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1 2 3

MiaoCOnr RISOIUTION TBT CHAUT

(A:JSP and ISO TEST CHART No, 2|

APPLIED IN/MGEU

t653 East Moir ■ ...^.

ftochester. Ne* Yo-. ngoq ys*

(716) 4B2 - OJOO - Pnona

(716) 266- 5989 - Fa«

y.'.

KEt'KINTKD hHOM

Thf Ottawa Natiralist, Vol. XV, No. i. pp. 17 jt,

April, iqoi, Ottawa, Canailii.

ANCIENT CHANNELS OF THE OTTAWA RIVER.

I!. W Ei.i.s 1.]..])., K.It.s.f.

^^>

^^ ; \^^,, c.r<

J>>-»- au^i^ r/u„,i./j '

%m^K

M4P OF THE 0Tr**4 n

PR ESEN' T AND PR£-S|_

THE CTTttt BivEB „,,,,

pre-glaC'al channels

gQi] Elu — Anciint Channils. IT

ANCIKNT CHANNELS OF THE OTTAWA RIVER.

By R. W ■•■.l.l.B, S.I..I)., F.R.SC
Th« OlUwa miiy well be regarded as oni jf the ureal historic
rivers cf Canada. "or hundreds ol years it formed the lavourite
means nf communicMtion between the Indian tribes nf the west and
those ol the east. Ii was ascended by Champlain in i(< . At
that early date he crossed the height of land at Lake '..|> hhRi
and was presumably the first white man to gaze upo. ' - vast
expaits** of our inland seas.

F- iwing the advent of this great explorer, this river became
the chosen route of the voyageurs on their way inland to the great
unexplored conntry of the western plains. On the coming of the
Hudion Bay Cci.ipany i formed the ,,rincipal channel for carrying
on their immense business, their brigades of boats and canoca
passing year by year, irrying eastward the annual harvest of furs
and bearing westw into the wilds of our vast interior the
various kinds of merchandise suitable to the trade with the
savages of the great west. I iter, by means of steamhoat.s on
the deep stretches and by portagef round the falls and heavy
rapids, it formed the chief means o' immunication between the
east and the numerous settlers wi were scattered along its
route.

The river itself is of very ancient date. When the continent
was young, its valley was outlined, and for countless centuties the
drainage of a large part of eastern and northern America followed
approximately the present course. In support of this statement it
may be said that along the present channel of the stream, ex-
tensive deposits of the oldest Pala'ozoic formations ot this part of
Canada are found, ranging from the base of the Pl tsdam sandstone
upward into the Silurian, comprising many hundreds of feet of
strata, the greater portion ol which, over many thousands of
square miles, has long since been removed by the various pro-
cesses ot denudatfon.

The finding of these formations at many poir's in the bed
of the present channel shews that, before they were deposited, the
granite and gneiss hills were formed and the principal river channels

The Ottawa Natuhalist.

[April

were excavated. The general course of the river must h»v. h

.htttrr ™:^ """ '" ''' -'''' histor,::::ro js ::

these ,na> „i some cases be readily seen.

The distance from Muntreal on the St. Lawrence River to

part between the junct.on ol the Ottawa and the St lJ
rence at Ste. .Anne and the mouth of the Mat.awa is .86 m^'leT
Th,s portion of the river has nn almost direct course „f flf

■several places. Thus ,n the lower hundred miles it sweeps south
war around the great mass of the crystalline rocks from' . p^int
a few mtles above the cty of Ottawa down to the mouth of the
R.ver Rouge, south of which to the St. Lawrence t^e face of

o ks ;t;;'.r™r""r' '"" °'''"''' ^"^ •"= most pat b/

Td :,; """"""^ '''™""'°"^ "' ">■ ^--' -e- of drift sand

The portion of the river above the .Mattaw-a may he divided
n.o two part. From the source of the stream, wWch lie ear
he heads of the Gatineau and the west branch of the St. M lu ice
.t pursues a course a little south of west, with several large ."kj
expa„s,onsand arge bends, for about .50 miles, to the head of

chanJ'^r""'"^-- "'" "^ ''''"'"" °f '"^ -er abtlly
changes. Tem.scammg Lake is about sixty-one miles in len«h
w,th a w.,dth diminishing from some six mils at tl no then ' nj
to only a few hundred yards at the southern extrem ty The
general course of the lake and the connecting stretch of riveJ o
the forks of the Mattawa, which is some thirty.five mileslow r
down, IS thtrty degrees east of south

