^I'J'L^LES AND ABSTRACTS OF PA L'ERS 147 



of Lake Agassiz. witli an elevation of SSO feet above tlie .sea. Two miles far- 

 ther north is another somewhat higher rirlge of gravel, with an elevation of 

 924 feet above the sea. At mile 31 on the railway a ridge, the summit of which 

 is 904 feet above tide, shows gra^^el IG feet in depth. At mile 109, at the foot 

 of a slope facing toward the north, is a strong gravel beach, with a thickness 

 of 22 feet of gravel. Its summit is 848 feet above tide. At mile 127 a gravel 

 ridge was reported to me by the chief engineer as occurring a few miles to one 

 side of the right of way. The gravel in it was 20 feet thick and the summit 

 of the ridge is 805 feet above tide. 



From here northward for many miles the country is covered with well strati- 

 fied clays of Lake Agassiz, though near mile 157 there was reported to be a 

 light gravel ridge, the crest of Avhich was 781 feet above tide. Thence to the 

 bridge across Nelson River, at mile 241, the country is gently undulating, 

 without any marked elevation, and is covered throughout by evenly and regu- 

 larly stratified beds of clay. Two miles before reaching the bridge the under- 

 lying granite was observed at a place where it had been recently stripped of 

 its covering of soft clay. Consequently its surface was not weathered and it 

 was almost everywhere scored by glacial grooves and strire of the last Labra- 

 dorean glacier running true west. In sheltered depressions there were also 

 grooves and stria; of an earlier glaciation running south 40° west. In these 

 depressions the surface showed no signs of weathering. 



From the crossing of Nelson River the railway runs eastward. At mile 245 

 the stratified clay is still several feet in thickness, but ten miles farther east, 

 at mile 255, it had almost disappeared. Near this place an esker makes its 

 appearance and extends eastward as a prominent gravel ridge. From it the 

 railway is obtaining a much needed supply of gravel for ballast. The height 

 of the top of this esker is about 750 feet above tide. Hence eastward the land 

 is a vast level plain underlain by a stony till containing many irregular 

 boulders, and is usually covered with a mantle of bog moss several feet in 

 thickness. 



Here, therefore, about 14 miles east of the Nelson River, and at an elevation 

 of 700 to 750 feet above tide, was the eastern shore of Lake Agassiz, when its 

 waters last washed against the foot of the Labradorean glacier. The glacier 

 had previously extended farther westward into the basin of the lake, as we 

 have seen from the grooves and stri;iR on the rocks west of the Nelson recorded 

 aboA'c, and also from other records given in my report, Mrritten in 1S90 and 

 published in 1002, on "The northeastern portion of the district of Saskatclie- 

 wan," which country is now mostly included within the province of Manitoba. 

 Whether at any earlier period, in its advance westward, the Labradorean 

 glacier reached the eastern shore of Lake Agassiz at some place farther east 

 than this and afterward plowed away or overrode such lacustrine beds as may 

 have been deposited in front of it in the lake is not known. 



I'roceeding eastward over the till-covered plains, at mile 286, where the 

 track has an elevation of 630 feet abo^e tide, a well washed sandy esker rises 

 to a height of 45 feet above the general level and extends east and west for a 

 considerable distance. On its surface are scattered a few boulders from one 

 to two feet in diameter. At mile 295, at an elevation of 558 feet above tide, is 

 a little sand ridge in which some of the pebbles are fairly well rounded. It 



