R B D R I V E B 0 F T HE NO H T II . 



179 



stones, fifty or a hundred feet above, are detached, and come tumbling down at 

 such an alarming rate, that the climber is glad to make his escape. 



If any coal was ever found in this deposit, it must have been small pieces washed 

 in by the same force which brought the pebbles and shingle ; for certainly there is 

 no regular bed of coal in the sections which I had an opportunity of inspecting, and 

 there is every reason to believe, that the whole terrace is composed of similar mate- 

 rials, none of which possess the characters of the intercalated beds of a coal formation. 



As for the ores said to have been found there, I suspect they were only pieces of 

 pyrites and mica mixed with the gravel and sand. 



Three observations were taken for latitude at the base of the terrace, near where 

 the Pembina River emerges into the plain, — one of Polaris, one for the meridian 

 altitude of Altair, and one for the meridian altitude of the sun. The mean of these 

 gives for the latitude of the place, 48° 54' 36". The mean of two observations for 

 longitude, gave 97° 50' 30"; but this is probably some minutes too far to the west, 

 as there appeared to be a slight change in the rate of the chronometer, from the 

 land-carriage over the prairie. 



The Pembina Mountain is at least five miles within the limits of the United 

 States, that is, that part of it where the Pembina River issues from it into the 

 plain ; but the terrace of land, of which it is only a part, stretches away to the 

 north beyond the parallel of 49°, as well as south, on the opposite side of the river. 

 Indeed, I believe it could be traced over a considerable district of country, perhaps 

 to the high land near the head of Shienne and Devil's Lake. 



On the prairie, about half way between Red River and Pembina Mountain, an 

 observation was taken for latitude, by meridian altitude of the sun, which gave 48° 

 59' 44" ; also near the Pembina River, on our return, about twelve miles from Red 

 River, by Polaris, which gave 48° 59' 15". Before leaving Red River for Pembina 

 Mountain, and also on our return, several observations were taken for latitude, both 

 of the sun and stars, close to Mr. James M'Dermott's Trading-House, and about 

 three-fourths of a mile north of the spot where we were told Major Long had 

 planted a post,* marking the limits of the United States on the parallel of 49°. 

 Five observations in all were taken, but those by Polaris are probably the nearest 

 correct; one of these, on the night of the 6th of July, gave the latitude 49° V 13" ; 

 one, on the night of the 9th of July, gave 49° 1' 12" ; and one, the same night, by 

 meridian altitude of Altair, gave 49° 0' 22". 



From inquiries which I made, while in the colony, I learned that the boundary 

 of the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company does not follow the parallel of the 

 49th degree of latitude, but runs from where that line crosses Red River, to a moun- 

 tain lying to the north-northwest, called by the Indians Ne-pa-que-ivin. The country 

 south of that line, including the so-called Pembina Mountain, formerly belonged to 

 the Stone Indians, who, some fifty or a hundred years since, left the country, and 

 gave it, until they should return, as a hunting-ground, to the O-jib-ioays, or Chippewa 

 Indians. This tribe of Stone Indians never again returned to reclaim it ; they 



* This post, wc were told, had been removed and burnt, some years since, by a party of Indians, who 

 encamped near the spot. 



