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li.l}. J7, laTl.j "liKNCIIKS" OF BRITISH COLUMDL\. 
 
 Ill > 
 
 companion of Lovtl ]MiUon in Lis journey across Kortli America, luicl l;iiully 
 luulertakeu to read the present paper, or rather extracts iVoiu it, accompanied 
 w itli some ol)servations of Ids own, wliicli appeared necessary in order to render 
 the subject more intelligilule to tlic meeting. 
 
 The following paper was then read by Dr. CheiiJle : — _, 
 
 (Hi JTefr. 17' f^7 ' 
 
 1. -0)1 the ^^ Benches " or Valley Terraces, of British Colmmla. V>y 
 Matt. B. Begbik, Chief Ju.stiec of British Cohimhia. 
 
 Tin; paper was described by Dr. CUieadle as being a report compiled 
 by Mr. Chief Justice Begbie, at the request of the Governor of 
 British Columbia, in answer to questions put by the Eca'. W, Eobin- 
 son, of Cambridge, and transmitted through the Colonial Minister. 
 The extracts from clio report read by Dr. Cheadle were as 
 follow : — 
 
 I have received and perused the despatch from the Secretary of 
 State to yourself, dated the 21st June, ult., enclosing a letter from 
 the Eeverend William llobinson, dated 13th Juno, 1870, to which 
 you wish mo to reply. 
 
 ^ regret very much that I am ignorant of all save the first 
 principles of geology, in fact of all except some quasi-technical 
 expressions which everybody knows by rote, and which probably 
 every unscientific person must use inaccurately. But at your 
 request I will state as well as I can what I have seen. 
 
 The benches in question are so curious that they must immediately 
 attract the attention of the most unobservant. Accordingly I took 
 occasion to remark upon them in a report of my first circuit in 
 British Columbia (in March and April, 1859), addressed to Governor 
 Douglas. It will be seen there that I attributed the " benches " to 
 the ^ame origin as the " mountain roads " of Glen Boy, to which 
 Mr. Eobinson refers. But the plateaux on Fraser River being often 
 much interrupted, they in many places far more nearly resemble 
 in appearance the plateaux which were the scene of the battle of 
 Itivoli, mountains, river, and all; the Eraser Eiver is, however, a 
 much stronger river than the Adige. 
 
 In 1859 I had only seen the " benches" on Fraser Hiver or its 
 immediate vicinity up to a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles 
 above Lilloett. Subsequent observations, and, a further acquaint- 
 ance with the country, do not induce me to change the opinions 
 expressed in the above mentioned report, though some of the 
 details are very inaccurate. 
 
 It was perhaps scarcely possible for any person who has never 
 seen Fraser River, or obtained an accurate description of it, if any 
 verbal description can be accurate, to foim an idea of its banks. 
 
 voi,. \V. I' 
 
]34 
 
 "BENClIi:S" OF BIUTISH COLUMBIA. [I'l;!!. '11, 1871. 
 
 Doing' informed that this bench formation uniformly, ie. everywhere, 
 extended from a point below Lytton to some point above Lilloett, 
 Mr. Kobinson might naturally conceive that the formation extended 
 uniformly, that is, regularly, and so might ask his third question, 
 viz. whether the bench at Lytton rises or falls as you travel up the 
 stream, and whether it finally dies out at Lilloett. 
 
 The distance from Lytton to Lilloett is 43 to 45 miles, and this 
 may seem a considerable extent of bench formation when compared 
 with Glen Eoy, which extends but 20 miles. But the bench forma- 
 tion in British Columbia extends the whole distance of Fraser 
 liiA'er ISO soon as the delta is left, as far as I have travelled up it, i.e. 
 full 400 miles, and then the benches are seen running on, miles 
 ahead. W herovcr the formatifm has a chance of showing itself from 
 'Ilupe upwards, i.e. wherever it is not interrupted by precipices, or 
 chasms, or denudations, there are benches more or less clear and 
 regular. Up the Quesnelle Eiver, and on Cottonwood, an affluent of 
 Fraser Eiver next above Quesnelle, and Tjightning, affluent of Cotton- 
 wood, up to within 25 miles of the Bald Mountain, the backbone of 
 the Cariboo range, I still found exactly similar benches. The for- 
 mation extends all up Thomson I'iver, far above Kamloops, along 
 both forks, as far as I could see. There are several well defined 
 teriaecs on the Okanagan ; in particular on the "Riviere du Sable," 
 halfwa}' down the lake, mounds like truncated pyramids, or rather 
 a pile of four or five truncated sections of pyramids. On the only 
 portion of the. Columbia liiver which I have travelled, viz. Fort 
 Shepherd to Fort Colville, the formation is just as distinct and 
 striking as on Fraser Kiver, and I am informed and fully believe 
 that it is quite uninterrupted down to Snake Iiiver, in lat. 46°. The 
 largest benches, both in length and breadth, that I have seen are in 
 the valley of the Upper Kootenay River, about long. 115° 30' w. 
 (Lilloett being 122° w.). At Rock Creek, and all along Kettle 
 River, the tiails run for miles and miles along just such benches, 
 and so too all along the Similkamecn River and the Nicola River, 
 not only at its influx into the Thomson, where there are six or 
 eight heaped one upon top of another, but all along its course 
 to the Nicola Lake. In fact, it may be said that everywhere 
 in the Colony on the east side of Fraser River, wherever there 
 is a river of any size, and the hills or mountains are near, but 
 not too near, you find yourself on one of these benches, more or 
 less regularly formed, but even when externally irregular, bearing 
 traces of original regularity. 
 
