﻿1S48. AND SPRINGS. 149 



rivulets into the Salt River, communicates to 

 it a very bitter taste ; but before the , united 

 streams join the Slave River, the accession of vari- 

 ous fresh-water rivulets dilutes the water so much 

 that it remains only slightly brackish. A few slabs 

 of greyish compact gypsum protrude from the side 

 of the ridge above mentioned ; and a pure white 

 gypsum is said to be found at Peace Point on Peace 

 River, distant about sixty or seventy miles in a 

 south-south-west direction, whence we may con- 

 jecture that this formation extends so far. From 

 the circumstance that the few fossils gathered from 

 the limestone on Slave River are silurian, I ven- 

 ture to conjecture that these springs may belong to 

 the Onondago salt group of the Helderberg division 

 of the New York system. The Athabasca and 

 Mackenzie River districts are supplied from hence 

 with abundance of good salt. We obtained some 

 bags of this useful article from Beaulieu, who 

 was guide and hunter to Sir John Franklin on his 

 second overland journey, and who has built a house 

 at the mouth of Salt River. This is a well chosen 

 locality for his residence : his sons procure abund- 

 ance of deer and bison meat on the salt plains, 

 which these animals frequent in numbers, from 

 their predilection for that mineral ; and Slave River 

 yields plenty of good fish at certain seasons. It 

 is the most southern locality to which the Inconnu 



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