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 The Physical Features of the Environs of 
 Kingston, Ont., and their History. 
 
 By a. T. DRUMMOND. 
 
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 THIS B00>^ MUST NOT BETAKEN OUT OF THE ROOM 
 
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 " Reprinted from the Canadian Record of Science, April, 1892. 
 
 The Physical Features of the Environs of 
 Kingston, Ont., and their History. 
 
 By A. T. Dbummond. 
 
 Two years ago, when revisiting for three months the 
 scenes of my earlier years at Kingston, the opportunity 
 occurred again of examining, hammer in hand, the Lauren- 
 tian ridges, the limestone escarpments, and the picturesque 
 islands which contribute uo much to the variety of the 
 landscape in the neighbourhood of the city, as well as 
 make its environs so geologically interesting. When a 
 student at Queen's, I had gone over the ground, occasionally 
 with Dr. Geo. Lawson, now of Dalhousie College, Halifax, 
 but then of Queen's, sometimes with the late Dr. John Bell, 
 of Montreal, who was an enthusiastic botanist, and often, 
 alone, and as the familiar spots, one after another, came, 
 after long years of absence, once more to view, many a 
 pleasant memory of extended rambles and of interesting 
 discoveries was recalled. The geological notes then made 
 when a student have not been published, but some of them 
 are still of interest and will be refeired to here and be 
 supplemented by the more recent notes. 
 
 Lying almost at the point of contact of the old Archaean 
 rocks with those of the overlying Cambrian and Trenton, 
 and in a section of countiy where the evidences of glacial 
 action in quaternary times are very marked, besides being 
 at the foot of Lake Ontario where the waters of the Great 
 Lakes join the St. Lawrence amid the diversified features 
 and scenery of the Thousand Islands, Kingston has much 
 to interest the geologist. The city itself is, in reality, 
 situated on what appears to have been an ancient island, 
 whose length was about six miles with an extreme "breadth 
 
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 Canadian Record of Science. 
 
 of three miles, ani whoso boundaries, apart from the 
 harbour front, are now well defined by the limestone 
 escarpment, which, leaving the lake shore west of the 
 Lunatic Asylum, skirts the broad valley of Little Cata- 
 raqni Creek some miles in a northerly and then north- 
 easterly direction, until, veering ai'ound to the south east 
 as it appi*oachos Kingston Mills, it meets Great Cataraqir 
 Creek and then parallels it in its entry to the harbour at 
 Kingston. 
 
 The harbour fronting Kingston is, in its main expanse, 
 underlaid, probably throughout, by the Black River lime- 
 stones, judging by the comparative uniformity of the 
 soundings in the channel. The usual depth there is from 
 ten to twelve fathoms. Off Cedar Island the bottom may 
 have suffered by the disturbances which affected th<* 
 whole Laurentian area, as I have found there the greates \ 
 depth of the harbour— seventeen fathoms. 
 
 The precise area occupied by the palaeozoic rocks in the 
 environs of the city, and their age, have not hitherto been 
 as accurately defined as is desirable, and a brief reference 
 to these and the Laurentian rocks is necessary. 
 
 LAURENTIAN RGP'IS. 
 
 The Laurentian i-ocks are mat with in great masses at 
 
 Kingston Mills, and thence eajtwai-d and north-westward, 
 
 forming here and among the ^J housand Itslands the gneissic 
 
 ridge, as it were, which connects the Laurentian areas of 
 
 New York State with those of Canada. Nearer Kingston, 
 
 these rocks appear on the summit of the Fort hill, on the 
 
 banks of Ilaldimand Cove, and on Cedar and Milton Islands, 
 
 in each case forming ridgea which — as elsewhere among 
 
 the Thousand Islands — lie in a general north-east and 
 
 south-west direction. The Laurentian strata have been 
 
 here elevated into these groat ridges at a period subsequent 
 
 to Black Eiver times, as, on the Fort hill, the limestone 
 
 strata are tilted up at n high angle on both sides of the 
 
 , i;t^G^;a^ent, and overlie the Lau'entian from the base to 
 
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 almost 
 north 
 seen n 
 tion. 
 the gn 
 the gY 
 Black 
 upheav 
 
