hunts along this valley, states that a lake a mile or two away empties by a small creek into Partridge lake and also into the headwaters of Pucaswa river.

The scenery of the river is not striking. Much of its shores has been burnt over, and the timber left is of little value except for Jack pine, birch and spruce are pulpwood. the commonest trees; but tamarac and cedar are found occasionally. There are unusually few lakes along the stream, and those are scarcely more than pond-like expansions of the river. The shores being generally low, afford few exposures of rock except at rapids; and the only rocks observed are granite, gneiss and dikes of diabase.

Pucaswa River.

A portage 2 miles long, broken however by three little ponds, leads southeast, across very rugged and hilly country with Crossing the Divide. no distinct path, to a small creek flowing into Pucaswa river. The fall from Partridge lake to canoeable waters flowing into the Pucaswa is 126 feet. Much of the portage leads across flat-topped granite hills over bare rock; but there are long stretches of muskeg and meadow as one approaches the lower end of the portage. The hills were covered with blue berries when we crossed on July 23; and the Pucaswa waters provided us with plenty of speckled trout.

The little creek at which the portage ends joins a larger stream which flows 2 miles

Descent of

southwest to meet the main Pucaswa the Pucaswa river flowing first west and then southwest. After crossing the divide there were no beaten portages and we simply worked our way down stream over endless flat rapids, wading much of the time. The reason why the Indians never navigate the river was clear, although the presence of caribou tempts them to the headwaters of the Pucaswa in winter. Beaver cuttings were plentiful on this part of the river.

the river. The gneiss thus far seen generally strikes about east and west. With the excep

tion of a few narrow lake-like parts, the river down to this is almost a continuous flat rapid with a few higher falls, the portaging being done generally down the bed of the shallow stream; only striking into the woods where falls of some height occur. About 11 miles from the mouth red granite or graintoid gneiss is seen at a rather lofty fall (27 feet) and continues for some miles down stream. Below the main fall there is a continuous series of rapids for a mile and a quarter with a fall of 198 feet; a difficult bit of river with such precipitous rock walls as to make portaging very laborious. This part of the river contains many elongated islands among the rapids, and presents a series of magnificent views. Here for the first time a distinct sand and gravel terrace indicating an old lake level is to be seen rising 40 or 50 feet above the river, and the valley has been cut low enough into the high tableland to give its rocky walls the appearance of mountains.

A little more than seven miles above lake Superior, following the windings of the river, here very crooked, but only three miles in a direct line, Huronian rocks first show themselves in continuous beds, having a strike of 80° or nearly cast and west, and running parallel to the course of the river. The dip is from 30° to 45° to the north. The red granite observed for several miles above this is probably eruptive, perhaps a continuation of the granite area found on the shore of Superior a few miles east of the mouth of the Pucaswa. The strike of the green schist varies somewhat, being 60° a mile lower down.

About 4 miles from its mouth the Pucaswa is joined by a smaller river from the left, estimated at a quarter of its volume. Just above this there are two falls having a total drop of 22 feet, and near by a small bedded quartz vein with pyrite was observed. A mile below the tributary felsite schist occurs, having a strike of 30° and dip of 30° to the northwest; and the river passes through a canyon where many dikes of diabase are seen. Below the canyon there is a soft gray rock much seamed with small veins of calcite. A succession of flat rapids

and one fall of about 18 feet intervene between the canyon and the main fall of the river, 55 feet high, below which there is a lake-like expansion reaching to the bar separating the river from lake Superior. The river mouth has been described in a previous part of this report.

There is a considerable amount of spruce, some of it large on the lower reaches of Pucaswa river; but besides the Readings of Elevation. timber nothing of economic importance was observed on the whole route from Bremner to Pucaswa harbor. Summing up the results of aneriod readings from the foot of the long portage which leads from Partridge lake to a tributary of the Pucaswa, the whole fall is 575 feet. As there is a fall of 126 feet on the long portage this gives the elevation of Partridge lake, the headwaters of the Bremner river, as 700 feet. This re

sult must not be looked on as having great accuracy however, and the estimate made from Bremner station, 725 feet, is probably

more correct.

The Pucaswa as a whole is one of the most difficult rivers in Ontario to navigate, being almost asuccession of rapids, some An inhospitable Region with very shallow water over small boulders; others are considerable falls over solid rock. There are few stretches of dead water and no lake of any magnitude on its whole course. Since the Canadian Pacific Railway crossed the country to the north it is never navigated even by Indians, though we found two families of Indians camped at the mouth of the river for fishing purposes. They came from Pic river in a sail boat however. In winter the country is more accessible than in summer, and a few Indians hunt caribou along parts of the Pucaswa.

line is mapped as running past the headwaters of the Pucaswa; but was not observed by my party in portaging from Partridge lake. He represents the river on his map but makes it straight except at the lower end, probably having sketched it in from the reports of Indians. For a few miles above its mouth the Pucaswa is fairly well mapped in the plan of the township of Homer in the Crown Lands departinent. Bremner river and Partridge lake are not shown by Herrick, though his line must have come close to them.

