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The general features of the country have been ably and concisely described by Dr. Dawson in the report of the boundary commission (1875), as follows:

The first or lowest prairie level, is that of which the southern part lies along the Red River, and which, northward, embraces Lake Winnipeg and associated lakes, and the flat land surrounding them. A great part of its eastern border is conterminous with that of Lake Winnipeg, and formed by the rocky front of the Laurentian; but east of the Red River it is bounded by the high lying drift terraces surrounding the Lake of the Woods, and forming a part of the drift plateau of northern Minnesota. To the west it is limited by the more or less abrupt edge of the second prairie level, forming an escarpment, which, though very regular in some places, has been broken through by the broad valleys of the Assiniboine and other rivers. The escarpment, where it crosses the line, is known as Pembina Mountain, and is continued northward by the Riding, Duck, Porcupine, and Basquia Hills. The average height above the sea of this lowest level of the interior continental region is about 800 feet; the lowest part being that surrounding the Winnipeg group of lakes, which have an elevation of about 700 feet. From this it slopes up southward, and attains its greatest elevation—960 feet—at its termination far south in Minnesota. The edges of this prairie level are also, notwithstanding its apparent horizontality, considerably more elevated than its central line, which is followed by the Red River. Its width on the forty-ninth parallel is only 52 miles; its area, north of that line, may be estimated at 55,600 square miles, of which the great system of lakes in its northern part—including Lakes Winnipeg, Manitoba, Winnipegosis, Cedar, and St. Martin’s—occupy 13,900 miles. A great part of this prairie level is wooded more or less densely, and much of the low-lying land near the great lakes appears to be swampy and liable to flood. The southern part, extending from the boundary line nearly to the south end of Lake Winnipeg, includes the prairie of the Red River valley, with an area of about 6,900 square miles; one of the most fertile regions, and, at the same time, the most accessible portion of the Northwest.

The superficial deposits of this stage are chiefly those of a great lake which occupied its area after the glacial submergence. This part of the interior of the continent being the last to emerge from the Arctic waters and having been covered for a long time afterward by a sea of fresh water, held back either by drift deposits or by rocky barriers, which have subsequently been cut through, and which must have united all the lakes now found in the region into one sheet of water, which extended with narrower dimensions about 200 miles south of the boundary line.

The Red and the Assiniboine Rivers and their tributaries have not yet cut very deeply into its alluvial deposits and its surface is level and little furrowed by denudation.

The second steppe of the plains is bounded to the east, as already indicated, and to the west by the Missouri coteau, or edge of the third prairie level. It has a width at the forty-ninth parallel of, probably, 200 miles, though it can not there be strictly defined. Its total area is about 105,000 square miles, and includes the whole eastern portion of the great plains, properly so called, with an approximate area of 71,300 square miles. These occupy its southern and western portions, and are continuous westward with those of the third prairie steppe. To the south, the boundaries of this region appear to become more indefinite, and in the southern part of Dakota, the three primary levels of the country, so well marked north of the line, are probably scarcely separable. The rivers have acted on this region for a much longer time than on the last-mentioned, and are now found flowing with uniform currents in wide ditch-like valleys, excavated in the soft material of the plains, and often depressed from 100 to 300 feet below the general surface. In these the comparatively insignificant streams wander from side to side, in tortuous channels, which they only leave in time of flood. The surface of this prairie steppe is also more diversified than the last, being broken into gentle swells and undulations, partly, no doubt, by the action of denudation, and partly, also, as will appear, from the original unequal deposition, by currents and ice, of the drift material which here constitutes the superficial formation. The average altitude of this region may be taken at 1,600 feet, and the character of its soil and its adaptability for agriculture differ much in its different portions.

The third or highest prairie steppe may be said to have a general normal altitude of about 3,000 feet, though its eastern edge is sometimes little over 2,000 feet and it attains an elevation of 4,200 feet at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

Obviously none of the third steppe would fall within our limits were it not for a curious exception that is presented by the Turtle Mountain, which, though belonging to the third steppe, stands like an island upon the open sea of the second. Of this Dr. Dawson says:

Turtle Mountain, an outline of the third prairie steppe, is a broken, hilly, wooded region, with an area of perhaps about 20 miles square (400 square miles), and slopes gradually upward from the plain around it, above which it is elevated, at its highest points, about 500 feet. It appears to be the culmination westward of the hilly drift region previously described, and forms a prominent object when viewed across the eastern prairie, from the contrasting somber tint of the foliage of its woods. From the west it can be seen from a distance of 45 miles, and when thus viewed has really much the general outline of a turtle shell. It is bisected by the forty-ninth parallel.

According to Mr. Tyrrell’s map, the altitudes of the large lakes, etc., to the west have hitherto been given fully 60 feet too low; as, however, I am without corrected figures for other points whose altitudes are given, I have elected to let older computations stand, and they may be taken as relatively correct.

