THE BIG RIDGE. STONY MOUNTAIN. 



70 



we descended it, about eight miles west of Stony Moun- 

 tain. It appears to be divided into two portions, part 

 expanding into an undulating tract of country a few hun- 

 dred yards broad, the other preserving the outline and 

 character of the Big Eidge, but named in consequence of 

 its diminished altitude the Little Eidge. The level coun- 

 try at the base of either is everywhere beautiful, fertile, 

 and admirably adapted for settlement. We descended the 

 Little Eidge, a step of the Big Eidge, at about four in the 

 afternoon, and in the distance could see the twin steeples 

 of St. Boniface with their tinned roofs glancing brilliantly 

 in the south-east about fifteen miles off. We then passed 

 through the magnificent prairies lying between Stony 

 Mountain and Eed Eiver, reaching the edge of the Big 

 Swamp just before sunset, and arrived at our temporary 

 quarters in the settlement half an hour after dark. 



The country between Oak Point and Stony Mountain 

 is not much inferior in point of fertility and fitness for 

 settlement to the prairies of Eed Eiver and the Assinni- 

 boine bounded by the Big Eidge. In many parts no 

 difference in the rank luxuriance of the grass on these 

 prairies and those south of the Big Eidge could be dis- 

 tinguished, but the area of Hght or gravelly soil covered 

 with short stunted grass is far greater, and thus diminishes 

 the available extent of soil adapted for agriculture. It 

 is doubtful whether this drawback is not counterbalanced 

 by the proximity of the country north of the Big Eidge 

 to the forest-covered tract between the great lakes, and 

 to the haunts of vast numbers of wild fowl which breed 

 on the borders of the small sheets of water so numerous 

 in this region. This tract, south of the probable limit of 

 the forest, may be regarded as well adapted for agricul- 

 ture, the groves and strips of aspen and oak on the dry 



