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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. y errata i^d to It ie pelure, 9on k n 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 I "^^^U^H /■'^Opc niF. 1 I ■; ■ ; 1 I^T'iKirALANnS(MHNTIFl(; ^oCliTV OF MAN I TOT; A r-;ANSACTIOM N-, 27.-S^-ASON I^S6-7. rn MP n IE )(IT-STEFS 1)1' 111 1 J :n the RED RIVER VALLEY, \v( 111 SIM I. ! \i !u:i i;nKNCK TO nil'. 6ALT mm^ AND FLOWING mU^ TO BB FOUND IN !'^. xj- A . M c C H A \\ L E S , CHAIRMAN si;CH*.OLOClCAl. C0MMI7TEE. A fAPhR kill:' t'EF'lRK THE SO^lErY ON THDRSL.IY EVHNIN'. DECFMBEH I6TH 1836. .■U,;i.y; ■■■■,■ >!.■( Of oriondiiii- .'I, /;u-,-iu^' valki-i! r'lt/i ihit-t>-i\ I >ir,7:' afjirm oj iiti/urf i;nitn- lj\ I'larim; v.Htlkiii vjilh ihUnr,-. I iioy titfiriH i truth. - WoKllsvVdK I II. \\I\NII'E(i M VM lOltA I Kl'.t. l>Ki:SS I'KIN l. |S>7 xi-rE FOOT-STEPS OF TIME IN TIIK RED HIVER VALLEY. \Vi
  • !<< IIAI{l.i:s, AVI\MIM<:osits form the up- lands of the western ocarpmcnt, while the trough of the val- ley, including the ^leat lake basin to th.' north, is occupied by several important, belts of intermediate lormations of various kinds. They all present a geneial northwest and southeast direction, in confoiinity with the old Lanrentian coast line, and overlap one another on their outer edges, somewhat like rows of shingles on a roof: but they are of dilferent thick- nesses of course, and have very irregular widtjis to the wea- ther, so to speak. For the laws of nature are oppo.sed to equality in rock making as in everything else, and no two beds, outci'0})s or even layers are exactly alikf in every way. THE LAI'KKNTIAN BELT The Lanrentian licit or lowest rock-step in the ladder of time, is mainly a barren unprodiictive regivju hei-e as elsewhere, and scarcely any lanvl fit for settlement is to be found jn it. Indeed, some parts of it might be aptly de.scribe«l as islands of granite in lakes of muskeg, but the most of it is thickly covered with timber of more or less economic value, such as ])Oj)lar, birch spruce, tamarac, jack pine and other native s})e- cies, generall}'' of small growih, but often large enough to be sawn into lumbei* for building i)>u'poses, the I'est being very suitable fo)' telegraph poles, railwav ties, fence posts and fuel. The \Vinni)>eg river and a scoi-e of other ilojitable streams __!.— \ jtroviil-' !Uii|»lf fm-ilities for gfttin^' tlic tiinljcr out of llio noitluMij portion of it, aii Lanrontian systonj, as yon am aware, striitchcs all tiir way from I,a1»ra■ the Aiotic (jcran, la-ing }ioll(.\v('d out lil«' iui 'll.ow by ll.niit widens ronsidcial)!) towards the north, and fornis the ^astern sho?-.' of Lake WinnipcLT nearly )t,.< whoii- leji;,^tli. These fundiuncntal rock.s fire supposed t(t ha\ (( be* n part of tlu3 ori- jrjnal crust of the e-utth, H.nd the ;^M'anites amon^;; them were evidently m a fused state at one time, and fornjed at some un- known depth below the present surfaei- of the globe, as they are seldom or never found in re^adai- beds, like the sedimenta- rv foi'ieations, V)ut as a vn]i:', in L,'reat unstratitifd uuis.ses in- elin 'd at all angles, and ofti-n fractured, disloeated, folded ansabl«.' bogs, that geological in- vestigations arc rather ditiicult to pro.secute there. But as we a|>proach the Ib-il Kivei Valley, the physical aspect of tlie countiy undergoes a great cltangc. The hush disapjicars to a large extent, and we eome upon a tine prairie region, undula- ting in long s\V('c)>s, and well adapted for stock