DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1930 95 



All other sections are rapid and cannot be paddled by canoe; poles and 

 lines have to be used. 



Between station and 142, there is no portage, while the fall in this section 

 is about one hundred and twenty feet. 



The river has not been used for transport or by canoes within the limits of 

 the survey. 



The first heavy fall occurs at station 143 where a portage of thirty chains 

 was cut to avoid two drops in the river totalling 40 feet 9 inches of fall. 



At these two points the water flows through fractures in granite and gneissic 

 rocks on contact with dykes of diabase. 



At the narrowest point the falls are less than twenty feet in width and form 

 admirable water powers. 



The amount of water available at normal flow, however, limits the amount 

 of power possible at any point in this river and does not amount to much during 

 the summer season. 



Between station 143 and the end of the work canyons occur frequently, the 

 largest fall occurring at station 169-170, and amounting to 53 feet. 



None of the side streams within the limits of the survey can be navigated 

 for any distance from the mouth. 



They consist in the main of rapid little brooks not more than half a chain 

 to one chain in width at the mouth. Bad River is the largest and this cannot 

 be travelled by canoe for more than a quarter of a mile from its connection 

 with the Little Abitibi River. 



During spring floods both Bad River and Trout Creek might be traversed 

 by canoe for a few miles from their junctions, but the swift waters would render 

 the use of paddles impossible. 



Several good water powers occur over the eight-mile stretch of canyons 

 between the first portage and the end of the work at station 204. 



These are shown on plan together with outlines of the various portages 

 cut to avoid them. 



Approximately two and one quarter miles of portage were cut during the 

 progress of the survey. 



Timber 



With the exception of a small burn limited between stations 10 and 18, a 

 mile or so from the mouth, virgin forest predominates along both banks of the 

 river to station 83, a distance of over 15 miles along the banks. 



This forest consists of spruce, a limited amount of balsam, birch, poplar, 

 balm of Gilead, with heavy cedar along the shore line and skirting the banks 

 of the creeks. 



Along the high ridges, ten chains or more from the river banks, good jack 

 pine occurs, but the growth is not continuous, and there are long stretches 

 where jack pine is not noticeable from the river. 



The spruce is of good quality and above the average in size and quantity. 



The timber on the whole continues good to the highest level of the banks 

 and along all creeks examined in route. 



From station 82, near the mouth of Bad River which approaches from the 

 east, to station 132, near Trout Creek, approaching from the west, the river 

 traverses burnt country and no timber of any value obtains along this section. 



I estimate this burn to have occurred ten to twelve years ago, as most of 

 the charred timber has fallen and forms a network of impassable underbrush 

 along the banks and extending almost to the top of the ridges. 