 On tt 
 is first 
 Kingstc 
 quantity 
 burg, oj 
 'iingsto 
 that islii 
 foi'ms tt 
 both bai 
 village, 
 likewise, 
 some dis 
 with vei- 
 Hay Is 
 upper en 
 also boloi 
 the Pots 
 Alexandi 
 and cont 
 
 ' y^y frien 
 
 rocks of lowi 
 
 ■loping gnei 
 
 Geological 
 
 material hai 
 
 and adjustec 
 
 however, the 
 
 has been pu 
 
 Prof. James 
 
 breaks in the 
 
 on the other, 
 
 down." 
 
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 i 
 
Environs of Kingston, Ont. 
 
 Ill 
 
 almost tho summit, which is crested with gneiss.' On the 
 north side of Cedar Island the limestone strata are also 
 seen near the water's edge in a similar but less tilted posi- 
 tion. Again, there are not wanting some indications, near 
 the granite quarries on the banks of Haldimand Cove, that 
 the granitic rocks here are not eai'lier in age than the 
 Black River, and are probably contemporaneous with the 
 upheaval of the Laurentian strata. 
 
 POTSDAM SANDSTONE. 
 
 On the banks of the Hideau Canal the Potsdam sandstone 
 is first met with about five or six miles to the eastward of 
 Kingston Mills, and is hero of suitable quality and in ample 
 quantity for building stone. On the south side of Pitts- 
 burg, opposite Howe Island in the St. Lawrence between 
 'lingston and Gananoquo, and again at the lower end of 
 that island, it is once more seen, whilst at Gananoque it 
 foi'ms the eastern bank of the ravine near the village and 
 both banks of the river Gananoque immediately in the 
 village. Judging from tho soundings made by me, it, 
 likewise, forms the bed of this stream and extends outwards 
 some distance under the 8t. Lawrence. The stone is used 
 with very good effect in Gananoque for building purposes. 
 Hay Island, Tidds Island, part of Round Island, and the 
 upper end of Wellesly Island at the Thousand Island Park, 
 also belong to this formation. There are thus exposures of 
 the Potsdam sandstone at intervals to within six milcK of 
 Alexandria Bay, and as the same rock reappears near there 
 and continues again at intervals to Hrockville, there is a 
 
 I My friend, Mr. Frank D- Adams, informs me that at Lake St. John limestone 
 rocks of lower Silurian ago, with similar dips at their immediate contact with the 
 ■loping gneiss floor on which thoy wpre deposited, have been found by the 
 Geological Survey oflicers in reality in their natural beds as deposited, the 
 material having apparrntly rolled off, as it were, from the ape.\ and lower down, 
 and adjusted itself in sloping beds on the sides. In this instance at Kingston, 
 however, the evidence of upheaval is distinct, and I am glad, since this paper 
 has been put into typo, to have the corroboration of so careful an observer as 
 Prof. James Fowler, of Queen'S/ University, Kingston, who writes that "the 
 breaks in the strata and the dip towards the bridge on the one side and the river 
 on the other, look as if the clerution took place after the Black River was laid 
 down," 
 
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 probability that in oarlior timo3 it has had a very much 
 more extensive development in the valley of the St. Law- 
 rence here, possibly, originally, bridging over the present 
 Laurentian break. 
 
 BLACK BIV£R ROOKS. 
 
