MOOSE LAKE. 



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About six miles from where this branch or canal 

 rejoins the Saskatchewan, another branch, leading from 

 Moose Lake and House, falls in ; before uniting with the 

 great river it separates into two branches forming a Y, 

 the distance between the mouths being about half a mile. 

 From the Pas to this point the character of the country 

 bordering the river gradually deteriorates, the banks 

 becoming lower and lower, and the timber more scrubby 

 and scanty. The alluvial flats are in many places only 

 one to two feet above the water, and they are at some 

 points covered with drift wood, showing that they are 

 flooded at certain seasons. 



We stopped to cook dinner opposite the Moose Lake 

 branch, where, by ascending a tree, I succeeded in getting 

 a view of the surrounding country. The banks are here 

 three feet above the river, supporting a thin strip of grey 

 willows along the water's edge ; and about half a chain 

 back from the river there commences an extensive marsh 

 or swamp with rank reeds and rushes, interspersed with 

 ponds of open water, and dotted with clumps or islands 

 of balsam-spruce and willows as far as the eye can reach. 

 From Moose Lake Fork to where we camped, about 

 sixteen miles further down, a slight improvement is 

 observed on the immediate banks of the river ; occasional 

 groves of young ash, elm, and ash-leaved sugar maple are 

 seen, but the flats behind are generally very low, and 

 covered only with grey willows and sapling poplar. 



We started on Thursday, August 19th, at break of day, 

 with wet baggage and blankets, a thunder-storm with 

 heavy rain having come on during the night. About four 

 miles below our camping place, one or two branches 

 leave the main river and flow to the north into a marshy 

 expanse of water, about one mile broad and two to three 

 miles long, called " Marshy Lake." Between this point 



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