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summer is, as regards their natural capabilities, exceedingly favorable, and equally unfavorable as regards the enterprise and intelligence which has hitherto been devoted to their development. At the same time it should not be forgotten that the most favorable indications are not always reliable, and the sanguine prognostications they so frequently give rise to are often not borne out by the result of actual working; wherefore I should, even under the most favorable circumstances, not advise any one to invest in such enterprises to an amount beyond what he can afford to lose without serious embarrassment.

The need above alluded to, of good topographical maps, is one which cannot be too often pointed out, and is well deserving the serious consideration of the Government. Such maps are not only necessary for geological and mineralogical purposes, but for agricultural, sylvicultural, engineering, military, political, and statistical purposes they are likewise indispensable; and every dollar expended towards their production eventually becomes an annual saving to the country; a fact especially obvious when such periodically curring works as the census have to be undertaken. The subject is dwelt upon here because it is one which seriously retards the progress of the geological explorations with which I am specially charged; and it seems not out of place to call attention to the fact that hundreds of dollars which are debited to these investigations are really unavoidably expended in making additions to the topography of the country, for which, however valuable, extensive, and important, but little credit accrues fo the Geological Survey.

MONTREAL, May, 1871.

ALFRED R. C. SELWYN.

REPORT

ON THE

COUNTRY NORTH OF LAKE ST. JOHN,

BY

MR. JAMES RICHARDSON,

ADDRESSED TO

A. R. C. SELWYN, Esq., F.G.S.,

DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA.

MONTREAL, MAY, 1871.

SIR,-In the month of April last I received your instructions to make Departure. an examination of the unexplored country to the northward from Lake St. John, on the Saguenay, with a view to ascertain the geological structure of that region, as well as its adaptability for agricultural purposes. Accordingly, I left Montreal on the 6th of June, in company with yourself and my assistant, Mr. Leitch, arriving at Lake St. John on the 13th. Here a few days were spent in examining some points not previously investigated in regard to the rocks of the neighbourhood, and in making the final arrangements for the season's work.

I may here state that I was under great obligations to Mr. Price, Senator. for having my outfit and provisions carefully forwarded from Quebec to Chicoutimi, and also to Mr. N. Flanagan of the Hudson's Bay Company, for having them sent on from the latter place to Blue Point on Lake St. John.

Having, with the assistance of the Hudson's Bay Company's officers, Outfit. Mr. S. Ross and his son, procured men and canoes, our arrangements were completed on the 23rd of June, and on that day I left Blue Point with Mr. Leitch, six Indians, and three canoes. Four of these men, with two canoes, were to be employed in carrying on the survey, while the other two men, with the third canoe, were engaged to convey provisions into the interior, and store them in the woods at convenient points along the line of our

route.

chouan.

From Lake St. John we ascended the Ashuapmouchouan. This stream, Ashauaj moufor a little over ninety-seven miles from its mouth, had been previously sur

Nikoubau.

veyed topographically by Mr. Blaiklock, P.L.S., so that, with a plan of his survey, laid down on a scale of two inches to the mile, I was able, for that distance, as we pursued our journey, to note accurately the geological and other features observed along the river. The general bearing of the course up the river from Lake St. John is about N.W. A little above the ninety-second mile the river divides into two branches. One of these comes from the N.N.E., and being the larger, is called by the Indians the Chief River. The other which we ascended, although the smaller, retains the name of Ashuapmouchouan. At the end of Blaiklock's survey, our measurements commenced, and were carried on in the usual way, the distances being determined, by micrometer-telescope, and the bearings by prismatic compass, checked by opposite readings. The calculations for each day's work were made at night, and the measurements protracted in the tent as opportunity offered; so that we were able to ascertain, at any time, our position and rate of progress.

Except the first mile, which is N.W., the upward course of the river, from where our measurements began, is about S. W., and the distance from Lake Ashuapmouchouan is about twenty-four miles. Leaving this lake, the upward course is generally northwesterly to the height of land which divides the waters of the Saguenay from those flowing to Hudson's Bay. This portion of the river, which is called Nikoubau River, passes through several small lakes. The first is called Lower Nikoubau, the second Nikoubau, the third Perch Lake, and the fourth Branch Lake. At the head of the latter, the river divides into two branches, one comes from the N.E., and the other, in its upward course continues north westerly, and passes a sort of double lake, called Narrow-Ridge Lake, whence the highest lake, called Whitefish Water-shed. Lake, is reached by a portage of about one mile. This is close to the watershed, which is also the boundary-line between the province of Quebec and the territory to the north, and is nearly seventy-two miles from the beginning of our survey, or 170 miles from Lake St. John. Continuing in a northwesterly course, we passed through several small ponds, and descended for Abatagomaw. about two miles the stream called Two-Discharges River, which forms the outlet. This brought us to Lake Abatagomaw, traversing which advanced us a further distance of about ten miles, nearly in the same direction; thence our course was nearly at right angles to that hitherto followed, or northeasterly. Passing through some small lakes or ponds on a small stream which flows into the last-mentioned lake, a height of land is reached which divides the waters of Lake Abatagomaw from those of Lake Chibogomou.. The latter lake is sixteen miles from the former, or a little over two hundred Chibogomou. from Lake St. John. Lake Chibogomou stretches in the same (northeasterly) direction, a further distance of twenty-two miles, and empties itself by two outlets, about three miles apart, with a fall of about twenty-five feet in from 100 to 200 paces, into another lake, running parallel with it. These

