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Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, seion le ces: ie symbols —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". l\/lBps, plates, charts, etc., mey be filmed et different reduction retios. Those too lerge to be entirely included in one exposure ore filmed beginning in the upper left hend corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diegrems illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent fttre fiimte A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque la document est trop grend pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est film6 A psrtir de I'angle supArieur geuche, de geuche d droite, et de heut en bee, en prenent le nombre d'imeges nAcessaire. Les diegrammes suivants illustrent le mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ■J i ^i^ ip^ A*::?^.^ ^ — ^^^.1^ *hi »*^ ^W [Reprinted from the Canapiav Recobd op Scikncb, Aj ril, 1889.] Gypsum Deposits in Northern Manitoba. By J. B. Tyrrkll, B. A., F. G. S., of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada. On the Little Saskatchewan River, which carries the ovei'flow of Lako Manitoba into the western side of Lake Winnipeg, there is a comparatively small shallow lake which has been known since the time of the early voyageurs as Lake St. Martin. It lies in latitude, 51° 30', longitude, J)8° 40', has an area of 115 square miles, a greatest depth of about fifteen feet, and an approximate elevation above the sea of 790 feet. I » I ••• r » a 1 > » » • « 9 ■■ • > > 4 9 > ? fH ■> T 354 Canadian Record of Science. X Lying to the north-west of this lake, there is an area of level or very gentl} sloping country, which is now covered by extensive natural meadows, separated by groves of poplar and birch, as well as occasional ibrestsof sprnco and taraarac. This country is as yot in its native beauty, being entirely untouched, either by the woodman's axe or the plough of the" farmer; but Iho time cannot be far distant when a thriving agricultural popu'-^^ion will occupy the dis- trict, reaping from the fertile soil bountiful and continuous harvests. In the early part of the past summer, the writer made a short journey on foot into this country, from the shore of the lake, in order to determine the question of the existence or non-existence of beds of gypsum in the vicinity. Starting from the north-west corner of the Indian Eeserve at present held by the Saskatchewan Band of Saulteaux Indians, we travelled in a general north-westerly direction for five miles, till we reached a rounded gi-avel ridge, ''ising from fifteen to twenty feet above the general level of the country to the north-west of it, and along the foot of which, on the alluvial plain, are scattered numbers of rounded, weather-worn, gneissoid erratics. This ridge represents a beach of the extended Lake Winnipeg, called by Mr. Warren Upham Lake Agassiz, when it covered the whole of this area, and when the surrounding fertile alluvial deposits were being laid down near its gradually receding shore. The height of this ridge, as shown by aneroids read simultaneously on it and on the lake, is about 840 feet, being fifty feet above Lake St. Martin, and thirty feet above Lake Manitoba. Its chief interest, however, did not centre in the fact that it had once represented a lake-shore line, for these shore-lines are very commonly to be met with in all this apparently level Manitoba plain, but that in little holes and caves in it were to be seen small exposures of soft, compact, snow-white gypsum. Following the ridge, still in a north-westerly direction, for a mile, the surface becomes veiy rugged and irregular, being broken by deep pits with steeply sloping sides. In *.•«••». • •••♦•. I • t • • • • • • • • » • ^ • • • * • • •«• •••• • • • • • • Gypsum Deposits in Northern Manitoba. 