erates, which are very like those of Shoal lake in the west, extend in patches for about three miles along shore toward the west, and contain a few barren looking quartz veins. Still farther west granite cuts off the schist conglomerate eruptively, and is followed by green schist. More or less conglomerate occurs at intervals however as far as Dog river.

A View of old Lake Terraces.

Dog River.

For three or four miles east of Dog river a magnificient series of old lake terraces fronts the shore, best seen from a mile or two out in the lake. They are clean cut and very well defined, and consist chiefly of sand and gravel. The highest rises about 360 feet above the river, and the even level lines of the forest-covered surfaces of the successive steps are very striking in contrast with the rugged cliffs and dome-like mountains elsewhere seen on this wild coast. These terraces extend only a short distance west of Dog river. Two miles west of the river there is a sheltered little harbor, well adapted for fishing craft, though deserted when we were there; and a few shanties stand along the sandy shore of the bay and near the rocky point which protects the small pier and storehouse.

The River and its Falls.

As Dog river is one of the largest streams on this part of the coast we devoted some time to its study. There is a long gravel bar at its mouth, crowding the brown water of the river against the cliff on the west gide of the valley. About half a mile above this the river becomes too rapid for canoe navigation, flows through canyonlike narrows parallel to the strike of the Huronian schists, and finally turns off at right angles, forming one of the most beautiful falls we had yet seen. The foot of the main fall is about 33 feet above the lake, while its head is 159 feet higher (aneroid). The fall is in three steps, but all visible from one point of view. Above the fall the stream once more turns parallel to the strike of the schist, following a narrow canyon. From the appearance of the shores it is evident that the river has great fluctuations in level. The rocks seen are pale green schist conglome rate and porphyroid.

Geology of Pucaswa Harbor.

Pucaswa River to Pic River.

Our next important stop was at Pucaswa14 river, where two small islands form a tiny harbor, very welcome after long pitching in a high sea; and a stretch of sandy shore affords good camping ground, though infested with sandflies and blackflies. The rocks here are chlorite schists with purplish felsitic layers, crossed by numbers of large diabase dikes having the crumbling look of Keweenawan rocks, though perhaps not of that age. One of these dikes, forming a point just west of the river mouth, is cut by a smaller columnar dike, which has been breached by the waves so as to give a tunnel-like opening through the point. The cave is about 30 feet long by 15 in width and height. The basaltic columns are six feet long and tilted to about 45° on both the roof and floor of the cave.

There were many fresh caribou tracks on the sand near the mouth of the river. For about a third of a mile beyond the bar there is little current, but there the valley turns off through a wild gorge overhung by a cliff hundreds of feet in height. A portage path of half a mile leads past the series of cascades Cascades of by which the stream breaks through this barrier, the only well beaten portage found on the whole river. The first fall is of about 55 feet, and a series of rapids rise beyond this. There is a mass of pyrites

the River.

14The name is variously spelled, Pucoso, Pukasquaw, etc., but the spelling followed here corresponds best with the pronunciation of the Indians employed as guides, though one of them spel'ed it Bagoswa when asked to write it down.

a foot thick at the foot of the rapids, at which some one has done a little work; but there is no quartz accompanying it, and the deposit shows little promise.

A little west of Pucaswa granite shows itself as far as Kilkenny (or Killarney) harbor, At Kilkenny now deserted; beyond which there Harbor. is gneiss with a strike of about northeast and southwest and a dip of 80° to the northwest. In a bay west of Kilkenny there are several old beaches rising above the water to a height of 42 feet, the upper ones completely lichen-covered. There is no sharp break in the series of beaches, which all consist of well-rounded boulders about as large as one's head. This seems to imply a gradual fall in the level of the lake.

Between this and Otter head the scenery

Spruce Har

Tip Top

At the

Spruce) harbor no stop was made. latter point there is a well - sheltered White bay, once a fishing station, but the bor and frame houses, pier and storehouse Mountain. are now abandoned. From here we attempted to ascend Tip Top mountain, marked on the map as seven miles to the east, but owing to the shortness of the afternoon available for the work and the heavy rain which came on, we did not succeed. The trail is faint at present, though it must have been considerably used when the summit was occupied as a triangulation station by the U. S. Hydrographic Survey. blazed trail as far as we could follow it leads up a small creek past a lake about a half mile long and then up an extraordinary ravine or canyon, evidently the result of the weather

The

The Dikes

of Otter Head.

being penetrated by many wide diabase dikes of a very columnar character, often, when weatherbeaten, suggesting great piles of cordwood. As the head is neared the gneiss becomes interbedded with long bands of gray or green schist, showing an eruptive contact of Laurentian with Huronian, like that seen in the Rainy Lake region.

