of the 
dumped material caused the soft lake bottom marl which, ac- 
cording to the statement of the road’s engineer, is from 6 to 35 
feet thick, to slip out laterally ; and with many folds, wrinkles 
and fissures it rose from a few inches to ten feet above low water 
level of the lake. Although the engineer in charge tried to 
prevent the slipping of the marl by means of pontoons, the 
movement did not cease until about 2500 square yards of lake 
bottom had risen and become dry land. Of this land about 
1500 square yards rose east of the track out of 6 inches to 3 
feet of water, and will be called the East section in this paper, 
the other 1000 square yards rose West of the track out of 3 to 5 
feet of water and will be referred to as the West section. Both 
sections have been under the writer’s observation from April 
1898, to October 15, 1900, and it is intended to show in this 
paper the most marked changes in the vegetation of Trestle 
island. 
Early in June, 1898, both sections presented a curious system 
of curved ridges and crevices running generally parallel to one 
another and looking like miniature mountain ridges, valleys, 
and gaping faults; and even small lakes with snails and other 
aquatic creatures were to be seen. Many of the crevices were 
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