Water resources of the Buffalo River Watershed, West-central Minnesota
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Abstract
The Buffalo River watershed includes two general physiographic areas – a glacial lake plain and an glacial moraine.
The lake plain, which was formed by Glacial lake Agassiz more than 9,000 years ago, is extremely flat – sloping only a few feet per mile westward near the Red River of the North. The moraine is largely an area of gently rolling hills, but in the eastern “tail” of the watershed the relief locally is over two hundred feet.
The watershed has an area of about 1,690 square miles and includes most of Clay County and parts of Wilkin, Otter Tail, Becker, and Norman Counties. The population of the area is about 45,500 – 31,000 urban and 14,500 rural.
The economy is largely agricultural. Sugar beet and wheat farming are dominant in the areas of clay and silt; potato farming is confined mainly to the sandy areas. Dairying and stock raising is important in the morainal area. The larger industries are located in Moorhead and consist of sugar beet, potato, and dairy product processing.
Water-based recreation consists mostly of fishing in the larger lakes in the morainal area, and water-fowl hunting in the area of prairie potholes – the western part of the morainal area.
Study Area
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Water resources of the Buffalo River Watershed, West-central Minnesota |
| Series title | Hydrologic Atlas |
| Series number | 307 |
| DOI | 10.3133/ha307 |
| Year Published | 1969 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Washington, D.C. |
| Contributing office(s) | Minnesota Water Science Center |
| Description | 3 Plates: 40.00 x 42.72 inches or smaller |
| Country | United States |
| State | Minnesota |
| Other Geospatial | Buffalo River watershed |
| Scale | 250000 |
| Online Only (Y/N) | N |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |