22 j 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Fooriharbours 



Big River 

 harbour. 



Good 

 anehorage. 



ered with water at high tide, and lying close to the Ship Hole ; in 

 either case the terminus will have to be built largely on made ground. 



As the present anchorage, six miles without the bar, is in only 

 thirty-six feet, and as the water gradually shoals toward the river's 

 mouth to a depth of fourteen feet at high water on the bar, and is only 

 eighteen feet at low water at the Ship Hole, with a less depth of water- 

 for the four miles between it and the bar, it will be seen that to fit this 

 harbour for the entrance of moderate-sized steamers, with a draft up to 

 twenty feet, extensive dredging operations will be necessary for almost 

 the entire distance from the outer anchorage to Ship Hole. 



Unsatisfactory as are the natural conditions of Moose Harbour, those 

 at the Albany and Rupert rivers are worse. Off the mouth of the? 

 Albany, for fifteen or twenty miles, the bottom is very flat and 

 the deepest water not over twenty-five feet, slowly shoaling to twelve- 

 feet at the mouth, with numerous obstructive shoals and bars, the 

 whole rendering it impossible for deep draft vessels to use it. The coun- 

 try around the mouth of the river is so low and swampy that it is hard 

 to say where the land ends and the sea begins, and is totally unfit for 

 the purpose of a railway terminus. To reach the mouth of the Rupert 

 a narrow channel in Rupert Bay must be followed, with water from 

 thirty to twenty-five feet deep, after which it shoals to eighteen feet 

 for seven miles to the junction of the Nottaway and Rupert River- 

 channels, and then eight miles of water varying from ten to fifteen 

 feet, with dangerous shoals, must be passed to enter the river proper. 

 From this it will be seen that this harbour can only be approached by 

 small vessels of light draft, and can never be used by the large-sized 

 steamers engaged in modern ocean transportation. The mouth of the 

 East Main River is broad and consequently shoal, with not more than 

 eight feet of water on the sand bars at its entrance ; while for more 

 than twelve miles from its mouth, on all sides, are innumerable boulder 

 and sand shoals, and small rocky islands, some of which are partly 

 bare, the whole rendering an approach to the river so highly difficult 

 and dangerous that the Hudson Bay Company's schooner does not 

 call there. 



The mouth of Big River is the only good natural harbour on 

 James Bay, and, with a small amount of dredging, Avould afford capital 

 accommodation for large vessels. A ship entering the river has to 

 pass a few low islands lying off its mouth, but as there is good water 

 and plenty of sea room between them, the}- occasion little danger, 

 Within four miles from the mouth of the river a good harbour 

 is formed by two rocky islands lying close to the north or main chan- 

 nel ; this is called Stromness Harbour, and, having a good anchorage, 

 with plenty of water, well sheltered on all sides, is a convenient place 

 to await a suitable state of tide to enter the river. 



