IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) *^ ^ 1.0 ^I^I2£ S? Ufi 12.0 u 114 .Sciences CorpQFalion 23 WIST MAIN STRHT VVnSTm,N.Y. 14SM (71«)t72-4S03 A. CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVJ/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. [g] Canadian Institute for Historicai Microraproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical «nd Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tachniquaa at bibliographic <««) T t( Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha beat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy wh*ch may ba bibliographically uniqua, which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction. or which may aignificantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. D D D D Colourad covcra/ Couvartura da coulaur r~n Covars damagad/ Couvartura andommagte Covan raatorad and/or laminatad/ Couvartura raatauria at/ou palliculte Covar titia miaaing/ La titra da couvartura manqua Colourad mapa/ Cartaa gAographiquaa an coulaur Colourad ink (i.a. othar than blua or black)/ Encra da coulaur (i.a. autra qua blaua ou noira) I I Colourad plataa and/or illuatrationa/ D Planchaa at/ou illuatrationa an coulaur Bound with othar matarial/ RalM avac d'autraa documents Tight binding may causa ahadowa or diatortion along intarior margin/ Lars liura sarrAa paut cauaar da I'ombra ou da la diatortion la long da la marga intAriaura Blank laaves addad during rastoration may appaar within tha taxt. Wiianavar poaaibia, thaaa hava baan omittad from filming/ II aa paut qua cartainaa pagas bianchaa ajoutAaa lora d'una raatauration apparaiaaant dana la tsxta, mala, loraqua cala 4tait poaaibia, caa pagaa n'ont paa ^t* filmAaa. Additional commanta:/ Commantairaa aupplAmantairaa: L'Inatitut a microfiimA la maillaur axamplaira qu'il lui a AtA poaaibia da aa procurer. Laa ditaila da cat axamplaira qui sont paut-Atra uniquaa du point da vua bibliographlqua, qui pauvant modifier una image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dana la mAthoda normala de filmage aont indiquAa ci-deaaoua. T P o f |~~| Colourad pages/ D D Pagaa da couleur Pagaa damaged/ Pagaa andommagtea Pages reatorad and/oi Pagaa rastaurAea at/ou pelliculAea Pagaa discoloured, stained or foxe< Pagaa dAcoiorAea, tachetAea ou piquAea Pagaa detached/ Pagaa dAtachA«Mi Showthcough> Tranaparance Quality of prir QuaiitA InAgala de I'impresaion icludaa aupplementary materii omprend du metAriel aupplAmentaira I — I Pagaa damaged/ I — I Pages restored and/or laminated/ H Pagaa discoloured, atained or foxed/ Pagaa rrp\ Pagaa detached/ rT7| Showthcough/ r~| Quality of print vnriee/ □ Includea aupplementary material/ C t s o fi s o T si T bi ri r« It Only edition available/ Seule AdKion diaponible Pagaa wholly or partially obacurad by errata slips, tissuee, etc., have been ref limed to enaura tha beat poaaibia image/ Lea pa(;ea totalement ou partiallement obacurciea par un feuillet d'errata, une peiure, etc., ont AtA filmAee A nouveau da fa^on A obtenir la meilleure image poaaibia. Thia item la filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document eat filmA au taux de rAduction indiquA ci-deaaou«. 10X 14X 18X 22X 2SX 30X y 12X 16X aox 24X 32X Th« copy film«d h«r« hM b««n r«produc«d thank* to tho gonorotity of: National Library of Canada L'axamplaira fiimA f ut raproduit grtea A la flAnirosit* da: BibliothAqu* national* du Canada Tha Imagaa appaaring har* ara th* boat quality poaaibia conaidaring tha condition and lagibility of tho original copy and In kaaping with th* filming contract spacif icationa. Original copla* in print*d papar covar* ar* film*d b*ginning with th* front covor and ending on th* last paga with a printad or ii^ustratad impra*> •Ion, or tha back covar wh*n appropriate. All othar original copiaa ara filmad beginning on the first page with a printed or Illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or iliuatrated impreaaion. