CONDITIONS BY TOWNSHIPS 73 



once covered principally with pine, but has suffered at least three severe 

 fires in the past thirty-five years. Various escaped patches, especially 

 around Devil lake, show excellent pine reproductions. The old bum 

 type occupies 60.9 per cent of the area. 



Wollaston Township 



Watersheds. — The southeastern portion of the township to the ex- 

 tent of some 8 square miles is drained by a stream that falls into Dickey 

 lake and forms the headwaters of the Otter branch of Beaver creek, 

 while the remainder, with the exception of three square miles in the 

 northeastern part which drains into the York river, is drained by 

 Deer river, one of the tributaries of Crow river. Eagle lake, contain- 

 ing some 600 acres, is the largest body of water. Extensive swamps 

 are frequent. 



Topography. — The township contains a series of ridges running in a 

 northeasterly and southwesterly direction. The Ormsby-Coehill-Glen- 

 alda road, which runs through the centre of the township, traverses 

 six main ridges, having an elevation of about 200 feet above the streams. 

 To the northward the elevation increases to the height-of-land in Fara- 

 day township ; southward the ridges are of the same general elevation, 

 with the exception of the ridge separating Deer river and Beaver creek 

 waters, which is between 400 and 500 feet above the streams. 



Rock and Soil. — About two-thirds of the township is underlain by 

 limestone with amphibolite intrusions. There are diorite outcrops in 

 the southeastern and northeastern portions of the township, granite 

 in the southern portion, gneissic rocks in the southwestern and west- 

 central portions, and a small area of syenite near Coehill. The granite 

 outcrops, especially along the line of contact with the other rocks, 

 are almost entirely lacking soil. A belt of sand, approximately a mile 

 wide, extends across the centre of the township from east to west. 

 The soil on the limestone is, for the most part, thin and sandy. Where 

 deeper, it has a bed of boulders and pebbles for subsoil. 



Forest Conditions. — Somewhat more than 80 per cent of Wollas- 

 ton is forested. With the exception of the sand belt and the granite 

 areas, the township was originally covered with hardwoods, which, as 

 usual, are chiefly composed of sugar maple and beech. This type makes 

 up 42.6 per cent of the area. It has not been culled as severely as 

 most of the southern tier of townships, and nearly half of it was classed 

 as semi-virgin. Approximately 14 per cent of the area is swampy, 

 and much of the lumber industry is concerned in harvesting cedar poles 

 from the swamps. The mixed type, mostly swamps, comprises 5.7 

 per cent, and the ptu-e coniferous type — all swamps — covers 8.5 per cent 



