1908.] 



EOUTES TRAVERSED ALBERTA. 



91 



the mouth of the Clearwater. At this point the Athabaska divides 

 to inclose a large poplar-covered island, and behind this the Clear- 

 water enters the smaller or easterly channel. The buildings are 

 situated on a broad flat backed by high steep hills. In the da3^s 

 when the Clearwater formed the principal higiiAvay to the north, 

 before the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the 

 consequent utilization of the Athabaska, Fort McMurray, or,.' The 

 Forks,' was an important post. Large fields were cultivated near 

 the site of the present post and also on the large island, but these 

 fertile fields are now abandoned and have grown up to bushes. The 

 forest is similar to that along the upper river, and the undergrowth 

 is composed of much the same shrubs, with the addition of the 

 ostrich fern {Matteuccia strntliiopteris) ^ spreading dogbane {Apocy- 

 num andros(emifolium), and a few other herbaceous plants which 

 ap23arently are absent from the upper Athabaska, and probably are 

 derived from the country to the southward by way of the Clearwater 

 Valley. 



At the m^uth of the Clearwater the Athabaska again changes its 

 direction, and throughout the rest of its course runs nearly due 

 north. The valley also changes its character, broadening and soon 

 becoming slialloAver. For some miles the right bank is formed of 

 Devonian limestone, overlaid by the tar sands and Clearwater shale. 

 In some places these form steep banks several hundred feet high and 

 nearly devoid of vegetation, but the lower and less steep parts are 

 prettily clothed with birches and poplars, whose white trunks present 

 a pleasing contrast to the somber evergreens. Many mineral springs 

 occur on the right bank about 15 miles below Fort McMurray and 

 have formed extensive incrustations.'^ 



At a distance of 23 miles from Fort McMurray, Steepbank River, 

 a small stream, enters the Athabaska from the east. A few miles 

 below here mineral springs occur near the edge of the valley half a 

 mile east of the river. Their waters are strongly impregnated with 

 salt, and the locality is usually referred to as ' La Saline.' Another 

 small stream, one of the many jNIuskeg rivers, flows into the Athabaska 

 a short distance farther down, and just below, on the west side and 

 35 miles below the mouth of the ClearAvater, Red River, a fair-sized 

 stream, comes in. Xear its mouth is the small trading post Little 



« Ricliardson, from an analysis made by Doctor Fife, states that the incrusta- 

 tion " was composed principally of sulphate of lime, with a slight admixture of 

 sulphate of magnesia and muriate of soda, and with sulphur and iron."' 

 (Arctic Searching Expedition, I, p. 123, 1851.) 



