32 THE CRYSTAL FALLS IRON-BEARING DISTRICT. 



form the Menoiuinee River. This last flows southeast througli the adjoin- 

 ing- Menominee district, and is the boundary hue Ijetween Michigan and 

 Wisconsin from its source to its mouth. 



A glance at the map, PL II, will show the presence, especially in the 

 northern half of the district, of a great number of lakes of varying sizes. 

 These lakes of clear water, with bottoms of gravel, or most commonly of a 

 thick deposit of decayed vegetable matter, are a very characteristic feature 

 of the landscape. Many are in the midst of swamps, surrounded on all 

 sides by a quaking bog, which prevents one frona approaching very closely ; 

 others are surrounded by steep but low drift hills. The lakes may or may 

 not have a visible inlet and outlet. In all cases the present water levels 

 are considerably below the original water levels. In many cases the lakes 

 are but remnants of much larger bodies of water. They are gradually 

 filling up with silt and vegetable growth. These lakes, covered with float- 

 ing lily pads and surrounded by more or less extensive hay marshes, are 

 favorite places for the deer, which in many parts of the district are still 

 faii'ly numerous. The numerous lakes indicate the youthful character of 

 the di-ainage. Many of the streams head in the lakes. In other cases they 

 flow through them, connecting them in chains. This indicates the mode of 

 origin of the most of the streams of the area. The youthful character of 

 the drainage is still further shown by the fact that with but few excep- 

 tions the rivers have not reached rock. They are still cutting in drift. 



In the case of the Deer River this gradual development from the 

 original condition of a chain of lakes to the present condition of a river in 

 which the lakes play very subordinate parts is well shown. Moreover, its 

 development illustrates very well several of the stages passed through by 

 rivers in general, and for these reasons it may be well to describe it in detail. 



The life history of the Deer River,^ as it is to-day, began with the deposit 

 of the drift, which destroyed the former streams of the district and concealed 

 then- records. It appears probable from the topography that the river 

 occupies the same, or approximately the same, bed in which its pre-Glacial 

 forerunner moved. The noticeable valley occupied by the stream is at a 

 maximum about 3 miles broad, though its drainage area is a strip averaging 



' The substance of tbe followiug was presented to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, 

 anil Letters at the annual meeting, September 27, 1895, in a paper entitled "Some stages in the 

 <levcli)piiieut of rivers, as illustrated by the Deer River of Michigan." An abstract of the paper was 

 publi«hi-(l iu Amer. Geol., Vol. XVII, ISOG, p. 126. 



