GEOLOGICAL AUD NATURAL HISTOBY SUEVEYOF CANADA 
 
 ALFRED R. C. SELWYN, LL.D., F.R.S., Dimotoe. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 ON PART OF THE 
 
 BASIN OF THE 
 
 ATHABASCA RIVER, 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERRITORY, 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT BELL, M.D., LL.D., C.E., F.G.S., F.R.S., Can. 
 
 1882-3. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 MONTREAL. 
 DAWSON BROTHERS 
 
 1884. 
 
A. K. C. Selwyn, LL.D., F.RS., &c., 
 
 Dinctor Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to submit the annexed report on the geology 
 and topography of a part of the basin of the Athabasca Eiver and the 
 adjacent territory to the south and east of it ; also the accompanying 
 map illustrating the report. This map having been constructed since 
 I had the honor of submitting my report * on the region referred to, in 
 December, 1882, I have been able to describe the geology, &c., more 
 fully and minutely than was possible at that time. The map, which 
 is on a scale of eight miles to an inch, is entirely original, and it forms 
 part of a large sheet, on the same scale, constructed by Mi*. A. S. 
 Cochrane, showing his own track-surveys as far east as Eeindeer Lake. 
 Lake Athabasca and the Cl3arwater River, as represented on this map, 
 are from Mr. Cochrane's track-surveys, all the rest of the topography 
 being from my own. 
 
 I have the honoi- to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 EOBEfiT BEJiL. 
 Ottawa, May, 1884. 
 
 * On the 16th January, 1883, 1 received the usual summary Report of the seasoi tiona 
 
 from Dr. Bell. This was referred to ia my report to tht Minister, and also pa«es 1< solo- 
 
 gical Survey Report for 1880-81-82. Tha present report was submitted to me in type in Jtiber, 
 1884. A. R. C. S. 27th Dec, 1884. 
 
REPORT 
 
 ON 
 
 PART OF THE BASIN OF THE 
 
 ATHABASCA RIVER, 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT BELL, M.D., LL.D., C.E.. F.G.S., F.R.S., Can. 
 
 The principal object of the exploration of 1882 was to investigate Rc^um to be 
 the geology of the heretofore unexplored portion of the Athabasca ^'''' ""^ 
 River between the junction of the Lac la Biche River and the Clear- 
 water, but my instructions also directed me to examine more carefully 
 than had hitherto been done the relations of the rocks of the river 
 below the latter stream, e-ipecially with i-eference to the mode of occur- 
 rence of petroleum and asphalt. Track-surveys were to be made of 
 the routes travelled over, and, as usual, observations were to be noted instructions, 
 in regard to geographical facts, surface geology, soil, climate, agricul- 
 ture, natural history, etc. It was supposed that a canoe-route existed 
 between the southern part of Lake Athabasca and Isle k la Crosse 
 Lake, and, in coming home, I was to have followed it .'ind ascertained 
 something of the nature of the extensive and unknown region lying 
 between the former lake and the upper waters of the Churchill River_ 
 It was found, however, that the supposed route was not known to exist^ 
 and I therefore returned by the Clearwater River, the Long Portage, 
 Methy, Buffalo and Clear Lakes. The interim report furnished soon interim report, 
 after I reached Ottawa gave an account of the mode in which I 
 had endeavoured to carry out the above instructions, including a 
 narrative of the journey to and from the most distant point reached, 
 with dates of arrival at the principal points and other details. It also 
 contained an epitome of the geological results, more particularly in 
 reference to the petroleum and asphalt. A map has since been pre- Mai>. 
 pared by Mr. A. S. Cochrane, showing my track-surveys in a con- 
 nected manner along with those made by Mr. Cochrane the previous 
 
6 C NORTH-VEST TERRITORY. 
 
 year. This enables me now to give di.stancea and directions and tho 
 positions of localities with sutficieut precision for permanent refer- 
 ence, and, in connection with these topograpliical features, I am 
 enabled to furnish tho ,i,'Oological description with tolerable accuracy 
 as to geo<j^raphical details. A portion of this map on a scale of six- 
 teen miles to an inch accompanies this report. I was assisted in tho 
 field-work by Mr. A. C. Lawson, B.A., who always carried out my 
 
 Route irstructions with intelligence and energy. From Winnipeg we j)ro- 
 
 traveiled. eoedod by the Canadian Pacific Jlailway to the end of the track, and 
 thonco with horses and buckboards, by way of Forts Qu'Apptl''^ 
 Carleton and Pitt, to Lac la Bicho, the distance by tho trails folic ,v<-' 
 being about 770 miles. From this lake I continued my journey no 
 waixl by canoe, Mr. Lawson being sent with the horses by way of 
 Carleton to Green Lake, where he was to meet me on my arrival from 
 Isle t\ la Crosse. 
 
 Tnwk-suncys A track-survoy was first made of Lac la Biche itself, and then of La. 
 
 made. Biche Kiver, showing every bend in its entire length. A similar sur- 
 
 vey of the Athabasca was carefully made, all the way from the Junction 
 of La Biche River to its mouth in Athabasca Lake, a distance of about 
 270 miles in a straight line, or 380 following the sinuosities of the 
 river. Thi-oughout the whole of this long stretch, the rocks proved 
 to be of much geological interest, and they will be fully described fur- 
 ther on. A cursory examination was next made of the rocks of the 
 western part of Athabasca Lake. Our knowlege of the geography of 
 the delta of the Athabasca was added to by track-surveys on tho 
 return journe}'. A survey of the same kind was carefully made from 
 Methy or Long Portage, through the various lakes and rivers followed, 
 to Isle ^ la Crosse, and thence by tho Beaver River to Green Lake, 
 which was also mapped, the whole distance -"n a straight line being 
 195 miles, or 245 miles following the courses of the rivers and lakes. 
 ^h\ Lawson having arrived with the horses at Green Lake, we pro- 
 ceeded thence by Fort Carleton, Prince Albert and the Touchwood 
 Hills to Troy, on the Canadian Pacific railway. The distance thus 
 travelled was about 355 miles, measured in straight lines between the 
 Hudson's Bay Company's posts, but about 470 following the courses of 
 the trails. The distance actually travelled in going out and returning 
 would, therefore, be as follows : — 
 
 MILBB. 
 
 From the end of the C. P. R. track to Lac la Biche 770 
 
 From Lac la Biche to Fort Chipewyan 380 
 
 From Fort Chipewyan to Green Lake, by the Methy or Long 
 
 Portage 520 
 
 From Green Lake to Troy, on the C. P. R 470 
 
 Total distance by horses and canoes 2,140 
 
 Distances. 
 
MU.] ATHABASCA. 7 C C 
 
 The (liMtanco traveUod by rail from Ottawa in the spring and return- 
 ing in the autumn amounted to about 3,4G() miles, so that the total 
 distance covered during the season was about 5,600 miles. 
 
 Geological Description. iSptio'n. 
 
 No rocks older than the drift were seen in situ before reaching the 
 Biche River, and I shall therefore begin my geological description with 
 this stream, reserving my notes on the drift for a subsequent part of 
 the report. The Biche Eiver leaves the western extremity of Lac laUicho River. 
 Biche, and flows in three stretches in the form of the letter Z. having 
 an aggregate length in three straight lines of forty-tive miles. The 
 upper and central courses flow through a very marshy country. The 
 general course of the latter is north, but both it and the third or low- 
 est stretch ai'e very crooked. The latter is full of shaliow rapids over 
 pebbles and cobble-stones. Aecording to my barometrical observations 
 the level of Lac la Biche is 186 feet over that of the Athabasca River 
 at the junction of the Biche, and 126 feet of this fall takes place in the 
 last stretch of the river. In some places in this stretch the banks of 
 the river, which are mostly of clay, are tifty feet in height. Small 
 sections of rocks in situ occur along this part of the stream, which are 
 quite similar to the Cretaceous strata seen not farotf on the Athabasca. 
 They consist of dark drab and indigo-colored marls and shales, with 
 nodules and thin layers of claj^-ironstone, lying quite horizontally. 
 
 The water of the Athabasca River is more muddy than that of the Athabasca 
 
 River. 
 
 Biche. Its breadth at the junction of the two streams is from 150 to 
 200 yards, and it varies but little all the way to the Clearwater, below 
 which it becomes considerably wider. From the Biche River to Point 
 la Biche the general course of the river is X. 8° E (ast.), and the dis- 
 tance 88 miles, and from this point to the Clearwater the general 
 coui*se is N. 70° E. and the distance 55 miles. The following are the 
 distances, in straight lines, of the principal features in the former 
 stretch from the junction of the Biche River: — Quito River, from the Branches, 
 west, 8 miles ; Missistiquaio-sipisis or Big-mouth Brook, from the east, 
 22 miles ; Shaitaik or Pelican River, from the west, 52 miles ; House 
 River, from the east, 74 miles ; the Grand Rapid, 82 miles. 
 
 Between tiie Biche River and the Grand Rapid the Athabasca has a 
 smooth, uniform current of two to three miles an hour, and above the 
 Biche the same character is said to extend up to the Athabasca Land- 
 ing. Frequent soundings were taken in the middle of the river from Depth of the 
 the Big-mouth Brook to House River, on the 27th and 28th of August, 
 and the depth was found to vary from 12 to 22 feet, the average being 
 about 15 feet. The water was at about a medium height at this season. 
 
8 cc 
 
 Nf)RTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 Chamoterof 
 river uml 
 l)iink.'<. 
 
 (icolvjpry of 
 bunks. 
 
 Concretion." 
 
 Ironstone, 
 gj'P^^um and 
 pyrite?. 
 
 FussiU. 
 
 Ochre. 
 
 From the Biclie to the Pelican Rivei- the Athalm^ic a flows between 
 slopint; l)ankH from 50 to 150 feet, and at a few points 200 feet in height, 
 the general elevation gi-adually increasing in de.scemling the Htreatn. 
 The bed of the river is probably fully 200 feet below the general 
 level of the flat country on either side, but the full height of the banks 
 iw Heldom ween from the river. The sloping l>ank.H are partly wooded 
 an<l partly bare, owing to the sliding of the clayey strata of which 
 they are composed. The timber consists of spruce, bal.sam, rough- 
 barked pojilar, aspen, and white birch. The beach, and api)arently 
 alho the bottom oi' the river, are paved with cobble-stones and small 
 well-rounded boulders, consisting mostly of quartzite and gneiss, all 
 packed tightly together and )>re8sed down to an even surface by the 
 drifting ice in spring. This natural i)avemont often shows scratches 
 j)arallel to the course of the river, which have been caused by the 
 ])assing ice. 
 
 Throughout the above distance the banks consist of dark clayey 
 Cretaceous marls, having a general horizontal attitude, but often 
 appearing to dip at .-arious angles, owing to the sliding of large masses 
 on the slopes. Along the edges of this part of the river numerous large 
 concretions are met with, which are evidently derived from the marls. 
 Thc^'are mostl}' tortoise-shaped and are often six or eight feet in their 
 greatest diameter. Sometimes smaller concretions are attached to the 
 large ones. When broken they are found to consist of a dral>colored 
 calcareo-ferruginous ai-gillite. The sui-face of these concretions often 
 presents a reticulated appearance, being divided by veins of yellow 
 calcspar into five or j^ix-sided spaces. A highly crystalline mass of 
 this mineral, or a hollow space lined with it, is often found in their 
 centres. Occasionally the concretion consists of a mere shell of the 
 compact ferruginous argillite, divided into sections by the calcspar 
 veins, and either hollow in the centre or more or less tilled up with 
 crystalline calcspar. Besides these large concretions there are numer- 
 ous no<lules of clay-ironstone, and in some places crystals of gypsum 
 were observed in the dark-colored marls. On the east side of the 
 river, four miles below the Big-mouth Brook, in a cliff of dark marl 
 thirty feet high, a laj-er of fine crystals and crystalline aggregates of 
 iron pyrites was found near tiie water's e<lge. Fossils are rare in 
 the marly strata along this section of the river, a small species of 
 Ostrea being the only one found in situ. Fragments of fossil wood. 
 which have, no doubt, been derived from the marls, were not uncom- 
 moii on the surface. On the west side, just below the mouth of the 
 Pelican Eiver, a considerable deposit of brown ochre v/as noticed on 
 top of a bank of drift. 
 
