GEOL.UB,
1106
Ml8r
McIKNES
REPORT ON THE PART OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
DRAINED BY 'JIoH AND ATTA.VAPISKAT
RIVERS .
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
University of
British Columbia
The RALPH D. REED LIBRARY
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF MINES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BRANCH
HON. W. TBMPLBMAN, MINISTKB; A. P. Low, DEPUTY MINISTER
K. W. BBOCK, DIKBCTOB.
REPORT
ON A PART OF TMK
NORTH WEST TERRITORIES
DRAINED BY THE
WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS
BY
WILLIAM McINNES
REPORT
ON A
TRAVERSE THROUGH THE SOUTHERN FART
OF THE
NORTB WEST TERRITORIES FROM LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE
IN 19O2
BY
ALFRED W. G. WILSON
OTTAWA
GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU
1910
, lOOt*
Frontispiece.
PLATE i.
Boulder of green and reddish-purple Slate, Winisk river.
CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF MINES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BRANCH
HON. W. TEMPI.EMAN, MINISTRR; A. P. Low, DEPUTY MINISTER ;
R. W. BROCK, DIRECTOR.
REPORT
ON A PART OF
DRAINED BY THE
WINISK AND UPPER ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS
BY
WILLIAM McINNES
OTTAWA
GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU
1909
No. 1O8O
4074—1
Geology
Library
P
\\Q(*
To E. W. BROCK,
Director Geological Survey,
Department of Mines.
SIR, — I have the honour to submit a report on my surveys and
explorations made during the seasons of 1903, 1904, and 1905, 3n the
portion of the North West Territories of Canada drained by the
Winisk river and by the upper branches of the Attawapiskat river.
I hr.ve the honour to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) WILLIAM McINNES.
OTTAWA, May, 1906.
4074 1J
787412
v
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
General remarks 7
Earlier explorations in the district 7
Surveys 8
Routes into the resrioii 9
General description of the region 10
Geological summary 13
Direction of glaciation 21
Height 01 land region 21
Lower Winisk River region 21
Albany River and Attawapiskat River valleys , 21
Winisk river .. 22
Attawapiskat river 35
Routes between the Attawapiskat and Winisk rivers 39
Routes between the Winisk river and" Trout lake 41
Route between the Albany and Attawapiskat rivers 43
Cultivation of the land 44
Fish 45
Wild animals 45
Indians 46
Archaeology 49
Forests.. .- 49
Climate ' 51
Water temperature 52
Land shells 52
Fresh water shells 53
List of fresh water shells collected by W. Mclnnes 53
liu'ex 55
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Plato I. — Boulder of green and reddish-purple slate, Winisk river..
Frontispiece.
II.— Silurian limestone on the lower Winisk river 16
" III. — Treeless area fringing west coast of Hudson Bay 34
" IV. — Indians of the lower Winisk river 46
" V. — Lower Winisk river, showing banks of Silurian limestone,
and characteristic forest •. 50
MAP.
No. 1089. Portions of Northern Ontario, and of che North West Terri-
tories, showing country drained by Albany, Severn, and
upper Winisk rivers, etc.
REPORT ON A PART OF THE NORTH WEST TERRITORIES OF
CANADA DRAINED BY THE WINISK AND ATTAWA-
PISKAT RIVERS,
BY
WILLIAM MC!NNES.
The present report deals with a tract of country lying within the
unorganized North West Territories of Canada, between N. lat.
51° 10' and N. lat. 55° 10', and between W. long. 86° and W. long
90°.
This district forms part of what was known for a time, prior to
the inauguration of the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as
the District of Keewatin, and lies between the northern boundary of
Ontario and the southwestern shore of Hudson bay.
It is drained by rivers running from the west into Jam'es bay
and into Hudson bay respectively, and the report is, in the main, a
description of one of the latter — the Winisk — throughout almost its
entire length, and of the upper branches of one of the former, the
Attawapiskat.
Earlier Exploration in the District.
As far as I have been able to learn, there are no references in the
journals of the early explorers to the Winisk river. All concerned
in the search for a northwest passage to the Orient, they were natur-
ally led to give most of their attention to the passages between the
Arctic islands lying at the extreme north end of the bay. The mouth
of the Severn river was, however, visited by a number of them, and
Henry Hudson and Thomas James explored the bay now known as
James bay, then called Hudson's bays.
Captain Thomas James, and Captain Luke Foxe (who styles
himself in his journal, 'the northwest fox')» seem to have been the
only navigators who sailed along the coast between the Severn river
and Cape Henrietta Maria, for the purpose of examining it. They
describe a generally low shore, with shallow water, and make no
allusion to having noticed the mouth of the Winisk river. It must
7
8 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
have been, however, as Mr. Miller Christy points out, in the vicinity
of the bay at the mouth of the Winisk river that the two vessels
approached one another in August, 1631, when the two captains,
both bearing letters from His Majesty King Charles I to the
Emperor of Japan, were able to compare notes as to their discoveries,
and when Captain Foxe, ridiculing James' action in keeping his
flag continually flying at the masthead, said to him, to use the quaint
language of his journal, ' Keepe it up then/ quoth I, 'but you are out
of the way to Japan, for this is not it.'
Mr. G. Taylor, of the Hudson's Bay Company's service, seems to
have visited the river in 1808, and to have supplied the topographical
details that appear on the Arrowsmith map.
Dr. Eobert Bell, in 1886, descended the Attawapiskat river from
the lake, which he named Lansdowne, to the sea, and published an
account of the exploration in the Annual Report of the Geological
Survey for that year.1 The Fawn branch of the Severn river was
explored by Dr. A. P. Low in 18862 and the Ekwan and Trout rivers
by Mr. D. B. Dowling and Mr. W. H. Boyd in 1901.3 No description
of the Winisk has been published, though, without doubt, employes
of the Hudson's Bay Company have traversed it, as, in the early
part of the last century, posts of the Company were established at
three points near the head of the river. The missionary priests from
Albany, too, have descended the river, holding missions at the more
important Indian centres.
Surveys.
In order to secure data for the compilation of a map of the
region, the following surveys were carried out during the seasons of
1903-4-5 :—
Surveys by micrometer telescope and compass, checked by astro-
nomical observations for latitude, were made of the Winisk river,
from the mouth to a point 190 miles from the coast following the
course of the stream; from the foot of Wunnummin lake up to the
outflow of the west branch at Misamikwash lake, a distance of 60
miles; down the west branch for 55 miles, and across by a portage
route 24 miles in length to Trout lake at the head of the Fawn
1 Annual Report Geological Survey of Canada (New Series), Vol. II.,
2 Ibid. Part E.
3 Summary Report Geological Survey of Canada, 1902.
REGION OF WIN1SK AND ATTAWAPISKAT K1VERS
branch of the Severn river; of a route from the foot of Lake St.
Joseph by way of the south branch of the Attawapiskat river to Fort
Hope, a distance of 189 miles ; and of 27 miles of the Albany river
below Fort Hope.
In addition to the above a number of track surveys, checked by
latitudes, were made. These covered portions of the Winisk river;
part of the Attawapiskat river; three routes connecting the Attawa-
piskat and Winisk rivers; a route from the Albany river at Eabemet
lake to Lansdowne lake; and a route from Trout lake down the west
branch of the Winisk river and across to the main river near Nibina-
mik lake.
Routes into the Region.
While the number of possible routes to the Albany river from the
Canadian -Pacific railway is very great, there are but three that have
been used to any great extent, one leaving the railway at Dinorwic
station' and reaching the Albany river by way of Lac Seul and its
tributary the Koot river, another one starting from Ignace and
reaching the Albany by way of Sturgeon and Musibimega lakes, and
another leading from Nipigon station by Nipigon river and lake and
crossing to the Albany by way of the Ombabika and Opichuan rivers.
The first of these is 'the best route in, particularly where a load is to
be carried, as, though somewhat longer than either of the others, it is
down stream or through large lakes for the greater part of the
distance.
For light canoes and a quick passage the route by way of Nipigon
is preferable, 011 account of the shorter distance to be traversed.
The greater part of the supplies used for the fur trade in the
district are brought up the Albany river from James bay, a route
including 300 miles of swift water where tracking is the only means
of progression, and about 50 miles of alternating quiet water and
rapids where portages are frequent. This is considered an easier
route to Fort Hope, the headquarters of the trade, than any of the
roads from the Canadian Pacific railway.
The completion of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway will shorten
very considerably the distance from this side, and render the whole
region comparatively easy of access.
From Fort Hope the heads of the Winisk and Attawapiskat
rivers can be reached by several routes, none particularly difficult,
but all made tedious by reason of the number of portages necessary.
10 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
General Description of the Region.
The region may be roughly divided into three great areas, each
with characteristic features: the Archaean area of the high interior
plateau ; the boulder clay area ; and the limestone area of the Hudson
Bay basin. The Archaean, of the three, comprises by far the largest
extent of country. It consists of an elevated, undulating plain, with
an average height of from 700 to 1,000 feet above sea-level.
The effects of long-continued subaerial decay and denudation,
supplemented by the later cleaning up and smoothing action of
a great glacier, are everywhere noticeable in the gently rounded out-
lines of the very moderate elevations. On it all the larger rivers of
the Hudson Bay watershed, and many of those flowing south and
west, have their sources, the great muskeg areas acting as storage
reservoirs, from which, even in the dryest season, the volume of
drainage is large. It is along the parts of their courses lying within
this area that the quickest descent occurs, falls and rapids that
would afford water-powers being thus largely confined to the upper
stretches of the streams. This condition is in contrast with that
obtaining everywhere throughout eastern Canada, where the streams
flow for the greater part of their length over the Archaean, and only
come tumbling down from the elevations when low down in their
courses after they have attained almost their maximum volume, thus
making the eastern portion of Canada probably unequalled in the
world in the matter of water-powers. It must not be thought, how-
ever, that throughout the area now under consideration there is any
scarcity of good water-powers. They occur in great number, but
owing to the distribution of the Archaean highland before referred
to, they are situated mainly far inland rather than near the coast.
Though, considered as a whole, the central, elevated region cannot
be spoken of as generally adapted for agriculture, there occur basins
covered by heavy deposits of stratified sand and clay that seem to
have been laid down in lakes held in between barriers formed by the
walls of the retreating glacier and ridges of drift. An examination
of some of these clays by Dr. Hoffmann shows them to be highly
calcareous and somewhat siliceous, a composition that with the
admixture of the surface vegetable mould should produce an excel-
lent soil for general agriculture. The question of climate, which is,
of course, of the utmost importance when considering the agricul-
tural possibilities of a district, will be referred to more particularly
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 11
4
in another place. It may be said here, however, that the climatic
conditions are, if somewhat adverse, not by any means prohibitory to
the general cultivation of suitably situated tracts.
Muskeg, alternating with low ridges of gravel and boulders, covers
wide tracts, though, owing to the fact that the only practicable mode
of travel through the country is by canoes, there is a tendency,
perhaps, to overestimate the extent of such areas, as the natural
canoe routes must follow the watercourses, and these in turn keep
to the lowest elevations, and, therefore, show a proportion of swamp
that is greater than the average of the district. It was noticed that
the surface drainage became more perfect in that part of the region
extending westerly towards Trout lake. Ascending the Winisk river
from Weibikwei lake towards its headwaters this was very noticeable,
the muskeg areas becoming infrequent and of smaller extent.
The larger lakes throughout the district are confined to the
Archaean area. They are all comparatively shallow, and so studded
with islands, and broken by long, projecting points, that they seldom
show any large expanses of open water. They occupy depressions in
the superficial deposits, generally with a boulder clay bottom, and in
no case was one found occupying a regular rock basin.
The areas of the principal lakes are approximately as follows: —
Wunnummin lake 60 square miles.
Weibikwei lake 40 "
Lansdowne lake 38 "
Ozhiski lake .. 25 «
Wapikopa lake . .. . 24
Eabemet lake. . .. ...... .; .... 20
Nibinamik lake 10 "
The highest land lies about the headwaters of the south branch of
thje Attawapiskat river, east of Cat lake, where an elevation of
probably 1,500 feet above the sea-level is reached.
The approximate heights of the principal lakes determined by
barometric measurement is given below: —
Eabemet lake, Albany river 900 feet above sea-level.
Ozhiski lake, Attawapiskat river 910
Lansdowne lake, Attawapiskat river. ... 815
Wimbobika lake, Attawapiskat river. . . . 1,300
Weibikwei lake, Winisk river 670 " "
12 GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY, CANADA
Wapikopa lake, Winisk river 750 feet above sea-level.
Nibinamik lake, Winisk river 785 " "
Wunnummin lake, Winisk river 830 " "
Misamikwash lake, Winisk river 865 " "
The tract referred to as the boulder clay area consists of a broad
belt of country, about 159 miles in width, lying between the Archaean
highlands and the edge of the limestones of the basin of Hudson bay,
overlapping the latter, however, so that the surface features of the
two are generally quite similar.
Gently undulating, and with a slight slope northerly and easterly,
its general surface aspect is that of a great swamp, sparsely covered
with stunted and deformed trees, that reach a growth approaching
their normal only along the immediate banks of the rivers where
drainage is afforded by frequent short gullies into the trenches that
constitute the river valleys. The interior, to within a chain or two
of the river-banks, owing to the impervious character of the till, is
quite undrained, and consequently covered by a thick deposit of
sphagnum moss from two feet to ten feet deep, the surface layer still
growing, and even the bottom only bleached a little, but not at all
oxidized. The short cool summer season, and consequent low tem-
perature of the water that saturates the moss, is probably the prin-
cipal reason for the absence of any of the visible effects of decay.
The rivers flowing through this region have no real valleys, that
is to say, they occupy trenches but little wider than the immediate
channels in which they flow, cut down through the stiff, tough till,
which stands up in nearly vertical walls that rise from the freshet
mark on either side. At low stages of the water a slanting beach,
often paved with boulders, slopes gradually from the foot of the bank
to the edge of the diminished channel. A more or less continuous
layer of marine clay, rich in fossil shells, overlies the boulder clay,
ensuring, wherever it is present, a soil of good quality. The absence
of other than swamp vegetation must be ascribed, then, to the almost
total absence of drainage, and to the generally unfavourable climatic
conditions.
The third area, underlain by Silurian limestones and dolomites,
presents essentially the same surface features as the till area. The
folding of the limestones, however, though generally amounting to
broad undulations only, gives to it somewhat more of relief, and the
troughs in which the rivers lie have been excavated entirely through
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 13
the mantle of till, and have cut down into the limestones to depths
of from twenty to thirty feet.
There is the same absence of any vegetation other than that
having a muskeg habitat, excepting on the islands in the rivers and
along their banks.
The northern rim of this area consists oi a treeless plain, border-
ing the shores of the bay, and varying in width from a mile and a
half to three miles. It has an elevation of only a few feet above the
level of high, spring tides, and is probably submerged on occasions
when these tides happen to coincide with northeast storms on the
bay. The sandy and gravelly surface is sparsely covered with bunchy
grasses, and, early in August, was bright with the flowers of many
sub-arctic plants, among which the Arctic daisy, Chrysanthemum
arcticum, the yellow ragwort, Senescia pallistris, the painted cup,
Castelegia pallida, a live-for-ever with small, bell-like blue flowers,
purple vetches, and the large rose-coloured Epilobium were promi-
nent.
Geological Summary.
The geological divisions recognized in the region under considera-
tion consist of the following, in ascending order: —
Laurentian.
Keewatin,
Lower Huronian (?),
Silurian (Niagara),
Pleistocene (Till, etc.),
Post-pleistocene (Marine clays, etc.),
LAUREN TIAN.
Biotite granite gneisses, varying in the proportion of their various
constituents, in their attitude, and in the degree to which the gneissic
structure has been developed in them, are widespread over the whole
extent of country explored. Over great areas they have a stratiform
appearance, the foliation showing an almost horizontal structure,
with only very low, broad undulations. As at present constituted
they, without doubt, include areas that differ widely in age, the com-
paratively new granites, however, occurring in quantity quite
insignificant in comparison with the volume of the older gneisses.
Pegmatites, in veins and irregular masses, cut the gneisses practi-
cally everywhere, and are, probably, though newer than the gneisses,
almost contemporaneous with them in their present form.
14 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
KEEWATIN.
The Keewatin bands, made up of areas of basic rocks, in the main
diorites, diabases, and chloritic and hornblende schists, but including
a considerable volume of coarse conglomerates, though occurring as
belts of considerable length and four to six miles in width, are of
exceedingly small volume when compared with the whole extent of
gneisses in which they are enfolded. Probably not more Jhan a
tenth of the whole Archaean area is occupied by them.
In the region explored, between the Albany river and the overlap
of the mantle of till, six apparently separate belts of these rocks
were noted. They have all, in a general way, about the same trend,
N. 70° E.
The belt of these rocks crossing the Albany river at Petawanga
lake and seen again on the route between the Albany at Fort Hope,
just north of Eabemet lake, is the most southerly. It is made up for
the most part of chloritic, feldspathic and hornblendic schists, and
diorites in different stages of deformation, and has a width of about
six miles. The gneisses bordering the belt on the south are finely
foliated, hold a large proportion of black biotite, and are, in certain
layers, thickly spotted with garnet crystals. Masses of coarse pegma-
tite, cutting these gneisses, hold crystals of mica up to 2" in
diameter.
The next belt going northerly is situated about twenty miles
north of the Albany river, and is well exposed along the banks of
the Kawinogans river, which has cut its channel in these rocks for
about seventeen miles. This band is from one to four miles in width,
and is made up of feldspathic and chloritic schists, diorites and other
basic rocks. It is flanked by biotite gneisses, with, at points close to
the contact, occasional outcrops of hornblende granite-gneiss.
Another belt, quite similar to the two above referred to, lies just
north of Lansdowne lake. Further reference is made to it in the
descriptions of the routes leading north from the Attawapiskat to the
Winisk. The most interesting belts are the next two; the first, lying
just south of Nibinamik lake, by reason of the occurrence in it of a
large mass of hypersthene gabbro, similar to the nickel-bearing in-
trusives of Sudbury; and the next, the Wunnummin Lake band, on
account of the extensive development in it of heavy beds of coarse
conglomerate, holding pebbles, chiefly of various forms of granite.
The most northerly band is apparently quite narrow, and was noted
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT EIVEKS 15
only where a few isolated outcrops are seen near Kingfisher lake
north of the Winisk river.
SILURIAN.
The Silurian section along the Winiak river seems to comprise,
in ascending order, twenty feet of close-grained, hard, brittle, green
and black ribboned slates, with bands and nodules of more highly
calcareous material; six feet of a hard, dark-grey, rusty weathering,
calcareous quartzite; ten feet of a much more calcareous form of
the last named beds, so calcareous as to constitute an impure lime-
stone rather than a quartzite. All of these lower beds, which are
exposed at but one place on the river, where they are brought up by
a compound anticlinal fold, are hard and baked-looking, with many
small veins of quartz and calcite cutting them in all directions.
Lithologically they are quite dissimilar to any of the strata compos-
ing the rest of the section. Further effects of pressure are seen in
the hardened condition of all the rocks, and in their cracked and
fissured condition, the cracks filled with secondary quartz and cal-
cite. The more massive beds described as calcareous quartzites are
seamed in all directions by thes^ white, reticulating veins, which
are bought into strong prominence by their contrast in colour with
the dark, rusty- weathering surfaces of the parent rock.
