Mr. Preble states that along the southern shores of Great Bear lake the canoe birch occurs only in a somewhat dwarfed state, but it reappears as a fair sized tree on Bear river.
The Basin of Anderson River.
Mr. R. MacFarlane, chief factor Hudson’s Bay Company, was sent in 1857 by James Anderson to explore Anderson river. The report of his trip was published in the Canadian Record of Science, vol. iv., and the following notes therefrom give some idea of the timber along the rivers and lakes draining the country north of Great Bear lake into Arctic ocean:—At Canoe lake, the headwaters of Iroquois river, the main tributary of the Lockhart, the country is tolerably wooded. The batiks of the Iroquois seem to be all wooded, as Mr. MacFarlane found the navigation impeded by immense quantities of driftwood, and he says the ridges on both sides were well covered with pine and willow.
The country along Lockhart river below the Iroquois is better timbered. On the banks of the Anderson below the Lockhart, there is timber of medium size gradually disappearing towards the north.
On his return trip Mr. MacFarlane proceeded up the Anderson from the Lockhart and found the banks well wooded. Further on, near a succession of rapids, he found the banks tolerably wooded. He says:—“The country along the Anderson was latterly very well wooded, and some goodly pines were seen. The tract of country embraced by a line drawn west from the borders of the woods on the Anderson to the Mackenzie, southward to Peau de Lièvre river (Hare Indian river), at Good Hope, is very well timbered.
He says the banks of Ross river are partially timbered. A chain of well wooded hills, Mr. MacFarlane says, encircle Colville lake or more probably the large lake west of the lake marked Colville. The banks of Simpson lake are well timbered. From here southwest towards Hare Indian river, Mr. MacFarlane found the country well wooded. He says “the timber consists of pine, juniper, fir, willow, and a few groves of poplar and birch. Some of the pines were of a large size. The belt of timber which at Fort Anderson extends for over thirty miles to the eastward, rapidly narrows and becomes a mere fringe along Anderson river, and disappears to the northward of the 69th parallel of latitude.”
Running parallel with Anderson river is MacFarlane or Wilmot Horton river. Mr. MacFarlane says that one or two intersecting affluents of Wilmot Horton or MacFarlane river flow through valleys in which a few stunted spruce, birch and willows appear at intervals. On the banks of one of these, near its mouth, he observed a sheltered grove of spruce and willows of larger growth. They met with no more spruce to the eastward.
Mr. Preble passed up Lockhart river, and thus describes the stream and its banks:—“Our route lay up the left fork. The shores here are low and the channels winding, and much obstructed by fallen trees. Above here we paddled through several small marshy ponds and portaged past a small fall. We then passed through a rocky defile above which we made four portages, and ascended several small riffles with paddles or with the help of the line. On August 3 we avoided eight falls or rapids by making portages and ascended several others with the line. At the last rapid, where we encamped, the river rushes for a hundred yards through a rocky gorge. The spruce woods about here have escaped the fires which have devastated most of this section. Some of the small ponds and channels passed through were bordered by banks of clay, clothed mainly with white birch.”
Mr. Preble states that the belt of timber which at Fort Anderson extends for over thirty miles to the eastward, rapidly narrows and becomes a mere fringe along Anderson river, and disappears to the northward of the 68th parallel of latitude.
Mr. Hanbury reports that he found Dease river (east of Great Bear lake) to be completely concealed by a heavy belt of spruce.