The drainage basin of the Ottawa is not less than 60 000
square m es, On the south the height of land ranges rom^'?::

::d:;^:;tir™--^'"^^^^^^^^

suie, the channels of which form deep furrows in the ar^a Thich

thev now traverse The most ^., , 1 , " '""^ ""^e-* which

ine most e.i.-slcrly on the south side is the

i I ^ /> ,*-

igol]

Ells — Ancient Channels./

South Nation which rises near the St. Lawrence not far from the
town of Brockvllle, and after a somewhat tortuous course of lOo
miles reaches the Ottawa about forty miles east of Ottawa city.
The descent of the river in this distance is not more than loo feet,
so that, allowing for the High Falls near Casselman and several
rapids between that place and the Ottawa, it will be seen that for
the greater part of its course the waters of the South Nation must
be comparatively sluggish.

The elevation of the height of land to the north which divides
the waters of the Ottawa from those flowing into James' Bay is
rarely more than 1,000 feet above sea-level. Over a large part of
this area to the north, embracing many thousands of square miles
in this direction, the surface is covered with heavy deposits of sand
which overlie thick beds of clay. These deposits extend from the
lower Ottawa and the St. Lawrence nearly, or In places quite, to
the height of land. In the absence of fossils in these higher clays
positive evidence of their marine origin cannot be obtained, but it
may be stated that they are continuous northward with those
which do contain such orgaiusms, and therefore the assumption
may be made that the sea, at some date prior to or at the time of
their deposition, had invaded all the northern country to a depth
of some hundreds of feet.

The denudation of the old crystalline rocks, which were the
first to appear throughout this area, must have been enormous.
How many thousands of feet have thus been removed, cannot be
surmised. But along portions of the lower Ottawa, as in the
stretch below the Joachims Rapids, known as the Deep River,
the present bottom of the channel is now many feet below the sea-
level, the surface of the river being about 370 feet above tide, while
soundings made several years ago are reported to h.-.ve reached
a depth of over 500 feet.

In Lake Temiscaming also, certain portions have been
sounded and show that here the excavation has been very great.
At one point a depth of 470 feet was obtained, while the surface of
the lake is 591 feet above the sea. There must therefore have
been a large amount of denudation throughout this part of the old
river basin, though certain parts of this old channel have
since been to a certain extent tilled in by glacial deposits.

The Ottawa Naturalist,

[April

It is intercstinif to note thnt, as one ascends the Oltawa, the
lower beds of the Paliuozoic series fail to appear. Thus, in the
lower portion of thi? river and as far west as the foot ol the Chats
Falls about thirty -five miles west of Ottawa, the lowest formation of
the series, viz., the Potsdam sandstone, rests direetl;' upon the
Archffian rocks. This is s'jcceedcd upward by the higher members
of the series. But even in early times there must have been heavy
breaks and uplifts, since, on the crest of the riage of crystalline
rocks which extends eastward from Arnprior lo within a few miles
of Ottawa on the smith side of the river, a deposit of the Potsdam
sandstone is seen several hundreds of feet above the beds noted
near the river bank at Quyon, while a couple of miles further
south, this part of the series has been thrown down again by a
heavy break, to about the same dist;.nce.

West of Arnprior the lowest beds seen along the river are of
Calciferous age, and these are last observed at the west end of
Allumeltc Island, above which no outcrops o( this formation have
yet been recognized.

Further up the river, above the Roche Capitaine, which is
thirty six miles below the Mattawa, the lowest beds are of the
Chazy formation, while on several of the islands in Lake Nipissing
beds of Black River age are found. On .some ol the islands in
the northern part of Lake Temiscaming fo.ssiliferous limestones of
upper Silurian age occur which are about the horizon of the
Niagara formation The Black River beds of Lake Nipissing are
at nearly one hundred feet greater elevation than the Niagara beds
just mentioned, and about loo feet lower than similar limestones
seen in the vicinity of Clear Lake to the south of the Bonnech6re.
In all descriptions of the country toward the height of land,
north of the Ottawa, the occurrence of great areas of sand has
been pointed out. The origin of this sand deposit has never been
satisfactorily explained. The material appears to be largely the
result of the decomposition, or breaking down to a fine slate, of
the underlying granite and gneiss which are the predominating
rocks of the area. From the generally level character of the
country along this height of land isolated peaks rise to consider-
able elevations, though over long distances these are rarely more
than low hill features, scarcely exceeding a hundred feet in height,
above the general plain.

igoi]

Ells— Ancient Channels.

