It will be remembered by those familiar with the subject, that, in defining the eastern end of the forest line, Mr. Preble has closely followed the definition laid down by Mr. J. B. Tyrrell in the official report of his exploration of the country south and east of Dubawnt lakes and Chesterfield inlet. Mr. Tyrrell states in his report:—
“The region may be divided into Forests, and Treeless Plains or ‘Barren Lands’, by a line which curves around the bottom of Button bay, and then continues within sight of the shore as far as Hubbart point, beyond which it strikes northwestward almost at right angles to the magnetic meridian, crossing Kazan river at the southern narrows of Ennadai lake, and Telzoa river about the middle of Boyd lake.”
Black and White Spruce and Larch.
“The forested country is chiefly wooded with small black spruce (Picea nigra) and larch (Larix Americana) while the lowlands are almost everywhere covered with deep mossy swamps. Proceeding northwards, the woods become confined to the lowlands and the tops of the hills remain treeless. Such are the conditions of the surface around Kasba and Daly lakes. Farther northward the wooded plains give place more or less suddenly to level or rolling grassy plains, which constitute the Barren Lands. As the forest disappears, much of the surface is covered by deep frozen mossy bogs or tundras, but these occur only along the edge of the forest, and do not form part of the Barren Lands proper.
“Besides the two species of trees above mentioned, the white spruce (Picea alba) grows to quite a large size on some of the dry estuaries, and on the stony, well-drained banks of Telzoa river. It extends northward almost to Dubawnt lake, forming a larger tree than either of the others. At Churchill, near the shore of Hudson bay, small white spruce were found to have entirely replaced black spruce in the swamps. A few miles farther inland, black spruce again takes its normal place in similar swamps, and white spruce almost disappears.
“Banksian Pine (Pinus Banksiana) grows on the sandy plains along Stone river, and northward, on dry sandy ridges, as far as Selwyn and Theitaga lakes, but it does not extend as far north as either spruce or larch. Canoe Birch (Betula papyrifera) grows to a fairly large size at the head of Thlewiaza river but as a rule it is a small tree in this region. It gradually decreases in size and disappears at the edge of the Barren Lands. Some small aspen trees (Populus tremuloides) were seen as far north as Daly lake on Telzoa river, latitude 60°, on the headwaters of Thlewiaza river, and at the mouth of Churchill river on Hudson bay.
Mr. Tyrrell’s expedition of 1893 did not find much timber along Dubawnt river. Mr. J. W. Tyrrell (“Through the Sub-Arctics of Canada”) mentions that the party found a little clump of white spruce trees on the north shore of Carey lake on the Dubawnt in latitude 62° 15′ north. Two feet above the ground the trunk of the largest tree measured eight feet in circumference.
Mr. Tyrrell also states that the southern affluent of Dubawnt lake “has scattered groves of white spruce on its banks.”
Timber Along the Thelon.
There is considerable timber along the Thelon and the main tributary of its upper reach, the Hanbury, so named from the original explorer of both streams. Mr. Hanbury, describing his exploratory trip, writes:—“The peculiarity of the Ark-i-linik (the Indian name then applied to the Thelon and its tributary the Hanbury) is that, though so far north, it is wooded on either bank, and in places one might even say heavily timbered, spruce trees, with butts measuring one and one-half to two feet across, being by no means uncommon. It is a long way north of the limit of trees marked on the maps, and there is a large extent of country to the south of it destitute of trees. I can find no explanation of this peculiarity from the geological formation, for the same red and white sandstone which prevails nearly the whole length of the river occurs at places which are without trees.