355 this rough cou.itry, gypsum may be seen in numerous out- crops, being usually soft and crumbling from the effect of weuthering, but in Home cases it is still quite hard. The height of the tops of the knolls in this hilly area is about thirty-five foot above the eastern level plain, or sixty feet above Lake St. Martin. The breadth of the hilly country was not determined, but an Indian who accompanied us stated that it extended in a south-westerly direction, as far as u certain point on our journey of that day, which was about a mile and a half tlistant from where we were then standing, beyond which the level country began again. In a north-westerly direction the ridge was followed for two miles further, to a rather conspicuous hill a short dis- tance north of the Ninth Base Line jn section 2, township 3i{, range 9, west of the Principal Meridian. In this dis- tance it appeared to be broken through by considerable gaps in several places, but where it was well marked, it irjvai'iably showed the irregular surface so characteristic of country underlain by gypsum deposits. In many places, small caves would extend in from the bottoms or sides of the pits, some of which held beautifully clear, cold water, a luxury of which we were able to appreciate the value, after tramping for the greater ]jart of a sweltering July day through meadows, forests and swamps, where the mosqui- toes and black flies did not attempt to tieat us any the more tenderly because we were stiangers. This country is a famous winter hunting-ground for the Indians, for in the autumn the bears retiio to these caves, as being comfortable quarters in which to pass the time until the following spring.and many of them are killed every year. Around the mouths of several of the caves could be seen marks of the axe, where the hunter had been obliged to widen the entrances to the cave to be able to get into it to secure his prey. The thickness of the exposures of gypsum in these holes and caves was nowhere very great, ranging as a I'ule from th)ee feet to six feet six inches, but in none of them was the total thickness of the deposit seen. The hill at the furthest point to which the ridge was fol- V. T 356 Canadian Record of Science. i lowed, rises as aTounded knob, twenty feet above itn <^enoral level. This hill, like the othern, appears to be compoHed of gypsum, as on its sides are holes extending down twenty feet below its top in which beds of •^j'^psiim ai-e well exposed. In the north-west corner of township 32, range 8, west of the Principal Meridian, is a rounded hill rising thirty-five feet above the])lain, its greatest length being about 600 feet, and its greatest breadth 150 feet. Its surface is overgrown with small canoe-birch Two holes, each about eight feet deep, have been dug by prospectors in this hill. One at the top shows, below a foot of decomposed material, seven I'eet of hard, compact, white anhydrite or "bull plaster," exhibit- ing a more or less nodular structure, and breaking on the surface into small irregular fragments. Very little bedding can be detected in the mass. The other hole is in the side of the hill fifteen feet lower down, and shows on top two and a half feet of white clay, consisting of decompotsed anhydrite, below which is five and a half feet of white nodular anhydrite similar to that in the other hole. This gives a thickness, almost certainly, of twenty-two feet of this rock, and it is not improbable that the hill is composed e? '"ely of it. .gain. Just north of the Ninth Base Line, and two miles east of the township cornei", between ranges 8 aiul 1), is a poplar-covered hill or ridge, thirty feet high. In various places on this hill are exposures ol snow-white gypsum, similar to what has been desciibed above, showing in some cases a thickness of ten feet in (»ne section. The most of it is massive or crypto-crystalline, and lies in regular beds which dip slightly towards the west. Some of the l>eds or layers, however, consist of beautifully crystalline, clear, colourless selenite, which is easily broken out in lamellar masses of considerable size. This is the mineral which in the west, has been so often mistaken for mica. The above is a brief statement of the known extent of the deposits of gypsum in this 'district, but it is highly probable that further investigation will prove them to extend over a much larger area. The Indians of the T Gf/pmm Deposits in Northern Manitoba. 