raising antl mived farming — the pastui-age being excellent and the soil ex- ceedingly fertile. Its settlenieut has unfortunately been re- taided bv various artificial causes, such as the grantinir of I, too 0(K) acres in the very heart of it to the half breeds shortly after the tiist rebellion, or about fifteen years ago, which was intended to • enetit them anl" the philanlliropi. aV)ortions of hist<,>ry. ~ 5 — Tin- most «if tlu' 'claims' as thc^y were calle- tho hands ot" sjierulators. who held out for lii;,,'li prices while free lioiiie.steads eould be riately call the f/rouvJ, as the most of it was originally made by the grinding action of im- mense glaciers that came re wasli, but is absent on the east side, where the boulder clav rests innnedi- H\ (> utely uiHtn th» rot.'ks. Tlwdivitling linr i mis ulinost imitli .miuI soiitli iicai tlw^ I'iUtial -jrlioo). In oii»« c-uMr. a stion;; ciirnMit WHS .struck aRcr 1.01 iiiL,' tlinnii^'li n \n>^ nf (•«»ars.*-;,n-ain('tronni. is ill* l»rlww the ''tnci-fil l«'\»d of in the iiiii land AJfTKSlAN WKIJ.S, The (|ii« stion of oui- water su]»|»ly hein^' of more than or- dinary iiuportautM', I have taken sojuc trouldi to^^'atherail the available dnta on inidergronnd eui rents here. We havr al ready over fort\ con^itantly tl(»win»j w«dis in the city. Their aveiat;«^ ilcpth is about sixty feet, but decreaHos y;radually towards tlic Wi'sl, a*^ tlie I'ock beds cotnt' iieaivr ti'e surfaee. The water shoots u|t at tir;-t from ten to fifteen fet-t. eanving gravel and '^autl with il for a few ^ .'.luU, when it <.(ets per- fectly clear and of a bright spark I in*.; (-(dor. A nmuber of lie vrv close to eacli other, as on VoimL' Street, wells n)ay witliout diniitdshni;^' the (|iiantity or force of the tlow in any eas(\ All thes(.' welU <;iv(i out al least a ndllion ijallons of water daily or t'n(yiiii;u^to supply our prijsenl jiopulation witli .')(> ^'allons a h'-ad, wdiich is the usual consumption of other cities, but th'' most of it is allowc d to go to waste here. As to the source tVom wddeh tlic subtcnauean cui rents m the Wi'inipeo- basin are derived, the prevailing idea that they are connected with the great lakes to the north oi' east, is ob- viously wrong, a^ will be see!i if we otily look at the relative elevations of tht; latter as compared with the site of the city, above the sea. Winnipeg (market .scpiare) 705 feet. Lake Wiiuiipeg 710 " Lake St." Martins 7:'J " Lakf Manitoba 752 " Lake \Vinni{>egi>osis 77<> " Siioal Lake over 80(» " Lake of the Wood;' l,()4-2 Now, it is ipilLf evident that tlie supply cannot p«>ssibiy are come from t.itlier of the first tlire(> of tliese lakes, as they all lower than the city, and if it came from Lake Winm[)ego- sis, which is (,n{y H\'e feet higher, th(;re M'(»uhl not be sufficient pressure to force the waterup ten feet as is d«ne here. Then, if ii i*am«' tVuiii l^akc nf tin- W-khIs ti. iho wn.ttr w'oulrl riso over 2.')(MV'"f hImivc tijo ;^m'(»imiiI aiiywlien> in tlit* Kt'il IlivtT Vallt'v. 1 1 may, liowovrr •onu' from Shoal Iwik.', V liicli stands on a IiIljIi tai»l' iami, has no visiMo outh't, an-l is till' nt-ai-cst to the •ity; hiit in that, rase the uattT sljouid 1>»' tiirown ii|t ahout lit'ly Irct ht'iv. In vitw of iheso ami \a rioiiH otlicr cironmstaiUM's, tlic most- rcasonai^' hy|u>ih»sis with ic^^anl to tlir wator supply of wur Hovjn;:; .volls, is tlmt it pt'rc()Jat«*M throiii4;li tho sintacc on thi^ I*>''ti. ;^t'iit!<; slop*; rliat stretches to tlie nortliwest of tli»' oity tor t\\eTjt}'-five to thirty mile.