It is scarcely lo be supposed that the decay of the ifranilic
rocks alone could give rise to the extensive deposits of clay which
spread over so wide an area of the Ottawa valley underlyinsj the
sand. These clays are seen at elevations up to the summit of the
dividing ridge, at several points reaching a height not far from
1,000 leet above the sea. The source of this clay must also be
largely conjectural. It may be safely assumed, however, that the
amount of denudation throughout the entire area has been some-
thing enormous. In the Kastern Townships of Quebec this has
been undoubtedly more than 1,000 feet. In the area around
Ottawa city it has been lully as much, since at the faulted contact
ol the Calciferous and the Utica the upraised beds have been
entirely removed and the rocks reduced to a uniform level. It is
quite possible that there was at one time a regular succession of
the PaliEOZoic formations throughout the Ottawa valley, extending
over the whole country both north and south to the present height
of land, since even now we find at many widely detached points,
patches of the.se rocks which have in some way escaped the
denuding agents. It is therefore quite possible that much of the
clay throughout the district has been the result of the decomposi-
tion of the more recent formations.

While therefore this grand scheme of denudation has been
going forward from the earliest times, this has been supplemented
by the agency of ice in the glacial period. How many of these
periods of glaciation have been in operation in this area we can
not say, but we have distinct evidence of at le.ist three which are
presumably the most recent, and the traces of other and earlier
ones are probably long since removed. That ice moved over the
area in diflereul directions and at different times is shown from
the direction of the stria; and groovings now seen on the rock
surface. The presence of a third and apparently last set of mark-
ings with a western trend seems to indicate that a series of large
floating ice-pans moved westward up the Ottawa in a direction
almost opposite lo that recorded for the earliest known glacier
which would seem to have followed down -the present channel ol

the river.

In discussing the history of this valley therefore several
periods of upheaval jnd depression must be considered, and .some

The Ottawa Naturalist.

[April

of these musl have affected the surface or crust by a vertical uplift
of many hundreds of feet. The amount of the latest recorded
movement can be, to some extent, estimated by the present
position of certain terraces which occur along the Ottawa a.nd
St. Lawrence rivers. These are found at elevations ranging as
high as 900 feet above sea-level on the the slopes of the mountains
east of Montreal, while on the upper Ottawa and around Lake
Nipissing terraces are recorded at even greater heights. Thus
high level beaches in the vicinity of North Bay were recorded by
Mr. F. B. Taylor* at elevations tf 1100 to 1200 feet and were
regarded by him as of marine origin. Along the Ottawa, below
Mattawa, Mr. R. Chalmers records beaches and sand terraces at
elevations of 1000 feet and more, and further adds "Extensive
depo.iils of sand and sills, implying submergence are spread over
this part of the country up to a height even greater than that of
the beaches referred to which have been described in earlier reports
of the Geological Survey as Algoma sands*

These; sands were formerly supposed to be due to fresh-water
agencies, but subsequent investigation has shewn that portions of
the deposits thus styled contain marine organism, especially along
the Icnver Ottawa, while their .similarity in many respects to those
which have been styled Saxic-iva sands in the lower St. Lawrence
basin and which are held to be of marine origin, is very remark-
able.

While therefore the Ottawa at some time flowed in a tolerably
direct line from the mouth of the Mattawa to the St. Lawrence,
certain causas have interposed at different periods to deflect the
waters from their original course and to eause them to excavate
other and newer channels. In an eviraination of the valley of the
river these interruptions will be fouru. at various points. Thus in
that portion of the river between the Mattawa and^the head of the
Deep River, a distance of fifty-four miles, the channel is fairly
straight. Several heavy rapids and falls however occur among
which may be mentioned Des Joachims, Roche Capitaine, Deux
Rivieres, La Trou, L'Eveillf, &c.

•Biillolin Clyol. ,Soc. .\ni., \'ol. \', 1S93.
*Rep. Geol. Sur. Can.. \'ol. X. p 18 J.

igoi]

Ells — Ancient Channels.