There seems to be a gradual passage upwards from these
beds, by the increase in their calcareous content, into impure
limestones, and then into the next beds in the series, consist-
ing of a series of slightly magnesian limestones, comprising
eight feet of buff-coloured, slightly ferruginous, hard, close-grained,
flaggy beds, with the texture of lithographic stone in certain layers;
two and a half feet of more massive nodular limestone, the nodules
of finer texture than the enclosing, slightly shaly matrix; and ten
feet of rubbly, shaly limestone, with occasional sandy layers. Nodules
of bluish opalescent quartz, with banded, agate-like structure, occur
in the more compact beds throughout the series.
Above these beds is a very persistent band, six feet in thickness,
of a tufaceous-looking, vesicular limestone, the very distinctive char-
acter of which makes it easily recognizable at many points along the
river. Cavities in it are coated with crystals of calcite, and vesicles
and cracks occurring in it are filled with a fibrous form of that
mineral. The calcite occurs throughout the rock in irrregular masses
that weather out to form cavities of irregular sizes and shapes.
16 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
Immediately above this bed there occurs a 6" layer of a compact
yellowish limestone, with but little magnesia; then six feet of
very fine-grained, almost compact, very light buff coloured dolomite,
containing a small quantity of argillaceous matter and occurring in
heavy flag-like beds, the plates hard and clinking under the hammer.
These are overlaid by twelve feet of buff-coloured impure magnesian
limestone, shaly in certain layers; and ten feet of flaggy and shaly
buff-coloured, somewhat nodular, magnesian limestone, the whole
becoming disintegrated easily so as to show only nodular, crumbling
surfaces.
Broadly speaking, the strata may be said to lie almost hori-
zontally, with a slight dip towards the shores of the bay, amounting
to about the same as the descent accomplished by the river. Low
undulations cause the same beds to recur again and again in the
sections exposed along the river. The exposures are not continuous,
long intervals where the overlying boulder clay only is seen inter-
vening between the exposed sections, so that the generalized section
given above, and tabulated on a succeeding page, is made up from an
examination of separated exposures occurring along the river for a
distance of eighty miles. Though the strata are uniformly buff-
coloured and closely similar in general appearance, a few very dis-
tinctive beds — notably the tufa-like limestone bed, which seems to be
very persistent and to keep its distinctive characteristics — serve to
connect the various exposures satisfactorily. The lowest beds, com-
prising the thirty-five feet of strata brought up by the compound
anticlinal fold, appear at only one place on the river. As no fossils
were found in them their age can be inferred only from their appar-
ently conformable position immediately underneath the fossiliferous
Silurian strata.
The corrugated surface of the dome of the anticlinal itself dips
about ten degrees north of west, at a low angle varying from five to
twenty degrees, and it is possible, though not probable, that the rocks
noted by Mr. Dowling at Sutton Mill lake represent underlying beds
brought up by a southeasterly extension of this fold.
The calcareous nodules, which probably represent bands broken
by the stress of the folding, weather out readily, where exposed to
atmospheric action, leaving a rock full of holes.
II
J7
i
4074— p. Iti.
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 17
GENERALIZED SECTION ALONG THE WINISK RIVER.
Flaggy and shaly, buff magnesian limestone.
Shaly, impure, rusty-weathering, magnesian
limestone.
Flaggy, clinking dolomite.
Compact, slightly magnesian limestone.
Vesicular limestone.
Slightly magnesian, shaly limestone with
sandy layers.
Slightly magnesian, nodular limestone.
Slightly magnesian, clinking, flaggy limestone.
Rusty-weathering, siliceous limestone.
Dark grey, rusty-weathering, calcareous
quartzite.
Black and green, ribboned slates.
4074-2
18 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
A small collection of fossils was made from the beds overlying the
vesicular band, in which Dr. WhiteaVes has identified the following
forms : —
Favosites gothlandica, Lamarck.
Stropheodonta niagaraensis, W. and M.
Leptcena rhomboidalis, Wilckens (sp.).
*Camarotcechia (?) winiskensis, Whiteaves.
*Camarotoechia (?) coalescens, Whiteaves.
*Glassia varidbilis, Whiteaves.
*Actinoceras Iceewatinense, Whiteaves.
Trimerella, sp. indet.
Orthis,
Spirifer,
Streptelasma, "
Trochonema, "
Euomphalus, "
Loxonema, "
Cyrtoceras, "
Bronteus, "
Encrinurus, "
Though not a very satisfactory collection in itself for purposes of
age-determination, the above-named species correlate the beds hold-
ing them with those of the Severn river to the north, and the Ekwan
river to the south, and collections from the three localities combined
fix the age of the rocks very satisfactorily.
The southern limit of the Silurian limestones cannot be fixed
with any degree of exactness, owing to the heavy overmantle of till
that conceals from view the underlying rock for a distance of 130
miles along the river. It seems probable, however, that it extends to
the vicinity of N. lat. 54° 20'. Mr. Low found on the Fawn branch
of the Severn, the nearest river to the west, the same wide area of
country completely covered by till intervening between the most
northerly exposure of gneiss and the first exposure of limestone. He
thought it probable that the limestones extend under the till for a
distance that would correspond very closely to that given above for
the Winisk. East of the Winisk river the inland boundary of the
Silurian bends suddenly to a direction nearly due south, crossing the
* The two new species of Camarotoechia, the Glassia and the Actino-
ceras have been described by Dr. Whiteaves in Pala-ozoic Fossils, Vol. III.,
Fart IV., 1906, where further notes concerning the collection will be found.
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 19
Attawapiskat river a little above N. lat. 52° W, and the Albany one
degree lower.
PLEISTOCENE.
The boulder clays of the Winisk river may be easily divided into
an upper and a lower till, the one lying upon the gently undulating
surface of the other.
The upper bed is composed of a buff-coloured clay, drying slightly
friable, with occasional large boulders, and many small pebbles and
angular fragments of diorite, quartzite, gneiss, red and white sand-
stone, jasper, etc. Its greatest observed thickness is about forty feet,
measured from the surface of the lower till to the bottom of the
fossiliferous marine beds. No stratification is apparent in it, and
the large boulders are so rare, that, at a little distance, cut faces have
the appearance of beds of pure clay.
The lower till, the thickness of which was not ascertained, is
composed of an extremely tough blue clay, with very many large
boulders, semi-rounded and mostly well striated. Limestones and
dolomites quite similar to the Silurian beds of the lower river make
up a large proportion of the boulders, but others of gneiss, quartzite
conglomerate, etc., are not uncommon. The sloping beaches extend-
ing between low and high water marks are often a mosaic of the
washed out material from the clay, forming very good examples of
boulder pavements, the natural tendency of the rocks to arrange
themselves with their flatter sides parallel to the surface resulting in
an almost smooth floor, over which the spring floods seem to pass
with little or no denuding power. The whole bed of the river is, in
the same way, protected by a layer of heavy boulders that offers great
resistance to the wear of the current, and that has practically stopped
the further excavation of the channel at levels far from the bottom
of the lower till.
The accumulations of glacial drift are an important feature over
this whole district. They form the highest elevations, and are the
principal causes that define the shapes of the lakes and the direc-
tions of the rivers. The influence of morainic ridges of boulders and
gravel on the course of a river is strikingly seen in the case of the
upper part of the Winisk river. The direction of the ice mevement
was about S. 23° W., and the course of the river is found to conform
to this direction to a remarkable extent, that is, it makes its way
4074— 2J
20 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
eastward in a series of zig-zags, the lake-like expansions conforming
in a remarkable way to the course of the morainic ridges of drift.
The lakes occurring along the river are characterized by many
long narrow bays with the same trend, due to the drift ridges that
bound them.
The glaciation of the whole area shows most clearly that it is the
result of the passage of a large glacier, continental almost in extent,
moving in a general way a little south of west, but showing minor
deflexions, that occurred probably at stages in the period of glacia-
tion when the ice sheet was not at its greatest thickness and was
more readily influenced by the surface contours.
The general S.S.W. direction of movement is indicated not only
by strise, chatter marks, and crag and tail sculpturing, but also by
the character of the boulders enclosed in the till and scattered broad-
cast over the Archa?an area. The occurrence of the fossil-bearing
limestones along the west coast of Hudson bay and James bay, and
the entire absence of any rocks at all similar to them over the whole
region farther south, makes the character of the travelled boulders
derived from these rocks a sure index to the direction followed by
the moving ice-sheet. Additional evidence is afforded by the occur-
rence in the till of boulders and pebbles of jasper, hematite, quart-
zite of a very distinctive character that Dr. Bell has recognized in
place on the east coast of Hudson bay, and jasper breccia or con-
glomerate. The wide tract of country lying between the Archaean
gneiss and the first exposures of limestone, where the underlying
rocks are completely concealed by the thick mantle of boulder clay,
might be the source from which is derived many or all of these
apparently foreign boulders, but their very close similarity to rocks
that are known to occur on the east shore of Hudson bay makes it
more probable that they have been derived from them.
A few southwesterly stria? that appeared to be possibly later than
the prevailing ones might be interpreted to indicate a glacier travelling
down a gathering ground such as has been assigned to the Keewatin
glacier. The local variations of the stria? from the general direction
are so many, however, that it seems quite possible that they are only
the records of deflexions caused by local surface relief, and made
perhaps by a very much reduced glacier. No evidence of a glacier
moving down towards the bay was noticed. The following list of
p-lacial strise is arranged under three divisions — the height-of-land
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 21
region where the striae may be considered to represent most truly the
general course of the glacier, the Winisk Biver channel where the
direction of the striae seems to have been somewhat affected by the
river course, and the valleys of the Albany and Upper Attawapiskat
rivers, where the direction has been quite governed by the trend
of the valleys.
Direction of Glaciation.
Height-of-Land Region —
Kawinogans river S. 50° W.
Hail lake S. 40° W.
Wapitotem river S. 38° W.
Winisk river, eight miles above Weibikwei lake. S. 38° W.
Winisk river, Wapikopa lake S. 32° W.
Lower Winisk River Region —
Winisk river below outflow of Winiskisis S. 6° W.
" at outflow of Tabasokwia S. 6° W.
" above Tashka rapid. . S. 10° W.
" at Tashka rapid S. 30° W.
at Boskineig fall S.30° E.
i mile below Boskineig fall .... S. 18° W.
1 " " . . . . S. 10° E.
" 2 miles " " . . . . S. 12° E.
" 8 " " " . . . . S. 10° E.
13 " . . . . S. 24° E.
" 15 « « « .... S. 26° E.
Albany River and Attawapiskat River Valleys —
Eabemet lake, northwest shore S. 83° W.
" north shore S. 78° W.
Albany river 10 miles below Eabemet S. 68° W.
" 12 " " S.67°W.
15 « " • S. 64° W.
Ozhiski lake W.
Kabania lake N. 79° W.
POST-PLEISTOCENE.
The marine clays, overlying the boulder clays along the Winisk
river, were found to be generally fossiliferous, excepting near their
most southerly extension where they are quite thin, and, as far as
22 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY^ CANADA
observed, do not hold fossils. From a collection made from these
clays in 1903, Dr. J. F. Whiteavcs has identified the following
species : —
Pecien islandicus, Mtiller.
Mytilus edulis, L.
Cardium ciliatum, Fabricius.
Serripes Groenlandicus, Ganelin.
Macoma calcarea, Gmelin.
Mya truncata, L.
My a arenaria, L.
Saxicava rugosa, L.
Buccinum tenue, Gray.
Buccinum ?
and, fresh water species: —
Sphcerium striatinum, Lamarck.
Limncea pahistris, L.
The Winisk Kiver.
The Winisk river, though without falls in its lower course, and
with a volume that would lead one to suppose it easily navigable by
vessels of considerable size, is so rapid and so wide for a long dis-
tance up from the bay that it would be difficult to find a channel for
a steamer of even moderate draft. This is particularly true of the
thirty miles of its course over the flat-lying limestone ledges that
often form barriers quite across the river bed, on which there is a
depth of only a few feet of water.
The river has cut down into the limestones to a depth of more
than forty feet, the strata rising in vertical walls to that height
above mean low water level.
There is evidence that the river followed its present channel in
the limestones prior to the glacial period. It has since then not worn
out for itself any valley beyond its immediate channel, which is a
mere trench in the boulder clay in the upper stretches, and in the
clay and underlying limestones farther down. The extreme tough-
ness of the lower boulder clay, and the protection afforded by the
great number of large boulders that wash out from it and coat the
bottom and lower parts of the sides of the trench, have prevented
any quick degradation of the bank?, which stand up, raw and steep,
like the sides of a newly excavated canal or railway cutting. The
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 23
more gently sloping parts of the bank, between high water mark and
the foot of the boulder clay wall, are covered with a growth of grasses
and small bushes, and, beyond latitude 54° 30', the nearly vertical
boulder clay itself supports a growth of silver berry, Eleagnus argen-
tea, and buffle berry, Shepardia, the almost snow-white foliage of the
former standing out in strong contrast with the dark-green leaves
and red berries of the latter.
The Winisk river, along its upper course easterly to Weibikwei
lake, has a distinguishable valley. The lower part of the river, how-
ever, from the lake to the sea, has absolutely no valley outside of the
steep-walled trough in which it runs. The upper Attawapiskat
river, flowing in an easterly direction, has a fairly well-marked
valley, comparable to that of the Albany, though of less extent. The
upper parts of the river are roughly parallel to one another and to
the Albany river, with which it is not at all improbable that the
Attawapiskat was at one time connected, as the country now dividing
them is characterized by high hills of glacial drift, filling up and
concealing any former channels that may have existed. These are
the very remarkable hills described elsewhere in this report in greater
detail.
In all the rivers on this slope is seen the tendency to split up into
two or more channels, enclosing areas of land often many miles in
extent. This feature is more marked in the case of the Winisk than
in any of the others. Above Weibikwei lake one of these divisions
of the channel occurs, enclosing an area of thirteen square miles;
and below, the two branches known as the Winiskisis and the Taba-
sokwia flow around islands with areas of about 480 and 180 square
miles respectively. The former of these branches, flowing to the
east at a point seven miles below the lake, joins the main river again
sixty-five miles below. The Indians say that no important stream
comes in to the branch, but a number of small streams makes it a
river of considerable size at its confluence with the main channel,
even at low water when no water is passing over the bar at its upper
end.
The volume of water in the river during the period of spring
freshet must be quite ten times as great as at low water in mid-
summer. The height reached by the water is, in many places, plainly
indicated on the banks.
Evidences of the destructive force of the ice, when running out in
the spring, are common. Trees on some of the islands are found
24 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
broken and uprooted at heights of fifteen feet above the normal water
level, and the boulder clay of the banks is ploughed and deeply scored
at corresponding heights.
The flat surface of the limestone bordering the gorge is evi-
dently swept annually by the river when at its height, though the
water surface in the gorge at ordinary summer level is thirty feet
below the top of the limestone.
No beds of lignite were observed, though a few highly carbon-
aceous, sandy layers were seen to occur at water level, apparently
beneath the boulder clay on the upper Winisk river.
Owing to the frequent small landslides occurring along this part
of the river it was impossible to fix the position of these beds with
any degree of certainty.
Though for so great a part of its course the river is bordered by
high and steep banks of clay, landslides seem to be exceedingly rare,
excepting where the country has been swept by forest fires. Where
fires have recently taken place along the banks, denuding them of
their protecting vegetation, small landslides ar.e almost continuous.
The Winisk is with little doubt the largest of the rivers discharg-
ing into the west side of Hudson bay or James bay between the
Severn and Albany rivers. Eising in the highlands lying to the
south of Trout lake, it drains the large expanse of country lying to
the east of the upper waters of the Severn river, and to the north of
the spreading branches of the Attawapiskat. The watercourses of
this section of country have been most inadequately represented on
the existing maps, owing to the lack of knowledge of their positions,
and a reference to the map accompanying this report will be neces-
sary in order to understand the apportionment of the watersheds
among the various rivers. From Misamikwash lake, above which the
Winisk is divided into two main and many smaller branches, the
river flows out by two channels, one quite insignificant in volume
flowing to the north, and the other, a river of considerable size,
flowing to the east. The former of these forms the head of the
Asheweig or west branch of the Winisk, and the latter the main
river.
Diverging at a point situated in N. lat. 53° and W. long. 90°,
these two streams unite 224 miles below, following the course of the
main river, in K lat. 54° and W. long. 87° 30'.
From Misamikwash lake for twenty-five miles the river keeps a
general easterly course. In this distance the descent is about thirty-
REGION OF WIXISK AXD ATTAWAPISKAT IUVKKS 25
five feet, and occurs principally in a series of five rapids, at the
lowest of which, just above Wunnummin lake, there is a very con-
siderable fall. Between the rapids are stretches of swift water, varied
by many lake-like expansions. The surrounding country is for the
most part low, seldom rising to greater heights than fifty feet above
the river. Few rock exposures are seen, what there are consisting of
low, rounded knolls and ridges of well foliated biotite granite gneiss,
generally with an almost horizontal foliation and often invaded by a
coarser white granite or pegmatite. The banks are usually low,
but in places the river is found impinging against a bank of un-
stratified sand and gravel twenty to thirty feet in height.
Below the rapid and fall just referred to a large stream comes
in from the south, and the river widens out to form Wunnummin
lake, a body of water of varying width, twenty-five miles in length.
The trough in which the lake lies has been hollowed out mainly in a
band of Keewatin rocks to whose trend it generally conforms. The
most conspicuous rocks occurring in the belt are heavy beds of coarse
conglomerate, very similar to that of Abram lake on the English
river below Minnitaki lake.1 With these are associated diorites and
chloritic and hornblende schists, the whole striking about N. 70° E.
and dipping at high angles. These rocks can, without doubt, be
classed almost wholly with the Keewatin, though there are possibly
small areas of lower Huronian, the basal beds of which would be
represented by the conglomerate.
About the lake almost the only eminences in view are low hills
of unassorted drift, rising generally not more than fifty feet above
the water level, but in one case forming a very striking cone-shaped
eminence, rising perhaps 300 feet above the surrounding level.
Owing to its inaccessibility this hill was not visited, but from its
general aspect, and from the accounts of it given by the Indians,
it evidently is one of those remarkable, isolated masses of drift seen
on the south branch of the Attawapiskat, and noted also by Mr.
Camsell as occurring in the country north of Cat lake.2
From Wunnumin lake to Nibinamik lake, a distance of twenty-
five miles, the descent is about forty-five feet, the fall occurring
principally at three points, where series of heavy rapids break the
course of the river. Between these are stretches of quiet flowing
1 Annual Reimrt Geological Survey, 1901, Vol. XIV, p. 90 A.
2 Summary Report Geological Survey, 1904.
26 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
water, where the current, though generally strong, flows along pla-
cidly between banks of sand not generally high, but in places, where
the current has worn into the side of a drift ridge, showing cut banks
seventy-five feet in height. A stream known as Michikenis flows in
from the south about six miles below Wunnummin lake, and a larger
one, referred to again in describing the route from Trout lake, joins
the river from the north five miles above Nibinamik lake.
Nibinamik lake is an irregular body of water whose shape has
been largely defined by ridges of glacial drift. From inlet to outlet
is but five miles, the lake, however, extending to the south for seven
miles and to the north for four miles. A number of low ledges of
fine, well-foliated biotite gneiss occur along its shores, cut by a coarse
white gneiss that often is interbanded with the finer, giving the
whole an appearance of stratification. The land rises gradually from
the lake shores to heights of about sixty feet, a considerable thick-
ness of sand and gravel concealing the underlying rocks, excepting at
the immediate shores. A forest about one hundred years old, but
never very large, covers the surrounding country. Spruce and tama-
rack are the principal trees, with aspen, poplar, and canoe birch on
the ridges. .
