Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-07-25
News Of the Northwest@

refer river, was printed by G. r whit
'hher. ave Maria Lane, London in 1909
ana ina the name st. Peter originated
rom an account OF a VOYAGE to II nv
M. lie Sueu In 1895. Father Hennop,r
was carried captive past its mouth
" lhe Dakotahs in 1850, makes no mem
''oh vi IL IN MS narrative. Mr.. Nicollet
Investigated the origin ~
It's name n concludes that It came
from a Frenchman named d. ST Pierre
VINO located himself on the south side
or Its mouth at a very early nariod
The name st. Peter seems m haya
neen nov ard accepted in very g, rIv
Times, ana was the name given to the
,,Ner oS the government instructions to
WAY Long n retained in the Joint re-
port.
The fame of the easy water commu.
nlcatlon, at its source, with the waters
moving to Hudson's bay. was widely
extended; but before the expedition az
MAJ. Long very ideas pre-
vailed about the size and length OF the
river, and in regard to the region Il
drained.
IL now seems that the expedition OF
MAJ. Long more or less came TO grief
at a point near Odessa. MINI And
there is at the present time the remains
Oh a vessel which. tradition SAYS. was
STRANDED at his point and that the oc-
cupants were massacred by the Indi-
ans. II is not probable that the occu-
pants were massacred, but it is very
likely true that the vessel belonged to
Maj. Longs expedition.
y. III. ElllnS aarrata AIS rS MO. ..I
mitted the report on Feb. s, 1892, to
congress. of Maj. William A. Jones. in
which Maj. Jones estimates the holding
capacity Of Bic stove leke and Lake
Traverse at H. 800. 900, 900 cubic feet; ne
says that h probable average output
OF the drainage area OF Big Stone laka
is 20, 145. S97 .04S cubic feet.
Hence, IL additional holding grounn
a be found below Big Stone lake, ?
this Is probable. we could reasona
expect to have for the Minnesota ri.
26, 225. III. 900 cubic feet during the Who'll,
OF an average year.
This would permit the following dis.
charge into the river: 1900 cubic feet
per econd for So days. during the ex-
IRENE low-water period OF Aug. 10, Sep
TENDER, October, Nov. Is: 926 feet per
second for l22 days during April Is.
May, June. July, Aug. 10; 200 cubic feet
per second for 152 days. or during the
winter months when rivers are frozen
up.
1t is evident that 800 cubic feet per
second added to the Mississippi at st.
Paul n the mouth Of the St. Croix,
during the extreme low stage will have
considerable effect upon that reach OF
water. and probably enable boats TO
reach St. Pau during the whole of the
boating season.
During the year 1891, when the Mis-
sissippi fell to a zero stage at points
just below the influence of the reser-
voirs on it's h~eadwaters. these reser-
Voirs maintained a stage Of 1.5 at ST.
Paul. From the table Of gauge read
ings made in the same year, 1t appears
that 1900 cubic feet per second added
from the Minnesota and the combined
reservoir effect. would nav produced a
stage of 2.5 feet at st. Paul. At this
stage boats from st. Louis can readily
come up.
Col. r. Davenport stated in his paper,
read before the Tri-State Drainage as"
| SOSldIlOD at HSIObh5tOli, TN AZ SNN"
plete survey of Big Stone lake and Lake
Traverse, Minnesota, which was re-
ported to the war department on Dec.
s, 1897. gives the total holding capacay
of the w lakes as 1856, 10000 cubic
feet less than was estimated by MAJ
Jones. 1t will be noticed, however,
that Mai. Jones proposed to Include In
the reservoir of Lake Traverse a tract
of land some fifteen miles long by one
and one-half to two miles wide. extend
! ing north OF the present open waters OF
Lake Traverse, which is now only oc>
supied by, marshes and small poeis 'oI
ar water; the survey OF 1871
also does not include n probaple
holding capacity below Lake traverse
In the Minnesota river valley. nor does
the survey of 1897 mention the project
nroposed by Maj. Jones, of divertins
the waters of the otter Tall river val
lev inio the Lake Traverse basin.
II would seem from the above tacts
that Mai. Jones estimate of the
Ats 70 the Mississippi river to be de-
rived from the Lake ana DIE
Stone basin were not oV~er-estlnla'eu.
The benefits TO be derived oy any
country in which a large oody OF Wa.el
stands, by the increase of the humloity
of the atmosphere, would probably oe
especially noticeable in and arouhu
lake Traverse and Big stone laAe'
There is a feeling among the people re-
siding In that section of the country
nat should the government make OIL
,hosa two lakes storage basins, theS
u,nrL1 he materially benefited. especial
~ during dry seasons, by tne 80
in their ne~ighborhood OF a iarse %'n,
OF water. The population OF the
nesota river valley would De So .hs
bene6ted by the corrying u OF ln
Man. az the Minnesota river Woul" roI
changed to something OF It's ioii"
spectacle proportions.