. THE LAURENTIAN PENEPLAIN 625 



Until the work of scientific exploration was undertaken by the 

 government, little valuable information about the resources of 

 the area was available, although much had been gathered in the 

 preceding two hundred years by the employees of the great 

 trading companies. This informatibn was, however, kept buried 

 in their archives, since the policy of these companies required 

 that the richness and extent of their domain be kept secret as 

 much as possible. 



The beauty and diversity of the scenery, the innumerable 

 lakes and waterways, the fascination of the dense forests, the 

 salubrity of the upland climate during the summer season, and 

 the opportunities afforded for exercising the innate hunting 

 instincts present in nearly every man, will more and more make 

 the accessible portions of the region the resort of those who 

 would for a time leave the tiring, nerve-straining experiences of 

 our modern cities behind them and find quiet, rest, and health in 

 the peaceful wilds of the Laurentian Peneplain of Canada. 



THE DATE OF EMEKGENCE OF THE CANADIAN SHIELD. 



The earlier studies of Walcott (39) on the Cambrian, and the 

 recent investigations of Ulrich and Schuchert on the later 

 Paleozoic, faunas of North America have led to the conclusion 

 that 



the present North American continent was in existence and practically 

 in full development as land at the close of Algonkian time, and that since 

 that period, the Canadian shield and other smaller Archean land areas have 

 never been wholly submerged. The periodic encroachment of the sea on the 

 Canadian shield attained considerable extent on the north and west and more 

 particularly on the south. The east shore, on the contrary, remained nearly 

 the same till comparatively recent time — probably Post-cretaceous. (37, 

 p. 659O 



Accepting these conclusions, it would naturally follow that a 

 land area exposed for so long a time as has since elapsed would 

 have undergone extreme degradation, and we should naturally 

 expect to find it exhibiting all the features characteristic of the 

 penultimate stages of the geographic cycle. 



On the other hand, if we investigate the features of the region 

 under discussion, we are led to similar conclusions. The very 



