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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



reach the magnitude of low mountains in 

 the extreme east and west, and the 

 Laurentian highlands covering the 

 greater part of the vast region north 

 of the St. Lawrence River. These rise 

 abruptly a short distance north of this 

 stream, reach an altitude of about 1000 

 ft. at the height of land and slope gradu- 

 ally to the north where they include 

 vast lowlands about James and Hudson 

 Bays. Much of this northern region is 

 quite unexplored and nowhere has it 

 more than a sparse population. 



The St. Lawrence plain is underlain 

 with limestones, possesses deep rich 

 soils of clay and clay loam, modified in 

 places by glacial drift, and is the most 

 fertile part of the province where settle- 

 ment began with the coming of the 

 earliest French colonists. It skirts the 

 north shore of the St. Lawrence and 

 Ottawa rivers as a narrow strip of plain 

 bordering the uplifted edge of the 

 Laurentian peneplain between the cities 

 of Quebec and Ottawa. South of the 

 St. Lawrence it comprises all of the 

 province lying west of a line running 

 from the city of Quebec to Lake Oham- 

 plain and marking the limits of the 

 Appalachian highlands. It ranges from 

 100 ft. above the sea along the river to 

 400 ft. along the edge of the Appala- 

 chians. It presents to the eye a level 

 surface interrupted by the Monteregian 

 Hills, a double line of eight isolated 

 peaks. These are composed of igneous 

 rocks and stretch at intervals of 10 to 

 20 mi. from Mount Royal at Montreal to 

 Shefford Mountain some 50 mi. to the 

 east, varying in their elevation above 

 the plain from 650 ft. for Mt. Royal to 

 1300 ft. for Yamaska, Shefford and 

 Brome. The rugged slopes of these 

 hills preserve the remnants of the 

 deciduous forests which originally cov- 

 ered the plain. 



The Appalachian range enters the 

 province from Vermont and New Hamp- 

 shire at a point just east of Lake Cham- 

 plain and extends to the Gaspe Peninsula 

 varying much in altitude. The eastern 

 portion is known as the Notre Dame 

 Mountains which reach a maximum 



altitude of 2800 ft. in Mt. Orford while 

 under the name of Shickshock Mountains 

 the peaks attain a height of 4000 ft. in 

 Gaspe. Within this region the topog- 

 raphy varies from plains with gently 

 rolling hills of low elevation to rugged 

 mountains. Only the tops of the higher 

 mountains have escaped glaciation and 

 the soils are mostly morainic varying 

 much in texture and fertility. Less 

 than one-fourth of this region is suited to 

 agriculture in any form but it includes 

 approximately 20,000,000 acres of forest. 

 The Laurentian highlands begin a 

 short distance north of the St. Lawrence 

 River and extend northward a distance 

 of at least 500 mi. It seems doubtful 

 whether the northern part of the Labra- 

 dor peninsula, now a part of the province 

 of Quebec, should be regarded as a 

 portion of this physiographic unit. 

 The surface characteristics of this 

 northern region so far as they are known 

 seem to be similar to those of the Lauren- 

 tian highlands and together the two 

 occupy 90% of the area of the province. 

 On the whole it is a region of low relief 

 and immature drainage. Granite and 

 other crystalline rocks present surfaces 

 planed and swept bare of soil by the ice 

 sheets and remain as a vast expanse of 

 low rounded hills that reach a maximum 

 elevation of about 2000 ft. along the 

 height of land some 300 mi. north of the 

 St. Lawrence River. These rocks are 

 well seen along the great cleft occupied 

 by the Saguenay River where granitic 

 cliffs rise perpendicularly from the 

 water's edge to the level of the surround- 

 ing upland from 1000 to 1800 ft. above. 

 The immaturity of the drainage is shown 

 in the chains of innumerable lakes and 

 in the great expanses of swamp and 

 muskeg. As James and Hudson Bay 

 are approached the elevation gradually 

 decreases and great areas of muskeg and 

 tundra occur at levels little above that 

 of the waters of the bays. The only 

 soils suited to agriculture are in the 

 narrower valleys and their limited area 

 together with the rigorous climate 

 makes the region as a whole destined to 

 remain permanently forested in so far 



