iM *> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) / {/ % ^KL O A, 9 •4j #? "^^ ///// A^^ % ^.1 (./.. 1.0 I.I 11.25 If: ilM •** 140 M 1.4 III 1.6 % r CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Car dian Institute for Historical Microreproductions Institut canadien de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a dt6 possible de se procurer. Certains ddfauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la reproduction sont not6s ci-dessous. 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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour §tre reproduites en un seul cliche sont filmdes d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 % '-%• / * (From the Canadian NATi:ii.M.i.sr, April l-iT?.) NOTE ON SOME OF THE MORE RECENT CHANGES IN LEVEL OF THE COAST OF BRITISH COLUM BfA AND ADJACENT REGIONS. By GK()!!(iK M. Dawson, Assdc. K.S.M., !'.(;. S. Of the (J(;iil(if,'iMl Survey (if Caiiuilii. The eU.'vation of tl.c CascatU" or Coast llaniro of British Co- lumbia, and the parallel ranyc of Vancouver Island, must liave taken place to a trnat extent, though probably Tiot entirely, iu post cretaceous times. On the upturned and denuded edges of Cretaceous rocks, in the interior of Britisli Columbia, re.-t nearly horizontal boils, which appear to be of Miocene agv, and whieli pass upward into the great sheets of vi'Icaiiie material, with which the whole ititcrior plateau iini>t at one time have been covered. The sedimentary Miocene beds seem to have been formed in fresls-water lakes, produced perhaps by iiite'.ruption of the drainage oy mountain elevation, whieli there is evidence to show, may have continued to some small extent even in post- miocene times. The country cannot have ln'cn so h>w at thi^ period as to a'Vinit the sea to the interior jdateau, but appears to have been depressed to a small extent, as marine tertiary beds, probably of this age. are found along the coast above the present sea-line. No Pliocet.e deposits have yet been recognised, and it was probably during this period, with the land standing at leust !)()() feet higher than at present, that the deep river vixlleys or canons now forming the remarkable system of fjords by wiiich the coast is dissected, were cut out. These fjords are very gene- rally in their sheltered upper reaches over lUO fathoms in depth, often over 150 tathoms, and probably in many cases over 200; though in most of tlieni the actual depth has only been ascer- tained in a few places. When they open on the broader water- ways, where the strong tidis of the Pacific coast run with greater power, they are tound to be silted up, and blocked witlibars and banks ; the water being generally shoalcst where the water stretches are most extensive. This is especially noticeable on the west coast of ''^ancouver Island. The ice wliich can be shown to have filled these fjords during the glacial period, must have deepened them and altered their forms to some extent, but probably in a degree quite incousiderable wheii compared with their pre-glacial excavation. During the glacial perind tin; country was submorj:od, but into tlic lii tory oi" this tpcicli, iuul evidence of the very great extent of this subiiierL'eiiee, I do not propose here to enter. In my Krport on the Geology and Kesources of tlie 49th Parallel, I h;ivo given tlie grounds whicli ie;id me to believe in a submergence .'it this tiuie of at leiist 1.40(1 i'e< t, on the eiistern slopes ol' the Rocky .^lountains. in the central portion.s of British Columbia, i ee-beariiig water must have stood at a level of 5,270 I'eet. 1 do not wish to insist tli;it thi.s must necessarily have been the sea, though that ap])ears best to aceouut for the facts. •Mr. George (Jibbs st ites,"-i= that the pas.sagcs and inlets of Puget Soind, in the north'Tu part of Washington Territory, are (ixeavatod in many places in drift deposits, which appear not only to I'orm thi'ir present banks, but to underlii' their beds, ll'tliis be correct, there is lure jtri'lty giunl eviilcnee of a post-glacial olcvation of tlie land to a height somewhat greater than the pre- pent ; for the lotii:- river-likf ink ts. icfcrred to. bear all the appear- and' of having' been fornud bv rivi'r erosion and afterwards tilled V.nd widened only by the i.ction of th(! sra and tidal