SWAN LAKE AND RIVER. 



433 



Snake Creek is about 13 feet wide, and 1 ft. 6 in. 

 deep ; it yields plenty of fish, so also do one or two small 

 brooks running into it. Swan Eiver is from 90 to 100 

 feet wide, and 14 feet deep, its current is very rapid, 

 being about three miles an hour. The valley, which is 

 from 80 to 100 feet below the general level of the 

 country, is most rich and fertile, but almost altogether 

 filled up with trees, such as poplar, balsam-spruce, and 

 willows. 



Mr. Dawson, who in the spring of 1858 ascended Swan 

 Eiver in canoe, thus describes the country through which 

 he passed : — 



" From Winnipegoos Lake to Swan Lake the distance 

 is about six miles. The stream which connects them, 

 here appropriately enough called Shoal Eiver, varies in 

 width from 150 to 300 feet. It is shallow, and has a 

 very swift course. 



" About Swan Lake the country is highly interesting. 

 Numerous islands appear in the lake : to the north an 

 apparently level and well wooded country extends to the 

 base of the Porcupine Eange, while to the south the blue 

 outline of the Duck Mountain is seen on the verge of the 

 horizon. 



" Ascending from Swan Lake for two miles or so, the 

 banks of Swan Eiver are rather low. In the succeeding 

 ten miles they gradually become higher, until they attain 

 a height of nearly 100 feet above the river. The current 

 is here remarkably swift, and the channel much embar- 

 rassed by round boulders of granite mixed with fragments 

 of limestone, which latter is the rock proper to the 

 country, although it does not crop out, so far as we could 

 see, on any part of Swan Eiver. Landslips occur in 

 many places where the banks are high, exposing an 



VOL. I. F F 



