DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1929 87 



another rapids with a drop of 18 feet and here again the river is divided by an 

 island. A portage which passes the worst part of the rapids is on the south 

 side of the island. The power possibilities at these rapids are important provided 

 the cost of constructing the necessary dams, etc., is not too great. 



There are no further rapids on the Albany River until Frenchman's rapids 

 is reached. This is a rough rapid with a drop of about eight feet, and is situated 

 about 18 miles down stream from where the outlet of Eabamet Lake enters 

 the Albany River. 



The Opichuan is a comparatively small stream draining a number of lakes 

 of which Kagianagami Lake is the largest. There are a number of rapids on 

 this stream at some of which small powers could be developed. The total fall 

 from Kagianagami Lake to the Albany River is 157 feet. 



The Albany River flows through a rolling country which generally speaking 

 appears low and flat, as seen from the river. However, as one goes back into 

 the woods the ground generally becomes higher, and when one gets on an eminence 

 from which a view can be obtained, rolling hills appear in the distance. The 

 shores are generally low and stony with occasional rock outcrops, and here and 

 there stretches of sand and gravel. For some distance before reaching Miminiska 

 Lake, rolling hills could be seen rising to a height of 200 to 300 feet above the river. 



There is considerable timber of the varieties peculiar to this country, 

 spruce, jack-pine, white birch, poplar and balsam being fairly plentiful and of 

 good quality. A few scrubby ash and elm trees were seen on the low ground 

 where the Albany River enters Miminiska Lake. Cedar is fairly plentiful close 

 to the shore of some of the lakes, but the quality of the timber is poor. There 

 are very large areas which have been burnt over at different times in the past 

 and the greater part of the timber observed from the river during the season is 

 second growth of varying ages, depending upon when the fire destroyed the 

 original timber. Notes were made in the field notes on practically every traverse 

 course as to the kind and quality of timber seen along the shore, as well as any 

 other information which it was thought might be of interest, and these notes 

 have been placed on the plan which forms part of the returns of the survey. 



The agricultural possibilities of the country seen during the survey are 

 practically nil, very few tracts of arable land being seen which would be large 

 enough to make more than an ordinary garden. 



The rock exposures along the upper portion of the Albany River are almost 

 invariably granite and gneiss, with the exception of a small area of dark-green 

 schist at the outlet of Lake St. Joseph. There are some prominent granite hills 

 close to the river below Elbow Lake. About 20 miles above Miminiska Lake 

 there are some small exposures of dark-green rock with a schistose structure. 

 The rock exposures here are not plentiful but all along the river in this locality 

 the magnetic local attraction is very pronounced. Hills rising to a height of 

 200 to 300 feet above the river could be seen about a mile back, and it was thought 

 that there would probably be some rock exposures on these hills. Some pros- 

 pectors, who were met on the river, however, stated that these hills are almost 

 entirely composed of sand and gravel. The series of falls below Greenbush 

 Portage are all over these schistose rocks, but below the last of these falls the 

 river banks are very low and marshy, and in many cases stakes had to be driven 

 into the ground to make a steady support for the transit. Along the shores of 

 Miminiska Lake there are some exposures of these schistose rocks, and at one 

 place on the north side of the eastern part of this lake an exposure of lean-banded 

 magnetic iron ore was seen accompanied by strong local magnetic attraction. 

 It is probable that this band of schistose rocks extends through to Fort Hope, 