From the southern end of the lake, by a large brook entering the
southeasterly bay, a route to be referred to again, leads to the Atta-
wapiskat river.
For the next twelve miles, between Nibinamik and Wapikopa
lokes, the river flows with a fairly stiff current, increasing to rapids
at three places, and descends in all about thirty-five feet. No ledges
are seen along the shores, the over-mantle of drift, rising in places to
form ridges ninety feet in height, quite covering the underlying
rocks.
Wapikopa lake has a length northeasterly of thirteen miles, with
a long irregular bay running to the north for fourteen miles, where
it receives the waters of the river of the same name, a quiet flowing
stream thirty yards wide, two to six feet deep, and with a sluggish
current of about one mile an hour.
Many exposures of biotite gneiss occur about the lake-shores, the
foliation well marked, and dipping at angles of from forty degrees
to horizontal. A coarser grey gneiss cuts these stratiform beds, and
encloses in places angular blocks of the finer black gneiss in such
numbers as to constitute a breccia.
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT EIVEKS 27
A newer reddish granite, with porphyritic crystals of red feldspar,
occurs in heavy ledges near the west end.
Green forest from thirty to one hundred years old clothes the
shores of the lake on every side.
From Wapikopa lake downwards to Weibikwei lake, a distance of
thirty-eight miles, the river follows a most irregular course, and
really constitutes a succession of lakes, with intervening rapids, the
total descent being about eighty feet.
The lake-like expansions are remarkable for the way in which the
long narrow bays, running off from them, conform to the direction
of glaciation. This is caused by the recurrence of parallel ridges
of glacial drift, with a direction about N. 30° E., the valleys between
them forming the basins of the lakes.
A number of small rapids occur where the river breaks through
the drift ridges, and for ten miles immediately above the outflow of
the channel coming in below Weibikwei lake the current is very
swift, and heavy rapids occur, some of them over ledges of biotite
gneiss.
These rocks, the only exposures seen, are fine, banded black and
grey biotite gneisses, dipping at various angles but preserving a
general northeasterly trend. They are invaded by irregular masses of
a coarser white gneiss, that sometimes occurs as bands conforming
to their foliation, but often cuts them in the form of apophyses, and
surrounds and encloses angular blocks and masses.
Midway, at a point above Kanuchuan lake, where the river
divides into a number of channels, a small brook flowing in from the
south is the starting point for a route across to Lansdowne lake, and
nine miles above Weibikwei lake a channel leads off to the north,
rejoining the main river just below that lake.
The southern channel of the river flows into the northwesterly
bay of Weibikwei lake and discharges from its extreme northern
end.
Weibikwei lake has an extreme length of seventeen miles, and is
seven miles wide. Two rivers of considerable volume flow into its
southern end, the Michikenopik (stone fish- trap) — known on the old
maps as the Fishbasket river — and the Wapitotem, up which the
principal canoe route to the south leads.
The lake, though of considerable area, nowhere shows any wide
expanse of open water, consisting of a series of long, narrow
28 GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY, CANADA
channels, lying about north and south, between parallel low islands
of sand, gravel and boulders, with a substratum of till reaching about
the level of the top of the water. The passages are not generally
more than half a mile in width, and only thirty feet in depth. The
land about the lake is low, and has been almost entirely denuded of
trees by recurring fires, excepting in a few localities where Banksian
pine, tamarack, and spruce of fair size remain to show the character
of the original forest. Sturgeon, whitefish, pike, and dore of good
size are plentiful in the lake, and the Indians say that brook trout
are not uncommon, but that lake trout do not occur. The only
ledges about the shores are biotite gneisses that form low points
near the southern end of the lake.
The river discharges from the extreme northern bay of the lake
by a short rapid, with a fall of three or four feet. Just below the
rapid, at the head of a long bay that extends for several miles to the
west, the channel which leaves the river ten miles above rejoins.
This is probably really the main channel of the river. Below the
junction the river flows for the first eight miles of its course over
horizontally foliated ledges of banded, biotite gneiss, that cause an
almost continuous succession of rapids with swift water between,
down to the point of outflow of the Winiskisis, a channel that flows
off to the northeast, to become reunited to the main river seventy
miles below. At low water no water flows over the bar at the en-
trance to this channel, though there is, at all stages of the water,
a river of considerable size coming in at the junction, due, the
Indians say, not to any single large stream, but to a great number,
of smaller tributaries draining the country between this stream and
the heads of the Ekwan and Black-fence branch of the Attawapiskat
rivers. Thirteen miles below the head of the island thus formed,
another branch channel, called the Tabasokwia, splits off to the west
and flows around an island about twenty-three miles long. For forty-
five miles below the lake, or to the upper edge of the till-covered area,
the river is an almost continuous rapid, the descent being probably
as much as seven feet to the mile. At two points only do these
rapids become cascades, both situated near the bottom of the very
rapid section. At the Tashka rapid the vertical fall is not great,
but at the Boskineig or Smoky fall there is a vertical pitch of about
fifteen feet. The portage past the first of these rapids mounts over
a low ridge of boulder clay, but cut banks, showing a section through
the till, are first seen just above the Boskineig fall, where the river
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 29
has cut down through twenty feet of an upper buff-coloured clay,
and six feet of an underlying, exceedingly tough blue clay holding
many well striated boulders.
Below the fall the cut banks of boulder clay become higher, and a
few inches at the summit are seen to be stratified. Four miles below,
in the thin layer of stratified beds at the top, the first fossil shells,
Saxicava rugosa, were noted, proving these beds to be of post-glacial,
marine origin. The height r.bove the sea is estimated to be about
350 feet. The banks, along this part of the river's course, are low,
rising gradually from almost water level to heights of not more than
fifty feet above it.
Frequent exposures of biotite gneiss, generally nearly horizontal,
but much disturbed by intrusions of a coarser white gneiss, and by
veins and apophyses of pegmatite, occur all along the river. They
are low, rounded, well-glaciated ledges, showing well marked stria-
tion in a general direction varying from south to southwest, but
showing occasional striae, that are probably later, having a direction
about southeast. Down to this point, and for a few miles beyond, the
old forest has been destroyed by the same fire that swept the shores
of Weibikwei lake, and its place taken by a second growth about
thirty years old.
Occasional low bosses of biotite granite-gneiss are exposed along
the shores for sixteen miles below Boskineig fall. A horizontal or
gently undulating foliation is well developed, though the regular
uniformity of their attitude is marred by frequent invading masses
of coarse white gneiss and pegmatite. These exposures are the last
that outcrop along the river until the outer rim of the limestones of
the Hudson Bay basin is reached, 140 miles below. Though the
bottom of the trough gradually becomes lower in reference to the
surface of the till as the river is descended, at no place in this
distance has degradation been carried far enough to expose the
underlying rocks, the great number of boulders derived from the
wearing away of the till probably becoming an increasingly impor-
tant factor in retarding the wearing action of the current.
Below the last exposure of gneiss the old forest still clothes the
banks, the brule above referred to extending only to that distance.
The banks of the river preserve, all along the part of its course lying
within the till-covered area, a very uniform character. The shores
between low and high water mark gradually slope up from the
30 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
water's edge, and are often paved with boulders, and marked at the
upper edge by a belt of low bushes and grasses. From high water
mark the bank of boulder clay rises in an almost sheer wall, bare and
raw looking, like the side of a recent railway cutting or canal; the
lower till often rough with the great number of projecting boulders,
but the upper smooth faced like a pure clay. Capping the upper clay
is a very unequally distributed layer of marine clay, in places reach-
ing a thickness of ten feet, but over long distances entirely wanting.
The impervious character of the till, together with its nearly flat
or gently undulating surface, gives to the country a muskeg-like
character, even though it lies eighty feet or more above the bed of
the river. Along the immediate banks, and for perhaps a chain or
two back, there is a narrow belt of trees of fair size, and back of that
stretches away a great level, plateau-like country, practically without
drainage, and consequently moss-covered to a great depth, support-
ing a stunted and deformed growth of black spruce and tamarack.
There is no river valley, the trench cut in the boulder clay being but
little wider than the actual bed of the stream. The comparatively
stable character of the till walls is indicated by this belt of larger
growth, as, were the disintegration proceeding at all rapidly, the
ordinary condition of tree growth would prevail quite to the edge of
the trough.
At sixty-eight and seventy-seven miles, respectively, below
Weibikwei lake, the Tabasokwia and Winiskisis channels rejoin the
parent stream, the latter now of considerable volume. At a lake-like
expansion studded with islands, situated seven miles below the inflow
of the Little Winisk, the first tributaries of importance join the
river, the Asheweig flowing from the southwest, and the Atikameg
fBom the southeast. The former of these, which is slightly the
larger, is the West Winisk of the old maps, and the stream referred
to on a former page as flowing out from the main river at Misamik-
wash lake 224 miles above. At its outlet it is a quiet flowing stream,
with a good current, a chain or more in width, and having an
average depth of about four feet. A short distance below this point
white birches and balsam spruces are seen for the last time on the
banks, and thence to the sea the forest growth, quite to the edge of
the river trough, is composed entirely of black spruce and tamarack.
The islands, and here and there a projecting point, however, continue
to show groves of white spruce, balsam poplar, and aspen.
EEGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RlVERS 31
After a course almost directly north, with slight curves to the
east and west, for 126 miles, the river by a sharp turn suddenly
changes its direction to a little south of east, and keeps that trend
for seventy miles.
Looking down the valley from a point a few miles above the
elbow, the land to the north, beyond the turn, is seen to be elevated
a little above the general level, the line of higher ground probably
representing the northern edge of the Silurian basin. The abrupt
turn made by the river, and its long detour to the east before resum-
ing its normal northerly direction, may probably also be attributable
to the presence of the barrier offered by the rim of the limestone
area.
Two tributaries, the Banipatau and the Pikwakwud, join the
main river near the elbow. Both head near the Fawn branch of the
Severn river, and by the last named there is a canoe route to the
Severn. The "Winino brook comes in from the north about half-way
down the easterly stretch, and nine miles farther on an island six
miles in length, known to the Indians as Atikminis, or Caribou
island, divides the river into two channels of nearly equal volume.
The almost sheer walls of boulde: clay, with their intermittent and
irregular capping of marine clay, continue to rise in reference to the
river bed, until at a point fifty miles above the mouth they attain a
height of eighty-five feet above the water level, with a bed of but
slightly beached and not at all decayed sphagnum moss on top. The
marine clays with their contained fossils, a list of which is published
elsewhere in this report, immediately underlie the moss. The lime-
stones and dolomites of the Hudson Bay basin first outcrop at a
distance of forty-two miles from the bay, measuring along the river.
They are flat-lying, slightly magnesian, flaggy limestones, forming
the bed of the river, but not appearing above the water. Within a
very few miles, however, the slope of the river carries it below the
surface of the limestones so that they form low walls, gradually in-
creasing in height in reference to the surface of the water until,
four miles below, the river flows through a gorge cut to a depth of
thirty feet in the limestones and dolomites. This is probably a part
of an old pre-glacial channel, as from here on down towards the sea
the limestone walls, capped by boulder clay, alternate with banks
that show till only down to high water mark. The surface of the
country, extending back from the sides of the river-trough, has the
32 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
same plateau-like character stretching away as far as the eye can
see, as in almost level, moss-covered plain, with only a sparse growth
of stunted trees.
The limestones show gentle undulations, but are, broadly speak-
ing, nearly flat, with a slope northerly corresponding closely with
the descent of the river. A small collection of fossils, determined by
Dr. Whit-eaves, is referred to more at length on another page. They
serve to satisfactorily fix the position of these beds as Silurian, and
of about the age of the Niagara.
At a projecting point on the southeast bank, twenty-six miles
from the mouth, an entirely different set of rocks is brought to the
surface, in the form of a double anticlinal fold, whose axis strikes
south 70° east. These consist of banded green and black slates and
calcareous quartzites, the whole very hard and baked looking. No
actual contact with the overlying dolomites or limestones is seen, so
that it is not possible to say with certainty whether or not the two
sets are conformable. It seems very probable, however, that the
upper beds, that gradually merge upwards from a calcareous quart-
zite into a highly siliceous limestone, underlie conformably the
lowest stratum of limestone. No fossils were found in these beds.
The ribboned character of the slates, their bright coloration, and
the occurrence in them of streams of more highly calcareous pebble-
like pieces that are very suggestive of broken limestone bands, give
to them a most striking appearance, and would make their recogni-
tion, if exposed at any other place on the river, almost a certainty.
It was considered at the time that these might represent a part of
the Nastapoka series noted by Mr. Dowling about thirty miles to the
east, on Sutton Mill lake. There does not seem, however, to be a
sufficient similarity between these beds and those described by Mr.
Dowling to warrant this correlation. Below this point, and down
nearly to the mouth of the river, the limestones and dolomites, for
the most part a repetition of the same beds lying in low undulations,
are almost continuously exposed, forming low cliffs, overlain by a
thick mantle of boulder clay. The river, along this part of its course,
is about thirty chains wide, with many expansions three-quarters of
a mile or more in width, and dotted with islands.
The Mattawa, a river of considerable volume, by which there is
an Indian canoe route to the Ekwan river, comes in from the east
twenty-four miles from the mouth, and ten miles farther down the
Mishamattawa, or Big Mattawa, flows in from the west. This stream
REGION OF WIXISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 33
is used by the Indians as an inland canoe route to the mouth of the
Severn, which is reached by ascending the stream almost to its head
and crossing thence to the Shagamu, which flows into the west shore
of Hudson bay about a day and a half's journey below the Severn.
For the last twenty-five miles of its course before reaching the
shores of the bay, the river has an average width of about three-
quarters of a mile, but expands to over a mile at many places. An
almost continuous line of islands divides it into a number of
channels all along this part of its course. For the last twelve miles
above the sea these islands are generally low, and clothed only with
grasses and low bushes, but varied by occasional, more elevated ones
that support groves of balsam poplar of good size. Above this the
islands are mostly masses of till that have resisted the wear of the
current ; they are higher and generally well wooded with large white
spruce, that attain diameters as great as two feet, and are tall and
straight.
The current is swift for the whole distance from Weibikwei lake
to the mouth, a distance of 240 miles, though across the boulder clay
area, and through the limestones, the descent is comparatively uni-
form. Though there is water enough all along for tracking canoes,
a channel suitable for larger boats could only be found by following
a very tortuous course, and by frequently crossing from side to side,
where the flat limestone ledges, approaching the surface, form almost
continuous barriers across the current, with perhaps only one break
where the water has any considerable depth.
This even slope is characteristic of all the rivers flowing from the
great central Archaean plateau downwards to the west coasts of
Hudson and James bays,- after they have passed the more elevated
Archaean country and reached the gently sloping till-covered area.
The Albany, the Attawapiskat, and the Severn rivers are other
examples of this. The absence of any valley might be interpreted to
mean that the river, in its present form, is very recent. It must be
borne in mind, however, that evidence of a considerable age is
afforded by the gorge in the limestones where the river flows in a
channel cut down at least forty feet into the flat-lying strata, and all
along in its passage through the sedimentary belt its pre-glacial age
is indicated by the cliffs of limestone that appear alternately on the
one side and on the other, with boulder clay forming the banks in
the intervening spaces, constituting what is practically a broad,
shallow, partly till-filled gorge all the way.
4074-3
34 GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY, CANADA
It seems evident then that through the boulder clay area, until
the limestones are reached, the present channel does not necessarily
represent an older valley, but that below, through the limestones, the
river has resumed possession of an older, pre-glacial channel.
Approaching the mouth the banks become lower, and for the last
few miles are not generally more than about fifteen feet high, and
are composed of stratified clays and sands. Bordering each side of
the river at the estuary, and extending back from the shore of the
bay to form a belt from two to five miles in width, a treeless tract
four or five feet above ordinary high tides extends away to the east
and north, and is probably continuous, almost without interruption,
up and down the west shore of the bay. It is a comparatively level
plain, intersected, however, by many channels that are filled at high
tide, with a gravelly and sandy surface sparsely covered by clumps
of grass and brightened by many species of sub-arctic flowering
plants. The river has an easterly direction just at its mouth, and the
south shore consequently becomes, without change of direction, the
coast of the bay; and it is only by the turning away to the north of
the opposite shore that the actual mouth of the river can be fixed.
At this point the estuary has a width of about three miles. It is
generally shallow, large boulders showing above the surface even at
high tide, while at low tide bars of sand, gravel and boulders are
exposed. The ordinary rise and fall of the tide is only about six
feet, but this is sufficient, so fiat is the bottom of the bay in this
neighbourhood, to expose at low tide wide sand flats extending far
out from the actual shore i:ne and dotted with large blocks and
boulders, mainly of limestone, that in places are heaped together to
form points and low ridges that remain uncovered even at high tide.
The shallow character of the bay was further evidenced, when
the mouth was visited in August, 1903, by the barrier of pack ice
that formed a continuous line across the estuary, about five miles off
shore. The small sailing vessel used by the Hudson's Bay Company
for the transport of supplies from the post at the mouth of the
Severn river to the Winisk river is forced, by the shallow water off
the mouth, to make a long circuit, following the channel of the river
from far out in the bay.
The length of the Winisk actually traversed, from Misamikwash
lake to the mouth, is 365 miles. As it is a riv^r of considerable
volume at the upper point reached, it may be confidently stated that
its total length is well over 400 miles.
4074-p. 34.
EEGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 35
Its volume was estimated to be about 25,000 cubic feet per
second in midsummer, at a point twenty-five miles above the bay.
To avoid the difficult navigation of the west coast of Hudson bay,
the Indians have well-known routes both east and west from the
Winisk, the western leading to the Severn river by a stream called
the Mishamattawa, which enters the Winisk six miles from the
mouth. From near the headwaters of this stream the Shagamu river
is reached by a portage route, and that stream is descended to the
coast, which is reached at a point about a day and a half's journey
from the mouth of the Severn river. The eastern route leaves the
Winisk eleven miles from the mouth by its tributary the Shamattawa.
This stream is ascended to a large lake on its course, and one of the
tributaries entering the lake is utilized to reach a stream flowing
into the Ekwan river by which the western side of James bay is
reached. By this route the hazardous journey for canoes along the
exposed west coast and around the point of Cape Henrietta Maria is
avoided.
The Attawapiskat River.
The Attawapiskat river was examined to the main forks twenty
miles above Lansdowne lake, and its southern branch, the Kanu-
chuan, for 135 miles farther, where it overlaps the foot of Lake St.
Joseph at a distance of about fifteen miles to the north.
A micrometer survey was made of the greater part of this dis-
tance, connecting at one end with Lake St. Joseph and at the other
with Fort Hope post on Eabemet lake.
The Attawapiskat watershed was first reached at Wimbobika and
Kapichegima lakes, lying about twelve miles to the northwest of
the northeasterly end of Lake St. Joseph. The upward continuation
of the river is represented by two large brooks flowing in from the
west, and one, known as the Rice-stalk river, from the north. The
latter affords a canoe route to Cat lake. This has been traversed by
Mr. Jabez Williams, of the Hudson's Bay Company, who reports that
biotite gneisses only are exposed along the route.