There is a long bay with mountainous shores to the north of Otter head, and a large island protects its mouth, so that the sheet of water is as placid as an inland lake, forming a great contrast with the turbulent waters of lake Superior, which are seldom free from ground swell even in the calmest weather. On the north shore of the bay, where a waterfall tumbles over a dike of diabase in green schist, a mining location was taken up some years ago by Mr. Mudge, of Peninsula. There are some small veins of quartz charged with pyrites, supposed to contain copper, but showing when assayed no copper and only $2 per ton in gold and silver; so that nothing further has been done with the property.

On the main land opposite Otter island the Rideau river falls as a cascade visible for a long distance on the lake. There are two falls in succession, having in all a height of 86 feet.

Rideau River.

From this point to White Spruce (or

few feet wide it had a depth of about 100 feet, with smooth parallel walls of granite both having a dip of 80°, so that one wall completely overhung the path. On an adjoining granite hill top at a height of 982 feet (aneroid) we found an old triangle of poles, perhaps used as a temporary observatory or signal, and had a magnificent veiw of the mountainous country around, though somewhat shrouded by mist and rain. A high point, or rather dome, three or four miles to the east was probably Tip Top15; and a number of higher hills than the one we had climbed were in sight, ours representing not much more than the average height of this part of the shore. No land of any extent fit for agriculture was passed on our excar

sion.

The rocks observed were granite or granitoid gneiss, with diabase dikes. At Spruce harbor the rock is gneiss imperfectly foliated, with no very distinct strike. On a small gull rock three miles to the northwest we found gneiss with a strike of 80° and a nearly vertical dip. A young gull picked up here, though not yet able to fly, had a spread of wing of 45 inches. All the gulls were fledged or nearly so at this time, and their islet was very foul from the debris left upon it.

15 This mountain was ascended on my return journey going in from Swallow river to the south.

White Gravel River and Oiseau Bay.

A short stay was made at White Gravel river, a small stream north of Spruce harbor, and a longer one at Oiseau bay ten miles north of it. Unlike the coast observed hitherto, we found that along this part a number of points had been burnt over, as if the climate was drier than nearer to the Sault; and the lofty hills along the shore had a very barren look. The only timber of value is spruce, both here and on the route of our excursion towards Tip Top mountain. Of that, however, there is a considerable quantity. At Oiseau bay there is an interesting succession of rocks displayed. Yellowish Laurentian gneiss, containing black bands of older schist, probably Keewatin, is cut by gray granitoid gneiss, and all of them are intersected by pegmatite. The gneiss has a strike of 150°, but a mile beyond this it has changed to 60°.

From this point to Heron Bay the shore as far as observed by us consists of green schists cut by dikes of granite and larger areas of coarse reddish-gray granite, perhaps Laurentian.

Pic River to

At the mouth of Pic river sand bars and dunes form the shore; but just beyond this a rocky point consists of what Heron Bay. appears to be Huronian schist, with a strike of 110°-120° and vertical dip. Rounding the point and turning north into Heron bay there are reddish rocks, at first taken for gneiss or granite, but proving on more careful examination to be schist conglomerate, consisting of pebbles or boulders of quartz porphyry and other rocks in a darker matrix. This rock forms almost the whole shore of the bay.

Heron Bay.

At Heron Bay we were delayed a day or two in getting guides and canoemen for our projected trips south from the C.P.R. to lake Superior, owing to the fact that all the Indians of the reserve were waiting for the most important event of the year, viz., treaty payments. After our lonely journey along the deserted shore of lake Superior where for about 70 miles, from Ganley's harbor to Heron bay, there is not a settled inhabitant, the bustle was not uninteresting.

A day was spent in walking along the railway to Peninsula to examine the rock

formations and to visit the immense gravel deposit on the way. West of Heron bay to Iron San mile 805 the schist conglomerate is deposit at Peninsula. found; beyond that, greenish gray slate with many dikes of diabase. As the rocks near Peninsula and along the railway for some distance west were referred to in a previous report, no mention need be made of them here. 16 The iron sands referred to in the same report, 17 were examined under the guidance of Mr. M. J. Paterson of Toronto, who was engaged with Mr. Mudge in collecting bags of the material for a test of the value of the deposit. The area of sand containing magnetite is large, 1,200 acres we were told. An assay of one of the best samples taken by us yielded 48.6 per cent. of iron. The Heron Bay mine close to the station of the same name was visited also. A shaft 40 or 50 feet deep has been sunk in a country rock of felsite; and the ore on the dump consists of calcite with a little quartz and pyrite, not very promising in appearance.

