26 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



which branches off from the main stream about one and 

 a half mile from the bay. In the time of the North-west 

 Company, this island was denuded of the trees it sus- 

 tained, which consisted mainly of tamarack, for fuel and 

 other purposes, and the greater portion is now covered 

 with second growth. A large area south of the fort still 

 remains denuded of wood, and forms the site of an Ojib- 

 way village, besides serving as an excellent open pasture 

 ground for a herd of cows belonging to the Hudson's Bay 

 Company, which swim across the river every morning, a 

 distance of 400 feet, and return at an early hour in the 

 afternoon to the farm yard in the vicinity of the fort. 



The banks of the river here are low and flat, not ex- 

 ceeding ten feet in altitude In the rear of the fort, 

 tamarack of small but dense growth prevails. The soil is 

 a light sandy loam reposing on yellowish clay. 



Two miles above the fort, and in a direction nearly 

 south from it, the third or southern outlet separates from 

 the main channel. The banks of the river continue to 

 rise above the level of its waters until they attain at the 

 Mission of the Immaculate Conception, an altitude of 18 

 or 20 feet. Near the Mission the Indian Eeserve of about 

 25 square miles begins ; it embraces the best and largest 

 area of cultivable land in the valley of the Kaministiquia, 

 and much of it being situated on the flanks of McKay's 

 mountain range, some portions possess many advantages 

 which do not belong to the available tracts near the 

 shores of Thunder Bay. 



The general course of the river above the Mission for a 

 distance of nine miles is towards the south-west, by very 

 tortuous windings. Five miles from Fort William it ap- 

 proaches the base of the elevated but broken table land 

 to which McKay's Mountain forms an imposing and 

 abrupt termination. McKay's Mountain has an elevation 