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol --^> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Las Imeges sulventes ont MA reprodultes avec le plus grend soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettet* de rexemplaire filmA, at en conformitA avec las conditions du contrat de filmege. Lea exemplalres orlglnaux dont la couvarture en papier eat ImprimAe sent filmAs en commenpant par le premier plat at en terminant solt par la darnlAre pege qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustrstion. solt par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous las autres exemplei'^es orlglnaux sent filmte en commsnpant par la premlire page qui comporte une empreinte d'irnpreaaion ou d 'illustration at en terminant par la dernlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles sulvants apparaftra sur la darnlAre Imege de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: la r. -ibole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Mapa, plates, cherts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one expoaura are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right end top to bottom, as many frames aa required. The following diegrems Illustrate the method: Lea csrtes, planches, tableau i, etc., peuvent Atre filmte A des taux de reduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reprodult en un aeul cllchA, II est filmA A partir de I'angie supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'imagea nAcasaaire. Las diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 SFfrriON TV., 1882. t ?i9 ] IV. — Descriptive Note on a General Section from the Laurcntinn Axis to the Rochy Mountains north of the \9th Parallel. Bif Geouqe M. Dawson, D. So., F. O. S., &c. (Koad May L'fith, 1882.) Tho spction in rolation'to whioh those notes are presented is a diairrammatic one, intend- ed rather to show the ffeneral arrani^vments oi" the rocks nndorlyinir the i^reat plains, than the actual position of the beds on any definite line. The direction of the se«'tion is, however, almost exactly transverse to that of the main strike of the rocks, and that of the great interior continental valley which lies between the Laurentian Highlands on the east and the IJocky Mountains on the west. The section is about eight hundred miles in length. The profile represented by it is that of a line drawn from the middle of Lake "Winnipeg west-south-westward, passing through the Touchwood and Porcupine Hills, and reaching the base of the Itocky Mountains, midway between the 4!lth and 50th parallels. The ver- tical scale and thickness of formations are necessarily A'ery much exaggerated. Lake Winnipeg and the contiguous great lakes, with the low country about them, mark the outcrops of Silurian and Devonian rocks which lie at very low angles or are nearly horizontal. These rocks are, for the most part, magnesian limestones of pale buff colour^ and resemble those representing those periods in the Mississippi Valley. They must have originally spread far up on the Laurentian plateau, and perhaps have inosculated with the similar rocks of the same age which border the basin of Hudson's Bay. The great denudation which they have suffered, in times geologiciUy very recent, is attested by the immense quantity of these peculiar rocks which, together with Laurentian and Huronian fragments, has been spread abroad over the surface of the great plains in the form of boulders and gravel. Hocks of Devonian age oocupy the western portion of this region of. the lakes, and Professor Hind has defined by observations in several localities a belt of them at least fifty miles in width. It is iu :^onnection with these rocks that the brine springs of the vicinity of Manitoba Lake occur. Salt has been manufactured from these for commercial purposes. North of the Winnipeg Lakes on ihe Arctic slope of the continent, the Devonian rocks appear to become more important in regard to the area they cover than the Silurian, and they are found to yield petroleum as well as salt. The description of the bitumen and mineral pitch of the Athabasca region, by Sir J. Richardson, would seem to indicatt^ that a very important oil region there waits to be developed. The rocks consist of limestones and dark slates, and are referred by Meek — who has examined a consideial)le number of fossils from them — to the Hamilton and Grenesee epochs. The " black slate " of the Western and Southern States has been shewn to be the equi valent there of the latter, and, according to Meek, " holds exai'tly the same position with relation to the Hamilton beds as the Clearwater and Athabaska slates." The resemblance of the rocks in these northern and southern localities, and the continued association of salt and petroleum with them to the south, renders it not improbable that, if reached by borings 40 flKOTKIR M. DAWSOX ON