 Just the same appearances are presented on the only parts west of 
 Fra&er River over which I have travelled, viz., along what was 
 
n. 27, 1871. 
 
 ii'VAvhcre, 
 Lilloett, 
 extended 
 question, 
 el np the 
 
 and this 
 compared 
 cli forma- 
 f Fraser 
 up it, i.e. 
 on, miles 
 self from 
 ipices, or 
 ;lear and 
 ffluent of 
 f Cotton- 
 ikbone of 
 The fur- 
 ps, along 
 1 defined 
 u Sable," 
 or rather 
 the only 
 .'iz. Fort 
 inct and 
 ' believe 
 16°. The 
 en are in 
 5° 30' w. 
 g Kettle 
 benches, 
 la Elver, 
 re six or 
 ts course 
 srywhere 
 er there 
 tear, but 
 more or 
 , bearing 
 
 i west of 
 'hat was 
 
 rr.i]. ?:/, 1871.] " BENCHES" OF BIUTISH COLUMBIA 
 
 135 
 
 called the Douglas road, now abandoned, starting from the head of 
 Harrison Lake along the Lilloett H'ver, and reaching Lilloett Flat 
 (town site) on Fraser by a beautif il pass up\vards of 100 miles in 
 length, se^iarated from Fraser by peaked mountains of' considerable 
 height, 4000 to 7000 or 8000 feet. But it is reported to me that 
 similar level benches compared to those at Lilloett exist on the 
 upper waters of the Skeena and other rivers at the northern 
 extremity of the colony. 
 
 In Yancouver Island, the only instance of bench formation, of 
 which I am aware is at the gold-diggings, near Sooke, about 
 20 miles from Victoria, where there are a few miles oi benches, in, 
 1 think, two or three terraces. So far arf I know, these are, how- 
 ever, quite isolated. The bed-rock in this part of Vancouver 
 Island is generally trappeous, often granite, generally full of quartz 
 veins, slightly auriferous, much rounded, and in many places, where 
 exposed, smoothed and grooved in the manner which, I believe, 
 is usually attributed to the action of heavy ice, or glaciers. There 
 , is, so far as I can see, very little or no difference in the materials 
 or derivation in any of these benches, scattered as they are over 
 this enormous territory, and at all sorts of heights above the sea- 
 level up to 2500 or 3000 feet, which must bo the least height of the 
 benches on Lightning Creek. 
 
 But though the whole extent of the formation be vastly greater 
 than at Glen Eoy, the Scotch parallel terraces are far longer than 
 any pair of corresponding ber dies which I recollect here. Until 
 the tamer part of the river is reached, near Alexandria, it is rare to 
 meet with a bench on Fraser Eiver which extends a mile along the 
 stream ; while the intricacy of their outline is such that it is very 
 difficult, without actual inspection, or a A'ery good model, which 
 would bo both difficult and expensive, to form anything like a 
 correct idea of the formation. A good photograph would be useful, 
 but I cannot find one that has been taken with the slightest 
 reference to these benches, so as to show their number, height, and 
 correspondence on opposite sides of the valley. The formation of 
 all these benches, and the materials of which they are composed 
 are, as above stated, nearly everywhere very similar. It is like what 
 I understand by the term " northern drift ; " fine loam at the to]-», 
 sometimes with an undue proportion of sand, coarser gravel beneath, 
 mixed with water-worn pebbles, some of which (on Fraser and 
 Thomson chiefly) attain almost to the dignity of boulders. Stones 
 from 100 lbs. to 1 ton weight I should say arc not uncommon on 
 these two rivers. These are generally of granite, or of a meta- 
 morphic slate, sometimes volcanic, a few quartz ; all very much 
 
 L 2 
 
130 
 
 "liKNCIlKS" 01'" I'.lilTISIl ('(JI.I .MHI.\. 
 
 [i-i.!;. ■-■;. 1^- 
 
 "Nvutcrwoi'ii. The benclios prcsoiit every variety of elevation, one 
 ahovo another, from 3 feet to ."tOO feet. Ample, and too painfnl, 
 opportunity is allbrded tho traveller for exaniininj:; their materials, 
 stratitication, and thiekness in sections of these henelies, as the trail 
 continually ascends and descends tho to(» frequent oullics and 
 chasms, formed some by the rush of the molted snows in early 
 summer; scooped out, however, proiiahly in many cases l»y much 
 more abnormal and potent cataclysms, tho bursting of some lake in 
 recent times. The stratification appears to have been in some 
 cases horizontal, in others in great Avhirls, always as if taking place 
 in water, at rest or in motion. 
 
 On the other hand, if at Glen l^oy there are but two or three 
 benches 20 miles long — and tho benches hei'e arc but a mile or two 
 in length in general — there are in British ("olumbia not two or 
 three, but an infinite multitude of such benches scattered over 
 a tract certainly more than 100,000 scpiarc miles in extent. Almost 
 in every case Avhei'e benches occur, there ai'C one or more — occa- 
 sionally ten or a dozen — between the rivers and the base of the 
 nearest hill ; and similar benches, similarly irregular in number, on 
 the opposite side of the river, one, or more, of which is almost 
 certain to correspond in level with one, or more, on the spectator'.-; 
 side. But the changes on the river-banks are so frequent fronv 
 the violence, and often the very sudden changes of violence, of the 
 stre-^ms, from the frequent land-slips, and, in my opinion, fiom 
 the gentle but continued upheaval or depression of the suifac(\ 
 that the corresponding bench on the opposite side of the liver is 
 often found to be wanting : sometimes many benches seem to have 
 been swept away at once. 
 
 I have everywhere noticed that tho highest benches are near tlu^ 
 highest mountains and the most violent streams, in positions when; 
 the eftect of some subsequent flood Avould be most likely to 
 obliterate all traces of its predecessor, or else where volcanir 
 agency is not disguised. But, generally speaking, on the Upper 
 Fraser, where the stream runs less violently, and where there aie 
 only hills, no mountains — and those generally at some little 
 distance from the river — the benches are more reguhir, and vary 
 only by a few feet in level. 
 
 AVherever two benches meet, with rare exceptions, they aie 
 sharply defined by a bank or cliff at an angle of 45^, exactly similar 
 to that by which the lowest bench falls on the river or lake which 
 bounds it, and apparently formed in the same way, i.e. by the 
 action of water alongside. 
 