currents. No elevation or depression ol' the coast of tlie southern part of Vancouver Island is known to have iikcn place very recently, but the .ispeet of the shore is tliat of one uradually subsiding, anlu;d and ulaciated rock surfaces, wave by wave. The rocks about high water nearly all preserve very perfectly their glacial markings, which lower down are not so distinct ; but in many places even where they receive the full i'orcc of the sea at every tide, they are much better preserved than would be tbe case if they had been for an indeiinite number of years exposed to its action. Id shallow bays, where tbe sloping pebbly bcacb is bordered land- • Am. .Journ. Qeog. Soc. 1874, p. 308. 3 ward by a low perpendicular bank of tho clays, I hiive seen tho water during tho hiiih tides ol" winter actually above tho stony beach, and bcatinu airalrist the clay, with which it was rendered turbid for some di.-tancc I'roni llu' shore. In certain localities the old Indian shell heaps or kitchcn-niiddens, which are abun- dant on this coast, ar(^ exposed in section by the sea In similar low banks, and tlie lower layirs of solve ol' these hav(i been, observed to be nearly a toot, in some places, below the hiirh tid(! mark ; showiiiii T think tliat subsidence to a small extent has taken jdace since they were formed. Tlie Indians would scarcely choose for canipiiiu' a place liable to overflow, and if the siielLs were nu^rely thrown there, tln-y would have been scattered from time to tinie by the hitih tides, and would not, have accumula- ted in heaps six to ciuth.t feet tliick and very wide. The land was probably at a sonu^what lowtr level, when lir.st inhabited by the Indians, for tlie upper layers of the jiale clayey drill above referred to, merue in some jilaces quite irradualiy into a darker coloured and more earthy material, from six inches to two feet in thickiKss, which I'ornis the soil of the cultivable tracts. This Ibllows the slope of the surface and was probably depositcil by tiie letreatinu' w;iters, wIh'm for a time eacii level was an oozy sea iiiaru'in, li ■ that found at the heads df some of the present ?hellere(l bays, in proces- of traiisitio.i to land, and includiiiLr in its mass much deeoinjio-ed vei:(table matter. In the very lowest layers of tiiis darker material, I have noticed in one or two places, at hei'zhts of live to ten feet above the present beach line, burnt stones like those used by the Indians in cookinu", and otiier signs of their presence. There is no evidence to show that any movement greater in anionnt than a lew feet, lias taken place for a long time. Tho growth of very large trees near tlu' present high water mark in the sheltered inlets, would seem to negative any great elevation. It would also seem probable that the movement of depression indicated in the extracts froni Vancouver and Cooper, may have taken place rapidly, perhaps in connection with some of tha small earthquake shocks by which tiiis coast is visited from time to time. At the heads of all the inlets or fjords of the coast, u stretch of low, flat, and often marshy ground, shoaling very gra- dually seaward, and then iu quarter or half a mile beyond the shore plunging steeply down into deep water, surrounds tlie mouths of the entering rivers. The position of these flats with re» tlu> .^ca level is very much tvliat wc iiiij^^ht oxpect from 1h(3 actidu of tlic! rivers atnl tides still in proifrcss, though iu some places tlioy are ]irobably a little hitrlier than the present circum- stanci's will (!\pl.iiii. Had tlie coast permanently chan lii;j,li-wutor lovcl, <;roves of this and utiit r spocios still flourishiiii;' down to tlio vory vd'^v of inundation. But a ;i;iiidual slow sinking of tho land (which seems in places to hi' still jn-ogrossinj^, and is p((r- hu]8 caused by the undermining:; of ijuicksands) lias caused the overflow of the tides, and tlius killed the forests, nl which the only remains now left are these cedars. This wood is perfectly sound, and sd well seasoned its to bo the very bi'>t of its kind. Continued and carefid examination of such tn^-s may aiford important informatimi as to the chani;es of levid in these shores. That the.se have bi-en numiMniis and <:;reat is further shown by alternating beds of marine sluills, and of lo^s and stumps, often in their natural