As to this part of the country drained by Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers, Mr. McInnes in his report says:—“The climate, as would be expected in these latitudes, and in a wilderness country approximately a thousand feet above sea-level, is somewhat severe. The summer temperature, though on occasional days rising as high as 85° Fahr., averages very much lower, and the nights are practically always cool. Frosty nights often continue into the early summer, and recur again in the autumn before most grain-crops would be ready for harvesting. Temperatures were taken with the thermometer during two seasons, and these, averaged, gave the following results for the months of July and August on lower Winisk river, and for July, August and part of September on upper Winisk and upper Attawapiskat rivers:—
| 6 a.m. | noon. | 6 p.m. | |
| Lower Winisk river | 57° | 69° | 57° |
| Upper Winisk and Attawapiskat rivers | 47.5° | 61.6° | 58° |
“The only points in the region where any attempts at cultivation of the land are made are the two Hudson’s Bay Company’s posts at Osnaburgh, near the foot of Lake St. Joseph, and at Fort Hope, on Eabamet lake.
“At these posts small kitchen gardens and potato-fields are maintained with some success, though neither place is favourably situated for the purpose, the soil in both cases consisting of an almost pure sand. Timothy and clover grow luxuriantly, and all the common
Garden Vegetables Thrive at Both Places.
Indian corn, however, is not sufficiently filled out for table use when caught by the frost. Barley has been successfully grown at Osnaburgh, and the potato crop, wherever a suitable tract of land has been utilized, has been generally fairly good at both places.
“The first killing frost in 1903 occurred on the night of September 3, and in 1904 on the night of August 30.”
Mr. McInnes (Geol. Survey Report for 1906, pp. 87 and following) describes the region explored by him in that year as follows:—
“It is bounded by north latitude 53° 50′ and 56° 10′, and by west longitude 99° 15′ and 101° 15′. Its general elevation above the sea is between seven hundred and nine hundred feet. . . . . For purposes of general description it may, in a broad way, be divided into three areas; the limestone area embracing all the tract underlaid by the horizontal or gently undulating, magnesian limestones or dolomites of northern Manitoba; the Archaean area, a somewhat broken and rugged country extending from the northern edge of the limestone escarpment northward and eastward until covered by the lacustrine sediments of the third or clay area. The latter, a gently rolling, clay-covered country, extends from the valley of Nelson river on the east to a contour, westerly, where the general elevation of the land is in the vicinity of nine hundred feet above the sea, or to approximately west longitude 99° 30′. The northern edge of the clay basin was not reached, but the Indians of Burntwood river region agree in saying that Churchill river valley forms its most northerly extension. The last of the three divisions is, generally, well suited for cultivation, but throughout the first two the areas suitable for agriculture are of limited extent. No part of the region is prairie though along some of the valleys, and here and there on the uplands, are found extensive hay marshes, with only occasional small clumps of willows, that, with drainage, would become virtually prairie lands. . . . . Northwest of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post at Split lake the country is generally low, swampy and intersected by a network of small lakes; near Waskaiowaka lake, however, an extension northeasterly of the clay land of lower Burntwood valley forms a comparatively dry ridge.”
A Garden in new Manitoba.