 The benches are to all appearance in their normal state, level iti 
 
■pc 
 
 .:;. •::. 1.-7!. 
 
 alion, one 
 
 »o painful, 
 
 matorials, 
 
 s the trail 
 
 ullios aiul 
 
 in early 
 
 l»y mneh 
 
 10 lake ill 
 
 I ill .some 
 ciiig i)lace 
 
 ) or three 
 lilo or two 
 ot two or 
 ored ovei' 
 Almost 
 )re — occa- 
 iso of tlu- 
 limber, on 
 is almowt 
 poctatt)iV; 
 lent froni' 
 ice, of tlio 
 lion, from 
 D s>urfac(-'. 
 river is 
 
 II to have 
 
 near tlu^ 
 ms when.' 
 likely to 
 
 volcani(^ 
 le Upper 
 there are 
 me little 
 and var\- 
 
 » 
 
 they are 
 y similar 
 le which 
 . by the 
 
 level in 
 
 ::, i^Ti.j 
 
 bi:nciii:s" of uurrisii Columbia. 
 
 137 
 
 the direction of the lu-ighbouring stream, liut I suspect that they 
 follow its gcnei'al inclination — it might bo said, incline "con- 
 formably " with the stream, as a general rule. For instance, it is 
 Acry common for ditches — which, of course, always have some fall, 
 though their fall varies extremely from an inch in a mile to an 
 inch or more in a yard —to be carried along a bench in the direc- 
 tion of the principal stream, vevy rarely against that direction, and 
 only when the sup[)ly is taken from a side creek, when, of course, 
 the ditch may be taken in any direction. This question could not 
 be determined ■without levelling a good many benches carefully. 
 I should not be disposed to place much reliance on a barometer for 
 such minute differences of level, and any hypsometer I have seen 
 would be useless. But as to the transverse inclination (i.e. in the 
 <lirection at right angles to that inquired of by Mr. Kobinson), 
 a great many benches, especially as they recede from the river, 
 have a very decided inclination, i.e. they slope from the mountain 
 towards the stream, and sometimes very rapidly, as if an upheaving 
 force had burst through a sliu'htlv flexible stratum of drift, and 
 raised it to the highest point just before it finally emerged. Never- 
 theless, the benches sometimes slope the reverse way; so that 
 1 know two or three instances of benches where lakes are formed 
 next to the mountain base, the bench presenting an appearance 
 similar to the " lip " on rivers running through alluvial flats, but 
 which appearance is, I think, due to quite a different cause from 
 the " lip," viz., to a local depression having taken place after the 
 Ibrmation of the bench. 
 
 Having made these very imperfect preliminary remarks, I shall 
 now consider the questions put by Mr. Eobinson. I fear I cannot 
 give a categorical answer to them, chiefly owing to my own 
 ignorance, from not having paid sufficient attention to the points 
 inquired into ; but partly, perhaps, because Mr. Eobinson appears 
 not to have conceived these benches as they really are. 
 
 Taking, then, the first and third questions, in connection with 
 each other, viz. — First, *' How many terraces or benches are there 
 at Lytton ? On which of them does Lytton stand, and what are 
 their heights above each other?" Third, "Does the terrace on 
 which Lytton stands come nearer the river as you ascend the river, 
 and so die out about Lilloett?" 
 
 These questions seem to indicate the i<lea of one continuous 
 terrace, if not several, running all the way from Lytton to Lilloett, 
 about 4o miles. But there is one large river — the Thomson — imme- 
 diately above Lytton; so that the flat is perhaps not more than 
 half a mile long. There are many creeks and points of bed-rock, 
 
3= 
 
 •J? .. . 
 
 i;j8 
 
 bi:nciii:s" of r.iimsii Columbia. [Fku. 27, i87U 
 
 and iuniiiucrablo gnllios, Loforc you reach Lilloctt; audit would 
 appf«"r to the traveller almost as if every river, creek, and point of 
 ivock and gully completely changed the system of benolies. For 
 40 milew above Lytton the terraces are, at least on the east bunk, 
 more broken up and disorderly than in any part of the course of 
 the river. 
 
 My impression is that all these three flats slojie, but very slightly, 
 in the general direction of the Thomson and Fraser. I am 
 sure that the upper plateau does. The slope is considerable enough 
 to be noticed in riding to or from the town. Within a quarter of 
 a mile to the south of the town a deep and steep gully occurs ; and 
 there is no flat apparently corresponding to the three thus isolated, 
 either on the south of the gully, or on the west bank of the Fraser, 
 or north bank of the Thomson liiver. The Lytton group, like fifty 
 other groujis within 50 miles, seems to stand alone. 
 
 Just before reaching Lilloctt, however, the benches become 
 exceedingly striking. Speaking from memory, I should say there 
 were at least five or six different benches, apparently as level, 
 green, and well defined as billiard tables, on the cast bank, and 
 a still greater number on the west bank, or Lilloctt side, where 
 they are intersected in a most picturesque way by the brilliant 
 X'Koomptch, running through the magnificent gorge leading from 
 iSeton Lake, about 3 miles fiom the Fraser, the northern extremity 
 .'L the Douglas trail already referred to. 
 
 Here I may as well state and answer Mr. Robinson's second 
 question : " How many terraces are there at Lilloett ? On which of 
 them does Lilloett stand? and what are their heights above one 
 another?" 
 
