the surface of the water. Species represented were: Stagnicola
binneyi (Tryon), Stagnicola palustris nuttalliana (Lea) Helisoma
anceps (Menke), Gyraulus vermicularis (Gould), Physella ampullacea
(Gould), Ferrissia parallella (Haldeman ), Valvata Lewissi helicoidca
Dall, Pisidium variabile Prime No live specimens were found.

There is a fish population of Columbia River chu! Mylocheilus
caurinus, ling Lota lota, sucker Catostomus sp., and squawfish
Ptychocheilus oregonensis. Dead specimens of the three species last
named were examined. One of the ling may have weighed between five
and six pounds, and one of the suckers three pounds The chub were
seen in large shoals in the shallow water. Kamloops trout are said
to occur in small numbers.

There is much good nesting cover for such diving ducks as red-
head, canvas-back and ruddy duck, while the island and large tracts
on the lake shore are suited to the nesting requirements of lesser
scaup duck and pond ducks.* Nevertheless the waterfowl population,
perhaps because of the slight amount of animal food, is very small.
During a complete circuit of the lake by canoe on June 9, the follow-
ing birds were seen or heard: loon, 2 pair and one downy young: pied-
billed grebe, 2; bittern, 1; cinnamon teal, 3; ring-necked duck, 1;
lesser scaup duck, 1; Barrow golden-eye, 1; American coot, 3 adults,
one with 8 young; sora, 1

Dale Lake: An expansion of the north fork of Sister Creek on the
east side of the Fraser River about 12 miles southeast of, and at

an altitude approximately 500 feet above, Quesnel. The north fork
of Sister Creek winds through an open meadow approximately a mile
long and half a mile wide. As a result of conditions which are
described later it has backed up into the meadow and formed a slough,
or a series of sloughs, without definite boundaries that vary in
extent and depth in accordance with the height of the water level

in the creek. This is Dale Lake, locally known as "China Lake" (Fig.
12). At the south end of the meadow the creek enters a narrow,
wooded valley and continues in a westerly direction to empty into
the Fraser River. The sloughs are largely a by-product of an early
mining venture, and subsequent work by beaver. The details as told
me by several persons are as follow:

About 1892 a number of Chinese placer miners built an earth
dam across the narrow valley referred to, at a point some 200
yards below the meadow--the object being the storage of sufficient
water to operate certain placer claims on benches above the Fraser
River, several miles to the west. The ditch constructed for the
passage of this water is still recognizable. How long this project
was maintained is not known, but I was told it was not in operation
in 1902, and the creek then as now passed underneath the dam. At
that time the dam was covered with sapling aspens and black cotton-

lf =