422 A GLANCE AT THE POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
Salt is widely distributed, and the rocks yielding this material 
have been traced from the boundary line beyond the Saskatchewan 
towards Lake Athabaska.* 
Gold is known to exist throughout the Drift on both the branches 
of the Saskatchewan and its tributaries. Gold has also been 
found on the Assinniboine, and on some of the tributaries leading 
into the Qu’appelle or Calling River, hence, reasoning from known 
facts respecting the source and direction of the Drift which covers 
the country within 150 miles of the Rocky Mountains, there is the 
best ground for the belief that the source of the Assinniboine gold 
lies on the east side of the Basin of Lake Winnipeg, and will be 
found in altered Silurian rocks (already recognized) reposing on the 
Laurentian strata which form the east shore of Lake Winnipeg, and 
stretch thence towards Lake Athabaska. 
The extensive bituminous deposits which occur on Clear Water 
River belonging to the Athabaskay valley, deserve mention, as valu- 
able deposits in store for future use. 
In contemplating the future of Central British America one im- 
portant feature appears to be neglected, if not entirely overlooked. 
While Lake Winnipeg is 2500 miles from the sea board of the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, and lies exactly in the centre of the American Con- 
tinent under the 51st parallel, its northern extremity is only 380 
miles from the tide waters of Hudson’s Bay. 
The mouth of the Saskatchewan is as near to the open sea as Fort 
* his important material is distributed throughout a large part of the valley of Red 
River, the basin of Lakes Manitobah and Winnepegoosis, and thence north- westerly towards 
the Arctic Sea; the Brine Springs occur at the junction of the Silurian and Devonian rocks 
of the Winnipeg Basin, and have already yielded salt of excellent quality in several locali- 
ties. Many years ago (1823) sali was manufactured at Pembina, and more recently at the 
salt works, Manitobah Lake, by Red River natives, and at Swan River by the Hudson’s Bay 
Company. Springs rich in brine are known to exist in upwards of twenty different places 
along a stretch of country extending from the boundary line to the Saskatchewan. In the 
valley of La Riviere Sale, about twenty-six miles from Fort Garry, salt springs are numerous, 
and the ground in their vicinity is frequently covered with a thick incrustation. 
+ Although the Athabaska district, as a whole, may be remote from the line of settlements 
which will be first established across the continent, yet it is a vast territory in reserve, and. 
one which as time rolls on will become peopled with a pastoral race, and eventually exercise 
an important influence upon the more fertile and arable districts ef the North Saskatche- 
wan. Asa great grazing country it will early attract attention ; and its vast stores of bitu- 
men will be a source of great utility where portable fuel and means of creating artificial 
light must command a remunerative price, when the increase of population calls into exist- 
ence those necessaries which belong to civilized communities. The Athabaska district should 
_ by no means be shut out of view in contemplating the future of the Basin of Lake Winni- 
peg. Its proximity to the auriferous valleys of the west and east flanks of the Rocky Mount= 
aius will soon secure for it a conspicuous position in the future of the NoRTH-WEsT. 
