46¢ 
Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 
“Hast of the Coppermine river the beach is usually sandy, with clay 
and gravel hills behind. The Naparktoktuok, a short river which flows 
out through steep clay hills about ten miles east of the Coppermine, has 
a few small spruce growing in the valley within ten miles of the coast, 
several miles north of the northern limit of trees on the Coppermine 
itself. The Kogaryuak river, about eighteen miles east of the Copper- 
mine river, has a comparatively level, sandy coastal plain two or three 
miles wide near its mouth, with a number of small shoal lagoons and 
ponds on the surrounding tundra. Willows grow four or five feet high a 
mile or two up this stream. Back of the narrow coastal plain are-short 
diabase ridges here and there, among which, at the base of the talus slopes, 
are narrow, sloping passes grown with deep tundra moss and ‘nigger- 
head’ tussocks of cotton-grass (Eriophorum). 
“The country on the south side of Coronation gulf is in general 
about the same for about sixty-five miles east of the mouth of the Copper- 
mine river, to a point a few miles west of port Epworth or the mouth of 
Tree river, where the granite appears on the coast in the form of rounded 
granite knolls and small rounded granite islands fringing the coast. 
East of this point the granite is often overlain with quartzite, shale, 
sandstone, or dolomite, but the basic rock is granite. 
“Tree river, known to the Eskimos as Kogluktualuk, flows for its 
last few miles through a narrow valley of clay hills, with numerous 
thickets of willows near its banks.! Like all the other rivers of this 
region it has falls or rapids within a few miles of its mouth. In the some- 
what sheltered valley of this river the flora is considerably richer than 
on the coast, and the local natives say that it has some spruce on one of its 
branches which heads farther west, not far from the Coppermine. So 
far as is known, there is no timber on any Arctic-flowing river east of 
Tree river, and outside of the scanty timber on the lower Coppermine 
river there is probably no other timber nearer than the valley of the Thelon 
or Akkilinek river, which flows into Chesterfield inlet. Backs river is 
said to have no timber on any part of its course. 
“Where not hidden by later formations, the granite appears here 
and there east of cape Barrow until it becomes the prevailing rock at the 
surface in the southern half of Bathurst inlet and eastward. The granite 
country in general is barren on the rugged summits and slopes, except 
for lichens which are usually gray, but in some places give a reddish 
appearance to great areas on the hillsides. From the tops of the hills 
careful inspection shows many bright green patches in little valleys or 
gullies, or insmall basins in the rocks where a little soil has collected. 
In such places, low dwarf willows, sphagnum moss, cotton-grass, and 
other species have gained a footing. Arctic heather often grows luxuri- 
antly in small patches, on shelving rocks, and a few flowering plants are 
seen. 
“A noticeable characteristic of the rounded hill granite country is the 
large number of small ponds and lakes, mere rock-bottomed basins or 
depressions in the granite. Owing to the slight rainfall and the short 
season for evaporation of water, these basins are fed by melting snow 
which lies long and late in the settled drifts in the valleys. They are not 
contaminated by silt or by dissolving minerals from sedimentary rocks, 
and are usually clear as crystal. Frequently having no outlet, they 
merely fill up until the surplus water flows over the rim of the basin into 
one lower down, so that many of the lakes are connected in this way. 
“For two or three miles back from the mouth of Wentzel river, the 
soil is very sandy, with rock outcropping here and there, supporting 
‘See Plate II, in Vol. III, Pt. K, of these reports. 