 The city of Kingston itself is underlaid by the Black 
 Biver limestones, these in turn resting directly on the 
 Laurentian strata, as is well illustrated on the Fort hill, 
 Cedar Island, the banks of Haldimand Cove and elsewhere. 
 These Black Eiver strata, underlying and around the city, 
 are somewhat deficient in fossils, and at the time of publi- 
 cation of Sir William Logan's General Report on the 
 Geology of Canada in 1863, considerable doubt was enter- 
 tained as to whether these rocks, in, at least, their lower 
 portion, might not belong to an earlier epoch. My own 
 subsequent finding, however, of Orthoceras rapax, Bill, and 
 some fragments of crinoidal columns in a deposit of some. 
 I what disintegrated rock containing numerous silieified 
 fragments of fossils and directly reposing on the Lauren- 
 tian in a cutting of the Grand Trunk Eailway at Kingston 
 Mills, filially determined the late Mr. E. Billings, the 
 palseontologist of the Geological Survey, to refer the strata 
 <^. to the Black Biver age. Those strata which rest directly 
 •> on the Laurentian are generally, however, quite devoid of 
 ■: fossils, and not infrequently the lower layera have the 
 appearance of a conglomerate, the imbedded material being 
 small worn boulders of gneiss and quartzite from three 
 inches to one foot in diameter, and numerous sharply angu- 
 lar pieces of quartz, chiefly of smaller size. On the north 
 side of the Grand Trunk Bailway track the limestones 
 terminate west of Kingston Mills, but on the south side 
 they extend in a partly covered escarpment about five 
 miles farther eastward, and cover the intervening space 
 thence to the St. Lawrence. OraiHien Island, and the greater 
 portion of Howe, Wolfe, and, possibly, Simcoe Islands, arc 
 of Black River age. 
 
 At 
 Island 
 Blumei 
 cientlj) 
 Island, 
 west 
 Trunk 
 epoch. 
 Canada 
 drawn 
 would i 
 rocks ai 
 
 From 
 the envi 
 from th( 
 influence 
 i'idges b( 
 whole coi 
 the nece 
 period. ' 
 limestone 
 the city 
 Cataraqui 
 visible in 
 scale, nea 
 the great 
 the Laur( 
 even on 
 unworn 
 conspicuo 
 Whilst 
 daring th 
 period anc 
 fi'om the 
 tions of g 
 
Envirom of Kingston, Ont. 
 
 TRENTON ROCKS. 
 
 113 
 
 At Cape Vincent, in New York State, opposite Wolfe 
 Island, the limestones contain, amongst other life, Calymene 
 Blumenbachii, Bron, and Leptivna sericea. Sow, which suffi- 
 ciently indicate their Trenton origin. At Horse Shoe 
 Island, at the head of Wolfb Island, about eight miles south- 
 west of Kingston, and again at Coilinsby, on the Grand 
 Trunk Railway, the rocks appaiently belong to the same 
 epoch. Thus, if any actual di£ '■ notion is to be retained in 
 Canada between the Black River and Trenton epochs, a line 
 drawn across the St. Lawrence through these localities 
 would appear to about indicate where the Black River 
 rocks are succeeded by the true Trenton. 
 
 QUATERNARY DEPOSITS. 
 
 From the period of the Ti enton to that of the ornary, 
 
 the environs of Kingston appear to have ha .i ng rest 
 from the inroads of the water and from other disturbing 
 influences, beyond the special elevation of the Laurcntian 
 ridges before referred to, and the general elevation of the 
 whole country here and to the north-eastward, to admit of 
 the necessary fall for the great glaciers of the glacial 
 period. The traces loft by quaternary forces are seen in the 
 limestone escarpments at many points in the environs of 
 the city ; the broad river valleys now occupied by Little 
 Cataraqui and Great Cataraqui Creeks; the ice grooves, 
 visible in every direction, but developed on a magnificent 
 scale, near the upper steamboat landing on Wolfe Island ; 
 the great deposits of sand at Cataraqui and elsewhere ; and 
 the Laurcntian and other boulders scattered everywhere, 
 even on the top of the Fort Hill, where the huge block of 
 unworn Potsdam sandstone, half buried in the soil, is a 
 conspicuous object. 
 