 There are, I should say, speaking from memory, at and in sight 
 of Lilloett, at least 15 or 16 benches on both sides at various levels, 
 some three or four on each side of Fraser River exactly corre- 
 sponding in level : but many on either side of the river having no 
 apparently exact counterpart on the other bank. Lilloett stands on 
 a plateau, which I judge to be about 160 feet above high- water 
 mark of Fraser River, varying between March and June 30 to 
 40 feet vertical. This plateau at one place goes right down to the 
 river by the usual steep bank or cliff (angle of 45*^), but in other 
 places it connects with other plateaux; so that you may, if you 
 please, make one abrupt descent, or two, or three, or even four, 
 to reach the Fraser. I have never been on the highest bench in 
 this neighbourhood, which I should say is on the east side, and 
 which I should judge to be 500 or 600 feet above the Fraser. 
 The benches next the Fraser are apparently very nearly or perfectly 
 
tp ,.^ 
 
 II. 27, 1871. 
 
 it would 
 I point of 
 k;«. For 
 ;a,st Li ink, 
 course of 
 
 ' sliglitly, 
 I am 
 lo onou<i,li 
 [uartor of 
 urs ; and 
 isolated, 
 10 Eraser, 
 like fifty 
 
 t 
 
 5 become 
 say ihcro 
 as level, 
 ank, and 
 e, where 
 brilliant 
 ling from 
 3xtremitA- 
 
 's second 
 which of 
 bove one 
 
 in sight 
 us levels, 
 [y corre- 
 iving no 
 itands on 
 jh-water 
 16 30 to 
 m to the 
 in other 
 % if yoTi 
 ren four, 
 Dench in 
 ide, and 
 
 Fraser. 
 )erfectlv 
 
 Fed. 27, 1871.] "DnXCIIES" OF DiaTISII COLUMniA. 
 
 139 
 
 level. Next the mountains — from base to base of mounluin, 1 mile 
 to 3 miles — the benches slupe very much, as if upheaved by and 
 .shouldered off from the mountain in its gradual elevation. 
 
 The different benches at and about Jjilloett vary very much in 
 tlieir elevations abuvo each other, from two or three feet to GO or 80 
 feet or more. They are generally from a quarter of a mile to a mile 
 or two in length — one perhaps may bo two miles and a half (next 
 Fraser liiver), east bank, below and opposite to Lilloett. 
 
 Mr. Kobinson's fourth question is — " I believe there are at least 
 three benches at Alexandria, and that the fort stands on tiie lowest, 
 50 feet above the stream and 1470 feet above sea-level. How many 
 terraces are there at Alexandria, and how far are they above each 
 other ? I am particularly desirous of ascertaining the height of the 
 topmost." 
 
 There are, I should think, on the fort side (west bank of the 
 river) at least twelve or fifteen terraces immediately at Alexandria; 
 and from their regularity and contiguity — being generally nanow, 
 and only a few feet differing in height — present a very singular 
 and striking ajipearanco : like a gigantic flight of steps ascending 
 the hillside gradually'. 
 
 The present fort stands on the west bank (where the benches are 
 more numerous than on the cast bank), on the lowest bench, not, I 
 bliould saj', above ten feet above high- water nuu-k. The Fraser here 
 lises perhaps 25 feet vertical. The fort of ten j'ears ago, to which 
 Mr. h'obinson probably refers, now nearly pulled down, stood on a 
 higher bench, I think the third, about 40 or 50 feet above high- 
 Avater mark perhaps, but I should guess from memory not above 30 
 feet. As to the 1470 feet above sea-level, that is probably within a 
 few hundred feet of the truth. I mean I shoidd place the level at 
 from 1400 to 1900 feet. The terraces opposite to Fort Alexandria, 
 though less numerous, are perhaps more extensive both in length 
 and breadth, apparently perfectly level, though out of the upper 
 bench, about half a mile below and opposite to the fort, there rises 
 a very beautiful instance of basaltic columns, about the dimensions 
 of those at Staffa ; no cave, however, but a bold front facing to the 
 south-west, and about 200 yards from north to south — 40 or 50 feet 
 high, speaking from memory. At their foot, that is, on the south- 
 west front, there is a mass of debris, and the plain seems slightly 
 upheaved for 100 yards or so. The top of the columns is crowned 
 with a similar sort of mould and vegetation to that at their foot. 
 
 It may not be out of place to state one or two instances which 
 have induced me to think that changes of level are now going on in 
 a gradual way in, at all events, some parts of the colony. At a 
 
140 
 
 '• IlKNCllKS" O;' lilHTlSII (• il.LMlilA. [l'i;r.. 'JT, ls71, 
 
 ri.ii. 
 
 lioint near FraHor Eivcr, aLont lliiitocn iiiilcH Kuutli of (Jne.siitjllo, 
 and again in a more conspicuous, anil, inclooil, a -wonderful, instance 
 on Hat Creek, an alTluont of Uuonapartc Jiivcr elo«o to the entrance 
 of the ]Marblu Canon, I liavc noticed boaver-dauiM on a slant, 
 abandoned dani.;, of conrf<o. A Lcaver-dani, T need not say, is a 
 beautiful piece of engineering, ((jiistructed entirely of brandies and 
 earth, never known to give "Nvay, never built on a stream that runs 
 dry in summer and, of cinusc, as level as the surface of the water 
 it is built to retain. On Hat Creek, at the ]ioint in questiun. there 
 must have been a luigo colony, foi- the dams extend in various 
 directions for an aggicgate length of very many hundreds ol' 
 yards. 
 
 I should think that any violent connuotion would have greatly 
 disturbed such dams ; Imt these were all quite perfect, though 
 on a sliint probably of one in ten, there was no longer any water 
 running, or any retained on the surface ; though there were indica- 
 tions of water at no great depth, 'I'he old watercourse was quite 
 visible. Many of the animals favouiite cotton-wood trees were 
 growing there, perhaps thirty years old. but no sign of any living- 
 beaver. There were many old cotton- wood stumps, but they were 
 very old, and a fire had been over the ground, so I could not decide 
 Avhether tliese trees had been felled by beaver or otherwise. 
 
