226 REPORT OF THE No. 3 



The measurements for black spruce were taken as follows: 



Location No. of Av. Age on 



Trees 12-inch stump 



Remi Lake 119 



Grand Rapids, Mattagami River 51 109 years 



Lower Abitibi River, at Little Abitibi River 30 .... 



Upper Abitibi 39 



Upper Mattagami 133 112 years 



Fernow Lake 20 111 " 



Indian Reserve No. 9 50 109 " 



Total 442 



IV. Forest Types and Conditions. 



1. Relief and Drainage. 



From this standpoint the characteristic feature of the whole territory is 

 the low monotonous relief and slow drainage, the total fall in the 175 miles from 

 the Canadian Government Railway track to James Bay being only 900 feet. 



The most important topographic and drainage feature in the whole region 

 is undoubtedly the low escarpment — perhaps more pronounced in the western 

 part of the area — which marks the northern limit of the Clay Belt. This forma- 

 tion, which runs in a fairly definite northwesterly-southeasterly direction crosses 

 the Ontario-Quebec boundary line about forty miles north of the Canadian 

 Government Railway, runs north of Little Abitibi Lake, strikes the Abitibi 

 river in the neighbourhood of the Canyon, crosses the Mattagami about the 

 Long Rapids and continues westward out of the territory examined. 



Elevations on the Abitibi river as shown by O. L. S. Kenny in a survey of 

 this river made during the current year (1922), may serve to indicate the character 

 of this formation and of drainage conditions in the country generally. 



From Cochrane to the head of the Lobstick Rapids taken as the edge of 

 the escarpment, a total fall of 271 feet is recorded or five feet to the mile. The 

 drop over the escarpment — a distance of about 6]/2 miles from the head of the 

 Lobstick to the foot of the Abitibi Canyon — is 234 feet, or 36 feet to the mile. 

 From the foot of the Canyon to James Bay the fall is given as 406 feet in 120 

 miles or about 3.4 feet to the mile. 



The drainage is peculiar in that the main rivers — the Mattagami and the 

 Abitibi — have few feeders of importance and appear to flow through the 

 country without any very perceptible increase in volume of water. Perhaps 

 the best developed river system in the region is shown by the French which 

 flows into the estuary of the Moose from the west not far above Moose Post, 

 and which with its tributaries drains about one-third of the whole area examined. 



Lakes are usually small and of infrequent occurrence in the western and 

 northern sections of the country. South and east, however, in the territory 

 between Kesagami and Little Abitibi the occurrence of lakes of good size is 

 rather common. This condition continues eastward into Quebec. 



Finally it should be noted that the whole territory, because of the difference 

 in slope, falls naturally into two sections, a northern and a southern. 



In the former, the slope, as before noted, is only 3.4 feet to the mile and in 

 the latter five feet, giving a difference of 1.6 feet, which, though actually small, 

 is seen to be proportionately large. 



2. General Forest Conditions. 



The resultant difference in drainage conditions noted above is strongly 

 reflected in the character of the forest growth, giving two distinct timber regions 



