﻿1861.] 



HECTOE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 



397 



can be no question as to their origin. Similar sand-hills were ob- 

 served on the Souri River at the base of the Second Prairie-level, 

 which must have been formed on the shore of the extended lake. 



The resemblance which the plains along the base of this great 

 steppe bear to the shore of Hudson Bay at the present time may be 

 judged of from the description given by Sir J. Richardson, who says, 

 " The western shore of Hudson Ray between latitude 56° and 58° 

 is flat, and the depth of the sea decreases very gradually on approach- 

 ing them. In seven fathoms of water tbe tops of the trees are just 

 visible from a ship's deck. Large boulder-stones strew the beach, 

 and form shoals even at the distance of five miles from the shore, which 

 are very hazardous to boats." In proceeding up the river from 

 this coast, he says that after a traet of level country " the banks ' ' 

 (consisting, he before mentions, of drift-clay and boulders) " rise 

 from a very narrow river-channel to an elevation of very nearly 

 200 feet. Their outline is broken into eonical eminences by short 

 ravines, which open into the river at right angles. These banks have 

 exactly the same form and constituent parts as those which occur on 

 the eonfines of Lake "Winnipeg and the Saskatchewan." As he made 

 the latter remark in allusion to the nature of the underlying rocks 

 at the two localities without reference to the drift, it is all the more 

 valuable for the purpose of proving this similarity, which is so 

 striking between the present state of the coast of Hudson Bay and 

 the ancient coast-line along the base of the Third Prairie -level. In 

 the ragged district of this steppe there are enclosed numerous lakes, 

 some of great size, and all, without exception, more or less impreg- 

 nated with salts, of whieh siilphate of soda is the predominating 

 ingredient. In antumn after the dry summer, these lakes are fringed 

 with crystals, and the soil in many places is covered with a white 

 efflorescence. Whether these salts are derived from the superficial 

 deposits of the ancient coast-line or from the Cretaceous clays, I am 

 unable to say ; but the position of the salt-lakes, generally at the 

 same altitude, inclines me to the former opinion. 



The Laurentian axis is covered with a great deposit of drift, con- 

 sisting of coarse red sand, with many large and small boulders. This 

 deposit forms a flat swampy plain, well wooded towards the west, but 

 towards its eastern margin, as at Cold Water Lake, worn into deep 

 dry gulleys and round pot-holes without any exit. The thickness 

 of this deposit is from 200 to 300 feet, and the highest point of it 

 is about 900 feet above Lake Superior, or on a level with the plains 

 near Carlton. Glacial scratchings were distinctly seen at many 

 parts of the axis. The direction is generally north and south. 

 Hardly a surface in the granitic tracts did not present distinct 

 scratches. They were seldom, however, to be observed on southern 

 exposures of rock-surfaces if these sloped much ; but the more 

 surfaces with northern exposures sloped, the better they seemed 

 to be marked. 



As will be seen from section No. 2. PL XIII., in rising to the sur- 

 face of the third steppe we have the plains composed of the Cretaceous 

 strata with only a very thin coating of Drift, which has always a local 



VOL. XVII. PART I. 2 E 