 From Pelican to House River, a distance of 22 miles in a straight 
 
MU.] ATHABASCA. 9 OC 
 
 line, tho Athabasca has about tho same character an ahovo, flowinej 
 wmoothly belwoen slopini; banks, about 100 foot in lieifijht. At tirst 
 they consist almost entirely of the dark, indigo-coloroil marls, with a 
 few lighter layers, still quite horizontal, but soon a very soft-i;roy 
 sandstone, tho weathered surface of which has a light, yellowish-grey y„ft sandstone, 
 color, shows itself at tho foot of the bank on either side, and as we 
 descend the stream it aj)j)ears to become constantly higher, owing to 
 tho fact that the i»ed of the river itself is gradually sinking into the 
 strata at an average rate of about three and a half feet in the mile, 
 measured in a straight line. At two miles bolow the Pelican lliver, 
 the east bank shows 100 feet of blackish marls with lighter marls M:trii. 
 toward the top, underlaid by 10 feet of the soft-grey sandstone. At 
 three miles the sandstone at the base has increased to 20 feet ; at foui- 
 miles, to 25 feet, and at tive miles to 40 feet, with '^0 feet of the dark 
 marls above it; but in this viciraty the strata have a slight dip to 
 the south-eastward. The sandy strata are interstratitied with numer- 
 ous dark shaly layers. For about four miles in the central part of the 
 above 22 miles, the sandstone forming the lower part of the banks has 
 an almost unifoi-m thickness of 50 feet and is interstratitied with some 
 blackish marly bands. On the west bank at 18 miles below Pelican, 
 and four miles above House River the following approximate ascending g^,^,fj,^^ 
 section occurs : — 
 
 FBETT. 
 
 V'ery soft or slightly coherent, gray sandstone 40 
 
 Dark, indigo-colored marl 20 
 
 Soft, light-grey sandstone 15 
 
 Dark, indigo-colored marl 25 
 
 Drift to the top of the bank 20 
 
 120 
 
 Here there is a slight dip to the south-south-westward, A similar 
 section is exposed, also on the west side, two miles further down, or 
 Avithin two miles of House River, In the above portion of the Atha- 
 basca River, the sandstones are so incoherent that they seldom form 
 perpendicular clitfs. Only certain poi'tions of the strata appear to be 
 able to withstand the weather for any great length of time. 
 
 From House Ri\"er to the Grand Rapid, the distance is ten miles. For 
 a few miles before reaching the rapid the river is flanked on both sides 
 by cliffs about 40 feet high, of soft, line-grained, bluish-grey sandstone, ^^^.^ j^n^^t ne 
 weathering yellowish-grey, with patches of a lemon-color. Grand Rapid (j^^^j Rapid. 
 is the principal obstruction to the navigation of the Athabasca, The 
 rapid is about half a mile in length, with a fall of twent}' to thirt}' feet. 
 The canoe portage trail, about three quarters of a mile long, is on the 
 right side, but the boat portage passes over the larger island. The 
 
10 cc 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 river is here livided by two islands, but the greater part of the water 
 follows one channel, down which scows laden with the boilers and 
 machinery of a steamboat to be built for the Hudson's Bay Company, 
 at Fort Chipewyan, had been successfully run a short time before we 
 passed. The lower beds above the rapids contain some tortoise-shaped 
 concretions, and indurated, lenticular patches which appear to differ 
 from the rest of the sandstone onh^ in their greater hardness, and con- 
 taining a little carbonate of lime. Several of these masses, which had 
 
 Fossil wood, been split open, were observed to contain fragments of fossil wood, of a 
 dark brown color, but weathering Avhite and showing the ligneous 
 structui-e very distinctly. Some of the concretions have been formed 
 around aggregations of sticks and vegetable debris. One piece of the 
 fossil wood, embedded in sandstone, Avas found to be six feet long, and 
 18 by 1-i inches in diameter. Seams of carbonaceous matter, two to 
 three inches thick, occur in the cliff on the right-hand side, and along 
 Avith them are thin layers of line conglomerate, consisting of small, 
 
 Small polished highly-polished pebbles, from the size of a number -i shot to that of 
 beans, of green, olive and black chert and white quartz. In some parts 
 these glossy little pebbles are scattered through the sandstone. On the 
 beach at the head of the rapids, fragments of lignite, and of bright-red 
 burnt marl, like tine-grained brick, were found, and at the foot of the 
 rapid many fragments of blackened manganiferous and ordinary clay 
 iron-stone, apparently derived from the sandstone. At the Grand Eapid 
 the bed of the river breaks down into a band of sandstone, which is 
 conspicuous for a long distance belov/, owing to its being more or less 
 thickly studded with spherical concretions differing from the matrix 
 in containing some argillaceous matter. Towards the foot of the rapid 
 great numbers of these boulder-like concretions are heaped in the bed 
 of the river and are remarkable for their prevailing spherical form. 
 The left bank of the river at the foot of the rapid presents the follow- 
 
 Section. ing section, in descending ordei-, the figures being only approximate : — 
 
 Spherical 
 concretions. 
 
 FEET. 
 
 1. Soft, jrrej', fine, homogeneous sandstone, studded with spheri- 
 cal concretions of a more argillaceous charactei than the 
 matrix. They vary from 1 foot to feet in diameter, the 
 average being about 3 feet 20 
 
 2. Soft, fine, homogeneous, grey sandstone, without visible lines of 
 
 stratification 25 
 
 3. ^larly arenaceous layer • 4 
 
 4. Soft, fine, homogeneous-grey sandstone like 20 
 
 5. Dark, aranaceous marl 30 
 
 6. Soft, friable, grey sandstone, weathering light yellowieh-grey, 
 
 and forming a perpendicular cliff 25 
 
 7. Dark marl on top of bank 15 
 
 139 
 
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 ATHABASCA. 
 
 11 CC 
 
 Below the (Ti-jind Rapid the concretionary band forms a conspicuous Concretionary 
 
 ... ^, ," - ,.., band of.sand- 
 
 teaturo in the clitts along the river for a distance of over thirty miles, stone, 
 gradually rising higher above the Avater. On the right side of the river 
 at twelve miles in a straight line below the foot of the larger island in 
 the Grand Rapid, where the bank is over 100 feet high, the top of this 
 band is just below the middle line of thecUtl', or about 50 feet over the 
 water, indicating a fall of 4.1(3 feet per m'.le in the river, assuming the 
 strata to be perfectly horizontal, and this agreed with the ditference of 
 level as determined by the barometer. On the left side of the river, 
 between the Eapide Milieu and the Rapide Pas-<le-Bout, at a distance of 
 20 miles in a straight line, or about 40 by the river (from Crrand 
 Rap- n, the banlc is about 300 feet high, and the top of the concre- 
 tionary band appeared to be about 200 feet over the water, indicating Rate of descent 
 
 ^1 • n II r. /. r. ,1 . •! • in the rivef. 
 
 on the same assumption an average fall of 0.9 teet per mile, in a 
 straight course, or 5 by the river. 
 
 Leaving the foot of the larger island in the Grand Rapid the river 
 continues broken for a mile and a-half, the descent in this distance 
 amounting to 36 feet, as indicated by the barometer, but below this 
 the water is smooth for more than fifteen miles. For several miles 
 from the above island a bank of soft, grey, friable sandstone, about 90 
 feet high, continues down the leftside of the river. The concretionary 
 band forms a clift' along the edge of the water, having a uniform height 
 of about 20 feet. The concretions are piled thickly along the right side 
 of the stream. Many of them are perfectly spherical, but the lai-gest Large 
 ones are flattened. Some of the latter are 20 feet in their greatest 
 diameter while many would averacre 8 and 10 feet. The lines of strati- 
 fication of the sandstone run through some of the concretions, causing 
 them to split most readily in that direction, while others break with 
 equal facility in any direction. In some parts of the sandstone, the 
 concretions or nodules ( as the smaller ones might be called ) are so 
 closely crowded together as to almost touch each other. Some are 
 widely and others closely reticulated on the surface, but most of them 
 are smooth. A few of the more characteristic forms are represented 
 in the accompanying cut. 
 
 concretions. 
 
 Coxf RBTioxs IN Crbtaceois Sandston'bs Axn Marls, 
 
 FROM TWO TO TEN FEET IN DIAMETER. 
 
G^at Bend. 
 
 Distances from 
 the Great Bend 
 
 Lienito. 
 
 Sandstone 
 liillars. 
 
 12 C C NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 Pointe 111 Bit-he in the name given to the Great Bend of the Athabasca 
 six miles below Grand Rapid, or 88 in a straight line below the junction 
 of the Biche River. Here, as before stated, the general course of the 
 river changes from N. 8° E (ast.) to N. 70° E(ast.), on which it now 
 runs for 55 miles till it is joined by the Clearwater from the right. 
 As Pointe ]:\ Biche, or the Great Bend, wmU be used for reference in 
 stating the directions of localities further down the river, the number 
 of miles in straight lines to the principal points may be here given 
 for convenience : — 
 
 MILES. 
 
 Little Buffalo River, from the left 7 
 
 Burnt Rapid 11 
 
 Petite Riviere Bouffante, from the right 21 
 
 Drowned Rapid 25 
 
 Rapide Milieu 27 
 
 Rapide Pas-de-Bout 30 
 
 Crooked Rapid 34 
 
 Isle la Biche 36 
 
 f 'as(;ade Rapid 39 
 
 Mountain Rapid 48 
 
 Fort ^IcMurray at the junction of the Clearwater 55 
 
 The banks on both sides of the river at the Great Bend are from 170 
 to 180 feet in height, and consist principally of soft sandstones. Beds 
 of lignite are seen towards the top of the clilf, on the left side, for about 
 two miles, at this locality. One of these, four feet in thickness, which 
 occurs just at the (ireat Bond was examined. Its position is 155 feet 
 above the level of the river, and twenty below the top of the clilf. The 
 underlying sti-tita consist of homogeneous fine grey sandstone, with 
 some interstratified cai-bonaceous layers, a few inches thick, Avhile the 
 twenty feet above it consist of shaly and thin-bedded sandstones. The 
 lignite itself consists of alternating shaly and solid lamime Avith 
 shining fracture. Some })arts of the bed are entirel}' shaly and others 
 are sandy. It also holds calcspar and yellow ochre, so that its general 
 quality is poor. Two miles below the Great Bend the cliff on the left 
 is 170 feet high, and C(msists of five or six alternating bands of homo- 
 geneous and distinctly stratified grey sandstones. A band of thirty 
 feet, about (me-third of the distance from the bottom, is much darker 
 than the rest. A portion of the bund at this locality is weathered into 
 pillais, one of which has a fantastic form. On the same side of the 
 river, at five miles from the Great Bend, or two above little Bufialo 
 Rivei-, a seam of lignite, from two to three feet thick, runs along hori- 
 zontal 'y near the top of the sandstone cliff, which is 100 feet in height. 
 A smaller seam was noted two miles further up. Shaly and marl}' 
 drab sandstones occur along the edge of the river between this locality 
 and the last mentioned river. 
 
