64 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



apparently quite sound, measured nearly ten feet in cir- 

 cumference, and many of the prostrate pines were of 

 equal dimensions. 



There can be little doubt that these were the remains 

 of a magnificent white pine forest, which formerly ex- 

 tended over a vast area in this region, since from the 

 summit of the hill the forms of scattered living trees, 

 or tall, branchless and scathed trunks, met the eye in 

 every direction. The young second growth indicated a 

 soil not incapable of sustaining pine trees of the largest 

 proportions ; black cherry, birch (both the white and 

 black), alder, small clumps of sugar maple, and a thick 

 undergrowth of hazel nut now occupies the domain of 

 the ancient forest. The south west side of this hill formed 

 a precipitous escarpment 150 feet above the waters of 

 a long clear lake. All around the eye rested upon low 

 dome-shaped hills clipping towards the north-east, and 

 covered with a rich profusion of second growth. The 

 vast wilderness of green was studded with black islands 

 of burnt pine, and a few isolated living trees, serving by 

 their surprising dimensions to tell of the splendid forest 

 which must have once covered the country. 



The soil wherever examined consisted of a red sandy 

 loam, covered with a thin coating of vegetable mould. 

 Occasionally bare rock exposures protruded, and granitic 

 boulders were numerous. The uniform size of the second 

 growth timber on the Brule Hill, seemed to prove that the 

 great fire which devastated this region may have occurred 

 about thirty years since. The hill round which the 

 portage path winds is considerably higher than any ob- 

 served range on the height of land, and its summit, from 

 which a view of the surrounding country was obtained, 

 is probably about 100 feet above the Height of Land 

 Lake, or 1,585 feet above the ocean ; McKay's mountain 