At most of these the banks are hiRh and the river still
apparently follows its original course. At the Roche Cipitaine
however, and at Des Joachims, secondary channels have been
made and the waters diverted. This f-ature is especially well seen at
Desjoachims where the present channel of the river is comparatively
new and the course of the old channel lies to the north following the
depression occupied by McConnell Lake and coming into the
present channel at the head of the Deep River, to the north of the
village of Des Joachims in a well defined depression, while the
shallow nature of the present channel is indicated by the long line
of foaming rapids which come in from the south. The difference
in elevation between the foot and the head of these rapids is about
forty feet. It is probable that at some time in the history of the
river, perhaps at the close of the Glacial period, great accumula-
tions of sand, gravel and boulders blocked the old channel at a
point some three miles above the present foot of the rapids or near
the mouth of the Dumoine river, and thus diverted the stream.
Possibly the same thing occured at the Roche Capitaine, since
here the second channel is seen to the north of the large island in
tiie river, this channel being now largely dry at ordinary stages of
the water.

Indications of this blocking of the old course of the Ottawa is
seen in the great accumulations of boulders near the village of
Mattawa, which represent terraces of morainic origin, modified
by the agency of the waters of the river. This evidently had
some effect upon the river channel at this place, since Dr. A. E.
Barlow in his report on the region says that "a well defined old
river-channel occurs running through the rear portion of the
village between the main street and the railway station which has
evidently been followed by the Mattawa or its antecedent stream.
It leaves the Mattawa about a mile above its mouth ar '"aches
the Ottawa at the foot of the rapid nearly threequarte. i mile

below

.Ibout twenty miles west of Pembroke the river makes
a sudden bend to the south at what is known as High View.
Just above this on the north side is a bold headland known as
Oiseau rock, which rises abruptly from the surface of the stream

Ri-p. C,e.o\. .Sur. C.i.i. 1897 ^'o'- ^- P- '7**' f'"'' '•

»»

The Ottawa Naturalist.

[April

for a height of nearly 500 feet. The southern shore ot the river
for several miles above High View is a rocky ridge which divides
the Deep River channel from a long chain of lakes which start';
from the south shore ot the Ottawa about ten miles west of High
View and cuts across to a point .ibout three miles south of High
View point. The surface of the country around this chain of lakes
is heavily sand covered and these deposits extend south towards
Chalk River. The lakes evidently indicate a former channel
of the Ottawa which became choked up b> sand subsequent
to the glacial period.

The shore of the river opposite High View is indented by
bays. The north shore ol the main stream east from Oiseau rock
continues in a bold range of hill ■ for some miles eastward, and an
old channel apparently followed a straight course from the deep
bay eastward from High View. This channel evidently became
choked up by great deposits of sand and gravel, thus diverting the
stream past the east end of what is now known as the township of
Buchanan, southward. The old channel thur I'ocked extended
across the southern part of the townships of Sheen and Chichester,
and probably reached the Culbute channel of the the Ottawa which
flows along the north side of Allumette I.sland, below the Culbute
Fall.

On both sides of the river opposite this place and for some
miles to the ea.t aid west, the surface is covered with great de-
posits of sand and gravel, many feet in depth. In that part of the
township of Chichester, north of the village of Chapeau, these sand
ridges are well defined, continuing for several miles till they reach
the foot ot a bold ridge of granite anj gneiss. n\s ridge is con-
tmuous from the foot of Deep River to the mouth of Rouge River
about sixty miles below Ottawa city, and at one time undoubtedly
formed the the north shore of the Ottawa River for this portion
of its original course.

A great p.-irt of Allumette Island is occupied by these reddish
granite sands. They form extensive ridges along the centre of the
Island from east to west and they were .it one time doubtless con-
tmuous with the broad areas north of the Culbute channel through
wh.ch that channel has since been cut. The upper end of this channel
for some miles is narrow :■- 4 rocky, but the portion below the

I90i]

Ells— Ancient Channels.

Culbute fall is much broader and rocks rarely appear along its
course except at the crossing of the road north from Chapais.
Below this the shores are of clay or sand till the end of the Island
is reached where the Pembroke channel joins the Culbute, flowing-
over broad ledges of Black Rivtr limestone, and forming what is
known as the Paquette Rapid which is about a fourth of a mile
south of the junction of the two channels.

The Pembroke channel which flows past the south side of.
Allumette Island is not deep. At the upper end rapids extend
partly across the river and there are many small granite islets.
Along the south shore of the river especially above the mouth of
the Petewawa the banks are entirely ol sand and in .some places
are from fifty to eighty feet high.

