1908.] 



ROUTES TRAVERSED ALBERTA. 



89 



river, which until now has been running in a general northerly direc- 

 tion, turns sharply toward the east, being deflected by a range of low 

 hills. At this point the full thickness of the Grand Kapid sand- 

 stone — about 300 feet — is exposed, and it is found to be underlain by 

 a new formation, the Clearwater shale. About 8 miles below here 

 Little Buffalo River flows into the Athabaska from the w^est. Oppo- 

 site its mouth is Point Brule, rising abruptly over 400 feet and show- 

 ing a section similar to that of Point La Biche, except that the under- 

 lying shale is much increased in thickness. Near the mouth of Little 

 Buffalo River a quantity of gas escapes from the bed of the Atha- 



Fig. 5. — Bowlclei'-paved shoi-e, Athabaska River. 



baska. Six miles below is a considerable rapid known as the Brule. 

 Large boats are run in the middle or toward the right bank, but the 

 canoe track closely folloAvs the left bank. The Boiler Rapid occurs 

 19 miles belovf , and here also canoes are usually run on the left side." 



« This part of the Athabaska seems to have been used first as a transporta- 

 tion route in 1882, when the lieavy macliinery for the first nortliern steamer 

 (the first GraJiamc) was successfnlly fallen through the rapids in scows, the 

 portable pieces coming by the old route via Methye Portage. In 1885 the ma- 

 chinery for the first Mackenzie River steamer (the first WrigJcu) was brought 

 in by way of the Athabaska, but one scow containing the boiler was sunk in 

 a rapid, which has since borne the name Boiler Rapid. 