>,.anut the water of our Hewing wells, as I have shown, is not found in the rocks here, but running over them as on a Hoor. peihaps beeausi; it is the hard-close-lying dolomite beds of Stony Mountain, and not the [)or/)us limestones of Selkirk Kast, tliat extend iindei the city, and they have, been penetrated in many jdaces from 5(> to 'ioo feet without obtaining wat(;r in any <|uantity, to .speak of, and which has to be jtumped out. The water of these flowing wells contains a very large percentage t)f solid matter in solution, even more than the riv(!i water, as it runs over a magnesian limestot'o bed, and when used in factories it forms a thick coating on the inside of the boiU'rs in a few days. Hut water is not iiupure or dangei'ouH to health in pro})ortion to the solid ingredients it may hold, but depend.s on the amount of organic matter in it, and in this ros))eet the flowing wells furnish the best water we have here. As to our water supply fo»' the futuie it mu-.t a]>i>arent- ly be brought from Lake of the Wood.s or from .some ))oint on V J-' s,. — 8 — the Wiiiiiipej^ livei' iioai the ra}>ids, which is oiil}- about (JO n!ih\s 10 tljc uortheafit of tlie city, with voiy few eiigiiieeriiig (lifii('uh,res of any kind on ilie \vay, and a natural fall of ovei- fifty feet. SELKIRK QUARIUHS. As ah"cady stated, the rock bottom of tlie lied River basin is ('overedljy alluvial and other deiiosits of an average depth of about fifty f^et But eonmieneing somewhere near Tyndall station on the < 'anas or pits among the bouldei- clay, but the cost of " strippin. "" the s.- called beds, or getting the stone out, makes it rather expensive for general building purposes. The overlying drift is clearly stratified, not only on the surface but also in the spaces be- tvveen tlie detached rocks sometimes to the "depth of fifteen to twenty h-et, which may indicate that the upheaval took i) lace towards the close of" the fjlacial period I hen o]i section six, in township thirteen and range six, about five miles t<» the south* ast of Selkirk station, there is a natui'al expo.Hu-e of similar strata, in two small hopper-shaped holes close to each other at the junction of a low niarsh with one of tlie graxel i-i^ wiidatus ; rare, but got a section of an uncom- monly large specimen with three wlioils, and a complete one ot" smaller size. Mciclureo.; four difiei-ent types, bnt not very numerous; one specimen is over nine inches in diameter and exeeptionai- , ly line. Pleurotomarid ; four species, but coinj)aratively scaive. Murcliisoidn \ three forius, aud moiv abundant; one seven inches hmg with ten rings. Helivofoma; dwo specimens of diffei-t-nt .sixes, but appa- rently the same kind. iSnhiiriteH: one, complete but small. -10 — iueci- inons of oitlvM hard tn find. (■ki'HAI-(>:m)|)a (Cuttle-fish). Oiili<)(U'riif< : tliree species, in <^reat numhers, and frequent* ly of (>n(trmims sixe. Eiidoeerd.s ; foiii' ty})es, and e(|ually common; one sj)eei- iiKMi about two feet long and four inches in diameter, with the ti'st or .slicU remarkably well ]Hvserved and very finely ribbed. Ormo Silurian system, hut the jn-edominant species belong chielly to the Trenton formation of it. AI.ONti TMK RAPIDS. The same rock beds crop out on the banks of -the Red Hi \'er at several points l)etween Lower Fort Carry and the head of the rajtids. generally in liorizontal position, but close to low water line. The largest exposure is riglU in fi-ont of the fori;, where the beds come nearest the surface, on a