II.— Memorandum Regarding the Country Between Sudbury 



and Port Arthur 



By J. H. White 

 The line of travel was from Sudbury to Port Arthur and to Sault 

 Ste. Marie and northward on the Algoma Central. The method adopted 

 was to note what could be seen from the train, and to stop off at 

 possible sources of information. The only information of any value 

 was that furnished by Crown timber agents and lumbermen. From 

 Sudbtiry to Port Arthur on the C.P.R. there are but few operations 

 located, since most of the drainage is towards James bay. In conse- 

 quence, information of a definite character regarding the region north 

 of the railway could not be obtained. More success was met with re- 

 garding the southern portion. 



The region under consideration is a portion of the Laurentian 

 shield surrounding Hudson bay. In general the rock is Laurentian 

 gneiss and granite covered with a very thin soil, with some later pre- 

 ' Cambrian areas from Sudbury westward to Satilt Ste. Marie, between 

 Michipicoten and Missinaibi, from east of Heron bay to Port Arthur 

 and around lake Nipigon. 



It is a country characterized by the monotonous uniformity of 

 its physical features. It consists of a plateau broken by low hum- 

 mocky hills and ridges rising at most only a few hundred feet above 

 the general level, the valleys being occupied by lakes, muskegs, and 

 streams. 



(i) PROM SUDBURY TO PORT ARTHUR 



From Sudbury to Port Arthur, generally speaking, the country 

 along the railway has been burned at one time or another for the entire 

 distance of 550 miles.* Not much has escaped except the spruce swamps. 

 The burned areas have been partially recovered by temporary stands 

 of poplar, white birch and jack pine, either pure or in mixture. But 

 to a vast extent the country has been burned so repeatedly that there 

 is nothing left but bare rock. 



As to the amount of destruction north and eastward from the rail- 

 way little is loiown. In many cases the fire has not run back over 

 five to ten miles ; but in many others it has run back in streaks between 

 waterways for great but unknown distances. In 1891 fire swept from 



*See "Fire Losses in Ontario" by J. F. Whitson, 



