132 KEPOKT OF THE No. 3 



the last five years. Owing to the spring freshets and the forest fires, which swept 

 over the greater portion of the townships in the neighbourhood of Matheson during 

 the latter part of July and the fore part of August, most of the culverts, small 

 bridges and a couple of large bridges were destroyed by fire, and much of the 

 corduroy roads burned over. Immediately after the fire, work was begun in repair- 

 ing the damage done. This occupied nearly all the time from August to the end of 

 the season and cost considerable. Most of the timber suitable for culverts was 

 burned and permanent corrugated iron culverts had to be procured; 140i of these 

 were secured and the greater number of them have been placed. A few of the 

 smaller bridges have been re-constructed and work is now under way constructing 

 two of the larger bridges burned out. 



The heavy freshets during the month of April, as in other sections of the 

 district, did great injury to many of the clay roads, which had to be re-graded. 

 Labour was hard to procure and expensive. Several of the proposed new roads had 

 to be abandoned. The results obtained in this district, owing to the great losses by 

 fire, in the construction of new roads this season have not been entirely what was 

 hoped for or expected. 



The warehouses, office and stables at Matheson were completely destroyed, along 

 with considerable camp equipage and supplies. These, liowever, were partially 

 covered by insurance. They have since been re-constructed. 



Fifty acres of land on the north part of Lot 4, Concession 6, Bowman Township, 

 was cleared, stumped, fenced and plowed and about 30 acres of it put under culti- 

 vation as an Experimental Farm. The results were very satisfactory, 



POECUPINE MINING SECTION. 



Total number of miles of road under construction 18 miles 



New roads constructed and graded 5i/^ miles 



Old roads graded 7% miles 



Roads re-surfaced with stone 5% miles 



The Trunk Road between Golden City and Mattagami Eiver, which passes 

 through South Porcupine and Timmins, over which there is a great deal of heavy 

 traffic between the mines, was re-surfaced with rock for 2i/2 miles and with gravel 

 for 11/^ miles. 



A new road starting from the Trunk Road at the Mattagami River was cut out 

 and graded north along the easterly bank of the river to Concession 2, Township 

 of Mountjoy for li^ miles, to accommodate the farmers along the river. 



The road between the Townships of Tisdale and Mountjoy, and between the 

 Townships of Delora and Ogden from the Town of Timmins to the Hay den Mine, 

 334 miles was widened, grubbed and graded. One bridge, 26 foot span, was recon- 

 structed and part of the road surfaced with gravel. 



A road from the T. & N. 0. Rly. crossing at the Town of Timmins to the 

 Vipond Mine was grubbed, graded and surfaced with crushed rock from the mines 

 for a distance of 1 mile. 



A road from South Porcupine to the Crown Chartered -Mine and other mines 

 along the boundary between Tisdale and Whitney, was repaired and graded for a 

 distance of 3 miles. 



A branch road from the Trunk Road, between Golden City and South Porcu- 



