320 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



that the time at our disposal did not permit us to make 

 an excursion to them, notwithstanding that no indications 

 of rocks in position were seen on the Indian Head range ; 

 they were recorded as composed of drift which may or 

 may not conceal rocks in position above the general level 

 of the prairie north of them. 



Great was our astonishment on arriving at the Qu'ap- 

 pelle Lakes to find that they were narrow bodies of wa- 

 ter, occupying an excavated valley about one mile broad, 

 250 feet deep, and differing in no important particular 

 from the same valley at its junction with the Assinniboine 

 — 120 miles distant by the river, or 134 by the trail. 

 The importance of the Qu'appelle valley began to deve- 

 lope itself when the Crees at the Lakes informed us that 

 it continued through to the Saskatchewan without losing 

 its breadth, and maintained, except for a short distance, a 

 great depth below the prairie level. I determined, there- 

 fore, to explore the whole valley from the South Branch 

 of the Saskatchewan to the Assinniboine, and to ascertain 

 the relation it bore to those rivers. With this view the 

 canoes were put in order, the party and supplies divided, 

 and the arrangements detailed in the following paragraph 

 completed. 



Mr. Dickinson, with a French Canadian and a Cree half- 

 breed, was instructed to descend the Qu'appelle Eiver 

 from the first Fishing Lake to its mouth. Mr. Fleming 

 and myself were to ascend it from the same starting place 

 to its source, and follow up the valley to the South Branch 

 of the Saskatchewan. Mr. Hime was to explore Long 

 Lake and meet Mr. Dickinson at Fort Pelly. I intended, 

 upon reaching the South Branch, to descend that magni- 

 ficent river in canoe to the Grand Forks, and then by the 

 main Saskatchewan to Lake Winnipeg and Eed Eiver, a 

 distance of about 1000 miles canoe navigation. 