BELL.] ATFIABASCA. 13 CC 
 
 On the upper side of the mouth of the Little Buffalo River the water 
 of the Athabasca, near the shore, in much disturbed, or, as the natives 
 say. it "boils," with the bubbles of gas which rise very thickly smd y„j,^,j„g ^^ 
 rapidly from the bottom, and are probrbly due to the existence of a 
 seam of lignite under the bed of the river. At and just below this 
 tributary, the river makes a westwai-d bend, the .sandstone clitf on High cliffs, 
 the left forming a great amphitheatre 200 feet high. The cliff on the 
 opposite side is called Point Bruit?, and is equally high. It is shaly or 
 marly towards the base ; the concretionary band, which is here thirty 
 feet thick, occurs at about one-third of the height of the cliff", the rest 
 of which consists of the yellow-weathering grey sandstone. Coarse 
 shingle and rounded boulders of the drift period rest on top of this 
 cliff". Three miles below the Little Buffalo Eiver and on the right side 
 of the stream, a seam of impure lignite, six feet thick, occurs near the Lignite- 
 top of the cliff", which is rather more than 100 feet high. This place is 
 twelve miles in a t;traight line from the (trand Rapid, and, us already 
 mentioned, the top of the concretionary band is here about titty feet 
 over the water. Two miles further down, and on the same side, a 
 seam of lignite, from a foot to two feet thick, appears in the cliff on Lignite, 
 top of about 100 feet of sandstone, and overlaid by about ten teet 
 of marl. 
 
 At the Burnt Rapid, where the descent is about eight feet, the cafion Burnt Rapid, 
 of the river looks narrower and deeper than above. Near the edge of 
 the water at this rapid there are some beds of brittle, light drab-colored 
 ironstone and others of somewhat calcareous, green sandstone, contain- 
 ing shells of Cretaceous age, which will be again referred to further on. Cretaceous 
 
 fossils. 
 
 It also holds many large and small fragments of dark silicitied wood, 
 which weather white. They consist of stumps, broken logs, splinters, 
 and round sticks. Fragments of lignite occur along the shore. Angular 
 masses of conglomerate, which appear to be derived from the bed of 
 the river, are also met with at this locality. The pebbles of the con- 
 glomerate, which are small, consist of green, black, drab, and white 
 chert and white quartz, and have highly polished surfaces. It also con- 
 tains pieces of a peculiar ironstone, exactly like thatof theManitounik 
 Islands on the east side of Hudson's Bay. 
 
 Two miles below the Burnt Ra])id the cliff" on the right side is 200 Terraced cliff, 
 feet high, in four terraces or steps of about tifty feet each. The first 
 or lowest, consists of soft drab sandy marl, the second, of the yellow- 
 weathering, concretion-bearing baud ; the third, of soft grey homo- 
 geneous sandstone. (On the opposite side of the river the band cor- 
 responding with the last-mentioned has a thin seam of lignite near ^"'^''*'- 
 the top.) The fourth or top step consists of very soft grey homo- 
 geneous sandstone, weathering yellow, which occupies the lower two- 
 
14 cc 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERR [TORY. 
 
 Pointe Terre 
 
 Drowned 
 Rapid. 
 
 Black petro- 
 leum-bearing 
 sandstone. 
 
 Petroleum- 
 impregnated 
 marl. 
 
 Slaty cleavage 
 
 thirds, while the upper third of the cliff" consists of drift. At Pointe 
 Terre IJrnk' on the i-ight side, tivo miles below Burnt Rajnd. and six above 
 Petite Riviere B<juffimte, the bank is 200 feet high in three stejjs, the 
 first or lowest consisting of dark drab finely arenaceous marl ; the 
 second, of the concretion-bearing bed, and the third, of homogeneous 
 grej'' sandstone in the lower half and stratitied sandstone in the upper. 
 
 Rapids begin a mile and a-half below the Petite Riviere Bouttante, 
 and continue at short intervals all the wa}' to the junction of the Clear- 
 water, the average fall in this ])art of the river being from tive to ten 
 feet in the mile. At the Drowned Rapid, four miles below the last 
 named river, some fossils were found in the harder arenaceous beds. 
 Upon these, and those found at the Burnt Rapid. Mr. AVliiteaves 
 reports as follows: — (1) Fossil wood, apparently coniferous; (2) an 
 Ammonitoid, like Olcostephanus or Haploceras. a species with a com- 
 paratively simple sutural line ; (3) a small gasteropod, like Cinulia ; 
 (4) a 'J'ellina or Thracia; (5) a Venus or Cyprina ; (6) a Protocardium : 
 (7) a Nucula ; (8) an aviculoid shell, probably- Inoceramus ; (9) a 
 Pecten and some other lamellibranchiate bivalves. These fossils 
 evidently belong to the Cretaceous system. They are tolerabl}^ well 
 preserved, but most of the specimens collected are bi-oken, and are 
 not sufticientlj' perfect to determine the species with an}' certainty. 
 
 At the Drowned Rapid a black petroleum-bearing tine-grained sand- 
 stone first makes its appeai-ance, and becomes abundant and conspicu- 
 ous henceforward nearly to the delta of the river or wnthin a short 
 distance of Athabasca Lake. It undej-lies all the strata heretofore 
 desrcibed, and further down the river it was found to have a thickness 
 of 200 feet. Only ten feet are exposed at Drowned Rapid, but this 
 increases to twelve at the top and fifteen at the bottom of the Rapide 
 Milieu, and to forty feet at the Rapide Pas-de-Bout. The blackened 
 bed at the Drowned Rapid ajipears to represent the highest of the- 
 petroleum-bearing sti'ata so largely develojied further down. The 
 overlying marls, which are probably the means of preventing the 
 petroleum in any quantity from rising higher in these rocks, also con- 
 tain a little of the oil and yield its characteristic odor. The petroleum- 
 impregnated marl, which is dark, unctuous, and glossj', throws off the 
 water, or allows it to pass unabsorbed through any openings which 
 may exist. '• Mud" of this kind was used to cover ti roof at Fort 
 McMurray, after the usual fashion adopted in the country, but it was 
 found to allow the rain to pass so frecl}' through that it became neces- 
 sary to replace it by clay of another kind. It is possible that the 
 indigo color or othe;- dark tints of some of the Cretaceous marls higher 
 up in the series may be due to traces of petroleum. 
 
 The fine-grained marly sandstone, blaekenel by petroleum at the 
 
OELL ] ATHABASCA. 15 C C 
 
 Drowned Rapid, has a stronjij cleavage, tlie ])lanes of which vnn X. 35° E., 
 and underlie to the north-westward at an angle of 20° from the perpen- 
 dicular. It is divided also b}' horizontal planes which probably repre- 
 sent the bedding. At a temperature of 60° Fahr. the mass is sufii- Properties of 
 ciently plastic to bend considei-ably before breaking. When cut with t'laring 
 
 .,,,,. , . , 1.1 1 .11 iTTi sandstoue. 
 
 a knife the shavnigs or chi])s curl up like those of haril .soap. When 
 worked in the hand it becomes softened, and may be mouUled like 
 putty, and is (juite as brittle. In a fire of wood it soon ignites, burning 
 for some time with a smoky flame, and then falling to powder, which 
 floats if thrown into cold water. If a piece of it be immersed in a hot 
 state it will not part with the oil, but repels the water strongly. 
 
 The Riipide Milieu occurs at two miles below the Drowned Rapid, and 
 the Eapide Pas-de-Bout at three miles further. Between these two, 
 as already mentionetl, the top of the concretionary band, which is about 
 fifty feet thick, has gained an elevation of 200 feet above the river in Highbank. 
 a bank about 300 feet high. At the Eapide Milieu a split sandstone 
 concretion was observed on the right side of the river, which 
 measured twenty-five feet in diameter on the sui-face of the dividing 
 plane. Along the right side of the Eapide Pas-de-Bout the black 
 fine-grained marly petroleum-bearing sandstone forms a steep bank 
 forty feet high. In order to gain a foothold in lowering our canoe 
 past the rapitl it was necessary to chop numerous notches in the face 
 of this bank, and it was observed that the tough pitchy mass had no 
 perceptible effect in blunting the axes, so that the fine jjarticles of 
 sand, of which it is principally composed, must have been free to yield 
 before the edge. At some places where there appeared to be an excess asphl^f 
 of asphalt, the bank had softened in the sun's heat and flowed down, 
 forming large pitchy masses at the bottom. About a mile above the 
 narrow point at the Crooked Eapid, the black petroleum-bearing strata 
 have a slight dip to the south-west on the left, and to the north-east on 
 the right side, while on the point itself they dip south-east, at an angle 
 of 10° to 15° in the lower part of the section, which consists of sixty uneonform- 
 feet of sand saturated with petroleum, but they are perfectly horizon- '^'''^'**' 
 tal in the upper part, which is formed of about sixty feet of sandy 
 marls with petroleum, thus showing a local want of conformability. 
 
 On the upper or south-west side of this point the first, of the Devon- First Devonian 
 ian rocks are seen at the water's edge. They consist of a few feet of "^ ^ 
 earthy, bluish-grey crumbling or " lumpy" lime.sttone, with a solid bed 
 of the same color, a foot thick at the top. The stratification is as 
 level as the surface of the water, so that the overlying beds of the 
 blackened Ci-etaceous sandstone rest upon them at the above-mentioned 
 angle of 10° to 15°. This, however, is onlj' local, for in most cases 
 further down the river, where the contact is frequently seen, both 
 
Eftiinateof 
 FtratH. 
 
 16 C C NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 rockhi are horizontal, notwithstanding^ the i^reat space in geoloirjcal 
 time which separates them. The whole of the 120 feet of tine sandy 
 strata resting on the limestone on the upper side of the Crooked Riipid 
 is more or less impregnated with petroleum. A slight incrustation of 
 salt was seen on these rocks in some parts of the steep bank at this 
 locality. They are capped by about thirty feet of drift. The whole 
 height of the bank '/as found by barometer to be 153 feet. 
 
 Having now reached the base of the Cretaceous rocks on this part of 
 the Athabasca, an estimate may be ^iven, as follows, of the total 
 thickness of these strata in descending order, between Lac la Biche 
 and Crooked Eapid : 
 
 FEBTF. 
 
 Clayey marls, mostly indigo-colored, holding thin layers and tor- 
 toise-shaped concretions of impure clay-ironstone- These 
 strata form the banks from the Biche to the Pelican River. 200 
 
 Arenaceous marls and homogeneous fine-grained grey sandstones 
 
 in the banks from Pelican River to the foot of Grand Rapid 17f' 
 
 Bands of grey sandstone, studded with concretions, which are 
 
 mostly spherical, and of large size, from 30 to 50 
 
 Marls, mostly arenaceous, grey, drab, &c 140 
 
 Fine sandy strata, mostly blackened by petroleum 200 
 
 7G0 
 
 Limestone. 
 
 Section. 
 
 The fall in Crooked Eiipid and Eock En]»id, just below it, amounts 
 to about thirty feet. The ])ortagc trail which ci'osses the narrowest 
 part of the point at the Crooked Eapid is 320 paces in length. At the 
 foot of the portage is a cliff' at the river's edge, exposing seventeen 
 iieet of perfectly flat, crumbling or " lumpy" drab grey limestone, tLe 
 interstices between the lumps, which are small, being occupied by 
 argillaceous material. The harder portions of the rock are full of 
 broken fragments of brachiopod shells and small encrinal columns, 
 which were also abundant in the low ledge of the same rock, at the 
 upper end of the portage. The looser beds hold Atrypa reticularis and 
 a small Orthis. At fen feet from the top of the section a hard bed, six 
 inches thick, produces a projecting ledge or terrace, which runs along 
 the bank of the river for several hundred yai*ds. The surface of this 
 bed is thrown into a succession of little rounded ridges, about throe 
 inches high, at regular intervals, of thi-ee feet apart. The ridges run 
 E. N. B. and W. S. W. (mag.) The surface of this bed is covered with 
 fucoids. which are also abundant in the rest of the section. It also 
 holds a few small rounded pebbles. 
 
