Mr. J. B. Tyrrell, in the report of his explorations in the southern part of this region in 1896 (See p. 20), wrote:—“The surface is generally forested, though most of the valuable timber has been destroyed by fire. On Grass, Muhigan and Minago rivers, as well as on the shores and islands of some of the lakes, there are still some forests of excellent white spruce, but on the northern part of Burntwood river white spruce is rather scarce, and at Nelson House timber for house logs has to be collected from scattered groves and brought several miles up or down the brooks or across the lake. Black spruce and canoe birch grow on the more level and imperfectly drained tracts, and Banskian pine may be seen here and there on the drier hillsides. Canoe birch grows to a good size beside the lakes and streams, but aspen (_Populus tremuloides_) is the commonest deciduous tree, as it grows on the drier uplands everywhere, OCCASIONALLY FORMING BEAUTIFUL FORESTS, but more often, and especially towards the north, partly covering the surface with scattered groves of small trees. Among the smaller trees or shrubs, the rowan tree (_Pyrus Americana_) may be mentioned as growing freely and having an abundant crop of berries along the face of the limestone escarpment, especially around Wekusko and Reed lakes, and the wild cherry (_Prunus Virginiana_) grows beside most of the lakes. “The forests surrounding Reed lake are mostly of poplar, but there are some good groves of fine large spruce up to twenty-five inches in diameter.” Mr. Tyrrell states that on the southeastern shore of Athapapuskow lake “considerable areas are covered with large white spruce.” Almost all the country surrounding Cranberry lakes has been swept by fire, but many of the islands are still wooded with white spruce of fair size. At Wintering lake, “the surrounding shores rise gently from the water, and are densely wooded with a close forest of white spruce, growing on the rich clay soil.” Mr. Tyrrell describes finding the site of an old fur station near Setting lake “completely overgrown with large spruce trees, quite indistinguishable from those of the surrounding forest.” He adds:—“In many other instances the sites of the ancient fur-trading posts could be recognized as small, usually rectangular, poplar-covered areas, in the midst of or on the border of the adjoining forest.” Mr. Tyrrell reports the banks of the south branch of Gunisao river, which flows into the northeast side of Lake Winnipeg, as being “wooded with beautiful tall white spruce, apparently forming A MAGNIFICENT CONIFEROUS FOREST but how far back from the river this forest extends was not determined. There is certainly here a large quantity of valuable timber, much more than was seen anywhere else in the country immediately east of Lake Winnipeg.” Spruce up to twenty-four inches in diameter was noted.