These lakes, both long, narrow and trending about east, parallel
to the prevailing strike of the gneisses in that vicinity, are separ-
ated by a low ridge of chloritic, feldspathic hornblende-schists, that
occur in a belt, at this point not more than three-quarters of a mile
wide. The westerly extension of this belt was not traced, but it prob-
4074—31
36 GEOLOGICAL, SURVEY, CANADA
ably does not reach the shores of Lake St. Joseph, as it appears to
be tapering in this direction. Easterly it was traced pretty con-
tinuously, as the stream valley has been excavated in these rocks
practically all down its course.
The outlets of these two lakes unite a few miles below to form
the small river known to the Indians as the Kawinogans, or No-
Pikerel river. For twenty-five miles below the junction the river
has a width of only from one to two chains, and is swift flowing and
broken by numerous rapids. At frequent intervals exposures of
chloritic and feldspathic schists outcrop, striking both to the north
and south of east, or parallel to the general course of the river
valley.
Associated with the schists are more or less schistose diorites, and
massive pyritous quartz diorites. At the edge of the belt is a strip of
hornblende granite gneiss similar to the biotite gneiss, excepting that
in it the biotite has been replaced by hornblende.
The trend of the belt of basic rocks would carry it to the south
of the long narrow lake called by the Indians Kagabades-dawaga.
Excursions inland from the south shore of this lake revealed no out-
crops, and as no further exposures of these rocks were seen on the
river, the belt probably terminates in this direction not far east of
the head of the lake. Along the lake shores ledges of rock were seen
at only one point, where obscurely foliated biotite gneisses are cut
by a later red granite of medium grain.
Stratified fine white quartz sand, underlain by blue clay and over-
lain by gravel, forms banks from ten to thirty feet in height all
along both sides of the lake.
Among the peach pebbles, which occur in great variety, are in-
cluded dolomites and fossiliferous limestones, as well as many large
semi-angular blocks, indicating that the underlying clay is probably
a till.
Where the banks are low, and fresh sections are afforded by the
work of the waves, a layer of peat from two to three feet thick over-
lies the clay. From the south shore of the lake a rolling, sandy-
covered slope, the sxirface coated with white moss, and supporting an
open growth of jackpine, white birch, and spruce, gradually rises to
the summit of a ridge two hundred feet or more above the river.
Along the side of the ridge, which is entirely of drift material, are
numerous cirque-like depressions sixty to ninety feet deep, with
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVEBS 37
steeply-sloping sides, and in a few cases holding up small ponds of
water. The opposite or southeast side of the ridge falls away
abruptly, at as steep an angle as the sand will assume, to another
rolling sandy plateau that extends for miles to the southeast.
The Otosk or Elbow river, probably the longest of the various
branches of the Attawapiskat, as it heads near the northeast end
of Cat lake, flows into the lake from the northwest, about half-way
down its northern side.
Eleven miles below, after flowing in an easterly direction past a
number of rapids, with occasional outcrops of biotite granite-gneiss,
the river expands to form Kakawizida lake, a shallow body of water
ten miles in length and a mile wide. The same rolling, sandy plain,
with extensive tracts of muskeg where it approaches the south shore,
surrounds the lake. Beyond the muskeg area, which extends for two
miles or more back from the lake, the land gradually rises to about
a hundred feet, where glacially planed surfaces of gneiss, coarse and
obscurely foliated, outcrop through the drift covering. Beyond, the
sandy flat gradually gains in elevation southwards for five or six
miles, and then rises sharply to form a ridge of gravel and boulders
300 feet above the lake, only a few feet wide at the summit, and
falling away abruptly to the south and east to a well-wooded valley.
An open forest of banksian pine covers the whole of the sand
plateau.
From the summit of the ridge described others are seen, appar-
ently of similar character and with the same general east and west
trend. Twenty-nine miles farther down the river, which still keeps
an easterly direction, Ozhiski or Mud lake occupies a shallow trough,
twenty-one miles long and a little over two miles wide at the broadest
part. Shelving ledges of biotite granite-gneiss, lying nearly hori-
zontal, or gently undulating, occur at many points along the shores.
The country traversed by the river for the last fifty miles above the
lake is characterized by very heavy deposits of drift, mostly stratified
and often from fifty to sixty feet in thickness. Where sections are
exposed along the river or lake shores, by the wear of the water, the
greatest thickness is seen to be occupied by very fine, white, quartz
sand and siliceous clay, underlain by a tough blue clay, in fine
laminations, and overlain by irregularly distributed deposits of
coarse sand and gravel. Underneath the whole, land resting imme-
diately upon the bed-rock, are deposits of till of unequal thickness,
thait at no place are exposed in section.
38 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
Occasional lenticular layers of indurated calcareous material, one
to two inches in thickness, holding approximately 59 per cent of
calcium carbonate, occur in the siliceous clays. Two specimens of
the clay were examined by Dr. Hoffmann, one from the neighbour-
hood of Ozhiski lake and one from higher up to Kanuchuan river.
Differing only in the proportion of their lime content, they are
described as slightly ferruginous, feebly plastic, readily fusible clays,
holding a large quantity of siliceous grit and containing from 2" to
30 per cent of calcium carbonate. In combination with the vegetable
mould of the surface these clays should form a soil very suitable for
general agriculture, though they are evidently not of value for in-
dustrial use as clays.
Flowing out from the north side of Ozhiski lake the river con-
tinues northerly for fifteen miles, with many heavy rapids and a high
average rate of flow, to an elbow, where it changes the direction of its
course sharply to .'the east.
Ledges of well foliated, banded, biotite granite-gneiss protrude
through the drift mantle at frequent intervals along the river valley,
generally lying at low angles, but in places very much contorted
and crumpled. The prevailing strike is about northeast. The Pinei-
muta, or north branch of the Attawapiskat, comes in from the west
just at the elbow. Though somewhat smaller than the south branch,
this is a river of considerable volume. For the first few miles above
the forks it is broad and smooth-flowing, with banks of clay and
sand, and is then broken by a high fall, above which it receives a
large tributary that drains Totogan lake, lying a short distance to
the north of the south branch, above Ozhiski lake. Above this the
Indians say that the river .takes a very long bend to the north and
then southwest, and heads near the sources of the Pipestone branch
of the Winisk. From the elbow the river, now nearly doubled in
volume, flows easterly for twenty miles into the long southwesterly
bay of Lansdowne lake. It is a succession of lake expansions, with
connecting rapids, which, though they are rough, can all be run by
loaded canoes. Kabania, eleven miles long and generally quite
narrow, is the largest of these lakes. The land about the lake is low
and drift covered, nearly horizontal, but contorted ledges of banded,
biotite gneiss, with glaciated surfaces, showing at intervals.
Lansdowne lake, and the lower Attawapiskat riTer to James bay,
have been described by Dr. Bell in his report published in 1887.
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 39
Koutes between the Attawapiskat and Winisk Rivers.
The tract of country lying between the Attawapiskat and Winisk
rivers was crossed by three canoe routes, two starting from Lans-
dowue lake and one from the ^Attawapiskat river, ten miles above the
lake, and striking the Winisk at Weibikwei lake, between Wapikopa
lake and Kanuchuan lake, and at Nibinamik lake respectively. The
first-named route leaves the extreme northeasterly bay of the lake,
and reaches the height-of-land by way of a small boulder-strewn brook,
flowing through low land with occasional gravel and boulder ridges
of moderate height. After crossing the divide the route follows the
course of the Wapitotem river, through numerous lakes down to the
south bay of Weibikwei lake. For the whole distance ,the country is
characterized by drift ridges, rising from seventy to one hundred
feet above the general level, with areas of muiskeg and low, sand-
covered flats occupying the intervening valleys. For the first
thirteen miles north of Lansdowne lake no exposures of rock in situ
are seen, the drift cover hiding completely the underlying rock. A
low ridge of slightly schistose, hard, chloritic diorite, specked with
iron-pyrites and striking east and west, is the first outcrop observed.
The width of the band of which it forms a part cannot be determined
even approximately, as to the north the first rock outcropping through
the drift occurs on Mistassin lake six miles farther on, and to the
south the nearest is on Lansdowne lake nineteen miles away. These,
in both cases, are biotlte gneisses, the last being the first of a series
of exposures that occur at intervals all the way down the stream to
Weibikwei lake. The trend is in a general way about east
and west, though satisfactory strikes are seldom seen owing to the
contorted character of the strata, due principally to pegmatite in-
vasions where the foliation is plain, or to obscure foliation.
The prevailing type of rock is a hard, reddish, banded, biotitc
gneiss, lying nearly horizontal, stratiform in appearance, and cut by
irregular masses and veins of coarse white pegmatite. The distance
across by this route ie sixty-five miles, and for the whole distance the
country, excepting a few low, muskeg areas, has been repeatedly
swept by forest fires, so that many of the ridges show surfaces of bare
boulders and gravel, and other* a second growth of banksian pine,
white birch, aspen poplar, spruce, and tamarack. In the muskeg
tracts only spruce and tamarack grow, and the trunks do not attain
a size to be of industrial value.
40 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
Low, rounded bosses of biotite gneiss, varying from very coarso
to quite fine and containing a large proportion of biotite, are exposed
at intervals to beyond Sagaminnis lake. The prevailing strike is a
little west of south. At the northeast end of a long portage between
two small lakes, lying about midway in the series, one of these low
bosses is composed of interbanded fine quartzose gneiss and horn-
blende schist, the fine gneiss resembling a finely micaceous, schistose
quartzite, and the whole striking in conformity to the foliation of
the gneisses that are exposed at no great distance on either side.
The strata are much shattered and seamed with quartz veins con-
taining iron sulphide. This is probably an offshoot from, or con-
tinuation of the belt to be next referred to.
Crossing another divide the route continues to Nibinamik lake,
through numerous small lakes occurring along the course of a small
tributary flowing northwesterly into the most southerly bay of the
lake. The stream valley follows the trend of a belt of basic rocks
from one to two miles wide, and traced in a compound curve
northerly, northwesterly, and northeasterly for twelve miles.
Chloritic and hornblende schists, associated with highly altered
and sheared quartz diorites, are the prevailing rocks at the lower end
of the belt. Farther north on the band more massive, hard diorites,
and coarse diabases altered in places to obscurely schistose chloritic
rocks, occur with the schists, all striking parallel to the longitudinal
axis of the belt. At intervals for a distance of more than two miles
massive ledges of hypersthene gabbro, similar to the Sudbury nickel-
bearing irruptive, whose relations to the other rock masses were not
clearly seen, but which occur at or near the western edge of the belt,
are associated with a massive hard, dark-green diabase.
The belt, striking northeasterly, passes just to the east of Nibina-
mik lake and should cross the Winisk river a few miles below the
foot of the lake. Owing to the continuous drift covering no ex-
posures of rock in situ were seen along this section of the river.
The most westerly route traversed ascends the Pusabiwan river, a
tributary entering the Attawapiskat from the north at the foot of
Kabania lake. For the first few miles to the north of the river no
exposures of hard rock are seen, the surface consisting of rolling
hills of sand and clay. Beyond, though the country is for the most
part drift covered, numerous outcrops of biotite gneiss, flat-lying or
gently undulating, are seen along the river and Like shores to the
REGION OF WLXISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT BIVERS 41
height-of-land separating these waters from those of the Michi-
kenopik brook flowing into the south end of Weibikwei lake. North-
erly from here the route follows a series of small lakes lying near the
heads of streams flowing northeasterly into the Winisk, for a distance
of twenty miles. Large areas of muskeg, and low sandy flats, occupy
the greater part of the area traversed, diversified only by sand,
gravel, and boulder ridges that nowhere rise to elevations of more
than eighty or ninety feet above the general level.
The second route, leaving the northwesterly bay of Lansdowne
lake by a portage over a low ridge of unassorted sand, gravel and
boulders, ascends a small brook through a series of lakes situated
along its course, for a distance of eight miles, to a divide between the
Attawapiskat and Winisk watersheds.
Occasional outcrops of biotite granite-gneiss lying at low angles
are seen to within about three miles of the height-of-land, beyond
which, after a short interval completely drift covered, exposures of
massive diorite, and hornblendic and chloritic schist are seen, for a
distance of about four miles. These, without doubt, are extensions
westerly of the belt of <these rocks, described in connexion with the
first route as crossing a short distance to the north of Attawapiskat
lake.
Continuing north the route follows a small stream downwards
to Mameigwess lake, a body of water covering a considerable area,
but of very irregular outline and broken by many islands and long
points.
Biotite gneisses are the only outcrops that show through the
drift deposits covering the greater part of the surface. From the
foot of Mameigwess the route follows a number of small lakes to a
small stream, which it descends to a southerly channel of the Winisk
river fifteen miles below Wapikopa lake. Biotite gneisses only are
exposed all the way through to the main river.
Routes between the Winisk River and Trout Lake.
Two canoe routes between the upper waters of the Winisk and
Severn rivers were explored. The most westerly of these leaves the
Winisk at Misamikwash lake, and the other at the first northerly
expansion above Nibinamik lake.
Descending a small outlet that flows through a boulder-choked
channel from the northeasterly bay of the lake, the first-mentioned
42 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
route follows this stream — that by the addition of tributary brooks
gradually becomes a river of considerable volume — northwards for
fifty miles to a small lake known on the old maps as Sturgeon lake.
For this distance the channel has a steep gradient, and the route is
impeded by frequent rapids. Several lakes occur along its course,
the largest, ten miles long and a mile and a half wide, lying not more
than two miles to the north of Misamikwash lake. The country is
generally low and drift covered, with only occasional exposures, all,
excepting a few isolated outcrops of hornblende schist near King-
fisher lake, of biotite granite-gneiss.
From Sturgeon lake, a small tributary from the west, draining a
chain of small lakes with connecting rapids, is ascended for thirteen
miles to the divide. The rapidfs are many of them rough, and all
are shallow, so that the stream is navigable with difficulty even by
light canoes. The obstructions are caused by erratics that have been
washed out from boulder and gravel ridges that cross the stream at
frequent intervals. From the divide, Nemeigusabins lake and its
outlet, a small stream with many rapids, lead to the southeast corner
of Trout lake. The shores of Trout lake in the vicinity of the mouth
of Nemeigusabins brook and for eight miles or more westerly are
generally low and boulder strewn, the land back from the lake rising
gradually over morainic ridges of gravel and sand. Occasional out-
crops of banded biotite gneiss, well foliated and lying horizontally,
or gently undulating, occur here and there in low, rounded ex-
posures near the lake shores. Most of the country seen near the lake
has been burnt over, and 'the present forest, over all but very wet
muskeg areas, is a second growth of small size.
Avoiding the shallow streams between Sturgeon and Trout lakes
an alternative route follows an almost direct line through nine small
lakes or ponds, connected by ten portages Aggregating a little over
five miles and a half in length.
The section traversed is a nearly flat, sand-covered plain, with
occasional low, drift ridges and extensive areas of muskeg.
The second route referred to follows the west branch of the
Winisk down stream from Sturgeon lake for thirty-three miles in an
easterly and then southerly direction, to a small lake where the river
changes its course to a northerly direction.
The country traversed by the river is similar to that crossed by
the main Winisk in one of its most striking features, namely, the
REGION OF WIXISK AXD ATTAWAPISKAT 1MVKKS 43
occurrence of parallel glacial ridges that deflect the course of the
channel and of the lakes to a series of zig-zags conforming to the
trend of the glaciation. The country is, however, more level and not
so well drained as that bordering the main river; the proportion of
swampy land is larger and the forest growth consists largely of black
spruce and tamarack.
Leaving the west branch a short divide is crossed, and a stream,
flowing southwesterly, probably into one of the northern bays of
Wunnummin lake, is ascended in a southeasterly direction through
an almost continuous chain of lakes, with short rapid intervals of
river joining them, for twenty-one miles, to a minor divide separat-
ing the headwaters of this stream from another small river flowing
southeasterly to the Winisk above Nibinamik lake, a distance of
thirty-six miles. The country is of the same general character, and
the lakes, and to some extent the river channel, show the same
parallelism to the glaoiation, due as before to the ridges of trans-
ported boulders and gravel.
The covering of drift material is so universal, and the relief so
small, that the underlying rocks can seldom be determined. Wher-
ever outcrops occur they are biotite granite gneisses, so that if the
Wunnummin Lake belt of conglomerates and schists extends to this
distance easterly, as would seem probable, they are entirely concealed
by surface deposits, and cross the route at one of the long intervals
without exposures.
Route between the Albany and Attawapiskat Rivers.
The route principally used between the Albany and Attawapiskat
rivers leaves the former river at Eabemet lake and reaches the latter
at Lansdowne lake, traversing a distance of seventy-five miles. The
first thirty miles from the Albany through Eabemet, Rib, 'and Keno-
zhe lakes to Machawaian lake was traversed by Dr. Bell in 1886,
and has been described by him in his report on ' An Exploration of
Portions of the Attawapiskat and Albany Rivers,' published by the
Geological Survey in 1887. The belt of diorites and felsitic, chloritic,
and hornblende schists that crosses the Albany river at Petawanga
lake crosses this route just north of Eabemet lake, in a band about
nine miles wide, running N. 70° E. For the balance of the distance
to Lansdowne lake, wherever outcrops are seen they are of biotite
44 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
granite-gneiss of medium grain, striking about east and west, and
banded fine black biotite gneiss cut by a coarse gneiss that encloses
blocks of the finer.
From the northwesterly bay of Machawaian lake the divide
between the Attawapiskat and Albany waters is crossed, at a distance
of two miles to the north of the lake, by a portage seventy-four
chainfe in length, traversing a muskeg with occasional ridges of
transported gravel and boulders.
Manitush lake, two miles long, lying at the north end of the
portage, discharges northerly by a small stream, barely navigable
by canoes, into Marten Drinking river, which the route follows
through Hail lake to Wintawanan lake, from which there is a route
westerly through an intervening small lake, to the south branch of
the Attawapiskat river at Ozhiski lake. The Marten Drinking river,
rather shallow and with a number of rapids along its course, is
nevertheless navigable by canoes down to its mouth at one of the
southerly bays of Lansdowne lake. The country between the two
rivers in the neighbourhood of the route is a high, rolling plateau,
rising, midway, about a thousand feet above the sea, or a hundred
feet above the Albany at the point of departure. Large areas of
muskeg abound, from which rise low, rounded bosses of gneiss, anjl
ridges of sand, gravel, and boulders.
To the west of Machawaian lake the country is much more broken
and rises to higher elevations. This more elevated region extends
in a belt westerly past Trout and Cedar lakes, and without doubt
continues still farther west, forming 'the height-of-land between the
Albany and the south branch of the Attawapiskat. This country is
referred to in the description of the route down the Kanuchuan
river on a previous page, where the hills are stated to be composed of
transported material to their summits.
Cultivation of the Land.
In the matter of the actual cultivation of these northern areas
we have little to go upon. At the Hudson's Bay Company's posts at
Fort Hope and Osnaburgh potatoes have been grown, and small
gardens maintained from the time of the establishment of the posts,
and little difficulty has been experienced in maturing the common
garden vegetables of Ontario, though occasionally the frosts of late
summer have cut off all but the hardier kinds. As the posts were
REGION OF WIXISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT BIVEKS 45
located with a view to their favourable situation for the purposes
of the fur trade with the Indians, neither one is situated on ground
well suited for cultivation, and much better results might reasonably
be expected were trials made on more favourably situated tracts.
