424 



APPENDIX. 



by freshets, and most of those on the Eiviere la Seine route 

 would, moreover, I think, flood a gi oat portion of the country ; 

 whereas dams built at the head of the streams issuing from the 

 lakes, would not have to bear any extraordinary force arising 

 from a sudden rush of water, and would therefore be more stable. 

 The^ portages on the Pigeon Eiver route being better than those 

 on the other, will, of course, cost less for improvements ; and if 

 hereafter locks were to be made where the portages are now, the 

 lakes will afford a much surer and more abundant supply of 

 water for them than the rivers. The means that might be 

 adopted for making this Pigeon Eiver route sufficient for any 

 purposes that are likely to be required at present or for some 

 time to come, are the following : — 



The repairing, or perhaps remaking, of the old North-West 

 Company's road from Point des Meurons, near Fort William, to 

 Arrow Lake. This road is only about forty-five miles long, and 

 has been reported favourably on by a member of the Eed Eiver 

 expedition, who examined it in the year 1857. The difficulties 

 that there would be in improving the portion of the route be- 

 tween Lake Superior and the Height of Land, in any way compel 

 the necessity of this road being made use of. Arrow Lake will 

 then be the commencement of the water communication. Boats 

 capable of carrying five tons, such as are at present used by the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, to be employed on the lakes as far as 

 Eainy Lake. In order to avoid the unloading and re-loading of 

 the boats at the portages, iron tramways might be laid down at 

 these places, by which the loaded boat might be carried from 

 one lake to another, and thus save a great deal of time and 

 trouble. Some of the present portages might be got rid of with 

 little expense, by clearing out the passage between two lakes, 

 and placing a dam so that the water in the ]ower lake would 

 rise to the level of the upper one, and so deepen the connecting 

 channel and get rid of the rapid or fall in it. This could be 

 done in several cases. On Eainy Lake a steamer might be 

 placed, one of the ordinary lake steamers, which could go as far 

 as Fort Frances on Eainy Eiver. Here, on account of the falls, 



