EAINY AND WINNIPEG EIVEES. 51 



does not exceed two-thirds this amount. Excepting these rapids, Rainy- 

 River has an average descent of only about 8 inches per mile, giving to the 

 ordinary low stage of water a very gentle current. It is navigable for large 

 steamboats from the Lake of the Woods to the foot of the Long Sanlt, 

 and thence to Rainy Lake it is navigated by a tug or propeller, towing 

 Mackinaw boats. The banlis of the river are only 10 to 20 feet high, and 

 are fertile and hea\'ily wooded, having commonly a clayey soil. The most 

 important tributaries of Rainy River are on its south side, and include the 

 Little Fork and the Big Fork or Bowstring River (whose mouths are 

 respectively about 15 and 21 miles from Rainy Lake), Black River (4 miles 

 below the Big Fork), and the Rapids or Winter Road River (about 12 miles 

 from the Lake of the Woods). 



Winnipeg River, the outlet of the Lake of the Woods, has a length of 

 about 160 miles, flowing in a winding course to the northwest. Its total 

 descent is 350 feet, four-fifths of this being in the many falls and rapids 

 which occur along nearly its entire extent. These falls are divided by 

 portions with only a strong or gentle current, or by lake-like expansions of 

 the river where no current is perceptible. At Rat Portage the Winnipeg 

 flows out from the Lake of the Woods by two channels, which are divided 

 by Tunnel Island. Each channel descends about 16 feet, the eastern one 

 being called Hebes Falls, and the western one the Witches Caldi-on, which 

 opens into Winnipeg or Darlington Bay. After flowing about 8 miles 

 through this and other bays or lakes, the river enters the Dalles, passing 

 with a very swift current between perpendicular walls of granite. Beyond 

 the Dalles its banlvs and abundant islands along a distance of about 15 

 miles, as described by Keating, are clay slate, occasionally varying to mica- 

 schist. "The river expands considerably, being in some places sevei'al 

 miles wide. * * * Its current is swift, especially near the islands, but 

 it is free from ripples; we observed none of the foaming rapids which 

 characterize the lower i)art of the stream. The islands, which in some 

 places are countless, are generally small and of a form nearly square; from 

 the vertical stratification of the rock then- banks are perpendicular; they 

 generally rise from 10 to 20 feet above the level of the water." Below this 

 belt of slate the river flows through a very picturesque region of granite, 



