9 



CHAPTEE I. 



TOBONTO TO FORT WILLIAM, LAKE SUPERIOR. 



Departure of the Expedition from Toronto. — Squall on Lake Superior.— 

 Fog Phenomena. — Steamer strikes on a Rock off Michipicoten Island. — 

 Michipicoten Harbour. — Refraction. — Thunder Bay. — Pie Island. — 

 Thunder Cape. — The Kaministiquia. — Fort William. — Mr. M c Intyre. — 

 Old North- West Company. — Accessibility of Lake Superior. — The Sault 

 Ste. Marie Canal. — Trade of Lake Superior. — Ship Route to the Ocean. 

 — Canadian Canals. — Elevation of Lake Superior. — Variations in the 

 Levels of the great Canadian Lakes. — Influence and Importance of. — 

 Obstacles to Progress westward of Lake Superior. — Dividing Ridges. — 

 Connection of the Valley of the Mississippi with Lake Superior. — Access 

 to the Valley of Rainy River. 



On the 23rd of July, 1857, the Eed Eiver Expedition left 

 Toronto for Collingwood, Lake Huron, and during the 

 afternoon of the next day embarked on board the steamer 

 Collingwood, bound to Fort William, Lake Superior. We 

 passed through the magnificent locks of the Sault Ste. 

 Marie Canal at 3 p.m. on the 27th, and when entering 

 Lake Superior were met by an imposing but threatening 

 spectacle, which instantly arrested and fixed the attention 

 of all. A huge cloud, dense and black at its base, seemed 

 to lie with one extremity resting on the Gros Cap de 

 Superior, the other on Point Iroquois, the distance be- 

 tween those elevations being about six miles. The form 

 of the cloud was that of a double cone, with the bases 

 joined together, and the apices resting upon the opposite 

 heights. A little attention showed that the cloud was in 

 rapid motion towards us, and as it approached masses 



