•SPECULATIONS ON THE CAUSES OF THE FLOODS. 395 



the middle church and the Eapids. Here the current 

 from being confined within narrower limits, became more 

 impetuous, and we had been strongly advised to proceed 

 by land ; but not being timid on the water, and having 

 confidence in the skill of our three men, we preferred 

 going on to the Eapids, merely stopping to pay one sad 



visit to the widow of our poor servant At 



St. Andrew's we called to see Mr. and Mrs! Hunter, and 

 from that drove our own horse down to the Lower Fort. 

 This was the first drive we had had since the carioles 

 were in use over the ice. Here we found a changed 



scene Its chief recommendation (i.e. the 



Fort) in our eyes, under the circumstances was, that it 

 still stood on a high bank, thirty feet above the river." 



Various speculations have been advanced respecting 

 the cause of the periodical floods of Eed Eiver. The 

 backing up of the waters during a freshet in consequence 

 of the ice on Lake Winnipeg remaining solid, is suffi- 

 ciently disproved by the rapidity of current at the Lower 

 or Stone Fort, which the Bishop states was " running at 

 the rate of eight or ten miles an hour," thirty feet below 

 the level of the prairie. The passage of the waters of 

 the Missouri down the Valley of the Little Souris into the 

 Assinniboine, has been a favourite theory among the half- 

 breeds, one however which is not tenable, as the Little 

 Souris does not approach the Missouri nearer than forty 

 miles and no valley or coulee exists between them which 

 would admit of the waters of the Missouri flowing across 

 the Grand Coteau. It is probable that these periodical 

 floods are caused by the sudden melting of an unusual 

 fall of snow in the wooded areas on the east bank of 

 Eed Eiver and throughout the large expanse of level open 

 country, drained by Eed Eiver and the Assinniboine. 

 The chief source of supply appears to be the valley of 



