1908 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS' AND MINES 105 



The return journey was made via English River, Long Lake and Pic 

 River to Heron Bay and thence by the Canadian Pacific Railway to Toronto, 

 which was reached on 24th September. 



General Feattjees. 



The country involved in this survey lay chiefly in the valleys of the 

 Pegutchewan and English Rivers and in the vicinity of the located line 

 of the National Transcontinental Railway, extending over a total breadth 

 of twenty miles from south to north and a length of eighty-seven miles 

 from east to west, the eastern thirty miles, more or less, being in the District 

 of Algoma and the remainder in Thunder Bay. Access is had from the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway as far as the height of land, by the Nagagami 

 Canoe route to the east from Montizambert and the Pic River route from 

 the west. Beyond the height of land the Nagagami route extends as far as 

 the English River and the Pic River route forks, the east branch waters 

 following the waters of the Pegutchewan and the west branch the English 

 River. 



Generally speaking the surface is high lying, gently undulating and well 

 watered, with good drainage facilities. 



The clay belt extends, along the lines surveyed, to about thirty miles 

 west of the district boundary and, from credible information received, we 

 believe it here deflects northward. To the west and south, the country is 

 more rugged and the soil sandy and stony. Numerous lakes, some of con- 

 siderable extent, are found in the more rugged parts. 



Eire has swept over nearly half the country east of the English River, 

 which wns crossed by our third base line at about twenty miles west of the 

 district boundary, and in some parts a secoiid burning has removed so much 

 of the dead timber that clearing for agricultural purposes will prove a very 

 easy matter. 



Soil. 



Good clay soil, exposed to view in many places by the action of fire, 

 covers about the easterly sixty miles of the work, at least seventy to eighty 

 per cent, being excellent farm land. 



To the west of the region above described, sandy soil predominates with 

 an occasional small area of clay and outcroppings of granite rock, only a 

 comparatively small part being suitable for agriculture. 



'. Timber. 



The timber, in the part lying east of the English River, which has so far 

 escaped damage by fire, is chiefly spruce, tamarac, poplar, balm of gilead, 

 balsam and white birch of good quality, with occasional scrub cedars. If 

 not destroyed before the completion of the railway, a considerable amount 

 of pulpwood will be furnished by the spruce in this region, in addition to 

 supplying the needs of the feettl^rs. The tamarac, nearly all of which is 

 still free from the ravages of the pest, will form a valuable asset in the way 

 of railway ties. 



To the west of the English River the timber has suffered less from fire, 

 and comprises spruce, banksian pine, tamarac, poplar, white birch, balm 

 of gilead and balsam, with a few scattered cedars, more particularly in the 

 river valleys. Considerable areas of banksian pine of good quality, ranging 



