1921-22 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS 63 



Appendix No. ig. 



Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., October 31st, 1920. 



Sir, — I beg herewith to submit the following report of the survey of a 

 meridian line and a base line run during the summer of 1920 under instructions 

 from the Department of Lands and Forests, dated May 17th, 1920. 



I left Franz Station on the Canadian Pacific Railway on May 28th, 1920, 

 with a party of twenty men, and travelled to Hudson Station by way of the 

 Algoma Central & Hudson Bay, and Canadian National Railways. We were 

 obliged to wait over for one day in Hearst. Hudson Station is situated on an 

 arm of Lac Seul called Lost Lake, and consists of a small Hudson Bay Post. 

 I was met by the Transportation Agent of the Company for that district and 

 received the courteous assistance for which the Company is noted. We detrained 

 at 11 o'clock in the morning of May 28th, and left the next morning at 7.30 

 o'clock in a York boat towed by the Hudson Bay Company freighting launch, 

 "Ripple." We camped over night at Lac Seul Post and arrived at our point of 

 commencement the next day at noon. My supplies had previously been taken 

 to Pine Ridge Post 20 miles farther down the lake. The men for the freighting 

 canoes went on to this post. The next morning the Ripple brought us back 

 enough provisions for two weeks. We commenced work on the 30th of May 

 and finished the 6th of September, having run 160 miles of line. 



Our place of beginning was the 33rd mile post of O. L. S. Patten's meridian 

 line of 1919, which was run north astronomically from the north-west corner 

 of the township of Rowell. This point is on the north shore of Lac Seul. From 

 there we ran north astronomically 87 miles to the 120th mile post of the said 

 meridian. We then ran west astronomically 73 miles on 6 mile chords of the 

 parallel of latitude. The first twenty miles of our meridian, namely, as far as 

 Wenassagay River, was through green timber, the remaining 67 miles was 

 almost entirely through a brule from eight to ten years old where fallen timber 

 was piled three to six feet high. Our base line was also through brule for its 

 whole length. 



The freighting canoes went first up the Wenassagay River to Bluffy Lake 

 and left a cache on an island there. They then returned to Pine Ridge Post 

 and started out with the bulk of the supplies to Goose Lake by way of the 

 English River, Trout Lake River, Woman River, Shabumeni (Gooseberry) 

 Lake and Berens River. We first met them a few miles below Woman Lake. 

 From this point to Goose Lake they brought supplies in to us from their main 

 canoe route approximately every fifteen miles until we reached Goose Lake. 

 From Goose Lake to Pekangekum (Dirty Water Narrows) I was able to provision 

 the party every four or five days as the Berens River paralleled the line through 

 this distance. The general direction of the Berens River below Pekangekum 

 is northwesterly, and I anticipated difficulties in keeping touch with the freight- 

 ing canoes. The Indian Chief came to my rescue at the last moment and acted 

 as guide, with the result that I was able to get all my canoes to a point on the 

 nine eight miles from the end. 



The party consisted of twenty-five in all, made up as follows: 



1 Surveyor. 



1 Assistant. 



2 Chainmen, 

 1 Cook, 



