25

Its course lies entirely within the Laurentian Plateau region and it has in con-
sequence the characteristics of the streams of that region, that is to say numerous
rapids or falls and lakes. On leaving Wollaston lake it flows northwestward
through several small lakes almost as far as Waterfound river in a country under-
lain by granite and gneiss. Here the stream enters an area of sandstone in which
it cuts a shallow valley and is obstructed by numerous rapids and falls many
of which have to be portaged. It enters Black lake at the east end by two chan-
nels and where it leaves it on the west side is 300 feet wide. Between Black lake
and lake Athabaska the river falls 300 feet, mainly in three strong rapids at each
of which a portage has to be made.

Peace River

Peace river is formed by the junction of ‘Finlay and Parsnip rivers and is
the largest and longest of the tributaries of Mackenzie river. It rises on the
western side of the Rocky mountains and, flowing eastwards, cuts through the axis
of that range and drains a large area of country on its eastern slopes. The
total area of its drainage basin is 117,100 square miles and its length from the
sources: of the Finlay to its junction with the Slave is 1,065 miles.

The Finlay rises near the headwaters of Skeena river and flows south-

easterly down the great valley known as the Rocky Mountain trench, and the
Parsnip, rising near the sources of some of the branches of the Fraser, flows in
a northwesterly direction in the same great valley. On joining to form the
Peace the latter turns at right angles and flows easterly in a deep valley which
cuts directly across the main ranges of the Rockies. :
: From the confluence of Finlay and Parsnip rivers, which has an elevation
of 2,000 feet above the sea, to Hudson Hope, a distance of about 120 miles, Peace
river traverses the main ranges of the Rockies and their bordering foothills.
Its valley averages about a mile in width and ranges from 2,000 to 4,500 feet
in depth. The stream. is from 300 to 500 yards in width and its current seldom
exceeds 5 miles an-hour. One rapid occurs just below the mouth of Finlay river
and another, known as Parle-pas rapid, about 35 miles below.

For the last 25 miles of its course through the mountains and before reaching
Hudson Hope the Peace flows through the canyon of the Mountain of Rocks, to
avoid which a portage 12 miles in length has to be made on the north bank.
The stream here contracts in places to about 150 feet in width and has a total
drop of about 275 feet.

Hudson Hope is the head of the steamboat navigation for a stretch of about
550 miles of river, which extends from this point down to Vermilion chutes near
the mouth of Mikkwa river. In this distance the stream has an average fall
of about one foot to th emile and the only obstructions to navigation are shallow
bars which in low water make parts of the river unnavigable.

The river varies in width from a quarter to a half a mile and is frequently
divided by islands. The valley is cut to a depth of about 800 feet in the plateau
but this depth gradually decreases until at the Chutes it is not more than 106
feet. Its course as far as Peace River Crossing is westward and in this portion
it receives a number of tributaries, namely the North and South Pine rivers
and Smoky river. Smoky river is the most important tributary df the Peace,
not only on account of its size and length, but because it drains a large area
of excellent agricultural territory, partly prairie and partly forested, which is
rapidly being settled by ranchers and farmers.

1 White, James, Atlas of Canada, (Dept. of Interior, 1906.
i