 Frorr. the similarity of soil, formation. Sec, the theory might well 
 be ventilated that all the country east of the Frascr, and a large 
 tract on the west bank, has been at some distant geological period 
 ilie bed of a vast lake or series of lakes considerably larger than that 
 existing from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario ; and that various 
 ridges of hills and mountains have been, either together or separately, 
 but at many distant periods of elevation, gradually protruded under 
 and through this bed, laying it at last completely dry, and indeed at 
 a very considerable elevation above the sea- level : upheaving a 
 large mass of the continent, viz. at least from Fort George, near 
 the 54th parallel to Snake Piiver, 40^ k., and from near Bcntinck 
 Arm, in 127^ w., to Wild Horse Creek, in 115° 30' w.; and laying 
 bare vast valleys of denudation, such as arc to be seen not only 
 in the Fraser, Thomson, Columbia Eivor, &c., valleys, but in the 
 valleys of much smaller streams. Hat Creek, Alkali Creek, Canoe 
 (Jreek, &c., now run at the bottom of very deep basins, vastly larger 
 than can be apparently referred to the erosive power of the present 
 insignificant streamlets, none of which are larger than the water 
 of Leith, near Edinburgh ; and many run in valleys, with walls of 
 solid rock half filled with debris similar in material to the benches, 
 and apparently water-worn on the surface universally. I'hese 
 
 vail, 
 time 
 surf 
 
 of 
 
•i;. -11, Is; I. 
 
 I'Kii. H, I -171.] 
 
 liKNClIKS" OF BHITISII ('OLUMIWA. 
 
 Ul 
 
 ,)n('.slU3ll(;, 
 I, intilanc'o 
 3 entraiKH) 
 
 I it. Hiant, 
 .say, is ii 
 
 iiclics and 
 
 lliai runs 
 
 tlio water 
 
 inn, thcri' 
 
 II various 
 ulrods of 
 
 c o'veatly 
 t, tliougli 
 
 my water 
 le indica- 
 vas quite 
 ce.s were 
 uy livinp; 
 hey were 
 iot decide 
 s. 
 
 iglit well 
 d a large 
 al period 
 than that 
 
 various 
 paratcly, 
 ed under 
 ndeed at 
 eaving a 
 rge, near 
 Bentinck 
 d laying- 
 not only 
 t in the 
 Ic, Canoe 
 y larger 
 
 present 
 10 water 
 walls of 
 benches, 
 ^J^hose 
 
 vall(\VN are fVoni duo to iivo niilos in width, and 700 .)r SCO, sonie- 
 tiinos, a,s ( 'anoe Crc-ck, I'JOO feet deep Ly my nioasuriMncnt. 'The 
 surface is scored and grooved in every direction hy the action of 
 great whiils and torrents, hut mainly as if vast (quantities of oozoy 
 mud and <V'bris had been pushed down into tho valley from the 
 side hilis. In many places I have noticed very curious little 
 oouif^al hillocks, just like the m-aks of volcanoes, but formed of the 
 same aquatic gravel and loam. In two or three I have fouiul a 
 s(irt of (.'ore of bed roek, and it seemed as if their formation was due 
 to this latter arresting tl: lacustrine de})osit, and these may thus 
 have been formed into a cone by the whirl of eddies or by tho effect 
 of gravity, as may be seen any day by tilting over a cart of gravel 
 on a small boulder. 
 
 There is yet one other phenomenon to which I have alluded, 
 wliich occurs frequently in British Columbia, as might be expected 
 fniiu tho steepness of its mountain sides, tho nature of tho bench 
 foiination which adheres to them, and tho vast quantity of snow and 
 rain which falls in so mountainoiiS a coiintry — viz., landslips. 
 
 Three, at least, of these have within tho memory of man fallen 
 into tho Fraser, and nearly dammed up, however teniporarilj', that 
 fnormous river, viz., one about 12 miles above Lytton, tho ruins of 
 which still remain, one about 10 miles above Lilloett, and ono two or 
 111 ice miles below the present Fort Alexandria, which caused a flood 
 s\\eeping away the old fort with all its contents, and causing the 
 loss of many of tho Hudson Bay Company's employes there. The 
 foit was thereupon established on the bench referred to by Mr. 
 Robinson. There are several " dry " landslips, if I may so term them ; 
 of these two or three examples may be seen near Soda Creek, one of 
 which is about one mile long and half a mile wide. Other beautiful 
 examples may be seen in the Pavilion Creek, nearly 21 miles from 
 Lilloett, on Thomson Eiver, 15 miles from Jjytton, on Bridge Kiver, 
 &c. Some of these are several miles in length, and must include 
 thousands of acres. In most of them trees growing at the time of 
 the slip are still growing on the displaced mass, leaning at everj' 
 angle with the horizon. 
 
 In some tho bench seems to have gone down sheer, bearing with 
 it, unharmed, all that was growing on it, and leaving a perpen- 
 dicular cliff. In some, the displaced surf ice seems to have moved 
 painfully a.id grindingly over the subjacent bed-rock, and the sur- 
 faco is broken into a thousand irregularities; at Pavilion, and on 
 Thomson, the mass looks not unlike an earthcrn " glacier du Ehin." 
 
 l>r. Cni'.ADi.K made the following observcations on the paptir; — Tlu; benches, ur 
 i ; riaces of IJriiisli Cohimbia are levels or ledges found on the side of the vallevs 
 
142 
 
 DISCUSSION ON JUDGE DEGBIE'S PAPEl;. [l'i;D. 27, 1871. 
 