An Indian cultivating a small garden plot at the head of the
Pineimuta branch of the Attawapiskat river succeeds in raising good
crops of potatoes and turnips.
Fish.
Whitefish and sturgeon are the best food fishes, and occur in most
of the lakes. Both are taken in nets, and the latter also by
spearing from scaffolds built out over rapids in the rivers.
Dore and pike are also generally distributed over the whole area,
and form an important source of food supply, though the sucker
among the fishes, like the rabbit among the mammals, holds the most
important place, as it can be caught everywhere, not only in the
larger lakes but also in the smaller ponds and streams. ^
Brook trout were actually caught only in the Winisk river near
its mouth, and in the streams running into the Albany river, but
were seen in the rapids below Weibikwei; the Indians assert that
they occur also in the lake itself.
Lake trout were caught in large numbers in Trout lake at the
head of the Severn river, but are not found in either the Winisk or
Attawapiskat waters.
Wild Animals.
The moose (Alces amerlcanus) has been found as far north as
the southern shore of Weibikwei lake, in N. lat. 52° 50', though
tracks were actually seen during our exploration only as far north as
the Attawapiskat river. Even here it is not nearly so plentiful as
farther south in the belt of country lying mar the Canadian Pacific
railway and extending for about 150 miles north of it.
Caribou (Rangifer caribou") range all over the district.
No red deer are found anywhere throughout the region.
The fur-bearing animals, though not so plentiful as they once
were, are still fairly abundant throughout the district ; the otter and
the beaver from long-continued trapping are less numerous, perhaps,
than any other species.
46 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
Bears (Ursus americanus) seem to be able to hold their own pretty
well, and are still taken in good numbers. There is probably but
one species of the common black bear, though the Indians and
traders differentiate from this the brown bear, which they claim
differs from the black, not only in colour and size, but also in disposi-
tion and habits.
Wolves (Canis lupus), though scarce, are not unknown.
Foxes (Vulpes vulgaris), including the red, silver, black and
cross varieties, are numerous, though they vary in numbers with the
periodic increase and decrease in the numbers of the hares.
Lynxes (Lynx canadensis) are fairly plentiful.
Otters (Lutra canadensis), and Pine martens (Mustela ameri-
cana), are taken in good numbers, and beavers (Castor fiber) occur
more sparingly.
Minks (Putorius vison), and muskrats (Fiber zibetliicus) , are
plentiful. These, with skunks (Mephitis mephitica), weasels
(Putorius vulgaris), and wolverines (Gulo luscus), make up the
number of the merchantable furs.
The rabbit (Lepus americanus) occurs abundantly all over the
district, and is, perhaps, the most useful of all to the Indians, as it
affords, during the winter particularly, both food and clothing.
That the raccoqn occasionally strays as far north as N. lat. 52°
is shown by the fact of one being taken by an Indian woman on tho
upper Attawapiskat river in 1903.
Indians.
The Indians of the district, numbering about 700, are nomadic
trappers, living principally upon fish, and obtaining from the
Hudson's Bay Company, and to a smaller degree from other fur
traders, the limited amount of necessaries that are not supplied by
the country. A few have small huts built of logs, with fireplaces and
chimneys of wattles and mud, in which they live for a part of the
year, but the greater number content themselves with winter teepees
constructed of poles covered with sheets of birch bark, and summer
tents of cotton; indeed, house building is such an arduous task for
the Indian that the traders in the district have a saying to the effect
tha*t as soon as an Indian completes a house he dies, this result being
due, not to the unwonted labour involved, but to the arrival of ex-
treme old age before the work is finished.
Indians of the Lower Winisk river.
4074-p. 4
REGIOX OF WINISK AXD ATTAWAPISKAT EI\TERS 47
They are of the Ojibway tribe, though mixed to a certain extent
with the Crees of the Hudson Bay basin, the purest Ojibway stock
being found among the bands about the heads of the rivers. They
seem to be men of larger frame than the Crees of the coast.
A greater proportion of nominal Christians are found among these
Indians of the far interior than among those nearer the front, in
the hinterland of Ontario. This result is due in about equal measure
to the efforts of the Roman Catholic church, which maintains a
permanent mission establishment at Albany, with an educational
home for children, and sends visiting missionary priests periodically
among the Indians of the interior; and to the Anglican church,
which maintains the missionary diocese of Moosonee, by which resi-
dent missionaries are supported at various points in the interior
region.
The Indians seem to accept readily the forms of Christian
worship, and take great pride in their proficiency in memorizing the
religious formulas presented to them.
The mode of life followed by these Indians offers great obstacles
to the work of the missionaries, who are able to reach them for
purposes of instruction for only short periods during each year.
For the same reason, that is on account of their nomadic life,
the teaching of the children can be carried on only in the same
desultory way.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, practically all the Indians
can read and write the syllabic characters designed and introduced
by James Evans, an early Wesleyan missionary among the Crees.
The introduction of this system of writing has proved a great
boon to the Indians in their intercourse with one another. Written
entirely phonetically it is unhampered by irregularities, and can be
readily acquired by one Indian from another. So general is their
knowledge of this sign language that every Indian camping-place,
and every point where canoe routes diverge, become local post offices,
where letters written on birch bark, often, of course, containing only
an account of trivial occurrences, but giving the opportunity to
convey news of importance, are left for the information of follovjing
parties
It is very doubtful whether the Indian has advanced much in
general prosperity from the days when he lived in primitive savagery.
His teepee was the same then as now; his weapons are now more
48 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
effective, but game is less plentiful; he wears better clothes, or
clothes that one associates with civilization, but not probably so well
adapted to his' needs and way of living as his old raiment of skins.
Even now he has to fall back upon rabbit skins, the only furs that
he can afford to sacrifice to his personal use, for protection in winter.
The skins are cut into strips, each skin, by being cut spirally, pro-
ducing a continuous strip. These strips are sewn together at the
ends, and twisted into ropes which are woven loosely into blankets
and rough coats that very effectually keep out the most extreme cold.
Fish are taken with net and spear, and in trap-weirs. These arc.
constrvfcteM of spruce poles driven in a line into the bottom of
streams, and interwoven with twigs so as to fence off the greater
part of the water, and force it to run in volume only through a gate
arranged so that the water flowing through the opening quickly
drops away through the interstices of a platform of poles,
leaving stranded all fish coming down with the current. One or two
families will often camp by the pide of one of these ' mechiken ' for
weeks at a time, supplying their wants entirely from the stranded
fish, and smoke-drying any surplus collected. This is accomplished
by simply stringing the split fish on poles and hanging them in the
smoke-laden atmosphere of the teepee. The fat dropping from the
fish in drying is carefully collected and preserved for future use in
bags made of the skins of embryo rabbits, the bladders of pike, or in
similar receptacles ingeniously improvised from the materials at
hand.
Wild rice, a staple among the Indians farther south, is too rarely
met with throughout these northern regions to form any part of the
Indians food supply, and to supplement his diet of fish and flesh he
has only the various berries in their seasons and the small amount
of flour that he is able to buy from the trader in exchange for his
surplus furs. For tea, when the imported article is not available,
the small twigs of the trailing red cedar are used.
Taken as a whole, they appear to be a fairly healthy lot, though
many suffer from diseases of the skin brought on probably by a too
constant diet of fish. The greatest mortality is caused by pulmonary
diseases, to which they are very prone, and to the occasional outbreak
of epidemics of measles, etc., that sometimes prove widely fatal. They
are far from cleanly in their personal habits, a few weeks' residence
at a place in the summer time generally rendering it no longer
habitable by reason of the accumulated filth.
REGION OF WIXISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT BIVEBS 49
With the exception of occasional small log huts, the Indians of
the region dwell in teepees covered with birch bark, though the cotton
tent, made from materials bought from the traders, is now widely
used during the summer months. Near the mouth of the Winisk
river, many miles north of the ranges of white birches, a winter
teepee, made after the plan generally used for birch bark wigwams,
was covered with blocks of moss cut from the muskeg.
Archaeology.
Chipped flints were found in numbers scattered along the beach
of an island in Attawapiskat lake. Two fairly perfect arrowheads
were found at the same place, one chipped from white quartz and
the other from flint, derived apparently directly from the drift, where
it occurs as small boulders which have been carried primarily from
the nodular beds in the limestones of the Hudson Bay basin.
At camping-places of the Indians broken specimens of Pecien
islandicus were noticed among the debris of the camps. These shells
occur in a very perfect state of preservation in the marine clay, and
are still used by the Indians along the river as very convenient
substitutes for spoons.
Forests.
The average size of the trees growing within the country ex-
plored is not great. On exceptionally favourable tracts the spruces
attain sizes quite large enough for commercial use as sawn lumber,
and large areas would afford good pulpwood. Evidences of the
constant recurrence of forest fires over the area are everywhere
plainly seen. The brule areas, varying from quite small patches to
large tracts, are of every age; some are so old the forest has
attained the full height of the old growth and the newer age
of the trees can only be ascertained by a reference to their rings of
growth, and others so recent that no vegetation covers the blackened
surface. These fires are generally the result of the carelessness of
Indian travellers, but may sometimes be traced to the igniting of a
dry, standing tree-trunk by lightning. The oldest trees found in the
whole area were growing on a till-covered island, about fifty miles
from the mouth of the Winisk river. The complete isolation from
the mainland by broad channels ensured its protection from fires
having their origin outside its own borders. The spruces growing
4074-4
50
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
here were found by their rings of growth to be between 270 and 280
years old. The diameters and ages of trees, growing in a number of
different localities throughout the region, wore noted, and are given
in the list below: —
Diameter
in
Age,
inches three
feet from
by rings, of
growth.
ground.
Tamarack, Winisk
river, 32 miles from mouth
9
100
Black spruce
32
12
125
H
32
12
153
32
8
75
50
10
275
„
65 near bank . .
8
130
f)
05 „ ..
G
115
l(
«5 10 chains back
3
105
Tamarack
65 „
3
80
Black spruce
below \Vapikopa hikt*
10
130
Wapikopa lake
9
145
ii •
11
6
135
H
Nibinamik lake' .'...'.'...'.., .'.'.'.
9
75
' •' • ' ^
I H
5
75
above Nibinamik hike
15
130
Aspen poplar
15
130
The rings show that the growth is generally rapid for the period
between five and thirty years, and afterwards exceedingly slow.
The northern limit of a number of the common trees of northern
Canada falls within the district, and of one species both the northern
and southern limits.
There is a black birch that the Indians call the squirrel-bark
birch. Specimens of the wood and foliage of this tree were submitted
to Professor John Macoun, by whom they were forwarded to Dr.
Sargent, of the Arnold Arboretum, for determination. Dr. Sargent
has named this birch Betula fontinalis. It was not seen growing in
abundance anywhere in the district, though occasional trees were
noted at various points between the Albany and Winisk rivers, the
most southerly occurrence being in N. lat. 51° 28' on Dog-hole
brook flowing into Lake St. Joseph, and the most northerly in N. lat.
52° 40' on the Wapitotem river flowing into Weibikwei lake on the
Winisk river. The largest tree noticed had a diameter of six inches
at three feet from the ground, and a height of about thirty feet.
Where seen it was growing near the banks of rivers or lakes, in moist
4074— p. 50.
EEGION OF WIX1SK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 51
localities. A table is subjoined of the observed northern limits of a
number of species.
Northern Limits of Trees.
Whit? elm, Ulnus americana, Albany river N. lat. 51° 30'
Black ash, Fraxinus sambucifolia, Eabemet lake... 51° 50'
Mountain maple, Acer spicatum, between Attawa-
piskat and Winisk rivers " 52° 25'
Mountain ash, Pyrus americana, between Attawa-
piskat and Winisk rivers " 52° 38'
Bauksian pine, Finns banl-siana, Weibikwei lake. . " 53°
White cedar, Thuya occidentalis, Weibikwei lake. . "53° 05'
Balsam spruce, Abies balsamea, Winisk river " 54° 15'
Canoe birch, Betula papyracea, Winisk river " 54° 25'
Aspen poplar, Populus tremuloides, Winisk river. . " 54° 45'
The northern limits of balsam poplar, tamarack, and black and
white spruce lie beyond the mouth of the Winisk river, the most
northerly point examined.
Climate.
The climate, as would be expected in these latitudes, and. in a
wilderness country approximately a thousand feet above sea-level,
is somewhat severe. The summer temperature, though on occasional
days rising as high as 85° Fahr., averages very much lower, and the
nights are, practically, always cool. Frosty nights often continue
into the early summer, and recur again in the autumn before most
grain-crops would be ready for harvesting. Temperatures were taken
with the thermometer during two seasons, and these, averaged, gave
the following results for the months of July and August on the lower
Winisk river, and for July, August and part of September on the
upper Winisk and upper Attawapiskat rivers: — •
6 a.m. noon. 6 p.m.
Lower Winisk river 57° 69° 57°
Upper Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers.. 47° -5 61° -6 58°
The only points in the region where any attempts at cultivation
of the land are made are the two Hudson's Bay Company's posts at
Osnaburgh, near the foot of Lake St. Joseph, and at Fort Hope, on
Eabemet lake.
4074— H
52 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
At these posts small kitchen gardens and potato-fields are main-
tained with some success, though neither place is favourably situated
for the purpose, the soil in both cases consisting of an almost pure
sand. Timothy and clover grow luxuriantly, and all the common
garden vegetables thrive at both places. Indian corn, however, is not
sufficiently filled out for table use when caught by the frost. Barley
has been successfully grown at Osnaburgh, and the potato crop,
wherever a suitable tract of land has been utilized, has been generally
fairly good at both places.
The first killing frost in 1903 occurred on the night of September
3, and in 1904 on the night of August 30.
The temperature of the water in a number of the larger lakes and
rivers was taken by thermometer at six inches below the surface, and
is given in the following, very uniform list: —
Water Temperature.
Lake St. Joseph, Albany river, June 28 -. 59£°
Annimwash lake, Albany river, July 5 58°
Kagabades-dawaga lake, Attawapiskat river, July 16 62°
Attawapiskat river, August 8 60°
Weibikwei lake, Winisk river, August 9 62°
Nibinamik lake, Winisk river, August 23 . . . 58°
Winisk river, August 24 57°
Land Shells.
A small collection of land shells, made during the summer of
1904, has been examined by Dr. Whiteaves, who enumerated the
following species. It was noted that in actual number of individuals
there was a decided and progressive decrease as the latitude in-
creased : —
Vertigo ovata, Say.
Conulus fulvus (Miiller).
Zonitoides arboreus (^Say).
Vitrea hammonisl (Strom).
Pyramidula striatella (Anthony).
Succinea vermeta, Say.
Succinea refusal, Lea.
Succinea ovalis, Gould, non Say.
REGION OF WIXISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS
53
Freshwater Shells.
Collections of the freshwater shells of the region were made each
year, and submitted to Dr. Whiteaves for determination, who has
furnished the subjoined list, which for convenience has been tabu-
lated according to watershed areas : —
List of Freshwater Shells collected by Mr. W. Mclnnes in 1903-
4-5 on the Winisk, Attawapiskat, and Albany Elvers, on the
Boot and English Rivers, near Lac Senl, and on the Severn
River at Trout Lake.
BY
J. F. WHITEAVES.
—
Winisk
river.
Atta-
wapiskat
river.
Albany
river.
English
and
Root
rivers.
Trout
lake,
Severn
river.
Lampsilis luteola, (Lamarck)
Anodonta marginata ? Say
Anodonta, fragilis, Lamarck
I
*
Anodonta, Kennicottii ? Lea
Sphcerium simile Say
*
*
Sphcerium Walkeri Sterki
Sphcerium cr.utrginatum, Prime
Sphcerium stamineum, Conrad
Sphcerium (Musculium) secure. Prime.
Sphcerium (Musculium) partumeium,
Say
Sphcerium fiavum, (Prime)
*
Sphcerium rhomboideum, (Say)
*
Sphcerium striatinum, Lamarck
Sphcerium —
Pisidium compressum, Prime
Pisidium altile, Anthony ....
....... .
*
*
*
*
'.'.'.'.'. .
Pisidium fallax, var. errans, Sterki
Pisidium variabile, Prime .
*
Pisidium affine, Sterki. . .
Pisidium Sargenti, Sterki
Pisidium Mainense, Sterki.
*
Pisidium abditum, Haldeman
Pisidium Roperi, Sterki
*' '
Pisidium rotundatum, Prime ...
Pisidium pauperculum var. crystallense,
Sterki
*
*
Pisidium wsiculare, Sterki
•
Pisidium splendidulum, Sterki, var.
*
Pisidium scutettatum, Sterkr
Pisidium medianum, Sterki.
*
*
Pisidium mil him, Held Small var
*
Pisidirtm—? (near P. abditum)
*
54
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
—
Winisk
river.
Atta-
wapiskat
river.
Albany
river.
English
and
Root
rivers.
Trout
lake,
Severn
river.
Valvata tricarinala Say
•K
«
[
*
*
Amnicola limosa, Say
*
*
*
*
«
*
*
Limncea stagnates, appressa
Limncea patustris, Miiller
*
*
Limncea cxtascopium, Say
*
*
*
*
Planorbis bicarinatus, Say
Planorbis companitlatus, Say
Planorbis albus Miiller
*
*
' "*' "
*
Pkysa heterostropha, Say
Ancylus parattelus, Haldeinan..
*
*
*
*
INDEX.
A
TAKE.
Agricultural land 10, 38
Albany river 23, 33
Animals, wild, of the district ._ 45
Archaean area 10, 20
Archaeology 49
Arrow-smith map, details for, supplied by G. Taylor 8
Asheweig, west branch of Winisk 24, 30
Atikameg river 30
Atikminis island 31
Attawapiskat river 35
" character of 33
" descended by Dr. E. Bell 8
" micrometer survey of 35
'•' probable connexion with Albany river 23
" surveys of, in 1903-4-5 9
B
Banipatau river 31
Bell, Dr. Robert, descended Attawapiskat river 8
east coast Hudson bay 20
report on Lansdowne lake and Attawapiskat river. 38
route between Albany and Attawapiskat river, tra-
versed by 43
Big Mattawa river 32
Boskineig rapid 28
Boulder clay area 10, 12
Winisk river 19, 21, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32
Bcyci, W. H., Ekwan and Trout rivers explored by 8
C
Camsell, Chas., drift masses noted by 25
Caribou island (See Atikminis) 31
Cat lake 35,37
Clay, boulder (See Boulder clay)
" marine 21,30,31
" specimens examined by Dr. Hoffmann 38
Climate, character of 51
D
Bowling, D. B., Ekwan and Trout rivers explored by 8
" rocks at Sutton Mill lake noted by 16, 32
56 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA
PAGE.
