1908.] 



ROUTES TRAVERSED — ALBERTA. 



89 



river, which until now has been running in a general northerly direc- 

 tion, turns sharply toward the east, being deflected by a range of low 

 hills. At this point the full thickness of the Grand Rapid sand- 

 stone — about 300 feet — is exposed, and it is found to be underlain by 

 a new formation, the Clearwater shale. About 8 miles below here 

 Little Buffalo River flows into the Athabaska from the west. Oppo- 

 site its mouth is Point Brule, rising abruptly over 400 feet and show- 

 ing- a section similar to that of Point La Biche, except that the under- 

 lying-shale is much increased in thickness. Near the month of Little 

 Buffalo River a quantity of gas escapes from the bed of the Atha- 



Fl< 



-Bowlder ]i;;vc(l rlmiv, Al li;il>:isk:i Stiver. 



baska. Six miles below is a considerable rapid known as the Brule. 

 Large boats are run in the middle or toward the right hank, but the 

 canoe track closely follows the Left hank. The Boiler Rapid occurs 

 19 miles below, and here also canoes are usually run on the Left side." 



"This part of the Athabaska seems to have beeu used firsl as a transporta- 

 tion route iu 1882, when the heavy machinery for the first northern steamer 

 (the first Orahame) was successfully taken through the rapids in scows, the 

 portable pieces coming by the "Id route via Methye Portage, in 1885 the ma- 

 chinery for (lie first .Mackenzie River steamer (the firsl Wrigley) \\-.\s brought 

 in by way of the Athabaska, bul one scow containing the boiler \\;is sunk in 

 a rapid, which has since borne the name Boiler Rapid. 



