282 



ON THE HYDROLOGY OF THE BASIN 



waters of the' former draining back into the country, within nine miles of the main stream 

 of the St. Lawrence, at Prescott, where its head water is forty-nine feet above it, and 

 about ninety feet above its confluence with the Ottawa. The line of the main channel of 

 this small stream extends its tortuous course through deep alluvial soil, for upwards of a 

 hundred miles, passing through and producing swamps which have the same effect, to a 

 certain extent, as the lakes on the northern side. The Bideau llivcr has proportionately 

 a very large drainage area, filled with lakes and streams flowing chiefly from, and deter- 

 mined in outline by the outcrop of the Laurentian formation, which has been described 

 as sweeping down from the Chats Falls to the Thousand Isles, near Kingston. 



Above Ottawa there is rapid water extending for upwards of six miles, and from this 

 point the stream, although less direct, passes on in the direction of the northwest, over 

 and through a wilder country of the Laurentian Hills, with heavy forests of pine and 

 other timber extending down to its very margin. The irregular and tortuous channel, 

 swelling occasionally into deep, wide lakes, terminates immediately above Allumette 

 Island; and from this point the river, taking a slight bend once more; in a west-northwest 

 direction, pursues its course through a series of long reaches, separated from one another 

 by short, abrupt falls or rapids, with a tolerably uniform width and depth, as far as the 

 affluence of the Mattawan ; then turning to a direction almost northward, it is described 

 as terminating in a series of lakes, the largest of which, in the direct course of the river, 

 is "Temiscaming," " Tamagaminque," and "Grand Lake;" the one lying some distance 

 to the west, and the other about as far to the cast of Temiscaming, pouring their waters 

 into it by the "Montreal" and "Moose" Itivers respectively, and the drainage occupying 

 the whole district lying as far north as the forty-ninth parallel, and generally separated 

 from the drainage into the river below Ottawa by the meridian of seventy-six and a half 

 degrees. The affluents upon both sides of the river, for the portion west of Ottawa, are 

 much more numerous, and are all very much smaller than the streams previously men- 

 tioned. On the north side they consist of the "Colonge," uniting close to Portage du 

 Fort, the "Du Moinc," the " Bear," and the "Kippcvvay." On the south side, the chief 

 of these streams are the Mississippi, the Maclawaska, the Bonne Chere, the Petawawee, and 

 the Mattawan. These drain a vast extent of Laurentian formation, covered for the most 

 part with heavy pine timber, the district of the chief lumbering operations in Canada at 

 the present moment. The country is very much broken, and the bottoms of its valleys 

 and creeks are occupied by numerous streamlets and lakes lying at elevations extending 

 up to fourteen hundred feet above tidewater; at which elevations may be found the sources 

 of the streams last mentioned, draining into the Ottawa, and the head waters of the 

 Maganatawan, flowing into Lake Huron. 



One tributary, on the right bank of the river, unites with the main Ottawa, at Matta- 



