IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT 3) 
 
 /. 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 w., 
 
 'i< 
 
 C/a 
 
 :A 
 
 1.0 
 
 ■u 
 
 12.' 
 
 I.I 
 
 JM 
 
 IIIM 
 
 1.25 
 
 IIM 
 
 2.2 
 ZO 
 
 ill— 
 
 1.4 ill 1.6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 A" 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 V] 
 
 'c-1 
 
 e. 
 
 ^A 
 
 'el 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .^-^ >>/ 
 
 # 
 
 3S, ^'S 
 
 ^3 
 
 -^i 
 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 
 
 (716) 87i-4503 
 
S".^ 
 y 4?^^ 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian institute for Historical iVIicroreproductions Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 
 
 1980 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibllographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may siqnificantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'i! lui a dt6 possible de se procurer. Les details 
 de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la methods normale de filmage 
 sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 □ Coloured pages/ 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 I I Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagde 
 
 □ Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagdes 
 
 D 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^e et/ou pelliculde 
 
 □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicui^es 
 
 n Cover title missing/ 
 Letit 
 
 titre de couverture manque 
 
 □ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d^colordes, tachet6es ou piqu^es 
 
 
 Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes g^ographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 □ Pages detached/ 
 Pages d^tach^es 
 
 [^ 
 
 Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 □ Quality of print varies/ 
 Quality indgale de I'impression' 
 
 D 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Reli6 avec d'autres documents 
 
 □ Includes supplementary material/ 
 Comprend du materiel supplementaire 
 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge inf^rieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 ma.j, lorsque cela dtait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas 6t6 film^es. 
 
 □ 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont 6X6 film6es d nouveau de fapon d 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 D 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires suppldmentaires: 
 
 nf 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 
 
 
 
 
 14X 
 
 
 
 
 18X 
 
 
 
 
 22X 
 
 
 
 
 26X 
 
 
 
 
 30X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 ?AX 
 
 28y 
 
 32X 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 Douglas Library 
 Queen's University 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering thu condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with i* printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 ur illustrated impression. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol —^> (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED "). or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la 
 06ndro8it6 de: 
 
 Douglas Library 
 Queen's University 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la netteti de l'exemplaire film6, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprimis sont filmds en commenpant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'iilustration, soit par le second 
 plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont film^s en commenpant par la 
 premidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'iilustration et en terminant par 
 la dernidre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la 
 dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le 
 cas: le symbols — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le 
 symbols V signifie "FIN". 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent §tre 
 fiimds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit en un seul clichd, il etit film6 d partir 
 de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 lllustrent la mdthode. 
 
 f \t 
 
 t 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
C^' 
 
 LE3-Q'<U)^!^ 
 
 [From The Cinadux Rbcobd of Science, Vol. II., No. 3.] 
 
 Our Noeth-West Praikies, their Origin and their 
 
 Forests. 
 
 ; 
 
 i: 
 
 By A. T. Drummond. 
 
 The origin of <iur North-West prairies may be traced to 
 two causes, one long since removed, the other still operating. 
 During the pre-glacial and glacial periods, the inequalities 
 of the surface over vast tracts of the country in our North- 
 Wcst were tilled up by clays and gravels, and more or less 
 levelled. These clays were, to some extent, subsequently 
 re-arranged underwater, and at the same time new material, 
 chiefly gravels, sands and sandy loam, was deposited. Then 
 these extensive tj-acts were gradually upheaved above the 
 level of the water or were left dry by the fall in the water 
 through the diminution in the sources of supply, or by the 
 greater facilities aiforded for rapid drainage. There had 
 been previous upheavals during the drift period, and there 
 were traces of resulting vegetation. The second cause, then, 
 or immediately previously, came into play, and consisted in 
 the annual growth and decay, for long periods of time, of 
 grasses, sedges and aquatic plants generally, over extensive 
 areas in the shallower waters and along the shallow lake 
 margins, each year forming a deposit there on the lake bot- 
 tom and gradually thus increasing the encroachments of the 
 land upon the water. 
 
