THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 39 
and several of the wells have ceased to flow. The water from the 
Cretaceous rocks is slightly salty and not suited for irrigation, but 
can be used for domestic purposes. The depth of the producing 
wells ranges from 250 to 500 feet, and the flow of water is more con- 
stant than that from the glacial drift. The water-bearing rock is 
supposed to be the Dakota sandstone, which belongs at the base of 
the Upper Cretaceous. The water is supposed to enter the Dakota 
sandstone in Wyoming, where the sandstone is upturned against the 
Rocky Mountains, or in the region of the Black Hills. It follows the 
sandstone bed beneath the Great Plains and appears where the sand- 
stone rises and approaches the surface in eastern North Dakota. 
The village of Wheatland, appropriately named, is situated at the 
place where the railway crosses the lowest prominent beach of Lake 
Agassiz, the houses in the eastern part of the village 
Wheatland. and a cemetery north of the track being situated on 
glamor font. the beach ridge. When the surface of the lake stood 
St. Paul 278 miles, 2b this level the water was 90 feet deep at Fargo, in 
the center of the valley, and it remained at this height 
long enough for the waves to heap up a distinct ridge of sand and fin- 
seavelk: This is known as the Campbell beach, from the town of that 
name in Wilkin County, Minn., through wltick: it extends. 
West of Wheatland there are, here and there, traces of similar 
beaches, showing that Lake Agassiz stood at different levels above 
Herman Beach 
FiqurE 5.—Section of Herman beach ridge west of Magnolia, N. Dak., showing the oe of the sand 
and gravel beds composing the beach to the surface of octal Lake Aga 
that of the Campbell stage, but at none of them long ak to form 
a decided and well-marked beach, except at the highest of the series. 
This is known as the Herman beach. It can easily be seen from the 
train just 5 miles west of the Campbell beach, or three-fourths of a 
mile west of Magnolia. (See fig. 5.) This beach ridge is even better 
developed than the Campbell beach and is marked by an old gravel 
pit on the right (north) of the track. The ridge is 15 feet high and 
about 150 feet wide ontop. In the pit the beds of gravel dip about 20° 
to the west, or away from the open water of the lake, showing that 
the waves carried the sand and gravel over the top and deposited 
them on the back slope of the ridge. When Lake Agassiz stood at 
this level the water at Fargo was about 175 feet deep, but it rose no 
higher, because at that stage it found an outlet to the Mississippi 
through the valley of Minnesota River. 
From the Herman beach a comprehensive view can be had of the 
broad expanse of the Red River valley. Above the level of the beach 