At the town of Pembroke a depression comes to the river
from the south and the Musquash River here joins the Ottawa.
This stream flows north-west against the regular course of
the Ottawa and discharges the Musquash and Mud Lakes the
former of which is about ten miles in length. The stream is for
tl— most part sluggish, flowing through a clay flat for some miles.
On the north side of Musquash Lake a ridge of crystalline rocks
rises abruptly, and on the south side Palaeozoic rocks, mostly of
of Black River age, form outliers, which have steep scarped
sides towards the north as if cut down by the agency of running
water.

At the upper end of Mu.«iquash Lake a stream flows in
which discharges a chain of long and narrow lakes, and these
continue for some miles in a depression into the towns' of Horton.
Along these lakes, which are surrounded by great n-. is s of sand
the action of waiter is very evident. Some of them are long and
very narrow but have a depth of over a hundred feet, though only
a tew chains in width. They present all the features of an old
river channel which has been blocked up by great deposits of sand,
gravel and boulders, so that the original channel is now defined
simply by the line of the depression and the remnants of the old
river left in the narrow series of lakes.

This depression extends out to the river again, reaching it
near what is known as the Chenaux rapids, about four miles below
the junction of the two chanueSs which surround Calumet Island,

TxK Ottawa NTatiraust,

par. of ,he di^ance .hrou^^, °Z hed 'T"' """ '"^ "" •"««
bmh sides of ,he Hver b t^; 'r'\°' T"" ""ich s„„w „„

'h^ee miles eas. of the .o„, " / .^'""'^ ^"P"'^ """ ^•alls about
-de opposite Sand Poin" a ,d h/ ''""' "■"' ■*""" "" "" "-.h
"f .he Honnech6re Riv." i i, ""^J !" " P^"' "PPo-'e the .out,,
■'well seen a, Norway f,a 'X- T"'"' """ "'" •■" '""

""ore line for some 'dis Lee "„tnd ,"'' "' ""' ''""' '"^
'"^^ely developed ,o the east" '"'■'""„ '''^° '"e. ■ deposits are
e^eat thickness of day wl ich ^*"'*""'' "here they overlie a
-"re^of erysta.hn. ^o^J " "'^"''^- ""^"^--^ '« .he main

granite -hich'"c'uts^across7he"rr^n'^ ," '"^'''^ ''>'« °' ^^'''i-h
-" Whit. Lake bcit, here e' a 1'"""'°" "' "' ''"'P^'-
•-•■■^amongthemostbeautifulonth ""'" """'• "T"' f"""
-hole breadth of the stream Jlil; "''"'"^ """^^ "■«
•""•■dth. The total rise from the fit f K 7 " "" "'•^ ■"''-
Chats Lake is about (itty ,S "' '""^ '° ""^ -a'ers of

-.i^'^:::r ^t ^;:v" -v"-^ ^'^--^-■"- Of

- Height and this rests Jnt'clfe/o^T """"' ^°"^ '-
"poses on the gneiss and crvst»n . ''''''""''^' "hich in turn

^^\ These newer rocks re ,": TT: "' "■' f""' "^ '":
.„ The Carp river enters theo," T "'" "' "" ^-"■

v.llage, and has a course of abll. , " """' ""'""« ''-'"»■ the
westerly against the general cour iT^ ""'"■ " ="» ""ws
"■-ugh the northern par of tHe to h""'^" '" ^ "^P^-"
F-.-oyandisonthe whole a verv ,1 ", '^ °' """"^^ -""<
m.'es above its mouth there is a ral^ ^^'"^ J""'"'"- "^"out four
Elsewhere the bed of the tream is'l '^'' ""^^ °^ S-"'-
-shy .o its source, which is iZ ll'^.'^- i".P'-" -ry

; northern i

igol]

Ells— Ancient Channels.

