32 c 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Inlet. 



Clear water. 



Surrounding 

 country. 



Soil 



Old Wife's Lake, and a similar route to Deer's Lake leaves the west 

 side of Island Lake River about two miles above Pelican Rapid. 

 Several deep bays occur on the south side of Island Lake, and one 

 extends from the eastern extremity, a distance estimated to be about 

 eighteen miles, where it receives the Sagawitchewan River, which is 

 believed to be the principal inlet of the lake. The water of this stream 

 and of all the other feeders of the lake is of a dark color, contrasting 

 strongly with the clear water of the lake itself. 



The land about Island Lake is level, and has an average elevation 

 above the water of apparently less than fifty feet. The woods in the 

 neighborhood of the lake are mostly green (or unburnt), so that the 

 country presents a more pleasing appearance than that around God's 

 Lake. The proportion of soil to rock is also much greater than in the 

 neighbourhood of the latter lake. 



Soil of the District. Large areas of low sandy land occur on Oxford 

 and Knee Lakes, especially on their northern sides. These tracts 

 support a uniform growth of small spruce timber through which the 

 forest fires have generally run. The higher grounds, Avhere not rocky, 

 present usually a stiff light-colored clay, and soil of this description 

 with more or less loam, is found along the valley of the Trout River. 



Productiveness Oxford House is situated on a stiff clayey soil, which here produces 

 barley and all kinds of garden vegetables in perfection. This locality 

 is remarkable for its abundance of wild gooseberries, acres of ground 

 in some places being covered with gooseberry bushes. The land to 

 the north of the lake, opposite to Oxford House, rises to an elevation 

 of about 200 feet, and appears to be higher than any other ground in 

 this part of the country. I was informed that it consists entirely of 

 soil underlaid by drift materials, no rock cropping up in the vicinity. 

 Mr. Cochrane estimates that on an average about half the length of the 

 immediate bank or shore-line of God's Lake may consist of rock, while 

 the other half is made up of clay, sand, gravel, swamp and marsh. 

 From the generally level appearance of the country at a distance, and 

 its resemblance to regions which are covered with soil, he thinks it 

 probable that the greater part of the area is overspread with soil or 

 loose material of some kind. Along the route from Jackson Bay, at 

 the east end of Oxford Lake, to the upper part of God's Lake, the 

 country is more diversified than in the neighbourhood of the latter 

 lake. Although the general outline is more uneven, the proportion of 

 rock to other kinds of surface was estimated by Mr. Cochrane to 

 amount to only about one fourth of the whole. The soil or loose 

 materials consist of loam, clay, sand and gravel, or of mixtures of 



Peat. these. Peat and sphagnum are found in the low grounds in many 



God's Lake. 



Route from 

 Jackson Bay. 



