PRAIRIE PORTAGE. 



53 



Land Lake is reached, a small sheet of water, about a 

 square mile in area, and 157 feet above Cold Water Lake. 

 The utmost elevation attained on the Prairie Portage is 

 probably 190 feet above Cold Water Lake, or nearly 900 

 feet above Lake Superior. No hill within view appeared 

 to possess an elevation exceeding 20 or 30 feet above this 

 limit. 



Prairie Portage sustains some spruce and pine of fair 

 dimensions ; one Pinus Banksiana measured 5 feet 9 inches 

 in circumference four feet from the ground, and many of 

 equal dimensions were seen in the neighbourhood. A 

 considerable portion of the timber is burnt, and the under- 

 brush everywhere shows a profusion of hazel nut, with 

 small shrubs and plants, such as raspberries, blue berries, 

 gooseberries, and strawberries, all of which were here 

 gathered ripe. The Labrador tea {Ledum palustre) grew 

 in great profusion in particular spots, and at the termina- 

 tion of the portage, near the Height of Land Lake, the 

 fragrant Indian tea plant [Ledum latifolium) abounded in 

 the moss bordering this elevated sheet of water, which is 

 885 feet above Lake Superior, or 1,485 above the sea. 



The following estimates of the heights of Prairie Port- 

 age above the sea, are taken from Sir John Eichardson's 

 " Arctic Searching Expedition."* 



Feet. 



Dog Lake, above Lake Superior ..... 657 

 Ascent of Dog River ........ 14 



Portage to Cold Water Lake 2 



West end of Prairie Portage, and Middle Portage , . 161 

 Lake Superior above the sea ...... 641 



Height of Prairie or Middle Portage above the sea . . 1475 



"In 1849, the height of the upper end of Dog Portage 



* Arctic Searching Expedition ; a Journal of a Boat Voyage through 

 Rupert's Land and the Arctic Sea, in search of the Discovery Ships under 

 Sir J, Franklin, by Sir John Richardson, C. B. 



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