Ike Rideau Lakes. 231 



water's edge, as well as in the worn crests of these hills, 

 that it has been at one time the track of an ice flow. The 

 softer sandstone cliffs skirting the same river on its 

 southern side in Pittsburg, have had their general S 36° W 

 direction made for them by the same great force. The 

 islands are generally the lower peaks and crests of the 

 Laurentian ridges which the waters of the lakes on finding 

 an outlet have left unsubmerged. And everywhere in the 

 immediate vicinity of the lakes these same Laurentian 

 ridges, green with trees and shrubs to the water's edge, 

 add attractiveness to the scenery and especially beautify 

 the narrow passes and gorges which connect the different 

 lakes. 



The Rideau lakes are, in part, artificial. Sand, Opinicon 

 and Indian Lakes and probably also Mud and Clear Lakes, 

 were no doubt somewhat enlarged by the dams at the out- 

 lets of the first three lakes, whilst Cranberry Marsh which 

 was one of the sources of the Cataraqui Eiver, became by 

 the construction of the Brewer's Mills dam, the long, nar- 

 row but picturesque Cranberry Lake, with every trace of a 

 marsh effaced, and the Whitefish River became, by the 

 erection of a dam near Morton, the equally long and nar- 

 row Whitefish Lake. 



The effect of these last named dams being on the same 

 level has been to Unite Cranberry and Whitefish Lakes 

 sufficiently for navigation purposes. How far they were 

 originally connected has been an open question. Lieut. E. 

 C. Frome, RE., describing in the Royal Engineers' Reports 

 in 1837, the original line of communication before the 

 canal was constructed, alludes to the route being through 

 Whitefish Lake and by a channel through a quantity of 

 marshy land which had been flooded by dams erected at 

 Whitefish Falls and at the Round Tail, the source of the 

 Cataraqui River. Mr. Andrew Drummond whose personal 

 experiences here date back to 1832 is of opinion that there 

 was a connection between them, and he writes as follows 

 in regard to the sources of the Cataraqui and Gananoque 

 Rivers and to the route of the Rideau Canal here^as origin- 