Eabemet lake .......................................... 11
El: wan river .......................................... H
Elbow river .......................................... 37
EAans, James, syllabic characters designed by .................. 47
Explorations, early, in the district .......................... 7
F
Fawn branch of Severn river .............................. 8
Fish in rivers of district ................................ 45
Wubikwii lake .................................. 28
Fishbasket river (See Michikenopik) ........................ 27
Fishing, method of .................................... 48
Food of the Indians ..................... , .............. 48
Forests (See also timber) ................................ 49
Fort Hope, headquarters of H. B. trade .................... 9
Fossils .............................. 12,18,21,22,29,31,32,36
Foxe, Capt. Luke ...................................... 7
G
Geological divisions of district ............................ 13
Geology along Attawapiskat river .......................... 36,38
* between Albany and Attawapiskat rivers ................ 43
Attawapiskat and Winisk rivers .............. 40, 41
:' " "VYinisk river and Trout lake .................. 43
Glaciation ........... ....................... 20,21,27,37,43
H
Hoffmann, Dr., examination of clays ........................ 38
Hudson, Henry ........................................ 7
Hudson's bays ........................................ 7
Huronian, Lower ...................................... 13,25
Irdians 43
J
James, Capt. Thomas 7
K
Kabania lake 38
Kagabades-dawaga lake 36
Kakawizida lake 37
Kanuchuan branch of Attawapiskat river 35
Kepichegima lake 35
Kawinogans river 30
Kcewatin 13, 14, 25
REGION OF WINISK AND ATTAWAPISKAT RIVERS 57
L
PAGE.
Lake St. Joseph 35
Lakes of district, character of 11
Lansdowne lake 11, 38
" named by Dr. E. Bell 8
Laurentian 13
Low, A. P., character cf country on Fawn branch of Severn 18
Fawn branch of Severn river explored by 8
M
Mattawa river 32
Mica 14
Michikenis river 26
Michikenopik river 27
Misaraikwash lake '. 12,24
Mishamattawa river 32, 35
Mud lake (See Ozhiski lake) 37
Muskeg, extent of 11
N
Nastapoka series 32
Nibinamik lake 11, 12, 26
Nickel-bearing intrusives 14
No-Pickerel river (See Kawinogans) 36
Northwest passage 7,8
O
Otcsk river 37
Oz-hiski lake 11,37
P
Peat 36
Pikwakwud river 31
Pineimuta river 38
Pleistocene .» ..13, 19
Post-pleistocene 13, 21
Potatoes grown at H. B. posts 44, 45, 52
R
Knpids on Attawapiskat river 37, 38
canoe route Winisk river to Trout lake 42, 43
Kawinogans river 36
Marten Drinking river 44
" Winisk river 25, 27, 28
Rice, wild, rarely met with 48
Pice-stalk river 35
Routes between Albany and Attawapiskat rivers 43
" Attawapiskat and Winisk rivers 39
Winisk river and Trout lake 41
" into the region 9
58 GEOLOGICAL SUKVEY OF CANADA
s
PAGE.
Sargent, Dr., birch named by 50
Shagamu river 33. 35
Shamattawa river 35
Shells, freshwater 53
" land 52
Silurian 12, 13. 15. 32
Smoky fall 28
T
Tebasokwia branch of Winisk river 23, 28, 30
Tashka rapid 28
Taylor, G., visited Winisk river 8
Temperature of water 52
Timber 49
" between Attawapiskat and Winisk rivers 39
" Winisk river and Trout lake 42, 43
on Attawapiskat river 36, 37
" Nibinimak lake 26
' Wapikopa lake 27
" Weibikwei lake 28
" Winisk river 29,30,33
Totogan lake 38
Trees, northern limit of 51
Trcut river 8
V
Vegetables, garden, possibility of raising 44, 51
Vegetation along Winisk river 23
" of area 13
W
Wapikopa lake 11, 12. 26
" river 26
Wa pi totem river 27
Water-powers 10
Weibikwei lake 11,27
\V hiteaves, Dr., fossils identified 18,22,32
shells determined by 52, 53
Williams, Jabez, H. B. Co 35
Wimbobika lake 11,35
Winino brook.. 31
Winisk river, character of 22
estuary of 34
length and volume 34
section along 17
surveys of in 1903-4-5 8
visited by G. Taylor 8
" missionaries 8
Winiskisis branch of Winisk river 23,30
Wunnummin lake 11, 12. 25
CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF MINES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BRANCH
HON. W. TEMPLEMAN, MINISTER; A. P. Low, LL.D., DEPUTY MINISTER;
E. W. BROCK, DIRECTOR.
REPORT
ON A
TRAVERSE THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PART
OF THE
. NORTH WEST TERRITORIES
FROM
LAO SEUL TO OAT LAKE
IN 19O2
BV
ALFRED W. G. WILSON.
OTTAWA
GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU
1909
LETTER OF TRANSM1TTAL.
To R. W. BROCK,
Director Geological Survey,
Department of Mines,
Ottawa.
SIR, — I beg to submit, herewith, a report on a reconnaissance
survey made through the southern part of the North West Territories :
from Lac Seul to Cat lake, during the summer of 1902. This report
was submitted in 1904 to Dr. Robert Bell, then Acting Director of
the Geological Survey, under whose direction the survey was made,
but owing to difficulties which prevented the completion of the map
to accompany it, publication was delayed. Advantage has been taken
of this delay to revise the report.
I have the honour to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed) ALFRED W. G. WILSON.
MONTREAL, May, 1908.
CONTENTS
Page.
Introductory —
General instructions 7
Previous explorations of adjoining areas 7
Topography , 7
General geology 13
Amphibolites and related schists 13
Acid rocks 15
Gneisses 16
Granites 17
Quartzless porphyry 18
Surface geology 18
Table of glacial stria 18
Economic geology 19
Forestry 20
Appendix: Railway elevations in the district 22
Index 23
REPORT
ON A
TRAVERSE THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PART
OF THE
NORTH WEST TERRITORIES,
FROM .LAC SEUr, TO CAT LAKE, IN 19O2
BY
ALFRED W. G. WILSON.
Introductory.
On May 24, 1902, I received instructions to make a reconnais-
sance traverse across the unexplored area, some 15,000 square miles
in extent, lying to the north of Lac Seul and east of Trout lake in
the North West Territories.
Owing to the unsettled weather and irregular character of the
shore-lines of the water bodies the work was confined to the southern
portion of this area, to the survey of Cat lake, and to a short tra-
verse northward from the east end of Lac Seul intended to locate
the helt of so-called Huronian rocks lying north of this lake.
Throughout the season the topographic portion of this work was
undertaken by Mr. J. F. E. Johnston, C.E., of the office staff; while
the writer had charge of the geologic work.
Reports on the areas adjoining this unexplored district have been
made by Fawcett,1 Bell,2 Low,3 and Dowlitig.4
Topography.
According to recent investigation, the Archaean areas of Canada
have probably never been completely submerged since early Cambrian
1 Report of the Department of the Interior (Can.), 1885, pt. 2, p. 37
et seq.
2 Ann. Report Geological Survey of Canada, 1886, Pt. C.
3 Ann. Report Geological Survey of Canada, 1886, Pt. F.
4 Ann. Report Geological Survey of Canada, 1886, Pt. F.
7
4074- 5
8 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
time. The nature of the rocks and their geologic Structures show
that they must at one time have been, buried belovV the surface;
hence, it must be inferred that these areas have oeen subjected to
degradation, and that a great volume of rock has been removed.
Quite recently Schuchert has shown that in all likelihood the
areas immediately to the south of James bay were submerged
during the middle Palaeozoic time; while those in. the district of
Keewatin and the adjacent regions have probably existed as land
barriers since their pre-Cambrian emergence. The greater portion
of the erosion in the central parts must have taken place before the
Palaeozoic submergence.
During the period of partial submergence processes of marine
planation may have locally modified the surface previously formed
under the operation of sub-aerial processes. Within comparatively
recent geologic times the surface of the country has been greatly
modified by processes of glacial erosion and deposition.
The surface, as seen to-day, is thus the product of the operation
of two, or possibly three, imperfectly known geologic processes, sub-
aerial degradation, marine planation, and glacial erosion.
It is probable that the first of these has played the most important
part. Under normal conditions sub-aerial processes, acting through
a long period of time, would produce smooth or gently undulating
surfaces. To such surfaces produced by sub-aerial processes the
name peneplain has been given.
On a peneplain, however, one would expect to find the larger
streams wandering in broadly open valleys; there would be no
lakes; and the soil cover would be composed of mantle rock of
considerable depth, in situ, very fine in texture at the sxirface, and
gradually changing in depth into unaltered rock. Normally, also, the
surface would not be elevated very much above sea-level.
None of the Archa3an areas of Canada exhibit all these features,.
In the remarkably even sky-lines we find evidence of the existence of
a planation surface which truncates the structures of the metamor-
phosed rocks; but in other respects the features of the area are not
those of a peneplain. There are numerous lakes, and irregular
streams with frequent rapids; scarcely any residual soil is found
in situ, though a considerable amount of soil material has been
deposited by glacial ice; and the central parts of the region stand
high above sea-level. Yet it may be that this was once a peneplain
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 9
area, and that its surface has been modified by other processes. Be-
fore or during the period when these other processes — chiefly glacial,
possibly partly marine — were in operation, the region has been
elevated to a considerable height. By their action the old soils
were almost completely removed, new exotic material was deposited,
parts of the old peneplain were dissected by the renewed activity of
the rivers, and the present features were produced.
The modification has been sufficient to remove all traces of this
original surface. This ancient peneplain, now modified, has been
called the Laurentian Peneplain, and the present surface features
exhibited by the Archasan areas may thus be spoken of as those of a
modified peneplain.
The area through which the exploration lines of the present survey
passed is near the centre of the Keewatin or western arm of this
Laurentian Peneplain, which extends from Labrador around Hudson
bay to the Arctic ocean north of the district of Mackenzie. The
general topographic features of the region are those which every-
where characterize the Laurentian Peneplain. The rocks within its
boundaries represent a portion of the earth's crust which at one time
must have been far below the surface. Owing to its central location
it might even be inferred that these rocks represent the deepest por-
tion of the earth's crust with which we are ever likely to come in
contact. A noticeable feature of nearly all the rocks of the area,
especially of the granites and granitoid gneisses, is the presence of
a relatively large amount of microcline and the absence of the other
feldspars.
Throughout this part of southern Keewatin, the various water
bodies lie in shallow basins on the peneplain surface. The maximum
relief in the interior, except in the case of a few monadnocks, is rarely
over 50 feet; near the southern boundary it rises to about 200 feet.
In a few places, ridges or isolated, dowe-like masses rise something
less than 100 feet above the general level. One of the most striking
of these lies to the west of Cat lake, about 90 feet above lake level.
Several other similar ridges were observed in the country to the south.
All the lakes studied were shallow, marshy, and very irregular in
outline ; some were surrounded by large areas of muskeg. The inter-
stream areas are either bare rounded, or undulating surfaces of rock ;
or, are clothed, especially in the hollows, with a thin drift cover of
sand, clay, and boulders, overgrown by a dense mat of moss (generally
4074— 5i
10 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
Hypnum triquetrum) and interlaced roots. As a rule the drainage
is very imperfect. Occasionally there are small areas, underlain by
a thicker cover of till or by a glacial sandplain, where the drainage
is better and the moss cover is absent.
The Wenasaga river flows in a general southwesterly course, and
it presents the usual characteristics of the streams flowing upon the
upland, viz., an alternation of long shallow flooded basins and short
stretches of rapids.
The stream — particularly above Bluffy lake — flows in the lowest
part of a drift-covered rock basin, through the deposits in which it
has cut a well-defined channel sometimes to bed-rock.
Wenasaga lake, Bluffy lake, Slate lake, and the several minor lakes
along the course of the stream are typical examples of the partly
flooded upland basins. It is possible that in some of the basins the
water is maintained at its present level, not only by the controlling
rock ledge which outcrops at or near the outlet of each of the lakes,
but also by a partial drift dam located over some lower portion of the
margin of the rock basin.
The lake basins are generally rock-rimmed shallow depressions
studded with numerous islands, representing the unsubmerged por-
tions of the ridges between minor basins, and are a good index of
the general character of all the other minor basins.
The form of the islands varies from that of a slightly rounded dome
— characteristic chiefly of those which are composed of homogene-
ous rock — to an arched dome with elliptical ground plan. The longer
axis, except in a few cases where the islands are low and flat, lies in
the direction of the strike of the rock. Even in these exceptions the
longer axis of the island makes only a slight angle with the strike
of the structure. In many cases the strike of the structure is ap-
proximately parallel to the direction of ice movement, and hence the
form of the ridges sometimes seems to have also been a function of
the direction of that movement. In many instances, however, where
the structure of the rocks lies at an angle to the direction of ice
motion as indicated by the striae, the dominant factor in determining
the form of the dome was not ice-scour but rock structure. Many of
the ridges are of the typical roches moutonnees type with an ice-
scoured surface, sloping gently in the direction from which the ice
came, and a steep, scarped face in the opposite direction. There are,
however, numerous instances where steep, sometimes ice-scoured,
cliffs face in the direction from which the ice came.
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 11
The basins are the counterparts of the ridges, and their form and
direction bear the same intimate relation to the rock structure.
Owing to the partial submergence of some eskars, there are a few
islands, particularly in Gull and Cat lakes — of a second type — to
which reference will be made later on.
The intricate ramifications of the shore-lines, as shown in the
accompanying map, are a necessary feature of the gently undulating
topography characteristic of the whole region.
A number of minor streams, sometimes connected with chains of
lakes similar to those through which our line passed, are tributary
to the Wenasaga.
The amphitheatre-like basin drained by the Wenasaga consists of
a number of minor basins, each with its quota of local basins having
their own drainage systems which converge towards the meridian
line of the main basin, and its discharge point near Lac Seul.
The Cat river — a river typical of the Laurentian Pcueplain — flows
southeasterly, and enters Lake St. Joseph about 20 miles from its
western end. Northward as far as the line was run, it was found
to be not a single stream but a long chain of lakes with short inter-
vening stretches of river. In a few of these reaches the waters move
with a steady flow in a well-defined drift-fielled valley, through which
they have cut a distinct channel; for the most part, however, these
stretches are rapid, broken, frequently braided, and usually occupy
chance channels generally parallel to, but sometimes cutting across
the ridges between the basins.
The lakes, on the other hand, contain numerous islands and have
exceedingly intricate shore-lines. Numerous bays with narrow
entrances and irregular back channels, running apparently in all
directions, but actually directly associated with the rock structures,
often make it very difficult for canoe travellers to find either inlet
or outlet. The area of the marginal bays often greatly exceeds the
area of the main portion of the lake itself.
Gull lake is an interesting example of one of these upland lakes.
Fawcett's line traversed its eastern portion, and on his plan the south-
east part appears as Smoothrock lake, and the northeast pact as Gull
lake.
Our exploration shows that the land to the northwest of these
two divisions of what is really one large lake, is a large island, and
that there are two other equally large water bodies, one to the north-
12 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
west and the other to the southwest, each with an intricate shore-
line and many islands.
The four water bodies, together with a number of ramifying bays,
make a single large lake, in the centre of which is an island of nearly
20 square miles. The four divisions are connected by narrow channels
in which there is only a perceptible current when the water is low;
at such times the shallow channel between the two eastern portions
of the lake may become almost dry.
Cat lake is an irregular body of water with a length of 14 miles
between the inlet on the north, on the route to Severn lake, and the
outlet to Cat river. Along a northeast-southwest line, to the ends of
two long bays the distance is 18 miles. The lake, with its numerous
islands and intricate shore-lines, is a typical example of the flooded
upland areas. The ends of most of the bays are shallow marshy areas
overgrown with reeds and sedges, the home of numerous waterfowl.
The shores are rocky, and the ground is generally strewn with boul-
ders and cobbles, the whole covered with a tangled mass of moss and
roots, and overgrown with coniferous trees, usually black spruce, und
occasionally poplar and white birch.
Small sandplains, generally well forested but with poor soil, are
found around the shores and on a few of the islands. The Hudson's
Bay Company's post at Cat lake is located on one of these. Most
of the islands of Gull and Cat lakes are portions of Archnoau ridges;
a few of them are portions of eskars.
In Gull lake there are several islands which consist wholly of
coarse cobble stones heaped in long narrow ridges trending northeast-
southwest. These are completely bare of vegetation, rise not more
than 6 feet above water level, and have a remarkable resemblance to
artificial embankments.
Another well-defined eskar, of similar composition, but with a
small amount of soil covered with spruce, forms a point which is
nearly half a mile long and often less than 20 yards across. This point
lies about 4 miles above the entrance to the lake on the direct route
northward, and is known to the Indians as Peshe-asho-kummig,
or Lynx bridge. It is much used as a causeway by moose and other
animals crossing the lake.
In the following table the approximate elevations above sea-level,
of the larger lakes and of the divides crossed by the traverse line are
given from barometric determinations. Dowling's determination of
Lac Seul as 1,140 feet above sea-level was taken as the datum plane.
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 33
Feet.
Wenasaga lake 1,172
Bluffy lake 1,240
Oganie 1,244
Slate 1,260
Margaret 1,300
Marsh 1,310
Hailstone 1,318
Height-of-land 1,325
Big Portage lake 1,270
Gull lake 1,263
Jackpine lake 1,278
Cat lake 1,285
Cross lake 1,225
Blackstone lake 1,204
Lake St. Joseph 1,200 *
Height-of-land 1,250
General Geology.
The rocks of the region belong wholly to the Archgean; gneisses
and schists predominate, granites occur, but are less widespread.
The schistose structures are vertical or nearly so, and the prevailing
strike is northeast, though there are minor local variations. Near
Cat lake, and in a number of localities around Gull lake, the strike
varies from -fN 38° W to N 80° W.
The oldest rocks are all metamorphosed, and are chiefly hornblende
schists and amphibolites containing large amounts of hornblende,
smaller quantities of quartz and a plagiocJase feldspar closely re-
lated to oligoclase, and sometimes also a smaller amount of ortho-
clase. Several accessory minerals are frequently found such as
sphene, ilmenite or leucoxene, pyrite, and garnet. With the amphi-
bolites are associated certain micaceous schists, but it has not yet
been possible to define their areas.
All the hornblendes appear black in mass, and the amount varies
from about 50 to 90 per cent of the whole rock. In thin section
the absorption colours vary from pale yellowish green to dark blue-
green. The absorption scheme is c > b > a ; the parallelism of the
hornblende plates with the structure of the rocks is well developed.
14: GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
The relative amounts of quartz and feldspar vary considerably in
different localities.
The quartz, whan present, is almost invariably in small an-
hedra; the feldspars occur in larger anhedra, and are frequently
altered to kaolin.
Biotite is found associated with the hornblende, but it generally
forms only a small percentage of the minerals present. In thin sec-
tion the absorption colours vary from pale greyish-brown to deep
brown.
Leucoxene, ilmenite associated with titanite in considerable
amount, pyrite, and possibly a small amount of magnetite are also
present. Near the southwest angle of Slate lake the compass was
considerably affected by the local attraction.
Garnet, usually of a pale pink colour when in thin section, occurs
in«a number of localities in the amphibolite areas, both in symmetri-
cal crystals and in strings and masses drawn out in a direction
parallel to the foliation and filled with inclusions of the other con-
stituents, usually quartz anhedra.
Occasionally small prismatic or radiating crystal-aggregates of a
dark tourmaline, blue in basal sections, are found; less often the
tourmaline has lost its crystal outlines and occurs in masses parallel
with the foliation. The absorption colours in section are various
tints of grey, except when the vibration plane of the nicol is trans-
verse to the axis of the crystals, then the colour is black.
Other varieties of metamorphic rocks containing biotite, sericite,
another mica seemingly related to the phlogopites, quartz, and other
accessory minerals, but little or no hornblende, occur, sometimes
with the amphibolites, sometimes apparently alone.
