RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN BRITISH A/tIERICA.*
WE have here, in the not very attractive guise of a Parliamentary blue-book, a very valuable contribution to our more accurate know- ledge of t he southern central portion of the vast territory known as yintish America. The information contained in the Report before us rs of so interesting and important a nature that a brief summary of its leading points is, we think, likely to prove acceptable to many readers who may possibly be deterred from making themselves ac- quainted with it in its present form. Such a summary we accordingly propose to give. The best way, perhaps, to render it generally in- telligible will be to call attention in the first place to one of the prin- cipal results which have been attained by Mr. Hind's expedition. The tide of emigration which, in consequence of the recent discovery of gold in British Columbia, is steadily setting in towards that colony, renders it a matter of considerable importance to establish a ready and practicable line of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of North America. The most obvious method of attaining this object—at least until the completion of the Oreat Pacific Railway—is to follow the valley of one of the many large rivers which rise on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, and flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. The Missburi is the stream which has lutherto been generally selected for this purpose. This route, however, besides the disadvantage—possibly, at some future time, a very grave one—of lying entirely below the forty-ninth arallel, and therefore within the territory of the United States, has culties of its own; a considerable tract of difficult country lying between the head of the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. Attention has, therefore, recently been turned to the Saskatchewan, a river which flows into the northern extremity of Lake Winnipeg, and constitutes the principal drain of the central portion of British America. This stream is formed by the confluence of two main branches, whose junction takes place at the Grand Forks, a point about three hundred and forty miles west of its mouth. These confluents, both of which flow from the Rocky Mountains, are called the North and South Saskatchewan respectively, the source of the latter being about two degrees farther south than that of the former. The route hitherto proposed has been to enter Lake Winnipeg by the Red River, which flows into-its southern extremity, to traverse the lake, to navigate the Saskatchewan as far as the Grand Forks, and thence to follow the northern branch to the Rocky Mountains. This is not only a very circuitous route, but time navigation of Lake Winnipeg is very dangerous, while that of the Saskatchewan is impeded by a formidable rapid a few miles from its mouth, and by another, probably not less dangerous, in the northern branch, a short distance above the point of junction. A glance at the map will show that much time would be saved by proceeding directly from the Red River Settlement (Fort Garry) to the southern branch of the Saskatchewan. This can be effected by following upward the course of the Assinniboine, which flows into the Red River at Fort Garry, as far as Fort Ellice, at which point it takes a northerly direction; and thence tracing backward the course of the Qu'Appelle, or Calling River, which rises only a few miles from the South Saskatchewan, and after a nearly due eastern course of two hundred and seventy miles, falls into the Assiuniboine five miles below Fort Ellice. The South Saskatchewan would then be followed upward as far as its junction with its main affluent, the Bow River, a stream which rises in the vicinity of, and therefore affords a ready access to, one of the best passes in the Rocky Moun-. tales. If, therefore, it can be shown that the valleys of the Assinni- boine and the Qu'Appelle rivers afford a practicable line of communi- cation between the Red River and the South Saskatchewan, a strong prima' facie case is at once made out in favour of the more direct route. That such is really the case, Mr. Hind's exploration, though not undertaken expressly for that object, certainly tends to prove. Rearing this in mind, we will now proceed to give a brief account of the expedition, and of its principal results. Mr. Hind started from Fort Garry on June 15, 1858. His com- pany consisted of thirteen persons besides himself, three of whom, Messrs. Dickinson and Fleming, surveyors, and Mr. Hime, photo- grapher, to the expedition, were Englishmen, the majority of the remainder being Indian half-breeds. He directed his course along the northern bank of the Assinniboine for about one hundred and fifty miles, until he arrived at its junction with the Little Souris river, which flows into it from the south. At this point he crossed the stream, and followed the Souris as far as the 49th parallel, when he turned northward, and proceeded across the prairie to the Assinni-
boine, -
boine, and, keeping along its southern bank, arrived at Fort Ellice on July 9. In this journey across the prairie, it was necessary for the travellers to carry with them a supply of wood for fuel, the country west of the Souris being treeless and barren, owing, Mr. Hind thinks, to the general scarcity of dew. and rain, and to the frequent recurrence of prairie fires. At the point of junction of the Assinniboine and Qu'Appelle rivers, the former is one hundred and thirty-five, and the latter eighty-eight, feet wide, both streams having a mean sectional depth of eight feet. After a delay of three days * Reports of Progress, together with a Preliminary and General Report on the Amine boine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition; made under instruct ions from (he Pro sineial Secretary, Canada. By Henry Yonle Hind, M.A., Professor of Chemistry and Geology in the University of Trinity College, Toronto, in charge of the Expedition. London : Eyre and Spottiswoode. the party quitted Fort Ellice, and entered the valley of the Qu'Ap- pelle, proceeding along its southern side as far as the Qu'Appelle missionary settlement, a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles. This valley is 'fertile and well wooded, having an average breadth of about a mile and a half, and a depth of about two hundred and fifty