72 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Topography. — The whole township has the appearance of a dis- 

 sected plateau with no high elevations. The more rugged portions are 

 in the northern portion of the township. 



Rock and Soil. — The rocks are about equally divided in area be- 

 tween hornblende schists and crystalline limestones mixed with amphi- 

 bolite. There are outcrops of diorite along the western border south of 

 Ormsby and south of Salmon lake. The strata is tilted and much 

 of it is vertical. Outcropping ledges of rock are more abundant and 

 the soil is thinner than in the townships to the southward. In many 

 places it is not over six inches deep, the deepest upland soil covering 

 the rocks by not more than i8 inches. 



Forest Conditions. — ^About one-third (32.7 per cent) of the township 

 is covered by mature forest and 12 per cent is under cultivation. 

 The mature forest is mostly of the pure hardwood type, which covers 

 22.1 per cent of the area. The best stands of this type are found north of 

 Salmon lake, where about 2,000 acres have been only slightly culled. 

 The remaining 6,000 acres is severely culled or is second growth arising 

 from clean cutting. Eight per cent of the area is a mixed forest oc- 

 cupying the wetter situations and 2.6 per cent is of the coniferous 

 swamp type. The old pineries occupy 45.5 per cent of the area and 

 are now of the poplar-birch type, in which there are patches of excellent 

 pine and balsam reproduction.* Nearly 4,000 acres, or 9.7 per cent of 

 the area, were burned over in 191 1. 



Cashel Township 



Watersheds. — The portion of Cashel under consideration, about 

 35 square miles of the western part, is drained by the headwaters of 

 Beaver creek. It contains 1,400 acres of water surface, mostly in 

 Little Salmon and Devil lakes. 



Topography. — A well defined ridge separates Beaver creek from the 

 waters flowing eastward. Another ridge extends northeastward from 

 Little Salmon lake until it reaches the main ridge in concession xi. 

 These ridges are about 200 feet above the level of the lake. Numerous 

 small streams divide the spurs of these ridges into many small hills, 

 resulting in a diversified topography. 



Rock and Soil. — The rock and soil conditions are of the same 

 nature as those already described for Limerick. 



Forest Conditions. — The ridges mentioned above are capped with 

 hardwoods, which, for the most part, have not been severely culled. 

 These cover 26.8 per cent of the area. The remaining portion of the 

 mature forest is 2 per cent of the mixed type and 3.7 per cent of the 

 pure coniferous type. The region north of Little Salmon lake was 



*See pages 53 and 54. 



