56 REPORT OF THE 



No. 3 



Where the end of a mile came in a lake or river, the posts were planted 

 on the nearest land and distance noted. The line was well cut out and well 

 blazed. 



Observations for Azimuth were frequently taken. The magnetic vari- 

 ation of the needle was fairly steady at from two to four degrees west. 



General Description. 



The line for the first seventy-five miles passed through a rough rocky 

 and broken country of little value for agricultural purposes. Hills from two 

 hundred to four hundred feet and sometimes more in height were often met 

 with. Large areas have been burnt over and timber blown down in many 

 places making the work of getting a line through it or over it very difficult 

 and the packing of supplies along the line a very expensive matter. 



Some groves of banksian pine (often called pitch or jack pine) fit for 

 railway ties were met with, but as a rule the timber is not of much value 

 along this part of the line. There is, however, a considerable amount of spruce 

 fit for pulp wood in the swamps between the hills. 



The height of land between Lake Superior and Hudson's Bay was crossed 

 on the thirty-first mile, a few chains south of Obakamaga Lake. 



The clay belt was entered on the eightieth mile and continued as far as 

 the line was run, the timber being chiefly spruce from four to fourteen inches 

 in diameter with tamarac, balm of Gilead, poplar, white birch and some 

 cedar. There is not much of the latter however, in the country. It is 

 mostly found along the rivers and creeks. Much of the land on these forty 

 miles was covered with deep moss, but this can be easily burnt off as settle- 

 ment takes place upon completion of the National Trans-continental Rail- 

 way which was crossed on the ninety-seventh mile. No construction work has 

 yet been done on this undertaking near the boundary line. 



The Pegutchewan River was crossed on the seventy-ninth mile. It 

 was over two chains wide and quite deep, flowing easterly with rapid current 

 and many rapids. 



Flint River on the one hundred and twelfth mile about two chains in 

 width, joins the English River about two miles east of the line. 



The English River was ten chains wide where the line crossed it at the 

 end of the one hundred and twelfth mile flowing to the Albany with 

 rapid current over limestone rock. On this river there are many rapids 

 and falls making it difficult to ascend with canoes, the distance to Long Lake 

 being about sixty miles up stream. 



At the one hundred and twentieth mile the timber was spruce and tamarac 

 and smaller than farther south. 



Numerous lakes were crossed on the first seventy-five miles of the line, 

 many of them containing fish of the usual kinds, pike, pickerel, etc., speckled 

 brook trout were met with in one stream on the thirty-ninth mile. Obaka- 

 maga Lake on the thirty-first mile is a beautiful lake of clear water flowing 

 to the Albany River and is on the canoe route from Montizambert Station 

 on the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Albany River and Hudson's Bay. 



Game. 



Moose were frequently seen and a few cariboo. Partridge were not much 

 in evidence, signs of fur bearing animals were often met with, otter, mink, 

 marten, etc. The line passes through the trapping ground of the Indians 



oa L.M. 