 There is strong evidence which seems to point to the fact 
 that about the close of the drift period, or immediately after 
 it, when the glaciers, probablj^ were slowly retreating, the 
 central portions of the continent formed the bed of a vast 
 fresh watei- inland sea, of which Lakes Winnipeg, Manitoba 
 and WinnijiOgosis, are now the mere remnants. The outlet 
 of this sea to the ocean was probably at that time by way of 
 the Mississipi Valley. Into this sea the glaciers from the 
 
 1 11508 
 
146 
 
 Canadian Record of Science. 
 
 • • • 
 
 « • » • 
 
 • ♦ 
 
 • ••• 
 
 Rocky Mountains and from the country north and east of 
 the Saskatchewan, perhaps for long periods of time, flowed, 
 and huge icebergs freighted with boulders, debris and earth 
 were continuously floated oft' to w^end their way at the will of 
 windu and currenU. It was not the first time during the drift 
 pei'iod that this part of the country had been under water. 
 The resemblance to the Polar Seas of to-day was probably 
 very striking, except in these points that the icebergs 
 would be more deeply sunken, for the water was fresh, and 
 that this inland sea was more vast, covering not merely our 
 North-West prairies, but extending probably as far south 
 as Iowa and Illinois. Boulders were thus scattered at ran- 
 dom over the bottom of the sea hundreds of miles away from 
 their point of origin. Huge masses were carried enormous 
 distances. Dr. George Dawson mentions one of the Huro- 
 nian quartizite, lying near the Waterton River, which mea- 
 sured forty-two feet long, forty feet broad and twenty feet 
 high, and which must have come from east of Lake "Winni- 
 peg or the Red River. 
 
 The very uniform nature of the deposits over very great 
 areas would indicate quiet waters, at least in later periods of 
 the occurrence of this inland sea, probably ending, as the 
 land rose, in the creation of vaou marshes, like the existing 
 great grass swamps at Wostbourne, and on the Boyne River 
 in Manitoba, but on an immense scale. The successive an- 
 nual growth and decay of sedges and grasses in these marshes 
 gave rise to deposits of vegetable loam which have gone on 
 increasing since the rise of the land to its present level, by 
 the annual decay of the ordinary prairie grasses, and per- 
 haps of forest trees. The elevation which took place in the 
 land was greatest at the Rocky Mountains and the diff'erent 
 steppes between these mountains and the eastern limits of 
 the prairie, would seem to indicate different stages or inter- 
 vals in the elevation dui-ing which the various sandhills and 
 stretches of sand at the extended edges of these steppes have 
 been formed. The contraction in the area of this inland 
 ocean took place from the Rocky Mountains eastward, so 
 that the present Province of Manitoba east of the Duck, 
 Riding and Pembina Mountains, is the most recently formed 
 
 , 
 
Our KorthrWest Prairies. 
 
 147 
 
 rd 
 
 as well as the lowest in level. Between the mouth of the 
 Saskatchewan at Grand Eapids and the Assiniboine Kiver 
 between Portage la Pj-airie and Winnipeg and thence to the 
 United States boundary line, there is nf)t ranch dift'erence 
 in level, as the following heights above the sea indicate : 
 
 Lake Winnipeg 710 feet. 
 
 St. Martin's Lake 737 " 
 
 Lake Manitoba 752 " 
 
 River Assiniboine, near Baie St. Paul 766 " 
 
 Lake Winnipegosis 770 " 
 
 Cedar Lake, near Gi-and Rapids, on the 
 
 Saskatchewan 770 " 
 
 This comparatively level area occupies a stretch of 
 country 330 miles in length by an average of 150 miles in 
 breadth. 
 