These amphibolitee and associated schists occur both in belts ex-
tending for long distances, and as detached masses, varying in size
from a few cubic yards upwards, and completely surrounded by the
more acid rocks described below. Lack of time prevented a detailed
examination of the contacts between the schists and the acid rocks,
but in the several localities noted the contacts were similar to those
already fully described by Dr. Lawson as occurring in the Lake of
the Woods region.1
The first and broadest of these bands begins about 21 miles above
"- Lawson. A. C., Can. Geological Survey Report, New Series, Vol. I, 1885, Part
CC, p&ge 10 et seq.
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 15
Lac Seul, and is about 25 miles in width. This is the belt of
Keewatin rocks, shown on Bowling's map of the Red Lake district.1
The contact between the schists and the acid rocks to the south
seems to lie beneath a large muskeg area through which the river
runs, as the first outcrop of the schists occurs some miles below Slate
lake. The northern contact crosses the course of the river 10 miles
above Slate lake, the basin of which lies almost wholly upon the
schists; the direction both of the longer axis of the lake and of the
longer axis of the island is parallel with the strike of the rocks out-
cropping on its shores. The adjacent rock on the northern boundary
is a coarse pegmatitic granite containing inclusions of amphibolites
similar to those of the main area. Detailed study of this area may
show the schists to be divisible into several belts of different origin
and composition, now all metamorphosed.
Along the southern portion of the band the schists, as already
noted, are very rich in biotite and another associated mica; while
northwards they are chiefly amphibolites, in some cases containing
little else than hornblende. The other large belt of these rocks crossed
in our traverse lies over 100 miles directly northeast of Slate lake
along the Cat River route and north of Lake St. Joseph, in the
vicinity of Blackstone lake, but its boundaries were not accurately
determined.
There is at present no evidence that this belt bears any relation
to the similar belts found farther west, though the relation of each
to the adjacent acid rocks is similar. Between the northern boun-
daries of the schists on Slate lake, and the most northern point
reached by our line, there are several narrow belts of amphibolites,
rarely exceeding a quarter of a mile in width. Whether these are
metamorphosed sediments or dikes is not at present determined.
Probably both types are represented; except near STate lake they
never underlie dominant topographic features.
One of these belts, about 1J miles wide, is crossed by the trail
between Hailstone lake and Big Portage lake. The rock is a horn-
blende-plagioclase amphibolite carrying small amounts of biotite, gar-
net, sphene, ilmenite, and leucoxene. It strikes about N 80° W and
stands at a high angle.
The acid rocks of this region consist of gneisses and granites, and
underlie most of the area under review. They range in colour from
i Dowling, D. B., Can. Geological Survey, Vol. VII, (N.S.), 1894, Part
F, map.
16 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
a light grey to a decided red, the prevailing tints being shades of
pink. When the percentage of basic constituents becomes greater
the colour is dark green or almost black.
Of the seven different varieties of Laureiitian gneisses, as classi-
fied by Barlow,1 only four are found in the area. The unrepresented
gneisses are those in which muscovite occurs alone, those in which
rauscovite and biotite occur alone, and those which contain garnet.
Several specimens showed augite as an accessory constituent, and
one specimen contained biotite, hornblende, and augite.
These rocks differ in no essential feature from the typical rocks
described by Barlow, and a detailed description of each type is, there-
fore, unnecessary.
Quartz is prevalent in all the gneisses, appearing invariably as ir-
regular anhedra between the feldspar crystals.
Ortnoclase often occurs in considerable amount, generally in ir-
regular grains interlocking with the other minerals. Sometimes it
has partly decomposed to kaolin or muscovite, and occasionally to
zoisite or epidote.
In many specimens microcline is seen in large amount, and seems
to be directly associated with orthoclase.
Plagioclase is abundant, and occasionally forms the bulk of the
feldspathic constituents. The angles of extinction indicate that it is
usually related to oligoclase.
The primary biotite, in a few cases partly chloritized, occurs both
in large plates (in aggregates of several crystals) and in small iso-
lated plates, (generally oriented parallel to the rock structure).
When hornblende or muscovite are present the biotite is closely
associated with them.
Hornblende occurs in a few specimens of these gneisses. In thin
section the colours vary from pale yellow through green to bluish
green, and are much lighter than the hornblende of the amphi-
bolites.
Augite was found in two of the specimens collected in the field.
In one it is unaltered, in the other much of it is altered to a horn-
blende which occurs both as small fibres or plates scattered through
the mass of the augite crystals, and as large masses nearly surround-
ing them. The augite in thin section is pale green in colour.
1 Barlow, A. E., fteport Geological Survey, New Ser. Vol. X, 1897, Part
I, Page 71.
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 17
Epidote is present, presumably as a primary constituent, since it
is closely associated with unaltered biotite or hornblende. It is
usually of a pale yellowish colour and slightly pleochroic.
Muscovite, both as a primary constituent and as a secondary con-
stituent from the alteration of the feldspars, occurs; and a few
specimens also contain chlorite.
Apatite is frequent in irregular grains and stout crystals.
Titanite is also found, usually in irregular grains of varying size
or as small well formed crystals.
Garnet appears in fresh irregular grains or masses, and as small
crystals in specimens from the southern part of the region. It is
usually much fractured and almost colourless.
Leucoxene is of frequent occurrence when titanite is present, and
ilmenite is probably represented in these rocks by a black opaque
mineral always associated with leucoxene.
Apart from structure there is little difference between the granites
and the gneisses of the area. In some few cases the feldspar of the
granites is almost wholly microcllne. The prevalent granite is a
hornblende-biotite granite, but there are other varieties sparingly
distributed in which either or both of these constituents are lacking.
In some localities there seems to be a gradual transition from true
granites through granitoid gneisses to gneisses, and no definite line
can be drawn between them. The granites frequently occur as large
batholithic masses, dikes from which penetrate the surrounding
rocks.
The largest single area of these gneisses and granites underlies all
the country between Cat lake and Gull lake, and extends a consider-
able distance to the south and west. Just north of Slate lake our
traverse line crossed a large area of coarse pegmatitic granite, which
continues to Gull lake; other areas are found around Cat lake.
The change in the strike of the gneiss at Cat lake, from the north-
east direction found prevailing south of the lake to a northwest and
nearly western direction, may be due to the intrusion of these gran-
itic masses, though it has not been possible to work out the relations
in detail.
Both gneisses and granites occur in the district immediately north
of Lac Seul and Lake St. Joseph.
On an island in Lake St. Joseph, about 5 or 6 miles from the outlet
of the Cat river, there is a belt of grey- white schistose rocks about 5
18 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
chains wide, strike N 50° E and dip at 79° toward the nortwest.
Microscopic examination shows that this is a highly altered quartz-
less porphyry, consisting mainly of sericite mica in which are altered
phenocrysts of orthoclase and a small amount of less altered plagio-
clase, with, in one instance, a little apatite.
At many points along the route the bed-rock is obscured by loose
debris of glacial origin. The greater part of this material, which
presumably has not been carried very far, invariably consists of
boulders and cobbles derived chiefly from the country rock. Along
the rivers and in the lake basins this coarser material is frequently
overlain by finer sands and gravels in the form of sandplains, gen-
erally small, but sometimes several square miles in area.
In a few cases along the Wenasaga river, on Cat lake, on the
height-of-land between Lake St. Joseph and the Boot river, and in an
area north of the east end of Lac Seul, arenaceous clays, probably also
of glacial origin, were observed.
Everywhere the hummocky ridges of the Archaean show the usual
smooth rounded surface due to glacial action. Striae and deeper
grooves were noted in a number of localities. On the west arm of
Gull lake small concentric cross-fractures were observed with the con-
vex side turned toward the northeast so that a normal to the chord
of the bow strikes S 54° E.
Near the east end of Cat lake a few flat plates of a sectile, finely
crystalline, grey-white dolomitic limestone were found among the
drift cobbles on the beach, and were recognized by our men as similar
to rock they had previously seen in situ on the Severn river. The
inference is that the fragments have been brought to Cat lake from
the Palaeozoic areas in the Hudson Bay basin to the northeast.
The following table contains a record of the location and direction
of the glacial stria3 and grooves noted daring the traverse. The
bearings are magnetic.
Slate lake, island near middle stme S 50° W
Slate lake, upper end grooves S 74° W
Near eighth portage , " S 43° W
Marsh lake, north end stria S 59° W
Gull lake, south end, concentric cross fractures (normal) S 54° W
Gull lake, north end of south lake groove S 50° W
Gull lake, east lake, north side.. " S48°W
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 19
Smoothrock lake, near inlet . .stria S52°W
Cat lake, northeast bay, north side, near Hudson's Bay
post striae and grooves S 74° W
Cat lake, northeast bay, middle of north side. ........ S 75° W
Cat lake, northeast bay, island near east end S 80° W
Cat lake, northeast bay, south side near middle, younger. S 87° W
Cat lake, northeast bay, south side near middle, older. ... S 72° W
Cat lake, northeast bay, south side S 70° W
Cat lake, northeast bay, south side, opposite Hudson's Bay
post S74°W
North bay, east side ' S 72° W
Cat lake, north bay, on island in upper arm of lake about
3 miles northwest of the end of Fawcett's line S 82° W
Cat lake, west side of main lake, west of Hudson's Bay
post stria? and grooves S 74° W
Cat lake, west side of main lake, southwest of Hudson's
Bay post S 73° W
Cat lake, east side of main lake, point 2 miles below Hud-
son's Bay post. ., S 65° W
Smoothrock lake, southwest side above rapids. . . .grooves S 50° W
Lake St. Joseph, 2 miles south of Cat river. ... " S 28° W
Lake St. Joseph, 2J miles south of ,'Cat river. ... " S38° W
Economic Geology.
There seems to be little prospect of finding valuable econoaiic
minerals in the region in paying quantities. In almost all the
bands of basic schists small, less often large, veins of quartz occur.
At the surface these veins and the associated schists present
the usual rusty appearance due to the decomposition of the pyrite.
The granites are occasionally cut by pegmatitic dikes. Near the head
of Cross lake, a rock, apparently of this character, .carries a small
amount of molybdenite in crystals varying in size up to an inch and
a half across; it is uncertain whether the mineral is of economic
importance, but the small size and the poor character of the
specimen seen, and the difficulties of transportation point to the
deposit being economically unworkable. The extent of the vein is not
known. The property is at present (1902) in the hands of Mr. C. W.
Ross of Dinorwic, to whom the writer is indebted for specimens of
the minerals.
20 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
Near the inlet into Slate lake, about three-quarters of a mile from
its northeast end, on the eastern shore, is the only place where mag-
netic minerals were found sufficiently segregated to produce a notice-
able local variation of the compass. Here, stringers of a metallic
mineral, probably magnetite, were found. Though this 'metal is
sometimes a constituent of the basic rocks, the more common occur-
rence of iron ore is in the form of ilmenite. No hematite was noted
in the district.
Botanical Notes.
The following notes, while not exhaustive, give a fair index of the
phanerogamic plants of the area. The forest growth is found chiefly
around the lakes and streams. The sands, sandy gravels, or clays,
usually of glacial origin, are generally forested, the trees varying
with the character of the soil. There are large areas of nearly bare
rock where only a few stunted conifers or poplars grow in the crevices.
Where the soil is sparse, and the country low-lying but yet fairly well
drained, there is an open forest, chiefly black spruce, and the ground
is covered with a dense mat of moss interlaced with fibrous roots.
The soil covered, and the swampy areas, are usually thickly over-
grown with small shrubs, mostly alder.
In general the timber is rather small; in most parts of the district
at present too small even for pulpwood or ties. Occasionally along
streams the trees are larger, especially north of the east end of Lac
Seul. Another area of good timber, chiefly black spruce and tamarack,
occurs along the Eoot river between Lac Seul and Lake St. Joseph.
Forest fires have swept over the region, pmebably on the average
once every 35 or 40 years. On the islands and in certain protected
localities one frequently finds fairly large trees, and there is, there-
fore, no reason to attribute the small size of the majority of the trees
wholly to adverse climatic conditions. Around Lake St. Joseph
a» unknown extent of forest has been fire-swept, and in many places
completely destroyed within a few years. North of Slate lake, around
Big Portage and Gull lakes and northward, large areas have recently
been burned.
The commonest and most widespread tree is the black spruce, Picea
nigra. Associated with this, but in very much smaller numbers, is
the Canada balsam, Abies balpaimea. In the muskeg area the tam-
arack, Larix Americana, is found abundantly, rarely more than 8
inches in diameter. Many of larger size are found along the Root
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 21
river. The only specimens of the red pine, Pinus resinosa, observed
were isolated trees near the east end of Lac Seul ; probably there are
others in the district, but no important areas are likely to occur
north of Lac Seul or Lake St. Joseph. The Banksian pine, Pimis
lianlcsiana, however, occurs wherever the soil is suitable. The
white cedar, Thuya occidentalis , is found occasionally along the
Wenasaga river and on the Cat Lake route.
A few specimens of a species of maple were noted around Lac
Seul and north of it. The canoe birch, Betulch papyrifera, occurs
sparingly throughout the whole region. Specimens large enough to
afford bark for small canoes are found on the islands in Cat lake.
Associated with this birch, but more abundant, are the balsam poplar,
Populus balsamifera, and the aspen poplar, Populus tfemuloides.
Isolated specimens of the black ash, Fraxinus sainbucifolia, were
noted in several localities, even as far north as Cat lake.
INDEX
A
PAG«.
Amphibolite 13,14,15
Apatite , 17
Archaean rocks 13
Augite 16
B
Barlow, A. E., classification of Laurentian gneisses referred to.. .. 16
Bell, E., report referred to 7
Big Portage lake, elevation of 13
Biotite 14, 15, 16
Blackstone lake, elevation of 13
Bluffy lake 10
elevation of 13
Botanical notes 20
C
Cat lake 12
" " elevation of .. 13
" striae at 19
" river 11
Clay 18
Cross lake, elevation of 13
" molybdenite at 19
Dowling, D. B., map of Eed Lake district 15
" report referred to 7
Economic geology.
Epidote
F
Fawcett, Thos., report referred to 7
Feldspar 13, 14
Fires, forest 20
Forests (See Timber) . .
G
Garnet 13. 15, 17
Geology of the district 13
Glaeiation 18
Gneiss 13,15,16,17
4074-6 23
24 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, CANADA
PAGE.
Granite 13,15,17,19
Gull lake 11,12
" elevation of 13
strife at 18
H
Hailstone lake, elevation of 13
Height of land, elevation of 13
Hornblende 13,14,15,16
llmenite 13,14,15,17,20
J
Jackpine lake, elevation of 13
Johnston, J. F. E., topographic work done by 7
K
Kaolin 14
L
Lac Seul, elevation of 12
Lake St. Joseph, elevation of 13
striae at 19
Lakes, character of 9
Laurentian gneisses, classification of by A. E. Barlow 16
" Peneplain 9
Lawson, A. C., contacts described by 14
Leucoxene (See llmenite)
Low, A. P., report referred to 7
Lynx bridge (See Peshe-asho-kummig)
M
Magnetite 14,20
Margaret lake, elevation of 13
Marsh " " 13
" striae at 18
Mica 14,15,18
Microcline 16
Molybdenite 19
Muscovite 16, 17
O
Oganie lake, elevation of 13
Orthoclase 16
P
Peneplain, definition of 8
Peshe-asho-kummig 12
Plagioclase 16
Pyrite 13, 14, 19
LAC SEUL TO CAT LAKE 25
PAGE.
Quartz 13,14,16,19
R
Keel Lake district 15
Root river, good timber on 20
Ross, C. W., molybdenite property, owned by 19
S
Samlplains 18
Schists 13, 14, 15, 19
Seiicite 14
Slate lake 10, 15
elevation of. 13
magnetic attraction at 14,20
striae at 18
Smoothrock lake 11
" stria; at 19
Sphene 13,15
Stri#, glacial 18
T
Timber 20
Titanite 14, 17
Topography of the district 7
Tourmaline 14
W
Wenasaga lake 10
"' elevation of 13
" river 10
Wilson, A. W. G., geologic work done by 7
CANADA
DEPARTMENT OF MINES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BRANCH.
HON. W. TEMPI.BMAN, MINISTER; A. P. Low, DEPUTY MINISTER;
R. W. BROCK, DIRECTOR.
SELECTED LIST OF REPORTS AND MAPS
(SINCE 1885)
OF SPECIAL ECONOMIC INTEREST
PUBLISHED BY
THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.
Reports of the Mines Section: —
No. 245. Report of Mines Section , 1886. No. 662. Report of Mines Section
272
300
301
334
335
360
572
602
625
1887.
1888.
1889.
1890.
1891.
1892.
1893-4.
1895.
1896.
698
718
744
800
835
893
928
971
1897.
1898.
1899.
1900.
1901.
1902.
1903.
1904.
1905.
Mineral Production of Canada: —
No. 414. Year 1886.
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
1887.
1888.
1889.
1890.
1891.
1886-91.
1892.
No. 422. Year 1893.
No. 719. Year 1900.
555
577
612
623
640
671
686
1894.
1895.
1896.
1886-96.
1897.
1898.
1899.
719a
813
861
896
924
981
1901.
1902.
1903.
1904.
1905.
1906.
Mineral Resources Bulletins: —
No. *818. Platinum. No. 860. Zinc.
851. Coal. « 869. Mica.
*854. Asbestos. 872. Molybdenum and
857. Infusorial Earth. Tungsten.
858. Manganese. 877. Graphite.
859. Salt. 880. Peat.
No. 881. Phosphate.
882. Copper.
913. Mineral Pigments.
953. Barytes.
984. Mineral Pigments.
(French).
Reports of the Section of Chemistry and Mineralogy: —
No. *102. Year 1874-5.
*110
*119
126
138
148
156
1875-6.
1876-7.
1877-8.
1878-9.
1879-80.
1880-1-2.
No. 169. Year 1882-3-4. No. 580. Year 1894.
222
246
273
299
333
359
1885.
1886.
1887-8.
1888-9.
1890-1.
1892-3.
616
651
695
724
821
*958
1895.
1896.
1898.
1899.
1900.
1906.
* Publications marked thus are out of print.
*972. Descriptive Catalogue of Minerals and Rocks, by R. A. A. Johnston and G. A.
REPORTS.
GENERAL.
745. Altitudes of Canada, by J. White. 1899.
ptive C
coung.
YUKON.
*260. Yukon district, by G. M. Dawson. 1887. Maps Nos. 274, scale 60 m. -1 in. ;
275-277, scale 8 m.=l in.
295. Yukon and Mackenzie basins, by R. G. McConnell. 1889. Map No. 304, scale
48 m. = 1 in.
687. Klondike gold fields (preliminary), by R. G. McConnell. 1900. Map No. 688,
scale 2 m. =1 in.
r 884. Klondike gold fields, by R. G. McConnell. 1901. Map No. 772, scale 2 m. = 1 in.
*909. Windy Arm, Tagish lake, by R. G. McConnell. 1906. Map No. 916, scale 2
m. = 1 in.
943. Upper Stewart river, by J. Keele. Map No. 938, ]
scale 8 m. — 1 in. !• Bound together.
951 . Peel and Wind rivers, by Chas. Camsell. Map No. |
942, scale 8m. =1 in. J
979. Klondike gravels, by R. G. McConnell. Map No. 1011, scale 40 ch. = l in.
982. Conrad and Whitehorse mining districts, by D. D. Cairnes. 1901. Map No.
990, scale 2 m.=l in.
1016. Klondike Creek and Hill gravels, by R. G. McConnell. (French). Map No.
1011, scale 40 ch. = l in.