 Opposite the foot of the Crooked Eapid portage, or on the left side 
 of the river, the following approximate ascending section occurs : — 
 
bell] ATHABASCA. 17 C O 
 
 FRHT. 
 
 Devonian limestone, like that just described 15 
 
 Petrolenni-bearint: fine sand, not so thoroughly saturatetl with 
 
 the oil as further up the river 90 
 
 Soft, incoherent, greyish sandy marls 135 
 
 Drift 40 
 
 280 
 
 On the left side, opposite to Isle la Biche, the petroleum sand is 50 
 feet thick, but apparently not so rich as usual in the oil. The limestone 
 has here sunk to near the level of the river, and henceforward all the 
 way to the Cascade Eapid it keeps an elevation of onlj- 2 to 4 feet 
 over the water, but the marls increase in thickness, and their bedding 
 forms a small angle with the level surface of the limesione. 
 
 On the left side of the river, about mid-way between Isle la Biche on^ fp^^.^^ 
 and the Cascade Eapid, the sandy petroleum-bearing marls form a bank i';t7'euM 
 nearly 200 feet high. The}' were observed to contain some boulders, or 
 large concretions, but the whole [of the section is below the position 
 of the concretionary band, which formed so conspicuous a feature higher 
 up the river, unless it has been let down by a fault. 
 
 A few feet of the limestones are seen at the foot of the bank on either 
 side of the river, all the way from Crooked Eapid to Fort McMurray, 
 a distance of 20 miles, except at a place four miles below the Cascade 
 Eapid, and another about four miles below Mountain Eapid, where its 
 surface sinks below the level |of the water. They generally "adulate Tj^j^^j^f^jj^. 
 slightly and are usually planal down to an even surface, so that thei\*''"'y"f 
 
 "^ •' _ "^ ^ ' limestones. 
 
 petrol-^um-bearing sand rests unconformably upon them. At a few 
 places, in approaching Fort McMurray, the surface of the limestone is 
 uneven, and covered over by the petroleum strata. 
 
 The river at the Cascade Eapid passes down over two or three broad ^^^qj^jq Rapid, 
 ledges or steps in the limestone, the descent amounting to 8 or 10 feet. 
 Five or six feet of the same rock are exposed in the left bank of the 
 river. Eesting on this is a bed of conglomerate, which varies from a conglomerate, 
 foot to four feet in thickness, made up of r ounded pebbles and a few 
 small boulders of quartzite, ironstone, gneiss and limestone. Above 
 it are SO or 90 feet of the petroleum-bearing sandy marl. In one place 
 a patch of sandy pitch, soft and plastic in the sun's heat, has nin out 
 over the limestone of the beach. Three miles below the Cascade Eapid, 
 on the left side, are 80 feet of petroleum strata. The upper 40 feet are 
 marly, of a brown coloi', and show the lines of stratification, while the 
 lower 40 feet are black, homogeneous and massive, forming an almost 
 perpendicukir cliff. This part is evidently quite saturated with thenar. 
 
 2 
 
Mountain 
 Rapid. 
 
 18 CC 
 
 NORTH-WEST TEKRITuKY. 
 
 thiokoned petroleum. The '' tai- " i-un.s out of it in many jilaces under 
 the heut of the Mun, and in one jiiace it fc^rm.s a little stream. 
 
 On the right side of the river, at the Mountain JJapid. tine, pitchy 
 Hand forms a bank 8(> to i>0 feet high. Kight or nine leet of the linie- 
 tstono are seen under this baidv, in the form i-epresented in the cut. 
 
 Section of Cretacfx)U8 Sandstone overlying Devonian Limestone inconform- 
 ABI.V ; showing sANnv PITCH flowing down the bank. Athabasca Eiver. 
 
 Little Fishery 
 Kiver.i 
 
 The sandy pitch softens under the sun's heat, and flows in large viscid 
 masses down the face of the bank and over the limestone at its base. 
 Tar and pitch wore noticed flowing down the banks in sevcial places 
 between this Eapid and Fort McMurray. A shallow depression has 
 been scooped out of the limestone on the left side, at the foot of the 
 Mountain Rapid, and on the opposite si<le of the river a low rounded 
 elevation has been left on the denuded surface of the horizontal beds, 
 as seen in cross section. At about one mile below the foot of Mountain 
 Eapid, where the limestone has sunk beneath the level of the river, the 
 petroleum strata, which ai'OU]>wards of 100 feet thick, dip up stream, at 
 angle of 10° in the upper part of the section, while in the lower part, the 
 layers are nearly horizontal. On the right side opposite the mouth of 
 the Little Fishery River, three miles above Fort McMurray, where about 
 TO feet of the petroleum sand are exposed in the bank, a want of con- 
 
«ELL.] 
 
 AT1IABA9CA. 
 
 19 CO 
 
 formity in tlie strata ocTurs at about 15 feet ubow thu livi-r, l.ijt tlu- lino 
 niai-kin/r this cl»an<;o in the stratiticati«)n, slopes down to the level of the 
 water, as shown in ligure. 
 
 W feet of 
 samlstoiie. 
 
 15 feet of 
 sandstone . 
 
 Sbctiox of Cretacbois Sandhtoxes snowixc; a local ixcoxkoiimaimlity. 
 
 AtHAIUSC-A KlVKK. 
 
 The limestone has a height of about 12 feet above the water, on both 
 sides of the river at Horse-trail Creek above Fort MeMui'ra}^, 
 
 It will be observed by the map that the general upward course of the 
 Clearwater Eiver, from its mouth to the ^lethy Portage, has nearly the 
 same bearing as the downward course of the Athabasca from the Great 
 Bend at Polnte la Biche. The point of junction of the two i-ivers is 
 known as The Forks. The mouth of the river at Lake Athabasca liosTheFork.-*. 
 due north from The Forks, the distance being 132 miles, and the stream 
 lies wholly on the west side of a straight line drawn beween these points, 
 but at no great distance fi-om it. On entering the lowgi'ound lying to 
 the south of the lake, the river forms a delta, which begins b}- giving 
 oft' the Riviere des Embarras, at 112 miles in a straight line from Thec„„ygg^,f tj^^ 
 Forks. The Athabasca ftows in a tolerably direct course from The Forks ^'''"'"'**"'- 
 to the head of the Delta. If a straight line be drawn between these 
 points, it will be found to have a bearing of X. T" AV. (ast.) and to cut 
 the river just mid-way between them, the upper half lying close to its 
 west, and the lower half close to its east side. For the first twenty 
 miles, the course of the stream is so direct on this bearing, that it does 
 not vary from it to the extent of its own width, which is about twenty 
 chains. The lower half of the section between The Forks and the head 
 of the delta has many islands, all along, and the average breadth isl*''*nd8. 
 increased to nearly half a mile. From The Forks to the head of the 
 delta the river is rather shallow, and flows with a swift current, expos- 
 ing many sand-bars at low water, but from this point the main channel 
 is deeper and narrower, with only a few islands, and no sand-bars. The 
 Eivi(^re des Embarras appears to take less than a third of the water, and Embarras. 
 below it the principal channel soon turns to the north-east, and at 18 
 
20 C NORTH-WEST TKKR1T<»HY. 
 
 miloH in a Htnii^ht lino divl<los at the Grand T?ammon into two almost 
 0(iual Itrandies, tlu' westorn one flowini^ north, lor alM)ut 11 milew to 
 tiu' open lake. At tlie end of this distaneo Fort Chipew^'an is seen to 
 the norMi-wehtwani on the oi)i)Osito nido of the lake at a distance of 10 
 miloM. 
 iMdtance-t from Fort Mi'Mnrray. at The Forkn, is Bituatod on the upper side of the 
 McMurray. mouth of the (Jlearwater. According to my track-survey of the river 
 bek)W this p(»iiit, the following ai'o the distances in straight lines 
 from Fort McMurray to the principal localities, which are hero givea 
 for convenience of reference : — 
 
 MII.FA 
 
 Upiter Stt«i>-bank River from the rijrht I'l 
 
 l8olate<l bluff of Devonian limestone, on rij.dit, 35 foot hi>;l). A 
 similar hluff on the ojuxtsitti nideof the river. Salt is dej)os- 
 ite<l from water flowing over a blutf of the i>otrol(»nm 
 strata, half a mile to the eastward of the first-named limo- 
 
 .stono i)lnir. The locality is called La Saline 25 
 
 From the last loi^ality low cliffs of LHn'onian limostnaie are fre- 
 
 (juont alf)n^ the ri^'ht side of the river for 10 miles, or to 35 
 
 Lower Ste©i)-bank River on right 30 
 
 Little Red River on left 31 
 
 Moose River ( >n left 41 
 
 Tar River on left 42 
 
 Riviere an ( 'alumet on left 47 
 
 I'ointe-aux-Trenibles cm ri<;ht 81 
 
 The grave of a former Indian Chief known as The Carcajou's 
 
 Sleep on the left 90 
 
 Head of tho delta, or commencement of the Riviere des Embarras 
 
 on left of main stn^am 112 
 
 Tho three mouths of tho Athabasca, close together, and duor^orth 
 
 (ast.) of The Forks 132 
 
 Steep risrht Leaving Tho Forks, in going down the stream, a bare steep bank 
 
 skirts tho river for many miles on the right side, while on the left there 
 is a level interval of half a mile to a mile in width, on the west side of 
 which a wooded slope rises to a height corresponding with the bank on 
 the right. For the first twelve miles the right bank varies from 100 to 
 150, and in some places to nearly 200 feet in height, and consists of 
 Coaly fine quartz sand saturated with petroleum, Avhich gives it a coaly 
 
 iipi)eiirancc. appearance, when freshly exposed, resting on a fcAV feet of Devonian 
 limestone. The stratification is generally nearly horizontal, but the ten- 
 dency to cleave across the bedding, as described when these rocks were 
 first met with at the Drowned Eapid (vide ante), which sometimes 
 develops itself in the more homogeneous beds, and the lamination 
 of others may have induced former travellers, such «8 Sir John Rich- 
 ardson and Professor Macoun to call the rocks " bituminous shales " ; 
 Liftnite and but, as already stated, they were found to contain fossil wood, lignite 
 sheu*°^*^"* and Cretaceous shells. Owing to the black color of the whole mass the 
 fossil wood and the lignite would escape ordinary observation, but they 
 may be found in greater or less quantity when carefully looked for at 
 
«iu.] ATHABASCA. 21 C C 
 
 almoKt any locality whoro those rocks occur. Near the top of the high 
 bank on the right, at twelve miles from Fort M(>rui-ray, there is a 
 seam of lignite, apparently three or foiii* feet in thiikness. Among yu^ 
 the fresh fragments which had fallen from it were some blocks a foot 
 in diameter. 
 
 Below this point the right bank diminishes in height, but still con- 
 sists of the black, petroleum-soaked, tine sand until i-caching a point 
 foui-toen miles below Tar River, or tifty-three miles below Fort 
 McMurray. Further down, banks and hills of loose sand are wca- jj,,,,^, ^^^1 j,i,lg 
 sionally seen, on the right side, either overlooking the river or at a "'^ ■"""'• 
 shortdistance back fi'om it. Four miles above Pointe-aux-Trembles 
 the right bank, composed of sand, rises to a height of (JO or 70 feet, 
 and, a little lower down, sand hills 150 feet high are seen on the same 
 side, a short distance back from the river. Similar hills, 70 or SO feet 
 high, extend at a short distance inland, from six to nine miles below 
 the point just referred to. Further on, banks of i-eddish, yellowish and 
 light grey sand. ab<mt 30 feet high, occur at a few places on the same 
 side to within nine miles of the head of the delta, where the last of 
 them is passed. 
 