feet ; its bed is partially occupied by a series of small lakes, eight in number, and having an aggregate length of seventy. miles, through Which the Qu'Appelle flows. At the Qu'Appelle mission a division of the party took place. Mr. Dickinson was to return to Fort Ellice, paddling down the Qu'Appelle in a canoe, and thence to proceed northward across country to Fort Pelly, in the Swan River district. Here he was to wait for Mr. Rime, who, before joining him, was to visit a singular lake forty miles in length, which, at a point about fifty miles west of the mission, 'branches off at right angles to the 'Qu'Appelle valley in a northerly direction ; and, the junction having been effected, they were to proceed together to that part of the Assinniboine west of the mouth of the Souris which had not been previously explored, and thence to return to Fort Ellice. Messrs. Thiad and Fleming proceeded to track the Qu'Appelle to its source. They found 'that the head of the Qu'Appelle valley inoseu- lates with that of the South Saskatchewan, about a dozen miles from which there is a series of elevated ponds, which, in springtime, unite into a shallow lake, and send their waters both into the Qu'Appelle and the Saskatchewan. They reached the latter river at a point called the Elbow, when it takes a bend 'to the westward, eighteen miles below which it is a rapid stream, six hundred yardsbroad, and having a maximum depth of ten feet. Having despatched glair carts across country to Fort it la Come, a point a few miles below the Grand Forks, they embarked on the South Saskatchewan in a canoe, and paddled down it to its junction with the north 'branch, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles. Having arrived at Fort I in Come, Mr. Hind sent Mr. Fleming down the .main Saskatchewan in the canoe, with instructions to return to Tort .Garry by Lake Winni- peg and the Red River; and himself proceeded across country in a south-easterly direction to Fort Ellice. Here he found Messrs. Dieldnson and Rime, and returned with them to Fort .Garry, by a cross-country route 'considerably to the north of the Assinnibome. Here they had to wait some days for Mr. Fleming, who was detained on Lake Winnipeg by contrary winds. This canoe-voyage appears to have been the most perilous part of the whole expedition. The fraud rapids of the Saskatchewan presented a formidable obstacle, avinA a fall of nearly forty-five feet in about two miles and a half; Mr. Fleming more than once narrowly escaped being swamped in the sudden and violent storms to which the lake is peculiarly liable; and his provisions being exhausted by the unexpected delay, he had no small difficulty in procuring food for himself and his two companions. The main circuit of the expedition was now completed. Before re- turning, however, Messrs. 'Hind and Fleming visited the Lakes of St. Martin, Winnipegosis, and Manitobah ; while Mr. Dickinson ex- plored ihe country between the 49th parallel and that portion of the Assinniboine which lies westward of its junction with the -Souris river.
The eountryexplored bythis expeditionmay be roughly described as a parellelogram lying 'between the 49th and 54th parallels of lati- tude, and the 96th and 107th degrees of longitude, and laving an area of about eighty thousand square miles. Mr. Hind reports that the greater part of this vast tract is admirably adapted for purposes of settlement,comprisin„, 'according to his estimate, not less than ,eleven million acres of amble, and at least an equal amount of pas- ture, land. As to the possibility of establishing a direct line of com- munication between the Red River and the South Saskatchewan, ohm; the valleys of the Assinniboine and the Qu'Appelle, Mr. Hind's opinion is most decitive. The two latter rivers, in their existing . state, are not 'navigable by boats of any size through their entire length; but, if the waters of the South Saskatchewan were diverted into the 'Qu'Appelle valley, a direct line of water communication would be obtained from Fort Garry to the Elbow, navigable through- out by steamers of considerable burden. This would not, Mr. Hind thinks, be a very difficult operation. The highest point of the bottom of the Qa'Appelle valley, which is the low watershed to which we have alluded, about a dozen miles from the Elbow, is only eighty-five feet above the summer levelmf the south branch. A darn across the Saskatchewan, -six or eight hundred yards long and eighty- five feet high, would compel its .waters to flow down the Qu'Appelle valley; or if a partial cutting were made through the watershed, a lower dam would answer the purpose. All danger to the settlements on the Assinniboine and Red River, from the passage of so large a body of water during the spring freshets, would be ,avoided by making a shallow cutting through the northern side of the former valley, at a point where its bank is so low, that in the spring-floods its waters actually flow over into Lake Itanitobah. The advantages -of this line of communieation over -that by 'the main Saskatchewan and the northern 'branch are great and obvious. In the first place, it would be shorter by at least four hundred miles. There would be a gentle and uniform stream allthe way from the Elbow to Fort Garry ; and, as far as Mr. Hind can learn, there are no impediments to the navigation of the south 'branch from the Elbow to the tBow River; no that loaded bateaux could .drift without interruption from -the Itow to the Red River, a distance of from seven to eight hundred miles. The -season during which the navigation would be open would be from eight to ten weeks longer than by the northern branch, since the ice .does not often leave the head of Lake Winnipeg before the 10th of June, while the Assinniboine and Qu'Appelle rivers We generally open early in May. The proposed route passes through the best and most fertile part of Rupert's Land, and offers great facilities for the establishment of a winter line of land communication, which would thus possess the great advantage of being coincident with the summer route. I communication would thus be secured, nearly in a straight line, from Lake Superior to the Rocky Moun- tains; the best route from Lake Superior to the Red River being, according to Mr. Dickinson, -the most direct one by the Pigeon River and the series of lakes which lie between it and the Red River set- tlement.
