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CHAP. XL 



SKETCH OF THE COUNTRY WEST OF RED RIVER. 



General Surface. — Elevation of the Prairies of Eed River. — Pembina 

 Mountain. — Terraces. — Mountains. — Lakes and Rivers. — East of the 

 South Branch of the Saskatchewan. — North-East of the Assinniboine. — 

 Riding and Duck Mountains. — The Great Lakes. — Geological Formations. 

 — The Touchwood Hills. — Turtle Mountain. — Lake Winnipeg. — Lakes 

 Manitobah and Winnipego-sis. — The Qu'appelle Lakes. — The South 

 Branch. — The Main Saskatchewan. — The Grand Rapid. — The Little 

 Saskatchewan. — The Qu'appelle, or Calling River. — The Little Souris. 

 — Wooded and Prairie Land. — Areas fit for Settlement. — Valley of the 

 Assinniboine. — Valley of the Saskatchewan, — East of the Riding and Duck 

 Mountains. 



GENERAL SURFACE. 



The prairies of Eed Eiver at Fort Garry are about 

 eighty feet above the level of Lake Winnipeg. They 

 form the southern portion of a vast region of lake, swamp, 

 and marsh, which is bounded in a very well denned 

 manner by the Pembina Mountain, and its continuation to 

 the Saskatchewan, which river it crosses a few miles 

 below the Nepowewin Mission, opposite Fort a la Corne. 

 Pembina Mountain forms the western limit of an ancient 

 sea or lake coast ; its direction is partly shown on the 

 map as far as the Assinniboine. On the precipitous 

 eastern flanks of the Biding and Duck Mountains, it 

 occurs in the form of a ridge, of which a description is 

 given in the second volume. From the Pasquia Mountain 

 the course of the ancient sea or lake coast is westerly 

 towards Fort a la Corne. The whole of the country 

 east of Pembina Mountain, and its continuation as 



