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FORMATIONS 



is at the liorthwest end, which opens almost immediately into the sixth lake. This 

 bears at first to the south, and then bends off to the northwest, where the chan- 

 nel of the outlet meanders through a wide expanse of water, filled with rushes 

 and water-lilies. After leaving this, the river sweeps in a bend of a mile to the 

 southwest, into the seventh Jake, which is bordered by woods of birch and tamerack. 

 The bearing of this lake is south. Half a mile beyond this, is the eighth lake, run- 

 ning from northeast to southwest, and supporting, in some places, a growth of wild 

 rice (Zizania aquatica) . The ninth lake is two miles beyond the last. It is a mile 

 long, half a mile wide, and bears about east and west. The land rises here higher 

 than previously, the north bank being upwards of a hundred feet high. The tenth 

 and last lake, two miles below this, is one mile and a half long, from northeast to 

 southwest, and half a mile wide. 



Soon after leaving these lakes, Red River descends in a succession of rapids, some 

 of which are long and swift ; one required fifteen minutes to run over it. They 

 are full of erratic blocks of igneous rocks. On the southeast side of the river are 

 banks of drift, eighty to a hundred feet high, supporting a growth of oak, birch, and 

 aspen poplar. From the lakes to these rapids, the course of the stream is at first 

 south or south by east ; after which, it turns westwardly, which may be considered 

 its general bearing. 



Soon after passing these rapids, about four or five miles below the last lake, the 

 woods on the shore give place to prairie, with groves of dwarfish aspen. Many of 

 these groves having been destroyed by the wild fires sweeping through them, are 

 left as bare, blackened poles, standing so thick upon the ground, as to make it 

 a difficult matter to penetrate among them. The river here takes a southeasterly 

 course, to another succession of small rapids, and then bears away southwest and 

 west. 



The prairie is elevated on this part of Red River, thirty to forty feet above the 

 water-level. Four and a half miles beyond the last-mentioned rapids, is another, and 

 a rather difficult one, running south ; and about four miles further on, in a south- 

 east course, are again other rapids, with a high sand-bank on the east side. This 

 was about a mile from our encampment of the night of the 19th, which was ascer- 

 tained to be in latitude 46° 18' 50". Here, from some high ground on the right 

 bank, we had an extensive prospect of the surrounding country, which is a fine 

 rolling prairie, extending down to the river bank, with here and there a grove of 

 oak and aspen, and frequented by herds of elk. A high ridge of land could be 

 seen far away to the southeast. The river is from forty to fifty feet wide at this 

 place. 



For the distance of six miles more, are alternate rapids and gentle current ; the 

 general course of the river being southeast. Here a stream, nearly as large as the 

 branch we were navigating, comes in on the left, which is doubtless the one laid 

 down by Nicollet, as proceeding from a lake lying east of the main stream ; but its 

 confluence with Red River is certainly represented on his map too far to the south 

 by twelve or fourteen miles, since it cannot be more than three or four miles 

 farther south than our encampment of the night of the 19th, which was in latitude 

 40° 18' 50". 



