BORDERING ON SNAKE RIVER. 525 
stream of about fifty feet in width at its mouth. Between Fishing Creek and this 
place, Snake River is almost one succession of shallow rapids, its bed being covered 
with boulders to such an extent, that it became frequently necessary to make a 
channel for our bark canoe by the men getting into the water and removing them. 
For about nine miles above Knife River, both shores are lined at intervals with 
a dense and heavy pine forest, succeeded again by two miles of low bottoms, five to 
six feet above the water, bearing a growth of oak, ash, elm, and occasionally white 
walnut and soft maple, with a dense undergrowth of hazel. Beyond this, pine 
ridges approach the river, and prevail for several miles. 
For thirteen miles no rocks were observed in place; then twenty-five feet of red 
sandstone, alternating with ash-coloured clays, are exposed, covered with seventeen 
feet of stratified gravel and sand. 
No more ledges of rock are again seen for about thirty miles by water above 
Knife River, but the navigation of Snake River, in this distance, is much obstructed 
by frequent rapids, over and amongst blocks of erratics. Here sandstone again 
shows itself, but only in low, thin-laminated layers, which correspond to No. 2 of 
the last section, above the mouth of Knife River. A few hundred yards higher up 
stream, the height of the sandstone is eight feet, and lower layers come to view, 
rather coarser-grained than the superior strata, and made up of grains of the con- 
stituents of granite,—quartz, felspar, and mica,—from the destruction of which rock 
these sandstones are evidently derived. The beds are much broken and disturbed, 
dipping sometimes as much as 15° to the northeast. 
After proceeding about nine miles farther without being able to discover any rock 
in place, the high ground being entirely of drift, I found myself compelled to 
return, both because the river was now too shallow even for canoe navigation, and 
because our provisions were exhausted. My own observations on this stream, and 
those of Dr. Norwood on his overland route from St. Louis River to Lake Poke- 
goma, indicate the last section as the bounds of the sandstone formation in the 
valley of Snake River, before it is entirely concealed by drift and erratics, until it 
again appears on the St. Louis River. 
On Snake River there are some magnificent pine forests, finer, indeed, and of 
greater extent than I recollect to have observed in any portion of the district al- 
lotted to me for examination. 
The general elevation of the upland bordering the river does not often exceed 
twenty feet, and the bottom-lands vary from three to ten feet. The soil, except in 
the immediate neighbourhood of the trap ranges, is, for the most part, light and 
sandy. Neither the structure and contour of the country, nor the character of the 
igneous ranges, afford encouragement to the miner, the only evidence of the exist- 
ence of copper in this river being a few pieces found amongst the erratics. 
Kettle River—The first rock which shows itself in ascending this river is a mile 
and a half above the mouth, where a ledge of reddish-gray conglomerate crops out 
on the left bank of the river, composed of siliceous pebbles, varying in size from that 
of an almond to that of an egg, very loosely held together. 
Two miles and a half above the mouth is the first trap range, which appears on 
