426 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



CHAP. XX. 



THE QU'APPELLE VALLEY. FOKT PELLY TO THE SETTLE- 

 MENTS ON RED RIVER. 



The Qu'appelle Valley. — Leading Dimensions. — Character of the Great 

 Plain it intersects. — Elevation above the South Branch. — Lakes in the 

 Qu'appelle Valley— Depths of. — Timber on. — Valley flooded. — Effects of 

 a Dam across the South Branch. — Diversion of the Waters of the Saskatche- 

 wan. — Table showing leading Dimensions of the Qu'appelle River, Lakes, 

 and Valley. — The Assinniboine. — The West Bank. — Fort Pelly. — White 

 Sand River. — Manitou Lake. — Little White Mud River. — Leech Lake. — 

 Character of Country. — Crops at Fort Pelly. — Swan River. — Snake 

 Creek. — Fertility of Swan River. — Mr. Dawson's Description. — Thunder 

 Mountain. — Porcupine and Duck Mountains. — Dividing Ridge between the 

 Swan and Assinniboine Rivers. — Miry Creek. — Riding Mountain. — Shell 

 River. — River Terraces. — Indian Graves. — Little Saskatchewan. — Cre- 

 taceous Shales on Birds-tail Creek. — On Rapid River. —Termination of 

 Riding Mountain. — White Mud River. — Ancient Beach. — Beauty of 

 White Mud River. — Rat River. — Prairie Portage.— The Settlements. 



THE QU'APPELLE VALLEY. 



The valley of the Qu'appelle Eiver joins the Assinniboine 

 about five miles above Fort Ellice. It is 269 miles long, 

 and appears to be a former continuation of the South 

 Branch, in a direction nearly due east, to the low regions 

 now occupied by Lakes Manitobah and Winnipeg. Its 

 western extremity issues from the South Branch at the 

 Elbow, or the point where that river, from a south-east- 

 erly course, suddenly takes and preserves for 250 miles a 

 north-easterly course, until it joins with the North Branch. 



The narrowest breadth of the bottom of the Qu'ap- 

 pelle valley is half a mile ; its greatest breadth about one 

 mile and a half. Its shallowest part is about 120 feet 