 Lakes Winuipegosis and Manitoba, and St. Martin's and 
 Water Hen Lakes, are mere shallow depressions on the sui*- 
 face of the prairie. The two first named lakes are each 
 over a hundred miles in length, but increase in depth so 
 gradually that at the narrows where they nearly unite, 
 Winuipegosis has only six feet of water at 2,000 feet from 
 the shore, whilst Lake Manitoba, at a mile from the shore, 
 shows a depth of only three feet. St. Martin's Lake, again, 
 has only eight feet, and Water Hen Lake an average of three 
 feet of water. Lake Winnipeg is deeper, being an average 
 of forty feet to sixty feet, with a somewhat uniformly level 
 bottom, but it is relatively very shallow for a lake of its great 
 extent. Its eastern shores form here the western limits so 
 far as observable, of the great eozoic rocks, and were also, 
 no doubt, the eastern shore of the great inland sea. 
 
 It has been proposed to lower the level of Lake Manitoba 
 by removing the obstructions in the channel through which 
 its waters are conducted by way of St. Martin's Lake to Lake 
 Winnipeg, and there is no doubt that ij this could be effected 
 to the extent of only a few feet, large tracts of country 
 would be reclaimed which around its margin are presently 
 more or less under water. The southern end of the lake is 
 now bounded by a narrow sand bank elevated a few feet 
 
148 
 
 Canadian Record of SnieTice. 
 
 above the water. Inside of this are very considerable tracts 
 once forming a part of the lake and now more or less sub- 
 merged, but in which the process of growth and decay of 
 the grasses and aquatic plants and the resulting annual de- 
 posit of soil will eventually end in their reclamation from the 
 watei". This same process is going on in a large tract cov- 
 ering four or five townships about ten mi les to the westward 
 of Lake Manitoba, known as the Big Grass Marsh, as well 
 as in many other places in the province, and will, in coming 
 years, result in the formation of prairie land with a rich 
 covering of black vegetable loam. 
 
 The County of Essex in Ontario has a considerable ex- 
 tent of prairie land which was no doubt largely formed 
 under similar conditions of annual growth and decay, and 
 which in its origin points to a time when Lakes Erie and 
 St. Clair, were more intimately connected than they now 
 are. Long Point, Point Pel^e and Sandusky Harbour, all 
 on Lake Erie, are illustrations of prairies now in process of 
 formation. These prairies all have a fresh water origin. 
 Those south of Montreal, and extending beyond St. Johns 
 and St. Hyaciathe, are rather of marine origin, dating back 
 to the Ledaclay period, when the drift clays were re-assorted 
 under water and added to, and the land then elevated to its 
 pi'esent level. 
 
 Probably contemporaneous with the formation of the 
 prairies was the creation of the deep valleys of tho Assini- 
 boine and the Qu'Appelle Rivers. The valley of the Assini- 
 boine above Brandon has an average depth of towards 200 
 feet ; that of the Qu'Appelle is somewhat less. Their width 
 varies from half a mile to a mile. As the waters fell in the 
 prairie country to the east of Brandon, these rivers, which 
 appear to have been enormous streams with strong currents, 
 cut their way into the drift deposits of the upper steppe 
 gradually downward to the level of the lower steppe below 
 Brandon. Tho sources of supply for these streams may 
 have been in part the retreating glaciers, but were more 
 probably a greater rainfall than now and the general drain- 
 age of the country through which they ran. This country 
 must have been in its earlier days covered with grass 
 
Our North- West Prairies. 
 
 149 
 
 marshes. The smaller river valleys as those of the Souris, 
 Cut Arm Creek and the Little Saskatchewan have probably 
 somewhat similar origins. A contributing cause in every 
 case has however no doubt been the annual spring freshets 
 which extend into the month of July in the larger rivers, 
 and which year by year carry dowr with them in their con- 
 stantly turbid watei'H large quantities of soil to the Red 
 Rivej'. 
 