 On the west side, as already mentioned, there is a level intervale, ^Ve<,t],ank 
 nearly a mile wide, between the i-iver ami the foot of the main bank, 
 extending for several miles below The Forks. The bank comes chjse 
 to the river at 18 miles down, and from Tar River, at 42 miles, it fol- 
 lows the side of the stream for a distance of 20 miles. The last bank 
 near the river, on the west side, is 13 miles further down, or at 73 
 miles, in a straight line, from F6rt Mc^Iurray; but rising ground was 
 observed a short distance back, opposite to Pointe-aux-Trembles, at 81 
 miles from the same place. It will, therefore, be observed that the 
 east or right bank of the Athabasca, below The Forks, is the highest, 
 and that it keeps more closely to the river than the other. 
 
 The petroleum-bearing sandy strata, which are so well seen on the i>etroicum- 
 east side for the first 53 miles below The Forks, occur only at intervals ''®''""*'^''*^''- 
 along the left side of the river. They were noted at the following dis- 
 tances, measured in straight lines from Fort McMurray, namely: — 18, 
 42 (Tar River), 49, 51, 74 and 87 miles (both sides). Almost everywhei-e 
 along the black banks on the east side the asphaltic sand has softened ^.^^^^ ^^ 
 Tinder the sun's heat and flowed down to the foot of the bank in viscid a''P*i»i''c sand, 
 masses, which appear to contain a rather larger percentage of ])etro- 
 leura than the undisturbed strata. At a temperature of about 60^ Fh. 
 the sandy pitch of these flows has the consistence of hard cheese, and 
 when cut or penetrated by a knife it has no tendency to stick to the 
 blade. In some places, however, it is much thinner, and even small 
 pools of oil and thin tar had formed in connection with it. At the 
 
22 cc 
 
 NOETH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 Pel)l)Ic,= 1111(1 
 boulders in 
 pitch. 
 
 Tar oozintr 
 from bunks. 
 
 ordinaiy temperature it generally yields only very slighth' to the 
 pressure of the foot, but on warm days the men employed in tracking 
 the boat up the river occasionally experienced some inconvenience 
 fi'om their feet sinking into the }titch. If W(n'ked in the hand, this 
 pitch, and even the xxndisturbed petroleum-beai'ing sand, as already 
 stated, will adhere to the fingers very tenacioasly. 
 
 In flowing, with a rolling movement, over the beach of the river, the 
 sandy ]»itch incorporates the pebbles and boulders, which, in some 
 places, become a large proportion of the mixture, and when this is 
 tiattene<l by the pressure of the passing ice it forms a natural asj>haltic 
 pavement. 
 
 During the warm weather, tar, or thin pitch, free from any mixture 
 of sand, oozes out of the banks, as if by pressure, in places where the 
 black strata appear to be supersaturated with the thickened petroleum. 
 This accumulates among the vegetable matter on low ground, and may 
 be collected in considerable quantities. It is possible that the tar also 
 rises in some places by pressure from beneath. It is taken in barrels to 
 the posts of the Hudson's Bay Company and to the mission stations, 
 and after boiling it down so that it will harden on cooling, it is used 
 for paying over boats, roofs, etc. Tar is taken for these purposes near 
 the bank of the river, at points situated at the following distances in 
 straight lines from Fort McMurray, all being on the right side: 19, 
 33, 36, 40 and 51 miles. Bishop Faraud, of Lac la Biche, informed 
 me that he had seen a large quantity of this tar on an island in the 
 rivei-, which would be about 60 miles below Fort McMurray. At the 
 first of these localities, 19 miles down, the tar is found at 640 paces 
 back from the bank of the river, on ground between 50 and 100 feet 
 above its level and a short distance from the foot of a second bank 
 Crust over tar. about 15 feet high. The surface at the ]ilace is formed of hardened 
 pitch, overgrown with moss, etc., and more or less mixed with veget- 
 able matter and fine sand. The latter may have been washed down 
 from the bank above mentioned. Sixteen small holes had been broken 
 through this crust, and, at most of them, tar had been extracted from 
 beneath it, with wooden spatulas. The locality at 40 miles down is 
 scarcely a mile above the mouth of Moose River, which enters from 
 the opposite side. Here the tar oozes out with springs of clear water 
 only a few feet above high water mark and 20 or 30 yards out from 
 the foot of a bank of the petroleum-bearing sand 30 or 40 feet high. 
 Both the water and tar are covered with a crust of hardened pitch 
 mixed with moss and other vegetable matter, but which is still ]»lastic 
 enough to yield to the pressure of the foot. Hole-i are broken through 
 the crust and the fresh tar is collected with wooden spatulas, and 
 placed in barrels for removal. A thick kind of tar is found in holes. 
 
 Localities of 
 tar. 
 
bell] ATHABASCA. 23 CT 
 
 under the cleur water, while u thinner variety floats on top of it under 
 the hardened crust. 
 
 All aloni^ the bunks of the Athabasca, in the neighbourhood of the 
 asphaltic deposits, an odor of petroleum, which in this case is notOiiorof 
 unpleasant, pervades the air, especially in warn\ weather. Blotches '"^^'^"''^""^ 
 of ifi"idt'scent oily scum and small patches of petroleum may be seen 
 floatini^ on the water near the edges of the river all the way from The 
 Forks to the mouth, and these occasionally collect together against 
 projecting sticks and logs. The economic value of the petroleum and 
 asphalt of the Athabasca region will be referred to further on. 
 
 The yellowish-grey Devonian limestone f)i'ms low ledges and bluffs i)..,, •, 
 along the foot of the banks of petroleum-bearing sand on the east side/''"'-''*'""®- 
 all the way from the Forks to a point six miles below the mouth of 
 the Little Eed Eiver, a distance of thirty-seven miles. It is also seen 
 at a number of [>laces on the west side to within three miles of the 
 same distance. The rock is generally thin-bedded and somewhat 
 earthy, Avith rough surfaces. 
 
 Some beds of a drab color and containing a considerable percentage 
 of carbonate of iron, in fact approaching the character of clav-iron-o. • 
 
 '11'^ J Clay iron- 
 
 stone, were found about four miles below The Forks. -'tone. 
 
 Fossils were collected from the limestones here and there all the,n ., 
 
 iossiLs. 
 
 way from The Forks to the last exposure on the river. Among them 
 the following have been recognised by Mv. NVhiteaves : Pleiirotomaria, 
 well-preserved casts; a Bucania, Panvyclas elUptlca (Conrad sp.), a 
 Paloeoneilo, a Leptodesma, and two other species of Aviculid:e, ; a Meris- 
 tella or Athyris; a Spin f era, — like S. Ziczac (Hall); Orthis striatali, 
 (Schlotheim) or possibly the young of 0. lowensis (Hall) ; Atrypa reticu- 
 laris (Linn), abundant and well preservetl ; StropJialosia productoides; 
 and a small fragment of a Stromato]>orid. One of the most singular 
 fossils collected from these rocks is a brachiopod shell, like an Atrypa, 
 about three-fourths of an incii long, with a thin smooth and translucent 
 shell, remarkable for having preserved its original colors. It shows 
 eleven rows of tlistinct brown spots on the dorsal valve, radiating 
 from the beak, and six or seven rows on the ventral valve. Sir John 
 Richardson mentions having also found a fossil in these rocks which 
 had preserved the color of the shell when alive. Instances of this 
 phenomenon are very rare in such ancient rocks. A Cephalopod, like 
 Gomphoi^eras or Cyrtoceras, was found in these limestones at Mountain 
 Rapid, higher up the river. 
 
 The general attitude of the strata is about horizontal ; the bedding is 
 however, seldom quite level for any greatdistance, but undulates slightly 
 in all directions, until it finally disappears under the river, and nothing 
 is seen in the banks but the petroleum-bearing sand and the drift. 
 
24 cc 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 Indicntionsof 
 theEurigiii of 
 tho{i>etrulouui. 
 
 Petroleum. 
 
 Source of the 
 petroleum. 
 
 Age of 
 petroleum- 
 producing 
 strata. 
 
 South shore 
 
 Lake 
 
 Athabasca. 
 
 of 
 
 The walls of the transverse joints and other spaces in the limestone 
 were fretiuently observed to be blackened with petroleum, and at a 
 place nearly opposite to the mouth of the Little Eed River, some 
 irregular cavities contained insjjissated pitch. These limestones were 
 not found to yield petroleum on fresh fracture, although they had 
 occasionally a bituminous smell, but traces of the oil were afterwards 
 found ill a bed of limestone on the ClearWater JRiver, which Avould be 
 much lower down in the formation. There is little doubt but that 
 the vast quantities of somewhat altered petroleum contained in the 
 soft Cretaceous sandstones of the Athabasca region have been derived 
 from the Devonian limestones, immediately underlying them, which 
 are probably very thick. 
 
 Sir John Richardson mentions the occurrence of black pitch or bitu- 
 men in patches, and as tilling tissures in several places in the limestones 
 of this formation along the Slave and Mackenzie Rivers. • Copious 
 springs of liquid petroleum are known to rise out of these limestones 
 in the western part of Great Slave Lake. These have been described 
 by mj'self from the verbal accotmts of officers of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, in the Journal of the Canadian Institute (Toronto) for 18S1, 
 to which the reader is referred for fuller details. That the petroleum 
 came from below would be expected in accordance with natural laws, 
 and from the fact that the higher rocks of these regions to the south 
 and west would have been very unlikely to produce any petroleum, 
 even if they had once extended all over this region. Where the con- 
 tact of the sandy petroleum-bearing strata with the higher Cretaceous 
 rocks was seen at the Drowned Raj^id, it was observed that the oil was 
 prevented from passing upward by tenaceous clayey strata. It may 
 occasionally tind an upAvard passage through these confining argil- 
 laceous beds, and this would account for the isolated springs or wells 
 of })etroleum which are reported as occui-ring in various parts of the 
 Athabasca-Mackenzie country. The drift resting on the black petro- 
 leum-bearing strata was nowhere observed to be imjn'egnated with the 
 oil, showing that it had saturated the Cretaceous strata, probably as a 
 thin liquid, and become altered to its present state long before the 
 glacial period. The supposition that this petroleum has been derived. 
 froLi the Devonian rocks is in harmony with w^hat is known to occui* 
 in Gaspe. Western Ontario and the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania. 
 
 High ground, like the east bank of the river below the Forks, is seen 
 near the shore of Lake Athabasca, to the eastward of the mouth of the 
 river. Very little is known of the southern shore of the lake, as it is 
 but little frequented. Two men w^ere met with, however, who had 
 travelled along it, and from them it was learned that low clitfs and 
 ledges of limestone are to be seen at a few points. On the south side 
 
SELL.] ATHABASCA. 25 C C 
 
 of the eastern extremity, and on Black Lake further east. Mr. A. S. 
 Cochrane, in 1881, found red sandstone and red sandstone-conglome- 
 rate, with rounded pebbles of white quartz. Red sandstone is said to ued sandstone. 
 occur at the second fall on the Clearwater above the Methy Portage, 
 and at a distance of about twelve miles from it. Mr. Walter Fi-ancklyn 
 informed me that he met with what he supposed to be red sandstone 
 on the Deer's Eiver, by which he travelled from the Churchill River 
 to Cree Lake, tlie largest sheet of water lying to the south of Atha- 
 basca Lake. The bouldei-s about Fort Chipewyan are principally of 
 reddish sandstone, with white quartz pebbles, and i-eddish-grey (jiiartz- 
 ite. The south-westward course of the glacial sti-ia' in this neigh- 
 borhood shews that these boulders came down the lake. The gravel 
 ■and sand are also chief! }' formed of the debris of red sandstone. 
 
