GREAT SLAVE LAKE 



2599 



GREBE 



A celebrated pleasure resort, Saltair, is 

 built 4,000 feet out in the lake. Tourists 

 enjoy bathing in the clear salt water, which 

 is so dense with dissolved mineral matter it 

 is impossible for a person to sink. Another 

 point of interest is the railroad crossing the 

 center of the lake, called the Lucin Cutoff, 

 connecting Lucin, at the west, with Ogden, 

 103 miles to the east. Twelve miles of the 

 road across the lake is on a trestle and the 

 rest is on a solid foundation built upon beds 

 of salt. 



About 40,000 tons of salt are gathered from 

 the lake each year, by drawing the water off 

 into shallow ponds and evaporating it by the 

 heat of the sun. M.S. 



GREAT SLAVE LAKE, a large lake in the 

 northwest of Canada, covering an area of 

 10,719 square miles, a water area more than 

 a thousand square miles larger than Massa- 

 chusetts and Rhode Island combined, and one 

 and a half times 

 the size of Lake 

 Ontario. It lies 

 about 250 miles 

 south of the 

 Arctic Cirble, 300 

 miles southeast 

 of Great Bear 

 Lake and 500 

 miles north of 

 Edmonton, Al- 

 berta. The shore 

 line is very ir- 

 regular, with 

 rugged and bar- 

 ren shores on the 

 slopes on the south and west. 



LOCATION MAP 

 north, and well-wooded 



The water is 

 deep, clear and cold, and the surface of the 

 lake is dotted with numerous islands. Fish of 

 many varieties abound. The lake is frozen 

 for more than half the year, but is navigable 

 from July to October, when great quantities 

 of lumber are shipped from the western shores. 

 The lake is a favorite resort of trappers, and 

 large numbers of fur-bearing animals are 

 caught in the vicinity. 



Great Slave Lake is a part of the Mackenzie 

 system, the greatest river system in Canada. 

 Though the lake receives from the north the 

 surplus waters of Lake Aylmer and several 

 smaller bodies, its chief source of supply is the 

 Slave River, which brings from the south the 

 surplus waters of the Peace River and the 

 Athabaska system. From Great Slave Lake in 

 turn issues the Mackenzie (which see). 



GREAT SLAVE RIVER, a river of Canada 

 which flows from Alberta into the North West 

 Territories, carrying the surplus waters of Atha- 

 baska Lake northwestward into Great Slave 

 Lake. Soon after it leaves Athabaska Lake it 

 has poured into it from the west the floods of 

 the Peace River. Its total length is about 300 

 miles, and through all but thirteen miles of its 

 course it is navigable for steamers, except in 

 the icebound winter months. In its lower 

 course it flows through a valley which rivals 

 the Peace River valley for fertility. 



GREAT WALL OF CHINA. See CHINA, 

 subtitle History, where an illustration appears. 



GREBE, greeb, one of a curious family of 

 water birds which acquires the art of swim- 

 ming the day it is hatched. It is about nine- 

 teen inches long, and the neck is of dark red 

 which changes later to gray or silvery white. 

 The grebe has 

 short wings and a 

 heavy body and 

 flies with its feet 

 far apart. The 

 toes are bordered 

 by a membrane, 

 and on land, 

 where the bird 

 seldom ventures, 

 it appears awk- 

 ward and really 

 out of its ele- 

 ment. There are^-about thirty species of the 

 red-necked grebe found in North America, 

 but other species are scattered all over the 

 world where there is an average temperature. 



The ingenious grebe builds its nest of grass 

 and rushes and packs it with moss until almost 

 water-tight, and then attaches it by meant of 

 mud to tufts of grass, or allows it to drift 

 with the tide in some marshy inlet. About 

 five chalky-white eggs are laid and covered 

 over with vegetable matter when the bird 

 leaves the nest. The male bird keeps close 

 at hand after the young are hatched, and ho 

 supplies the nestlings with small fish and 

 insects. If danger threatens the grebe dives 

 quickly, and it is very expert and graceful in 

 swimming. The crested grebe, hell diver, pied- 

 billed and spirit duck are the most common 

 species. 



The grebe is hunted for its skin. This is 

 in demand for muff coverings, hat ornaments, 

 and the like, for the plumage of the bird is 

 heavy and the down is silken in its smooth- 

 ness. 



THE GREBE 