Heron Bay Mine.

Plan of

Tours.

Michipicoton Mining Division.

By the kind aid of Mr. W. H. McDougall, a fur trader who has a store at White River as well as at Heron Bay, Indians and equipment were secured for Prof. Willmott Exploration and myself, and on July 20 we commenced our respective journeys southward, my starting point being Bremner Station of the C. P. R.; Prof. Willmott's, White River. It was arranged that Mr. George should accompany Prof. Willmott, and Mr. Coulthard and Sayers should sail the Caribou down to Caribou island while we were occupied with our canoe trips, so as to examine the rocks composing that seldom

16 Bur. mines, 1897, p. 133. 17 Ibid, p. 83.

visited island; and then to return to the north shore and pick us up at the mouth of Pucaswa and Dog rivers, respectively. This programme was carried out punctually by the three expeditions.

Bremner

Lake

Superior.

Bremner River.

Going east by rail from Heron Bay to Bremner river my party of four, including two Indians, Toussaint Weesiau and Jim Shoes, engaged as canoeman, set out on Station to July 20 through a region only partly known to the Indians and rarely traversed by a white man. We were told it would require two weeks of hard work to cover the distance to lake Superior, about 45 miles in a straight line; but of course much farther by the small and winding rivers we were to follow. It required in reality only about half that time, although the carrying on of the survey with prismatic compass hindered our progress considerably. Bremner station is on White river, but a quarter of a mile up stream we turned off to the south on Bremner river, which seems the larger of the two branches, and followed it up to its head waters which reach more than half way to lake Superior. About four miles up the first rapid requiring a portage is reached, and the first outcrop of rock also occurs, gneiss with an east and west strike. The portage, which is on the right bank going up, is about a fifth of a mile long and well beaten. The rise is about 10 feet. The next rapid, about a mile farther up, has a fall of 32 feet (aneroid); and is passed by a crooked trail on the left side about threequarters of a mile in length. Another rapid is passed less than a mile beyond, with a fall of nine feet and a portage of 100 yards on the right side. The rock exposed here is gneiss with dikes of diabase. A large creek

Ascent of Bremner River.

enters the river from the left about 12 miles from Bremner, in a region of low sandy banks; and half a mile beyond this hills that have been burnt over were found to consist of fine grained pale gray granite, covered with the black trunks of jack pines.

The timber up to this point on the river is chiefly jack pine, though on the lower ground some spruce and tamarac are to be seen. My cook, Stephen Jollineau, who has worked for

a pulpwood lumber company, says that the spruces would make good pulpwood, each tree cutting two logs 16 feet long.

Above the last rapid mentioned the river grows smaller and very crooked, and has only a gentle current. Several small rapids follow, with short portages scarcely at all beaten, over gneiss or granite; and then a bad portage one-third of a mile long over fallen timber past a series of rapids having a total fall of 60 feet (aneroid); and from this on there are numerous small rapids with slack water between.

About 23 miles from Bremner the river suddenly becomes straight for about two miles, much of the way having a steep granite or gneiss wall on the left bank. The straight part probably follows the line of a diabase dike which has weathered out, forming a long canal. At a rapid having a fall of 32 feet the stream is at one point so narrow that one can easily step across. The channel follows the strike of the gneiss.

Headwaters of the River.

same distance, three small creeks it meantime from the east. entering After another bend and a tiny lake expansion we at last reach the headwaters of Bremner river in a lake about a mile in length, called by the Indian family which hunts over this region Peenay or Partridge lake. The lake is surrounded by low rounded hills of granitoid gneiss, the highest rising perhaps 100 feet above it. The pale gneiss includes many angular fragments of dark green schist.

The whole rise from Bremner station to Partridge lake, as determined by summing up the heights of the different rapids measured As there is by aneroid, is about 200 feet. very little current between rapids only a few feet need be added to complete the elevation of the headwaters of Bremner river above the railway. As Bremner Station is 527 feet above lake Superior, the fall from Peenay lake to Superior is 725 feet. 18 Toussaint, who

18 Mr. J. White of the Geological Survey has kindly informed me that the elevation of Bremner station above sea level is 1,129 feet. Subtracting 602 feet, the height of lake Superior above the sea, gives 527 feet.