»7

Between the Carp and tlie present ch .,.| „til, •
defined nd,e of c.,M«,.ine l,s 1^.,:\: ^7":^^
v.c,n,ty of Filzroy to within nine mile, of Ot.au ,-, ,
«.nks down n. ,rly ,o the level of the Hver ^ d be '" "

over with Potsdam sandstone. 1^ ZT7T T'^'
-rked h,. a we,, defined ,ine of n.u,t which U^ tm^^l^l^^
,imestones .gainst the crystahine rocks 1, ;. ""'• "'''y'' R'ver

^-''-- °'^ cha , tr the ;,:::'„ j;;;rri''T:'

depression in which the Ca,p River now ,,es. '" "^'•'

To the norlh of the rrv*:tHiiin« ,™ i ■ i

»econd,inecf depression :-r'r:::.ht;r^::r":

separated Irom it by another rocl< ridge formed of cl
and iimestone. In this depression lies r I / ' ''"-

Constant Creek flows thence ^r "rd 'tTthe O.;. wlir 'i' d'"'
depression known as Sand Bay. The elevation he JrkZ
Lake ,s but a few feet above the present ,evel of ,l! "

waters being sluggish throughout, and he dtn / ' ""

--=.d through a swamp> t^act i.o t^ Z^ ZT.;:;^::^
Bay a few miies west of Britannia. Great areas oil" v t '
occupy the shores of the Ottawa about h ";:;:''"' ■^''"''
Creek and for several miles to the east and west ""'"'"'

The north side of the Ottawa between Hull and . „ ■ .
n.iles west of the Chats Falls, practically as far we 'as th'.O.r'"'
opposite the east end of Calumet Island near cZpLu'l^T''
Bry.son, is generally low and largely occupied bv gr t dep J^ of
clay or s_and. Occasionally well defined blaches-are se n as ,he
area to the north-wes, of Quyon near the village of Nc - h 0„lw
where they are crossed by the road betw.e.f these two^ J '
Occasional ridges of rock occur, as in the relr of ,h .'^'""^
Aylmer and north of Bristol station, but Im,:' :H:re:rti;'
nver was at one time undoubtedly marked out by the g elt r dl
^rgely composed of reddish grey granite which risesT K ine
Mountam, west of Chelsea, and eMends we«...rl. f ^

^rmn^ the northern limit ;f the gr^; Oti::: h.^ '"'"' "'"''

The lower part of the Ottawa mj: t : ...e been at nn, ,■
-ch broader and more delta shaped than at /rl "I'Z
north .,dc the range of the crystalline rocks must have de!
fined the r.ver much as at present, as far as the mouti of the

Thr Ottawa Natumalint.

[April

Rouge River, hul below this place :he hill rHnge trends off more
to the north east and a broad plain occupied partly by sand and
lar^tely by clay, extends southward to the St. Lawrence. The
northern part of this ana is treverscd by the North River, which
between St. Jerome and the town of Lachule ha,s but lit'le current
and follows a westerly course till the latter point is reached when
it bends abruptly to the south and meets the Ottawa near the
village of St. Andrews, near the upper end of the Lake of Two
Mountains.

To the south ol the North river and east of f achute a r k
ridtje formed of 'he Potsdam and Calciferous rocks comes in iiid
extends ea.stward for some miles. South cT this a broad well
terraced valley extends across to the lower portion of the Ottawa,
but this area is again traversed by a granite ridge which
rises just to the east of St. Andrews and extends eastward for
four to five miles. Between these two ridges .he depth of clay
and gravel is great. At one point several borings have been
made, one ot which reached a depth of over 120 feet without
touching the underlying rock, so that the bottom of tils o;d
channel is many feet below the pre.sent level of the river.

On the south side of the Oitawa below Ottawa city, the
country between the river and ihe St. Lawrence is generally level
or broken by low ridges, sometimes ol rock but often of gra> el or
boulders which have come from the north side of the Ottawa.
Over a large part of this area great deposits of clay, overlaid in
places by sands and gravels, are seen, and a peculiar feature of
these deposits is noted in the fact that while the clays arc undoubt-
edly of marine origin they rarely show marine fossils, while the
overlying .sands and gravels contain these in immense quantities
at very many places. These marine shells however apparently
cease west of a line drawn from Smith's Falls to Prescott or have
not yet been noticed in the western area, though there is no
apparent break in the character of the surface deposits in this
(direction.