 of tlic Thomson and Fraser, two of tlio ])rincipal rivers in the country, and 
 also in the valley of the Colnmbiii lliver. They are found all along the valleys, 
 i'lom the month to very nearly the sonrces of the rivers, and at diilercnt levels, 
 — the terrace on one side correspondin.j; with that on the other. This is not, 
 however, always the case, for here and there one of the jiair of terraces has 
 been washed awaj'. As you may well imagine, where the stream has risen 
 unusually high, or a landslip lias occurred, a terrace may have been carried 
 ;iway on one side or the other. These terraces give a most peculiar character 
 ;o *.'ic scenery. It is said that Natnre abhors a straight line, bnt here j'oti 
 have nothing but straight lines. Instead of tlic ordinary undulations met 
 with at the bottom of a valley, or simply an alluvial flat, you have a succes- 
 sion of terraces rising one above the other. In travelling up the river you 
 go along one of these terraces for a certain distance, then suddenly you are 
 brought up by a sloping bank like the face of a railway embankment ; you 
 ascend it, and find \ouis(df upon anotluir level ])lain; you go on I'or a certain 
 distanci', and you come to a similar embankment, and so it is throughout. 
 These terraces have been c>bserved on other rivers ; and they are, perhaps, more 
 numerous and extensive on the Columbia Paver than on the Fraser and Thom- 
 son. Similar terraces are not unknown also in other parts of the world. They 
 liave been noticed, I believe, in some of the valleys of the; Himalayas, and have 
 been described by Pr. Hooker. The i)arallel roads of Glen Iioy in Scotland 
 are well known ; and similar benches have, 1 believe, been seen on some of 
 the rivers of Patagonia. Nowhere, however, are they so numerous, sn 
 striking, or prolonged over so extensive a district, as in British Columbia and 
 '^.Vashington Territory. They are found over the whole watershed of the 
 Fraser, Thomson, and Columbia, — an extent of country amounting to aboui 
 200,000 or 300,000 square miles. The others are merely isolated cases iri 
 comparison. The character of the country where these terraces occur is very 
 striking. After traversing the central plains of the North American continent 
 from east to west, and surmounting the steep ridges of the Kocky Mountains, 
 y(iu find, instead of a corresponding plain on the western side, that you are 
 still amongst mountains, The view from the western slope of the main chain 
 over British Columbia is one of the most magnificent, perhaps, in the world. 
 In every direction, as [av as the eye can reach, extending apparently to the 
 ocean, nothing but a closely packed mass of mouutains is visible ; many of 
 them the loftiest snow-clad jjcaks, and separated only by the narrowest valleys. 
 Washington Territory, which is drained by the Columbia, is less mountainous, 
 but is still intersected here and there by great mountain-ranges. 
 
 The nature of the material of which these benches are made, their uniform 
 level, and the straight lines, all prove satisfactorily that they are water forma- 
 tions; and their being found only on the river valleys, and disappearing as 
 soon as yoti pass through the estuaries, proves that they were formed by the 
 action ol' fresh water. It is a matter of extreme interest, and there has been 
 nuich speculation, as to how these terraces have been formed. They have 
 been formed by water, but in what way? Do they bear any relation to onv 
 another? Are the terraces in Scotland and India and British Columbia ah 
 l)arts of a system resulting from a connuon cause, or do they dejiend on local 
 causes ? 
 
 Mr. Gibbs, geologist to the United States exploring expedition 1853-4, ob- 
 served these terraces on the Columbia River, and gave an accurate aud careful 
 description of them, arriving at the same conclusion as Mr. Begbic, that they 
 are water formations, the relics of extinct lakes. But it seems to me that Mr. 
 iSegbie's explanation of this drainage having been effected by the gradual 
 upheaval of the mountains through the river-beds is hardly sufTicient ; for 
 I think, if that were so, we should have one level flat representing the 
 original bed of the lake, and no terraces of successive clcvatiou. The sue- 
 
 I 
 
 Feb. 
 
 .*#.,#■ -f«-.! I VS'.' !»>.'■»'<• 
 
I 
 
 KB, 27, 1871. 
 
 ;oun(ry, and 
 tlic valleys, 
 t'erciit levels, 
 Tliis is not, 
 terraces has 
 ni has risen 
 x'eu carried 
 ar character 
 ut here j'ou 
 lations met 
 v'c a siicces- 
 e river you 
 ily j-ou are 
 cment ; you 
 or a certain 
 throughout, 
 ■rhajis, moi'c 
 and Tiioni- 
 orld. Tliey 
 is, and have 
 in Scotland 
 on sonic of 
 imerous. S( > 
 )lunibia and 
 ihed of the 
 ig to about 
 cd cases in 
 ccur is very 
 m continent 
 Mountains, 
 lat you are 
 main chain 
 1 the world, 
 sntly to the 
 i ; many of 
 'est valleys, 
 ountainous, 
 
 3ir nniforni 
 ater forma- 
 ppearing as 
 ned by the 
 ■e has been 
 They have 
 ;ion to one 
 )lumbia ai; 
 tid on local 
 
 !853-4, ob- 
 and careful 
 
 that tiiey 
 le that Mr. 
 he gradual 
 licient ; for 
 cnting tlic 
 
 The suc- 
 
 FiiB. 27, 1871.] DISCUSSION OX JUDGE BEGBIE'S PAPEK. 
 