357 Suslcatchowan Band, who livo on the woHteiii shore of Lake St. Martin, informed me that Himilar rock was to be found in several phices fui-ther noi-th, and they have named a hike on a trihiitary of Wai'path Hivoi-, which flows into Lake Winnipeg noi'th of the mouth of the Little Saskatche- wan, Ka-ka wusk Sa-ka-higan (translated in English as Mica Lake) from the alleged presence of selenite in its vicinity. Towards the south-west, at a distance of ninety miles in a strai/^ht line, in the bore that was sunk on the bank of Vertnilion Kiver by the Manitoba Oil Company, a bed of gypsum tiftt'cn feet in thickness was struck botweon 550 and 5(i5 feet, at appro.xirnately tli^ same geological horizon as that of the gypsum beds abovt described. Gypsum deposits are theri'fure in all probability very widely dis- tributed throughout Noithein Manitoba. As fiar as examined they preserve a pretty constant cbarjictor. Where they immediately underlie the suitiaco the counti-y is very rough and hilly, and tlie pi-evailing poplai' of the region is mixed with birch, or the spruce of the adjoiriiiig low-lying land is re|>laced by Baidvsian pine. The gypsum itself is genei-aily very pure, of a dead white Colour, and usually stratitied in rather thin beds, which are either hoi'izontal or dipping at a low angle. Among the massive beds, however, ai-e many others, composed of crystals oi- crystal-masses, in which the crystals usually stand transverse to the plains of bedding. Some plates could doubtless be obtained from the crystal-masses Hufliciently clear for optical purposes. No anhydrite was seen mixed with the gy|)sum, but one of the hills, as above slated, appeared to be compose:! entirely of it. It is much harder and toughei- than the gypsum or hydrated sul|)hate of lime, is considerably heavier, has a roughly nodular, rather than a distinctly stratitied structure, and is of a decidedly bluish tint. Of the exact geological age of the deposit it is difficult to speak as yet with certainty, as the strata have not been continuously tiaced into any others, and no beds im- mmmm mm 358 Canadian Record of Science. mediately under or overlying them have been seen. There is little doubt, however, that they occupy either the Hummit of the Silurian or the base of the Devonian limeHtones. All the evidence that wo have on the point has not as yet been perfectly elaborated, but it consists in the general horizon- talityof the beds wherever seen throughout the whole area, and in the existence of limestones holding tbssils on Lake Manitoba, twelve miles lo docompositicm, sul])hate of limo or jjjypsum, and carboinato or possibly sulphate of iron. In tho Cretacooiis shales of tho Duck and Riding Mountains and of tho Plains further west, this process is clearly soon to have gone on. Iron pyrites is constantly present, and tho shells of Inocerami, Ammonites, Baculites, itc, furnish an abundant supply of carhmate of limo. This shalo is ihoiofore often tilled with minuto, or sometimes even larije crystals of gypsum, and side by side with them are masses of ironstone or im])ure carb(mate of iron, which, aftei- being formed in the above-described way, has collected in rounded oi- lenticular nodules about a shell, fragment of a ciayfish, or other nucleus. In tho case ot the Paleozoic limestones, however, no tiace is found of tho carbonate or other salt of iron which would have resulted from tho double decomposi- tion, and if it was ever formed in the rock, it has t'nce been dissolved away by water percolating through the strata. The gy|»sum may, however, have been formed in a different way. The whole of this country has undoubtedly Butferod vojy considerable erosion since Cretaceous times, the shales and marls of the Duck and Riding Mountains having almost certainly extended much further east than Lake St. Martin. Many of the spi'ings that now flow from these shales are strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, which might readily be oxidized into sulphuric acid. This acid acting slowly on tho beds of limestone would alter them into sulphate of lime without disturbing tho stratification at all. Of the uses of gypsum it is unnecessary to speak. In the Western Slates, where the air is dry and atmospheric erosion is very small, it is used as a building stone, being very ea«ily worked, and sufficiently durable and strong for residences and all ordinary buildings. By roasting, its watei" of crystallization is driven ofi' and 8fiO Canadian Rerord of Snmce. it In lodiuod (o (he fine powder ((urimonly known us I'luster of Paris. Hy ^liiidinf^ the < riido ujypsum jih it ntini'M from the <|iiui'ries between ordinary hiirr-Hioiu'H, land- plaster iw obtained, a sul»Htaneo of whiidi it is diflicnlt to ovor-ostiniato the value in a eountiy whose resoureeH are almost entirely ai^iicultural. The noil <»f Manitoba and the Norlh-VVoHt TerritorieH is very fertile now, but a time will come when bavinij raised crop after crop it will need replenishin