426 



which measures 120 miles in length by 60 in breadth, is deepest in the southern 

 and eastern parts, where a depth of 540 feet has been ascertained, and in con- 

 sideration of the area drained by the streams which it receives and the volume 

 of water discharged through its outlet, may be regarded as one of the most im- 

 portant head-waters of the St. Lawrence. Its largest affluents are the Kayosk 

 or Gull River on the west and the Sturgeon River on the east. 



The second river in point of size on the north shore is the Michipicoten, a 

 large clear rapid river which has long served as an important canoe-route to 

 Hudson's Bay. The other rivers on the east shore are of the same character, receiv- 

 ing tributary streams which pour their water through rapids and falls, often of 

 considerable height, into the main current. 



Lake Superior discharges its water into Lake Huron through the St. Mary 

 River, a stretch of 25 miles, part of which, descending 22 feet in three-quarters of 

 a mile, is very rapid, forming the Sault Ste. Marie. The strait so formed where 

 it widens into Lake Huron is interrupted by a series of islands which run 

 parallel to the north shore and which may be regarded as a continuation of the pro- 

 montory into which the Niagara escarpment is continued. These islands, of which 

 the chief is Manitoulin Island, together with the promontory referred to, sepa- 

 rate the so-called North Channel and the Georgian Bay from the main body of 

 the Lake lying to the south. The latter has a surface of 14,000 square miles, 

 while the Georgian Bay, from Nottawasaga Bay to Shebanahning (Killarney) 

 and the eastern extremity of Grand Manitoulin Island, has been estimated to 

 have an area of 6,000 square miles. The North Channel on the other hand, 

 exclusive of its islands, has been reckoned to contain 1,700 square miles. As 

 before observed. Lake Huron is 22 feet lower than Lake Superior, and therefore 

 578 feet above sea level. Its average depth is as great as that of Lake Superior, 

 but even greater depths have been ascertained in places — over 1,800 feet having 

 been found off Saginaw Bay en the American side. The greatest length of the 

 Lake is 280 miles ; its average breadth, 70. Like Lake Superior, it is disting- 

 uished, especially in the north-western parts, for the peculiar transparency of 

 its waters. 



Emptying themselves into the North Channel and the Georgian Bay are 

 the following large rivers : — The Mississaga, the Serpent, the Spanish, the Wah- 

 napita3, French River, the Maganetawan, and the Severn. The last mentioned 

 serves as the outlet of Lake Simcoe, but all of them drain a country studded with 

 innumerable lakes and lakelets. The French River has a special importance as 

 forming an almost direct line of communication through Lake Nipissing between 

 the Upper Lakes and the Ottawa. Its navigation is much obstructed by falls 

 and rapids, for in its 40 miles from Lake Nipissing it falls through 87 feet. 

 The w^atershed between Lake Nipissing, the height of which is 665 feet, and 

 Upper Trout Lake — the source of the Mattawan, (a branch of the Ottawa) — is 714 

 feet high. Lake Nipissing itself is one of the larger inland lakes, measuring 40 

 miles from east to west, and with a maximum breadth of 20 miles from north 

 to south. Its area is estimated at 300 square miles. The northern shores of the 

 lake are low, generally of flat rock and sand, and the water shallow with a sandy 

 bottom. Its principal affluent is the Sturgeon River, a stream of considerable 

 size flowing from the north, which forms one of the outlets of Lake Taraaga- 

 ming, a fine sheet of water, 800 feet above sea-level, w^ith an area of 330 square 

 miles, which has a second outlet towards the Ottawa system through the Montreal 

 River. Of the streams flowing fiom the Province into the main body of Lake 

 Huron the most important are the Maitland and the Saugeen. 



