126 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



channel, is level as a floor. In latitude 46° 23' 30" a 

 belt of timber sets in, and continues with some interrup- 

 tion along its banks, on one side or the other, to Pembina, 

 near the boundary line. In latitude 46° 41' 12" the level of 

 the prairie above the river is thirty feet ; this depression is 

 probably due to the gradual erosion of the river channel 

 in soft clay. Eed Eiver receives some important tribu- 

 taries south of the 49th parallel : on the left bank the 

 Shayenne sweeps round the north-east flank of the Grand 

 Coteau de Missouri, and joins Eed Eiver in latitude 47° 3'. 

 Numerous streams, draining a lower terrace of tableland 

 than the Grand Coteau, cut the fertile prairies through 

 which Eed Eiver meanders at right angles to its course, 

 but no affluent of importance is received between the 

 Shayenne and the Pembina, near the international 

 boundary line, or 525 miles from Ottertail Lake, by the 

 windings of the main stream. 



On the right bank, the Eed Fork, issuing from Eed 

 Lake, and joining the main river in latitude 47° 50', is the 

 most important ; in consequence of its being on the line 

 of water communication between Eainy Eiver and Eed 

 Eiver, and also separated by a low-water parting from 

 the Mississippi and Lake Superior, it may hereafter 

 acquire some degree of prominence. 



Dr. Owen remarks of the country through which Eed 

 Eiver flows in the United States territory, that it possesses 

 features both geologically and physically of great same- 

 ness and flatness, without the least indication of minerals 

 of any value, except salt, which may be crystallised out 

 of saline springs. 



The length of Eed Eiver within British territory is 

 about 140 miles by the windings of the stream. It 

 debouches into Lake Winnipeg, in latitude 50° 28', longi- 

 tude 96° 50'. Its most important affluents on the east 



