﻿1848. BEAVER RIVER. 103 



tinent to Hudson's Bay from these two localities 

 may be reckoned at a little more than two feet a 

 mile. Further to the westward, in the vicinity of 

 Fort George, near the 110th meridian, the upper 

 branches of the Beaver River rise from the very 

 banks of the Saskatchewan. 



On Beaver River the strata are limestone, and 

 a line drawn from the north side of Lake Winipeg, 

 to the south side of Isle a la Crosse Lake, runs about 

 north 58° west, and touches upon the northern edge 

 of the limestone in Beaver Lake. That line may, 

 therefore, be considered as representing the general 

 direction of the junction of the limestone with the 

 primitive rocks in this district of the country. 

 Judging from relative geographical position and 

 mineralogical resemblances, the north part of Isle a 

 la Crosse Lake belongs to a similar sandstone deposit 

 with that which skirts the primitive rocks on Lake 

 Superior, — a peculiar looking sienite being con- 

 nected with the sandstone in both localities. From 

 its order of occurrence the limestone of Beaver River 

 is probably silurian. My observations were too 

 limited and cursory to carry conviction, even to my 

 own mind, on these points ; the circumstances at- 

 tending the several journeys I have made through 

 these countries having prevented me from obtaining 

 better evidence. In a voyage Avith ulterior objects 

 through so wide an extent of territory, and with so 



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