58 j 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Trees. 



Vegetation. 



Terrace*. 



Ancient sea 

 beach. 



Stunted trees of black spruce, with a few tamaracks grow on the low 

 lands, around the margin of the lakes and in the swamps, none of these 

 exceed thirty feet in height, nor are any over eight inches in diameter 

 three feet from the ground. 



The hill-tops are usually covered with a thin growth of white moss 

 and arctic berries ; on account of the absence of trees, fine views of the 

 surrounding country may be obtained from any of the higher hills. 



Along the sides of the rocky hills, one mile up Clearwater River 

 from Gulf Lake, five terraces were seen cut out of marine clays and 

 sands, the highest reaching an elevation of over three hundred feet 

 above sea level. 



On the portage from the mouth of Wiachtiwan River, the road 

 first passes up a rockj- hill, partly covered with sand, and then along 

 the top of a sandy gravel bank, fifty feet high, cutout of the stratified 

 drift by a small stream. It then ascends an easy slope covered by 

 coarse sand and gravel to a 'flat terrace fifteen chains wide and two 

 hundred and thirty-five feet above sea level. This is covered with 

 small bars and hummocks of coarse gravel, the remains of an old sea 

 beach. 



Beyond this ihe road again ascends an easy slope over sands and 

 gravel to the edge of a flat plain four hundred and forty feet above the 

 sea. Across the face of this plain, from the high hills on the north to 

 a solitary rocky hill on the south, between the plain and the river 

 valley, are a number of rounded knolls, in two rows. These average 

 fifty feet in diameter and rise about five feet above the general level. 

 They are composed of coarse gravel and small water-worn boulders, 

 and were evidently formed in the shallow water of the old seashore 

 line. 



From here the road passes along the side of the hill on the south 

 as the plain behind is swampy and covered with small spruce trees. 

 At the east end of the hill is a narrow ridge of sand mixed with gravel 

 and small boulders, one hundred feet above the river, with a sharp 

 slope on either side. The portage follows the <irest of the ridge and 

 gradually descends from the hill towards the east to the level of the 

 plain, where the valley of a small stream is followed to the river below. 

 The sand and gravel of the ridge is nearly one hundred feet thick and 

 overlies bedded clays, which form the cut banks along the small 

 stream to the river edge. The origin of the ridge is probably due to 

 the cutting action of the river, which at the earlier part of the period 

 of upheaval of the land, evidently flowed to the north of the hill, and 

 ohar?nei!" " " carried away about one hundred feet of sand and gravel from the top 

 of the present plain. Later, it assumed its present course to the south 

 of the hill, and cut away the deposits on that side leaving only the 



