The district north of Churchill and Clearwater rivers, authorities agree, is only thinly wooded, the growth becoming smaller towards the northern limit. According to Mr. Tyrrell, the banks of Churchill river from Methye portage to the north of Reindeer river are low and thickly wooded with spruce and poplar. White spruce (_Picea Alba_) forms some groves of fair size in the bottom lands along Reindeer river near Churchill river, but farther north it is rarely seen except in some particularly favorable localities. One small isolated grove of white spruce was found in a high sandy island in Hatchet lake, standing out conspicuously in the midst of the surrounding forest of small black spruce. Poplar (_Populus tremuloides_) and Birch (_Betula papyrifera_) are the only remaining trees of any importance. They are chiefly found in the vicinity of Churchill river, though small scattered trees were seen on the banks of Stone river. The rocky shores and islands of Reindeer lake are generally thinly covered with a sparse growth of small, black spruce. The irregular shores of Wollaston lake are chiefly composed of thinly wooded, rocky hills. Geikie river flows between low, sparsely-wooded banks. The banks of Mudjatik river are thinly wooded with Banksian pine and spruce. As to Cree river, surrounding country is sandy and very barren supporting but a scanty growth of black spruce and Banksian pine, with very little underbrush. Some fine, large, white spruce were noticed at spots on Geikie river. NEAR LAKE ATHABASKA. Mr. Tyrrell mentions that along the northeast shore of Lake Athabaska, “Some good white spruce, up to fourteen inches in diameter, is growing on the points.” Mr. Tyrrell, before the Senate committee of 1907, in speaking of the forests of the country north of the Churchill, explained that far in the north there is the tract of country that has no trees on it; then a belt of country from one to two hundred miles in width, with small Banksian pine, spruce, larch, poplar and some white birch. He would not consider any of those woods valuable for timber purposes, except locally. They would serve for pulpwood, but the growth is not thick. Still over considerable areas there might, of course, be a large quantity of timber for pulpwood. In that belt the trees would average probably six inches. Occasionally you would find some a good deal larger. The poplar grows on the drier lands. It is not an indication of good land in an extremely northern country. It indicates a dry, sandy soil, but further south it indicates excellent soil. CHAPTER VIII. NORTHERN SASKATCHEWAN. Economic Minerals.