SASKATCHEWAN RIVER. 61 



first flowing- to the James and Sheyenne, had been wholly drained away by 

 its outlet through Langs Valley and the Peiiibina River. The length of 

 the Souris is nearly 400 miles, but it is only 5 to 10 rods wide along its 

 lower portion. In North Dakota its descent is approximately from 1,650 to 

 1,400 feet above the sea, and thence to its mouth it falls about 32.5 feet. 



Little Saskatchewan or Fairford River. — An area that extends more than 

 200 miles west from Lake Winnipeg and includes an equal distance in lati- 

 tude, from the most northern part of Lake Winnipegosis to the south end 

 of Lake Manitoba, is drained by the Little Saskatchewan or Fairford 

 River.^ Sevei'al small streams flow into the south end of Lake Manitoba, 

 and the Water Hen River, the outlet of Lake Winnipegosis, flows into its 

 north end. Four considerable streams are tributary to Lake Winnipegosis, 

 namely; Mossy River, the outlet of Lake Dauphin, flowing into its south 

 end, and the Swan, Red Deer, and Overflowing rivers at its northwest end. 

 Riding and Duck mountains form the southwestern boundary of this basin, 

 but the Porcupine Hills are entirely inclosed between the Swan and Red 

 Deer rivers, and the latter drains much of the plateau bordered by the 

 Pasquia Hills. 



Saskatchewan. River. — The lower part of the basin of the Saskatchewan, 

 next to its mouth, was latest occupied by the ice-sheet; but that area was 

 evidently relinquished by it, allowing this great river to take its present 

 course, before Lake Agassiz began to be th-ained northeastward. From the 

 most western sources of the Saskatchewan in the Rocky ]\Iountains to its 

 mouth is a distance of more than 700 miles, and the maximum width of its 

 basin is about 350 miles. Its two branches, of nearly equal size, the North 

 and South Saskatchewan rivers, unite 230 miles west of Lake Winnipeg. 

 The elevation of the South Saskatchewan at Medicine Hat, where it is 

 crossed by the Canadian Pacific Railway, is 2,137 feet; at its elbow, 1,619 

 feet, approximately, and at its junction with the North Saskatchewan, about 

 1,200 feet. Cedar and Cross lakes, through which the Saskatchewan flows 



' The portion of this river extending 10 miles, with a descent of about 15 feet, from Lake 

 Manitoba to Lake St. Martin, is commonly called the Fairford River, and the lower portion, extend- 

 ing 31 miles and falling 85 feet to Lake Winnipeg, is known as the Little Saskatchewan. — .1. B. 

 Tyrrell, Geo], and Nat. Hist. Survey of Canada, Annual Report, new series, Vol. IV, for 1888-89, 

 pp. 19-21A. 