 Whilst the history of the site of the city and its environs 
 during the vast ages which elapsed between the Trenton 
 period and the close of the Tertiary, is almost a blank, yet, 
 from the latter time, its histoiy begins once more. Sugges- 
 tions of great forces having been at work come, ap we 
 
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 Canadian Record of Science. 
 
 have seen, from all sides— from the lake bottom, the river 
 valleys, the grooved rocks, the great stretches of escarp- 
 ments, the scattered boulders. At the close of the Pliocene 
 the Ijaurentian area in the townships to tho northward 
 and eastward was higher than it presently is, and circum- 
 stances seem to show that this elevation extended so far 
 over the limestone area in the vicinity of Kingston that 
 the lake shore at that time was probably outside of a line 
 drawn from Stony Point, off Sacket's Harbour, to South 
 Bav Point, in Prince Edward County. A rise of 100 feet 
 would bring to the surface nearly the entire area presently 
 under water between this limiting line and the city- 
 excepting what would then foim two inlets or river chan- 
 nels — the relicts, it may be, of two glaciers — the one on tho 
 west side of Duck Island and e.Ktending inwards towards 
 Kingston to within three miles of the present Nine-mile 
 Point Lighthouse, and tho other on the cast side of tho 
 same island and extending in the direction of the present 
 American channel in tho St. Jvawrenco, and to within four 
 miles of the south-west point of Wolfe's Island. 
 
 ^ . ■ * LAUBENTIAN RIDGES. 
 
 At this time, also, the Laurentian ridges, which are 
 s'^ numerous in the rear townships, and are illustrated 
 around Kingston in the elevations comprising Cedar Island, 
 the Fort Hill, and the south side of Ilaldimand Cove, had 
 already appeared. These ridges which in reality indicate, 
 in their prevailing general north-east and south-west course, 
 the direction taken by the vast internal forces which gave 
 rise to their upheaval, have had much to do with giving the 
 direction taken by the great glaciers of quaternary times, 
 and have also shaped tho original outline of many of the 
 numerous lakes in the Laui mtian country in the imme- 
 diate rear of Kingston, however much the glaciers may 
 have subsequently smoothed the roughness of this outline. 
 The general course of tho numerous elongated lakes lying 
 here in the laps of these ridges, and near the border-land 
 where the Laui'entian and the higher formations meet, is a 
 
are 
 Lratod 
 iland, 
 
 had 
 licate, 
 louree, 
 
 gave 
 igthe 
 ItitneB, 
 of the 
 limme- 
 may 
 lutUne. 
 
 lying 
 ir-land 
 
 3t, is a 
 
 Environs of Kingston, Oni. 115 
 
 most pronounced north east and south-west, nnd I cannot 
 think that their outline is to be attributed solely to softer 
 sti-ata having been worn away. It was rather that the 
 ridges and intervening valleys gave the course to the 
 glaciers, and, in that course, these valleys had their outlines 
 smoothed and their depths somewhat deepened, and were 
 thus prepared for their new position as the beds of lakes in 
 the less elevated country of the present day. The lie of 
 the lakes, in sections of the Laurentian country farther 
 west, takes diiferent directions— sometimes to the south- 
 eastward and across the general line of glacial action— and 
 it will, I suspect, be found, in such cases, that this lie of 
 these lakes conforms to that of the ridges in the surround- 
 ing country. 
 
 ORIGIN OP THI ISLAND. 
 
 Following the elevation of the land and the incoming of 
 the glacial period, came probably the first outlining of the 
 ancient island on which Kingston is situated. The present 
 broad beds of Little Cataraqui and Great Cataraqui Creeks 
 were gradually chiselled out, first by glaciers and then by 
 the waters of what would then be two deep inlets from the 
 lake and a river divided by the island, and thus the lime- 
 stone escarpment which in large part forms the island's 
 front was created. The sand deposits in the direction of 
 Glenburnie, again at Cataraqui, and again in the estuary 
 west of the Lunatic Asylum, would seem to indicate that 
 the Little Cataraqui Creek valley was the channel down 
 which the great body of the water from the Laurentian 
 heights immediately beyond here came. The difl'orent beds 
 of sand in the estuary also appear to mark three successive 
 stages and conditions of deposit — the lowest, a coarse sand 
 laid down in deeper water, the middle a strongly wave- 
 marked bed, indicative of rapidly flowing waters, and the 
 highest a deposit of fine silt-like sand, which has settled 
 during comparatively still waters. 
 
