The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-02-14
oNE-THlRo OF CANADA AN ISLAND.
The Terrisory North of Churchill and East
of Mackenzie River.

The Terrisory North of Churchill and East
of Mackenzie River.
1t has long been known that the great
lacustrine region of Canada has scarce
~ perceptible water partings between
many of the river basins There is much
evidence that at an earlier age many
water channels connected these basins,
and that the northern part of the CONT
nent east of the Mackenzie river was
thus cut up into numerous islands. In
recent paper MIR. Tyrell Of the Canadian
geological survey reaffirms that this
continent north of the Churchill river
and east Of the Mackenzie is great is
land-a statement that was denied by
Father Petitot five years ago. The ex-
plorer of the geological survey says
that from the large body of water known
as Woliaston lake emerge two almost
equal streams, the one flowing to Lake
Athabasca and thence by the Slave and
Mackenzie rivers TO the Arctic ocean,
and the other to Reindeer lake and
thence by the Reindeer and Churchill
rivers to Hudson bay, the island thus
formed comprising about one-third of
the Canadian domain. And directly
southeast is another large island be-
tween Lake Winnipeg and Hudson bay.
the result of bifurcation in the little
Sandy lake, which has an outlet to
Hudson bay through the Severn river
and another to Lake Winnipeg through
Family lake There are not few, other
instances in Canada of this curious IN
ion between water systems, and the
same phenomena are often observed
among the lakes of Minnesota and to a
lesser extent in Maine.
Geographers use the word bifurcation
in o special sense to indicate this natural
connection by water Of two independ
emit river basins. The most famous Of
these bifQrcatioIs in our own land Is
that which brings into communication
the two oceans that bound our country
east and west A diagonal line passing
through Yellowstone park divides the
land that Is drained to the Atlantic from
that whose waters flow to the Pacific
This line crosses Two Ocean pass, and
here in a grassy valley, when rain is
abundant, swells little lake known as
Two Ocean pond, whose waters flow in
one direction to Yellowstone lake, the
Missouri and the gulf of Mexico, and in
the other to the Snake river and the Pa
ci1c. In Hayden S reports other lakes in
the Rocky mountains are mentioned as
sending their waters in different direc-
tions through two outlets
These illustrations show that bifurca-
tons are found in lowlands and in high
mountain regions. There are some re-
markable instances among the noun
tains Of Norway. These lakes, high up
among the mountains, send their wa
ters down the slopes in different direo-
lions, and one of them, the swamp re-
gion Of Lake Kol, gives birth to eight
rivers some Of which join different sys-
TENS.
South America has one ofsthe most
famous of bifurcations in the Cassiqui-
are river, which unites by a broad chan
mel the Orinoco and the Amazon sys-
TENS. This waterway and the fact that
in one region there is scarcely any sign
of water parting between the Amazon
and La Plata systems render it possible
to travel in q canoe along inland routes
all the way from the mouth Of the ORR
noco to that Of the La Plata save around
a few waterfalls and portage overland
OF about three miles. New York Sun.