 The northern side of Lake Athabasca presents a great contrast to the ^^''^th side of 
 
 '- ° Luke 
 
 southern. The latter consists of either low ground, or level plateaus, AtUabusca. 
 underlaid by almost horizontal strata, and all clothed with timber, while 
 the northern is formed of rounded hills of Laureutian and lluronian 
 rocks. Avith little soil, and often denuded of its timber by tire. At Fort 
 Chipewyan, the rock is a red gneiss, strongly banded and ribboned. The 
 average strike is S. 15° W (mag). The islands and points around the 
 western extremity of the lake and at the outlet of Lake Mammawee, 
 are all composed of gneiss. At the latter locality, the average strike 
 ■of the gneiss, which is mostly red, is S. 8° W (mag). The Huronian 
 series, which Mr. A. S. Cochrane found on the northern side of the 
 lake, about thirty miles north-eastward of Fort Chipewyan, and at 
 three other localities further east on the same side, was not detected 
 around the western extremity of the lake. 
 
 On the return journey, as before mentioned, the route followed was cioarwatcr 
 that by way of the Clearwater River, and Isle a la Crosse. In ascend- 
 ing the river, the plateau of petroleum-bearing Cretaceous bands which Petroleum- 
 
 ^ ^ i- i- o bearing rocks. 
 
 comes out in the east bank of the Athabasca, below The Forks, appears 
 to continue for some miles up the north side. Large masses of the sandy 
 pitch, such as flow down the steep banks of the Athabasca, were found 
 in the bed of the Clearwater river, at 11, 13 and 17 miles above The 
 Forks. Small quantities of petroleum were observed floating on the 
 river up to the last-mentioned point. 
 
 Devonian limestone, like that of the Athabasca, was observed at Devonian 
 intervals along the Clearwater, for the first twelve miles in going up, 
 and again at all the portages, which are five in number, and begin at 
 about two-thirds of the distance from The Forks to the Methy Portage. 
 The empty boats can he towed past all the rapids at these poi'tages 
 except the uiDpermost. The first is calleil the Cascade ; the second, the Five portages. 
 Bonne, and the third the Gros Roche. These all follow each other in 
 
26 C C \ORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 clof^e succession. The fourth, or Pas, is between two and three miles- 
 above the Gi-oH Itoche, and tlie fifth, or Terre Bhinche, about five and 
 a-Jiaif aijove the Pas. They are all within a space of about nine miles. 
 €a.-ciii]c Kai.id. The ruck at the Cascade Itapid is a thickly bedded, hard, yellowish- 
 Pas Rapid. gi'cy limestone, with a bituminous odor on fresh fracture. At the Pas 
 Rapid, and in the valley of the river above, and to the north of it, much 
 rock is exposed. It consists of a porous or sponiry-i^rey, bituminous 
 Free limestone. One bed in the vicinity of the rapid was stained with free 
 
 |iftrol(!uui. , t , 1 I .11 r. 1 1- 1 • 1 • 1 
 
 jtetroleum. Islands andpularsof tlie limestone stand m the river at tlie 
 
 Sand. rapid, and in the sand which covers the bottom of the valley in the 
 
 neighborhood. In some places the limestone is cavernous, and all the 
 exposures are much decayed and eroded. The valley itself appears 
 to be of pro-glacial origin. It is between 500 and GOO feet deep, 
 and its banks, towards the top, are very steep. In the neighborhood 
 of the rapiiis they expose bare spots of light-coloured, gravelly-clay. 
 On the north slope of the valley, between the Pas and Terre Blanche 
 Rapids, at about two miles below the latter, a cliff of thickly bedded 
 
 Por.uF or massive light-grey limestone was found. It is of a porous character, 
 
 and the weathered surface shows numerous holes, resembling the bur- 
 rows of swallows in a sand cliff. A cave has been worn out in one 
 
 Terre Blanche p^ii't of the cliff. At the Teije Blanche Rapid, the river passes down 
 ^' ■ amongst the high islands and points of grey limestone, which is much 
 
 shattered on the surface by the weather, but otherwise it appears to be 
 mostly of a massive character. Xo fossils were observed in the rocks 
 at any of the rapids, and they appear to belong to a part of the 
 Devonian sy>tem, somewhat lower than the fossiliferous beds immedi- 
 ately underlying the Cretaceous further west. 
 
 Mineral Numerous streams oi' mineral water flow into the Clearwater fi'om 
 
 spnngs- 
 
 springs on the slopes on either side, all the way fi'om The Forks to the 
 rapids. They deposit a bluish-white, flocculent precipitate along their 
 course, and have a slight odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. The most 
 notable group of these springs occurs on the north side, about four 
 miles below the first, or Cascade Rapid, and the locality is known as 
 The Mineral Springs. Here the springs are very copious, issuing from 
 the bank in a number of places, for a space of 300 yards in length. The 
 largest single spring forms a small brook itself, and the addition of these 
 and all the other mineral springs which flow in further down, must 
 increase considerably the soluble salts in the water of the whole river. 
 The uppermost spring of the group is not seen from the rive 'lut flows 
 out among masses of thtj limestone, and falls into a small brook. From 
 a large spring near the mouth of this brook, five and a-half quarts of 
 the water were taken and boiled down. This yielded 1.36 ounces 
 (avoirdupois) of crude salt, and from one-fifth to one-fourth more ad- 
 
BELL.] ATIIAHASCA. 27 C C 
 
 hored to the lari^o kettle, whicli was used in cvaporiitin,i>; the water, ^[r. Composition of 
 
 Ilotl'manii fiiuls this salt to contain potash, soda, magnesia and lime. -iH ">f water. 
 
 in eonsiderahlo quantity as sul])hates, chlorides and cai-l>onates. The 
 
 water of this spring, (and all the other sj)rings) is very cleai- and bright, 
 
 and lias a pleasant saline, and slightly alkaline and sulphurous taste. 
 
 These springs have, no doubt, valuable medicinal ])roperties. and being 
 
 situated in a picturesque locality, they may ut some future time become 
 
 resorts for invalids, when this part of the North-west Territory shall 
 
 have been opened up by railways and peopled. The composition of the 
 
 water is more particularly described in i?c])Oit MM. by Mi-. Jlotlinann. 
 
 The Methy, or Long Portage, crosses the height-of-land, which Methy Portage, 
 divides tho waters flowing into the Arctic Sea, by way of the Macken- 
 zie liiver, from those flowing into I [udson's Bay by way of the Churchill. 
 It is nearly twelve miles in length, and connects the Clearwater Kiver 
 with the head of the Methy (Dogfish) Lake. The Clearwater, as alieady 
 staled, runs in a deep valley, excavated principally out of drift, but Deci. valley, 
 exposing, towards the bottom, Ci-etaceous sand with petroleum, Devo- 
 nian limestone as up far as the i-apids, and it is said, red sandstone at 
 the second fall about twelve miles above the Methy Portage, The brink 
 of the bank on the south side, on the portage trail, is a mile and a-half 
 from the Clearwater, md it was found by the bai-ometer to have an 
 elevation of 540 feet above it. The bank here consists of a stiff, pebbly- 
 grey clay. From this point to the ^[ethy Lake, the trail, for the most 
 part, passes over white sand mingled with stones, which are princii)ally white 
 
 ^ • 1 1 -f ^ -^ -.u c ■ duartzite 
 
 fine-grained, white quartzite with some of gneiss. ptonts. 
 
 No geological facts worthy of special notice were ascertained on the 
 journey from Methy Lake to Isle a la Crosse Lake, The latter lake is iic-a-ia-Crosso 
 the meeting place of the waters from all directions, and the surround- 
 ing countiy is low, sandy and swampy. Eocks, in situ, were not observed, 
 but a small exposure of limestone is said to exist in a cove on the west 
 side of the arm leading from Clear Lake, a few miles from the Hudson's 
 Bay Company's post. Mr. Walter Francklyn, of this establishment, has 
 sent me a perfect specimen of Orthis subquadrata (Hall), which had 
 been t'onnd at the lake. This species would indicate the horizon of the 
 Trenton formation or thereabouts. 
 
 The Beaver Eiver, for twenty-five uules from its mouth (in I le-a-la- Beaver River. 
 Crosse Lake), flows through a fiat country, and is filled with long, narrow, 
 marshy islands, which Ibim a singular feature of this part of its course. 
 The soil on either side, like that around Isle-a-la-Crosse Lake, continues 
 sand}- and poor until reaching the (Irand Ilapi<l, above which a great 
 improvement takes place, and the country generally continues to be 
 much better all the way southward to the North Saskatchewan Eiver. 
 At the Grand Eapid, which is about two miles in length, the bed of the 
 
28 cc 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 river is full of bouldei-is, over which the water flows, but in the banks a 
 dark, slate-coloured marl makes its appearance, and although the stra- 
 tificati(m has been disturbed by the pressure of the ancient glacial ice; 
 it is evidently tlie rock of the country, and is considered to be the com- 
 CretaceousareaiitsncGiTient of the Cretaceous area. The change in the nature of the 
 *'*^"^'' surface deposits, which become clayey from this point southward, 
 
 would lead to the same conclusion, the direction of the drift having 
 been from the north-eastward. 
 
 Glacial stria?. 
 
 Drift at Fort 
 Chipewyan. 
 
 Quartzite 
 pebbles and 
 boulders. 
 
 Surface Geology. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the country examined during the season being 
 covered by drift or soft Ci-etaceous rocks, the glacial stria? were 
 seldom seen. At the foot of the Mountain Rapid, on the Athabasca, 
 seven miles above The Forks, these stria} ai-e well seen on a 
 smooth surface of limestone, running S. 80° E. and X. 80° W. (mag.) 
 Near the edge of the water, at the same place, scratches produced on 
 the limestone by the passing of the river ice, run at right angles to 
 the ancient stiise. At Fort Chipewj-an, and again at the Eoraan 
 Catholic Mission, about a mile to the west of it, the stria> are well 
 marked upon the gneiss. Their course varies from S. 55° W. to S. 00° 
 W. (mag.). On the island at the outlet of Lake Maminawee the striae 
 on the gneiss run S. 55° "W. (mag.) 
 
 As elsewhere stated, the boulders about Foi-t Chipewyan are mostly 
 of red sandstone, containing white quartz pebbles. The gravel and 
 sand are also derived from the same sandstone. As this rock is known 
 to occur largely at the east end of the lake and beyond it, and as the 
 course of the glacial strite con-esponds with that of the length of Atha- 
 basca Lake, there is no doubt the material of the drift at this locality 
 has been scooped out of the lake basin. 
 
 An interesting point in reference to the drift in the North-West 
 Territory is the distribution of quartzite pebbles and boulders, which 
 are always thoroughly rounded, very smooth, and usually the boulders 
 are of small size. In u'oinff northward from Fort Pitt to Lac la Biche 
 cobblestones, mostly of htird grey and reddish-grej' sandstone or 
 quartzite, become abundant at Gull Lake, between the crossing of the 
 Beaver River and Lac la Biche. Along with those are some of gneiss. 
 Quartzite pebbles and small boulders are met with all along the Atha- 
 basca from the Biche River to the Great Bend, being in this section 
 probably the most abundant of the travelled constitutents of the drift. 
 On the Meth}' Portage the commonest stones consist of a tine-grained 
 quartzite, which is pure white, thus differing from the grey and red- 
 dish-grey and banded quartzite of the cobblestones and gravel further 
 west. They are generally also somewhat angular or only partly 
 
BEu.l ATHABASCA 29 C C 
 
 rounded, which is another evidence of ditterence. The uneven surface 
 of some of them are smoothed as if by tne blowing of the sand on which 
 they lie. Here, as everywhere in the country traversed during the 
 season, there is a certain proportion of stones of gneiss. Pebbles 
 and cobbltatones of light grey quartzite extended southward on our 
 homeward route for 25 miles south of the southern extremity of 
 Green Lake. 
 
