326 ASSINKIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION, 



CHAP. XV. 



THE QUAPPELLE VALLEY. — FROM THE MISSION TO SAND 

 HILL LAKE. 



Deptli of the Fishing Lakes. — Cross-Sections. — Confervse. — Lower Lakes 66 

 Feet deep. — Birds. — Vegetation. — Water-mark. — Third and Fourth Fish- 

 ing Lakes. — Fish. — Soundings in Fourth Lake. — Fishing Lakes probably 

 once united. — Geese. — Pelicans. — Fourth Lake. — Water-mark. — Aspect 

 of Valley in 1852. — Qu'appelle Biver. — Prairie. — Depth of Valley. — 

 White Cranes. — Section of Alluvial Flats. — Temperature. — Character of 

 Prairie. — Birds. — Shrubs. — Antelope. — Hare. — Hoses. — Grand Forks. — 

 Plain Crees. — Temperature of Biver. — Ice Marks. — Buffalo Tracks. — 

 Character of Stream. — Willow Bushes. — Fetid Air. — Drift Clay. — Er- 

 ratics. — Freemen's Houses. — Prairie. — Want of Timber. — Thunder 

 Storms. — Touchwood Hills. — Indians. — Tolls. — Diplomacy. — Indian He- 

 solve. — The Grand Forks. — Long Lake. — Souris Forks. — Souris of Qu'ap- 

 pelle and Assinniboine. — Dimensions of Valley. — The Grand Coteau. — 

 Prairie Fires. — Indian Signs. — A Prairie on Fire. — Buffalo. — Consequence 

 of Prairie Fires. — Reclamation of sterile Areas. — Indian Telegraph. — 

 Scarcity of Wood. — Ancient Indian Encampment. — The Plain Crees. — ■ 

 Cree Tents. — Provisions. — Buffalo Pound Hill Lake. — Indians. — Aspect 

 of Country. — Coteau de Missouri. — Last Mountain. — Treeless Plain. — 

 The Grand Coteau. — Buffalo. — Birds. — Plain Crees, Camp of. — The 

 Qu'appelle Valley. — Marrow. — Precautions. — Sand Hill Lake. — Crees. 

 — Bois de Vache. — Salt Lake. — Dimensions of Valley. — Erratics. — Cross 

 the Qu'appelle Valley. — Camp at Sand Hill Lake. 



Three quarters of a mile from the mouth of the little 

 stream joining the second and third Fishing Lakes, the 

 lead showed 44 feet of water. This great depth sur- 

 prised us, as we had been paddling, since leaving the 

 Mission, in shallows not exceeding four and five feet in 

 depth. Cross sections subsequently made, showed that 

 the lakes were generally deep on the north and shallow 



