20 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
river as high up as a point opposite Gillam Island, above which Dr. 
Bell records the presence of stratified Recent deposits. 
From the above brief description it will be seen that these Recent 
sands and clays were deposited near the shore of the sea (Hudson 
Bay) in a deep bay which was probably at the mouth of a large river. 
The presence of the boulders and pebbles in the sand and clay would 
at first appear to indicate the immediate vicinity of the face of the ice 
sheet when the beds were being laid down, but it is also possible that 
they may have been washed out of banks of till which formed the sides 
of the valley or bay in which these sediments were being dropped. 
Beaches 
As stated above, the land emerged from beneath the waters 
of Hudson Bay as a marvelously even plain. No sea cliffs were formed, 
and the shore line for the time being was marked by a regular and 
almost continouus gravel ridge, which was rarely broken except 
where a stream was flowing across it into the Bay. As the land rose 
gradually but spasmodically gravel beaches were formed in parallel 
series, each lower than the one just older than it, until a condition of 
stability seems to have been attained at the present shore line of 
Hudson Bay. This shore is marked by a gravel ridge, or series of 
two or three gravel ridges, which rise about 10 feet above the level 
of the tidal flat in front of them. The water reaches the outermost 
of these ridges at every flood tide, but in storms it evidently sometimes 
washes over it, for we found the remains of the wreck of the Cam 
Owen, lying on the second of these beach ridges just west of the mouth 
of Kaskatamagan river, where it had been thrown and broken to pieces 
by the waves. While this second ridge is thus occasionally reached 
by storm waters, it nevertheless represents a distinct shore line about 
10 feet above the present shore. This shore line was most clearly seen on 
the west side of the estuary of Nelson river, near the mouth of Root Creek 
where it runs along the foot of a cliff about 25 feet high, at the back of a 
wooded flat which is now 6 feet above the level of high tide. The 
next older beach has a crest 40 feet above high tide. It can be seen 
back in the woods on the east side of Nelson river 15 miles up stream 
from Beacon Point. It was not observed on Hayes river, but on 
Machichi river, eight miles farther east, it is well developed as a strong 
dry gravel ridge on which is a trail much used by the Indians when 
travelling eastward through the country. On Severn river this 
gravel ridge is also strongly marked, and on it a Mission Church has 
been built. 
The next higher beach is probably represented by the gravel 
deposit on the summit of Flamboro’ Head with a height of 90 feet 
above high tide. 
