1908.] 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY ATHABASKA LAKE. 



21 



The following table shows the dates of the opening and closing of 

 the Athabaska at Fort McMnrray during a series of years:" 



Table showing condition of Athabaska at Fort McMnrray. 



THE BASIN OF ATHABASKA LAKE. 



Athabaska Lake is long and narrow and lies in a general easterly 

 and westerly direction. Its greatest length is about 195 miles; 

 greatest width, 35 miles ; and area, approximately 2,850 square miles. 

 Its elevation above the sea is about 090 feet. 



The principal tributary of Athabaska Lake is the river of the 

 same name, just described. Its capacity for deposition is so great 

 that, assisted by the Peace, it has filled up a large portion of what 

 was originally the western part of Athabaska Lake, and has isolated 

 several good-sized sheets of water, the largest of which, Lake Claire, 

 is some 35 miles in length. 



The north shore of Athabaska Lake is mainly rocky and sparsely 

 wooded, and is broken by the mouths of a number of insignificant 

 streams, which help to drain the unexplored country to the north- 

 ward. On its southern side, whose shores are mainly 1ow t and sandy, 

 Athabaska Lake receives the waters of William, Grand Rapid, and 

 several smaller rivers, which drain a large extent of country, also 

 unexplored. 



Black River, draining a very large area of rocky, sparsely wooded 

 country, flows into the extreme eastern end of Athabaska Lake. 

 It rises in Wollaston Lake, 1,300 feet above the sea, on the height of 

 land between Athabaska Lake and the Churchill. Black Lake, the 

 principal expansion in its lower portion, receives the waters of 

 Chipman River from the north, and Cree River, draining the large 

 lake of the same name, from the south. 



"The data given in this report regarding the condition of the rivers have 

 been compiled from various sources, hut are based almost entirely on records 

 kept in their daily journals by the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. 

 It may he well to state thai slight discrepancies regarding the time of occur- 

 rence of certain events, ;is recorded by different observers, have been noted. 

 For instance, one may record the date of the first appearance of drifting ice, 

 while another takes the date when the ice appeared in quantity. The total 

 of error in this regard, however, is inconsiderable. 



