THE PEMBINA DELTA. 361 



Surface at the Belhnue Hotel, Walhalla, 994 feet above the sea; at 

 the post-office, Mr. ({. I). Loi'ing's store, 968 feet; Pembina River at the 

 bridge, a third of n mile east of Walhalla, low and high water, 934 to 

 943 feet. 



Highest part of the Pembina delta north of the Pembina River in 

 sections 'if) and '26, township 163, range 57, 1,210 to 1,230 feet, rising 

 slowly from east to west; in the west half of section 26 and the east edge 

 of section 27 it is depressed to 1,225 and 1,220 feet; Ijut beyond this it 

 rises to 1,235 and 1,240 feet, next to the foot of the "second mountain." 



Natural surface at the quarter-section stake on the north side of sec- 

 tion 26, township 163, range 57, 1,191 feet. Third Herman beach, crest 

 5 rods south of this stake, 1,197 feet, from which there is a descent in 5 

 rods south to 1,192 feet and in 15 rods north to 1,180 feet. This beach 

 curves thence to the northwest and north, and in the opposite tlirection 

 runs east-southeast 2 miles to near the center of section 30, Walhalla, 

 where its elevation is approximately 1,192 feet. Other shore-lines of the 

 Herman group were not noticed north of the Pembina River. 



In the gravel of this delta, as seen in the bluflfs of the Pembina near 

 Walhalla and at noteworthy springs 2 miles to the south, on the south side 

 of the river, in the southwest comer of section 32, the pebbles of some beds 

 are mainly Cretaceous shale, of others mostly limestone, and of others 

 granite, gneiss, and dark trappean rocks. In the aggregate these three 

 classes have a nearly equal representation, and they are more commonly 

 intermingled in the same beds. The shale was doubtles's chiefly derived 

 from the erosion of its strata along the glacial watercourse from the Lake 

 Souris, and was occasionally deposited in layers almost unmixed with 

 drift materials; but the other constituents of the gravel were derived from 

 the overlying drift and from the melting ice-sheet. White quartz and 

 moss agate are frequent, and bits of silicified wood occur rarely; but no 

 banded agates were found. Numerous pieces of lignite, rounded by water- 

 wearing, from 2 to 4 inches in diameter, noticed in this delta gravel at the 

 springs, have caused some to look for workable beds of this kind of coal 

 in the vicinity; but the proportion of these fragments is no greater than in 

 the glacial drift generall}- throughout this region and for hundreds of miles 

 to the south. 