 Specimens of quartzite of various shades of grey and one of a deep Slave Lake, 
 green color, broken from the roc]<;s in situ, were sent me by Captain H. 
 P. Dawson, R.A., from the vicinity of Fort Eae, on the deep northern 
 bay of Great Slave Lake. I have also received frem Mr. G. McTavish 
 a specimen of white quai-tzite from Marble Island, in the north-Avestern ,, l, r . , 
 
 /> TT 1 . T-> 1 • 1 • -1 " Miirblc Island. 
 
 part 01 Hudson s -Bay, which is said to represent a common rock 
 there. The island may li^ive derived its name from the circumstance 
 that this rock bears a close resemblance to white marble. Mr. JRodorick 
 Eoss, of the Hudson's Bay Company, who has travelled much in the 
 country about Lake Athabasca, informed me that boulders and frag- 
 ments of a similar rock are to be found all through the country from 
 that lake to Hudson's Bay. The Eev. Father Petitot has brought 
 pebbles of white quartzite from the bed of the main Mackenzie Eiver; Miickenzic 
 and quartzite of various colors have been found in the Eocky Moun- 
 tains about the head-waters of the South Saskatchewan. Similar rocks 
 may also occur in many regions in the north, north-east and north- 
 west, which have not yet been explored and may not be examined 
 for many yeai-s to come. Until we have the means of distinguishing 
 with certainty all the (^uartzites of this great northern region, the 
 mere occurrence of quartzite debris in the drift proves nothing as to 
 its source or origin. Not much infoi-mation can be derived from the 
 direction of the glacial striie. At Fort Chipewyan it is S. 55° to 60° 
 W. by compass, or only a few degrees south of true west, and at the 
 Mountain Portage on the Athabasca, seven miles above The Forks, it 
 is S. 80° B. magnetic, or S. 54° E. astronomically, so that these two 
 courses would intersect each other at an angle of upwards of 40°. 
 
 Lac la Biche is situated just northward of the Height-of-Land, and it Bi,i=in of L.ac la 
 lies in a shallow basin excavated in stratified clay and sandy loam of ^''^^'^" 
 Post-tertiary age. These deposits appear to extend for many miles in 
 all directions from the lake, and where the country is not too swampy Excellent soil. 
 the soil is excellent, as proved at the farms of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany and the Eoman Catholic Mission, as well as at the gardens of the 
 numerous half-breed settlers around the lake. On the north-east side 
 of the point between the Hudson's Bay Company's post and the Mis- 
 sion a section of the bank was seen to consist of 8 feet of stratified 
 dark colored clay on top of 25 feet of yellowish-grey, fine, sandy clay. 
 
30 cc 
 
 NORTH-WEST TBURITORY. 
 
 CoiiipDsit 
 
 llciplit of 
 
 Origin of 
 valleys. 
 
 Economic 
 minerals. 
 
 Gold. 
 
 Iron. 
 
 on of At the Company's post, which is at the south-east end of the hike, the 
 banks are coniposeil of brownish chiy. Here the pebbles of the beach 
 consist principally of i^rey and reddish-iriry tiuartzite, niostly tine- 
 iCrained and compact; some are ribboned and transliieent, others 
 oj)ii([ue. There are also jn-bbles of whitish chert, dccomposinij silicious 
 material, pur])lish amygdaloid, in which the spots are small and white, 
 black chert with fine white bands, felspar. <;neiss, &c. One pebble of 
 liandsome yellow chalcedony was also found. There is here a j-ow of 
 gneiss bouldei-s in the water, a few feet from the pivsent shore, which 
 lias probably been formed by the sbovini!; of the ice. Lac la Biche is 
 said to lie nowhere moi-e than about twenty feet deep. Its. level was 
 
 lake. f*'""<l '>y the banmieter to be 186 feet above the junction of its outlet 
 with the Athabasca Jliver. Its waters abound in the tinest whitetish 
 which supply a large part of the food of the settlers. 
 
 The valleys of both the Athabasca and Crearwater, as far as they are 
 excavated in the Cretaceous and Devonian strata, may be of pre-glacial 
 origin. There ap])ears to be no evidence that these rivers themselves 
 removed so large an amount of rock ; and drift materials, similar to 
 those of the higher levels, are deposited equally below the more 
 ancient walls. On the east side of the Athabasca, about live miles 
 below the junction of the Pelican Eiver, a large patch of the dark 
 Cretaceous marl from the upper ])art of the bank has slipped over and 
 rests upon a considerable thickness of shingle. At Pointo Brule, 
 neai-ly o[)2)Osite the mouth of the Little Buffalo Eiver, a con^. lerablo 
 quantity of similar shingle and boulders rests on top of the sandstone 
 cliffs about 200 feet high. The banks of the Clearwater, which, 
 excejit near the mouth, are from 500 to 600 feet high, consist i)rin- 
 cipally of ])cbbly drift clays, with Ci-etaccous and Devonian rocks 
 towards the base in some places, as already mentioned. The sandy 
 banks of the Athabasca, towards the head of the delta, have been 
 refen-ed to in describing the river in a previous ])art of this report. 
 
 Economic Minerals. 
 
 My attention was constantly directed to the discovery of economic 
 minerals ami to all the circumstances connected with those already 
 known to exist in the region examined. 
 
 Guld in the form of fine dust was said to have been found bypassing 
 miners and explorers on both the Athabasca and the Clearwater, but I 
 did not succeed in detecting its presence, although it was diligently 
 looked for along both streams. 
 
 Iran. As stated in the description of the Biche Eiver, nodules and 
 thin interrujited 1>eds of clay-ironstone occur in the dark marls of the 
 lowest stretch. The large concretions of low grade ore of the same 
 
roll. 
 
 bsll] ATHABASCA. 'U c C 
 
 kind which are derived from tlie indigo-cohjrod inarU of the Atha- 
 baisca, ahove the Policaii River, have been fully described. Thin Ijods, 
 containing a considerable percentage of carbonate of iron, were found 
 among the Devonian limestones on this river below the ("leai-water, 
 and as clay-ironstone in workable ([uantities occurs elsowhere in the(-|„v ir,,„. 
 Devonian rocks, the jjossibility of rinding larger deposits in this region '^'""'^" 
 should be kept in view. In 18S1 Mr. Cochrane obtained small quanti- 
 ties of red haematite at F(md du Lac, on the northern shore of Lake ju..ihamutite 
 Athabasca, and requested the gentleman in charge to en(|uire and 
 search for iron tires in larger <|uantity. In consetjuence of this, a short 
 time before my arrival at Fort Chipewyan, he had bi-ought to that 
 establishment a large freshly broken specimen of tine magnetic oi-e, .-si^pnetic i 
 said to have been obtained aear the entrance of Black liay, on the same 
 side of the lake. 
 
 Liywte. Seams of lignite, sometimes thick enough to be worked, Lignite. 
 have already been described as occuri-ing amongst the Cretaceous sand- 
 stones and marls on the Athabasca, between the Grand Rapid and the 
 junction of the Clearwater, and a seam three or four feet thick was 
 noticed in the petroleum-bearing sand on the east side, about twelve 
 miles below The Forks. Indications of lignite were also found at other 
 localities in these rocks, but, owing to the general black color, of the 
 banks a seam of the lignite might easily escape observation. 
 
 Ochre. A considerable patch of reddish ochre, or marl, was observed on ochre. 
 the west bank of the Athabasca, about three miles above the Big-mouth 
 Brook, and a deposit of brown ochre, which apjieared to be large 
 enough to be of economic value, occurs on the same side on top of a 
 bank of drift about half-a mile below the Pelican River. 
 
 Clays suitable for brick-making, puddling, etc., were seen in theciays. 
 banks of streams, etc., at various places between Fort Pitt and Lac la 
 Biche, and some of the beds of clay arouml this lake would answer the 
 same purpose. The stilt", dark-coloied mai'ly clays of the Athaiiasca, 
 between the Biche and the Pelican rivers, where tlicy have been 
 exposed to the action of the weather, would probably make good 
 l)ricks. 
 
 Marls. The bottom of Lac la Biche. near the outlet, is said to be Maris, 
 covered with white shell-marl, and the same substance is reported as 
 occurring in other lakes. A liuht <rreenish-l)lue marl is obtained 
 among the Devonian strata near The Forks of the Athabasca, which is 
 highly pi'ized as a wash for the inside of houses. 
 
 Limestone. Some of the Devonian limestones along the Athabasca Limestone 
 would be suitable for burning into lime, and at the rapids of the Clear- 
 water any quantity of a supei-ior quality for this purpose can be 
 obtained. Many of the beds in this neighborhood would make excel- 
 
32 
 
 NORTH-WEST TERRITORY. 
 
 MduldinK Hiiiid 
 
 Sand for gliiss 
 iiiakinK. 
 
 (jlrnphite. 
 
 Salt. 
 
 rialt River. 
 
 Oyi)smn. 
 
 Petroleum and 
 a.«phalt. 
 
 lent huilding stoneM. Mr. Cochrano found imjmre limestones among 
 the Hiironian rocks on the north shore of Lake Athabasca. 
 
 Mou/din'j Sand. A fine loamy sand, apparently suitable for moulding, 
 was observeil at a few points along the Athabasca, between the Grand 
 liapid and The Forks. 
 
 Sdiidfor Gkiss-makiiKj. In the valley of the Clearwater, at the Bonne 
 Portage, and again at the Terre Blanche Portage, large quantities of 
 fine pure white sand oocui-, which, to all appearance, would serve for 
 making good glass. The white sand of the Methy Portage would also 
 answer for the same purpose. 
 
 Grai'/iife. Worn pieces of fine-grained graphite are found on the 
 north shore of Lake Athabasca, near Fond du Lac, and the natives 
 were requested by Mr. Cochrane to try to find it in the solid rock. 
 
 Salt. At the locality known as La Saline, about half-a-mile east of the 
 Athabasca and twenty-five miles below The Forks, a white incrustation 
 of salt is deposited from watei- flowing over a bank of the black 
 petroleum-bearing sand. The salt used in the Athabasca district is, 
 however, brought from Salt River, a small western branch of the 
 Slave River, where it is found of excellent quality on the surface of the 
 ground in crj'stals about the size of those of Liverpool salt, and is sho- 
 veled dii-ectly into the bags in which it is transported. Gypsum is said 
 to occur in economic quantities near the salt. The numerous and 
 copious mineral springs along the Clearwater River, which have been 
 already tlescribcd, are perhaps destined to become of value in the 
 future. 
 