A fJKNRRAL SRCTIOX FROM TIIK ]>aKKiiijT thrmag'h th«^ ovcrl tipping ('n'tiu'fouH rocks, lh«' iijipor part of tho DcA'onian, in the Manitoba rogion, might prove vahiahlc as an oil-l)oaring formation. This snggowtion was cnton'd in Iho lii'port on tho (roolooy and Rosonrccs of tho 40th Paralh'l, luxt r«'mains as yet iin<-onlirm(>d. The nn<'onformal)l»', though vory horizontal overlap of thoCrcta^'oouH on the DoA'onian, just alluded to, entirely conceals the outcro|)s of any rocks of Carl.oniferous age, which may exist in this region. It is probable, however, from analogy with tho Western States to the south, that these rocks consist almost entirely of limestone, and, evon if exposed, would be found to yield no workable coal seams. The waters of the ocean appear to have <'overed this j^ortionof the continent during tho ( 'arboniferous period, and the conditions for thir accumulation of coal did not occur till a much later stage in the series. liocks of Cretaceous age are those* next found in tho geological series in this region, and they constitute the sul)stratum of by far th(» greatest area of the plains. The typi«"al section of the Cretaceous of the Missouri Valley and eastern portion of the interior continental basin generally is that worked out many years ago by Messrs. Meek and Ilayden in th<» Nebraska region. It may be summarized as follows, the order being desciending : — L.\TEii Cretaceous. A'o. !j. Fox Hill HfdR. — firpy forrufrinouH and ypllowish sandstonos and aronaooons rlaj's. Miirinf. f>hdh. 500 foot. Ao. 4. Fort I'iem- flronp. — Dark >,'roy and l)luisli ])la8tio days. Murinr Shiiln (nid Finh ErmninK 700 " Eaklter Cretaceoits. No. 3. Ni(il)rara(troui).—Calraroons marls, marine sliolls, foraminifora, fi.sh remains, &c.. 200 " No. 2. Fort IkMiton ( Jroup. — Dark jjwy laminafod days, witli some limostono marine shells. ?>00 " No. 1. Dakota (Irotip. — Yellowish, whitish and nvldiali sandstones and days, with oc- easional lit^nit(^ coals. Marine ani(>n. The rock is a cream-coloured limestone, chiefly eornposed of shells of hoirraums and Osfirn niufiTK/n, l)ut becomes in places a white chalky material, which under the miiroscopc is resolved into amassof foraminiferal shells, cowoliths, and allied minute oryanisuis. Still further north, aloui? the eastern outcrop of the Cretaceous, at Swan Iviver and Thunder Tlill. west of Lake \Vinnipei?osis, and near the line of our se(;tion, limestone and marls, containing fossils like those oi the last mentioned locality and evidently of Niobrara age, are again found. The greater part of the Pembina escari>ment, with its northern continuation west <»f the Winnipeg group of Lakes, is, however, composed of the dark shales and shaly clays of the Pierre group. On the plains, west of thi> escarpment of the Cretaceous, the drift «'over- iug is so thick that exposures of thi! I'ierre are seldom mt^t with. It is, however, found, wherever it can bo seen, to hy. horizoiital, and it probably immediately and continuously underlies the (>ountry as far west as the Coteau. The Fox Hill subdivision of Meek and Haydeu"s sectidu is scarcely known in the east- ern part of the plains. It const itutes the highest of tht> marine beds, and is generally littoral and sandy in character. Rocks x<'t>|»tioimlly thi<-k and uiiiloriii on th«>iii. J)i'. S«'lwyii has par(i«'U- hirly insisted, however, (iii llie possihlo rt'currt'iice of the Souris scrieN in th«'He hilly tractH, aii (»f this liifiiite-hearini? formation, it will probably hel'ore lonjf heconu* dchiirahle to test the question by actual Ixmnj^s in i)roperly chosen localities. So far as the examination of th«' country west of the Coteau, or edife of the third prairie steppe, t(t altout the 110th meridian has yet i^one, no new features of importuiue are found ill the Cretaceous and Souris beds, the lower parts of tlu^ »'ountvy beins? usually und<>rlaiu by I'ierre. while the hi^'her are characterized by th«' representatives of the Souris series, and liitnites are fre«|uenlly found i.i these. The Fox Hill beds have been clearly recognised iis ill! iiiteniiediale /one in a few places, and all the rocks are horixontal. Still furtlu-r west, however, where the section traverses the IJow and Belly River ret-iitn, chaiiii'es of considerable importance are found to occur. The upper beds, which ha vo soiar been referred to as the Souris or Fort Union series, })ecoine thi«'ker