THE FISHES OF GEORGIAN BAT 3 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 39b 



of Coldwater River. Go Home Bay is connected inland with the Muskoka Lakes 

 through the Musquash River. The latter, beginning at Bala Falls on Lake Mus- 

 koka, flows a short distance westward, and divides into two portions, known 

 respectively as the Moon and Musquash. The Musquash, which is the more 

 southern branch, on approaching the main shore of Georgian Bay, expands into a 

 lake of several miles in extent, known as Flat Rock Lake. This lake has two 

 outlets into Georgian Bay, one through the Go Home River into Go Home Bay, 

 the other into Georgian Bay directly at Muskoka Mills, a few miles to the south. 



For the general topography of the region about Go Home Bay, reference 

 may be made to the series of maps issued by the Department of Indian Affairs 

 and designated as " Plans 1 to 3 of the Islands south of Moose Deer Point, Georgian 

 Bay." The inland watercourses of the entire eastern shore are sufficiently well 

 shown in the township map issued by the Department of Lands, Forest and Mines, 

 Ontario. The general hydrography of Georgian Bay is given in the Admiralty 

 Chart No. 327, and the details of the offshore water for the southern part of Georgian 

 Bay in Chart No. 2102, designated as "Western Islands to Waubaushene." 



Like other parts of the Archean aiea, this region is characterized by extensive 

 exposures of the underlying bed-rock, the latter consisting for the most part of 

 semistratified gneisses, the planes of which are inclined at a small angle to the 

 horizontal. The rock surface is extremely uneven and eroded, and is notable 

 for its resistant character, scanty soil accumulation, and deficiency of vegetation 

 in all elevated or exposed positions. The surface is loosely strewn with detached 

 rounded boulders. 



These features are accountable for a variety of conditions presented by the 

 water areas, some of which may be mentioned. Owing to the inequalities of the 

 surface all inland depressions of a closed character tend to form water basins. 

 The number of such basins is very large in comparison with the surface area, 

 and they are of all kinds from small sphagnum ponds to lakes of several miles 

 in extent. Again, the main shore lines are very irregular and sinuous. They 

 present as a rule the character of bold rocky stretches, points, or headlands, alter- 

 nating with minor indentations. The latter, owing to their unexposed nature 

 tend to form shore swamps. Another important feature is found along the main 

 shore of Georgian Bay, where the rock surface inclines beneath the water, leaving 

 exposed a fringe of islands, similar in character to the mainland, and lying outside 

 of this a more or less definite zone of naked reefs- and submerged shoals. This 

 shoal area consists of clean, smooth, but gently undulating rock, showing here 

 and there abrupt ledges or basins containing accumulated boulders. 



The inland water areas, which are perhaps more typical of the Archean for- 

 mation than those of the main shore, are distinguished by three principal features. 

 First, they are of the nature of overflow basins. If small, they are connected 

 with lower levels by temporary rock channels, which perhaps contain water only 

 in the spring or exceptionally rainy periods. If large, and situated on water 

 courses, their channels are permanent, but connected with lower levels by rapids 

 and waterfalls, and not to any extent by natural drainage inclines. Second, 

 they show a comparatively high content of organic detritus, and are deficient 

 2>9b—l\ II 