The information given by Mr. Hind as to the geology of the region traversed by his expedition may be briefly summed up as follows. The most striking peculiarity in the arrangement of the different formations is their undisturbed and horizontal. condition; only one or two instances of local disturbance having been met with during the whole journey. Cretaceous rocks occupy the whOle of the western and central portions of the district examined,terminating abruptly in the ranges of the Riding and Duck Mountains, at a short distance west of Lake Manitobah. Around Lake Winnipegosis and on the western shore of Lake 'Winnipeg are Devonian rocks, from which cretaceous depofits have probably been removed by denudation. The deposits on the eastern shore of Lake Winn! eg belong to the older
Laurentian period. Mr. Hind does not th. it probable that any outcrop of carboniferous roeks will be found to exist in the eastern art of the valley of the Saskatchewan. A considerable quantity of lignite, probably of Tertiary age, occurs in the form of scattered boulders in the valley of the Souris, but the most careful search failed to detect it in situ in a single instance. In some places the accumulation of boulders is BO extensive that it may become of economic value.
-We cannot, Of course, expect to find, in a mere Acid report, that detailed description of scenery and of incidents of travel which we might fairly lock for in a book addressed to the general public. This Mr. Hind will doubtless give us in -the longer account of his expedi- tion, which, we see, is already advertised as being in course of preps,- ration. In expressing this anticipation, we are not merely uttering a random prediction or paying a vague compliment; for even in the business-like document now before us, Mr. Hind has contrived to show that he possesses not only a shrewd faculty of observation, but also no inconsiderable amount of descriptive power. Of the existence of the former quality we have, we hope, already brought forward abundant .proof; and of that of the latter we will, in conclusion, proceed to give equally convincing evidence by .extracting a passage from his report in which he speaks of the myriads of grasshoppers which infest the Assinniboine and Souris valleys. The ravages com- mitted by these creatures are almost incredible; not only do they devour every green thing, but they also attack and destroy without 'distinction any such things as saddles, girths, leather bags, or articles of clothing which may be left for a few minutes on the grass. Mr.. Hindthus describes the phenomena produced by the flight of a swarm of these insects :
"On the 2nd July we observed the gmsshoppers in full flight towards the north ; the air as far as the .-eye could penetrate appeared to be filled with them. They commenced their Ilight about nine in the morning, and continued until half-st three or four o'clock in the afternoon. About that hoar they settled around us in countless multitudes, and immediately clung to the leaves of grass and rested after their journey. On subsequent days, when crossing the great prairie from Red Deer's Head River to Fort Ellice, the host of grasshoppers were beyond all calculation ; they appeared to be infinite in .number. Early in the morning they fed upon the prairie grass, being alwaysloundmost numerous in low, wet places, where the grass was long. As .soon as the Atm had evaporated the dew, they took short-flights, and as the hour of nine approached, eland after cloud would rise from the prairie and pursue their flight in the direction of the wind, which was generally S.S.W. The number in the air seemed to be greatest about noon, and at times they appeared in such infinite swarms as to lessen perceptibly the light of the sun. The whole horizon wore an unearthly ashen hue from the light reflected by their transparent wings. The air was filled as with flakes of snow, and time after time clouds of these insects forming a dense body, casting a glimmer- ing silvery light, flew swiftly towards the north-north-east, at altitudes varying from five hundred to perhaps one thousand feet.
"Lying on my back and looking upwards as near to the sun as the light would permit, I saw the sky continually changing colour from blue to silver white, ash grey and lead colour, according to the numbers in the,paseing clouds of insects- Opposite to the sun the.prevailing hue was .a silver white, perceptibly flashing. On one occasion the whole heavens towards the south-east and west appe,area to radiate a soft grey-tinted light with a quivering motion, and the day being calm, the hum produced by the vibration of so many millions of wings was quite /11- describable, and morearesembled the noise popularly termed a among in one's ears' than any other sound. The aspect of the heavens during the greatest flight we observed was singularly striking. It produced a feeliegof uneasiness, amaze- ment, and awe in our minds, as if some terrible unforeseen calamity were about to happen. It recalled more vividly than words could express the devastating ravages of the 'Egyptian scourges, as it seemed to bring us face to face with one of the most striking and wonderful exhibitions of Almighty power in-the creation and sustenance .of this infinite army of insects."
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