depressed I'idge that 8wee])s aciosK the counti-y there. Stone tor difi'ei'ent local ])U]'poses have been quarried or taken out in many places along the i-apids, and the beach is thicklv strewn with limestone boulders, >vhieh the settlers gather up and burn into lime in old-fashioned kibis, built on the upper edge of the river banl-(X)(l flni^li, but is lathcr " i>liicky, " c; a]>t to ('\u\) ofl'ljcyoinl the tlesiretl lines in dressing it. T\\v fall of the vi\ci' in ei'ossinL: tin.' r»,[>ids i.s only ahoiit twelve feet, Hnd from Wiimijjcg to the lake twenty -one feet, in low water. STUNV .Mv>l:ntvin. From the rapids westwaixl for twelve miles the r(>unt)y is <|uite level, with no signs of disturhanee on tlu surfaee, when Stony Mountain rises abru})tly over fifty fet^t ai)o\e the sur- rounding;- i>rairie, like an island in the sea It covers an ai(j!i of three s(|uaie miles, an Limestone shales of a j)urj)le coloi-. ... 7 4 Measures concealed bv detritus 15 — 5(; !» 'i^he upper bed is tine m.ignesian limc^stone or dolomite of very Hrm texture, s.nd specially adapted for lailway briilge work and rubble walls. It can be (luarried easily as there is little or no stri[)ping to l)e done, and the strati tieation vai'ies from a few inches to two feet. This outcrop belongs to the Niagara formation, and rests on Hudson River shales. It eon- tains hardly any ivmaius of animal life In the Hrst two or thi'ce layers, however, obscure' easts of fossils are often to be sisen, and specimens of CoLumnarln alce.olata, Pctra.ia coniiridwin. Jicatricea nodidof^a, B. undtddta and Rl'tjiirhoiiellit Ci'iuLiavc oecasionall} met with, though usually in a half decayed stite. liut the lower I'cd is exceedingly fossilitei'ous, being ahuost a rciiulai' mass of corals, bi-valve shells and snails. The fol- lowing s])ecics are the most abundant in it. zoom VTA (Corals). ('hd'tetei^ ; two forms and very fine. Colitmnarla ; in large saucer shaped nodules, and some- times witli ii[»ple marks on the convex side. h — 12- Sfi'f'i>tA ('S^ail^s). Mitr<-kit>(j)ii(( : two types and fVe<[uentiy met witli. I'/.eiLi'olovKd'id ; v(,M'V fommoii. in live ditiereiit forms. KUAcHioi'oDA (Bi-valve Shells). Drthls: tour species, in ecu ntles.s lunii hers. Hli;iit!hv/)lto)ii(ii(i : tivn varieties, and very numerous also (•i;i'ilAl.<>!H)DA (Cuttle-fish). Ortlwcerti-i : thier distinet species, but rarely found, and only iVn^niienrs in e^ ei'y ease. About ,se\ en ii/ilcs to the south-west of Stony Mountain, at ;i place called in contrast Little Stony Mountain, which is merei\ a small anticlinal riu^-'e. the .same dolomite bed is barely eovercd b\ a thin i-oatin£; ot liniv'stone m-avcl, and a very tine (juarry lias been oj)en(,'d there. It also extends uMiler the City of Winnipeg, at a dei)th of fifty to one hundred feet, as aheady ]>ointed out. STONKWAJ.L. There is a slight de[tressu>n immeiliately around Stony .Mountain, l)ut a few miles farther t(» the nojthwest, at Stone- wall, on a liiaduallv risini; shuxv which attains to a ufreatei" height than even the top of the .so-called mountain, a bed of coralline dolomite of a light grey color approaches the surface over a large area, and a ([uai'iy is worked now and again near the railway station there. It has been generally assumed that the two beds arc identical and beloni; to the .same Niajrara tormation, but the whole evidence goes to show that the Stonewall bed (u.