526 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY 



the right bank of the river, bearing northeast and southwest, with an elevation of 

 fifteen feet above the water-level. A mile higher up, another range of greenstone 

 trap, associated with amygdaloid, forms perpendicular walls on the river, for about 

 a quarter of a mile. Here the trap assumes a subcolumnar structure ; and presents 

 numerous vertical and transverse fissures, filled with calcareous spar, in which, 

 however, no copper ore could be detected. The cavities of the amygdaloid contain 

 both epidote and the same soft green mineral mentioned while describing the corre- 

 sponding range on Snake River. Over the trap is about twelve feet of drift, sup- 

 porting a light sandy soil. The growth of timber on the ridge is chiefly white and 

 red pine and scrubby oak ; while on the bottoms, where the soil is richer, pine trees 

 were observed, four feet in diameter, interspersed amongst oak, elm, hard and soft 

 maple, birch, and aspen. 



Five and a half miles up Kettle River, conglomerate is again exposed, similar 

 to that observed near the mouth, accompanied, a few hundred yards above the 

 latter place, by trap rocks. 



The navigation of Kettle River is interrupted for eight miles, as well by numerous 

 boulders as by a succession of rapids, with only occasional intervals of smooth 

 water. 



For five miles above the trap range the soil is of good quality, and supports a 

 luxuriant growth of maple, elm, and oak ; then succeeds fine forests of pine, for 

 several miles, interrupted occasionally by groves of oak and maple. 



Between seven and eight miles above the rapids, a third trap uplift appears, on 

 the left bank of the river, for a quarter of a mile, presenting a mural face of about 

 thirty feet. Its bearing is nearly the same as the preceding. 



Three miles higher, where the current runs with great swiftness, trap is again 

 exposed on the left bank, and after reaching the head of the rapid, reddish-brown 

 sandstone is encountered, on the same side, partaking much of the characters of 

 some of the members of F. 1, as they occur on the Mississippi and Wisconsin 

 Rivers, though more highly coloured, and rather more compact. Along the whole 

 course of this exposure the strata have suffered considerable disturbance from the 

 adjacent igneous range, being both tilted and fractured in various directions. The 

 prevalent dip is to the northeast, but the inclination is not uniform. 



Some of the sandstones here are finely ripple-marked, like those brought from 

 Lake Superior near the mouth of Montreal River. 



After passing a very swift rapid, estimated to be about twenty-eight miles up 

 Kettle River, we reached the " Falls of Kettle River." An escarpment of from 

 ten to fifteen feet of sandstone extends the whole distance of this rapid, traversed 

 by fissures and deep chasms. The river, which is about one hundred and twenty 

 yards wide above the Falls, is contracted in width, as it enters the gorge, to forty 

 yards ; widening somewhat as it approaches the cascade, it divides into two sheets 

 around a triangular rocky island. The woodcut, on the next page, after a sketch 

 by Mr. Meek, conveys a better idea of the appearance of the scene than any written 

 description. 



For half a mile above the Falls the sandstone disappears, and then again forms a 

 wall, at first ten feet high ; but gradually increasing in height, it attains an elevation 

 of one hundred and fifty feet, about a mile and a half above the Falls. 



