December '24, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



607 



10. The stream entering at h rises in a swamp on 

 section 16, and is joined by a branch in section 

 15, which rises in section 10. There are numer- 

 ous springs along its course, and it is 8 feet wide 

 and a foot deep, at its mouth discharging as much 

 water into Lake Itasca as the outlet of Elk Lake 

 does. The inlet at c is a small brook, 2 feet wide 

 and a foot deep, that rises in a swamp less than a 

 quarter of a mile from the lake. 



This brings me to the largest feeder of the lake, 

 the one entering at d. It is 16 feet wide and 2^ 

 feet deep at the place where it enters into Itasca, 

 and is the stream mentioned by Nicollet, in his 

 report of his explorations in 1836, as "the one re- 

 markable above the others, inasmuch as its course 

 is longer and its waters more abundant ; so that, 

 in obedience to the geographical rule that the 

 sources of a river are those that are most distant 

 from its mouth, this creek is truly the infant Mis- 

 sissippi ; the others below, its feeders and tribu- 

 taries." The exploration of this stream was the 

 most complicated and difficult of our undertak- 

 ings, and it was with considerable difficulty that 

 we were able to identify the three lakes which 

 Nicollet describes ; but while on the groiind, and 

 after the most careful study of the problem, we 

 came to the conclusion that Nicollet's three lakes 

 were those marked on the map as A, B, and C. 

 At first sight, it would seem, from Nicollet's de- 

 scription, that these could not be the ones he re- 

 ferred to ; and I have given much study to the 

 points involved, endeavoring to reconcile his de- 

 scriptions wiih some other theory. We followed 

 the stream to the first lake at the edge of the hills 

 and through the swamps ; and the course of the 

 brook is two miles in length, and seemed like 

 four. Distances on the ground double up very 

 fast when one follows crooked streams, as you 

 will remember when you compare the length of 

 the stream between Elk Lake and Lake Itasca 

 (1,040 feet) with the actual distance between the 

 two lakes (350 feet). If we add to the actual 

 length of the course of the stream from the lake 

 A to its outlet at d, which is in reality 2 miles, 

 the difficulties that Nicollet encoimtered in wad- 

 ing through the tamarack marsh, we can easily 

 believe that this is the course which he describes 

 as 'tw^o or three miles' in length. His report 

 makes the distance between the first and second 

 lakes comparatively short, and that between the 

 second and third lakes still shorter, so that there is 

 no other lake which answers the description for the 

 third or higher lake but the one marked C. This, 

 however, is not the source, at the present time at 

 least, from which Nicollet's stream draws its prin- 

 cipal supply of water ; and to find that source, af- 

 ter considerable exploration, we were obliged to 



go to a lake which has its head in the north-west- 

 ern quarter of section 34. This is the utmost 

 source and fountain head of the water flowing 

 north into Lake Itasca. The lake itself is fed by 

 numerous springs along its borders, and its sur- 

 face is 92 feet above the level of Lake Itasca. 

 The small inlet from the lake marked I was dry 

 when we visited it, but water runs through it in 

 the wet season. The hills south rise from 20 to 

 160 feet high, and water has never flowed over 

 them northward. It might be interesting to 

 know^ how far it flows under them. It is cer- 

 tain that it does, but there is no way to trace its 

 course or distance. All the streams in this part 

 of the basin rise in springs in tamarack swamps, 

 which undoubtedly are fed by water percolating 

 under the hills from lakes and swamps beyond ; 

 and no doubt the group of lakes, U, V, W, and 

 X, in the southern part of sections 33, 34, and 35, 

 which spread out to a considerable extent in sec- 

 tions 3, 4, and 5 of the townships next south, are 

 the reservoirs which feed a number of these 

 springs. Beginning with the lake marked H, 

 it spreads northward nearly half a mile. At its 

 northern end the water flows out of this lake in a 

 strtam li^ feet wide and 1 foot deep, and, run- 

 ning west about 200 feet, empties into a small lake 

 about 2 acres in extent, marked G. This lake 

 connects with another of the same size about 20 

 feet to the west of it. 



At the time we were there, both ponds were 

 full of moss and bogs, and apparently almost 

 dried up, the abundant inflow of water running 

 out by underground passages as fast as it came 

 in ; but both lakes show that at some seasons of 

 the year they contain 4 feet more of water, caused 

 by the increased flow in the springtime and in 

 the rainy season. At this time the underground 

 passages are not large enough to carry the water 

 off, and so it accumulates and the ponds fiU up. 

 Apparently they once had a surface outlet which 

 is now closed by a beaver dam. The water flow- 

 ing from the two lakes feeds the two springs 

 numbered 3 and 5. Proceeding to the spring 

 marked 5, we find the water bubbling up and 

 flowing away in a rapid, lively stream, in a direc- 

 tion generally northward. It is fed by springs 

 along its course until it reaches the extreme 

 south-western corner of section 22, where it is 2^ 

 feet wide and 8 inches deep, and discharges into 

 a small pond of about 5 acres in extent. This 

 pond is the most remarkable one in the com-se of 

 the stream ; it has no surface outlet, and, from 

 the formation of the land about it, apparently has 

 never been any larger than it now is ; but, 

 with the large volume of water flowing into it, 

 we perceive that it must, of course, have a steady 



