Some Notes on the Rideau Canal. 461 
locks, the whole canal would be rendered practically use- 
less. 
The depth of water in the different lakes, according to 
old navigators and fishermen, is not very great. The lakes 
on the St. Lawrence slope do not, it is said by them, exceed 
100 feet in depth. My own soundings in the upper half of 
of Lower Rideau Lake at points where our fisherman indi- 
cated were the greatest depths, gave 114 feet as the 
maximum, but in the Rocky Narrows nearer Oliver’s Ferry 
on the same lake, the lead has, it is asserted, found the bot- 
tom at about 200 feet. 
The waters of these in land lakes are in similar depths con- 
siderably colder than those of Lake Ontario. On the 6th 
July, 1893, at noon, under the conditions of strong sun, 
with a few light clouds and a comparative calm, the ther- 
mometer readings, at one half a mile from Grindstone 
Island, in Lower Rideau Lake, gave the following tem- 
peratures of the water : 
HGinchrbolowasunrtaceccciie tect meine een a Tiiou Ee 
23 feet “ COSMET awe are tt Pu ae ae ae eae ee AOD. 
102 « ‘e SOMME Ease suas ray Sinehatoret hi okereDele ove 47°5° FE. 
Half an hour later, at another locality, a quarter of a mile 
farther fromthe isiand, and with more clouds in the sky, the 
record indicated : ' 
Linch below surface .-...0 ..ssse ceeees ea ieteth (Gore 
ZAC E) oa! i naduddoecdk.c§ sobuss goods Op (ES? 18 
96 “ z= 6806051200080, 000040 Goce 45° F. 
In the Ontario waters, at this period, with their temper- 
ature raised by constant accessions from Lake Erie, which 
not only lies further south but is also very shallow, the 
mercury in the main channel opposite Kingston stood at 
62°25° in 11 fathoms in one locality, and at 53° in 17 
fathoms in another. 
In Cataraqui Bay, where the waters of the canal join 
Lake Ontario, there is what old navigators call ‘‘a tide” of 
ten inches to one foot, caused evidently by the frequent 
westerly winds on Lake Ontario forcing the water to a 
higher level in the gradually contracte! area forming the 