1050. Whitehorse Copper Belt, by R. G. McConnell. Maps Nos. 1,026, 1,041, 1,044-
1,049.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
212. The Rocky mountains (between latitudes 49° and 51° 30°), by G. M. Dawson.
1885. Map No. 223, scale 6 m. = 1 in. Map No. 224, acate 1£ m. =1 in.
*235. Vancouver island, by G. M. Dawson. 1886. Map No. 247, scale 8 m. = 1 in.
236. The Rocky mountains, geological structure, by R. G. McConnell. 1886. Map
No. 248, scale 2 m. = l in.
263. Cariboo mining district, by A. Bowman. 1887. Maps Nos. 278-281.
*271 . Mineral wealth, by G. M. Dawson.
*294. West Kootenay district, by G. M. Dawson. 1888-9. Map No. 303, scale 8
*573 . Kamloops district, by G. M. Dawson. 1894. Maps Nos. 556-7, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
574. Finlay and Omineca rivers, by R. G. McConnell. 1894. Map No. 567, scale
8 m. = 1 in.
743. Atlin Lake mining division, by J. C. Gwillim. 1899. Map No. 742, scale 4
939. Rossland district, by R. W. Brock. Map No. 941, scale 1,600 ft. =1 in.
940. Graham island, by R. W. Ells. 1905. Map No. 921, scale 4 m.=l in., and
Map No. 922, scale 1 m.=l in.
986. Similkameen district, by Chas. Camsell. Map No. 987, scale 400 ch.=l in.
988. Telkwa river and vicinity, by W. W. Leach. Map No. 989, scale 2 m. =1 in.
996. Nanaimo and New Westminster districts, by O. E. LeRoy. 1907. Map No.
997, scale 4 m. = l in.
1035. Coal-fields of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Eastern British Columbia,
by D. B. Dowling.
ALBERTA.
*237. Central portion, by J. B. Tyrrell. 1886. Maps Nos. 249 and 250, scale 8
m. = 1 in.
824. Peace and Athabaska Rivers district, by R. G. McConnell. 1890-1. Map No.
336, scale 48 m. = l in.
703. Yellowhead Pass route, by J. McEvoy. 1898. Map No. 676, scale 8 m. = l in.
949 . Cascade coal-fields, by D. B. Bowling. Maps (8 sheets) Nos. 929-936, scale
1 m. = 1 in.
968. Moose Mountain district, by D. D. Cairnes. Maps No. 963, scale 2 m. = 1 in. ;
No. 966, scale 1 m. = l"in.
1035. Coal-fields of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Eastern British Columbia,
by D. B. Dowling. Map No. 1,010, scale 35 m.-l in.
SASKATCHEWAN.
213. Cypress hills and Wood mountain, by R. G. McConnell. 1885. Maps Nos.
225 and 226, scale 8 m. = l in.
601. Country between Athabaska lake and Churchill river, by J. B. Tyrrell and
D. B. Dowling. 1895. Map No. 957, scale 25 m.=l in.
868. Souris River coal-field, by D. B. Dowling. 1902.
1035. Coal-fields of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Eastern British Columbia,
by D. B. Dowling. Map No. 1,010, scale 35 m. = l in.
MANITOBA.
264 . Duck and Riding mountains, by J. B. Tyrrell. 1887-8. Map No. 282, scale 8
296. Glacial Lake Agassiz, by W. Upham. 1889. Maps Nos. 314, 315, 316.
325. Northwestern portion, by J. B. Tyrrell. 1890-1. Maps Nos. 339 and 350,
scale 8 m. = 1 in.
704. Lake Winnipeg (west shore), by D. B. Dowling. 1898. f
Map No. 664, scale 8 m. =1 in. \ Bound together.
705. Lake Winnipeg (east shore), by J. B. Tyrrell. 1898. [
Map No. 664, scale 8 m = l in. (
1035. Coal-fields of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Eastern British Columbia,
by D. B. Dowling. Map No. 1010, scale 35 m = 1 in.
NORTH WEST TERRITORIES.
217. Hudson bay a»d strait, by R. Bell. 1885. Map No. 229, scale 4 m. =1 in.
238. Hudson bay, south of, by A. P. Low. 1886.
239. Attawapiskat and Albany rivers, by R. Bell. 1886*.
244. Northern portion of the Dominion, by G. M. Dawson. 1886. Map No. 255,
scale 200 m.=l in.
267. James bay and country east of Hudson bay, by A. P. Low.
578. Red lake and part of Berens river, by D. B. Dowling. 1894. Map No. 576,
scale 8 m.=l in.
*584. Labrador peninsula, by A. P. Low. 1895. Maps Nos. 585-588, scale 25 m. = 1 in.
618. Dubawnt, Kazan, and Ferguson rivers, by J. B. Tyrrell. 1896. Map No. 603,
scale 25 m.=l in.
657. Northern portion of the Labrador peninsula, by A. P. Low.
680. South Shore Hudson strait and Ungava bay, by A". P. Low. f
Map No. 699, scale 25 m. = 1 in. { Bound together.
713. North Shore Hudson strait and Ungava bay, by R. Bell. I
Map No. 699, scale 25 m.=l in.
725. Great Bear lake to Great Slave lake, by J. M. Bell. 1900.
778. East Coast Hudson bay, by A. P. Low. 1900. Maps Nos. 779, 780, 781, scale
8 m. = l in.
786-787. Grass River region, by J. B. Tyrrell and D. B. Dowling. 1900.
815. Ekwan river and Sutton lakes, by D. B. Dowling. 1901. Map No. 751, ,*cale
50 m.=l in.
819. Nastapoka islands, Hudson bay, by A. P. Low. 1900.
905. The Cruise of the Neptune, by A. P. Low. 1905.
ONTARIO.
215. Lake of the Woods region, by A. C. Lawson. 1885. Map No. 227, scale 2 m. -
1 in.
*2«5. Rainy Lake region, by A. C. Lawson. 1887. Map No. 283, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
206. Lake Superior, mines and mining, by E. D. Ingall. 1888. Maps Nos. 285,
scale 4 m.-=l in.; No. 286, scale 20 ch.=l in.
326. Sudbury mining district, by R. Bell. 1890-1. Map No 343, scale 4 m. -1 in.
327. Hunter island, by W. H. C. Smith. 1890-1. Map No. 342, scale 4 m.=l in.
332. Natural Gas and Petroleum, by H. P. H. Brumell. 1890-1. Maps Nos. 344-349.
357. Victoria, Peterborough, and Hastings counties, by F. D. Adams. 1892-3.
627. On the French River sheet, by R. Bell. 1896. Map No. 570, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
678. Seine river and Lake Shebandowan map-sheets, by W. Mclnnes. 1897. Maps
Nos. 589 and 560, scale 4 m.=l in.
723. Iron deposits along the Kingston and Pembroke railway, by E. D. Ingall.
1900. Map No. 626, scale 2 m. =-1 in.; and plans of 13 mines.
739. Carleton, Russell, and Prescott counties, by R. W. Ells. 1899. (See No. 739,
Quebec.)
741 . Ottawa and vicinity, by R. W. Ells. 1900.
790. Perth sheet, by R. W. Ells. 1900. Map No. 789 scale 4 m.=l in.
961. Sudbury Nickel and Copper deposits, by A. E. Barlow (Reprint). Maps Nos.
775, 820, scale 1 m.=l in.; 824, 825, 864, scale 400 ft.=l in.
962. Nipissing and Timiskaming map-sheets, by A. E. Barlow. (Reprint). Maps
Nos. 599, 606, scale 4 m. «=1 in.; No. 944, scale 1 m. - 1 in.
965. Sudbury Nickel and Copper deposits, by A. E. Barlow. (French).
970. Report on Niagara Falls, by J. W. Spencer. Maps Nos. 926, 967.
977. Report on Pembroke sheet, by R. W. Ells. Map No. 660, scale 4 m. = l in.
992. Report on Northwestern Ontario, traversed by National Transcontinental
railway, between Lake Nipigon and Sturgeon lake, by W. H. Collins. Map
No. 993, scale 4 m. =1 in.
998. Report on Pembroke sheet, by R. W. Ells. (French). Map No. 660, scale
1075 . Gowganda Mining Division, by W. H. Collins. Map No. 1,076, scale 1 m. = 1 in.
QUEBEC.
216. Mistassini expedition, by A. P. Low. 1884-5. Map No. 228, scale 8 m. =1 in.
240. Compton, Stanstead, Beauce, Richmond, and Wolfe counties, by R. W. Ells.
1886. Map No. 251 (Sherbrooke sheet), scale 4 m.=l in."
268. Megantic, Beauce, Dorchester, Levis, Bellechasse, and Montmagny counties.
by R. W. Ells. 1887-8. Map No. 287, scale 40 ch.=l in.
297. Mineral resources, by R. W. Ells. 1889.
328. Portneuf, Quebec, and Montmagny counties, by A. P. Low. 1890-1.
579. Eastern Townships, Montreal sheet, by R. W. Ells and F. D. Adams. 1894.
Map No. 571, scale 4 m. = l in.
591 . Laurentian area north of the Island of Montreal, by F. D. Adams. 1895. Map
^No. 590, scale 4 m.=l in.
670. Auriferous deposits, southeastern portion, by R. Chalmers. 1895. Map No.
667, scale 8 m. = l in.
707. Eastern Townships, Three Rivers sheet, by R. W. Ells. 1898.
739. Argenteuil, Ottawa, and Pontiac counties, by R. W. Ells. 1899. (See No. 739,
Ontario) .
788. Nottaway basin, by R. Bell. 1900. *Map No. 702, scale 10 m.=l in.
863. Wells on Island of Montreal, by F. D. Adams. 1901. Maps Nos. 874, 875, 876.
923. Chibougamau region, by A. P. Low. 1905.
962. Timiskaming map-sheet, by A. E. Barlow. (Reprint). Maps Nos. 599, 606,
scale 4 m. = 1 in.; 944, scale 1 m. =1 in.
974 . Report on Copper-bearing rocks of Eastern Townships, by J. A. Dresser. Map
No. 976, scale 8 m. = 1 in.
975. Report on Copper-bearing rocks of Eastern Townships, by J. A. Dresser.
(French).
998. Report on the Pembroke sheet, by R. W. Ells. (French).
1028. Report on a Recent Discovery of Gold near Lake Megantic, Que., by J. A.
Dresser. Map No. 1029, scale 2 m. =1 in.
1032. Report on a Recent Discovery of Gold near Lake Megantic, Que., by J. A.
Dresser. (French). Map No. 1029, scale 2 m.-=l in.
NEW BRUNSWICK.
218. Western New Brunswick and Eastern Nova Scotia, by R. W. Ells. 1885. Map'
No. 230, scale 4 m.=l in.
219. Carleton and Victoria counties, by L. W.Bailey. 1885. Map No. 231, scale
4 m. = l in.
242. Victoria, Restigouche, and Northumberland counties, N.B., by L. W. Bailey
and W. Mclnnes. 1886. Map No. 254, scale 4 m.=l in.
269. Northern portion and adjacent areas, by L. W. Bailey and W. Mclnnes.
1887-S. Map No. 290, scale 4 m. =•! in.
330. Temiscouata and Rimouski counties, by L. W. Bailey and W. Mclnnes. 1890-1.
Map No. 350, scale 4 m. «=1 in.
661. Mineral resources, by L. W. Bailey. 1897. Map No. 675, scale 10 m. = l in.
New Brunswick geology, by R. W. Ells. 1887.
799. Carboniferous system, by L. W. Bailey. 1900. /
803 . Coal prospects in, bv H. S. Poole. 1900. \ Bound together.
983. Mineral resources, by R. W. Ells. Map No. 969, scale 16 m.=l in.
1034. Mineral resources, by R. W. Ells. (French). Map No. 969, scale 16 m. =1 in.
NOVA SCOTIA.
243. Guysborough, Antigonish, Pictou, Colchester, and Halifax counties, by Hujh
Fletcher and E. R. Faribault. 1886.
331. Pictou and Colchester counties, by H. Fletcher. 1890-1.
358. Southwestern Nova Scotia (preliminary), by L. W. Bailey. 1892-3. Map No.
362, scale 8 m.«=l in.
628. Southwestern Nova Scotia, by L. W. Bailey. 1896. Map No. 641, scale 8
m. = l in.
685. Sydney coal-field, bv H. Fletcher. Maps Nos. 652, 653, 654, scale 1 m.=l in.
797. Cambrian rocks of Cape Breton, by G. F. Matthew. 1900.
871. Pictou coal-field, by H. S. Poole. 1902. Map No. 833, scale 25 ch.=l in.
MAPS,
1042. Dominion of Canada. Minerals. Scale 100 m. — 1 In.
YUKON.
805. Explorations on Macmillan, Upper Pelly, and Stewart rivers, scale 8 m.=l in.
891. Portion of Duncan Creek Mining district, scale 6 m. =1 in.
894. Sketch Map Kluane Mining district, scale 6 m. = l in.
916. Windy Arm Mining district, Sketch Geological Map, scale 2 m. «=1 in.
990. Conrad and Whitehorse Mining districts, scale 2 m. = 1 in.
991. Tantalus and Five Fingers coal mines, scale 1 m. =1 in.
1011. Bonanza and Hunker creeks. Auriferous gravels. Scale 40 chains = 1 in.
1033. Cower Lake Laberge and vicinity, scale 1 m. =-1 in.
1041. Whitehorse Copper belt, scale 1 m. =1 in.
1026. 1044-1049. Whitehorse Copper belt. Details.
. BRITISH COLUMBIA.
278. Cariboo Mining district, scale 2 m.-l in.
604. Shuswap Geological sheet, scale 4 m. = l in.
771. Preliminary Edition, East Kootenay, scale 4 m. =1 in.
767. Geological Map of Crowsnest coal-fields, scale 2 m. *»1 in.
791 . West Kootenay Minerals and Striae, scale 4 m. •= 1 in.
792. West Kootenay Geological sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
828. Boundary Creek Mining district, scale 1 m. =1 in.
890. Nicola coal basin, scale 1 m. =1 in.
941. Preliminary Geological Map of Rossland and vicinity, scale 1,600 ft. =1 in,
987. Princeton coal basin and Copper Mountain Mining camp, scale 40 ch. — 1 in.
989. Telkwa river and vicinity, scale 2 m. =1 in.
997. Nanaimo and New Westminster Mining division, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
1001 . Special Map of Rossland. Topographical sheet. Scale 400 ft. =1 in.
1002. Special Map of Rossland. Geological sheet. Scale 400 ft. =1 in.
1003. Rossland Mining camp. Topographical sheet. Scale 1,200 ft. =1 in.
1004. Rossland Mining camp. Geological sheet. Scale 1.200 ft.-l in.
1068. Sheep Creek Mining camp. Geological sheet. Scale 1 m.-l in.
1074. Sheep Creek Mining camp. Topographical sheet. Scale 1 m. -1 in.
ALBERTA.
594-596. Peace and Athabaska rivers, scale 10 m. = 1 in.
808. Blairmore-Frank coal-fields, scale 180 ch. =1 in.
892. Costigan coal basin, scale 40 ch = l in.
929-936. Cascade coal basin. Scale 1 m.=l in.
963-966. Moose Mountain region. Coal Areas. Scale 2 m. =1 in.
1010. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Coal Areas. Scale 35 m. =1 in.
SASKATCHEWAN.
1010. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Coal Areas. Scale 35 m. =1 in.
MANITOBA.
804. Part of Turtle mountain showing coal areas, scale 1$ m. =1 in.
1010. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Coal Area?. Scale 35 m. = 1 in.
ONTARIO.
227. Lake of the Woods sheet, scale 2 m. =1 in.
*283. Rainy Lake sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
*342. Hunter Island sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
343. Sudbury sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
373. Rainy River sheet, scale 2 m. = 1 in.
560. Seine River sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
570. French River sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
589. Lake Shebandowan sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
599. Timiskaming sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in. (New Edition 1907).
605. Manitoulin Island sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
606. Nipissing sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in. (New Edition 1907).
660 . Pembroke sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
663. Ignace sheet, scale 4 m. = 1 in.
708. Haliburton sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
720. Manitou Lake sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
*750. Grenville sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
770. Bancroft sheet, scale 2 m.=l in.
775. Sudbury district, Victoria mines, scale 1 m. =1 in.
789. Perth sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
820. Sudbury district, Sudbury, scale 1 m. =1 in.
824-825. Sudbury district, Copper Cliff mines, scale 400 ft. = 1 in.
852. Northeast Arm of Vermilion Iron ranges, Timagami, scale 40 ch. =1 in.
864. Sudbury district, Elsie and Murray mines, scale 400 ft. = l in.
903. Ottawa and Cornwall sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
944. Preliminary Map of Timagami and Rabbit lakes, scale 1 m.=l in.
964. Geological Map of parts of Algoma and Thunder bay, scale 8 m. =1 in.
1023. Corundum Bearing Rocks. Central Ontario. Scale 17^ m. =1 in.
1076. Gowganda Mining Division, scale 1 m. =1 in.
QUEBEC.
251. Sherbrooke sheet, Eastern Townships Map, scale 4 m. =1 In.
287. Thetford and Coleraine Asbestos district, scale 40 ch. =1 in.
375. Quebec sheet, Eastern Townships Map, scale 4 m. =1 in.
571. Montreal sheet, Eastern Townships sheet, scale 4 m. =1 in.
665. Three Rivers sheet, Eastern Townships Map, scale 4 m. = 1 In.
667 . Gold Areas in southeastern part, scale 8 m. = 1 in.
668. Graphite district in Labelle county, scale 40 ch. =1 in.
918. Chibougamau region, scale 4 m.=l in.
976. The Older Copper-bearing Rocks of the Eastern Townships, scale 8 m. =1 In.
1007. Lake Timiskaming region, scale 2 m. =1 in.
1029. Lake Megantic and vicinity, scale 2 m. = l in.
7
NEW BRUNSWICK.
675 . Map of Principal Mineral Occurrences. Scale 10 m. = 1 in.
969. Map of Principal Mineral Localities. Scale 16 m. = 1 in.
NOVA SCOTIA.
812. Preliminary Map of Springhill coal-field, scale 50 ch. =1 in.
833. Pictou coal-field, scale 25 ch. = 1 in.
897. Preliminary Geological Plan of Nictaux and Torbrook Iron district, scale 25 ch.
= 1 in.
927. General Map of Province showing gold districts, scale 12 m. =1 in.
937. Leipsigate Gold district, scale 500 ft. =1 in.
945. Harrigan Gold district, scale 400 ft. =1 in.
995. Malaga Gold district, scale 250 ft. =1 in.
1012. Brookfield Gold district, scale 250 ft. = l in.
1019. Halifax Geological sheet. No. 68. Scale 1 m.=l in.
1025 . Waverley Geological sheet. No. 67. Srale 1 m. = 1 in.
1036. St. Margaret Bay Geological sheet. No. 71. Scale 1 m. = l in.
1037. Windsor Geological sheet. No. 73. Scale 1 m. =1 in.
1043. Aspotogan Geological sheet. No. 70. Scale 1 m. =1 in.
NOTE. — Individual Maps or Reports will be furnished free to bona fide Canadian
applicants.
Reports and Maps may be ordered by the numbers prefixed to titles.
Applications should be addressed to The Director, Geological Survey, Depart-
ment of Mines, Ottawa.
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