The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1908-10-23
LOSS in STAGE YEARLY
City Once Upon the Shore Of Devils Lake Is Now Mile
and Half Distant.

Devils lake. in North Dakota, is
perhaps the largest and most impor-
'tant body of water in that state, and
the continual diminishing of it's water
has caused much comment Where
once there was an abundance of fresh,
clear water, to-day there are Doggy,
unsightly mudholes, and it is predict
ed that it is only question Of time
until the entire body of water has
passed away and left valleys and
marshes.
Devils lake is an irregular sheet of
water thirty miles long, lying in Ram
'sey and Benson counties. Along it's
entire southern shore is an unbroken
ridge of hills rising in strong contrast
to the level farm lands bordering it's
northern extent. Prior to 1889 the
Mauvaise coulee at its northwestern
end maintained connection with Lake
Irvine, and thence through small
creeks with Dry and Sweetwater
lakes, directly north of Devils lake,
the whole forming U-shaped system.
At present there is neither inlet nor
outlet, the coulee being reduced to
dry creek bed, except in the spring
and in periods of unusual rainfall.
By reason of the lowering of its
level the lake has been broken up into
detached portions of large areas mar.
rowly connected. The most important
section is the larger and deeper por.
tion-called the Main lake, extending
from Graham island on the west to
the highway at the southern extrem-
tty.
The lake is located in a district of
small rainfall, and the. excess of
evaporation over precipitation has re-
duced the area and caused the desic-
cation of many shallow tributary bays.
1t has so decreased the stage that
across the narrower portions of the
lake highways have been constructed.
Lamoure bay, one of the principal
projections of the lake, is isolated by
a highway at its western extremity.
From the southern point of Rogue
island another public road and Great
Northern railway trestle have been
constructed, and these with the shall
low across the narrows at La Rose
ferry divide the lake into four sec.
tions.
The entire western end of the old
lake is now barren, weed-grown tracts
of land, the alkaline deposit on the
soil and rocks that once formed its
shores outlining It's former area.
Devils Lake city, which formerly
touched at its shores, is at present
one and one-half miles distant from
the lake. The major portion of Mis-
sion bay, an arme extending into the
Fort Toteen Indian reservation on the
eouther shores of the lake, has been
entirely cut of from the parent body
and is now known as Mission lake;
another portion, Larger Mission bay,
is dry; while another and smaller
remnant known as Mission bay is
practically isolated.
The total area Of the lake approx
mates 103 square miles, Enclosed in a
basin of forty miles long by eight
miles wide. The shore line is very
irregular, the character in general be-
ing similar to that of a marine lit
toral, bowlders, wholly or partly in
crusted with white alkaline deposit,
and gravelly or sandy stretches occur.
ring throughout the extent.
The floor of the lake is practically
level, rising from a depth Of twenty
five feet to the shallow portions near
the shores or forming sandbars and
stony reefs at mouths of bays. In
general the deepest area Is that of the
southern side under the lee Of the
morainal ridges of Sully's hill and
Fort Totten, while the entire western
section of the lake is but about three
feet deep with underlying soft black
mud supporting an abundance of
weeds and inaccessible to all but the
highest draft boats.
On the west two or three small
ponds are all left of once broad ex-
panse of water. The northern ends
and eastern shore are also decidedly
shallow. The narrower portions of
the lake are rapidly becoming broken
up into detached bodies.
This beautiful lake teemed with
pickerel prior to 1889. In the narrows
these fish were speared and taken
from the waters by the ton. Since
that year there has not been q single
specimen found in the lake. The fish
taken in the early days averaged five
pounds, and some of them reached a
weight of seventeen to twenty pounds.
The northern part Of what is known
as Creel bay, which was the largest
spawning grounds of the pickerel, has
dried up.
The maximum depth found in 1889
was thirty-five feet, but last summer
the deepest section Of the lake was
measured, and the water did not ex-
coed twenty-five feet.
Through the past 100 years maxj-
Losses Her Diamonds.
Mrs. Austin Regain Of Fessenden,
wife Of Senator Regan, lost three dia-
.s~-o o~S n~a opoo{o,,o hrnno1,