66 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



fairly level land and is of good clay loam, about 250 square miles in extent. 

 Elsewhere there are pockets of arable land but not of sufificient extent to be 

 worthy of note. For the most part it is solid rock and swamp or muskeg. 

 Where there is soil of any kind it is as a rule very light sand. The occasional 

 pockets of clay loam are so thickly sprinkled with boulders as to be of no use. 

 West of Pekangekum the country is consistently solid rock. We ran a line 

 around two sides of a rectangle and travelled the other two by canoe. The 

 freighting canoes went across the south half of this rectangle. From information 

 obtained in this way and from questioning the Indians, I am practically certain 

 that there is no land of farming value in this area except that above mentioned, 

 with the possible exception of a narrow strip on each side of the English River 

 from the junction of Red Lake River to Lac Seul. 



Timber, 



The area between Wenasagay River and Lac Seul is well timbered with 

 spruce and jack pine, averaging about four cords to the acre each, taking the 

 section as a whole. There is a considerable quantity of balsam here and lesser 

 stands of birch and poplar. The north shore of Lac Seul seems to be the northern 

 limit of white pine, red pine and cedar. There are a few scattered trees of 

 each of these along the lake shore. North of the Wenasagay River and over 

 all of the country included in the rectangle above described, fire has swept 

 about eight or ten years ago. On this huge area a second growth of banksian 

 pine is springing up in most places. Here and there a few square miles of the 

 original stand have escaped the fire, more particularly on the clay belt referred 

 to along the Berens River. In this section there are some small stands of large 

 aspen and spruce, but the quantity is too small to be of commercial value. 

 Previous to these fires the entire country has been very thickly wooded with 

 spruce of commercial size.- 



MlNERALS 



With the exception of two small areas we encountered only barren laur, ntian 

 formation. Two miles north of the Wenasagay River we first encountered 

 Huronian schists and greenstones and ran through this for twenty miles. We 

 found nothing of value in place, but found float of mahnetite, pyrites and 

 Galena. On our trip out we again encountered Huronian formation in the 

 neighborhood of Red Lake. 



Water Power. 



There are no water powers of outstanding value on any of the rivers 

 which we encountered. Those falls which might be mentioned are as follows: 



1. Twin Falls, on the Wenasagay River immediately below Bluffy Lake. 

 The upper falls could be flooded out by a dam at the lower one to give a natural 

 head of about 50 feet. This could not be materially increased. The low water 

 flow is about 200 c.f.s. The drainage area is about 5,000 square miles. Storage 

 possibilities as known are poor. 



2. Woman Falls, on the Berens River. The natural head is about 15 feet, 

 and could not be increased. Low water is about 250 c.f.s. Drainage area about 

 600 square miles. Storage possibilities as known are poor. 



3. White Dog Falls, on the Berens River. The natural head is about 18 

 feet. It could be increased to 28 feet. The low water flow is about 250 c.f.s. 

 The drainage area about 600 square miles. Storage possibilities as known 

 are poor. 



