340 



DESCRIPTION OF 



T H E 



COUNTRY 



three feet wide. Between Fond du Lac and Two Island Eiver, they serve to drain 

 but a limited portion of the country lying between Lake Superior and the high- 

 lands which divide its tributaries from those of Hudson's Bay ; the Valleys of Clo- 

 quet, Big Whiteface, and St. Louis Rivers lying between the elevated ranges north 

 of the Lake and the highlands spoken of, and draining a large extent of country. 

 The descent into the Valley of the Cloquet is very little, in comparison with that 

 on the lake side of the water-shed ; and may be judged of from the elevation of 

 its mouth above the level of Lake Superior, which is six hundred and thirty feet. 

 The summit of the slope drained by the tributaries of the Lake, averages about 

 twenty miles in distance, in a direct line, from the coast ; varying from that to 

 thirty miles at the most distant point; until, about the sources of Kawimbash 

 River, it begins to increase in distance from the Lake (owing, principally, to the 

 curvature of the lake-shore easterly, under the influence of the heavy east and 

 west dikes, which intersect the northeasterly ones), and where it strikes the boun- 

 dary line, it is fifty miles, in a direct line, from the mouth of Pigeon River. 



Cloquet River, which heads near the sources of Kanokikopag River, pursues a 

 southwest course, nearly parallel with the lake-shore, and empties into St. Louis 

 River about sixteen miles northwest by west of the northwest corner of Fond du 

 Lac Superieure. 



In the upper part of their course, as already mentioned, the rivers of the north- 

 west shore, Avhich often drain swamps and small lakes on the summit-level, flow 

 through comparatively wide valleys, which contract as they descend into narrow 

 ravines. Frequent slight rapids occur, after they leave the highlands. These gra- 

 dually increase in frequency and descent, until, as the Lake is approached, they 

 increase to cascades and falls, from twenty to forty feet in height ; and, in some in- 

 stances, several such cascades occur in the course of a few rods, making in all a fall 

 of from sixty to a hundred and twenty feet, or more. 



At the more elevated points examined towards the summit-levels, I invariably 

 found the temperature of the streams greater than that of the atmosphere. On Two 

 Island River, for instance, on the 14th of July, 1848, at an elevation of six hundred 

 and forty-seven feet above the level of Lake Superior, the temperature of the atmo- 

 sphere was 68° Fall., of the river 71°, and of a spring near the river bank 37°. The 

 temperature of this spring cannot vary greatly from the mean annual temperature 

 of the surrounding region, and differs but a few degrees from the constant tempera- 

 ture of Lake Superior. 



All the hills, ridges, and valleys of the north shore, with the exceptions 

 already named, are densely timbered. Among the trees are white cedar, birch, 

 spruce, fir, pine, aspen, maple, elm, ash, and bass-wood ; with a dense undergrowth, 

 rendering it extremely difficult to traverse the woods, especially with delicate 

 instruments, and interfering very materially with geological investigations. 



