﻿134 ' CAPTAIN LEFKOy's July, 



the Athabasca River or River of the Mountains. 

 When it is flooded it overcomes the stream of 

 Stony River, and carries its muddy waters into 

 Lake Athabasca, meeting there another rush of 

 waters coming through Lake Mamawee ; but at 

 other times there is a strong current in Stony 

 River, and at one point a dangerous rapid, where 

 a gentleman of the North-west Company was 

 drowned many years ago. A delta, intersected by 

 several channels, exists at the junction of Peace 

 River with Athabasca Lake and its outlet. The 

 source of Finlay's branch of this river is nearly in 

 the same parallel with its mouth, but in its course 

 the trunk of the river makes a great curve to the 

 southward, and its southern tributaries rise in 

 the same mountains from which Frazer River 

 issues on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, 

 the upper waters of the Peace River coming in 

 fact through a gap in the chain which forms one of 

 the passes leading to the Pacific coast. Captain 

 Lefroy, who has travelled tlirough this district, 

 makes the following remarks upon its elevation. 

 " The next series of observations was made in the 

 elevated region at the base of the Rocky Mountains, 

 between Peace River and the Saskatchewan, a 

 district remarkable for its gradual and regular 

 ascent, preserving throughout much of the cha- 

 racter of a plain country. From Lake Athabasca 



