260 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



67^ feet above the prairie. On the opposite side of 

 the river, a beach on Stony Mountain corresponds with 

 the Big Eidge, and three or four miles further west it is 

 observed marking the limit of a former extension of the 

 valley of Lake Winnipeg. On the east side of Eed Eiver 

 the Big Eidge is traced nearly due south from the Middle 

 Settlement to where it crosses the Eoseau, forty-six miles 

 from the mouth of that stream, and on or near the 49th 

 parallel. It is next met with at Pine or Tamarac Creek, 

 in the State of Minnesota, and from this point it may 

 be said to form a continuous and horizontal gravel road, 

 beautifully arched, and about one hundred feet broad, 

 the whole distance to the shores of Lake Winnipeg, or 

 more than 120 miles. 



On the west side of Eed Eiver, and north of the 

 Assinniboine, I traced the Big Eidge from a point about 

 three miles west of Stony Mountain to near Prairie 

 Portage. Here it appears to have been removed by the 

 agency of the Prairie Portage Eiver and the waters of 

 the Assinniboine, which are said to pass from the valley 

 of that river into Lake Manitobah during very high 

 floods. 



Another and higher ridge was observed on White Mud 

 Eiver, about twenty miles west of Lake Manitobah. It 

 resembled in every particular the ridge on the east side of 

 Eed Eiver, being about 100 to 120 feet broad, and about 

 twenty-five feet above the level of the prairie. It was 

 again noticed in the rear of Manitobah House, where the 

 same characteristics were preserved. It probably crosses 

 the Assinniboine three or four miles west of Prairie 

 Portage, and is perhaps identical with the lowest ridge or 

 step of the Pembina Mountain. 



In the rear of Dauphin Lake, the next ridge in the 

 ascending series occurs, it forms an excellent pitching 



