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FORMATIONS OF THE INTERIOR 



east to southwest. Its waters are clear, and not coloured brown, like those of the 

 Court Oreille and the Chippewa Rivers. 



From the lake we passed, by a very narrow channel, through water-lilies and 

 bulrushes, into Lac Grit, or Grindstone Lake. This is also a fine expanse of water, 

 which has received its name from a kind of grit or grindstone found on the north 

 shore. On examining the spot where they are procured, I found the shore thickly 

 lined with boulders, and, some distance from the bank, loose masses of a buff- 

 coloured freestone. The lighter coloured of these gritstones resemble some of the 

 members of F. 1 ; the pink varieties, and especially those that are spotted, have more 

 the aspect of the Lake Superior formations. The partial exposure of this rock ren- 

 ders it difficult to decide to what member of F. 1 it belongs ; it seems probable 

 that we have here the transition between the lowest beds on the Mississippi to those 

 of Lake Superior. 



From Grindstone Lake, we made a portage of half a mile, to Lac Voile, or Lily 

 Lake, a small sheet of water, about half a mile in length. From this lake to the 

 Namekagon River, is another portage, between four and five miles. The trail leads 

 over a ridge, which overlooks a considerable extent of country. In consequence of 

 a thunderstorm, which caused considerable oscillations of the mercury, I could not 

 make very accurate observations on the relative level of Lac Voile and Namekagon 

 River. The height of the ridge in sight of the Namekagon is one hundred and 

 two feet above that stream ; and a high point to the right, on the southwest of the 

 trail, near the same place, is thirty-six feet higher. Nothing but drift could be 

 seen in any of these hills ; the prevalent growth is birch. 



On arriving at the Namekagon River, two of our party descended that stream, 

 with one canoe, to its mouth ; the rest ascended it, on the route to Lake Superior 

 by the way of Mauvaise Riviere. 



The Namekagon River is about fifteen to twenty paces wide, with banks from 

 eight to twelve feet high. The prevailing growths are pine and birch, usually of 

 small size ; the undergrowth is chiefly ferns. The soil is thin, sandy, and gravelly, 

 not much better than that on the Chippewa below the Dalles; the land level, and 

 the woods open. The only rocks visible are boulders, which are chiefly varieties of 

 trap, from the size of a half bushel measure to that of small pebbles. 



The sandy nature of the soil, on this portion of the Namekagon, favours the idea 

 that the nucleus of the knolls and hills is sandstone. 



About fifteen miles from the point where we embarked on the Namekagon is a 

 small lake, known by the name of Little Rice Lake. A mile or so beyond this, 

 low hills appear on the river, on the northwest. They are from twenty-five to 

 thirty feet high, and are composed of drift. These appeared at intervals, for four 

 or five miles, to the " Big Pine" Encampment, above the Snake Rapids, where these 

 hills of drift were found to be seventy-one feet high. Their summits command an 

 extensive view. To the northeast the country is tolerably open, but on the opposite 

 side of the Namekagon, in a southwest course, a pine forest bounds the prospect. 

 No ledges of rock were visible, but large boulders are strewn on the surface and 

 also in the bed of the stream at the Rapids. 



Nine miles by water from Little Rice Lake, and six or seven miles by the trail, 