and more varied ill (liaracter, and may best be des«ribed under the "general term, Laramie. The base of this division is now, as a rule, distinctly marine, or brackish water in origin, the beds so charac- tei'i/ed often having a great thickness and representing those of the Judith basin of the Upl>er Missouri. These pass gradually upward into a great fresh-water scries, which, on lithological grounds, I have provisionally divided into the St. Mary River, Willow Creek and Porcupine Hill subdivisions. The Larami*', as a whole, on approaching the mountains, contains much more frequent sandstone layers, and these are iirmer in textunj — Ituits due to the approach to the old shore line and the superior degree of alteration which the rocks have suHered in connection with folding. The Fox Ilill l)eds blend so con.pletely with the Laramie above and the Pierre below that it is often dilKtailt to deline them, but they may generally still be recognized as a zone of yellowish sandstone holding strictly marine fossils. The Pien'e, while probably not less in thickness than before, is less homogeneous, con- taining frequent sandstone intercalations, at least as far east as the Three Buttes, and where exposed on the Bow River, contains besides a considerable thickness of whitish or pale- I'oloured sandy and clayey beds which contrast markedly with its usual sombre colours. It appears now c«M'tain that the Rocky Moxintains have been here, even in the strictly Cretaceous times, a shore line, and i'at neither the Cretaceous nor the Laramie beds have passed «'ompli'tely over the present position of the range in this latitude, as they are known to have done further south. The broad undulations by which the beds are now affected also result in thi^ exposixre in different places of rocks underlying the Pierre, and these are nov^ found to consist of sandstones, shales and clays, instead of the chalky material of the Niobrara of the east. These are usually of pale colours, and the fossils c ontained in them are at h'ast in part distinctly freshwater in character. The subjoined table shows the pro- visional arrangement adopted for the rocks of this region and the parallel series described by me in former reports of the Geological Survey, as obtaining in the Peace River country, which, thoiigh several hundred miles north-westward, bears a similar relation to the mountains. liAUUKNTIAN AXIS To TlIK KOi'KY MOUNTAINS. 43 liaraiiiio : (inrliidiiiK .liiililli Kivor wrlci). Fox IlillM. lUttlHortlix ri)ri'ii|)ino IIIIIh; innMNivoNnii(lHti)iu>N willi hIiiiIcn, fki: Willow CriHtk ImuIn; rtMldiMli and pnriiliHli rlavM witli ^n^y tiiid yxllowiHli HaiidHtoiRM. •) |Ht. Wary hivor Horics ; saiidNtoiio hIuiKj nf Ircwlif r|i|N> apiti Kivcr Kroii|i|. YoIIowIhIi Sandston(t.s with Homo hIuiIcm, apparontly irro^nlar in' tliickncHH and rliaractcr ; iuoIIuhch all niarino. I'iorrc. Niobrara. Bonton. 1 j IllackiHli and load-colt tnul HliaK«M, uitli occaNioiialNandHtoiio intitrca-) \ lation oMiNO'ially towanis llio nioiintainH. i {IJolly I{iv(^r w^rics ; NandNtonoH, NlialcM and Handy rlayH. I'lil*"" part Konorally ^'royiHli: low<>\V(, and is well exposed on both the Bow anu Belly Rivers. Lignite coal also occurs in the beds above described as underlying the Pierre, and it is possible that further exploration may bring to light yet other fuel-producing horizons. A further fact of great economic importance is the improvement in quality of these fuels on their approach to the mountains. Two causes operate in this sense : First, the greater age of the seams in the strictly Cretaceous rocks and the consequent superior deo-rec T 44 SKCTloX KlfoM TIIM LATTUKNTIAX A? IS To TIIK IMM'KY MorXTAlNS. ol' piVMNUrc l»y ovfilyiiii,'' 1h'<1m )o whi.h lln-y hiiv*' Im'cii suhj.'i icd ; scioiul, the givator allt'ialioii, iKvonipaiiit'd l»y Jlcxuiv, (o which llio rocks in Ihr vicinity oi' Ww mountainH havo Ihm'Ii sul»jci led. The sccojid \h, houcvcr. I'ound to Im- much more inllucntial than the lirsl. The hcltis of country characterized l»y dili'crcnt classes of i'uels are indicated on th«' section. The eastern, over which the word fJatiitf appears, yields fuels which, though often containing little ash and well adapted for local use, hold generally more than 12 per <('ut. of hygroscoi)i,r ^vat<'r. The n<'xt, desigmiti-d as thai of fjRTH OF THE 49th PARALLEL. Horizontal Scale — Miles 1= Qa -■=1^ DO too P-OOMILUS