 Petroleum and Asphalt were the most important substances which 
 came under my notice during the season. Their mode of occurrence 
 along the Athabasca, both above and below The Forks and on the 
 Clearwater, has been described in a previous part of this report. 
 These deposits have been referred to by the earlier travellers, espe- 
 cially Sir John Richardson, who described this part of the Athabasca 
 in 1823; but in those days the .science of geology was in its infancy, 
 and no attention had been paid to the geological relations of petro- 
 leum, which was not at that time considered of any commercial 
 value. The asphalt and "tar " of the Athabasca region were, there- 
 fore, referred to as natural cui-iosities rather than from any appreciation 
 of their possible future use. I^ow, however, they may be regarded 
 as of great scientific interest and economic importance, notwith- 
 standing the distance of the locality from present railways. The 
 enormous quantity of asphalt, or thickened petroleum, in such a 
 depth and extent of sand indicates an abundant origin. It is hardly 
 likely that the source from whence it came is exhausted. The whole 
 of the liquid petroleum may have escaped in some parts of the area 
 
MLL.] ATHABASCA. 33 C C 
 
 bolow tho siiiultitone, whiK* in others it is prolmbly still imprisoned 
 in great (|uai tities and may be found by boi-ing. The thitUonedl'uriiuj 
 and blackened residue, which now saturates the sand and renders it 
 plastic, has resulted from the escape of the more volatile hydrocarbons 
 and tho simultaneous oxidation of those remaining. This itself may 
 have, in tho course of time, prevented any further escape of the f/^Iiii'J,',V.ii"'' 
 petroleum from the limestone below. In some places ar<;illaceous 
 beds in the sandstone or am<mgst the limestones may have held down 
 the oil. The attitude and conditions of the strata ai-e favorable for tho 
 accumulation of tho oil amongst the limestones themselves, and it is 
 therefore to bo expected that productive wells will be found by boring 
 into these rocks along tho part of the Athabasca where they may bo 
 reached. The petroleum, in i-egions which have been worked, is believed 
 to bo most abundant neai- tho crowns of low anliclinals or domes (aS''^'"'ol»i"t!'- 
 migbi have been expected), where it has been prevented from escaping 
 upward b^' impervious strata. It may therefore bo found in great (quan- 
 tity where the surface indications are faint. Conspicuous sui-face indica- 
 tions do not always indicate the largest stores of oil bolow, since it 
 may have escaped so fi-eely as to have left but little behind. It has 
 been stated that tho Devonian limestones along the Athabasca are, on 
 an average, nearlj- horizontal, but that they undulate slightly or dip 
 locally in various directions. The majority of tho dips api)ear to indi- 
 cate a tendency to form slight anticlinals and synclinals running in au 
 easterly and westerly direction. The (question of the best sites on 
 which to bore for oil would bo partly determined by a consitloration of 
 these facts. The subterranean accumulations of oil may bo expected to 
 be found on the principal anticlinals or domes in the limestones with- 
 out reference to the attitude of the unconformably overlying Cretaceous 
 sands. A point might be selected on one of these where the surface 
 tar or naptha was least profuse, cai-e being taken to avoid surface 
 water, quicksands, boulders, &c. The indications of petroleum in the 
 Cretaceous sand were wanting, or only slight, at two or three places, 
 dne of these might be a promising spot for a trial well, provided it was 
 found that tho absence of peti-oleum was not due to the spot being 
 situated over a synclinal axis in the limestone formation. 
 
 The pitchy sand may itself be found useful for a variety of purposes, ^f'"^'?'!'''' 
 When chopped out of the bank in lumps like coal it was found to burnt'oreoai. 
 freely with a strong smoky flame, if supported in such a way as to 
 admit of the free access of air. As the bitumen became exhausted, the 
 fine sand fell to the bottom. A furnace or stove might be contrived so 
 as to bm-n this material. Perhaps a grate constructed on the plan 
 adopted for burning sawdust, with an additional contrivance for 
 
34 re N0RTH-WB8T TERRITORT. 
 
 removing tlio kuthI, would bo found to Huccood, and, if ho, tho bunks of 
 tho AfhiiliiiHca W'luM CintiiHli an inexhaustibly supply of'fuol. 
 
 oiiiiru»ii<. Ibis Hno iiHj)bJiltic sand might iilsi» be utiiizod. with little or no 
 
 treatment, for pavements, rooting, tho manul'aciure of drain tiles, etc. 
 etc., and also tijr inHulaling elect i-ic wiroM. 
 
 Liii.ii.iiiiiiu A very superioi' iubriciiling oil maybe manufactuird fi-om it. Mr. 
 
 Ilotlmann, of this Survey, Mr. Isaac Waterman, the well-known potic>- 
 leum refiner of London, Ont., and Lieut. Cochrane, in-structor in prac- 
 tical chemistry at the Military College, Kingston, have found it to 
 
 iVrccniuBc contain from 12 to 15 per cent, of bitumen. Although this pi-oportion 
 may appear small, yet the material occurs in such enormous (piantitieB 
 
 .Mciiicp.i^ <>t tiijit a protitahle means of extracting the oil and paratfiii which it con- 
 
 cxtrautiun. '■ "^ '■ 
 
 tains may be tbuiid. The high banks of the river and its braiichcH 
 oti'ei- an easy means of excavating it; and, as it burns readily, one 
 part might bo consumed to extract the oil from another, there being 
 practically no limit to the (juantity which may bo obtained for the 
 digging. Dv. Hunt suggests that tho lighter and less valuable oils, 
 obtained in the process of distilling, might be used to percolate through 
 or lixiviate large maswes of the crude material, ami that in this way a 
 large proportion of tho better part of the oil which it contains might 
 be cheaply obtained on a large scale. Mr. Iloliniann found that, in 
 the sample he tried. 6l>.2() per cent, of the bitumen was removed by 
 boiling or macerating in hot water, tho extracted bitumeJi containing 
 50.1 ])er cent, of sand.* This might bo found to be a good method ot 
 reducing the bulk of the material to be distilled foi- oil or for the j)ur- 
 pose of making gas. The natural "tar," >'hich has been already 
 referred to, may be found to bo in sufficient quantities to be available 
 for the manufacture of oil. Mr. Waterman informed me that the 
 
 rariffiiic proportion of paraffine in the bitumen of the sample submitted to him 
 
 appeared to be large, and it is possible that this substance might be 
 profitably extracted for export from the deposits which have been 
 described. 
 
 Traii.-|.(iitiiti(m The pi'incipal obstacle in the way of a speedy development of th% 
 oil-tields of the Athabasca is their distance fi-om a sufficient market. 
 There is, however, a near prospect of this difficulty being removed by 
 tho construction of one or another of the projected railways into the 
 region, for which charters have been granted. A beginning might, in 
 the meantime, be made for the supply of tjie Northwest Territories 
 themselves, where the price of mineral oil is excessively high. Inde- 
 pendent of railway construction, an outlet for the oil to foreign mar- 
 kets might be found by conveying it by steamers, for which there is 
 
 • See analyses and reports by Mr. HoflFmann, Geological Survey Reports for '80, '81, '82, pp. 3 
 to5H. 
 
 of tliu oil. 
 
ML..] ATIlABASrA. 36 C C 
 
 unintorruptwl navigation, from the Athabanca Rivor to the eastern 
 oxtromity of the lake of the name name, and thence by a pipe to 
 Churchill Harl)or on Hudson's Bay. 
 
 Ah com])Iele a eollootion as possiblo of the Lopidopfoi-a of the region l-«'i«i'l'>i'tcra. 
 traversed was made, and the specimens wore sent to Mr. II. TI. Lyman, 
 of Montreal, a well-kiiovvii ontomolot^ist, who lias kindly dotoi'iniiied 
 the species, and f'urnislied us with tlio list which is <^iven as an ap)ten- Li^-t. 
 dix to this repoi't. A few specimens, about which Mr. Lyman had 
 doubts, were submitted b}' him to the principal aiithorities on the Authdriiion. 
 Lepidoptora in the United States. Where more than one specimen of 
 any species was taken at the same locality, the number is given utter 
 the name. 
 
3fi C C APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LIST OF LEPIDOPTKRA COLLECTED IX TJIK NORTHWEST 
 TERKITOMES J3Y Dli. JtOBEKT BELL IN 1882. 
 
 Lao la Biciie, .Fune and .July. — Pnpilio turnus, L. 
 
 Near Flat Creek, Jn\y.—Satynts nephek, Kirby, 2. 
 
 Camp between Fikth Siding of the C. P. Ry. and West Crekk, .July 
 2211(1. — Hepiacus quadrtguttatus, frrote. 
 
 Fort Qi'Ai'PELLE, ,Iuly 2-lth and 2r)tl). — Colias Christina, Hdw. Argyn- 
 nis lais, Ivlw, Phyciodes tharos, Drury. tkenonympha pamphi- 
 loides, Peak. Satyrus nep/iele, Kirby, 4. Hypoprepia fucosa, 
 Hubner. 
 
 Between Fort Qu'Appelle and Touchwood Hills, July 25th and 
 2Gth. — Argynnis lais, Edw., Kirl)y, 2. 
 
 T<iuciiwooD Hills, July 2Gth to 31st. — Colias Christina, Edw., 5. 
 Argynnis lais, VAw., 5. Argynnis myrina, Cram. Phyciodes tharos, 
 Drury, G. Vanessa antiopa, L. Limenitis arthemis, Drur^ Lime- 
 nitis disippus, Godt. Satyrus nephele, Kirby, 4. Lyccena siepioius, 
 Boisd, 2. Pamphila mystic, Edw. Plusia simplex, Green. 
 
 White Sand River, July 28th to 29th. — Colias Christina, Edw. 
 Argynnis cybele, F. Argynnis lais, Edw. Limenitis arthemis, Drury. 
 Limenitis disippus, Godt. Satyrus nephele, Kirby, 2. Lycama 
 soipiolus, Boisd. 
 
 Round Plain, July 30th — Argynnis lais, Edw. Limenitis arthemis, 
 Drury. Satyrus nephele, Kirby, 2. Lycoena soepiolus, Boisd. 
 Hadena devastator, Brace. 
 
 Salt Plain, August 2nd and 3rd. — Colias Christina, Edw. Argynnis 
 lais, Edw. Phyciodes tharos, Drury. Coenonympha pamphiloides, 
 Peak. Satyrus nephele, Kirby, 2. Lycoina soipiolus, Boisd. 
 
 Humboldt, August 3rd and 4th. — Colias Christina, Edw., 2. Argynnis 
 cybele, F., 2. Argynnis lais, Edw., 2. Phyciodes tharos, Drury, 
 2. Vanessa antiopa, L. Satyrus nephele, Kirby, 2. Lyccena 
 sxpiolus, Boisd. Hadena devastator. Brace, 2. Crambus. 
 
 Vermilion Lake, August 4th. — Colias Christina. Edw. Argynnis cybele, 
 F. Argynnis lais, I'xlw. Phyciodes tharos, Drury, 2. Satyrus 
 nephele, Kirby. Lyavna soipiolus, Boisd., 3. Hypoprepia fucosa, 
 HubnePs. 
 
 (Jabriel's Crossing (South Saskatchewan River), August 5th. — Colias 
 Christina, Edw. Argynnis lais, Edw. Phyciodes tharos, Druiy, 2. 
 Satyrus nephele, Kirby, 2. 
 
BELL.J APPENDIX. 37 C C 
 
 DuoK Lake, August Gth. —Colias Christina, Kdw. Argynnis cyhele, F. 
 • Argynnis lais, Edw. Phyciodes tharos, Druiy, 2. Satyrus nephele, 
 Kirby, 2. Plusia simplex, Guen. 
 
 Camp near Fort Cakleton, August 7th. — CoUas hagenii, Edw. Argyn- 
 nis lais, Edw., 2. Phyciodes tharos, Drury, 4. Satyrus nephele, 
 Kil-by, 2. Lyccena scepiolus, Boisd. Pamphile cernes, (Bd.) Lee. 
 Plusia simplex, Guen. 
 
 Near Fort Pitt, August 15th and I'^ih.— Phyciodes tharos, Drury. 
 Vanessa antiopa, L. Petrophora truncata, Hubner.