 A writer in the February number of The Century, speak- 
 ing of the vast prairies of the valley of the Mississippi and 
 its tributaiy streams, tells us " This region was not origin- 
 ally wooded. This is proved not only h^ the story told by 
 the soil, but by the fact that though it was not without its 
 woodlands at its settlement, it has no characteristic trees. 
 All are derived either trom the Appalachian region or from 
 the west and north, ninety varieties coming from the east 
 and only nine or ten from the west and north. The great 
 prairie region has sought all the trees it possesses from ad- 
 Joining regions." This opinion probably expresses tlie gen- 
 erally prevailing impression of the relations of foi'est trees 
 to tlie pi'airies. And yet in regard to our Canadian pi-airies, 
 whether in the North-west or in Ontario and (Quebec, it is 
 not altogether correct. The subject is in some respects asso- 
 ciated with the early history of the pi-airies. Thei-e is no 
 doubt that when these prairies were in process of foi-mation, 
 when immense areas were in the condition of marsh in 
 which tall grasses were the leading feature, and when this 
 marsh was being gradually changed in its character to dry 
 l^and by the successive annual growth and decay of these 
 grasses, circumstances existed which rendered the growth 
 of forest trees impossible. Great tracts of country are still 
 in this condition. There are also many areas of great ex- 
 tent, as on the Pembina branch of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
 way, around Gladstone and Westbourne on the Manitoba & 
 Northwestern Railway, and between Baie St. Paul and Lake 
 Manitoba, where, during the wet seasons — and these seem 
 periodically to follow each other for two and three yeai-s in 
 succession — very extensive tracts of magnificent ])rairie 
 land, which in other seasons are diy and capable of cultiva- 
 
150 
 
 Canadian Record of Science. 
 
 tion, are practically under water for moat of the summer 
 months. Thus trees, which in dry seasons might spring up 
 in such stretches of country, would during the successive 
 wet seasons bo gradually killed. Wherever such conditions 
 have prevailed, whether in far distant or present times, 
 forests, for the time, could not be expected to appear. 
 
 The question however arises whether, once the condition 
 of dry land was attained, did trees spread over the prairies 
 as they have elsewhere, andwhether subsequent causes may 
 not have prevailed in removing them. That certain trees 
 will freely grow on the prairies is proved by the frequent 
 bluffs of timber, especially to the north of the Assiniboine 
 and Qu'Appelle. These bluffs often occur in stretches of 
 miles in extent and often again are found isolated. North 
 of the Qu'Appelle they are so frequent as to give the coun- 
 try a park-like appearance and to render that country very 
 attractive for settlement. Beyond this point northward 
 they continue to occur until they finally merge into the true 
 forest j-egion which in this section extends from Lake Win- 
 nipeg westward to the sources of the Athabasca River, and 
 from between these localities northward to the exti'eme 
 limits of forest growth — including within this are a great 
 stretches of what should correctly be termed prairie coun- 
 try. On the prairies proper the prevailing trees are the 
 poplars, and only in the deep river valleys or skirting the 
 margins of the lakes and the smaller streams and on the 
 hills are the other trees of the prairies found in numbers. 
 
 It is quite true that the total number of species of trees 
 in our North-west is limited. Most of the Ontario and Que- 
 bec species do not range west of Lake Superior or Lake of 
 the Woods and probably Manitoba, west of the Eed River, 
 does not include more than sixteen species. Were thei-e, 
 however, forests in this part of Manitoba as there are in On- 
 tario and Quebec, this paucity ofspecies would probably not 
 be so marked. That there has been a time when the pre- 
 sent prairies of Manitoba and the North-west Territories 
 have been more or less under wood is extremely probable. 
 There seems no reason why the true forests should have 
 extended everywhere northwai-d, often covering, even there, 
 
 
Our North' West Prairies. 
 
