DUNES ON THE ASSINIBOINE DELTA. 375 



1,250 to 1,255 feet, and it appears to have been eroded at the time of the 

 formation of the Herinan beacli hh in Brandon, when the level of Lake 

 Agassiz was approximately at this height. Three to 4 miles west of Bran- 

 don the road to Kemnay crosses another waterconrse of similar character, 

 diminishing from 1 i miles to a half mile in width within 2 miles from north- 

 west to southeast, passing- from the Assiniboine Valley to the head of Bakers 

 or Stony Creek. Its bed, which is strewn with plentiful bowlders, showing 

 that the erosion here extended through the stratified gravel and sand to till, 

 is about 1,270 feet above the sea, and marks nearly the Herman h stage 

 of Lake Agassiz, being about 30 and 40 feet, respectively, below the 

 adjoining areas of delta gravel and sand on the east and west. Li 3 miles 

 westward to Kemnay this delta expanse rises 50 to 60 feet, and continues to 

 ascend more slowly in the next 3i miles to 1,390 and 1,400 feet in sections 

 1, 12, and 13, township 10, range 21. Theiice the surface for the next 6 

 miles westward, about Alexander, including nearly all of this township and 

 the east edge of that next west, is till. 



Many portions of the fine sand deposits of the Assiniboine delta have 

 been channeled and piled by the wind in dunes from 10 to 75 feet high, 

 mostly covered with bushes and a scanty growth of herbaceous plants, but 

 in part destitute of vegetation, which is prevented from obtaining a foot- 

 hold by the drifting of the sand. On the soiitheast part of this ai-ea these 

 sand hills, seldom exceeding 30 or 40 feet in height, occur in sections 1 to 

 4, township 7, range 7, and are thence frequent northward iipon a width of 

 10 miles northeast of the Boyne and southeast of the Assiniboine. On the 

 north side of the Assiniboine the most eastern dunes extend to within 3 

 miles southwest of Portage la Prairie. Both these tracts lie on the lower 

 part of the eastern slope of the delta, and thence westward dunes are found 

 here and there over this entire slope. Even where no distinct hillocks and 

 ridges have been formed, the surface is often channeled and ridged in hol- 

 lows and elevations of a few feet, though now wholly grassed or covered 

 with bushes or small poplar gro^'es. Uiaon the delta plateau tracts of 

 dunes, commonly raised 20 to 40 feet above the general level, interspersed 

 with occasional smooth areas where the original surface remains imdis- 

 turbed, extend on the south side of the Assiniboine from the Cypress to 