 ; TUB OUTLET OF LAKE ONTARIO. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting questions are cor.nected 
 
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 116 
 
 Canadian Record of Science. 
 
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 with the outlet of the waters of Lake Ontario into the St. 
 Lawrence here. Have these waters since Ontario expanded 
 from a river into a lake always flowed downwaixis to the 
 ocean over the Laurentian ridge at the Thousand Islands ? 
 Presently there is a depression here between the Adii-on- 
 dacks of Nr ^ork State and our Canadian Laurentian 
 ridges su * di o admit of this downwai-d flow, but, 
 between . ar/at ^- and Cape Vincent, it is a comparatively 
 shallow )pi ''i n. The lake is undoubtedly pre-glacial, 
 but t' 'lewhat higher elevation of the Laurentian area 
 
 at the cose of the Pliocene to admit of the descent of the 
 glaciers, would make it probable that at this time, as well 
 as during the melting and recession northward of the ice 
 area, the outflow was by way of Lake Oneida and the 
 Mohawk Valle3\ Even at the Park towards the centre of 
 the Thousand Islands, the grooves in the sandstones lie 
 S. 40° W., showing that there must have been some eleva- 
 tion in the heart of the Laurentian ridge there to admit of 
 the necessary ice flow, not merely there but onwards to the 
 south-westward over the ice-grooved limestones at Kingston 
 and Wolfe Island. During the glacial epoch, and its inter- 
 glacial periods, if any, here, the outlet was, the American 
 geologists insist, so completely blocked with ice that the 
 flow was necessarily by way of the dohawk Valley to the 
 ocean, but it does not seem requisite to assume that there 
 was this ice blockade, as the already existing elevation 
 probably formed a more than ample barrier to the lake 
 waters. 
 
 If this view of Laurentian depression be correct, then the 
 St. Ijawrence, immediately before the commencement of the 
 ice age, was a modest stream, taking its rise here in the 
 Adirondacks or Canadian Laurentians and flowing towai-ds 
 the sea iji very much the same course a» now, for this 
 course was not much altered by the subsequent ice flow 
 north-eastward from the Laurentians. The river from 
 Brockville, immediately above which the Laurentian ridges 
 under the river disappear, downwards to the first rapid near 
 Edwardsburg, has, oh the whole, a considerable uniformity 
 
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Environs of Kingston, Ont. 
 
 Ill 
 
 of depth in the channel, and flows through a low, compara- 
 tively level valley, unobstructed by islands. The river 
 Ottawa, on the other hand, was, probably, at this time a 
 much larger stream, as the great limestone escarpments 
 and Ihe terraces along its course seem to indicate. The 
 oscillations of the earth's surface in eastern Ontario and in 
 Quebec had led to its being at one time an arm of the 
 sea, and at anothei*, perhaps later time, a great river, 
 which Mr. J. K, Gilbert even tL nks found its rise in the 
 Geoi-gian Bay and drained the upper Great Lnkes. During 
 the ice age, and the subsequent Champlain times, the path 
 of the icebergs and glaciers was, in a general sense, down 
 the valley of the Ottawa, and this, no doubt, occasioned 
 much of the wear of the strata in the i ver's course. 
 
 The oscillations in level over great stietches of country 
 or local warpings of the strata, will explain many of the 
 physical features of a district. Thus, around the outlet of 
 Lake Ontario there were changes of this character. A 
 depression at the Thousand Islands, and a rise in level at 
 the south-eastern end of Lake Ontario, led to a gradual 
 change in the lake's outflow from the valley of the Mohawk 
 to the valley of the St. Lawrence. This change took place 
 in the Champlain era, and was probably contemporaneous 
 with that condition of depression in Kastern Ontario and 
 Quebec and that condition of flood and depression in the 
 peninsula of Ontario west of the Thousand Islands, which 
 has given us the sands and clays of the one section and the 
 great areas of the clays in the other. Since then there have 
 been further warpings of the surface, involving a rise from 
 the Trent Valley westward and on the south and east sides 
 of Lake Ontario. These disturbances have, in general 
 terms, brought us to the order of things at the present day. 
 
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