“The sandhills” so often referred to, are certain low sand dunes that cover a considerable extent of country in the vicinity of Carberry. They are in most cases low undulations rather than hills, are sparsely covered with grass and dotted over with beautiful clumps of trees, while the hollows and flats are diversified with lakelets that swarm with waterfowl and lower forms of life. The general appearance of the sandhills country is quite park-like, and notwithstanding its unattractive name this region as a whole is the most pleasing to the eye and fuller of interest and varied pleasure for the naturalist than any other that I have seen in Manitoba. “The Big Plain” is an unusually level prairie extending from Carberry northward about 30 miles.

“The White Horse Plains” form a similar region between Shoal Lake and the Assiniboine.

“The Souris Plains” include the southwestern corner of Manitoba that is drained by the Souris River. This is a remarkably level region, entirely cleared of trees excepting in the river gorges, and diversified by numerous marshes and alkaline flats.

“Bluff” is, in Manitoban parlance, the name applied to any isolated grove of trees on the prairie. The term is never used here, as in the Western States, to mean an abrupt bank or escarpment.

Distribution of forest and prairie.—All that portion of Manitoba that lies to the eastward of the lowest prairie steppe, as above defined, is a rocky Laurentian region full of rivers and lakes of fresh water, and thickly wooded, being within the limits of the great coniferous forest. A wide strip of the flat country lying to the westward of Lake Winnipeg, likewise the elevated plateaus of Riding, Duck, and Porcupine Mountains, are also to be classed as parts of the northern forest. There is good reason for believing that at one time, not very remote, the rest of Manitoba was covered with a forest of aspens or poplars (Populus tremuloides), slightly varied by oak (Quercus macrocarpa), spruce (Abies alba et nigra), birch (Betula papyracea), etc., which has been removed by fire, so that trees are now found growing only in such places as are protected from the fires by streams, lakes, marshes, or sandy tracts where so little grass grows that the fire can not travel; consequently, notwithstanding the prevalent idea of Manitoba as a purely prairie region, there is more or less timber in nearly all parts of the country as indicated on the map. Thus I have endeavored to make a record of the distribution of forests in 1885, for evidently no natural feature is more likely to change in a few years than the extent of woodlands. The line limiting the coniferous forest on the south is copied from the forestry map issued with the Tenth Census report of the United States. It is suspiciously straight and even, but is doubtless correct when understood merely as a broad generalization. I regret that I am without the material necessary to define this limit more accurately. To the southward of Carberry is a small isolated forest of spruce that is known as the Spruce Bush or the Carberry Swamp, by which names it is herein referred to.

Water.—The province is plentifully, almost too plentifully, supplied with water. In addition to the numerous extensive lakes indicated on the map are thousands more of smaller extent, while the region of the Red River Valley in particular is diversified by vast stretches of marsh and lagoon. The various lakes are of two kinds, first the sweet water or live water lakes, fed and drained by living streams, teeming with fish and varying in size from that of a mere pond to that of Lake Winnepeg; second, the alkaline lakes, which are mere drainage basins and depend solely on evaporation for the removal of their accumulated waters.

They owe their alkaline impregnation not to anything of the nature of salt-bearing strata, but to the continual influx and evaporation of surface water very slightly impregnated with alkali through running over the prairies strewn with the ashes of the annual fires. These “dead waters” never, so far as I know, contain fish, but they are usually swarming with a species of amblystoma and numerous kinds of leeches and aquatic insects. These lakes abound on the prairies and in the sand hills, but are usually of very small extent. They have, I believe, several peculiar species of sedge, and are especially frequented by certain kinds of birds that seem to avoid the fresher waters, e. g., Baird’s Sparrow, Avocet, etc.

Salt springs, etc.—The following extract from Professor Macoun’s well-known work on “Manitoba and the great Northwest, 1883,” will prove an interesting item of physiography:

Lying farther south [than the Silurian], and possibly underlying the greater part or the western side of the Manitoba Plain, is the Devonian Series. These rocks are known to be largely developed on both sides of Lakes Manitoba and Winnepegosis. Numerous salt springs are found in connection with them, and during the last summer the writer saw salt springs and brooks of strong brine flowing from them in various localities at the head of Lake Winnepegosis. The subjoined list of salt springs known to occur on Lakes Manitoba and Winnepegosis may tend to excite interest in these extensive deposits:

1. Crane River, Lake Manitoba.

2. Waterhen River, Dickson’s Landing.

3. Salt Point, east side of Lake Winnepegosis.

4. Salt Springs, Winnepegosis.

5. Pine River, Winnepegosis.

6. Rivers near Duck Bay.

7. Turtle River, Lake Dauphin.

8. Swan or Shoal, two localities.

9. Salt River, flowing into Dawson’s Bay.

10. Numerous salt springs and bare, saturated tracts of many acres in extent on Red Deer River, which flows into the head of Dawson’s Bay, Lake Winnepegosis. For 10 miles up this river salt springs are quite frequent, and excellent salt was collected in three places, where it formed a crust on the surface of the ground. Some springs were examined where a respectable rivulet of strong brine issued from them, as clear as crystal, and evidently quite pure. All the springs and marshes seen were bordered with seaside plants, and one of them, which has never been found from the seacoast before in America, was found in abundance. The plant referred to is Sea-Side Plantain (Plantago maritima).