 u;3 
 
 cession of terraces, one above the other, seems rather to prove there Avas a 
 succession of drainings, — that the lake was drained off to a certain level, nt 
 which the water remained for a time ; after that to a still lower level, at which 
 the water again remained for a time, and then there was a further letting off 
 of the water, and in this way each successive pair of terraces was formed. 
 How this occurred will be better undei'stood, perhaps, if I just sketch to yoti 
 the formation of the country in which these terraces arc found. They are 
 met with, as I said, in the basins of three rivers : the Fraser, the Thomson, 
 which is an afiluent of the Fraser, and the Columbia and its tributaries. Now 
 these river.s, the Fraser and Thomson, are surrounded, you may say, on all 
 sides by lofty mountains, or by extremely high land — they form, in fact, cen- 
 tral basins; and not only arc they walled in on every side landward, but their 
 exit to the sea is barred acro.ss by a great range of mountains, called the Cas- 
 cade Kange, so that they have to burst through that barrier to escape into tlie 
 ocean. ]']xactly the same thing is the case with the Columbia River, which 
 is surrounded on all sides by mountains of great elevation, which dam the 
 water in every direction ; and, like that of the Fraser, it would be prevented 
 by the Cascade Range from reaching the sea, but for a rent through which 
 it passes. Thus in all these cases you have a central basin surrounded 
 by hjfty mountain walls. The ',.)assage by which these rivers escape to the 
 sea is exceedingly narrow ; so that the Fraser, which some 200 miles I'rom its 
 mouth is as broad as the Thames at Richmond, is only a stone's throw across 
 where it passes through the narrow chasm near its mouth. It is obvious that 
 a slight geological change would completely dam up this river. An obstruction 
 at any part along the chasm would flood the country over an immense district 
 above. Exactly the same holds with regard to the Columbia. A very slight 
 amount of obstruction there — alandslii) — would completely dam up the river, 
 and stop its exit into the sea. And this is the case not only near the mouth, 
 but also at numerous places up the river where it passes through similar 
 uan'ow gorges, so that at many points for several hundred miles above the 
 mouth of the Columbia, I imagine, and all the way up the Fraser, a succes- 
 sion of lakes might easily be formed by any accident occumng to obstruct 
 the stream lower down. Kow, if wc suppose that the converse of this were the 
 case, — that these lakes existed, the waters being held back by dams at certain 
 l)oints, — it is clear that on the giving Avay of these barriers, the water woidd be 
 drained off, and the bed of the lake be laid dry. I have shown how very 
 easily an accident such as the damming up of the stream might occur, and it, 
 is curious that Mr. Begbie mentions three instances in which this has partially 
 taken place by landslips. Dr. Hector also, who visited that country, relates 
 another instance in which the same thing apparently occurred on the Columbia. 
 He mentions that the Columbia River for 30 or 40 miles flows almost without 
 current, and that an Indian tradition stated that at that part it was formerly 
 extremely rapid and of uniform swiftness, and that it ran under a gigantic 
 arch of rock ; but an earthquake took place, the arch fell in, damming up the 
 stream, and the country was flooded. It does not require any great stretch of 
 the imagination to see how the converse might occur, and instance's of this 
 are also recorded. Mr. Gibbs, of the United (states survey, points out two or 
 tliree places along the Columbia River where, in his opinion, such l)arricrshad 
 undoubtedly existed; and he mentions, in particular, one instance in which 
 h ige masses of rock had been displaced by the force of the stream, and 
 carried a short distance down. These masses of rock had evidently not come 
 from far, for the strata just above had been disrupted, and the rocks were not 
 in any degree water- worn. It is possible that these barriers may have been 
 broken through, not necessarily by any general convulsion, but by the erosion 
 of rivers weakening them; or it might be that the continual upheaval of the 
 continent has gradually weakened them so much, or displaced them bo much, 
 
in 
 
 DISCUSSION OX JUDUE BEeiBILI'S I'APKU. [I'kd. 27, 1871. 
 
 Fj.nJ 
 
 ii 
 
 <liat at last tliey have given way, and the Avater has escaped. I think wo 
 must suppose tliat a number of sucli accidents have talcen place, because there 
 are so many successive terraces. The terraces on the Lightning were nearly 
 .".000 feet above the level of the sea, on the Kootenay 2000 I'eet; the top 
 bench at Lj ttou only 800 feet ; while the top bench at Lilloctt is from 1300 
 feet to 1400 feet. The lowest bench at Alexandria, higher up the stream, 
 is from 1400 feet to 1900 feet : so that it appears not only must there havj 
 U'.en several accidents by which the water was drained oil" at different periods, 
 liut there must have been several dilTerent barriers. 
 
 I'he Eev. W. Hobixsox said that the w-ell known terraces in and about 
 <ilen Koy were horizontal, and of the same altitude on the two sides of the 
 streams. There had evidentl}'- been no elevation or depression of the region 
 hiiK'e their formation. We were, therefore, driven to the conclusion, that they 
 were lormed by water standing at their height. The water might possibly 
 luive been higher than the topmost terrace, but at least it has been as high ; that 
 is, between 1100 and 1200 feet above the present sea-level. By some means, 
 the barrier that held in the water at that height gave way, so far as to let it 
 down to the level of the second terrace ; and, again, after an interval, to the 
 level of the third terrace. The one ix)int, however, on which he aimed to fix 
 attention, was the existence of that great body of deejt water where now is 
 dry land. It was that fact that awakened curiosity to know whether the 
 Jhitisli Columbian terraces were similar to the Scotch. He wished distinctly 
 to recal one sentence of ]\Ir. Begbie's communication, — " From the simi- 
 larity of soil, formation, &c., the theory might well be ventilated that all the 
 country east of the Fraser, and a large tract on the west bank, has been at 
 j^ome distant geological period the bed of a vast lake." This intelligent gen- 
 tleman then traversed that extensive region, with its valleys from 1 to 5 
 miles in breadth, and from 700 to 1200 feet deep ; and the phenomena he 
 witnessed suggested to him the presence there, at some past time, of a dee[) 
 lake or sea, — a collection of water like that which certainl}^ existed formerly 
 in Scotland, but on a far larger scale. No one had given sueli laborious atten- 
 ti(jn to terraces as Mr. Robert Chambers. The fruits of his investigations 
 were before us in his work on ancient sea-margins, — a work containing descrip- 
 tions of terraces in Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland, Scandi- 
 navia, and North America. Naturally his attention was much directed to 
 Great Britain; with what result? He did not suggest as a theory which 
 may deserve to be ventilated, l)ut as a conclusion about which he had no 
 doubt, that the sea formerly stood at least from 1200 to 1500 feet above its 
 present level. Of course, under such conditions, what is now called Great 
 Britain would be an archijielago. Again, Sir, then, we find terraces yielding 
 to a very sagacious observer the inference of a high-water level. The same 
 distinguished man investigated the terraces of North America, and drew the 
 same inferences from them ; viz., that they originated in a sea-level much 
 higher than that now existing. Connected, then, with terraces, four points 
 are before us. (1.) The certain existence at a recent geological jKjriod of a large 
 body of deep w iter in and about Glen lioy ; large, because the terrace system there 
 runs about 20 miles from east to west, and 12 from north to south. (2.) The 
 terraces of British Columbia induce Mr. Begbic to throw out the hypothesis 
 of a vastly larger body of deep water there. (3.) The same conclusion reached 
 respecting England, by our most practised investigator. (4.) The same con- 
 clusion reached by him respecting North America. Now, if these terraces had 
 been rightly read, we could scarcely avoid a wider hypothesis, which should 
 connect and comprise the four already named, and which might be best given 
 iu tile words of Robert t'hambers, — "There is enougli to justify a question 
 rcganling uniformity of level, not only throughout North America, but (bold 
 as the idea may in the present stijte of knowledge and of hyiwthesis appear) 
 
 l.ct\J 
 1 errtj 
 at It 
 
 morj 
 post! 
 