-cupies a higher geological })osition, corre- sponding with the Cuel[>h foiniation in the «:;ast. ft is per- haps worth noting in this connection that the Stony Mount- ain stone weathers to a iiisty red, and makes a strong grey lime, while the Stonewall stone changes on expo.sure to cream color, and makes a weak but very white lime, used by plas- terers tor kalsomining and the finishing coat. But the best pniof i.s the iruirked difference in the fossil remains of the two btd.s. In iiu« former outeroj), w have seen that only a few obscure species are to be found, but in the latter a great num- — 18 — bor of otlior fonn. occur, tl.at alway. .-liaruoteri/o 1,1,,. nm,..,- Silurian series. For mstanco. tl,. ihWowhuj; typos ^-lao ar « very common m it : '^ "-J 1'^^ wnuii an zooPHYTx H 'orals). Stromatopora concent ricti. Ueceptao itlitcs occide nkUh: C/ut'teteH Ijjroperdon. (USTEUui'OJ)A (Siiaiisj. Plearotomaria soliwoldei^. ^^ ~ per fata. Mu.icldsonia hiv'dtata. J^I- Lognnii. M. Boydil M- bcllicincta. Sahidifes ventricosus, Cyclonema sulcata. Loj:onemui)A (Hi-\alvo Sliollsj. Pentameriis occidentalis. ^ gideatufi. A try pa recticularis. Orfhis eminens. " » 0.— suhquad'ixuda. CErKALOPODA ((;uttle-iish.) Orthoceras tenniseptmn. ^^- ionyicameratum. 0. lamdlosum. En i locei xis pi 'oteA forme. in the Stonewall bed; and some layers ai-e thorou,r|,lv jion.v- combed with It. TlH. snails are .generally small, but w.ll ,>,v- .served, with the surface very smootl. and elean 01 course, ti.is mistake would be of little .v.nsPMU.'nce 'my for the important bearing it has on the prot.ubiliti's ;>f a •salt bed existing to the northwest of Stonewall, in the district around Lake Manitoba, as will (,e shown further .,n. THE DEVONIAN BH:LT. ^ In ti.e western portion of the Red River valley the Silu iian series are followed in regular order by a narrovV Devon.an '•clt, but the exact line lietween them, or where they meet, 14 .J: has not hei*n fully defined yet. South oi tlie lake roi,M()ii, I have not seen or lieard of any rock ()Utci()i).s on it, Iminpj thi'oiU'-'.DMt very level ])iairio. Neai' VVestbourn'; station, I sceniv^ 1 a I'l.'W lossits. sucli as /tiph/cntlK piui/ificu, MlcJti'I'ni'hi coiivexii, and Penhi/nierax anUiis^ from which it would appear as if the deposits there belonged to the lower division of the sys- tem. But as these orgauic remains were f.>tind in river bouhlers iliat uuLi'lit have been transported from a distanee by the '*'.', they eannot l)e relied upon to tell a ti-ue stoiy. SAI.r SI'UINGS. The feature of luost interest in cmneetion with this belt is a number of salin.> springs that rise to the surface in different pails of it. Kven as far south as the Mennonite settlement the well water tastes so "salty," as the farmers say, that it is scarcelv tit to diink, as a rule, and in boiing an artesian well at lluscnfeld for the Canadian Pacific Railway, the farther d(»wn thev went the more brackish the water became, which shows that it is not owing, as might be suppose."?, to any alkali Infiltrations fiom the surface. But the salt bed that causes it, does uot ap|>arently e.Ktend to that district, as the wt^ll reftM-rcd to was sunk over eleven hundred feet witliout meetinof auv other sinns of the y^resence of rock .salt. The mo.st remarkable spring of this kind that I have met with is on the east half of section one, in town.shi[) fourt/cen and range ten west, near Wuodside, on the north banl-i of the White Mud river, whero brine of considerable strenoth bubbles out in such (piantity as to form a constant str-.