6 



famous" water stretches" route by which Mr. Mackenzie for 

 several years brought settlers to Lake Superior through Lake 

 of the Woods to Red River. The Wolseley expedition, in 

 1870, followed the Winnipeg River, instead of the Dawson 

 route. Thus has Lake of the Woods, from its position, again 

 and again become an impcitant factor in the geogiaphy and 

 history of the Northwest. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Lake of the Woods, which has an area of 36,000' 

 miles, is divided naturally into two parts, the southern, which 

 is largely an open sheet of water and somewhat shallow, the 

 northern jEilled with a multitude of rocky islands. This 

 division arises from the geological features of the basin in 

 which the lake lies. 



The southern portion rests on the Laurentian strata,, 

 which are the oldest stratified rocks with which we are ac- 

 quainted. The Laurentian rocks consist chiefly of gneiss 

 rocks changed by metamorphic action, and these are lined 

 along the lake shore with beds of sand, which in the neigh- 

 borhood of the mouth of Rainy River, the chief tributary of 

 the lake, rise up as dunes and are seen for a considerable 

 distance. 



The northern division of the lake is made of rocks which 

 are much softei- and are cut up into innumerable islands. 

 They belong to the geological period known as Huronian, al- 

 though Mr Lawson, of the geological survey, to whom we are 

 indebted for many of our facts, states that they are not quite 

 identical with the Huronian of the shore of Georgian Bay. 

 He proposes to call our western formation the Keewatin. 

 The general inclination seems to prevail, however, to hold to 

 the name Huronian, and we may follow it. 



This forma':ion is notable as being found superimposed 

 in long bands, or stretches, upon the Laurentian. The Huron- 

 ian is generally regarded as a shore line formation. It is 

 besides very much contorted and disturbed, and it is geiier- 

 ally supposed that it has been thus affected by the inti'usion 



