THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 43 
West of Valley City the surface is more or less irregular and hum- 
mocky, but no definite moraine has been recognized along the line 
of the railway. In this part of North Dakota many of the glacial 
features are not clear and distinct. It is supposed that this is due 
to the fact that the older ice sheets had left pronounced features that 
were only slightly modified by the Wisconsin glacier, and the result 
to-day is that one system of moraines is superimposed on others hav- 
ing different patterns, the features being therefore very much confused. 
n the vicinity of Sanborn there are a number of lakes which 
can be seen from the train, but they are not so attractive as the 
lakes of Minnesota, for they are shallow and highly 
charged with alkali, which in seasons of drought is 
deposited around their margins as a white powder. 
This powder is composed largely of such substances 
as baking soda, washing soda, and other materials 
having similar properties. The water of these lakes is unsuitable for 
drinking but is not too strongly alkaline to be used for watering stock. 
The lakes are generally long and narrow, occupying depressions that 
resemble stream valleys, but the mode of formation of these depres- 
sions has not been determined. At Sanborn a branch line turns to 
the right, leading northward to Cooperstown and McHenry. 
The Waconia moraine, crossed by the Northern 
Sanborn. 
Elevation 1,468 feet. 
Population 390. 
St. Paul 320 miles. 
Eckelson. 
Elevation 1,487 feet. 
Population 327,.* 
St. Paul 326 miles. 
Pacific Railway west of Eckelson (see p- 41), consti- 
tutes the divide between the Hudson Bay and Missis- 
sippi River drainage basins.! 
‘This divide iltustrates the poorly 
drained character of the glaciated prai- 
ries and the delicate balance between 
the drainage systems. Although Shey- 
enne and James rivers, the two principal 
streams of this region, flow in nearly par- 
allel courses for 180 miles, and the relief 
of the land between them is generally 
not more than 20 feet, yet the Sheyenne 
ultimately discharges into Hudson Bay 
and the James into the Gulf of Mexico. 
These rivers are very small in proportion 
to the valleys in which they flow, there 
being barely sufficient water to maintain 
them as running streams during the sum- 
mer season. 
embraces approximately 10,000 square 
the volume of water it dis- 
tion as the stream meanders sluggishly 
over the broad, flat bottom of its valley. 
Several broad and deep coulees enter 
the valley of the Sheyenne from the 
n times of heavy rain; and the only 
land that is really drained is that com- 
prised in short, deep gorges which broad- 
en out rapidly toward the Sheyenne as 
they deploy upon its flood plain. 
The drainage basin of James River is 
was abandoned because there was not, for 
a part of the year, sufficient current to 
turn a water meter. i 
In periods of heavy rains and melting 
shows a system of ancient channels is 
occupied by Maple River and its tribu- 
