OF THE RIVER SAINT LAWRENCE. 



283 



wan, the point of northern divergence just mentioned ; and it is important as being the 

 favorite route of the early voyageurs in their journeys to Lake Huron and Lake Superior. 

 Starting from the Hudson's Bay Post, at its confluence with the river, the Mattawan is 

 traceable in a course generally westerly, through five or six small lakes, terminating in 

 Trout Lake, which is the head of the drainage in this direction, and about six hundred 

 and fifty-nine feet above the sea. 



Among the various schemes which have been proposed for the improvement of the navi- 

 gation between the upper lakes and the Atlantic, that of Mr. Shanly, which is gaining 

 (and perhaps deservedly) the most favor, is one which proposed, after improving the Eiver 

 Ottawa, up to the mouth of the Mattawan, to follow the line of this tributary up to its 

 head water in the Trout Lake. From this point it is proposed to lock down into Lake 

 Nipissing, which is only about twenty-three feet below it, through the valley of the 

 "Vase." Lake Nipissing, which receives the drainage of the "Sturgeon," the "Namani- 

 tiffons " and other rivers, with that of numerous lakes, at their several head waters, com- 

 municates with the Georgian Bay, through French River; the length of the river being 

 about sixty miles, and the descent, effected in a series of weir-like falls, sixty-four feet. 



The entire distance from the Georgian Bay to Montreal, by the route which has now 

 been described (and which, of course, includes improvements of the river to overcome the 

 falls at Ottaw r a, the Chats, and other points of interruption, as well as the reconstruction 

 of the small canal near Carillon and Grenville), being four hundred and thirty miles. 

 The lockage upwards from Lake Huron to the summit would be eighty-seven feet, and 

 the fall downwards would be six hundred and nineteen feet, to the harbor of Montreal. 



And having now generally referred to this enormous river, a full description of which 

 might have occupied a far more extensive space, — and having mentioned the proposal to 

 improve the water communication, by a more direct route, between the upper lakes and 

 the Atlantic, it is only proper to draw attention to another project, with the same object 

 in view. This consists of a canal commencing at the level of Lake Huron, near Notta- 

 wassauga Bay, passing through part of the Valley of the Muskoka and of the Severn, 

 which constitute the drainage of Lake Simcoe, into Georgian Bay. It is proposed to 

 make Lake Simcoe, which is one hundred and thirty feet above Georgian Bay, the sum- 

 mit level ; and cutting through the dividing ridge, to a depth of two hundred feet, lock 

 down its southern slope, four hundred and seventy feet, into Lake Ontario, near Toronto. 

 With regard to both of these plans, however, little has been done beyond preliminary 

 surveys. The expenditure by the last-named route is estimated at $24,000,000 ; that by 

 the Ottawa route at about the same amount, including the further widening of the 

 Lachine Canal. 



