118 AREA AND DRAINAGE BASIN OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



lake. Formerl}^ the lake extended up to Fond du Lac, so named 

 because the fact of the termination of the lake here was recognized 

 when the settlement was first established. From here to Duluth 

 is eight miles and to Superior City seven miles. From Duluth 

 to Superior is five miles. The triangle thus inclosed by sides of 

 seven, eight, and five miles is the area of which the lake has been 

 robbed. All this has been done within times geologically recent, 

 but before settlements were made, and the later stages of the 

 operation are still in progress. 



Lake Superior has not submitted tamely to this highway rob- 

 bery. She has resisted it continually, and at several points the 

 topography shows that her resistance was successful in staying 

 for a time the progress of the encroachment. The operation is 

 this : Along the line where the motion of the current is stayed 

 by the contact with the lake water a sandbar is formed and the 

 waves soon develop this into a bar rising above the surface, 

 stretching in an easy curve from one side of the bay to the other, 

 thus making an inner bay separate from the lake. The sediment 

 of the river then proceeds to fill up this bay until it is dry land, 

 with possibly a little lake or two left behind. When this is com- 

 pleted the current is again directed into the lake, another sand- 

 bar is formed, the whole process is repeated, and the river has 

 encroached another step. Three such steps are easil}^ recognized 

 by the topography, and the fourth is made probable. The fourth 

 is the earliest, and the remnant is found in Spirit lake. The 

 next in order of time is represented by Grassy point, the next 

 b}^ Rices point, and the latest by Minnesota point. 



It will be interesting to go into detail for the last, now in 

 progress of development. The bar in this case is called Min- 

 nesota point; it is about five miles long, is from 200 to 1,200 

 feet wide, and sweeps in a free curve from the Minnesota to the 

 Wisconsin shore. It is interrupted for the passage of the river 

 close to the Wisconsin shore. Its average height is 12 to 15 feet, 

 but toward the Wisconsin side the wnnd has built up a pyramid 

 of from 20 to 25 feet above the surface of the water. It is made 

 of sand and gravel, is covered with small trees and brush, and 

 is a favorite picnic ground for the citizens of Duluth. Behind 

 it is Superior bay, about five miles long and one mile wide, and 

 this is the bay which the river is now filling up. To keep it avail- 

 able for commerce requires the constant efforts of the engineers. 



In order to make accessible to commerce the several interior 

 bays of Duluth, a canal 300 feet Avide was cut through Minne- 