Bell's 's map of the "Basin of Moose River and Adjacent Country," illustrating his work in 1875, 1877 and 1881, and published by the Geological Survey in 1883, does not make use of Herrick's work. A tributary of White river, Oskabookuta river, is dotted in, probably from Indian reports, in such a way as to make it meet or even cross Bremner river near its headwaters. It is probable that the river is not as long as represented, as my Indians, though they had canoed ten miles up it from White river, were not aware that it approached Bremner river.

The Story of Swindle.

a

As

Twenty-seven years ago two townships were surveyed on this part of the barren shore of lake Superior, Homer salting and Byron, and the old lines may still be seen in the woods. the history of the affair, which included the "salting" of a tin mine, is of some interest, Mr. John Mc Aree, who took part in the survey, has been asked to write an account of it. This is given in the footnote. 20 In later times deposits of copper ore have been found in or near these townships and may prove of value.

20 MCAREE'S NARRATIVE.

The township of Homer was surveyed by the late C. C. Forneri, P.L.S. of Port Arthur and the writer in December, 1871, and January, 1872, for W. A. Northrup, who came to Port Arthur from the south shore of the lake-from Houghton if I remember rightly-in the summer of 1871. We went down by the Manitoba, Captain Symes, on November 30 and left the survey on January 24 on the return trip. Our route was around the north shore, and the transportation of our baggage, etc., was by toboggans made in the bush before starting. We reached Port Arthur on February 17. We then learned for the first time that we bad been making a survey of lands upon which valuable deposits of tin ore had been discovered the previous season. In those booming days of sur

veying and taking up mining claims many of the operators thought it necessary to conduct their operations with as much secrecy as possible, and for a member of a survey party to have asked any questions as to the exact destination of the expedition, or the nature of the mineral discovery, would have been resented as being very ill bred. Homer Pennock, also of the south shore, and a man named Johnston posed as the discoverers of the tin; whilst Northrup and Wood were the vendors, and sold the discovery to a syndicate of Detroit mining men, who organized a company, paying Northrup's crowd part in cash and part in stock, besides buying the land from the Government and paying the survey and all other expenses. During the winter the Northrup party quietly disposed of their stock, much of it in Boston, I believe, and other eastern cities. In the spring the writer and Mr. Forneri's assistant went back to Homer and made the survey of the shore line, and of some additional sections which were added along the east boundary of the first survey. The Detroit company were now in charge in the person of Captain Slawson, a western mining man. Pennock came on the ground, staying at Slawson's camp, but although he made excursions into the woods to the supposed tin vein, he absolutely refused to show its location. Slawson, in my hearing, offered one of the survey party who had been on the original survey one thousand dollars if he would show the vein; but this person knew no more of it than Slawson himself. Pennock went back to New York and the tin company took proceedings which resulted in his being incarcerated in the Toombs. He then said that the survey had not been properly placed to take in the discovery, and that if this error was rectified and an additional tract, which he indicated, surveyed, he would show the tin. Accordingly, late in the autumn of 1872, the writer again visited Otter head with Isaac Traynor, lately out of his apprenticeship, as assistant, and surveyed the township of Byron, adjoining Homer on the north. During the progress of this survey, which was directed by Northrup in person, he and his confederates made preparations for the culminating of their swindle by fixing up a vein containing quantities of tin oxide. This was not known to any of the survey party at the time, for Northrup requested us not to go near the place. A Mr. Childs of Duluth had charge of what proved to be the " salting" operations. No one as yet suspected that a swindle was being perpetrated. Upon the completion of

the survey the writer returned with his party to Port Arthur. Later the report came that the tin vein or veins had been visited and inspected by Captain Harris of Ontonagan, Mich., the expert appointed by the syndicate to make the examination, and that his report was favorable-it was ali right. A good deal of stock was sold as the result of Harris' report, for he was a man of undoubted integrity, a Cornishman who knew tin ore when he saw it, and who had had a very successful career in copper mining on the south shore of lake Superior. The vein was seen on the east side of Otter cove, and also crossing the point of land on the west side of that sheet of water.

Early in the spring of 1873 people from Fort William and from Silver Islet went down to Byron and discovered the fraud. I believe Captain Pritchard of Fort William was the first to see that the vein was bogus. A survey party from Silver Islet was then at work taking up what they believed would prove to be valuable tin mining lands; their operations came to a sudden stop when the truth became known.

The circumstances under which Captain Harris' examination of the property was made should be mentioned in justice to him. It appears that on his way to Otter head he arrived at Sault Ste. Marie late in November, if not actually in December. No steamer could be got to take the party to Otter head, where the vein of tin ore was to be seen, and they were obliged to engage a schooner. Arrived at Otter head they found six inches of snow on the ground, and very soon after their arrival the skipper of the schooner discovered the near approach of a storm, and as there was poor shelter where he was, and the season very late any way, he insisted that the mining party should hurry their work, if he was to wait for them. Harris, I suppose, on being able to pick the tin ore out of the vein that was shown him, took the rest for granted; he may not have been an hour absent from the craft, and in that chilly and dreary November weather may have been taking a little too much stimulant, or may have been betrayed along that line, as has been reported, by the interested parties who had him in charge. It was subsequently ascertained, I believe, that the tin ore for the salting was procured from Cornwall.

The total amount of land in these two townships is about 30,000 acres, I think; the price of mineral land at that time was one dollar an acre.

JOHN MCAREE.