positinii, which form ilie clifts above the b.iy to the heiiiht of liOO feet. But while tlies- riiinains show that the chani^v's look place in the latest [leriod.s of thi; Miofcne tertiary epo(^ii (?) there is no cvideiiee in the gii:Mntic forests still livinu; on tiiese elilfs, that any siuhhn ov vinhuil change lias occurred since they l)e;^an to ■j.yow — a p 'riixl eslim able ratlier by tliousauds than by hundreds of years." Tlie testimony of a small chaiii;c toward dt;pression within tho last ninety or one liundred years apjtears concnrrent. T!ie various Indian tribes of the co.ast and interior, like all peoples, have their stories, more or less unreal and ^rotesfpn', of deluires, or the deluti'e. The Okanaujans, for instance, who inha- bit the southern pirt ol" the interior, in aim;;- r.imblinir story relatim:; their first arrival in the country whieh they now iuha. bit. are said to state^^ that, "alter puldlitin day and ni<;ht for many suns, thi;y came to certain isl.aiuls, whence steering throutrh them, they c ime at last to whore the niainl ind was, however nineh smaller than in these days huriiiij gron-i, mucli sincf.^' That they had been made I'lmiliar by tradition or experience with chani;e of the sea level is app.arent from the statement of Mi. Gibbs,"t that on occasion of a slight eartluiuake shock, the Indians of Whidbey Island, in the Strait of (jeoruia. in reply to an enquiry if they knew what it was. said that the '' earth was rising." The most remarkable Indian tradition, however, quite equal in its way ajid in the circumstantiality of its details, to the • Bancroft, Native Races of the Paeitie States, Vol. III., p. 154. t Loe. cif. p. 3,^9. ChaMcan at count of the Ji;luj;(> lately uiicartlied, lias been found by Mr. J. G. Sw.m .inioiiu' tlu' M.ikali Ttidiaiis of Cape Flattery, thf soutlicrn point, iit the entrance t(» Juan de Fuca's Strait. This, thou'^h no umed their accustomed level, a portion oi" the tribe lound th('iuselves bevond Nootki. when- their dcs- cendants tiow reside, and are known by the same name as the Makahs in Classet iCape Fl.attery) or K\venaitebe(!hat. Many canoes came down in the trees and were destroyed, and numerous lives were Inst. The water was four days re^aininJJJ its accustomed level." The same story is preserved by the Kwil- leyutcs. who say tliat part of their tribe Hoated to tiie reuioa near Port Towns(;nd, where their descendants are known as the Chemakuni TiMiians. 'IMie latter aLiain claim to have ori^inally Hprunu' from the Kwilleyutes. .Mr Swan adds: — " There is no doubt in my mind of the truth of this tradition. The Wiiach prairie shows eonclusivcdy that the wat(;rs of the P;ici(ic once flowed through it ; and on cutting through the turf at any place between Neeali Hay and Wiiach, tue whole substratum is proved to be pure beach sand. Tn some places the turf is not over a foot thick ; at others the alluvial deposit is two or three leet." Leaving, however, the realms of tradition, the conclusions provisionally arrived at, as to the former levels of the coast, may thus be summed up, — • Indians of Cape Flattery, 18G9, p. 57. Midcevc FerioJ. — Imiucdiatel)- succeeding considorablo raoun. tain upheaval, !:nd closed by basalt flows of the interior. Coast at least durinj; part oi '"^« period somewhat lower than "at prc- ae^it. Pliovenc Pcriud. — Land elevated at least abf)ut 1)00 feet above the present sea line for part or tlio whole ol' this period. Ghtc'uil Period. — At one or more epochs durioi^ this period land much depressed ; at one time probably over 5,000 feet. The country considerably below the present level when the glacier of the Strait of Georgia finally retreated from the south- eastern part of Vancouver Island. Pi>st (Ihtcldl (ind J/o^Zr/Vi.— Keelevation to height probably 200 or ;>00 feet greater th:in at present, followed by d'^pression to near the present level, with [)robably many changes of small amount, and perhaps one or more rather import;int movemeut.s as indicated by the Iiidii.n stories. Lastly, somewhat rapid depre.-^sion of perhaps ten or fifteen feet during the latter part of last century, a movement which may still be slov/ly going on. Subsequent examination of this part of the Pacific coast may enable us to add many details to this ncc(.'8sarily somewhat im- p?rfect scheme.