South of the Ottawa also the evidences of an old river channel
are very clear. A large number of borings have been made in the
last half dozen years both in the vicinity of the river itself and in
the area 10 the south. Some of these are in Jhe course of the east

i9oi|

Hli.9— Ancirnt Ciiannbui.

and weM stretch of the Niition river. The holeN were Hunk only
lo the rock in mosl ca»e<, throuffh clay with occuiiional thin
deposits ol sand or gravel. The deepest of these wa^ aio (cet,
and in the township of Phinta(;enet on the north hank of the
Nation, and in Alfred about tw'> and a half miles east, two holec
were sunk to the underlying Utica, to depths of 180 and iJWi feet.
On a lineextendin^^westwardly along what is known as the Brook
in the dirpcllon of Kaslman's Springs a number of similar holes
have been bored, the depths of which ranged from 100 to 150 feet,
following a fairly direct line. The most easterly of these was put
down at Caledonia Springs to a depth in the clay of 13a feet.
Beyonu this to the north-east the country is flat and clay covered
in the direction of L'Orignat at which point presumably this
ancient channel reached the river. Recently in the area southeast
of Ottawa cl.y, near Ramsay's Corners, a boring has been made
which passed through 186 feet of clay and 18 feet of underlying
gravel Jo the Lorraine shali.'s.

This .'ine of excavation may be the continuation of that already
described ft 1' the Carp valley, since in the eastern portion of the
Carp area tnere are great deposits of clay, gravel and sand which
extend beyond the Rideau a few miles south of Ottawa in the
dir^^tion of the deep borings just referred to. The old channel
should cross the Rideau not far from the centre of the township of
Gloucester and extend towards the Mer Bleue, since rock escarp-
ments appear a short distance north of that place in the direction
of the Ottawa, and rock ledges are seen to the south in the
direction of Bear Brook on the tine of the Canada Atlantic Ry.

On the lower Ottuwa between Grenville and Lachute the
surface is generally flat. Deposits of clay, covered in places with
a great thickness of sand, occur in the area between the bold
escarpment of the crystalline rocks and the river, and near the line
of the Grenville canal the accumulation of yboulders over the
surface is very great. The whole area for sooi^ miles is heavily
drift covered, a.id great masses of ice must have discharged
immense toads brought from the high lands to the north and north
east in this direction. These accumulations of boulders are found
at intervals over a large extent of country south of the Ottawa,
some of the blocks bein^ of immense size. Near Vankleek Hill

Till Ottawa Natuhaliiit.

[April

Kr.Ht number, of ,h.„ Kh,« rock. c«n b. „.n, on. of which
rnwurea ,o feci by ,5 f„, ,„d i. ^ fe., „„, „f ,h, ^,^„„j

AmonK chHnn.l, of more rcc.n. date but which .re now
clo.cdexc.pt at period, of high w»t.r on the river, two Ht l..»t
m.y be nu-ntioncd. Ea.t from Coulon^e village a dcprcion
n he .urface extend, to the Ottawa at the north w... angle
o( taluntet l.land. The eastern portion of th. deprcion .0 the
w.,t of the nver „ known a, the Crand Marai, or Bi^ mar.h •
...d «h,l. at ordinary ,t«ge, of water in the Ottawa much
of I-.,, comparatively dry. in the .pring it be. ome, a regular
watcr-cour,. cutting off the great point which extend, south-w.,,
from t.oulonge village to La Pa.ie.

Further ea,t below Ottawa at th. mouth of Ih. Nation river
a d.pr.,„on al,o occur, forming the bay in front of the village of
P«p.ne«uv,lle. ..id separating that place from what i, known a,
th.Pr.,4u,le rh„ latter i, a long ridge or tongue of gravel
and ,and which extend, ea.t from the mouth of ,h. North Nation
River tor about six mil.,. At high wat.r ,.ag., .. .current pa.,.s
over the narrow barrier at the we.t end of the Pre.qu'ile Bay and
flow, directly past the village. It i, quite po„ibl. that close
.nv.stigat,on in the Ottawa basin would disclose other channel,
which are now partly filled.

In this paper it ha, been th. intcntio . indicat. only the
rnost prominent of these old channels. That • submergence of
he whole basin has been sufficient to cause the -.ters of James
Bay to unite with those of the Ottawa basin is indicated by the

ITr.l 7 ' "■■"""■' """ ""-^ "^P""'' atelevaLn,

fi uZ "','•• P^'-'«""'«'^'>t of land north of Lake Temiscaniing.

It IS probably du. to this gr.at spr.ad of inland or ocean waters
over this area that the sands and gravels which have been ,0
ins rumental ,n choking up the ancient valley of the river , -.re so

r: : not'^'-' d"'f ■ "■'" •'"' ""''" ""I^^Po-'-fdayandsand
have not yielded organic remains is only negative evidence against

of the Ottawa and St. Laurence basins would not be of marine
origin „nce inthe whole stretch north and west of Ottawa citv
they yield marine ,ssils only in very lare cases.

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