^ani two feet wide and four inches deej>, running fi'(»n» it the year I'ound, for it never freezes u]). This spring is V(\y\ advantageously situ- ated for manufacturing pLU))oses, being close to the railway track, and surrounded by blutls of excellent timber for fuel, such as oak and elm of lar^e size. Tiien the 'Irv. absori>inijf uatui'e of the atmosphere, and the prevalence of bright sunny weather iu.^]e, are the mo^t favorable conditions for making solar sai' . which is produceil by natural evaporation in the open air. and is incomi)arablv the best for curing meat and fish. There is another laige sj)ring of somewliat weaker brine on the vest bank of the Red River, about thirtecjn ndles south of thi city, and springs of much stronger brine occui' at the north eml of Lake Manitoba, that fin'm incrustations of salt around their edg-'s and on the limbs of the adjacent trees. I boded down some of the Woodside l)riue in a tin pail on my ofiice 1 .-) — Lies stovo, and it mado a coa»Nt! pu.iLiont salt of a tairly wliite I'oloi-, without any attempt to ]>milv it Tho geolonfical character of tliut part of thf country is Ljreatly in favor of tlio oxisteniu; of a salt bed there. In Npw York State and Western Ontario tlie salifercnis roeks, as they are called, belong to tlie TTpj)er Silurian st;ries, and rest upon the Nia'^ara limestones, which we have here at Stonv Moun- tain. 'I'hen in Ontario the intercalated (iut'l))h formation, which is wantin*,' in New York Stato, ('on'>titutes the lower sulidivision of the salt group, and it crops out at Stonewall here, as I have endeavoi-ed to prove, in tho .same sti-atigra]»hi- cal )H)sition. To the northwest of Stonewall the measures are concealed for a long distance by the drift, but as we giadua'ly rise step by step in the geoloL'ical scale, in crossini,' the Ked llivei- valley trom east to west, it is not unlikely that the next or Onondaga formation, in which the salt beds and brines are found in the East, occurs theie. THE (JRETAC^EOUS BELT. The highlands of the western slope of the Red River Valley, as already mentioned, are covered to a great di^ptii by Cretaceous deposits, made u\^ of variouR shales and thick lieds of dark blue clay, which is nearly as com|tact as hard pan, but crumbles on exposure to the weather and turns to a dirty grey color. There is a wide gap, a.s you are aware, in the rock se- ries here, and this formation is relatively five epochs younger than the Devonian strata immediately below it. Modern trees, plants and flowers make their tii'st a})]X'arance in it. I found a pine (conifer) knot and other ()ieces of wood atadt^pth of 198 feet in the clav, on the Riding Mountains — but nothing else of s[)ecial interest, except a few of its conunonest fossils, such as the Tnoreramus, a fragment of a Baciilitc, and a com- |)lete specimen of ScaphiUi^ m(hglolh)t^vs, with the shell in a perfect state. NO INTRUSIVE THAPS. The sedimentary rock beds of the Re\ eru])tive rocks, and we mav therefore infer that uo volcanic outbreaks took ])laee within the valley after the Silurian age. - 16- ^'. i SlTHFACK llorLDKRS. Tlii^c arc very tew surface l»oul(ler,s lu'ic. Hut a great mauy hax'c Itten ('\|Mise(l in tho )ivrr IhmIs this season on aceouut of tlu' water lin\ liii; heeii \ini»sually low. Tlie most of tlieui are liiiiebtonc, iiml tlif fartlioi' south ".he more rounded they beeotne; for hoiilders like men. t;et their ancjles rubbed oH' b\ tra\ellinLr Mway from lu>me. I have soon it srated that the Held boulders oeeasionally ir ^t with on th(> prairie, were probnbly liftetl out of the riven* eliannels by the ice, and cani'Ml on the land iji this way; but anyone acquainted with the liabits of our rivers, nmst il!iy of boulders, however, is to be seen in Southw(i.st('Mi \laiiiti)b;i,, on tbe Lake <>f Killarney, wliieii lias a regular einbaidsiuent of granite bouhiers tlu'ee or four feet, high around two sides of it, eiose to the water's edge. 