The Unexploited West: A Compilation of all of the authentic information available at the present time as to the Natural Resources of the Unexploited Regions of Northern CanadaChambers, Ernest J.
History
The Unexploited West: A Compilation of all of the authentic information available at the present time as to the Natural Resources of the Unexploited Regions of Northern Canada
Chambers, Ernest J.
Canada -- Economic conditions; Northwest, Canadian -- Economic conditions
Rising gradually from the river level to heights of from twenty to fifty
feet, a flat or gently sloping plateau extends back from two to three
miles to another rise, where the general level is increased to about a
hundred feet. Recurring forest fires have not only denuded this section
of its trees, but the stumps have for the most part been burned away, so
that it is now covered only by an open growth of small white birch,
poplar, willow and Banksian pine, with an undergrowth of vetches,
grasses and small shrubs. Just above is Manasan falls where the river
pitches over a ledge of gneiss with a vertical descent of thirty feet.
“Above Manasan falls,” Mr. McInnes continues, “the river expands again
to form a long, narrow lake for the next ten miles of its upward course.
The same rolling clay plateau extends back from both shores of the lake,
rising gradually to an undulating, higher tract, perhaps one hundred
feet above the lake level. The forest growth is still very open,
allowing a good surface carpet of grasses, vetches and other vegetation.
Diversified here and there by small open tracts where the grass-covered
surface is free from trees, this country often presents quite a
park-like aspect. Throughout all the clay-covered region the absence of
erratics is striking; for miles no perched boulders nor transported
materials of any kind; other than the lacustrine sediments, are seen,
and even the country rock is deeply hidden under the heavy clay deposits
that seem to be very homogeneous throughout, not laid down in thin
layers as in the case of many clays of apparently similar origin in
eastern Canada, but, if stratified at all, only in very heavy beds that
seldom show their bedding planes. For the next fifteen miles to
Wuskwatim lake, the river has a quicker descent and its course is broken
by several small rapids. The surrounding country is slightly higher,
rising in places about two hundred feet above the river, and more
steeply from its shores. From the south shore a clay-covered bench a
quarter of a mile wide rises to a comparatively steep slope to a height
of one hundred and thirty feet, and extends back for miles at about that
level, with a gently undulating surface, free from boulders or rock,
excepting very rare exposures. As a matter of fact, but one small knoll
of the underlying rock was actually seen, rising through the clay at a
point about two miles back from the river. The Indians report that this
plateau-like country extends right across to the valley of Grassy river
with only gently swelling ridges and no high hills.”
Mr. McInnes estimates the size of Wuskwatim lake as eight miles by four,
with a long bay extending to the west from its southern end. He states
that “on all sides of the lake are large tracts of
NEARLY LEVEL CLAY LAND
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