338 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



to be considered as more than brooks, or, at most, rivulets, 

 and I do not know of one of them that can be navigated 

 from the lake, even by so shallow draft a craft as a canoe. 

 They one and all, as far as I know, enter the lake as 

 falls or fierce rapids. I am, of course, exempting from 

 this description the rivers at Fort William, already 

 described, and the channels which connect the great 

 lakes. These latter are scarcely correctly described 

 as rivers. They are simply straits joining the various 

 lakes. The Alemipigon River, also, leading to the 

 lake of the same name, can be navigated by canoes. 

 This lake has been made a great mystery of in the 

 past, and its size greatly exaggerated. Thirty years ago 

 even its correct name was not known to the Canadian 

 Government, if it is now — a matter on which I presume 

 to have my doubts. It seems to be officially known as 

 Nipigon or Neepigon ; the Indians, who, I think, should 

 know best, pronounce it Al-e'-mip'-i-gon, which means 

 the " lake of the m5Tiad rocks." 



I thought Alemipigon to be about fifty by forty 

 miles in area; but a Government survey made since I 

 visited it gives the dimensions as seventy miles long by 

 fifty broad, a size that alone would make it a remarkable 

 natural object in any country, but this is the native land 

 of great lakes. It has bold rocky shores like Superior, 

 and is crowded with rocky islets. It will, some day, be 

 the centre of great mining operations ; for silver abounds 

 in every rock, and the copper ore is perhaps as rich as 

 that of the Kioueounan peninsula on the south side of 

 Superior, while, for scenery, it can hold its own with any 

 lake of this vast region. Alemipigon is about thirty-five 

 miles, as the crow flies, from the most northerly shore of 

 Superior. 



Continuing along the coast of Superior, the next 

 point of interest is Pigeon River, which is the boundary 

 between the United States and the British possessions, 

 and is remarkable for but little else. Continuing, we 