'I'hey are piled up as eveidy as if done by hajid, and constantly fol- liw all the windings of tlie sliore. So that every visitor to this beautiful spot can choos<- his own bhai'ney stone, if iuj likt's. KOSSII, FAUNA. The fossil itunains !)f tlie Red Uiv(M' V^alley are exceedingly numerous anre ]»aints loiikl l)e made from the suporticial materials as>fociat(!d with it. Pcd'oleiim. There has been a good deal of (exploring done this season for petroleum in the Riding Mountain distiict, and it was re])orted in the ) ess a few Jiionths ago that several ])ai'ties had ' struck oil" there, hut nothing mor;> has hecn heard aVmut it since then. Although the surface ijidieatioiis ate rather faint, it might he worth while t(t test tlie matte) thoroughly, as the geological conditions ai"e somewhat analo- gous to those of the petrohum ivgion on the Athahasca livei. Salt, [n the olden lime all tlu' salt used in the country was math' here, from tlie natural hrines already deserihod, hy the most ])rimitivc methods, and with the freight from Ontario at $1.12 a barrel, it ought to pay handsoujely to 'uanufactuie salt liere. That a rejjularsalt bed exists in the neiirliliorhood of Jjakc Manitoba is more than likely, but how tar from the surface can (»nly l)e ascertained V»y boring in the u^ual way. Gy/>suiu. A number of gypsinn bands c i|iiun-i('M .•an hardly i'f iiiui vviierc in the Ived Ivivei- X'alley, makes vcM-y (,'e<;', St. Boniface, Stony Mountain and many other points. Lhii.e. Three kinds of lime aie made here. The Selknk Ka.st stone yiolds a mellow ;*i-ey lime, wldch is preferred foi- common plastennj^^ and by some Kuildcrs for Iniek work, hut it air-slacks very fast, and |>articularly in hot weather. The Slon\' Nhnmtain dolr)mite [)i'oduccs a vtiry strong greyish lime, suitahle for ail ordinary pui'poses ; and the Stonewall bed makes a remarkably wjiite lime for linishing woi-k. Sand. Thin bands of water-worn sand are met with in lUrd's Hill and other gravel ridges, but the rive sand is by i'iiv the best foi- makiiiu both mortar and plastei", and a tine ln'd of it uccuj's within the city lindts, on the e.\treme end of .Vrmstrongs I'oint. There is exactiv the sann.' advantage; in u.sing sharp instead of round sand, as in using square instead of round stone in buiUline- a wall. The particles tit elo.sei to oach'othei', and tluuefore re(piire less lime, while making a stronger and better job in ((vei'v way. nONOLl'SlON. Hut 1 nuist not trespass any longer on youi' patien(3','. The facts I have endoaxored to lay befoi'(,' you, and what is known of the extensive coal fields of AIV)eita, the |>etroleum and .salt dc))osits of the AtJiabas»'a district, the gcJ.l of the North Saskat- chewan river —not to mention the Hocky Mountain region — warrant thegeneial conclusion. that,])esides the rich praiiie soil, which is so easily made subservient to tlu^ wants of man, we have in the < 'anadiau Northwest and especially in the great pala'ozoic belt that extends from the Red River valley to the Peace River country or beyond it. a vast storehouse of mineral wealth. ]»H'))ared by a. wise, beneficent C'reatoi- against tJie time when the world should have need of it. I V