36 THE CRYSTAL FALLS IRON-BEARING DISTRICT, 



lake from tlie Fence into the Deer River, thus gaining- for it a drainage area 

 extending 7 miles farther north and including three large lakes, the main 

 sources of the water supply of the western branch of the Fence. 



1 \\;\\v no data which would enable me to show that the valley at the 

 JK'ad of Deer River was ever a channel for the waters of Bone Lake. I am 

 inclined to believe that such was not the case. For had it existed with the 

 present slope, 20 feet in 375 feet, or even a much lower one, the water 

 would have had a marked erosive power, and it would have cut back its 

 channel nnich more rapidly than the Fence, which for a mile below the lake 

 is a com|)aratiA-elv sluggish stream, and would have eventually captured 

 Bone Lake and its feeders. 



The Deer River is still continuing the process of lengthening its chan- 

 nel, and the springs which give it birth are gradually undermining the 

 barrier at its head, so that it is possible that it will, unless artificially 

 restrained, obtain much more water from Bone Lake than it does at present. 

 A change in atmospheric and other conditions, which would insure a state 

 of equilibrium between the incoming and outgoing waters, thus preserving 

 the waters of Bone Lake at their present level, would be favorable for the 

 final successful robbery of the upper Fence River system by the Deer 

 River. • This favorable condition, as may be readily seen, would be greatly 

 increased in proportion as the increase of inflowing over outflowing water 

 raised the level of the lake. 



TIMBER AND SOIL. 



Tlie district was at one time very heavily timbered, with hard wood 

 and pine, the former predominating on the whole. Along the flood plains 

 of the large streams one finds sand}^ pine barrens where once there were 

 heavy pine forests. On the headwaters the piine are found scattered 

 thi'ough the hard wood. Individually these trees are very much larger and 

 better than the thick and therefore smaller growth of the plains. Lumber- 

 ing, which had been confined for years to the main drainage channels of 

 the disti'ict, has of late been rapidly extended, following all the ramifica- 

 tions of the tributary streams, until at present there remains in this district 

 only a few years' cut of pine at the very headwaters of the rivers. 

 Following the lumbermen comes the forest fire, which finds its most nourish- 

 ing food in the drj^ resinous pine tops left by them. The fires, once started. 



