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DESCRIPTION OF 



by a trap range, in which some veins of copper ore had been discovered, and an 

 attempt made to work them. On the 30th of June, I started, with two voyageurs, 

 and descended the St. Louis to Fond du Lac Superieure. 



3. Left-hand and Blade Rivers. — On the morning of the 1st of July, I started 

 up Left-hand River, and at half-past five o'clock, in the afternoon, reached the 

 mouth of Black River, a distance of twenty-five miles by the windings of the stream. 



Ne-miij-i-ti-gue-ag, or Left-hand River, as far as exploration was made (ten miles 

 above the mouth of Black River), is from twenty to thirty yards wide, and from 

 three to ten feet deep. It is almost entirely free from driftwood ; and, except a few 

 inconsiderable ones (which are easily ascended by canoes), unobstructed by rapids. 

 Between its mouth and the mouth of Black River, neither rocks nor pebbles are 

 visible, except at three points, where there are small collections of angular frag- 

 ments of trap and metamorphosed rocks. The water is of a reddish-yellow colour, 

 and after heavy rains discolours the waters of St. Louis River above its mouth, and 

 the waters of the Lake, for some distance beyond the " Entry," as the mouth of St. 

 Louis River is called. 



Its banks are from three to ten feet high, abrupt, and covered with timber. They 

 consist of sandy alluvion and red marl, resting on a bright red, ferruginous clay, 

 with a seam of blue clay intervening. At one of the points referred to as exhi- 

 biting fragments of rock, there is, apparently, a slight axis of upheaval, the clays 

 being bent upward, as shown in the annexed diagram, and baked sufficiently hard 

 to withstand the action of water, and form a rapid. The lower part of the clay-bed 

 contains small pebbles. 



1. Alluvion. 



2, 3. Red marl. 



— — 4, 5. Blue clays. 

 (5. Red clays. 



Between this river and St. Louis River, the country is alluvial, and presents the 

 appearance common to the bottom lands of all the streams between the south shore 

 of Lake Superior and the dividing ridge. It is heavily timbered, and for the first 

 six or seven miles above the mouth of Left-hand River, bears a great deal of large 

 white cedar, large " canoe" birch, poplar, and fir. About five miles further up, there 

 is a good growth of maple, ash, and elm, with spruce on the hills. On the right 

 side of the river, the country is rolling, and so continues up to the trap ridges, be- 

 coming more broken as they are approached. 



About thirteen miles above the mouth, I passed the track of one of those violent 

 hurricanes which occasionally occur in that region. Its direction was from south 

 to north, and its path about three hundred yards wide. Almost every tree in its 

 course was twisted off, from ten to fifteen feet above the ground ; and many of the 

 large trees on the margin were torn up by the roots, their tops being inclined toward 

 the centre, while most of those not uprooted were bent in the same direction. 