 ii^ 
 
 w 
 
I 
 
 •j;b. 27, 1871, 
 
 I think Avo 
 )ecauso tlierc 
 ; wcro nearly 
 
 et; the toi> 
 is from 1300 
 
 the stream, 
 'j there havj 
 rent periods, 
 
 and about 
 sides of the 
 ' the rejiiou 
 n, that they 
 ;ht possibly 
 s high ; that 
 ome meaas, 
 • as to let it 
 rval, to the 
 limed to fix 
 lere now is 
 hethcr the 
 d distinct!}' 
 
 the simi- 
 that all the 
 las been at 
 Uigent gen- 
 om 1 to 5 
 inomena he 
 !, of a deep 
 id formerl}^ 
 rious atten- 
 i^estigations 
 ingdescrip- 
 id, Scandi- 
 directed to 
 K)ry which 
 he had no 
 t above its 
 illed Great 
 cs yielding 
 The same 
 i drew the 
 Bvel much 
 bur points 
 \ of a largo 
 'Stem there 
 
 (2.) The 
 liypothesis 
 on reached 
 same con- 
 rraces had 
 ch sh(JuUl 
 best given 
 I question 
 but (bold 
 is appear) 
 
 4 
 
 l"i:i;. -'7, 1671. J DISCUSSION ON JUDGE BEGBIL'S PAl'i;!;. 
 
 1-1- 
 
 between the old and now continents ;" so that he was led by his study of the 
 lerraees to conceive of a sea-level common to Kuro]ie and North America, ami 
 at least between 1000 and 2000 feet above the present level. 
 
 Mr. IJobinson proceeded to suggest that the water of the world has been 
 more than once rolled from one hemisphere into the other, and that in tlic 
 post-tertiary times it was all north of the equator. As showing how tli.-.t 
 might be, he referred to a paper in the 'Journal of the Jloyal Geological 
 Society of Ireland,' vol. i. part 3, p. 288, and to a letter in the ' Athenannn ' 
 of October 19, 1867; and argued that nothing but such a high water-level 
 would account for the terraces of the world, the former state of the Arctic 
 regions, the prodigious amount of dritt distributed in one general direction front 
 the extreme north far towards the south pole, and other geological phenomena. 
 
 ]\Ir. Dallas said he had travelled over a great deal of the countiy described 
 by Dr. Cheadle, and had come to the conclusion that the terraces could have 
 been formed only in one of two ways, — either by the hand of man, or by naturnl 
 causes. Of course they were not made by man, and therefore the only hypo- 
 thesis left was that they were caused by water. He agreed with Dr. Cheadle 
 in thinking that they must have been formed by the draining off of the water 
 at various epochs, tlujugh it was difficult to say what was the precise cause of iIk! 
 sudden drainage. It might have been by subsidence of the earth, by overflow, 
 or by the Avatcr gradually percolating through, and at last forming a channel 
 for itself. He did not think that the formation of the terraces in Ihitisli. 
 Columbia and Washington Territory had any necessary connection at all with 
 that of the terraces in Scotland and other parts of the world, because ther- 
 Avere very simple explanations why they should exist in some parts of the 
 world and not in others. The chain of the llocky Mountains runs from north- 
 west to south-east, and forms a barrier across the country. Between that and 
 the Cascade Range, which runs nearly parallel to it, there must have always 
 existed, as there does now, a large basin ; and it was easy to imagine that that 
 basin had been filled with water, though not necessarily at one level — the 
 intervening country between the two main ranges being, in fact, a net-work 
 of mountains. The accumulated waters of the various basins, in forcing a 
 passage by the channels of the Columbia, the Fraser, and other minor streams, 
 might have formed the successive terraces at various periods in each districi 
 of country ; and he maintained that no real ground existed for attributing the 
 fresh-water terraces of the old and new continents to one simultaneous cause. 
 So far as his observation extended, the terraces were a true level, and had no 
 slope with the rivers. 
 
 Mr. Woods asked whether the surface of the terraces and their bases weio 
 fonned of the same material, or whether there was any marked diiference. 
 
 Dr. Kae said when he visited British Columbia he was on a telegra]»h 
 survey, and could not wait to take any measurements of the terraces; but it 
 struck him very forcibly that, instead of being horizontal, they slo]ied with 
 the river-bed. If such were the fact, it would iipset the theory of a largo 
 inland Lake. 
 
 Dr. Cheadlk said it was clear that the terraces were not formed by sea watei-, 
 but by fresh water, for they are found only in the river valleys, and not on the 
 coast; they entirely cease after the rivers pass the Cascade langes. He agreed 
 with Mr. Dallas in thinking that the whole of the interior basin of British 
 Columbia had been pretty well filled with water, by a number of lakes at different 
 levels very like the present lakes of Canada. Tlie barriers damming up those 
 lakes had been broken through, and the waters drained off. The upper stratun) 
 of the benches is of the same material as the lower stratum, with this exception, 
 that the coarser and heavier material has sunk to the bottom, so that then; is 
 tolerably fine sand at the top. Nothing but careful observation could settle 
 the question as to whether the terraces Averc perfectly horizontal or sloped 
 with the river.