466 THE GLACIAL LAKE AGASSIZ. 



4 east, where it was excavated several years ago along a distance of a third 

 of a mile for railway ballast, a branch track nearly 8 miles long being laid 

 for its transportation to Dominion City. Tlie crest of the beach at Charles 

 Aime's house, near the north end of this excavation, is 846 to 847 feet 

 above the sea, with a descent of 2 to 5 feet on the east and G to 8 feet in 

 8 to 12 rods west. Its width, including b'jtli slopes, is 15 to 30 rods, and 

 the maximum depth of the gravel and sand deposit is about 8 feet, lying 

 on till. The coarser portions of the gravel contain pebbles up to 3 inches 

 or rarely 6 inches or more in diameter. Nine-tenths or a larger propor- 

 tion of them are magnesian limestone, the remainder being almost wholly 

 Archean granite and gneiss. This shore-line continues north and north- 

 northeast by Green Ridge post-oiRce and through the east part of townships 

 3 and 4, range 4 east, beyond which it has not been traced. 



In North Dakota the course of the Burnside shore is known somewhat 

 nearly and has been drawn provisionally on Pis. XXIX and XXX, in 

 accordance with the elevations ascertained by railway surveys; but, as 

 in Minnesota, no part of it has been observed to be clearly traceable by 

 either a continuous lieach ridge or an eroded escarpment. It lies on the 

 wide, flat tract of silt which adjoins the Red River, a surface most unfavor- 

 able for the preservation of definite shore-lines; yet undoubtedly it can be 

 found and followed by careful search with leveling. 



A few feet below the average Bmiiside level of Lake Agassiz marks 

 of wave action, perhaps belonging to the lowest flixctuations of the lake in 

 this stage, are somewhat indistinctly exhibited by an irregularly ridged 

 contour which was seen near Schurmeier and along the east side of the rail- 

 way thence northwestward to Manvel, also in the west edge of Manvel 

 village. These swells, extending parallel with the railway, rise 2 to 3 

 feet above the depressions on either side, their crests being 820 to 825 feet 

 above the sea. Proceeding northwest along the railway, which holds a 

 nearly level grade, no further noteworthy observations of this kind were 

 obtained for the next 12 miles to Ardoch, where again a beach-like swell 

 or veiy low ridge, 2 to 3 feet high and having a width of 30 rods or more, 

 with crest at 826 to 827 feet, runs from south to north across the railway 

 about an eighth of a mile north of the station. 



