42 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



beautiful. The difference in level between Little and 

 Great Dog Lake is 347 feet, which is descended by the 

 foaming torrent in six successive leaps. The course of 

 the canoe route lies some distance to the right of the 

 falls, hence the reason why they have not been described 

 by former travellers in these regions. In picturesque 

 beauty they far surpass Ka-ka-beka, and would probably 

 take rank with the most charming and attractive falls on 

 the continent. They have not the grandeur of the Silver 

 Falls on the Winnipeg, nor do they approach Niagara in 

 magnificence or subhmity, but their extraordinary height, 

 and the broken surface they present, impart to them 

 singular and beautiful peculiarities. The strange aspect 

 they must possess in winter, when fringed with masses of 

 frozen spray, would probably be unrivalled ; and in 

 spring, when the feeding lake is from three to four feet 

 higher than during the summer months, their augmented 

 volume would give them an appearance of magnitude 

 which is lost when the waters are low, in consequence 

 of the succession of ledges of rock over which they leap 

 being partially screened by the foliage of overhanging 

 trees. 



The shoals, rapids, and falls on the Kaministiquia will 

 always prevent that river from being used as a mean of 

 communication with the interior for commercial purposes. 

 The first large area of open water on this route is Dog 

 Lake, and with a view to reach that elevated sheet of 

 water a road from the shores of Lake Superior in as direct 

 a line as possible will be required. 



About six miles in a north-east by east direction from 

 Fort William, the waters of Current Eiver are seen to 

 fall over a precipitous ledge of black argillaceous slate, 

 of Huronian age, within a few yards of their exit into 

 Thunder Bay, 



