Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt:...edge where the shores are low. This belt of high land along the rivers varies from a quarter of a mile to two miles or more in width, and occassionally where two rivers flow together so as to make an angle between them, this land will all be of the same character as that of the river banks. Inland from this the country becomes slightly lower and sphagnum moss and lichens come in. Then sarracenias are seen among the moss; and orchids--cypripedium, habenaria, and spiranthes--make their appearance. The cedar, poplar, and birch are no longer seen, the poplars appear in isolated clumps only, and the spruce and tamarac become dense though not so large, getting smaller as we go inland. The river is fairly good for canoeing purposes. The rapids are frequent, but are for the most part short with good deep water in between, and they can be passe 1 by good portages, though not so good as those on the Missinaibi River. This refers to that part only of the river covered by our survey; lower down the river is reported to be very much worse. Below the third rapid a trip was made inland going south east. At the rapid the river had a bank of sandy, pebbly clay that goes up sheer to 80 feet. For a mile from the river the land was burnt, with fallen timber lying in all directions. This burnt land has the same sandy clay soil noted before, and now that the trees are burnt a wonderful growth of berries has sprung up. Beyond this the land as usual becomes lower, with close spruce and tamarac, and the usual orchids and other swamp plants among the moss. Another small area of large timber (burnt except half a million feet of red pine) surrounds a lake at the eighth mile. This lake covers about a quarter of a square mile, and is bordered by a broad moose path, showing that the big...