He had, no doubt,
good reasons for his choice; but it seemed a very much less inviting
locality than Stony Creek, which we came to next morning, approaching
it through rich and massive spruce woods, the ground strewn with
anemones, harebells and violets, and interspersed with almost
startlingly snow-white poplars, whose delicate buds had just opened
into leaf.
Stony Creek is a tributary of a larger stream, called the
Tawutin??ow, which means "a passage between hills." This is
an interesting spot, for here is the height of land, the
"divide" between the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca, between
Arctic and Hudson Bay waters, the stream before us flowing
north, and carrying the yellowish-red tinge common to the
waters on this slope. A great valley to the left of the trail
runs parallel with it from the Sturgeon to the Tawutin??ow,
evidently the channel of an ancient river, whose course it would
now be difficult to determine without close examination. At all
events, it stretches almost from the Saskatchewan to the Athabasca,
and indicates some great watershed in times past. Hay was
abundant here, and much stock, it was evident, might be raised
in the district.
Towards evening we reached the Tawutin??ow bridge, some eighteen
miles from the Landing, our finest camp, dry and pleasant, with
sward and copse and a fine stream close by. Here is an extensive
peat bed, which was once on fire and burnt for years--a great
peril to freighters' ponies, which sometimes grazed into its
unseen but smouldering depths.
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