two lakes, and Abatagomaw are supposed to form the head-waters of the Notaway, which is said to be a large river where it falls into James Bay. Continuing in the same direction through several small ponds, and crossing another height of land, together a distance of a little over four miles, Lake Chibogomou is reached. This lake extends in the same direction nearly twenty-four miles farther. Following the stream by which it discharges, and passing through several small ponds, a distance of four miles brings us to Abatagoush Bay, a part of Lake Mistassini. This bay was surveyed for Mistasini. thirty miles,-thirteen miles to the Hudson's Bay Company's post, and seventeen miles beyond it. At this point the lake opens out both to the right and left; and Mr. Burgess, the officer in charge of the Hudson's Bay Company's post, told me that from this point the western shore trends north for about six miles, where a bay, twelve miles across, called Poonichuan, stretches south and southwest for a distance of about thirty miles. He further informed me that across the bay the coast-line continues in a northwesterly direction for forty or forty-five miles farther, and thence north for about sixty miles. In some part of the latter distance is the discharge of the lake which forms the head-waters of the Rupert River. Thus, if Mr. Burgess's estimate of the distance is approximately correct, the length of Lake Mistassini, including the bays, would be about 150 miles, or but little less than that of Lake Ontario. I have no information regarding its breadth. Besides the two bays already mentioned, there is a third on the east side, called Cabistachuan, which runs to the south and west from a point about midway between the Hudson's Bay Company's post and the end of our measurements, and is about twenty miles deep. At the south end of this a stream of the same name, said to be of considerable size, enters from the eastward. The whole distance from Lake St. John to the point where our measurements terminated on Lake Mistassini, by the route followed, is nearly 290 miles. It was my intention to have proceeded farther along the lake, but our provisions having failed to reach us, and being unable to procure any at the Hudson's Bay Company's post, we were obliged to return to Lake Nikoubau, where our supplies were stored. We therefore left Lake Mistassini on the 13th of August, and arrived at Nikoubau on the 20th of the same month. From the last-mentioned lake we resumed our survey. Ascending a stream called Foam-Falls River, we passed through Lakes Askatiche, Kakaskapstethiouisse and Normandin to a height of land which divides the waters of Lake St. John from those of the St. Maurice, a distance from our starting-point, in a general southwest course, of forty-one miles. Thence, continuing on about the same course, we descended a tributary of the St. Maurice, called Clear-Water River, which passes through Clear-Water and Pemacachie Lakes, and brings us in twenty-two miles to Sandy-Beach Lake. About two miles from where we entered this lake, the river St. Maurice St. Maurice, comes in from the northwest, and at a distance of about eighteen miles it

Kirkendatch.

Gatineau.

passes out by a narrow channel into Lake Traverse. The total distance to this point from Lake Nikoubau is about eighteen and a half miles. As the St. Maurice had been already surveyed from this point downward, there was no need of continuing our measurements. We therefore descended the river as far as Kirkendatch, a distance of twenty miles, noting the various objects of interest met with as we went along. Having run short of some necessary supplies, and being unable to procure them here, I was obliged to send to Weymoutachinque, a distance of sixty miles, where we got partially provided.

We arrived at Kirkendatch on the 7th of September, and on the 13th started from that place with an additional Indian as guide, for the headwaters of the Gatineau. On this portion of the journey the distances were estimated by time, except on the portages, which were paced, and some of the larger lakes, which were triangulated from a measured base. Passing from Kirkendatch through a few small lakes, we descended a stream which is the outlet of the last one, and which falls into a tributary of the St. This we descended to its source, in Maurice, called Hair-Cutting River. Great Beaver Lake, which brought us to the height of land between the waters of the St. Maurice and those of the Gatineau. This we crossed by a portage about half a mile in length to Light-Fire Lake. The distance from Kirkendatch to this point is about thirty-five miles, in a direction about south west. Light-Fire Lake is on the south east branch of the Gatineau, and several miles below its source. We descended the stream to the northwest branch, and thence to the river Desert, where we arrived on the 26th September, a distance of about 300 miles from Kirkendatch. From the Desert, Mr. Leitch and myself travelled to Ottawa, about 100 miles distant, by land, as we would thus be better able to judge of the agricultural capabilities of the country than by following the river. The Indians, however, went down the river with the canoes, and we rejoined them at Ottawa on the 30th September; the whole party arriving in Montreal on the 3rd of October, whence the Indians returned to their homes on Lake St. John.

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The whole of the season's work has been protracted on a scale of two inches of the mile; and the accompanying map is a reduction from it to a scale of four miles to the inch. It must be remarked, howevor, that at some of the points, the distances are, for the present, only approximately given.

GEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION.

The rocks met with may be classed under three heads, namely:

I. Laurentian gneiss with crystalline limestones.

*The map is in manuscript. The publication of it is deferred pending further Surveys and Explorations in the region.

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