The following extract from Professor Hind’s report (1858) shows that this line of saliferous strata goes right across our province:

Near and west of Stony Mountain many small barren areas occur, covered with saline efflorescence; they may be traced to the Assiniboine, and beyond that river in a direction nearly due south to La Riviére Sale and the forty-ninth parallel. These saline deposits are important, as they in all probability serve, as will be shown hereafter, to denote the presence of salt-bearing rocks beneath them, similar to those from which the salt springs of Swan River, Manitoba Lake, and La Riviére Sale issue.

Meteorology.—I have not been able to obtain the material necessary for a general chapter on the meteorology of Manitoba, and must content myself with a few statistics taken from Professor Bryce’s article on Canada in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

The mean annual temperature for 11 years, (1871-1881, inclusive), taken near Winnipeg, was 33.06°, the maximum 95.34°, the minimum -10.51°; the mean amount of rain, 16.977 inches; the mean amount of snow, 52.72 inches; the mean total precipitation of rain and snow, 23.304 inches; the mean height of the barometer, 29.153. The mean average temperature for the years 1880 and 1881 was as follows: January, 2°.9; February, 3°; March, 9°; April, 30°.2; May, 51°.2; June, 63°.6; July, 65°.9; August, 64°.8; September, 51°.3; October, 40°; November, 14°.6; December, 0°.6; the year, 32°.6.

The isotherms indicated on the map were taken from the map prepared to Professor Macouns’ work.

Topography.—The topography of Manitoba is somewhat perplexing through the duplication of names. Many, such as Pelican Lake, Swan Lake, Shoal Lake, Rat Creek, etc., appear several times over. None of these duplications have been entered on the map, with the exceptions of Shoal Lake and Boggy Creek. In the first case I have added the word “West” to the name of the lake which is of secondary importance and probably of later naming. In the second the three creeks are distinguished as Boggy Creek, Big Boggy Creek, and Little Boggy Creek. Every name referred to in the notes, with exceptions noted herein later, will be found on the map, with many additional ones that are of importance. Frequent allusion is made to Professor Macouns’ journeys and the region observed by him in making them. These expeditions were as follows: 1879, from Winnipeg to Fort Ellice by water and thence up the Qu’Appelle River; 1880, from Winnipeg to Grand Valley, now Brandon, by water and thence overland to Moose Mountain; 1881, from Winnipeg to Portage la Prairie by rail, thence overland to Totogon down Lake Manitoba by boat into Waterhen River and into Waterhen Lake, and back by the western channel into Lake Winnepegosis, and along the western shore of this lake into the larger bays, up Swan River to Swan Lake, then back to Winnepegosis and up Red Deer River to Red Deer Lake, up its southern affluent across country to Livingstone and down the Assiniboine to the railroad at Brandon.

Humphrey’s or McGee’s Lake, Hope’s Lake, Smith’s Lake, and Markle’s Lake are small drainage lakes near Carberry. White Horse Hill, Kennedy’s Plain, and De Winton Slough are also close to Carberry. These have been omitted from the map, as they are too small for the scale on which it is drawn.

The following places outside of the province have been mentioned to extend or explain the distribution of certain species:

Carleton House: On the north branch of the Saskatchewan.

Cumberland House: On the Lower Saskatchewan.

Fort Pelly: On Assiniboine River, 10 miles west of Duck Mountain.

Fort Qu’Appelle: On Qu’Appelle River, 100 miles up from its junction with the Assiniboine.

Moose Mountain: Assiniboia, 35 miles westward of Manitoba, about latitude 49° 40´ north.

Nelson River: The outlet of Lake Winnipeg, situated at its north end.

Norway House: North end of Lake Winnipeg.

Rat Portage: On the Lake of the Woods, where it is touched by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Red Deer River: Flowing into Red Deer Lake, at the northwest corner of the province.

Severn House: On Severn Lake, at 54° 5´ north latitude and 92° 30´ west longitude, about 150 miles northeastward of the province.

Selkirk: Lake Winnipeg, about 40 miles north of the northern boundary.

Touchwood Hills: 30 miles north-northwest of Fort Qu’Appelle.

Trout Lake House: On Trout Lake, at 53° 50´ north latitude and 91° west longitude, about 200 miles northeast by east of the province.

White Sand River: A tributary of the Upper Assiniboine, near the northwest corner of the province.