 151 
 
 what would be otherwise prairie, and should have left the 
 vast country to the nouth an open, more or less treeless, 
 plain. The deep valleys of the Assiniboine, Qu'Appelle and 
 other streams would seem to indicate a greater rainfall to 
 have at one time prevailed, and ti>is greater rainfall would 
 result from extended aieas of forest. It is not an argument 
 against this that the piairies with us can hardly be said to 
 have any characteristic trees. The vast forests to the north- 
 ward have none. It is not because trees will not grow, as 
 bluffs of timber are of frequent occurrence and wherever 
 tried, hardy trees, when properly protected, readily thrive. 
 Those who have observed the almost yearly occurrence in 
 almost every part of the prairie country of great fires, sweep- 
 ing sometimes over immense btrctches of country, and of 
 the destructive effects of forewt fires in Ontario and Quebec, 
 can readily suppose that such fires may have been an im- 
 portant factor in rendering the prairies largely treeless and 
 that, aided by the light rainfall and the dry atmosphere, 
 they have gradually widened the areas originally burned, 
 until these areas have attained their present extent. The 
 general flatness of the country and consequent exposure to 
 winds has contributed much to the rapid accomplishment of 
 this. In the country bordering the upper reaches of the 
 Peace and Athabasca Elvers and their tributaries theit ; i-e 
 at present large sti-etches of prairie land completely sur- 
 rounded by forest, and which suggest an origin resulting 
 fj'om forest fires. Prairie fires are almost invu-iably the 
 result of human agency, so that the present condition of 
 the prairies probably dates its origin within a compara- 
 tively recent period. Certainly these prairie fires now 
 prevent the encroachments of the forest upon the plain, 
 as otherwise these forests would in the natural order of 
 things extend themselves westward and southward if 
 allowed to do so. The same is true of the bluff's or 
 stretches of timber found growing in frequent places south 
 of the true forests, though even there the trees are of 
 relatively moderate size proving that these bluffs are of 
 comparatively recent or of very slow growth. There can 
 be no question that as prairie fires cease with the progress 
 
152 
 
 Canadian Record of Science. 
 
 of cultivation of the land and with the enforcement of pre- 
 ventive hiWH, the tendency of these Htretchew of timber and 
 of the true forewts will bo tt) extend thomselveH further over 
 the prairie. In the meantime, the etfect of the abtienco of 
 timber is to create a drier climate by diminiwhin^ the rain- 
 fall, and on account of the general flatnoMw of the prairie by 
 exposing every object upon it to constant and unbroken, 
 drying winds. That there is, therefore, a general tendency 
 of trees to skirt the river banks can be readily understood, 
 as there they obtain that moister atmosphere which is 
 absent on the open prairie. Even irj the valleys of such 
 great streams as the Assiniboine and the Qu'Appelle, trees 
 are generally found on the southwestern or western sides, 
 the eastern being frequently bare, and this can only be 
 accounted for bj'^ the greater protection from drying winds 
 the western and southern banks have, and therelbro the 
 greater moisture in the soil there. 
 
 Again, or!y in the river valloys, on antl near the lake 
 mai'gins and on the hills or rising grounds are the forest 
 trees of the North-west completely represented, and it is 
 suggestive whether the trees there are not the relics of a 
 larger forest flora which more or less covered the whole 
 country. At present the cosmopolitan poplars are the chief 
 occupants of the plains, their very hardiness, however, con- 
 stituting them fitting pioneers of new forests some day to 
 appear. 
 
 T cannot help thinking that as the praii-ies become thickly 
 settled and protective laws are properly enforced, prairie 
 fires will largely cease and trees will have an oppoi'tunity 
 to extend their area of growth in ever}"^ direction. Further, 
 as cultivation increases and a drainage system is more gen- 
 erally carried out, summer trosts will largely disappear and 
 the climate become more suitable for forest trees as well as 
 grain. The extension of the forests will, no doubt, have its 
 effect in somewhat increasing the rainfall, but will also 
 afford breaks to the winds which now prevail. The general 
 effect must be a modification of the climate in some degree, 
 pi'obably rendering the atmosphere less dry and somewhat 
 moderating the cold in winter. 
 
 
 } 
 
SIGN BOOK CARD 
 
 . AND LEAVE AT 
 
 CHARGING DESK 
 
 IF BOOK IS TO BE USED 
 
 OUT OF. THE 
 
 LIBRARY BUILDING 
 
 I use S 
 
 ^ 
 
 D8N 
 
 
 
 „§.S 
 
 
 
 lilc 
 
 ■w6 
 
 ' 
 
 tvC 
 
 
 
 
 .... 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \