232 Canadian Record of Science. 



ally projected : " I think, originally, there was a flow from 

 Lo'ugborough Lake into the Cataraqui through what was 

 then known by the name, not of Cranberry Lake, but of 

 Cranberry Marsh, which became a lake when the waters 

 •were raised by the artificial dams at Brewer's upper mill 

 and at Whitefish Lake. The latter, as far as my recollec- 

 tion serves, was considered the source of the G-ananoque 

 Kiver." 



" From a mere commercial point of view, the first en- 

 gineering report recommended the construction of the 

 Rideau navigation route by the way of the Whitefish or 

 Gananoque River, but the British Government decided that 

 it must be built by the Cataraqui River to Lake Ontario 

 direct, and not by an outlet on the St. Lawrence River, 

 where vessels would be more or less subject to annoyance 

 from the United States in time of war." 



The great importance of maintaining as far as possible 

 the level of Upper Rideau Lake, by conserving the waters 

 of its tributary lakes, has been forcibly illustrated during 

 the past summer. The long continued drought during 

 August led to the waters falling so low that steamboats 

 and bai'ges drawing five feet constantly grounded in the 

 long, narrow cut at Newboro, and it became a question 

 whether navigation for the larger vessels would not have 

 in consequence to cease over the entire system. This is a 

 difficulty likely to occur more frequently in the future in 

 the Rideau Lakes on account of the gradual removal of 

 large sections of the surrounding forests by fire, and the 

 uncontrolled cutting down of even the smaller sizes of tim- 

 ber there by lumbermen. 



A Rideau Lakes Reserve. 

 What is needed here is a forest reserve around the sys- 

 tems of lakes which form the feeders of the Rideau Lakes. 

 By protecting the reserve from bush fires and absolutely 

 withdrawing it from settlement, the trees will be allowed 

 to grow again, and the accumulations from the melted 

 snows and from the summer rains which presently are 

 quickly drained off, will be held back within the forests and 



